News Analysis India

Tag: Jai Shri Ram

  • All those raising slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ are not sages: Congress leader Rashid Alvi

    By PTI

    SAMBHAL (UTTAR PRADESH): Senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi here said all those raising the slogan of “Jai Shri Ram” are not sages, citing a demon from the Ramayana and urging people to stay alert. The statement by Alvi drew a sharp reaction from BJP leader Amit Malviya, who accused the Congress leader of calling all those who raise the slogan as “demons”.

    Alvi made the statement at the “Kalki Mahotsav” here on Thursday night. Alvi said there are some people who are “misleading” others by raising the slogan of “Jai Shri Ram”. But they all are not “munis” (sages) and there is a need to remain alert, the Congress leader said, stressing that there is no scope for hatred in the Ram Rajya.

    Alvi refers to an episode in the Ramayana, in which Hanuman was given the task of bringing “sanjivini” to save the life of Laxman. In the episode, Ravan made a demon appear in the form of a saint while Hanuman was on his way to bring “sanjivini”, a herb that can cure Laxman.

    सलमान ख़ुर्शीद के बाद अब कांग्रेस के नेता राशिद अल्वी जय श्री राम कहने वालों को निशाचर (राक्षस) बता रहे हैं।राम भक्तों के प्रति कांग्रेस के विचारों में कितना ज़हर घुला हुआ है। pic.twitter.com/kHG3vXSpDW
    — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 12, 2021
    Hanuman is later told by an “apsara” (nymph) that the saint is actually a demon who wants to waste his time, according to the epic.

    Alvi’s views have come in for criticism by BJP leader Amit Malviya who tweeted, “After Salman Khurshid, now Congress leader Rashid Alvi is calling those who say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as demons. How much poison is mixed in the thinking of the Congress for devotees of Ram.”

    He also posted a video clip of Alvi. Recently, Congress leader Salman Khurshid invited a controversy over his comparison of a “robust version” of Hindutva with Jihadi terror groups.

  • Around 30 people detained for attempting to disrupt Friday namaz in Gurgaon

    By PTI

    GURGAON: Around 30 people were detained by police for allegedly gathering to disrupt Friday namaz offered by Muslims in Sector 12 area here.

    Amid a heavy police presence in the area, the protesters, mainly from various Hindu outfits, gathered and raised ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans even as the members of the Muslim community were arriving at the spot to offer prayers.

    Carrying placards in their hands, they also raised slogans against the administration for allowing the Muslim community to offer namaz at designated open places in the city.

    Though the situation remained peaceful, a police official said that around 30 protesters had been taken into preventive detention.

    Talking to reporters, Sub Divisional Magistrate of Gurgaon Ankita Choudhary said, “On this place people have been offering namaz for the last two years.”

    “There were some people from other group who were trying to stop them. So we asked them not to create nuisance and (affect) law and order situation. When they didn’t listen to the administration and the police even after repeated warnings, they were detained just to maintain order,” she said.

    They were detained as a precautionary measure, she added.

    Asked who were those who had been detained, she said investigation is going on in this regard.

    Earlier in the day, police personnel had been deployed in strength following threats from some Hindu groups to disrupt public order if prayers are offered in the open.

    Three years ago, the district administration had designated 37 sites in the city for Muslims to offer Friday namaz, after which there were protests by some Hindu groups.

    A few months ago, one group started protests against the prayers offered in the open after which there have been protests on Fridays during this month.

  • Muslim man forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Madhya Pradesh; cops arrest two men

    By PTI

    BHOPAL/UJJAIN: A Muslim scrap dealer was allegedly threatened and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by two men at a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, following which the police have arrested the accused duo, an official said on Sunday.

    The incident occurred on Saturday and two purported videos of it have gone viral on social media.

    Talking to reporters, R K Rai, Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Mahidpur, said, “The incident happened on Saturday when scrap dealer Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Mahidpur town who has been doing this business here for a long time, went to Sikli village under Jharda police station area to collect some scrap in his mini truck.”

    However, Rasheed was forced to leave the village and also threatened against doing his scrap business in the area.

    When he left the village, two men intercepted him at Pipliya Dhuma, manhandled him and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

    ALSO READ | One more held in connection with anti-Muslim slogans at Jantar Mantar protest

    The man somehow got out from there after giving in to their demand, he said.

    Jharda police station in-charge Vikram Singh Ivne said that an offence was registered against the two accused, identified as Kamal Singh (22) and Ishwar Singh (27), for disturbing communal harmony, and they were arrested.

    The duo was booked under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 505 (2) (public mischief), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), among others.

    Meanwhile, two videos of this incident went viral on social media, which drew the ire of several netizens.

    In one purported video, the two men were seen throwing scrap from the victim’s four-wheeler and asking him not to enter the village again, while another video shows them threatening and forcing him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

    ALSO READ | Political controversy erupts over attack on bangle seller and case filed against him in Indore

    It shows them asking him how he dared to enter their village and the victim chanting the slogan as told by the accused.

    Reacting to the incident, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath said that similar incidents had earlier occurred in Indore and Dewas in the state.

    “Has it been happening under a specific agenda? The government is watching everything as a mute spectator. An atmosphere of anarchy is being created in the entire state and the law is being mocked,” he said while demanding a strict action against the accused who are “disturbing peace” in the state.

    Minister for Medical Education Vishvas Sarang said the state government was taking strict action in all such incidents.

    “We are committed to taking action and preventing such incidents. But the questions remain as to why such videos are being made viral from the social media department of Congress. Whether the Congress is behind making such videos and spreading them?” he said.

    It is a matter of investigation whether these incidents are planned, the minister added.

  • My father was born for ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan: Ex-Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh’s son

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: With a lump in his throat, Rajveer Singh, son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, said his father was born for “Jai Shri Ram”, a slogan which was heard outside the veteran BJP leader’s home on Sunday as people gathered there to pay their last respects.

    Singh, who was ailing for some time, died at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow on Saturday night. He was 89.

    To a question that every party worker who came out from the residence chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Rajveer Singh, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Etah, said, “His birth was for this (Jai Shri Ram) only. He was committed to Ram Mandir, and he has gone to Ram himself. He would be seeing the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. He has gone to Ram Lalla.”

    ALSO READ| He was symbol of ‘trust’: PM Modi pays tributes to ex-Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh in Lucknow

    The “Jai Shri Ram” slogan had also once galvanised the BJP in the politically-crucial state in the 1990s. Rajveer Singh also said that his family will dedicate itself for the Ram temple. Uttar Pradesh has announced a three-day mourning and a holiday on Monday when the former chief minister’s last rites will be performed.

    Kalyan Singh was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister when the Babri mosque was demolished by a mob of “karsevaks” in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Along with BJP veterans LK Advani and M M Joshi, he was among the 32 people acquitted in the demolition case in September last year.

    ALSO READ| Kalyan Singh was face of Ram Temple movement, expanded BJP’s social base in UP

    A Lodhi leader, Singh was instrumental in the rise of the BJP to power in Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s. He is survived by his wife Ramvati Devi, son Rajveer Singh, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Etah, and grandson Sandeep Singh, who is the minister of state for finance, technical education and medical education in Uttar Pradesh.

  • MP: Video shows woman being taken off stage after she chants ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’

    By PTI

    INDORE: A video purportedly showing a young woman being removed from the stage after she raised ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans during an Independence Day function here has gone viral on social media.

    The incident occurred in Rajbada area of the city on Sunday during the event that was organised by a local resident named Bilal Khan, sources said.

    After the video started making rounds on social media, BJP MLA Malini Laxman Singh Gaud on Wednesday demanded legal action against the persons responsible for taking the woman off stage and said that “Taliban culture” will not be allowed in the country.

    In the video, the young woman is heard raising slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and then chanting ‘Jai Jai Shri Ram’.

    Following this, some youths from the audience stand up and start raising ‘Ya Hussain’ slogans.

    The video then shows some people arguing with the woman following the sloganeering, after which a policeman intervenes and she is taken off stage.

    Talking to reporters, MLA Gaud said, “I have seen this video today. The incident of the young woman being taken off the stage is shameful and we condemn the misbehaviour with her.”

    Talibani culture will not be allowed in this country and legal action should be taken against the people who took the girl off the stage, she said.

    Gaud said, “People living in India will have to chant ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. Those who do not do so should be thrown out of here.”

    Sarafa police station in-charge Sunil Sharma told PTI that the woman had expressed a wish to speak during the Independence Day function, but the people present there opposed the controversial part of her speech.

    He said that the woman remained on the stage for a few minutes only and left soon after the uproar while the organisers of the event brought the situation under control.

    Police have registered a case under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) against Bilal Khan and others for organising the programme without permission of the administration, Sharma added.

  • Muslim man thrashed in Kanpur, asked to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ as minor daughter tries to save him

    By PTI

    KANPUR: A Muslim man was assaulted in the public and allegedly asked to chant “Jai Shri Ram” even as his minor daughter tried to save him, said police here on Thursday.

    A one-minute video of the incident surfaced on social media on Wednesday.

    The 45-year-old man is seen being assaulted by some men, who ask him to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.

    The victim’s daughter is seen trying to save her father, crying and asking the attackers not to beat him.

    Later, some policemen took the man to their Jeep.

    The footage also shows the man being hit while in police custody.

    Deputy Police Commissioner (South) Raveena Tyagi said the matter came to the fore at the Kacchi Basti locality near the Ram Gopal crossing in the Barra area of Kanpur on Wednesday.

    “On the complaint of the victim, we have lodged an FIR and legal action is underway,” she said.

    Police, however, did not mention the name of the organisation involved in the act.

    The victim, an e-rickshaw driver, said around 3 pm, some people started abusing and assaulting him.

    They threatened to kill his family.

    He said he was saved by police.

    The man is a relative of a Muslim family, which is involved in a dispute with their Hindu neighbours in the Kanpur locality.

    Police statement says in July, the two families filed cases against each other at the local police station.

  • ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan at Netaji event: Trinamool likely to move censure motion in Bengal Assembly

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Monday said that it is likely to move a censure motion in the West Bengal assembly over raising of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan at an official programme to celebrate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, claiming that it was an insult to the freedom fighter as well as the chief minister.

    Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday refused to speak at the event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised by a section of the audience just before she was to start her address at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata.

    “The BJP is regularly insulting the icons of Bengal. No one has given them the right to insult our icons. On Saturday, Netaji was insulted. The chief minister of our state was insulted.”

    ALSO READ | Not forcing anyone to raise ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan: Yogi Adityanath on allged heckling of Mamata

    “There can be political differences, but you can’t insult the chief minister. We are thinking of bringing a censure motion against this in the upcoming session,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

    The motion is likely to be placed in the assembly on January 28.

    Chatterjee, also the TMC secretary general, alleged that the saffron party has earlier insulted Bengal’s other icons such as Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore and educationist and social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

    A censure motion is moved in a Legislative House to express strong disapproval of certain policies or acts.

  • Ram Shanthas in Prabhatferi shouted slogans of Jai Shri Ram in Shanti Nagar

    After the decision on the Ram temple, it is the turn to build the Ram temple. Prabhat ferries are being made in all streets and neighborhoods for the construction of Ram temple. In this episode, Prabhat Pheri was taken out in Shanti Nagar on Sunday. People took part in it and started making people aware. In this ferry, people shouted Jai Shri Ram. A large number of local residents including Sumit, Amit, Mona, Mahesh participated in it.

  • Nobody should feel pain while chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’: Sanjay Raut

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Days after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declined to speak at an event where “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said nobody should feel pain while chanting the slogan.

    Talking to reporters here on Monday, Raut said he is sure Mamata Banerjee also has faith in Lord Ram.

    Banerjee on Saturday declined to speak at an official programme to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary in Kolkata after “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised from the audience in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    She said such “insult” was unacceptable.

    Asked about the BJP accusing Banerjee of feeling pained when chanting the slogan, Raut said, “Nobody should feel pained to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in the country.”

    “Nobody’s secularism will be under threat by saying Jai Shri Ram. We think Lord Ram is the pride of the country and support,” he said.

    “Jai Shri Ram is not any political word. It is a matter of our faith, and I am sure that Mamata Didi also has faith in Lord Ram,” the Rajya Sabha member said.

    An editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ also said Banerjee should not have got upset when “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised by some people during the programme.

    “Rather, tables would have turned on them (those who raised slogans) had she mixed her voice among theirs. But everyone is catering to their own vote banks,” it said.

    The BJP has identified Banerjee’s “weak point” and it will keep playing up such sensitive issues until the Assembly elections (in West Bengal) are over, it said.

    The editorial also launched a veiled attack on the BJP, accusing it of poaching TMC leaders in West Bengal to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the forthcoming polls in that state.

    It said the leadership of West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra were at the forefront of the country’s freedom struggle.

    The three states are fighting for their self-pride at present also and the Centre is against them, it claimed.

    Farmers from Punjab, who are agitating against the Centre’s new farm laws near Delhi border, are allegedly being trampled, it said.

    Maharashtra is being targeted in a “pre-decided” manner, the Marathi daily alleged, apparently referring to notices by central agencies to some of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders.

    The BJP poached Congress and NCP leaders ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls and gave them candidature, it alleged and said most of such candidates had got elected.

    “What happened in Maharashtra is (now) happening in West Bengal. (BJP) doesn’t have anything of its own. It creates its legion poaching with whom it is going to fight. It happened in Bihar. Now, struggle is on to defeat the TMC by poaching TMC (leaders),” the Shiv Sena charged.

    Notably, West Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjee quit the Mamata Banerjee cabinet recently, joining the growing list of dissenters who have put the ruling camp in a tight spot ahead of the Assembly elections.

    The editorial said the BJP winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal is a matter of concern for Mamata Banerjee.

    “But this Bengal tigress (Mamata Banerjee) is the one who fights on the streets and will keep fighting,” it added.

  • Not forcing anyone to raise ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan: Yogi Adityanath on allged heckling of Mamata

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: No one is being forced to raise ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans and there is nothing to feel bad about such chants, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday after his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee refused to speak at an event over raising of such slogans.

    Banerjee on Saturday refused to speak at an official event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark the beginning of the celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 124th birth anniversary after ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans were raised just before she was to start her address.

    Speaking to a select group of journalists, Adityanath said, “If someone says Jai Shri Ram there is nothing to feel bad about it as it is a greeting”‘.

    “If someone says ‘namaskar’ or ‘Jai Shri Ram’ it shows his etiquette,” he said.

    ALSO READ | ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants at Mamata: Trinamool questions PM’s silence; Governor warns against attempts to ‘belittle’ Netaji

    Responding to questions on Banerjee refusing to speak after such chants, Adityanath said, “We are not forcing anyone to speak it. But if someone says Jai Shri Ram there is nothing to feel bad about it.”

    The West Bengal chief minister had expressed displeasure at BJP supporters at the event shouting slogans.

    She said such an “insult” was unacceptable.

    With elections due in the state in March-April, the tussle between the BJP and Banerjee’s TMC has intensified.

    Talking about law and order in the state, Adityanath, said the state witnessed several riots during earlier regimes while under this government the state has not witnessed any such incident.

    He claimed the law and order situation in the state is one of the best in the country.