News Analysis India

Tag: Amit Shah

  • Punjab CM slams Shah’s announcement on applying central service rules to Chandigarh UT staff

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement to apply the central service rules to employees of the Union territory of Chandigarh, claiming that it went against the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

    “The central govt has been stepwise imposing officers and personnel from other states and services in the Chandigarh administration. This goes against the letter and spirit of Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966. Punjab will fight strongly for its rightful claim over Chandigarh…,” Mann said in a tweet.

    After Shah’s announcement here on Sunday, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had taken a dig at the BJP, saying it is scared of the AAP’s “rising footprint”.

    Taking to Twitter soon after the home minister’s statement, Sisodia said Shah did not take away Chandigarh’s powers when the Congress was ruling Punjab, but he did so soon after the AAP formed its government.

    The union territory employees are currently working under the Punjab service rules.

    According to Shah, the move will benefit them in a “big way”, their retirement age will increase from 58 to 60 years, and women employees will get childcare leave of two years instead of the current one year.

    However, his announcement had evoked a sharp reaction from some rivals of the BJP, with many leaders saying this was “another big blow to the rights of Punjab” after changes in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) rules.

    Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema had on Saturday tweeted, “MOH’s (Ministry of Home Affairs) decision to impose central government rules on employees of Chandigarh is in violation of the spirit of the Punjab Reorg (Reorganisation) Act and must be reconsidered.

    “Congress leaders, including Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, too condemned the decision.

    The change in appointment rules for top officers to the BBMB had raked up a storm with many political parties in Punjab and Haryana criticising the Centre.

    The BBMB, which is a statutory body under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, and manages the water resources of Sutlej and Beas, has a whole-time chairman and two members for irrigation and power.

    Political leaders have claimed that according to the BBMB Rules, 1974, the member (power) in BBMB must be from Punjab and the member (irrigation) from Haryana, but the requirement has been removed in the amended rules.

  • Chandigarh will become country’s most disciplined & modern city: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said Chandigarh will become the most disciplined and modern city in the country in the coming days as he inaugurated a slew of projects, including a state-of-the-art Integrated Command and Control Centre, in the union territory.

    Shah was in the city for inaugurating as well as laying foundation stones of projects worth Rs 632.78 crore.

    The projects that were inaugurated included the Integrated Command and Control Centre, a new office building of Chandigarh Housing Board, two government schools and an urban park. He also laid foundation stones of a college hostel block and a bus depot-cum-workshop.

    Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Banwarilal Purohit also attended the event.

    Addressing the gathering, Shah said he was visiting the “city beautiful” after a long time and felt very good. Chandigarh is known as the “city beautiful”. “In the history of the modern world, Chandigarh is the most developed city in the category of planned cities,” said Shah.

    He recalled that when he was young, children in Gujarat were given the example of Chandigarh as a planned and very good city. “When a city grows, its requirements also change and when times change, there is a change in needs and requirements. And those which do not change with time, they cannot keep themselves relevant,” he said.

    He also lauded the Chandigarh administration for making a system for adapting this change. “And that is not only for people’s facilities, it includes security and environment protection also,” he said, adding that the mixed culture of the city was also taken care of.

    Shah said that when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, he got many projects related to urban development implemented. He said Gujarat is among those states where urban population is perhaps maximum.

    Shah said that after Modi became the prime minister, he brought the smart city concept to the entire country. “How modern cities should develop. How to do planning, how to upgrade facilities and to synergise those facilities and integrate them,” he said.

    PM Modi brought the AMRUT scheme, solar mission and green city initiative. Shah said, “In the coming days, Chandigarh will become the country’s most disciplined and the most modern city.”

    Speaking about the Rs 300-crore Integrated Command and Control Centre project, Shah said it will bring a change in the delivery of citizen-centric services. “It will lead to monitoring of citizen-centric facilities,” he said. “This command centre will work for bringing traffic discipline or for security,” he stated.

    “People of Chandigarh should keep in mind that cameras will be watching your vehicles and after a violation, challan will reach home through email,” he said, adding, “with this, there will be an atmosphere of new discipline in the city.” He urged the administrator that a programme should be initiative so that school students are shown this command centre.

    Under ICCC, more than 2,000 CCTV cameras have been installed in the city to keep a check on traffic violations. ICCC is also integrated with major citizen services, including water supply, electricity, sewage, solid waste management, transport, e-governance, parking and public-bike sharing, for an effective monitoring of services and data analysis.

    Shah lauded the Narendra Modi government for the development of the vaccine for COVID-19 and its vaccination programme. He said 185 crore doses have been administered so far.

    “The world is surprised at how the vaccination programme worked smoothly in the country with a population of 130 crore,” said Shah. He said even some developed countries sought Cowin app for use there.

    “Many developed countries were worried over the third wave of COVID-19 but nobody knew when the third wave came and went in India because there was 100 per cent vaccination,” he said.

    Shah said with the use of technology, the Modi government ran a successful vaccination programme in the country. “Modi ji held video conferencing with the chief ministers 22-23 times irrespective of party politics,” he said.

    Shah also spoke about how the Modi government provided foodgrains free of cost to 80 crore poor people in the country.

    The government used technology in providing foodgrains to the poor. He said foodgrains worth Rs 3.40 lakh crore have been distributed so far. He said this scheme has been extended up till September 30.

    In March 2020, the Union government had launched the scheme — Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) — to provide free 5 kg foodgrains per person per month to over 80 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) because of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Shah said that change was happening in every sector be it agriculture, industrial development, urban development, making the country a manufacturing hub, new education policy, rural development, facilities to poor people.

  • PM Modi, top BJP leaders, industrialists to attend Adityanath’s oath ceremony

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top BJP leaders, leading industrialists and seers will participate in the mega ceremony in which Yogi Adityanath will take oath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the second consecutive term.

    The ceremony on Friday will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and CMs of BJP-ruled states. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and 60 other business tycoons have been invited.

    Roads leading to Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, the venue for the event, have been decorated with lights.

    Cut-outs of PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Adityanath have been put up along the road. The BJP-led alliance had won 273 of 403 seats in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. The alliance led by the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 125 seats.

    UP BJP general secretary J P S Rathore told PTI, “Invitations to dignitaries are being sent both by the party and the state government. Chief ministers of all BJP-ruled states have been invited. Invites have also been sent to opposition leaders in the state.”

    Adityanath has personally sent invitations to over 50 seers, including those from Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi.

    Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s state-level functionary Dinesh Shankar said, “Prominent seers, along with senior members of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust, have been invited for the ceremony.”

    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and his ally RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said they won’t attend the swearing-in ceremony.

    Akhilesh had attended Adityanath’s oath ceremony in 2017 along with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The other prominent personalities who will turn up for the event are yoga guru Baba Ramdev, “The Kashmir Files” director Vivek Agnihotri and actor Anupam Kher.

    BJP party workers from different states have also been invited to the mega event. The venue has the capacity to accommodate 50,000 people. The stage for the VIPs has been prepared in the northern end of the stadium. A small area right before the main stage has been allocated to the media.

    While four pitches of the cricket stadium have been barricaded, seating arrangements have been made on the entire ground. The underpasses of Shaheed Path are also being painted. The ceremony is expected to begin from 4 pm onwards.

    Adityanath had kickstarted his election campaign from the stadium in December when he distributed tablets and mobile phones among students in a grand event. The swearing-in ceremony is expected to be the grandest in terms of numbers since 2007.

    In 2017, the oath-taking ceremony was held at Kanshiram Smriti Upvan. The Uttar Pradesh Police has made tight security arrangements.

    Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, “Close to 8000 personnel of the Uttar Pradesh Police, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) along with specialised units like the Special Task Force (STF) and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have been deployed.”

    “The access to the venue will be strictly regulated with ATS commandos manning all sensitive spots. Each visitor will be screened before being allowed to enter the venue. Door frame metal detectors and hand held metal detectors are being set up at every entry point,” he said.

    Police have also installed CCTV cameras in and around the venue. The feed from the CCTV cameras will be monitored live at the control room under the supervision of senior officials. Drones will also be kept on standby, said Kumar.

    According to officials, a three-layer security will be put in place at the venue. The Lucknow police commissionerate has also issued a detailed traffic diversion plan for the entire day. It has also launched a helpline for people stuck in the traffic.

  • Who will be Uttarakhand CM? Top BJP leaders in huddle ahead of legislature party meeting

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand acting Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday said that the procedure for government formation is underway and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership will take a decision on the next leader of the legislature party in the state.

    Dhami, the state unit BJP chief Madan Kaushik and former Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Sunday reached the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital to discuss government formation.

    The BJP President JP Nadda and party leaders BL Santhosh and Uttarakhand minister Satpal Maharaj also arrived at the residence of Shah.

    “The procedure for government formation is underway…the BJP central leadership will take a decision (on CM face),” said Dhami, at Uttarakhand Bhawan in Delhi.

    Uttarakhand legislature party meeting is scheduled to be held later today.

    Meanwhile, the BJP MLA and former minister Rekha Arya has supported Dhami as the next Chief Minister.

    Several MLAs, including Ganesh Joshi and Arvind Pandey, have given their consent for the name of Dhami as the leader of the legislature party.

    Till now six MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party have announced their willingness to vacate their Assembly seats to help Dhami get elected to the House.

    Dhami had lost to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes. Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.

    The BJP won the popular mandate for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand, bagging 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly.

  • Home Minister Shah visits site of proposed high-security prison in J&K’s Kathua

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday visited the site where a high-security prison is to be constructed for lodging “treasonous and insurgent criminals” in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

    Accompanied by J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, Shah was briefed about the project details by the Director General of Police, Prisons, B Srinivas at the site in village Dambra in Mahanpur, the officials said.

    After going through the blueprint, they said the home minister suggested some changes which will be incorporated according to the directions.

    J&K administrative council headed by Sinha transferred over 300 kanals (15 hectares) of land in favour of the Prisons Department for construction of the high-security prison in the district last month.

    “The construction of high-security prison for lodging treasonous and insurgent criminals aims at meeting the security requirements of the region and strengthening the national security,” an official spokesperson had said.

    Home Minister Shah left for Delhi after concluding his two-day visit to the Jammu region.

  • Shah reviews security situation in J&K, calls for proactive operations against terrorists

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and laid emphasis on proactive operations against terrorists and choking their logistical and financial support systems.

    Shah said the security grid should be further strengthened to ensure zero cross-border infiltration and to eliminate terrorism completely in order to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a peaceful and prosperous Jammu and Kashmir.

    #WATCH | Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha chairs a security review meeting with senior officials at Raj Bhawan in Jammu. pic.twitter.com/uCQDLT7zHs
    — ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2022
    Shah, who is on a two-day tour of Jammu and Kashmir, reviewed the security situation here with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and senior officers of the central government and the Jammu and Kashmir administration, an official spokesman said. He appreciated the improvement in the security situation, reduction in terror incidents from 417 in 2018 to 229 in 2021 and decrease in the number of slain security forces personnel from 91 in 2018 to 42 in 2021.

    Shah emphasised on proactive operations against terrorists and denying them safe haven or financial support. He directed the security forces and the police to ensure real-time coordination for effective counter-terrorism operations and monitoring activities of terrorists from jails.

    The minister ordered further strengthening of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Jammu and Kashmir to counter narco-terrorism, the spokesman said.

  • Govt formation: BJP appoints Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh as observers for UP, U’khand

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday appointed its top leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, as central observers for government formation in the four states where it returned to power.

    In the latest round of assembly elections, the BJP won Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, and on its own it touched the halfway mark in Goa. Punjab was won by the AAP.

    The BJP parliamentary board, its apex decision making body, appointed Shah as the central observer for Uttar Pradesh and party vice president Raghubar Das as co-observer.

    Singh along with co-observer Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi has been assigned to oversee the selection of the leader of the legislature party in Uttarakhand.

    Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar have been appointed as observers for selection of the leader of the legislature party in Manipur and Goa, the BJP said in a statement issued by its general secretary Arun Singh.

    Union Minister Kiren Rijiju is the co-observer for Manipur and his cabinet colleague L Murgan is the co-observer for Goa.

    While it is all set that Yogi Adityanath will again be elected as the legislative leader in Uttar Pradesh, the party has to take call on deputy chief ministers in the state, as one of the two in the previous government, Keshav Prasad Maurya, lost the elections along with 11 ministers.

    In Uttarakhand it is not clear who will lead the government in the state as chief minister Pushkar Dhami lost the election.

    In the backdrop of these circumstances and maintaining caste arithmetic in its favour, the BJP has appointed its heavyweights, former party presidents Shah and Singh, for ensuring smooth formation of government in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

    The senior leaders as observers will look to select a team in these four states which can effectively steer the ship till next general elections.

  • NCW writes to Home Minister Amit Shah on alleged atrocities against women in West Bengal

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention in the alleged brutalities and violence committed against women in West Bengal.

    The NCW said it has received a joint memorandum from the All India Democratic Women’s Association, National Federation of Indian Women and All India Progressive Women’s Association claiming that women in West Bengal are facing an extremely insecure atmosphere and activists of the ruling TMC have unleashed a reign of terror.

    The memorandum, which has a district-wise list of incidents of atrocities against women, sought immediate steps to end the alleged brutalities and violence against them, the NCW said.

    It has also been alleged that the state administration and police are either silent spectators or in connivance with the perpetrators.

    In some incidents, male police personnel have misbehaved and molested women, according to the memorandum.

    The women’s associations have requested the NCW to intervene in the matter.

    The Commission said it is extremely concerned with the increasing cases of violence and brutalities against women in the state.

    “Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the home minister seeking intervention in the matter to ensure the safety and security of the women in the state. A copy of the letter has also been sent to the chief secretary and director general of police, West Bengal,” the NCW said in a statement.

  • BJP adopted scientific ways for campaigns in five states: Amit Shah

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Claiming to be the world’s largest political party, the BJP senior leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the entire election campaigns across all the five states, including the country’s biggest state UP, were conducted for assembly elections in very” systematic and scientific” ways making a start amid the third wave of Covid-19.

    “Right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji to even booth level workers of the party worked went down to the last people of society for knowing their aspirations and problems to solve them out through good governance”, Shah claimed, speaking to the media on the eve of the last phase of assembly elections here.

    Definition elections not mere a way to go in governance, Shah said the BJP goes in elections with a motif to share its ideologies, share the people’s problems and show that the party cares for each and every one of the country without any discrimination on caste and creed.

    “The way PM Modi ji has replaced politics of polarization and class with politics of performance has not just defined the BJP, but the entire nation’s politics for the future”, he claimed, adding that for the first time in UP, democracy is being seen flourishing till the bottom.

    “Now, we are seeing democracy flourishing for the first time in UP by freeing the state from casteism, dynasty and appeasement-all three ills of society”, he boasted.

    Shah further claimed that the BJP take all the people as one without dividing them into castes and  religion-wise.

    Speaking on the nature of election campaigns, Shah said:”In the history of independent India, this election was a somewhat new and strange type of campaign. But the BJP did campaigning in a very scientific way”.

    He said that the BJP went before the people with a new resolve to make a new India after implementing all the schemes on the ground. “Goa is now in a good position with a lot of development and infrastructure works worth Rs 60000 crore done by the BJP government. In the same way, other states including UP, ruled by the BJP, have excelled well in development works”, Shah said.

    Lauding works of development done in Manipur, Shah said that the BJP will form the govt in Manipur again.

    “The state has transformed from blockades, bandhs, violence, drugs to organic farming, medical institutions and more. PM Modi and our CM of Manipur have worked hard to end the differences between hills and valleys”, he claimed.

  • Mafia will be set free if Samajwadi Party voted to power: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    AZAMGARH: The mafia serving time in jail will be released if the Samajwadi Party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, adding that the Akhilesh Yadav-led party and the BSP have “tasted defeat” in the first five rounds of polling.

    Shah also announced free electricity to farmers, gas cylinders to women on the eve of festivities and scooters to young women, if voted to power again in the state.

    “I had promised that the rule of mafia will end in Uttar Pradesh, and in five years, all mafia have been finished. Atiq Ansari and Mukhtar Ansari are in jail under the Yogi Adityanath government. It will not be the same if the SP comes to power in UP and such elements will be released,” Shah said during an an election rally here.

    The SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have been defeated in the first five rounds of polling and now the BJP needs votes to ensure that it gets more than 300 seats, the home minister said.

    Hitting out at Akhilesh Yadav, Shah said the SP chief is wearing black glasses so he can see only darkness.

    Hailing the Yogi Adityanath government, he said there has been a sharp decline in the crime rate in the last five years.

    In order to woo women voters and farmers, Shah announced that a free cylinder will be given to every house on the occasion of Holi and Diwali and that free electricity will be provided to farmers for five years if the BJP reassumes power.

    He also announced that jobs will be given to the youth on basis of their qualification while he promised free scooters for young women.

    Hitting out at political rivals, Shah said the opposition parties kept Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, for over seven decades.

    “Our government withdrew it and nobody dared to throw a single stone (in protest),” he said.

    Azamgarh will go to polls in the last phase of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on March 7.