The Asian Age – UP Chief Minister makes strong pitch for Third Front

Chennai, 22 April 2013. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav today strongly advocated for a third front saying Congress and the BJP have not fulfilled their promises.

“Yes there should be a third force. We, Samajwadi Party believe that there should be a third force at the National level”, he told reporters on his maiden visit to the city after assuming charge.

Justifying the need for a third front, which his father Mulayam Singh Yadav has also been advocating, Akhilesh said “they — Congress and the BJP have not fulfilled their promises. Their policies are not pro-poor. The Congress and the BJP and their allies have failed on many fronts. Opportunity is there for a third force. There should be a third force”.

Yadav after inaugurating the PMK party’s Vanniyar Youth Cultural Festival, is scheduled to meet Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa later today.

Asked if he would discuss about the Third Front with Jayalalithaa, he said, “Right now I am at a youth function. Later, after meeting her, I will tell you. Before meeting her, I cannot tell it to you.”

To a query on the rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, he said, “Safety of women should be the priority. Whichever government is there, there has to be strong action against those committing crimes against women. It should be the priority of the government.” (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/india/cm-makes-strong-pitch-third-front-721

The Asian Age – Rape of 5 year-old; Delhi cops try to cover up lapses

Rajnish Sharma and Atul Krishan, Asian Age Correspondents

New Delhi, 22 April 2013. Facing severe criticism for its tardy investigations into the gruesome gangrape of a five-year-old girl, the Delhi police seems have initiated a major coverup exercise for its lapses. While the district police claimed it had started its investigations immediately, Delhi police sources admitted the local police failed to react in the first 48 hours after the girl went missing.

It was only after two days, on April 17, the sources added, that a police constable visited the family seeking details of the girl, including her photograph.

The Delhi police on Sunday launched a massive hunt for a second suspect in the case. Key suspect Manoj Kumar had “during questioning given us some details of this second suspect named Pradeep… We are looking into this angle, and have launched a hunt to trace him,” a police official said. Earlier Sunday the police had denied “rumours” that it had arrested a second suspect or that it was “looking” for him.

Sources said Manoj Kumar had referred to a second person’s role during questioning by both the Delhi police and the Bihar police. A senior official said a probe was on to determine if this second person was involved in the rape or in helping Kumar flee Delhi on April 15 soon after the rape.

Sources said information on the Delhi police lapses also reached the Union home ministry, which then directed the city police to submit a detailed report in the next 24 hours. The Delhi police has been specifically asked to clarify the delay in filing the FIR and its initial investigations.

The Delhi police has so far claimed it lodged the FIR immediately, something the home ministry is not willing to accept. The girl went missing on April 14, while the FIR was lodged the next day.

“Had the Delhi police reacted swiftly, the girl would have been found immediately considering the fact that the accused happened to be a neighbour living in the immediate vicinity. In fact, the accused was living a floor below the victim’s house. Still the child remained missing for almost four days. There are serious lapses on the part of the local police,” a senior MHA official said.

Highly-placed sources said home minister Sushilkumar Shinde was “extremely upset” with the functioning of the city police top brass in wake of recent incidents. There is a growing view in the ministry that stringent disciplinary action should be taken this time against senior police officials to send out a strong signal.

Sources said action was contemplated against the Delhi police commissioner, joint commissioner (southeast range) and DCP (east district). But with police commissioner Neeraj Kumar due to retire in about two months, there is a view in the MHA that he be allowed to continue.

The government had in the aftermath of the December 16 gangrape incident amended Section 166 of the Indian Penal Code making it more stringent on dealing with officers disobeying the law. Sources said action could be taken against erring police officers under this provision.

Investigations have also found that the accused, Manoj Kumar, was involved in at least two other rape incidents. He had raped his wife as well, after which he was forced by the village panchayat to marry her.

Manoj, the police said, was also one of the prime suspect in the rape and murder of his sister-in-law. The police has not ruled out the possibility of Manoj being a serial rapist, saying a complete psychoanalysis profile of the accused will be done soon.

“From Manoj’s questioning, it is clear he has an extremely perverted mindset. We recovered some pornographic clippings from Manoj’s mobile phone and he claimed he wanted to perform all the sexual acts in the clippings with the child,” a police official remarked.

Manoj was produced before a duty magistrate on Sunday and agreed for a test identification parade. He was later remanded to judicial custody till May 4. Meanwhile, widespread protests continued across Delhi on Sunday, and members of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party held demonstrations at police headquarters and outside the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Some protesters also gathered at AIIMS, where the girl is being treated, and near India Gate.

Traffic was disrupted at ITO and India Gate in the evening as the number of protesters swelled. But while the protesters were in small groups, unlike the thousands who swamped India Gate and Rajpath in December last year following the rape of a 23-year-old in a moving bus, their anger on Sunday was palpable.

http://www.asianage.com/india/delhi-cops-try-cover-lapses-669

The Asian Age – ‘Modi not to be blamed for riots’

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 18 April 2013. Calling the BJP the “most secular political outfit” where “no communal person can survive”, party chief Rajnath Singh on Wednesday came out in defence of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi insisting that Mr Modi could not have been responsible for the 2002 post-Godhra rots riots.

At a time when BJP-JDU alliance in facing major trouble over growing clamour within the BJP to project Mr Modi as the PM candidate for general polls and JD(U) demanding a “secular” PM candidate, Mr Singh also asserted that Mr Modi has never said that he was in the PM race or wants to be projected as the PM candidate.

BJP chief said that though the ongoing “crisis” between the two allies was “unfortunate”, he expressed confidence that the alliance will remain intact. On another ally Shiv Sena’s caution that BJP should take allies into confidence on the PM candidate issue or else there could be a “Mahabharat”, Mr Singh insisted that his party will consult with all its allies.

The BJP also sought to put behind the tit-for-tat with JD(U) over the Godhra incident that had taken place when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was the railway minister.

“I have been a chief minister myself, so on the basis of my experience I can say no chief minister wants any anarchy or law and order problem in his state. I cannot believe he (Modi) would have provoked any law and order problem. I cannot even imagine a chief minister would provoke riots,” BJP chief said in his interaction with women journalists.

He added that “BJP is the most secular party, no communal person can survive in BJP” when questioned why was then Modi labelled “communal” by many.

When asked about Mr Modi’s comment after the Godhra riot that every action has a reaction, the BJPchief said the comment was not verified.

“It was not verified that Narendra Modi said that. The comment has been refuted by him,” he said.

Mr Singh also recalled former PM Rajiv Gandhi’s comment on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination but did not name him.

“After the Hindu-Sikh riots, a senior leader who is no more and I will not name him, said when big trees fall, the earth shakes,” he said.

Justifying Mr Modi’s inclusion in BJP’s parliamentary board, Mr Singh Mr said Modi is the “senior most CM” and there was only one vacancy. He also reiterated that any decision on the PM candidate issue would be taken only by the parliamentary board at the “right time”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/modi-not-be-blamed-riots-253

The Asian Age – Shinde: High-level probe of attack on Mamata

Asian Age Correspondent

Kolkata, 18 April 2013. n a clear bid to placate sulking Mamata Banerjee, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday announced in Kolkata that the Centre had set up a high-level inquiry into the attack on her and the state finance minister Amit Mitra by SFI activists in Delhi.

“I have instituted an inquiry into the incident. Special secretary, home, is probing the matter,” Mr Shinde added. He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 20th Eastern Zonal Council meeting which was held at the Town Hall.

Chief ministers of four states, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand, were supposed to attend the meeting. However, only Ms Banerjee was present. Since Jharkhand is under President’s rule, the state was represented by governor Syed Ahmed.

However, contrary to speculation, the chief ministers of Bihar and Orissa Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik also gave it a miss. Mr Shinde, who presided over the meeting, did not forget to say a special thank you to Ms Banerjee for participating in the meeting. “I am grateful to Mamata didi that she came to the meeting though she is not keeping well,” he said.

Immediately after she returned from Delhi on last Wednesday, the chief minister was admitted to a private hospital. Although she was discharged on Saturday the doctors had advised her total rest.

Ms Banerjee has not been attending office at the Writers’ Buildings since then. On Wednesday, she attended an official function for the first time since her stormy visit to the Planning Commission last week.

http://www.asianage.com/india/shinde-high-level-probe-attack-mamata-230

The Asian Age – Shivraj, Sinha and Jaswant back Advani

Yojna Gusai, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 16 April 2013. A day after the JD(U) put the BJP on notice on the issue of the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, differences surfaced within the lotus brigade.

While a section in the BJP continued to back Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for the top post, on Monday night three top party leaders pitched in for Mr L.K. Advani.

If Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Arun Jaitley were backing Mr Modi, other top leaders, including Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh batted for Mr Advani.

Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is expected to match Mr Modi’s record of winning three consecutive Assembly polls, described Mr Advani as the “tallest” leader in the BJP. “It’s a blessing for our party that there are so many talented leaders with us but no doubt Advani is the tallest leader. Everybody in this country knows this fact,” Mr Chouhan said.

Mr Yashwant Sinha toed a similar line, saying: “Advaniji is the senior-most, most respected leader and if he is available to lead the party and government, then that should end all discussion.”

The other saffron old guard, Mr Jaswant Singh, felt “nobody can question Advaniji’s stature.

http://www.asianage.com/india/shivraj-sinha-and-jaswant-back-advani-956

The Asian Age – Pakistan Hindu migrants can stay on

What about Afghan and Pakistani Sikhs ?

Harjinder Singh – Man in Blue

Namrata Biji Ahuja, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 11 April 2013. The latest batch of Hindu migrants from Pakistan will not be forced to return there. The Union home ministry is considering granting “long-term visas” on humanitarian grounds. With Pakistani Hindus refusing to return home after their visas expired Monday, the government has decided to offer them protection on the basis of reference to persecution of religious minorities, top government sources said.

Nearly 500 Hindus from Pakistan entered India on pilgrimage visas to attend the Mahakumbh. A majority of Pakistani Hindus have applied for Indian “citizenship”, but that requires at least seven to 12 years’ stay in the country.

The BJP had urged the government to favourably consider their case.

Officials said the MHA had requested the Delhi government to initiate the process to grant long-term visas to these migrants after scrutinising their applications on a case-by-case basis. For now, they have been granted a month’s visa extension.

Once the applications are received from the Delhi government, the MHA will initiate the process to grant long-term visas after verifying their antecedents.

The MHA will follow a step-by-step approach on requests to grant citizenship to the Pakistani Hindus as part of its “sympathetic approach”. Officials said foreign nationals with relatives or any other links in India need to spend at least seven years here to be eligible, while those foreigners with no such links must spend at least 12 years in this country to be eligible for citizenship.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pak-hindu-migrants-can-stay-380

The Asian Age – Modi on Bharat blitz

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 9 April 2013. After the grand show at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who is emerging as the BJP’s face for the 2014 general election, continued his moves to inch closer to Delhi.

On Monday he addressed the Ficci Ladies Organisation in the national capital, and then moved on to talk about governance in a television show. His Ficci address was aired live by nearly 40 TV channels across the country. On Tuesday, Mr Modi is expected to reach Kolkata and take on Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee over development issues.

West Bengal, incidentally, had lost out to Gujarat when Tata Motors shifted out its Nano factory from Singur. In Kolkata, the Gujarat CM is due to address a special session on “Modi’s Vision of a Vibrant Growth Model for India”.

Addressing the Ficci ladies in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Modi focused on women’s entrepreneurship, empowerment and equality. At the same time he took potshots at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and virtually ridiculing his famous “Kalavati” role model, the CM talked about Gujarat’s own “Jasubehn” and her “famous pizzas”.

Mr Modi said Jasubehn “exemplified” how successful women entrepreneurs could be “if they were given the right opportunity, which was available in Gujarat”.

Mr Modi said “even today women are not part of the economic decision-making process”, and added that “we have to change this, and bring them into decision-making”. Mr Modi added: “Entrepreneurship is inbuilt in women, and if an opportunity is given for this to flourish, it gives results.” He claimed things were now “changing… with more and more men seeking working wives”.

Then came the dig at Rahul Gandhi. “Before our friends from the media go there to find out if Jasubehn is like Kalavati, I would like to tell them she died five years ago. Her pizzas, however, still have a big market,” Mr Modi said amid laughter. And then his sting for Gujarat’s woman governor Kamla Beniwal.

He said the Gujarat Assembly had passed a bill reserving 50 per cent seats for women in local bodies in urban and rural areas, but it had still not got her assent. “It is my misfortune that despite being a woman she has not given her assent,” he said.

And then he took on the Congress. “My Congress friends had created so many potholes that till now I have been filling them. I have brought it to a level playing field now. Imagine how big those potholes were. Now the effort will be to build an impressive, grand Gujarat.”

Later, responding to Mr Modi’s swipe, AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, alluding to the 2002 riots in Gujarat, said: “Someone will have to surely fill up the deep chasm he has created.”

Mr Modi strongly criticised female foeticide and pointed to imbalances in the sex ratio due to this. He stressed the need to show respect to women, and claimed he granted property rights to women in his state and also given them stamp duty relief.

Mr Modi, who is likely to play a key role in the general election, sent a clear signal to the Ficci audience. “No human being is complete. In everybody there are some shortcomings. I have all the shortcomings of an ordinary man, but with the values I received, I have been able to leave some of them behind. I have not reached the height where I can evaluate myself. That is for you all to do.”

From Ficci he went to address the audience at a TV show “Think India”, where he spoke on issues ranging from good governance to policy matters.

http://www.asianage.com/india/modi-bharat-blitz-994

The Asian Age – I neither rule it in, nor out: PM on third term

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 6 April 2013. Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday gave a fresh twist to the raging debate over the country’s next head of government by claiming that he is neither ruling himself in, nor out, the Congress made it clear that it did not see any contradiction in his statement and the party’s stand on “two power centres”.

In his first reaction to a question on whether he would accept a third term in office, the Prime Minister initially dismissed it as “hypothetical”, saying: “We are yet to complete this term.” But when pressed further on whether he was ruling himself out, he remarked, “I am not ruling it in, I am not ruling it out.”

His comments assume significance as there is a clamour in the Congress to project the 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the Lok Sabha election next year.

Last week, Dr Singh, when asked whether he would accept another term in office, had said, “We will cross that bridge when we reach there.”

On Friday, Dr Singh, however, said he would welcome “any day” Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister. But he dismissed as “useless” the debate over two power centres — one in the person of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the other the PM. “This is a creation of the media. It is a useless debate,” the PM said when asked about the issue.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had earlier raked up the issue, saying the system of two power centres had not worked well and should not be repeated. But the party has rejected his contention, saying it is an “ideal model” for the future too.

Rejecting the suggestion of a marked difference between Dr Singh’s remarks and the party’s stand, AICC spokesperson Rashid Alvi said, “The PM has not made any statement which is contradictory to what party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi had said. There is no contradiction between the party and the government. If you see the history of the Congress, the PM and party president had always been separate persons.”

Mr Alvi said, “When we are talking about decentralising power, his (Mr Dwivedi’s) statement is right. He is correct when he says that it is good even for the future.” He also countered suggestions that Mr Gandhi had on Thursday ruled himself out of the PM race by saying whether or not he becomes Prime Minister was “irrelevant” and “all smoke”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/i-neither-rule-it-nor-out-pm-third-term-681

The Asian Age – 1984 anti-Sikh riots case: Court reserves judgement

New Delhi, 3 April 2013. A Delhi court today reserved its judgement in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case in which Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and five others are accused.

District jugde J.R. Aryan fixed the matter for April 16 for clarification, if any, from the CBI or the six accused persons after they concluded the final arguments in the case.

“Judgement is reserved. To come up for clarification, if any, on April 16,” the judge said.

Concluding the final arguments, CBI prosecutor D.P. Singh said that the prosecution has limited itself to what each of the witnesses had seen at the time of the incident.

The witnesses have given honest versions of what they all had seen during the riots, he said, alleging that in all the complaints wherever Kumar’s name had cropped up, it was “immediately eliminated” from the police records.

During the arguments, Kumar’s counsel I.U. Khan told the court that there were material contradictions in statements of the witnesses, including complainant Jagdish Kaur.

Khan said Kaur had not taken Kumar’s name anywhere in any of her affidavits filed before various judicial commissions, constituted to probe the riots-related cases, till 2010.

“When she (Kaur) appeared in the court in 2010 to record her statement, she gave us a shock by naming Sajjan Kumar for the first time and said something which was not there in the records,” he argued.

Kumar is facing trial along with five others — Balwan Khokkar, Kishan Khokkar, Mahender Yadav, Girdhari Lal and Captain Bhagmal – for allegedly inciting a mob against the Sikh community in Delhi Cantonment area.

The case relates to anti-Sikh riots that had broken out after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984. (PTI)

http://www.asianage.com/delhi/1984-anti-sikh-riots-case-court-reserves-judgement-429

The Asian Age – Sports Ministry asks NADA to carry out test on Vijender SIngh

New Delhi, 1 April 2013. New Delhi: In a bid to put an end to the drug controversy, the Sports Ministry today directed the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) to immediately carry out dope tests on star boxer Vijender Singh, who has been accused of consuming heroin by Punjab Police.

Almost a month after Vijender’s name surfaced in the drug scandal, the Sports Ministry stepped in to clear the air on the issue by subjecting the ace pugilist to dope tests.

In a communication sent to Director General of NADA, Mukul Chatterjee, the Sports Ministry has said that the reports in the media regarding alleged consumption of heroin by Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Vijender were disturbing and hence directed NADA to conduct a test on the boxer although its out-of-competition.

“Such reports in respect of a sporting icon are disturbing and may have a debilitating influence on other sportspersons in the country.

“It has, therefore, been considered necessary that NADA gets a test carried out on Vijender Singh for his reported use of heroin even out-of-competition,” a press release isued by the the Ministry said.

“The communication has asked NADA to carry out the test immediately under intimation to the Ministry,” the release added.

Vijender has denied having consumed heroin and could not immeditialy be reached for his comments on the latest development.

Punjab Police yesterday claimed that Vijender had consumed heroin 12 times after procuring it from alleged drug smugglers including NRI Anoop Singh Kahlon.

“As per investigation conducted so far, Vijender Singh consumed the drug about 12 times and Ram Singh (his sparring partner) about five times,” a Punjab Police statement had said. Kahlon alias Ruby, the alleged Canada-based drug dealer, was arrested by police on March 3 and 26kg of heroin worth Rs. 130 crore seized from his residence in Zirakpur on the outskirts of Chandigarh.

The Punjab police spokesperson said, “it has been established that boxers Ram Singh and Vijender Singh took heroin from Kahlon and his aide Rocky for personal consumption between December 2012 and February 2013.”

http://www.asianage.com/india/sports-ministry-asks-nada-carry-out-test-vijender-singh-234