News Analysis India

Tag: Amit Shah

  • Big battle in BJP Maharashtra, incumbent state president Chandrakant Patil may go soon

    Express News Service

    Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil has been the eyes and nose of Amit Shah in Maharashtra, but his days seem to be numbered as state president.

    According to the highly placed sources in BJP, Maharashtra state president Chandrakant Patil is no more in the good books of Union minister Amit Shah. As a replacement, senior BJP leaders Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar, a close confidant of Amit Shah, are going round. Devendra Fadnavis is pitching Bawankule’s name as president as an OBC face.

    “Patil’s extra adventurous decisions of cozying up with MNS chief Raj Thackeray has not gone down well with the Delhi leadership of the BJP in view of Uttar Pradesh state elections. Raj Thackeray is known for his anti north Indian stand. If the BJP allies with Thackeray for the upcoming municipal polls that will have larger repercussions damaging the north Indian vote bank and sending the wrong message ahead of crucial Uttar Pradesh state polls,” said sources requested anonymity.

    Chandrakant Patil was in Delhi and he returned back without meeting Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the other hand, Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis met Amit Shah and discussed state issues as well.

    Patil tried to clarify that he had no schedule to meet Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. “But had I met both the leaders, it would have been a great visit to Delhi. I was told that they were busy in the ongoing monsoon session of parliament. People should not read much in my not meeting Amit Shah and Narendra Modi in Delhi visit,” Patil said.

    Sources said that the Patil-Fadnavis duo is not able to topple and counter the Maha Vikas Aghadi led by Uddhav Thackeray, successfully.

    “Delhi leadership of BJP are very much concerned about the Uttar Pradesh and Lok Sabha 2024. Maharashtra is the state that sends 48 members of parliaments that is big therefore they could not afford to lose Maharashtra for a long time. The RSS has also asked to get their act together as BJP organisation is in disarray,” said source requested anonymity.

  • Kinnaur landslide: Amit Shah speaks to Himachal CM, assures help from Centre

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday to take stock of the situation arising due to a landslide, in which over 40 people are feared buried under the debris, officials said.

    The home minister also directed the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to provide all assistance to the Himachal Pradesh government in rescue and relief operations.

    Shah spoke to the Himachal Pradesh chief minister to enquire about the landslide in the state, an official from the ministry said.

    He assured him of all possible help from the central government to deal with the situation.

    Over 40 people are feared buried under the debris of a major landslide in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district on Wednesday.

    Several vehicles, including a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus carrying over 40 passengers, are buried under the debris.

  • Amarinder asks Amit Shah for 25 companies of CAPF to boost state’s security

    By Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urgently provide 25 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to be deployed across the state and anti-drone gadgets for the Border Security Force (BSF) for protection from Pak-backed terror forces. 

    He said potential targets are farmers, RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena and other leaders. Citing the recent heavy influx of weapons, hand-grenades and IEDs into the state in the run-up to next year’s Assembly polls, Amarinder told Shah at a meeting the security situation was grave and needed Centre’s intervention.

    Citing inputs from Central and state agencies, corroborated by disclosures made by arrested terrorists, Amarinder said potential targets include trains, buses and Hindu temples.

    Amarinder told Shah between July 4 and August 8, 2021, foreign-based pro-Khalistani entities, working with the ISI, had sourced over 30 pistols, rifles and hand-grenades to create trouble in Punjab.

  • Punjab CM Amarinder Singh raises farm laws issue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met Home Minister Amit Shah and urged him to repeal the three farm laws, citing social, economic and security implications of a prolonged farmers’ agitation.

    He also sought 25 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and anti-drone gadgets for the Border Security Force (BSF) for protection from Pakistan-backed terror forces as Punjab is a border state and cited possible targeting of Hindu temples, prominent farmer leaders, RSS offices, RSS-BJP leaders among others, according to a statement by his office.

    The chief minister said during the meeting that the farm laws have caused great resentment amongst farmers from Punjab and other states and they must be repealed.

    He expressed concern over the fear of inimical powers from across the border trying to exploit the resentment and disgruntlement against the government and sought an expeditious solution to the farmers’ concerns.

    The chief minister said protests have been going on in Punjab ever since the central government issued the ordinances in June 2020.

    “While these protests have so far been largely peaceful, one can sense rising tempers, especially as the state moves towards elections in early 2022,” the chief minister said.

    The prolonged agitation is not only impacting economic activities in Punjab but also has the potential to affect its social fabric, especially when political parties and groups take strong positions, he added.

    The chief minister told Shah that the security situation was grave and needed the Centre’s immediate intervention, as he cited the recent heavy influx of weapons, hand-grenades and IEDs into the state, with Pakistan’s ISI also raising the ante ahead of the Independence Day and in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls.

    Singh asked the Union Home Minister for CAPF deployment in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Bathinda, Phagwara and Moga, as well as anti-drone technology for the BSF deployed at the borders.

    He pointed to the “potent threat” to the security of vital infrastructure/installations and public meetings/events being attended by “highly threatened” individuals, an official statement from Punjab government said.

    Referring to inputs from central and state agencies, corroborated by disclosures made by arrested terrorists, Amarinder Singh said potential individual and mass indiscriminate targets include trains, buses and Hindu temples, prominent farmer leaders, RSS Shakhas/Offices, RSS/BJP/Shiv Sena leaders based in Punjab, Deras, Nirankari Bhawans and Samagams.

    He cited specific inputs about five farmer leaders and that they had refused to take security offered by Punjab and Haryana police.

    The chief minister apprised Shah about the recent efforts by Pakistan’s ISI and the country’s establishment to push large quantities of weapons, hand-grenades, RDX explosive, detonators, timer devices, sophisticated laboratory made tiffin bombs into Punjab for carrying out terrorist acts.

    “With the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled for February-March 2022, many militant and radical operatives are being pressured by the ISI to carry out terrorist actions.

    These are very serious and worrisome developments having huge security implications for the border state and its people,” the CM warned.

    Amarinder Singh also flagged the urgent need to compensate farmers for the management of paddy straw at Rs 100 per quintal and to address the growing fear of shortage of DAP (Diammonium phosphate), which would further aggravate the problems of farmers.

    He urged Shah to immediately advise the officials of the fertilizers department for enhanced allocation of DAP stocks to Punjab as per the revised demand by the state and to further direct the suppliers to ensure that adequate stocks are given as per schedule.

  • ‘CM doesn’t have audacity’: Mamata accuses Amit Shah of plotting attacks on Abhishek, Trinamool activists in Tripura

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was responsible for the recent attacks on her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other party workers, and asserted that she won’t be cowed down by such acts.

    Her allegation comes days after Abhishek Banerjee and TMC student activists were attacked in separate incidents in BJP-ruled Tripura, where the party hopes to expand its base ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.

    “The BJP is running an anarchic government in Tripura, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and wherever they are in power. We condemn the attacks on Abhishek and our party activists in Tripura,” she said after meeting injured TMC workers at state-run SSKM hospital here.

    “Such attacks would not have been possible without the Union home minister’s active support. He is behind these attacks which were carried out in front of Tripura Police as it remained mute spectators. The Tripura chief minister doesn’t have the audacity to order such attacks,” she added.

    At least 14 leaders and workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including those injured in an alleged attack by BJP workers the previous day, were arrested in Tripura’s Khowai district on Sunday for “violating Covid norms”, police said.

    The TMC activists were produced before the CJM court in Khowai, which granted them bail, the party’s Tripura unit spokesperson, Ashish Lal Singh, said.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and the de facto number two in the party, along with other party leaders visited Khowai amid tight security arrangements.

    Police said the 14 TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions by travelling after 7 pm when a night curfew comes into effect.

    Singh said that party leaders including himself, Debangshu Bhattacharya, Tania Poddar, Sudip Raha and Jaya Dutta were among those arrested.

    Raha and Dutta had sustained injuries when their vehicle was allegedly attacked by BJP workers at Ambassa in Dhalai district on Saturday.

    “After the attack, we were returning to Agartala via National Highway 8 when the police stopped our vehicles at Khowai and took us into custody stating that there could be more attacks on us by ‘miscreants’.

    “Indeed, BJP activists had gathered at several places on NH 8 to attack us,” Singh said.

    However, early in the morning, police said the TMC members were arrested for violating Covid restrictions.

    Apart from Banerjee, West Bengal TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh, the eastern state’s Education Minister Bratya Basu, and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen also visited Khowai.

    Banerjee had earlier visited Tripura on August 2, when his convoy was also allegedly attacked by BJP workers.

    After securing bail for the 14 TMC workers, Banerjee returned to Kolkata while the other senior leaders stayed back in Agartala, Singh said.

    Injured party cadre, including Debangshu Bhattacharya, Jaya Dutta and Sudip Raha, were also brought back to the city late on Sunday night for treatment at a state-run city hospital, TMC said in a statement.

    Debangshu Bhattacharya said he will again return to Tripura soon.

    The West Bengal BJP welcomed the police action against the TMC activists, saying the Biplab Deb government is taking appropriate steps against “trouble-mongers”.

    Senior BJP leader and former Tripura governor Tathagata Roy claimed the TMC has no moral right to speak on law and order in the northeastern state as over 140 BJP workers have been killed in West Bengal in the last three years.

    “Does the TMC want to export West Bengal’s political violence to Tripura and fish in troubled waters? Their game plan will never succeed,” Roy told reporters.

    West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh echoed him, saying, “No one gives any importance to TMC in Tripura.”

    “They don’t have any organisation in the northeastern state. The TMC leadership is itself staging incidents to provoke the police but these will not give them any dividend.”

    However, senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim accused the BJP of “shedding crocodile tears” for democratic values in West Bengal and “carrying out barbaric attacks in Tripura”.

    Strongly criticising Saturday’s attack, TMC leaders had alleged that the incident proved there was “goonda raj” (lawlessness) in Tripura and the BJP has sensed its defeat in the 2023 assembly elections.

    Denying the involvement of its activists in the attack, the BJP claimed that the TMC is a non-factor in Tripura, and the West Bengal’s ruling party is spreading the “virus of political violence” in the northeastern state, where “outsiders” are fomenting trouble.

    Shortly after the incident, BJP and TMC supporters had faced off and staged road blockades 500 m apart on NH 8, forcing Chief Minister Biplab Deb to take a detour to return to Agartala after attending some programmes in Dharmanagar.

    TMC workers led by Subal Bhowmik, a former vice-president of Tripura BJP who recently switched sides, were protesting the alleged ransacking of a TMC party office by saffron party workers in the Batarasi area of Dharmanagar on Friday night.

    The West Bengal CPI(M) has also criticised the attack but also took a dig at the TMC alleging that it had kept mum when Left workers were earlier attacked in BJP-ruled Tripura.

  • PM Modi ensured pace of development continues even during COVID-19 pandemic: Amit Shah

    By PTI

    AHEMDABAD: India did not let the pace of development slow down even during the pandemic that affected the entire world, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday and added that the country has won the fight against coronavirus.

    “When the wheel of development came to a halt across the world, in India, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the pace of development continued.

    “We fought strongly against coronavirus and even won the fight, and at the same time, carried on with the development,” the Union home minister said in his address delivered virtually to mark the completion of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s five years in office, which is being celebrated as ‘Vikas Divas’.

    Shah also virtually inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects collectively worth Rs 5,300 crore.

    Shah said projects worth around Rs 900 crore (of the total project cost of Rs 5,300 crore) are taken up in his Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency while projects worth Rs 630 crore were inaugurated and foundation stones were laid for other projects worth Rs 241 crore.

    “The fact that the projects worth Rs 3,322 crore related to roads, bridges, water and electric supply, houses for the poor etc., being inaugurated today means that they were constructed and completed entirely during the coronavirus pandemic period.

    “In Gujarat, the inauguration of projects worth Rs 3,322 crore and (launching) many such projects in the last ten days shows that even during the coronavirus pandemic period, Gujarat ensured that the development never stops,” said Shah, who also holds the Cooperation Ministry.

    Rupani and Nitin Patel had sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively, of Gujarat on August 7, 2016.

    They assumed office once more in December 2017 after the BJP won again in the Assembly elections.

    He said the people of Gujarat fought against the pandemic well under the leadership of PM Modi, CM Rupani and Deputy CM Patel, and with the unforgettable contribution of BJP workers.

    “We have crossed both the first and second waves (of the coronavirus pandemic) once again to continue on the path of development,” he said.

    Shah said Gujarat is either ranked first or is on its way to get top ranking in different areas.

    He praised the leadership of Rupani and Patel for ensuring that even after Modi became prime minister (for the first time in 2014), the development works in Gujarat continued without interruption.

    He also hailed the CM and the deputy CM for the COVID-19 vaccination work in Gujarat.

    “Narendrabhai has started a new system in the country’s democracy so that even when a leader is not serving as the chief minister, the development work continues on its own.

    “I am proud that Narendrabhai started a system in Gujarat where even after he went (to the Centre as PM), the development work continued, and Vijaybhai (Rupani) and Nitinbhai (Patel) added momentum to development on the path shown by Narendra Modi.

    They have ensured peace, safety in Gujarat and are working for all-around development,” he said.

    Shah thanked his cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari, who heads the Road Transport and Highways ministry, for the construction of five over-bridges, two of which were inaugurated on Saturday, on the road connecting Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar.

    Shah appealed to Gujaratis settled outside the state to participate in the “Vatan Prem Yojana” under which they can make a monetary contribution for the development of their native villages or districts, with the state government making 40 per cent contribution.

    The Yojana was launched by the Gujarat government at the function on Saturday.

    He also slammed the Opposition for questioning the feasibility of the Sujalam Sufalam Yojana which was proposed by Modi when was chief minister of Gujarat.

    Under the Yojana, various works such as deepening of lakes, desilting and repairing of existing water bodies, cleaning of water canals are being carried out.

    “The Opposition had criticised that scheme saying will the pipes carry air? I would like to say to my friends in Opposition that the water from these pipelines has reached Banaskantha, and to every village in the Saurashtra region. The work to rid the state of ‘tanker raaj’ started by Modi is almost complete today,” he said.

  • Madhya Pradesh floods: Amit Shah speaks to Shivraj Singh Chouhan, assures help for dealing with

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday spoke to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and took stock of the flood situation in the state.

    In his telephonic conversation, Shah assured Chouhan of all possible help to Madhya Pradesh to deal with the situation.

    “Spoke to Shri @chouhanshivraj ji and inquired about the flood situation in some parts of Madhya Pradesh which occurred due to heavy rains and rise in water level of rivers.

    “The state is being given all help for relief work from the Centre. In this difficult time, the Modi government is standing with the people of the state,” he tweeted in Hindi.

    Torrential rains in the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh have affected 1,171 villages, especially Sheopur and Shivpuri districts, officials said, adding NDRF and SDRF teams have rescued 1,600 people from flooded areas so far.

    At least 200 villages are still marooned.

  • JDU delegation meets Amit Shah to press for caste-based census

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Pushing its agenda of a caste-based census, a delegation of Janata Dal (United) MPs led by new party president Lalan Singh met Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday with the demand.

    The JD(U) had also passed a resolution in support of the caste-based counting of population, a move with potentially wide political ramifications, in its national executive meeting on Saturday where Singh was elected its president.

    Speaking to reporters, Singh said the Bihar assembly had passed unanimous resolutions in 2019 and 2020 for having census on the caste lines, and added that it is now for the central government to take a final decision.

    Shah, he said, assured them that the matter will be discussed.

    To a question that some Bihar BJP leaders have expressed reservation against such a move, he claimed that he was unaware of their stand but noted that the saffron party had also backed the resolutions in the assembly.

    The delegation of JD(U) MPs had sought time from the PMO to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for its demand but was asked to meet Shah.

    While the BJP and the JD(U), whose most prominent face is Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, are allies, the two parties have had differences over a host of issues.

    With groups representing caste interests often exaggerating the headcount of their community members, the JD(U) president said India’s population will work out to be three times the actual number if all these claims are taken at their face value as he pushed for a caste-based census.

    This will also help the government in framing its development policies targeting different communities, he said, noting that it was in 1931 when the caste-based census was last done.

  • Home minister trying to find solution to tensions between Assam and Mizoram: Governor K Hari Babu

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Amid tensions between Assam and Mizoram over the recent border clash, Mizoram Governor K Hari Babu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and said the Centre is trying to find a solution to the issue.

    Meanwhile, BJP MPs from Assam, including Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, are also meeting the prime minister in the afternoon.

    Babu is scheduled to meet Home Minister Amit Shah later in the afternoon.

    Talking to reporters in Parliament after meeting the prime minister, Babu said the incident was “very unfortunate”.

    “The home minister is trying to defuse the tension and he is trying to find the solution Both chief ministers (of Assam and Mizoram) have committed that peace will be restored,” he said.

    At least six Assam Police personnel and one civilian were killed and more than 50 people injured, including the police chief of the district of Cachar, in a fire-fight between the police of the two states on a disputed stretch of their boundary, near Dholai in Cachar district on July 25.

    Tension along the border with Mizoram in Cachar and Hailakandi districts of Assam have been escalating since October 2020 with frequent incidents of burning of houses and encroachment of land.

    The two states share a 164.6-km border between Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, and Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts.

    Both states have differing interpretations of their territorial border.

    While Mizoram believes that its border lies along an ‘inner line’ drawn up in 1875 to protect tribals from outside influence, Assam goes by a district demarcation done in the 1930s.

  • Shah praises Yogi Adityanath for /revamped law and order in UP’, says BJP govts work for the poorest

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that BJP governments do not work on the basis of caste, but for the development of the poorest person and to revamp law and order.

    Addressing a function after laying the foundation stone of the UP State Institute of Forensic Sciences here, Shah heaped praise on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for taking the state to the top spot in terms of law and order.

    “The BJP governments do not work on the basis of caste, families, or for the people who are close to them. The BJP governments work for the development of the poorest person and to revamp law and order,” Shah said.

    “For six years till 2019, I travelled a lot in UP. Hence, I know the earlier UP very well. Today in 2021, I can say with pride that Yogi Adityanath and his team have taken UP to the top spot in terms of law and order,” he said.