News Analysis India

Tag: Amit Shah

  • Amit Shah to attend swearing-in ceremony of new Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of BJP leader Bhupendra Patel as Gujarat’s new Chief Minister on Monday afternoon, sources said.

    The ceremony is expected to take place around 3 p.m. Patel would be the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat.

    Patel, Member of Legislative Assembly from Gujarat’s Ghatlodia constituency, was announced as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on Sunday by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision to appoint Patel as the new Gujarat Chief Minister was taken in the legislative meeting called by the BJP in the Gujarat party headquarters, Gandhinagar.

    It is also learnt that a meeting is also scheduled after the oath-taking ceremony to revamp the Gujarat cabinet. The meeting, sources said, will be held in presence of Amit Shah, Bhupendra Patel and other senior BJP leaders including CR Patil and Bhupendra Yadav.

    ALSO READ | Patidar factor and spotless image: Bhupendra Patel to take oath as Gujarat Chief Minister

    The Union Home Minister on Sunday took Twitter to congratulate Bhupendra Patel on being elected as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat.

    “Under your guidance and leadership, the state’s continuous development journey will get new energy and momentum and Gujarat will continue to be a leader in good governance and public welfare,” Amit Shah tweeted.

    Gujarat Chief Minister-designate, Bhupendra Patel, expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and his predecessor Vijay Rupani for reposing faith in him, and said he would take the development journey of the state forward.

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  • Mooted after 26/11 attacks, National Intelligence Grid expected to be launched soon by PM Modi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi is soon expected to launch the National Intelligence Grid or NATGRID that aims to provide a “cutting-edge technology to enhance India’s counter-terror capabilities”, official sources said.

    They said the final “synchronisation and testing” of the ambitious electronic database, which was mooted after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, is being carried out so that it can go live.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently indicated that NATGRID, conceptualised as a seamless and secure database for information on terrorists, economic crimes and similar incidents, may finally see the light of day.

    “Had corona (COVID-19) not been there, the Prime Minister would have dedicated NATGRID to the country. I am hopeful that the Prime Minister will dedicate NATGRID to the country in some time,” Shah said during the 51st Foundation Day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) here on September 4.

    The NATGRID has been envisaged as a robust mechanism to track suspects and prevent terrorist attacks with real-time data and access to classified information like immigration, banking, individual taxpayers, air and train travels.

    The 26/11 terrorist seige in Mumbai back in 2008 exposed the deficiency that security agencies had no mechanism to look for vital information on a real-time basis. According to the first phase plan, 10 user agencies and 21 service providers will be connected with the NATGRID while in later phases about 950 additional organisations will be brought on board.

    In the following years, more than 1,000 organisations will be further integrated into the NATGRID. These data sources include records related to immigration entry and exit, banking and financial transactions and telecommunications.

    Prominent federal agencies of the country have been authorised to access the NATGRID database.

    They are the Central Bureau of Investigation, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Enforcement Directorate, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Central Board of Direct Taxes (for Income Tax Department), Cabinet Secretariat, Intelligence Bureau, Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau, Financial Intelligence Unit and the National Investigation Agency.

    Lack of quick information to intelligence and enforcement agencies was considered to be one of the major hurdles in detecting US terror suspect David Headley’s movement across the country during his multiple visits between 2006 and 2009.

    Headley had provided key information and videos of terror targets to Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including foreigners. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had given approval to the Rs 3,400 crore NATGRID project back in 2010 but its work slowed down after 2012.

    However, Modi, who came to power for the first time in 2014, later gave directions for its revival.

  • Amit Shah holds high-level meet to discuss J&K security situation

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level security meet on Thursday to discuss the security situation in Jammu & Kashmir following recent developments in Afghanistan. Concerns about growth of radicalisation and possible rise in infiltration was discussed, sources said.

    National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, RAW secretary Samant Goel, Director of Intelligence Bureau Arvinda Kumar, Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Lieutenant General of J&K Manoj Sinha, chiefs of paramilitary forces Pankaj Singh (BSF), Kuldip Singh (CRPF) and Dilbag Singh, Director General of J&K Police attended the meeting.

    Apart from the Taliban takeover, a comprehensive anti-drone strategy and misuse of social media from across the border are among issues discussed in nearly three hours. Sources said Shah discussed reports of increasing radicalisation in Kashmir. 

    There are reports that radicalisation is growing in south Kashmir, especially in areas like Sopore, Shopian and downtown Srinagar city. This is the first security meeting chaired by Shah after Kabul fell to the Taliban on August 15.

    Also discussed at the meet was the political and security implications in the Valley following the death of hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani. About reports of radicalisation in the Valley, Sinha said the security situation is continuously under watch. “Restrictions were imposed after Geelani passed away, but now they are lifted and the first Friday after Geelani’s death has passed peacefully.”

    A top security official said, “The situation in Afghanistan has emboldened terror groups in the Valley.  We are monitoring the situation.  There are no confirmed reports of increased radical activities but Pakistan is at an advantageous position with Taliban storming to power. It may intensify efforts to create trouble.”

    According to official statistics, 82 persons have gone missing this year and security agencies suspect they have joined terror groups. As per home ministry sources, around 200 terrorists are active in Kashmir, most belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

    Drone attacks talking point​Sources said Amit Shah spent a good amount of time discussing drone attack threats in areas along the LoC & International Border. Reports indicate ISI has secured sophisticated drones from China

    US for unity on Af talks

    External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar virtually participated in a meeting on Afghanistan organised jointly by the US and Germany. The meeting was called by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a tour of Germany, and his German counterpart Heiko Maas. “Blinken urged unity in mitigating a potential humanitarian crisis and in holding the Taliban accountable on counterterrorism, on allowing safe passage for foreign citizens and Afghans who want to leave, and on forming an inclusive government that respects basic rights. Participants agreed on the importance of remaining united in their enduring support for the people of Afghanistan,” US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. Blinken said the US will continue to try and support the rights of the Afghan people.

  • BJP readies volunteers to push social agenda

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  While BJP has faced criticism for being a ‘round the year election machinery’, the saffron outfit is seeking to give a major push to its social agenda, readying four lakh health volunteers across the country along with Poshan Abhiyan (nutrition mission). Under the watch of BJP chief J P Nadda, national office-bearers are tuning in to the social agenda in a big way, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah helms the political tasks of the outfit.

    Seeking to gain from the experiences of two waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, BJP is roping in two volunteers each in about two lakh villages across the country who will be trained to act as intermediaries during healthcare needs of people in the rural parts. Additionally, the women’s wing of BJP has been asked to focus on the nutrition mission and tend to the needs of women and children in rural areas to help achieve the aim of reducing maternal and infant mortality rates.

    Nadda is learnt to be focussing on the social agenda during his virtual conferences with party functionaries from states and the national office-bearers. This is in addition to the outfit taking up the Garib Kalyan agenda in which party workers distribute ration kits to the poor.

    “Volunteers who reached out to help people affected by the pandemic are being enlisted for a regular role in rural areas. Out of over 6.70 lakh volunteers associated with the party, four lakh have been enlisted as health volunteers, who will be trained by the Chikashtak Koshtha (doctors’ cell) of the BJP in basic health works,” said a senior BJP functionary.

    BJP national general secretary D Purandeswari, while speaking to The New Indian Express, said the social agenda of the party is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision that the aim of coming to power is to serve the people.

    “Experience gained during the two waves will form the background for the works of the health volunteers, who will act as the first line of assistance for people in villages for healthcare needs and also in times of medical emergencies,” said the functionary.

  • Haryana wants new House, CM Manohar Lal Khattar writes to Amit Shah for land

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government seems to be following in the footsteps of the Centre. While construction of a new Parliament building in New Delhi is in full swing, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting to provide ten acres of land for constructing a new assembly building in Chandigarh, a Union Territory.

    Confirming this, a senior official said more space would be needed after delimitation in 2026 as the number of MLAs would rise from 90 to 122 while the present building can only accommodate 90 legislators. Also, new systems and technology needs to be incorporated. “Hence, the state government has requested for the land near the existing legislative assembly building,” he said.

    Last month, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta had written to CM Khattar to take up this issue with the Centre.A dispute between Haryana and Punjab has been going on over the present assembly building. The Haryana government complains that it has not got the due share of space as Punjab is in “illegal” occupation over a large part.

  • UP polls: Shah faces challenge of halting OBC drift as SP woos Brahmins

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Set to take charge of BJP’s bid to defend political turf in Uttar Pradesh, Amit Shah faces an immediate task of arresting the drift of non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

    While the BJP leadership continues to watch caste churning in UP ahead of Assembly elections early next year, there’s a growing concern within the party that the smaller castes which helped them beat Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party in the elections since 2014 could be moving away.

    Party leaders believe that BJP may have to aggressively woo the likes of Patels, Nishads, Mauryas, Rajbhars and others to boost its prospects.

    Shah has a task on hand, with the smaller political parties specifically catering to the political aspirations of such castes asserting their strength in the run-up to the polls.

    Success of their counterparts in Bihar last year, most significantly of the Vikassheel Insan Party led by Mukesh Sahini, has seemingly emboldened their bargaining positions. 

    Shah is credited within the BJP for crafting a grand social engineering of the non-Yadav OBCs along with the upper castes to scale up the electoral base of the party in the state known for identity politics since 1990s.

    “After Shah was appointed the BJP in-charge for UP in 2013, he had set out to work on the numerical strength of the non-Yadav OBCs to beat the social engineering of the BSP and SP. But some of such smaller castes numbering up to 10,000-20,000 in each assembly constituency in UP are nursing grievances against BJP, which has to be addressed by the party urgently,” said a senior BJP functionary, who added that the party will need to do more than making Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal a minister in the Central government.

    The BJP’s challenge is also likely to be more onerous in the face of the willingness of SP to be more accommodative to parties which represent specific caste groups.

    With the likelihood of alliances against BJP, it may have to field a large number of candidates from the non-Yadav OBC space to promote alternative leadership.

    As political parties compete to woo Brahmins through outreach programmes ahead of the 2022 assembly polls, supporters of the Samajwadi Party have gone a step further.

    In Ballia on Monday, they held a “Shiv Sevak Sammelan” aimed at a section among the Brahmins — the influential Goswami community.

    The event was held under the banner of the “Goswami Samaj” at the local Town Hall, where Arvind Giri, the state president of Samajwadi Party Yuvjan Sabha, accused the BJP government of “neglect and oppression” of the community.

    He said similar conventions will be held all over the state to unite the Goswamis in favour of the SP ahead of the assembly elections early next year.

    On posters put up at the convention site, Lord Shiva shared space with SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and party president Akhilesh Yadav.

    Former minister Narad Rai attended the meeting.

    Giri said there are about 10 sub-castes among the Goswamis and efforts will be made to unite them through these events.

    He claimed that the Goswamis have a significant population in nearly 15 districts where they could influence the election outcome.

    Later, UP minister Anand Swaroop Shukla lashed out at the SP, saying it is out to divide the Hindu `samaj’ in the name of caste through such conventions.

    “Why does the Samajwadi Party not organise separate sammelans of Shias and Sunnis among of the Muslims,” he said.

    He also asked if any top SP leader has been seen offering ‘jalabhishek’ at Kashi Vishwanath, Baijnath or Pashupatinath temples.

    The minister claimed that the entire Hindu samaj is united in support of the BJP and nobody will succeed in dividing it in the name of caste.

    The BJP recently launched its “prabuddh varg” (intellectual community) “sammelans”, widely seen as events to reach out to the Brahmin community.

    Mayawati’s Dalit-centric Bahujan Samaj Party too has begun a similar exercise.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Amit Shah stresses on land-sea border security, says ‘no laxity’ acceptable

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Placing emphasis on land and sea border security Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that “no laxity” on this ground is acceptable.

    While speaking at the 51st Foundation Day of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) held in New Delhi, the Home Minister also focused on the security of citizens for the progress of democracy in the country

    “Land and sea borders should be safe and there should not be any laxity on that ground,” said the Home Minister.

    Shah also said that democracy does not only mean electing leaders through polls but also that the elected leaders ensure the security of citizens.

    “It helps in the progress of democracy,” he added.

    The Home Minister said that BPR&D has played a key role in linking police organisations for law and order management.

    Shah also mentioned that there is a need to improve the image of the police, who do the toughest job among all government employees, among the people. He especially lauded the efforts of the beat constables, saying they play a key role in the success of democracy.

    “Government employees do the toughest work in the police organisation. They don’t get leaves on Diwali, Rakshabandhan, and many more occasions. I think they do the toughest work done among government employees,” Shah said.

    “I don’t know why, but attempts are made to malign the image of Police, you can say that there were campaigns. Some incidents were exaggerated and some other good incidents were not given space. The most difficult work in the entire government system is done by the police personnel,” he added

    The Union Minister further mentioned how 3,700 Naxals have surrendered in the last few years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and added that they will be brought back to the mainstream.

    The Home Minister also said that BPR&D should change as per the need of the hour.

    “I am attached with over 80 institutions. Institutions should change themselves as per the need of the hour. Such organisations get fame and attraction when they keep themselves changing as per need. I have written in visitors book here at BPR&D at once that we cannot expect good policing without BPR&D,” he concluded.

  • Beat constable most important person who makes democracy successful: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the ‘beat constable’ deployed at the lowest level of the police system is the most important person who makes a democracy successful.

    Delivering the keynote speech during the 51st foundation day event of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), he said democracy cannot be successful if law and order in a country is not good.

    The beat constable, the cop in-charge of the smallest unit under a police jurisdiction, is the main and the most important person who makes the democracy successful, The Union home minister said.

    Addressing officers and personnel from various central, state and Union Territory police forces, Shah said the next decade is going to be very important from the point of internal security as the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking giant leaps in becoming a strong nation and economy.

    He added that as many as 3,700 armed cadre of various insurgent groups have surrendered before the Union government in the last two years.

    Shah said an accord will also be signed with a Karbi Anglong group on Saturday evening.

    The minister asked the BPRD, a central government think tank, to prepare the police forces as smart and strong units.

  • ‘BJP selling away national assets like an unworthy son’: Digvijay Singh lashes out at Modi, Shah

    Express News Service

    PATNA: Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh accused the BJP of selling all the national assets which were raised and created by the Congress government in the last 70 years. 

    Criticising the National Monetisation Pipeline launched by Union finance minister, Singh who reached Patna on Thursday night, drew the comparisons between Congress and BJP as worthy and unworthy sons. “Congress government raised and created the national assets during its governance like a worthy son. These assets are now being sold off by the BJP like an unworthy offspring would under the guise of the National Monetisation Pipeline. All national assets, including railway stations railway line, airports, road and others, are being sold by this ‘unworthy son’ (BJP),” Singh said.

    “When the country is passing through a difficult economic crisis how can I say Narendra Modi is a good prime minister? The BJP-led NDA governemnt is not for the people but for corporate houses.”

    He said the BJP often claims that nothing has happened in the country in the last 70 years, the majority period of which was ruled by the Congress. “If nothing has happened in the last 70 years, what the central government is selling? That is the difference between worthy and unworthy sons, between the Congress and the BJP,” Singh said.

    Stepping up his political attack at the Centre, Singh said that Both PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are proving disastrous for the country. He alleged that the hike in the rates of petrol and diesel is creating financial hardships for the common man. 

    Singh also blamed the Modi-Shah duo for constant disruptions in the Parliament. “The Congress party had always wanted to discuss the national issue in both the houses, but the BJP government differed from it. If these issues of inflation, unemployment and others are not discussed in Parliament, then where will it be done? The BJP is ruining the nation”, he alleged

    “No discussion can take place in both the houses without their consent. That is why the Congress has decided that it will send its people to different provinces to speak on inflation, unemployment and national wealth.”

    Lashing out at chief minister Nitish Kumar, Singh that the CM is under pressure from the Centre. “Now the political thoughts of legendary leaders like JP Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia are being removed from the syllabus by the state government,” he said.

    On being asked about Nitish Kumar being projected as the ‘PM Material’, Singh said: “Had he (Nitish Kumar) been the PM material, he would have not gone in the political shelter of BJP. Kumar knelt before the BJP just to continue to stay in power.”

  • Impetus to industrial growth in J&K via new portal launched by Amit Shah

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a portal for registration of units for Industrial development in Jammu and Kashmir. He said Rs 50,000 crore is expected to be invested in the Union Territory through this Central scheme.

    Asserting that Articles 370 and 35A were the biggest hurdles to private sector investment in the erstwhile state, Shah encouraged industry leaders to invest in Jammu and Kashmir. Shah, who also heads the ministry of co-operation, said a new dawn of investment and industrial development will begin in the Union Territory with this initiative.

    “Today, the most attractive industrial policy of the country is here. Under this policy, investment of more than Rs 50,000 crore will come to Jammu and Kashmir and under this, there will be all-inclusive, all-round development,” he said.

    The scheme aims to give fresh thrust to the industry and services-led development of Jammu and Kashmir with emphasis on job creation, skill development and sustainable development by attracting new investment and nurturing the existing ones. Shah said the onus of development of J&K is not only on the locals but also on the country. Apart from tourism, education and IT, this policy will also take forward many other possibilities, he said.