News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • BJP demands ban on Saif Ali Khan-strarrer ‘Tandav’ for mocking Hindu deities

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: BJP MP Manoj Kotak on Sunday said he has written to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar seeking a ban on Amazon Prime Video’s series “Tandav” for ridiculing Hindu deities.

    “Tandav”, starring actors Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dino Morea, Kumud Mishra, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Gauhar Khan and Kritika Kamra, premiered on the streaming platform on Friday.

    Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar has created, directed and produced the political drama with Himanshu Kishan Mehra and it is written by Gaurav Solanki, best known for “Article 15”.

    The Mumbai North-East MP said attempts are “often” made on such platforms “to not show” Hindu deities in good light.

    “Different organisations and individuals have complained that Hindu Gods and Goddesses have been ridiculed in ‘Tandav’ web series. Comments have been passed about them,” Kotak said.

    “Hence, we have made a demand to Javadekar ji and have written to him to ban the web series immediately. The actors, producers and directors should apologise for hurting sentiments,” he added.

    Sharing the picture of his letter to Javadekar on Twitter on Sunday, Kotak said as there is no law or autonomous body governing digital content, such platforms are “full of sex, violence, drugs, abuse, hate and vulgarity. Sometimes, they also hurt religious sentiments.”

    “It seems that makers of ‘Tandav’ have deliberately mocked Hindu Gods and disrespected Hindu religious sentiments,” he said in the letter dated January 16.

    Another politician , Ram Kadam, a BJP MLA from Ghatkopar West, also asked the director to remove the portion of the web series in which Lord Shiva is ridiculed.

    The legislator said he has filed a complaint in this connection at the suburban Ghatkopar police station.

    “Filed complaint against Tandav Web Series at Ghatkopar police station. Police has assured quick investigation, FIR under Sec 295A of IPC, Section 67A of IT Act & Atrocities Act. Producer, Director, Writer, Actors & Amazon to be summoned soon.#BanTandavNow #Boycottandav,” he tweeted.

    The scene at the heart of the controversy relates Zeeshan’s Shiva doing a stage play where he is dressed as Lord Shiva.

    The sequence talks about how Lord Ram has become more popular today.

    When contacted Amazon Prime Video PR said the platform “won’t be responding” on the matter.

  • Nitish under pressure in NDA, should return to Grand Alliance: Congress

    A statement to the effect was made by Congress Legislature Party leader Ajeet Sharma, though it was promptly dismissed as being quot;not official quot; by the RJD.

  • Trinamool Congress leaders in West Bengal received COVID vaccine shots meant for health workers: BJP

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Reacting to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s jibe at the centre for sending “inadequate” supply of vaccines to West Bengal, the BJP Sunday retorted sharply, saying in fact several TMC leaders queued up for the jabs meant for healthcare personnel and frontline workers resulting in shortage of doses for the needy.

    Several TMC leaders, including two MLAs, were among the people who received the COVID-19 vaccine in Purba Bardhaman district on Saturday, the opening day of the nationwide vaccination programme.

    Many healthcare workers in the state had alleged that they could not get the jab though they were asked to come for it.

    Amid natiowide launch of vaccination drive Saturday,Banerjee had expressed her dissatisfaction over “inadequate” number of COVID-19 vaccines supplied to West Bengal for the inoculation process and said her government, if needed, would supply the vaccines free of cost to the people.

    “The vaccines sent by the central government are for healthcare staffers, police personnel and other frontline workers who are serving the society in the pandemic situation. Nearly 3.5 crore vials were dispatched by the centre across the country. These doses are not meant for political leaders.”

    “If these vaccines were taken by some TMC leaders,there would be a shortfall,” BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh told reporters Sunday.

    Some TMC leaders are so scared of their lives that they jumped the gun, violating the norms, he quipped.

    With the state elections around the corner, the saffron party launched a strong counter-offensive against the TMC on the vaccination exercise.

    Elections to 294-member Bengal assembly are due in April- May this year hence even the much-awaited vaccination drive did not remain untouched from the ongoing political mudslinging in the poll-bound state.

    Hours after Banerjee’s allegations the previous day, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya had launched a broadside against the feisty Bengal leader, slamming her for making “baseless” allegations.

    Vijayvargiya accused Banerjee of trying to politicise the vaccination programme ahead of the assembly polls.

    “She should stop politicising everything. None of the states has complained only she is complaining about it. She is trying to politicize the issue before the assembly polls,” Vijayvargiya told PTI.

    He claimed that if the vaccines for the health workers fell short it was due to TMC leaders queuing up for the jabs.

    According to a state government official, Bengal was supposed to receive over 10 lakh vaccines in the first phase, but have got 6.89 lakh doses so far.

    Around 15,707 people were administered the first dose of the COVID 19 vaccine in the state on Saturday.

    Taking a cue from the TMC supremo, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee attacked the BJP-led central government Sunday for making available less than required doses of vaccines to the state.

    “The centre is not adequately supplying COVID vaccines to West Bengal. It is keeping control over the supplies. If needed, the state government will bear the cost of administering the vaccine to every person in the state,” Chatterjee said.

    Alleging that the BJP had not joined the fight against COVID-19 in the state, he said the saffron party’s only agenda is to “carry out personal attacks in the run-up to the assembly polls”.

    Two TMC MLAs Subhash Mondal and Rabindranath Chatterjee and former TMC MLA Banamali Hazra were among the beneficiaries of vaccination drive on the day of launch Saturday in Purba Bardhaman district.

    Chief Medical Officer of the district Pranab Roy, however, had said the public representatives who received the vaccines were part of the Patient Welfare Committees at different hospitals.

    “Since they are associated with ensuring good services at the hospitals, they are also eligible for the vaccine. There is nothing irregular in it,” he said.

  • Syed Shahnawaz Hussain rewarded for J&K work, gets MLC ticket in Bihar

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Former Union minister and BJP’s national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain was named by the party on Saturday its MLC candidate from Bihar. Hussain appears to have finally been able to find favours with the BJP leadership after he campaigned in DDC elections in the Kashmir valley. The term for the two seats vacated by the BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Vinod Narayan Jha will be completing on July 21, 2022. Hussain will be a nominee for the remaining term of the seat in the Bihar legislative council.

    Known to be the youngest Cabinet minister of India when Hussain was elevated as Union Minister for Civil Aviation in the council of the ministers headed by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was seen on the margins of the saffron outfit, with the party denying him Lok Sabha nominations in the 2019 general elect ions af ter Bhagalpur constituency had gone into the kitty of JD(U).

    While Hussain was the Muslim face of the BJP in the Vajpayee Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi filled the role with the Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Even while Hussain wasn’t considered for the Rajya Sabha nominations, he continued putting forth party’s view points as a spokesperson, while taking the role of a campaigner in state elections.

    Hussain had campaigned in Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, and he recently camped in the Kashmir valley for the District Development Council (DDC) polls, with the saffron outfit bagging three seats there. Hussain had made his debut in the Lok Sabha in 1999, winning the Kishanganj Lok Sabha, and afterwards he shifted base to Bhagalpur, while representing the constituency after 2006 bypoll on the seat and 2009. He had lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

  • BJP to scan TMC defectors before induction in West Bengal

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  A week after BJP chief JP Nadda visited West Bengal and asked the party’s core panel to list reasons for a large-scale migration from the Trinamool, the party brass has decided to tweak its strategy of embracing all and sundry.

    Instead, it has recommended that the defectors should be scanned before their induction into the saffron camp. The party’s change of stance came at the instance of Home Minister Amit Shah who met Bengal functionaries on Friday night in Delhi.

    The rethink came a few days after the RSS, in its three-day workshop in Ahmedabad, raised questions on the mass induction of all TMC defectors in the BJP.

    ALSO READ: TMC MLA Tapas Roy holds Congress responsible for rise of BJP in Bengal

    The “surveillance” is said to be aimed at addressing two issues: stem disgruntlement among the party’s old workers and blunt the attack of the ruling party labelling the saffron camp as a ‘washing machine’ for tainted TMC functionaries. The state BJP has made inroads into the state on the basis of anti-TMC vote share.

    A section of BJP leaders said the mass inclusion in the party will send out a wrong message to the party’s anti-TMC vote-bank.

    “The leadership wants us to examine the prospective defector’s antecedents, their image in public and their winning chances in the Assembly elections due in a few months. Many TMC defector MLAs had failed to secure a lead in their Assembly constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior BJP leader.

    ALSO READ: Amit Shah meets Bengal team to sharpen victory focus

    In response to Nadda’s curiosity about exodus from the TMC, the members of the core committee, in a meeting with the BJP chief in Burdwan on January 9, said the turncoats are either aspiring to contest in the Assembly elections on saffron camp’s tickets or looking for berths in the hierarchy.

    “The party’s national leadership has realised that the TMC MLAs are shifting their political alignment towards the BJP with an aim to get ticket and contest in the elections and their followers are looking for berths in the hierarchy. There are incidents of clashes between the party’s old workers and newcomers. If we continue welcoming all defectors, our intra-party dissent will become prominent before the polls,” said another BJP leader.

    BJP’s Bengal observer Kailash Vijayvargiya had said two days ago that at least 41 TMC MLAs are queuing up to join the saffron camp. But, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has made it clear that the newcomers would have to go through the party scanner.

    ALSO READ: West Bengal will drown in Ganga if BJP comes to power – TMC

    “We will not induct all. A final decision will be taken by the national leadership after scrutiny,” he said.

    Now, Forest Minister Rajib Banerjee says he is unhappy

    Forest Minister Rajib Banerjee, in a Facebook Live session, expressed his unhappiness on Saturday saying the party leadership did not pay any heed to the lower-tier workers. He also alleged he was stopped on many occasions when he tried to do something for the common people.

  • TMC MLA Tapas Roy holds Congress responsible for rise of BJP in Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Accusing the Congress of “muddling” the state’s political scenario with its anti-Mamata Banerjee campaigns, the TMC on Saturday held the grand old party responsible for the rise of communal forces, such as the BJP, in West Bengal.

    State minister and TMC MLA Tapas Roy, during a press meet here, also claimed that the Congress failed as a party at the Centre, as a result of which “this divisive force (BJP) took centre stage in the country”.

    “By practising strident and blind anti-Mamata policy in Bengal, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Adhir Choudhury dragged state politics backwards. That, in turn, resulted in the emergence of forces like the BJP,” Roy said.

    Sharpening his attack on the saffron party, Roy alleged that the BJP was trying to disparage the inclusive nature of the state, and its history.

    “By eulogising Veer Savarkar in Netaji’s Bengal, the saffron camp is distorting the culture of the state,” the legislator claimed.

    Asserting that the saffron camp’s dream to turn West Bengal into Gujarat will come to nought, he said the way BJP leaders have been hurting the ‘asmita’ (self pride) of the state’s 10 crore people with their statements, there is room for little doubt that they would face a “humiliating defeat” in the upcoming Assembly polls.

    “Your (BJP’s) dreams to turn Bengal into Gujarat will never be realised. The party’s central leaders are coming here from Gujarat, while state leaders are talking of building ‘Sonar Bangla’ (golden Bangla) by taking cues from the western state. Which Gujarat are you referring to? Is it the one where 2,000 people were slaughtered in three days some years ago?” Roy quipped.

    Drawing parallels between the two states, the Baranagar MLA, quoting recent national crime data, said that for every one lakh people, 32 crimes occur in Kolkata against 54 in Ahmedabad.

    “There are 98,000 schools in Bengal against 55,000 schools in Gujarat. Female literacy in rural Bengal stands at 73 per cent, while in Gujarat it has reached 68 per cent. BJP central leaders from Gujarat don’t have the right to draw comparisons between the two states.

    “Also, take note of the fact that almost all heavyweight bank defaulters are from Gujarat,” Roy added. Asked about senior TMC leader Satabdi Roy, who had voiced her discontent about the party on Friday, the minister made light of the matter, and said, “She is an asset to the party.

    She has always been loyal to party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

  • COVID vaccine: BJP leaders take dig at Rahul Gandhi for no word of appreciation for scientists

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: BJP leaders on Saturday took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi for raising “doubts” about the government’s efforts to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination drive but not putting out any word of appreciation for scientists and health workers on the day of its launch.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive while reassuring the country that emergency use authorisation was given to two made in India vaccines only after scientists were convinced of their safety and efficacy, and urged people to beware of propaganda and rumours.

    BJP I-T department head Amit Malviya tweeted, “Rahul Gandhi raised doubts on govt’s effort to roll out Covid vaccine.

    ALSO READ: From ministers to public, what people said about COVID vaccination drive

    But on a day when India undertakes the largest vaccine drive, after Modi admin approved two Made in India vaccines, not a single tweet! Not a word of appreciation for Indian scientists and health workers too?” He also posted the Congress leader’s critical tweets in the past about the Modi government’s handling of the pandemic.

    Targeting critics, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, “On a day of hope for every Indian, all those who spread fake narratives & expressed apprehensions about India’s capability to produce the vaccines can now remove their foot from the mouth & vaccinate themselves against self-doubt.”

  • Lack of case diary extends comedian Munawar Faruqui’s bail hearing in Madhya Pradesh HC

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: The Indore Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday adjourned for the next week, hearing of application filed by Mumbai-based stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui for bail in a January 1, 2020 case pertaining to alleged derisive remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home minister Amit Shah.

    A single judge HC bench of Justice Rohit Arya adjourned the hearing of bail plea filed by Munawar Faruqui and Indore resident Nalin Yadav, as the Tukoganj police failed to produce the case diary of the case in which Faruqui, Yadav and four others have been arrested and their pleas rejected by the lower courts.

    “We had moved bail applications on behalf of Munawar Faruqui and Nalin Yadav and the matter was listed for hearing before the HC for hearing. Senior Supreme Court advocate and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha appeared on behalf of the bail applicants. But since the local police could not produce the case diary, the hearing in the matter was adjourned for next week,” Faruqui’s counsel Anshuman Srivastava told in Indore.

    “Personally I believe that it is negligence on part of the police that they could not produce the case diary in the HC on time. We further requested the HC to direct the police authorities to produce the case diary, particularly since the Tukoganj police station in Indore is located just in front of the court. But since the matter was already adjourned, the HC listed it for hearing on the next date after a week,” Srivastava added.

    Faruqui along five others, including Indore based stand-up comedian siblings Prakhar and Priyam Vyas, Nalin Yadav, event coordinator Endwin Anthony and Sadaqat were arrested by the Tukoganj police in Indore on January 1, 2021 in connection with a New Year Day comedy show at a popular café, where derisive remarks were allegedly made about Hindu deities and also union home minister Amit Shah. They were also booked for violation of COVID-19 safety protocol as the New Year Day show was organized without permission of local administration-police.

    The arrested were booked Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings), 269 (negligent act likely to spread disease), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.

    The arrests were made by Indore’s Tukoganj police on the complaint of local saffron outfit head Eklvaya Singh Gaur, who is also the son of local BJP MLA and ex-Indore mayor Malini Gaur.

    Eklaviya Gaur along with other members of his right wing Hindu outfit was present among the audience at the New Year Day comedy show at the popular café at Indore. Gaur and his supporters had stopped the show, alleging that a stand-up comedian performing there had hurt religious sentiments of a community by making derisive remarks about Hindu deities and union home minister Amit Shah.

    UP Police seeks Faruqui’s custody in April 2020 case lodged in Prayagraj district

    Meanwhile, in a related development, the Prayagraj district police of Uttar Pradesh have submitted a production warrant to the Indore Central Jail and also the CJM court in Indore for Faruqui’s production in a April 2020 case lodged against him at George Town police station of Prayagraj district.

    The case registered on April 19, 2020 at Prayagaraj’s George Town police station on the complaint of Prayagraj-based advocate Ashutosh Mishra pertains to videos uploaded on the Youtube by Faruqui in which insulting remarks have been made about Hindu deities Ram-Sita and also linking Union Home Minister Amit Shah with the 2002 Godhra violence.

    The case at George Town police station in UP’s Prayagraj district was lodged under Sections 153-A, 295-A of IPC and Section 65 and 66 of Information and Technology Act 2008 on April 19, 2020.

    When contacted in the matter, official sources in Prayagraj police confirmed that a Production Warrant has been submitted before the Indore Central Jail authorities and Indore CJM court on January 7, 2021 for Faruqui’s custody for production before the court in Prayagraj district in connection with the April 2020 case.

  • West Bengal will drown in Ganga if BJP comes to power: TMC

    The TMC leader also said deposit bases of public sector banks are gradually weakening, while those of the private lenders are quot;growing incrementally quot;.

  • BJP announces four candidates for UP Legislative Council polls

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced the names of four of its candidates for the upcoming biennial polls for the 12 seats of state Legislative Council falling vacant on January 30.

    “The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party has approved the names of Swatantra Dev Singh, Dr Dinesh Sharma, Laxman Prasad Acharya and Arvind Kumar Sharma, as candidates for the upcoming biennial election for Legislative Council in UP,” read a release issued by the BJP here on Friday.

    Swatantra Dev Singh is party’s UP chief and Dr Dinesh Sharma is one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers of the state.

    The other one is Keshav Prasad Maurya.

    While the process of filing nomination papers for council polls is under way till January 18, the voting for the dozen seats will take place on January 28. Counting of votes will be done one hour after the completion of polls.

    The total strength of UP State Council is 100. Of the 100 members, 38 are elected by the MLAs, 36 by the representatives of local bodies, 8 candidates are elected from teachers’ constituency and 8 from graduate constituency. Remaining 10 members are nominated to the upper house. The tenure of each member is that of 6 years.

    Currently, the BJP has 32 members in UP state council. On the basis of its strength in the state assembly, the party is set to win at least 10 seats in the upcoming polls on the basis of its strength in Assembly.

    The other parties including Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress have 55, 8 and 2 members respectively in the upper house.

    While Samajwadi Party can win one seat, BSP and Congress are not in a position to get their candidates through as BPS has just 18 members in the Assembly of which six had rebelled during last Rajya Sabha elections.

    Congress has 7 of which two – Aditi Singh and Rakesh Pratap Singh—both of Rae Bareli have already rebelled and sided with the BJP.

    Meanwhile, with Samajwadi Party (SP) having fielded two veteran leaders – Ahmad Hassan and Rajendra Chaudhary– as its candidates, the council elections have turned into a hot contest for the 12th seat.

    Twelve seats need to be filled in the Council, but the SP on its own strength — it has 48 MLAs, including Shivpal Yadav, the estranged uncle of party chief Akhilesh Yadav — can secure only one.

    By nominating a second candidate, it has made it an open game and would need the support of MLAs from other parties and even its rival BSP.

    The 12th seat would be hotly contested, setting the stage for rebellions and changing configurations and alliances as the State heads toward polls in 2022. The BSP has 18 MLAs on paper but at least half-a-dozen of them had rebelled against it in favour of the SP, bringing down its operative strength to 12.

    However, all eyes would be on which way the BSP MLAs would swing, as the party on its own cannot win any MLC seat, or if the party would field a candidate and expect support from the BJP, which would have several legislators to spare for the extra seat in case it fields only 10.

    After the rebellion by her MLAs, BSP chief Mayawati had taken the vow in November that she would ensure the defeat of the SP candidate in council polls even if she had to vote for the BJP. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party of Om Prakash Rajbhar, which was an ally of the BJP till 2019 but now a staunch opponent, has four MLAs, including Rajbhar himslef.

    MLA Vijay Mishra, who had contested from Bhadohi on a ticket of the Nishad Party, a BJP ally, is in jail after he was booked under several charges by the government.

    Three Independents, including Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, Aman Mani Tripathi from Maharajganj and Vinod Saroj from Pratapgarh may extend support to the BJP.