Tag: Digvijaya Singh

  • Illegal mining continues in MP as entire family of CM Chouhan is engaged in it: Digivijaya Singh

    The Congress leader said the virus does not spread in Bharatiya Janta Party meetings and programs but it spreads only in those of the general public.

  • Digvijaya Singh takes dig at Centre over Kumbh amidst rising Covid-19 cases

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday took a jibe at the Centre over allowing lakhs of people to gather in Uttarakhand for Kumbh in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

    “While there is a ban on cricket fans to go to the stadium to enjoy a match, lakhs of devotees are being allowed to congregate in Uttarakhand’s Kumbh. Thanks!” Singh tweeted.

    As many as 24,492 new COVID-19 cases and 131 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases in the country to 2,23,432, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Tuesday.

    On Monday in a late-night press statement, it was announced that in the wake of sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases in Ahmedabad, Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) has decided to organise remaining T20 International Matches between India and England at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad behind closed doors without audiences.

    The matches slated to be played on March 16, 18 and 20 will be played in closed doors without spectators.

    Also, on Monday, Uttrakhand chief minister had said that a COVID-19 report would not be necessary to participate in the upcoming ‘shahi snans’ (holy bath) during the Kumbh Mela.

    “I had asked not to stop people from coming here but they must follow COVID guideline. Devotees were afraid that they will not be allowed to enter if their COVID report will not negative on which I confirmed, the report is not needed,” said Rawat said.

    “Around 32-33 lakh devotees people participated in first ‘shahi snan’ and they left for their home peacefully. However, the upcoming three ‘snans’ will be challenging. We have increased bus services four times to help people reach

    Kumbh Mela easily from the border,” he added.The Uttarakhand government has decided to limit the Kumbh this year to 30 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Maha Kumbh is celebrated in a cycle of 12 years at four river-bank pilgrimage sites across India. 

  • BJP, RSS and some Mahasabha elements are ‘merchants of hatred’, says Congress leader Digvijaya Singh

    By PTI
    INDORE: Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday accused the BJP, RSS and “some elements” of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha of being “merchants of hatred”.

    The BJP, however, hit back saying that the party and the Sangh Parivar does not need any certificate from Singh.

    It said that several statements made by the Congress leader showed that he supported “extremists”.

    “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and some elements of Hindu Mahasabha are opposed to the tradition of communal harmony and its culture. They are merchants of hatred. They engage in violence by spreading hatred,” Digvijaya Singh told reporters in Indore when asked about Hindu Mahasabha’s proposed Gwalior-Delhi vehicle rally.

    He said this is the same ideology that led to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

    Singh criticised the Mahasabha over the vehicle rally that is to be held on March 14 to inform people about the lives Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse and co-conspirator Narayan Apte.

    Reacting to his statement, state BJP spokesperson Umesh Sharma said, “We do not need any certificate about the BJP and the Sangh Parivar from Digvijaya Singh. Many of his statements show that his mentality is pro-Muslim and he always supports extremists.”

  • Congress forms screening panels for upcoming state polls; Digvijaya to monitor Tamil Nadu, Puducherry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress constituted screening committees for the Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal polls on Tuesday, appointing senior leader Digvijaya Singh as the panel head for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

    Another senior party leader, H K Patil, will chair the panel for Kerala.

    The screening committee of the Congress for the eight-phased West Bengal Assembly polls starting March 27 will have Delhi leader J P Aggarwal as its chairman.

    The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 6 and the counting of votes will be taken up on May 2.

    “Congress president has constituted the screening committee for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with immediate effect, with Digvijaya Singh as its chairman,” a statement issued by the party said.

    Other members of the panel are former Goa chief minister and Lok Sabha MP Francisco Sardinha and Lok Sabha MP Kodikunnil Suresh.

    The other ex-officio members of the committee are AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu Dinesh Gundu Rao, PCC president of Tamil Nadu K S Alagiri, Puducherry PCC chief AV Subramanian, Tamil Nadu CLP leader KR Ramasamy, former Puducherry chief minister and CLP leader V Narayansamy, besides the AICC secretaries in-charge for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

    “Congress president has constituted the screening committee for the forthcoming Assembly election in Kerala with immediate effect, with H K Patil as its chairman,” another statement from the party said.

    The other members of the panel for Kerala include Duddilla Sridhar Babu and Praniti Shinde.

    The ex-officio members of the screening panel include AICC general secretary in-charge Tariq Anwar, PCC president Mullappally Ramachandran and CLP leader Ramesh Chennithala.

    Former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, who is also the chairman of the party’s Election Management and Strategy Committee, the Kerala PCC chief and the AICC secretaries in-charge for the southern state are also ex-officio members of the panel.

    Besides Aggarwal, the other members of the screening committee for West Bengal are Mahesh Joshi and Naseem Khan.

    The panel also has the state Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and the AICC in-charge for West Bengal as ex-officio members.

    The ex-officio members include AICC in-charge for West Bengal Jitin Prasad, state PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CLP leader Abdul Mannan, besides the AICC secretaries in-charge for West Bengal.

    The Congress is contesting the West Bengal polls in a coalition with the Left parties and the Indian Secular Front (ISF), and has so far decided to contest on 92 seats in the 294-member Assembly.

    The panels will screen and select the candidates for the upcoming polls and put forward its recommendations to the Central Election Committee of the Congress chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi, who would take a final call on the selection of candidates.

  • Digvijaya Singh challenges BJP to discuss, debate farm laws with him

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Friday said the Centre must keep the three new farm laws in abeyance for one and a half years and challenged the ruling BJP to discuss and debate it with him clause by clause.

    He was speaking at a press conference called to announce the holding of ‘kisan mahapanchayats’ (deliberative congregations) in Delanpur in Ratlam on March 4, followed by Digthan in Dhar, in Badnagar in Ujjain and Shajapur on March 5, and in Shyampur in Sehore on March 6.

    He said the ‘kisan mahapanchayats’ will be apolitical events and those attending will carry national flags and not ones associated with parties or outfits.

    “If the government is serious about farmers, it must bring an ordinance to hold in abeyance the three agriculture laws for one-and-a-half years. For three months, farmers have been protesting, but no solution could be found due to the arrogance of the Central government,” Singh said.

    Terming the three laws as “totally anti-farmer”, Singh challenged BJP leaders to discuss them clause by clause with him on any open forum.

    “I am ready to prove these laws are against farmers,” Singh said.

  • Please understand farmers’ pain, stop your monologue: Opposition tears into government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Opposition parties on Thursday tore into the government’s handling of the farmer protest against three contentious farm reform laws, saying ministers believe in monologue and trenches have been dug, barbed wires put up and spikes installed when bridges should have been built to win over farmers.

    Opening the second day of discussion on a motion thanking the President for his address to the joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government has lost the patience to hear and any criticism is painted as anti-national.

    “With folded hands, I request you to please understand the pain of farmers. In harsh winter you stopped water supply and toilet facilities, dug trenches, put barbed wires, and installed spikes,” he said.

    “Such aggressive approach wasn’t even heard of towards the neighbouring nations who came inside (the Indian territory).”

    To the response to a tweet by pop star Rihanna on the farmer protest, he said the democracy will not be weakened by a tweet but by the approach of the government.

    In a veiled reference to cold storage chain and godowns built by private corporates such as Adani Group, he said, “Your backbone is the farmer.303 (seats won in last general elections) did not come from cold storage or godowns but from these very people.”

    “We will support you but every world against you is not anti-national. Patriotism is not be worn on sleeves but carried in heart,” he said in his speech loaded with poetry and sarcasm.

    Stating that protests and agitations are the lifeblood of democracy, he contested the government statement of 11 rounds of dialogue have concluded with agitating farmers, saying its ministers “believe in monologue and not dialogue.”

    “They talk of having given this and that to farmers, but there is no place for language of charity in a democracy. The monologues should be ended,” he said.

    Jha said critics and agitating farmers have been painted as ‘Khalistani’, ‘Naxals’ and Pakistani agents and its citizens pitted against each other just like the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

    “You have lost the patience of hearing, you only dictate,” he said.

    “The governments are formed to build bridges but you have built walls.” Referring to the over two-month-long agitation by farmers on the border entry points to the national capital, he said trenches have been dug, barbed wires erected and spikes installed to cut off farmers.

    “I haven’t been to a border but pictures I have seen don’t resemble anything close to what has been done around farmer agitation sites,” he said, adding water supply as been snapped and toilets facilities taken away.

    “Who are you fighting? They are your own farmers,” he said.

    “The country is not made up of police, arm, Jan gan man and Vande Mataram. The country is made of relations and you have soiled those relations.”

    Bihar, he said, ended minimum support price (MSP) based crop procurement in 2006 and it now has only contractual labourers and not farmers.

    “Bihar has been turned into a labour-supply state. You want Bihar model in Punjab and Haryana?” he asked.

    He wondered what would have been the reaction if the JP movement would have happened during the present regime.

    ALSO READ | Agri laws: We can bring down government, warns Tikait; Tomar says not having informal talks with farmers

    Participating in the debate, Digvijaya Singh of the Congress lashed out at the BJP government, saying right from demonetisation to the CAA were blunders that hit the people hard.

    Quoting former PM Manmohan Singh, he said demonetisation was a monumental mismanagement, organised loot and legalised blunder.

    Almost 50 lakh people were rendered jobless and micro, small and medium enterprises were destroyed, he said.

    Singh said the void between the Modi government’s promises and implementation was big and it could not win the hearts of people, whether the poor, farmers or labourers.

    The senior Congress leader also accused the government of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and fuelling corruption.

    Terming the three farm laws “anti-farmers”, he said the prime minister had lost their trust and even the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh was opposed to some of the government’s moves and took a jibe at him asking whether he wants to keep relations with RSS.

    In democracy, he said, if people’s sentiments are seen as revolution than it is autocracy.

    “You have got majority but dissent is essence of democracy,” Singh said.

    Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda called farmers the backbone of the country and said miscreants and anti-social elements were behind the events of Republic Day and all political parties have condemned their actions and agree that they need to be punished.

    But the farmers’ issue should not be mixed with it, he said and added that the issue should be dealt with amicably.

    ALSO READ | Fortification continues at Ghazipur, farmers gear up for February 6 ‘chakka jaam’

    Delhi witnessed violence on Republic Day during the farmers’ tractor rally called to highlight their demand for repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.

    Deviating from the designated route for the tractor parade, some protesting farmers clashed with police and reached the historic Red Fort and hoisted flags from some domes as well as the flagpole there.

  • Digvijaya backs Pawar’s critique of new farm laws, asks him to ‘drill some sense’ into PM Modi

    By ANI
    BHOPAL: Backing Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s critique of the new farm laws, Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday asked the former Union Agriculture Minister to “drill some sense” into Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “You are absolutely correct Pawar Saheb. Why don’t you drill some sense into Modi ji? He has always held you in high esteem!!,” Singh tweeted while quoting Pawar’s six-tweet response to the central government over old farm reform plans.

    Pawar, the Union Agriculture Minister for ten years in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, had on Saturday posted a critique of the new farm laws against which farmers have been protesting at different borders of Delhi for over two months.

    Pawar said the new central laws will adversely affect the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and weaken the mandi system.

    “Reform is a continuous process and no one would argue against the reforms in the APMCs or Mandi System, a positive argument on the same does not mean that it is done to weaken or demolish the system,” he tweeted.

    “During my tenure, the draft APMC Rules – 2007 were framed for the setting up of special markets thereby providing alternate platforms for farmers to market their commodities and utmost care was also taken to strengthen the existing Mandi system,” he added.

    Supporting the farmers’ stand that the new laws will result in loss of income, Pawar said, “New agricultural laws restrict the powers of Mandi system i.e. the collection of levy and fees from the private markets, dispute resolution, agri-trade licencing and regulations of E-trading.” “New laws will adversely impact the MSP procurement infrastructure thereby weakening the Mandi system. MSP mechanism has to be ensured and strengthened further,” he added.

    Pawar said he was also concerned about the amended Essential Commodities Act.

    “I am also concerned about the amended Essential Commodities Act. According to the act the Govt will intervene for price control only if rates of horticultural produce are increased by 100 per cent and that of non perishable items increase by 50 per cent,” he tweeted.

    “Stock piling limits have been removed on food grain, pulses, onion, potato, oilseeds etc. It may lead to apprehensions that Corporates may purchase commodities at lower rates and stock pile and sell at higher prices to consumers,” he added.

    Heightened security deployment has continued at the Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) as farmers’ protest against three agriculture laws entered the 67th day on Sunday. While the protest at Ghazipur border by the farmers (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border) has entered Day 65. Security has been beefed up as more farmers are coming to the protest site for the past two-three days.

    The next round of talks between the farmers and the Centre is scheduled for February 2.

    Farmers have been protesting at different borders of the national capital since November 26, 2020, against the farm laws: Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

  • Anti-farm laws stir: MP cops fire tear gas, water cannons on protesting Congress workers

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: Police used tear gas shells, water cannons as Congress leaders and workers in Madhya Pradesh marched towards the Raj Bhavan here in a bid to gherao it over the demand for withdrawal of three new central farm laws.

    Police also cane-charged to discipline protesters after they turned unruly, he added.

    Over 100 Congress leaders and workers, including ex-CM Digvijaya Singh, his MLA son Jaivardhan Singh and legislator Kunal Chaudhary were detained by police but released later.

    According to Bhopal police sources, 1500-plus Congress activists have been booked under Sections 353, 147, 148, and 188 of IPC.

    Vice-chairman of state Congress media cell Bhupendra Gupta alleged that more than 50 Congress activists were injured in the cane-charge on the protestors.

    #WATCH Madhya Pradesh: Police use water cannons to disperse Congress workers who were taking out a march from Jawahar Chowk to Raj Bhavan in Bhopal, in the support of farmers. pic.twitter.com/7Jz6s5tdpv
    — ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2021

    As per informed sources, around 5 police personnel too were hurt when protesting Congress activists clashed with cops.

    The march was led by ex-CM and MP Congress chief Kamal Nath. When the Congress activists, including senior Congress MLA and ex-MP Laxman Singh (Digvijaya Singh’s brother), tried to climb the barricades at the Roshanpura crossing on route to the Raj Bhawan, the police started using water cannons to disperse the protestors.

    Subsequently, the cops fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob of Congress activists and later cane-charged them.

    Slamming the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, the MP Congress chief Kamal Nath tweeted, “I condemn the cane-charge, water-cannons and tear gas used by police at the behest of Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on thousands of Congress workers and farmers. Many of our party workers, women, and farmers, besides media personnel, were injured in the police action. But our battle against the new farm laws will continue.”  

  • Congress has always abused patriots: Pragya Thakur on Digvijaya Singh’s ‘Godse terrorist’ remark

    By ANI
    UJJAIN: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Pragya Singh Thakur on Wednesday said that Congress has always abused “patriots” while slamming party leader Digvijaya Singh for calling Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse “first terrorist”.

    “Congress has always abused the patriots. He has said ‘Bhagwa aatank’ (Saffron terror), what can be worse than this?” Thakur told reporters here when asked to comment on Digvijaya Singh’s remark. The Congress leader’s remark came after the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha opened a library (Gyanshala) dedicated to Godse in Gwalior.

    In 2019, the Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal had triggered uproar during a discussion in the lower house on the Special Protection Group (Amendment ) Bill by DMK member A Raja, interjected with a remark purportedly in praise of Godse. However, later on, she claimed that she was referring to Udham Singh.

    Speaker Om Birla expunged Thakur’s remark from the record but opposition members protested outside the House. Later, Thakur said in Lok Sabha that she had not called Godse a “deshbhakt” and expressed apology if someone was hurt by her remarks.