'Why seek Bharat Ratna for Savarkar, why not Godse?'

Agencies
October 17, 2019

Nagpur, Oct 17: The Congress on Wednesday took potshots at the BJP for its demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar and sought to know by the saffron outfit is not seeking the country's highest civilian award for Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the BJP-led government needs to seriously think about the path it wants to take on the issue in the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.

Addressing a press conference here, he said Savarkar was tried (and later acquitted) in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case and an inquiry commission had found that possibly the freedom fighter and some of his colleagues had prior knowledge of the plot.

Releasing its manifesto for the October 21 Maharashtra assembly elections on Tuesday, the state BJP raised the demand for Bharat Ratna for Savarkar along with 19th-century social reformers Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule.

Asked about BJP leader and Union minister Ravishankar Prasad's statement attacking the Congress for opposing the demand for Bharat Ratna to Savarkar, Tewari posed a counter-question to take on the saffron outfit on the issue.

"I would like to ask a counter-question - Why Mr Savarkar?, Why not Mr Godse, after all Mr Savarkar was only an accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, and Mr Godse was convicted.

"So therefore in the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi's birth, if the NDA-BJP government is going to honour somebody who was tried for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination...and ultimately in 1969, when the Kapur commission was set up it found that possibly, he (Savarkar)and some of his other colleagues had prior knowledge of the events that took place on January 30, 1948," Tewari said.

"And If all that is correct, then, government needs to seriously think as to what path they are going," said the former Union minister.

The Lok Sabha MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab also sought to corner the Modi government over the current economic slowdown in the country.

The lawyer-politician rued that under the current dispensation even the savings of the common man deposited in banks are not safe.

"All this is happening because the NDA-BJP-led central government is not able to run the economy of the country. The economic system of any country depends on four basic fundamentals - savings, consumption, investment and employment.

"But, today there are no savings, consumption, investment or employment. Today, these four fundamentals of the economy are facing a deep challenge," said Tewari.

The Congress leader said if there is communal disharmony in the country, its economic progress will get stalled.

"No investor or person will invest in a country which does not have communal harmony," he said.

Tewari referred to a recent newspaper article, written by Parakala Prabhakar, economist and husband of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to criticise the government over the state of economy.

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News Network
July 31,2020

New Delhi, Jul 31: Air India has operated more than 2800 flights and flown over 3 lakh passengers worldwide till now under the Vande Bharat Mission.

"Air India under Vande Bharat Mission Operated more than 2800 flights and flown more than 3 lakh, 80 thousand passengers worldwide till now," Air India said in a tweet on Thursday.

The fifth phase of the Government of India's 'Vande Bharat' mission, aimed at evacuating Indian nationals stranded in various foreign countries owing to restrictions on air travel, will begin early next month, August 1.

"Under Vande Bharat Mission, we have already brought back more than 2.5 lakh stranded Indians from 53 commies," Air India had earlier said in a statement.

Over 7.88 lakh Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic have returned under Vande Bharat Mission till July 22, Ministry of External Affairs had said.

The government started Vande Bharat Mission on May 7.

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News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: Blaming the BJP for the political drama in Rajasthan, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday asked Sachin Pilot not to leave the grand old party.

In an interview to news agency, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said Pilot should not follow Jyotiraditya Scindia into the BJP, as he has bright future in Congress.

His remarks follow Pilot's open rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government, which has been on shaky ground with at least 18 legislators backing the rebel leader.

Pilot was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the state Congress chief recently and the Congress has accused the BJP of making efforts to topple the Gehlot-led government by indulging in horse-trading.

"The BJP is behind the crisis in Rajasthan," Singh said.

The Congress veteran said he tried to call Pilot but his calls and text messages went unanswered.

"Age is on your side. Ashok (Gehlot) may have offended you, but all such issues are best resolved amicably. Dont make the mistake that Scindia made. BJP is unreliable. Nobody who joined it from any other party has succeeded there," Singh said.

He said this is the first time that Pilot hasn't responded to him.

"Sachin is like my son. He respects me and I also like him. I called him three-four times and also texted him. He didn't revert. He used to respond immediately earlier," he said.

"It is good to be ambitious. How can one move forward without having ambitions, but along with ambition, one must also have commitment to your organisation, ideology and the nation," Singh said.

For latest updates on the Rajathan Political Crisis, click here

"I heard that he (Pilot) may form a new party. But what is the need for it. Has Congress not given him anything? He was made an MP at 26, a Union minister at 32, the state Congress president at 34 and deputy chief minister at 38. What else does he want? Time is on his side," Singh said.

If Pilot had any issue, then as the state party unit president, he should have called a meeting and discussed the matter, he said. Pilot could have involved Congress national general secretary and Rajasthan in-charge Avinash Pande in talks with Gehlot to resolve differences, he added.

"If you have faith in your legislators, why have you have confined 18-19 of them in ITC Grand hotel at Manesar in Haryana," Singh said.

This is the same hotel where the BJP kept MLAs from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (during political dramas in those states), he said.

Pilot should forget whatever has happened, come back and sit across the table to discuss how Congress could be strengthened, he said

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News Network
June 29,2020

New Delhi, Jun 29: A disturbing video of a Covid-19 patient, speaking his last words, after his oxygen supply was allegedly cut off, has surfaced on social media. The patient reportedly died after indicating that the oxygen supply to him was cut off despite his requests.

The video has a 35-year-old Covid-19 patient bidding good-bye to his family, from a government hospital bed in Hyderabad. The patient Ravi Kumar can be seen speaking out against the negligence of of the medical staff in providing ventilator support to him when he needed it the most.

The video has led to social media outrage as it attracted public attention towards plight of patients in government hospitals

"I am not able to breathe, I pleaded but they did not continue oxygen for the last three hours. I am not able to breathe anymore daddy, it's like my heart has stopped, Bye daddy. Bye to all, daddy," these were apparently the final words of the man, who spoke in his local dialect, and shared on social media.

Several reports have claimed that the man had been admitted to government Chest hospital, after several private hospitals refused to admit him. His ventilator support was allegedly taken off in the hospital, after which he recorded the video message.

The victim’s family shared the video message for the public to know of the negligence.

Reports have it that Ravi’s covid-19 report, which testes positive, was given to family a day after his death, when 30 of his family members performed the final rites, thus making all of them vulnerable to the virus. Ravi’s father has alleged that the test was done on June 24 and Ravi died on June 26, while the report was given to them on June 27.

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