News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • Maharashtra lockdown: BJP’s Patil, Fadnavis attack Uddhav government on aid to poor

    By PTI
    PUNE: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Sunday hit out at the Uddhav Thackeray government for imposing a slew of restrictions, including a weekend lockdown, without earmarking relief for the poor amid a surge in COVID- 19 cases.

    The state government on Sunday announced a weekend lockdown in the state from 8 pm on Friday to 7 am on Monday.

    Apart from the weekend lockdown, strict restrictions will come into force from Monday 8 pm onwards under which shopping malls, bars, restaurants, small shops will be open only for take-aways and parcels.

    Government offices will be allowed to function only at 50 per cent of their capacity.

    Patil said the move by the MVA government will hit the poor the most as no relief package had been announced for them.

    Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday appealed to the people in Maharashtra to follow the restrictions and the weekend lockdown announced by the state government to tackle the spread of COVID-19 cases.

    The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly also said the government should focus on providing financial aid to the poor and the middle-class people following the restrictions.

    He said the state government had collected arrears to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore from the people for defaulting on the payment of electricity bills.

    “The government should stop this (collecting the arrears) now,” the BJP leader told reporters.

    The state government on Sunday announced a weekend lockdown in the state from 8 pm on Friday to 7 am on Monday.

    Apart from the weekend lockdown, strict restrictions will come into force from Monday 8 pm onwards under which shopping malls, bars, restaurants, small shops will be open only for take-aways and parcels.

    Government offices will be allowed to function only at 50 per cent of their capacity.

    “Lockdown or a partial lockdown is okay. We will support the government, but it should also focus on providing financial assistance to the poor and the middle class,” Fadnavis said.

    Citing experts, Fadnavis said a new and more infectious strain of coronavirus affects the lungs of patients fast.

    “Awareness should be created about the nature of the precautions that need to be taken by the people because of the new strain of the virus. Why Maharashtra is the worst affected?” he asked.

    Talking about the “new strain”, the former chief minister said that initially no symptoms are seen in the infected people, but then the infection spreads fast.

    Fadnavis also said the Centre had helped all states, including Maharashtra, in tackling the pandemic.

    “At the same time, the state government should stop blaming the Centre for its failures and stop playing politics on this issue,” he said.

    Fadnavis said workers of the BJP will help the people in registration of vaccination.

    “When the chief minister calls us seeking our cooperation, we agree to it. But, at the same time, the government should stop playing politics and stop blaming the Centre for its failures,” he added.

  • With 23 rallies in whirlwind election tours, there’s no stopping of PM Modi even in pandemic

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: The political impact of the Covid pandemic isn’t yet known, but PM Narendra Modi appears to have rekindled his intensity in Assembly elections as a campaigner after a lull in the intervening period following the 2017 Gujarat election till the start of Jharkhand poll in 2019.

    Till Sunday, Modi had a whirlwind election tour clocking 23 rallies, while a few more are lined up for the last five phases of the Bengal elections.

    The PM, so far, held 16 rallies in Assam and West Bengal, and seven in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

    In 2017, Modi lead the BJP’s campaign in Gujarat during which he addressed 33 rallies besides taking off in a seaplane from Sabarmati riverfront on the last day of the campaigning to visit a temple. Though the BJP won the poll, the margin was reduced in the Assembly. 

    Subsequently, the BJP strategists reworked election campaign plans, with focus on building the grounds by then party chief Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and others for the PM to step in at the last stage.

    The rationale of the strategy was seemingly to keep him fresh for the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign in which he tallied 142 rallies in less than two months. 

    In 2018, Modi addressed 29 rallies in MP (10), Chhattisgarh (4) and Rajasthan (15). The PM kept the tempo for elections in Maharashtra (9), Haryana (4) and Jharkhand (10).  The BJP lost power in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and retained power in Haryana with a post-poll alliance with JJP. 

    Before political observers jumped to the conclusion that the PM’s appeal in the states is on decline, the Covid pandemic appears to have turned Modi into an intense campaigner as the first election after the outbreak saw him leading from the front with 12 rallies in Bihar.

    Going on campaign overdrive

    Till Sunday, Modi had a whirlwind election tour clocking 23 rallies, while a few more are lined up for the last five phases of the Bengal elections.

    The PM, so far, held 16 rallies in Assam and West Bengal, and seven in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry

  • BJP workers held for attacking TMC supporters, looting valuables in Memari: Police

    The incident happened when BJP supporters were campaigning in Naohati village in the district #39;s Memari police station area on Saturday afternoon with their candidate Bhismadeb Bhattacharya.

  • Mamata turned blind eye to coal scam, cattle smuggling: BJP

    Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari told a press meet that a highly placed member in state #39;s ruling party received Rs 900 crore from coal mafia and cattle smugglers.

  • MHA letter: Amarinder slams Centre for spreading ‘misinformation’ about Punjab farmers

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday slammed the Centre for allegedly spreading “misinformation” about the state’s farmers with its recent letter on the plight of “bonded labourers”.

    He said it was “yet another conspiracy to defame Punjab’s farmers”, whom the central government and the BJP have been “persistently trying to malign by dubbing them as terrorists, urban naxals and goons” to derail their agitation against the new central farm laws.

    The chief minister was responding to the letter sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Punjab government on the plight of 58 “bonded labourers” rescued in the northern state.

    He castigated the Centre over its “unwarranted charges” of farmers using people as bonded labourers in Punjab and also termed the letter a “bundle of lies”.

    “An analysis of the whole episode reveals that highly sensitive information pertaining to national security regarding the arrest of some suspicious persons, apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) from close to the volatile Indo-Pak border, has been unscrupulously twisted on baseless conjectures to malign and tarnish the farmer community,” Singh said in a statement.

    “This reality has been further substantiated by the fact that a selective leakage of the contents of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) letter to some leading newspapers and media houses has been done without waiting for an appropriate response from the state government,” he said.

    Asserting that his government and the state police are competent to safeguard the human rights of the poor and the downtrodden, the CM said suitable action has already been initiated in each case and most of the people are residing with their families.

    “If anything comes to notice at any stage, suitable legal action will be initiated against the culprits,” he said.

    In the March 17 letter to the Chief Secretary of Punjab, the home ministry had said the BSF found that these 58 people, who were brought to Punjab with the promise of good salary but exploited, were given drugs and forced to work in inhuman conditions once they reached the state.

    The home ministry said the BSF had informed that these labourers were apprehended from the border areas of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur and Abohar in Punjab in 2019 and 2020.

    Rejecting the letter as “totally unwarranted” and “factually incorrect”, the Punjab chief minister alleged that neither the data nor the reports submitted by BSF were in tune with the content of the letter.

    “…it is not the job of the BSF to investigate such matters, and they are only responsible for detaining any person found to be roaming along the border in suspicious circumstances, and handing them over to the local police,” he said in the statement.

    The Congress leader also asserted that all the 58 cases alleged by the Centre have been investigated thoroughly and nothing of this kind had been found.

    Giving further details, he said, of the 58 detainees, four belong to different areas of Punjab and were found roaming near the Indo-Pak border by the BSF, while three were found to be intellectually disabled.

    One Paramjit Singh, a resident of Patiala who was apprehended near Pathankot, has been mentally disabled from the last more than 20 years.

    He had left his home about two months before his detention, the CM said.

    “Roorh Singh, a resident of Gurdaspur, had to be admitted to the Institute of Mental Health, Amritsar on the day of his apprehension.

    Another person namely Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of SBS Nagar, was also facing mental health issues.

    “Subsequently, all these three people were handed over to their family members on the same day after verification by the local police,” he said.

    Further, 16 of the 58 detainees were found to be intellectually disabled, of whom four were suffering from the disorder since childhood, he said.

    “One Babu Singh, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, was undergoing psychiatric treatment from Agra.

    He was handed over to his family members on the production of his medical record,” the chief minister noted.

    The identity of three other persons apprehended by BSF could not be established due to their mental health conditions, Singh said.

    “It has also come to light that 14 persons had come to Punjab only a few days/weeks prior to their apprehension, hence the conclusion that they were working as bonded labourers since long is totally refuted,” he said, adding that none of the persons apprehended has made any allegation of being forcibly kept as farm labourers under inhuman conditions even before the courts.

    The CM also refuted the charges that they were given drugs and made to work for long hours.

    “Nothing on record suggests that these persons were forcibly infused drugs to keep them working for long hours, and moreover, it is incorrect to conclude that the intellectual disability of these persons is drug induced.

    “Most of them were medically examined with the help of the BSF and police, and nothing on record suggested that they were hooked to any habit-forming drugs,” he added.

    The home ministry had on Saturday termed as “distorted” and “misleading” media reports linking its letter to the farmers’ agitation and said no motive should be ascribed to a routine communication over law and order issues.

  • BJP slams Baghel for continuing campaign in Assam despite Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh

    By ANI
    GUWAHATI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Mangaldoi Dilip Saikia slammed Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel for continuing to campaign in Assam at a time when his state saw a deadly encounter between security personnel and Naxalites and alleged that the Congress leader doesn’t care.

    “At a time when many security personnel have lost their lives, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel is busy in the poll campaign in Assam. He is camping here with government staff and misusing government machinery. Election Commission should investigate this matter,” Saikia told ANI.

    “Baghel doesn’t care about the killing of the jawans. Instead of fulfilling his duties towards Chhattisgarh, the Congress leader is camping in Assam,” Saikia alleged.

    “I pay my tribute to the jawans who laid their life on the line of duty. We stand with their families,” the BJP national General Secretary said.

    Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday expressed deep grief over the killing of five jawans in the encounter between the security forces and Naxalites near Tarrem in Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.

    Shah also asked the Director-General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to go to Chhattisgarh and take stock of the situation.

    Acting upon the order, Kuldiep Singh reached Chhattisgarh in the morning and looked after the operational work.

    Five security personnel were killed and around 31 sustained injuries in the encounter in Bijapur on Saturday, Chhattisgarh Police said.

    Around 21 security personnel are still missing following the encounter with Naxals, out of which seven are from CRPF.

  • ‘Creating communal tension Mamata’s policy’: Dharmendra Pradhan lashes out at Bengal CM

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Ahead of the third phase of polling in West Bengal, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scared with the support people are showing to BJP and accused her of doing minority appeasement in the state. He alleged that creating communal tension has been her policy.

    Speaking to media in Kolkata after offering prayers at Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said, “The Chief Minister of West Bengal is scared with the support people showed to BJP in the first two phases. They will do the same in this phase too. She has resorted to using abusive language.”

    “On the one hand Mamata Banerjee considers ‘Jai Shree Ram’ as abuse, and on other hand, she is asking the minorities to vote for her. Creating communal tension has become her policy,” he added.

    Pradhan is in Kolkata for campaigning before the third phase of polling said people of Bengal voted for BJP in the first two-phase and will do the same in the third phase.

    He also talked about petrol, diesel prices in the country and said with a decrease in crude oil prices in international markets, fuel prices in India have also started reducing now and they will reduce further in the coming days.

    “Petrol, diesel and LPG prices have started reducing now and they will reduce further in the coming days. We had stated earlier also that we will transfer benefit from the decrease in crude oil prices in the international market to the end customers,” he said.

    Pradhan also held a roadshow in Kolkata today, before the campaigning for the third phase ends in the evening.

    Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal polls was held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The next phase of polling will take place on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • Assam minister, who threatened two journalists, asked to appear before police

    By PTI
    MORIGAON: Assam minister Pijush Hazarika, who allegedly threatened two journalists of dire consequences, has been issued a notice to appear before police and his call recordings have been sent to forensic lab for examination, officials said on Saturday.

    Two FIRs filed at Jagiroad police station by the scribes have been merged, and Hazarika has been booked under Sections 500 (defamation), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the IPC.

    The minister, who is contesting from the Jagiroad constituency where polling took place in the second phase on Thursday, had allegedly threatened the two journalists for reporting about a controversial campaign speech by his wife.

    “The statements of the journalists were recorded and a notice was issued to the minister in connection with the case. He has been asked to come to Jagiroad PS for recording his statement,” Morigaon District Superintendent of Police Nanda Singh Borkala told PTI.

    Hazarika, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said he will come to the police station on Sunday to give his statement, the SP said.

    Borkala said the mobile phones of the scribes and that of Hazarika have been seized and the voice recordings of the conversation sent to a forensic laboratory in Guwahati.

    “As per law and procedure, we will proceed in the case,” he added.

    In the FIR, the two journalists – Nazrul Islam and Tulsi Manta – of Assamese news channels claimed that Hazarika had threatened them with dire consequences at 1 pm on Thursday, when they were busy in poll coverage of the second phase in Morigaon district.

    Police have also provided personal security cover to both the journalists.

    Meanwhile, the IG (Law and Order) Deepak Kumar Kedia, who is the nodal officer of the state police for the ongoing Assam assembly elections, has sought a report from the district police on the case.

    Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora has also filed a complaint with the state’s chief electoral officer, demanding Hazarika’s disqualification from the polls.

    Other opposition parties like the AIUDF, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Dal, AASU, AJYCP and several social groups also called for immediate disqualification of Hazarika from the elections.

    The Gauhati Press Club (GPC) condemned the “act of intimidation” by Hazarika.

    In an audio clip telecast by an Assamese news channel on Thursday, the minister can be heard threatening the scribes of dragging them out of their homes and making them “vanish”.

    The minister also said in the telephonic conversation, which has now gone viral, that he was “sad” because the news was related to his wife Aimee Baruah, who while campaigning for her husband a few days ago had made a controversial comment on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    Baruah, at a recent public meeting in Jagiroad, had reportedly said the people from the Bengali community will be thrown out of the country if the CAA is not implemented.

  • Mamata seen shaking injured leg in video sparks war of words between Trinamool, BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A purported video clip where Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen sitting on a wheelchair and moving her plastered leg back and forth has gone viral on social media, giving her rivals an opportunity to claim that she was playing up her injuries to win sympathy.

    The TMC, however, has condemned the “manner in which the party supremo has been insulted”, and said the rival BJP should learn how to respect women.

    PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

    BJP spokesperson Pronoy Roy, who shared the 30-second clip on Facebook, said Banerjee should “stop putting up a drama over her injuries” to garner public support in the midst of the assembly elections.

    “This video grab which has surfaced on networking websites has not been filmed by anybody from the BJP. It was recorded by some TMC party workers. We want her to get back to normal life soon, we also pray for that. But she must stop putting up this drama by moving around in a wheelchair.”

    “If she was exercising her leg by shaking it then I suggest that she start walking as that will help her recuperate faster.”

    Taking a jibe at the chief minister, Rahul Sinha, a senior leader of the saffron party, said the TMC supremo’s bandage will not buy her votes.

    “The more she is losing confidence the bigger her bandage gets. People are not buying this. She must have forgotten which leg is injured, and shook the wrong foot. She has already lost the elections, the bandage won’t be able to save her from imminent defeat,” Sinha said.

    Taking strong exception to the remarks made by BJP leaders, state minister Shashi Panja said the saffron camp, by raising suspicion over Banerjee’s injuries, has not just insulted her but all the women of Bengal.

    “We condemn the manner the BJP is insulting our beloved CM. They are not just insulting our CM, but also the other women of the state. We urge them to show proper respect to the women of this state,” Panja said.

    Echoing her, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who joined the TMC recently, said if anybody was churning out lies, it was the BJP and not the TMC.

    “Are they (BJP leaders) trying to say that a whole lot of people involved (in treating her) including eminent doctors are lying? It’s only the BJP which is capable of speaking such lies. I’ve no doubt in my mind that they are the ones behind this (propaganda),” Sinha, who had served as the finance minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, stated.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also hit out at the BJP and said that the people of Bengal will give the BJP a befitting reply for its “dirty politics”.

    “If they (BJP leaders) are spending so much time staring at Didi’s feet, they might as well fall on her feet. We condemn such politics that targets a woman who is holding campaigns sitting on a wheelchair, after being attacked. This shows that the BJP has lost its plot,” Ghosh said.

    Banerjee sustained injuries on her left leg, waist, shoulder and neck as she fell down after allegedly being pushed by miscreants in Nandigram on March 10.

  • Sahada bypoll: In viral video and letter, BJP rebel Ladulal Pitliya alleges he withdrew nomination after threats

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR:  A major controversy has erupted over the withdrawal of nomination by a BJP rebel who had filed his nomination as an independent candidate for the Sahada by-elections in Rajasthan.

    Ladulal Pitalia withdrew his nomination for the Sahara Assembly seat in Bhilwara district but has alleged that the BJP was “pressuring” him. 

    Pitalia has also written a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and sought protection for his family.

    In his letter, Ladulal has alleged that he is being “pressurised” about his business interests in Karnataka where the BJP is in government. Ladu Lal Pitalia has a major garments business in Karnataka and he has accused the BJP government in Karnataka of threatening and putting pressure on his family. 

    In addition, one of Pitalia’s purported audio clips has also gone viral on social media where he talks about the threats and pressures he and his family are facing to force him to withdraw his nomination. In this chat with a party worker, Pitalia even talks about the severe pressure that he is allegedly facing from the BJP High Command.  

    Pitalia was earlier with the BJP but had decided to contest the upcoming assembly by-poll in Sahada as an independent candidate. BJP sources say Pitalia’s name was among the panel for the Sahada constituency but he was dropped due to caste calculations.

    Eventually, an angry Pitalia filed his nomination as an independent candidate on March 30 and he was seen as a major spoiler for the official BJP candidate Ratanlal Jat.

    His withdrawal is a big relief for the BJP as Pitalia’s rebellion after he was denied the party ticket had cost the party this seat in the 2018 Assembly elections.

    As an independent, Pitalia had polled over thirty thousand votes in 2018, which led to the BJP candidate being defeated by a margin of around 7,000 votes by Congress leader Kailash Chandra Trivedi whose death has now led to the by-poll on this seat.

    His sudden withdrawal has led to a sharp verbal war between the BJP and Congress. Trying to encash on the issue, state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra remarked, “the BJP puts on a lot of drama about morality but look at how shamefully they have threatened and pressured Pitalia to withdraw his candidature. They were really scared of losing the election and the BJP seems to have made it a duty to break all boundaries of morality in Indian politics.”

    Though the BJP is relieved by his withdrawal, the party insists that there was no pressure on Pitalia and claims he withdrew voluntarily.

    State BJP president Satish Poonia said, “Ladulal Pitalia has withdrawn his nomination unconditionally and our party welcomes his decision. We will respect Pitalia and give him a suitable responsibility.  With his withdrawal, the victory of our party is now certain.”

    Other party leaders also claim that both Pitalia’s letter to CM Gehlot and the viral audio clip are fake. BJP secretary in the state, Shravan Singh Bagdi remarked, “…The letter to the CM and the audio clip are just a conspiracy hatched by the Congress.”