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Modi and Mamata spar over Netaji’s legacy ahead of 2021 WB elections

By
The Commune
- 
Feature Image Credits: PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) helmed by West Bengal Chief Minister have locked horns over Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s legacy ahead of the significant 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections.

Both the West Bengal government and the Centre carried out imposing and extravagant programmes on January 23 to mark the birth anniversary of the freedom fighter and leader of the Azad Hind Fauj. PM Modi even flew in to Kolkata to attend the Centre’s programmes on Saturday, which was also attended by CM Banerjee. This is the first time Modi visited Kolkata on January 23.

While the Chief Minister took a 10-km stroll between north and central Kolkata, the Prime Minister’s programmes focussed more on cultural events and felicitating INA veterans. Given the growing importance of the state in the BJP’s political and electoral goals, the PM launched the celebrations at Victoria Memorial with a speech to the crowd sprinkled with Bengali quotes of Subhash Chandra Bose.

“Today I bow before the sacred land of Bengal that brought up little Subhas and taught him to grow through sacrifice. This land gave the country its national song and anthem,” said the PM.

The Centre’s Atmanirbhar Bharat, or self-reliant India project, which focuses on indigenous production, would have made Subhas Chandra Bose proud had he been around, he said. “The nation is following the path Netaji showed,” he added. “Netaji said if you are true to yourself you cannot be wrong to the world. We have to make zero-defect products for the world… I often think how Netaji would feel seeing India surging ahead, its army getting modern weapons, planes like Rafale guarding the nation, vaccines being produced in India. How proud he must have felt seeing India giving vaccines to other nations.”

Mamata miffed at “Jai Shri Ram” slogans

Earlier, when Mamata Banerjee had risen to address the crowd, slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” were raised, which irked her. She then refused to speak, as she felt “insulted”.

“I feel a government programme must have some dignity. This is not a political programme but a government programme and it is for the public and all political parties. I am grateful to the Prime Minister and the Culture Ministry that this event is being held in Kolkata. But it is not right to invite someone to a government programme and insult that person. In protest, I am not saying anything. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla,” said Banerjee.

CM Banerjee stayed till the end of the event and took her seat alongside PM Modi. They were also seen talking. PM Modi took the stage shortly after but didn’t refer to Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to speak or her sudden exit from the stage. He mentioned her name as he mentioned all the other dignitaries attending the event, and referred to her as ‘behen’ (sister).

Modi released a collection of Bose’s letters, two commemorative coins and a stamp. He also felicitated INA veterans Nayek Lalti Ram, Dr BN Pandey and INA Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon’s daughter-in-law. He named eminent social reformers, scientists and educationists and even former President Pranab Mukherjee, who was awarded with the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award, by the BJP government.

Union culture and tourism minister Prahlad Singh Patel was also present at the Victoria Memorial Hall. “Netaji probably did not get the honour he deserves. Today, events are also being held at Cuttack in Odisha where Netaji was born and at Haripura in Gujarat, where he was elected president of the Congress party for the first time,” Patel said.

“Why not four capitals?”

Over the last few months, the TMC chief has been painting the BJP as an “outsider” to Bengal, in a bid to pit Bengalis against non-Bengalis and to garner Bengali sympathy and support.

On Saturday, she went a step further while addressing supporters in her roadshow and mooted the idea of India having four capitals, one each in the north, south, east and north-east. Kolkata, of course, was pitched as one of the alternative capital cities.

Invoking Netaji, she said, “Like Netaji Subhash Bose, Bengalis will not tolerate insults. Kolkata was the capital of British India. Our contribution to Independence cannot be slighted. Why should power now be concentrated only in Delhi, which is full of outsiders? Why not make Kolkata a second capital? In fact, why not have four capitals,” Banerjee said.

“I am not being parochial or regional. There can be a capital in the Northern region in Uttar Pradesh or Punjab. There could be another in South, which can be in Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andhra. A third can be explored in the east, preferably Kolkata. The fourth will be in the North East,” she continued.

‘Parakram Divas’ or ‘Desh Nayak Divas’?

The celebration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary has been hotly contested by the TMC and the BJP, as the Centre announced on January 19 that from this year January 23 will be celebrated as ‘Parakram Divas’. Banerjee further raised objections to the Centre’s move by saying that the name was “too Hindi”. She reasoned that a national hero from Bengal should be celebrated with names that are closer to their mother tongue.

Mamata Banerjee had said, “I don’t understand the meaning of ‘Parakram Divas’. We celebrate the day as ‘Desh Nayak Divas’.” She also asked why January 23 is not a national holiday, why there is no memorial for Netaji  or why all the files pertaining to Netaji and his disappearance haven’t been released, and added that the West Bengal government celebrates the day every year, not only in an election year.

Playing the Bengali versus non-Bengali card, TMC leaders have often said that the BJP is a political party from the Hindi heartland and that it is now trying to “usurp” Bengali heroes for political purposes. The two parties had earlier clashed over the birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda.

Netaji’s house sees renewed interest

Mamata Banerjee has also diligently been visiting Netaji’s ancestral home in south Kolkata – which now houses the Netaji Research Bureau. Prime Minister Modi too made a last minute modification to his schedule to visit the place. Several BJP leaders, including Bose family member Chandra Kumar Bose, also wanted to visit the Elgin Road house along with the PM. However, Sugata Bose, another relative of Netaji, reportedly objected to it. Ultimately, it was only the Prime Minister who went there.

“We requested that the PM visit Netaji Bhavan as head of the country and not as a political party representative. He obliged and took a tour of the house and the museum,” Sugata said adding, “The Bhavan is open for everyone. Anyone can visit it. But, we would like to keep the day (January 23) free of politics.”

‘Groping without skin contact is not sexual assault under POCSO’, says Bombay HC

By
The Commune
- 
Feature Image Credits: DNA India

The Bombay HC on Sunday said that it is not considered a sexual offense to grope someone over their clothes, since there was no skin-to-skin contact.

A single bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala made the observations while modifying an order by a sessions court that held a 39-year-old man guilty of sexual assault. The accused had allegedly taken a 12-year-old to his house on the pretext of giving her guava, and had pressed her breast and attempted to remove her salwar, reports Bar and Bench. The Bombay HC went on to say that groping without any ‘skin-to-skin’ contact is not sexual assault, because the criminal did not necessarily physically ‘slide their hand under their dress’.

“Admittedly, it is not the case of the prosecution that the accused removed her top and pressed her breast. As such, there is no direct physical contact i.e. skin-to-skin with sexual intent without penetration,” said Justice Ganediwala. “The appellant is acquitted under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and convicted under minor offence u/s 354 of IPC and sentenced him to undergo R.I. for one year and to pay fine of ₹500,” she ruled.

According to the report, sexual assault under Section 7 of POCSO carries a punishment of imprisonment between 3 to 5 years, while the minimum punishment for outraging modesty of woman under Section 354 of IPC is only 1 year.

India requires comprehensive strategy on nuclear-powered submarines, study finds

By
The Commune
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Representational Image | Credits: The National Interest

A very important paper titled, ‘Nuclear Attack Submarines: The Elixir for a True Blue-Water Navy’ has been published by Commodore Roby Thomas, a senior fellow in the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

This is seen as an important study wherein the Submersible Ship Nuclear or SSNs, which are nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarines, are required to fulfil the massive power expectations of the Indo-Pacific, The New Indian Express reports.

The study states that the manufacturing and maintenance cost of the SSN is more than that of Submersible Ship Killer or SSK, which is an original diesel-electric submarine and the study has revealed that around 2.2-6 SSKs are required to match the effectiveness of a solitary SSN.

India at present has 16 SSKs and only one SSN, an Akula class submarine leased from Russia and also operates one ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).

The report from the IDSA read, “Nuclear submarines are national strategic assets and even the best of friends do not part with this technology. For example… the US only gave Britain the reactor to operationalise its first SSN, HMS Dreadnought, and subsequently the Trident SLBM, but never the entire submarine. Similarly, Russia provided India with SSNs on lease to gain experience and training, never to own.”

What the study truly focuses on is if India wants a blue-water navy, nuclear-powered submarines are the way forward due to their ability for long deployments and India requires a comprehensively designed strategy on this front.

Elon Musk to venture into telecom after conquering the roads and the vast beyond

By
The Commune
- 
Feature Image Credit: Teslarati

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is now vying to conquer the telecom industry with his new venture, Starlink Internet. After conquering the roads with Tesla and the bounds of outer space with SpaceX, Musk told investors that Starlink is angling for a piece of a $1 trillion market made up of in-flight internet, maritime services, demand in China and India and rural customers.

Starlink is a low-Earth satellite constellation that aims to provide broadband internet to the remotest of places in the world. To date, SpaceX has launched around 1,000 satellites for the service and is now signing up early customers in the US, UK and Canada, as reported by Bloomberg.

Starlink will face plenty of competition. While fiber optic cable is widely considered too expensive to lay down in remote regions and many rural locations, cellular connectivity is expected to make big advances with 5G and then 6G.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, is primarily known for launching rockets for global satellite operators, the U.S. military, and NASA. Last year, SpaceX made history by becoming the first private company to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. SpaceX marked the new year by launching the first Falcon 9 rocket to a new communications satellite to space for Turkey on January 7.

19-year-old girl becomes Uttarakhand CM for a day on the occasion of National Girl Child Day

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credit: Jammu Bulletin | Facebook

On Sunday, Shristi Goswami, a 19-year-old BSc Agriculture student became the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand for a day, keeping with the observance of National Girl Child Day. She was chosen after  she was elected at the ‘Bal Vidhan Sabha’ (Children’s State Assembly) in a symbolic event organised by the state commission. The ‘Bal Vidhan Sabha’ was established in the year 2018 for the protection of child rights and to help children understand the democratic system.

Speaking about this, Srishti Goswami told ANI, “I am happy that I have got the privilege of becoming the Chief Minister on National Girl Child Day. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Also, I will be going through the presentations of various departments and will present my suggestions to them. My suggestions will prioritise girl child-centric issues.”

She reviewed the latest schemes from Gairsain, the state’s summer capital, and attended an official meeting with the state government officials. Some schemes that were reviewed by her were the Atal Ayushman Scheme, Smart City project, Homestay Scheme by the tourism department, and other development projects.

The state was following the footsteps of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s example, where she had made a teenager the PM for a day to support women empowerment. India celebrates the National Girl Child Day, an initiative of the ministry of women and child development, every year on January 24.

Preparations on for excavating Chola era remains at Gangaikondachozhapuram

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The State Archaeological Department of Tamilnadu has launched a field study which will survey the Gangaikondachozha Puram Temple to excavate Chozha remains. The temple is located in the Ariyalur district of Tamilnadu, and is said to contain artefacts from the Chozha Dynasty. This is to be done using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which will look for locations where the remains could be present.

It is to be noted that there have been excavations conducted here in the past, between 1980 and 2008. Several artefacts like burnt bricks, ivory and porcelain shards were unearthed in Maaligaimedu, a village near Gangaikondachozha Puram. Talks are on for conducting similar excavation work in Ayuthakalam and Meikaavalpudur. Centuries-old Chozha era remains are believed to be present in these locations, along with potential documents that describes the water management system of those times. The temple are the areas surounding it are significant as the capital of the kingdom had shifted to Gangaikondachozha Puram from Thanjavur during Rajendra Chozha’s reign.

“Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) approval for excavation was obtained last month. The study in Gangaikondachozha Puram will be one of the major excavations by us after Keeladi and Adichanallur,” Dr R Sivanandam, deputy director, state archaeology department, told TOI.

It was also speculated that the Kumbakonam-Vadalur area as well as the Cholagangam tank will be surveyed, as the Chozha empire extended to those regions as well.

Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry lashes out at The Print for publishing fake news

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credit: MFA Russia/Twitter

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has strongly objected to a sensational and fake news report published by Indian news portal The Print and called it a “ludicrous” and “hopeless” attempt “aimed at attracting attention”.

Debunking The Print’s deceptive news report, the MFA handle tweeted, “@ThePrintIndia’s attempt to create a sensation from nothing failed and looked ludicrous and helpless. We hope that the outlet will draw necessary conclusions and will from now on focus on facts, rather than flashy headlines aimed at attracting attention.”

The MFA also released a detailed and scathing statement on Facebook condemning The Print‘s “irresponsible” and “sensational” report titled “India-Russia annual summit postponed for 1st time in two decades amid Moscow’s unease with Quad”, which was published on 23 December 2020. The report falsely attributed the cancelling of the Russia-India annual summit to Russia’s supposed “unease” with India’s participation in the US-led Quad, whereas the summit had actually been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Quad, or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a group of countries comprising US, Japan, Australia and India that seek to tackle China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The four nations are also part of the Indo-Pacific strategic initiative.

The MFA pointed out in its statement that just two days before the report was published, Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev had held a press briefing in which the current status and future prospects for the Russia-India relations, in both bilateral and multilateral framing, were discussed. In the same briefing, the statement stressed, it was emphasised that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the schedule of the annual Russia-India summit, although there was no obstacle to the strengthening of ties between the two countries.

The MFA further attested in its statement that it has no objections regarding India’s participation in the Quad. “Russia welcomes the commitment of its Indian partners to the promotion of inclusive formats of regional cooperation as opposed to the division that a number of other countries are trying to impose, as they build their policies in the spirit of containment”, the MFA said.

Protesting against The Print‘s misleading report, the MFA said, “Notably, our colleagues in the Indian Foreign Ministry also drew attention to The Print’s “sensational” material, emphasising that in 2020, the summit, with the mutual agreement of the parties, had not taken place due to the pandemic, and insinuations of any other kind were invalid. The Indian Foreign Ministry noted separately that the spread of false information about important bilateral relations was “particularly irresponsible.” “

Professor faints after translating RaGa’s speech, admitted to hospital

By
The Commune
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In a strange incident, a college professor who was playing translator to Rahul Gandhi, collapsed at the venue moments after translating his speech.

Mohammad Imran, a 35 year old college professor was translating Rahul Gandhi’s speech during an event organized by the party with the weaving community at Odanilai in Erode district. The professor who was passionately translating the Congress leader’s speech fainted suddenly. He was later rushed to a nearby hospital. The reason for his collapse remains unknown.

Rahul Gandhi during the address was giving his two cents on India’s defence and foreign policy to counter China. He said “If India uses its workers farmers and labourers India does not need navy airforce and army against China. China will not have the guts to enter India”.

 

Rahul Gandhi is on a 3 day visit to Tamil Nadu as part of ‘Rahul-in Tamizh Vanakkam’, the Tamil Nadu Congress’ campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Coimbatore said “If we say Tamil Nadu is India, then we have to say India is Tamil Nadu. It cannot be like what Modi said, i.e., Tamil Nadu is a part of India, but India is not Tamil Nadu”.

Tamil Nadu Congress President K.S. Alagiri who was being the translator found himself in a fix finding it difficult to decipher and translate Rahul’s statement in Tamil.

Chennai: ₹150 crore worth property belonging to Agathiswarar Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal Temple reclaimed

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credits: indiancolumbus.blogspot.com

Temple land worth ₹150 crore located on Valluvar Kottam Road and owned by Agathiswarar Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal has been reclaimed from encroachers by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.

The Agasthiswarar Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal Temple is located in Nungambakkam, Chennai. The temple owns properties worth several crore rupees, including a vacant lot, a shop and a house. Some of the properties were leased out to tenants. However, the 15 grounds of land located on the Valluvar Kottam road had been encroached by commercial buildings and apartments, and had not paid rent for the past 30 years. They had to pay ₹11 crore in rent arrears and had not paid them despite several notices.

A petition was filed by the temple management in the High Court following which the Court on December 16 last year, ordered the recovery of the temple property. Based on the Court’s order, the HR&CE department removed the encroachers and took possession of the property. Residents of the buildings then got into an argument with the authorities leading to a commotion. However, police were brought in to ease the tension and the lands were taken over in the presence of Revenue Department, HR&CE Department and the public.

Conspiracy behind Dalit man’s murder in UP busted, said to have accidentally immolated himself while trying to implicate men who had complained against him for corruption

By
The Commune
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Feature Image Credit: Falana Dikhana

A shocking revelation has come to light regarding a barbaric incident that occurred last October in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district. The incident occurred in Bandoiya village under Munshiganj police station limits in Amethi. Four men were accused of murdering a Dalit man, but further investigations by the police and a team of investigative journalists have shown that there is more to the incident than meets the eye.

It was alleged that four dominant men had conspired to kill Arjun Kori and had burned him alive. A widely-circulated audio clip purported to be from the deceased, where he allegedly names his killers before dying, had gone viral on social media. The deceased’s wife had named two others for being responsible for her husband’s death.

The mainstream media had earlier latched on to the story quite quickly and had called this an episode of ‘upper-caste oppression’ and ‘Dalit persecution’.

However, a thoroughly researched ground report of Hindi news portal Falana Dikhana ― which has been admitted into the charge-sheet of the case ― has revealed that the matter was entirely something else.

The deceased was the husband of Chotka, the pradhan of the village. But according to villagers, it was the deceased who used to take care of the affairs and day-to-day responsibilities of being the village pradhan, with the help of his aides Rambabu and Ajay Tiwari. Villagers claimed that Arjun often threatened people by claiming to file fake complaints under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, due to which they were scared of him. He had earlier filed a complaint under the SC/ST Act against Vinay Tiwari, a resident of the village, but the complaint was found to be fake after investigation.

It has been revealed that all of the accused were involved, in one way or the other, in highlighting the corruption, misuse of public office and embezzlement that the deceased was allegedly involved in. RTI enquiries and complaints had been filed to bring to light Arjun’s alleged corruption. An inquiry committee too had been set up to investigate corruption charges against the deceased.

What happened that night?

At around 11 PM on the night of the incident, the burnt corpse of Arjun Kori, a Dalit man, was found on the property of Krishna Kumar, one of the accused. Video footage recorded by CCTV shows that both Krishna Kumar and his 15 year-old son Ashutosh were at home and did not come out of their house at the time of the incident. Ashutosh has been named as an accused as well.

Another accused Rajesh Mishra was with the father of Ramakant (Ramakant has also been accused in this case) in the evening and returned home at around 9 PM. Neighbours corroborated that the other accused too were at home at the time of the incident.

According to an unnamed source, the deceased was mired in allegations of corruption and decided to take a novel way out. He decided to entrap the accused by charging them under the draconian SC/ST Act to prevent them from exposing his corruption. Arjun spread rumours about his abduction by the accused and went to the premises of Krishna Kumar. There he chose a ‘blind spot’ where the CCTV cameras could not record him. It is alleged that he then proceeded to douse his clothes with an inflammable liquid, intending to burn them slightly and claim that it was the accused who did so. However, the ghastly plan went awry and he died after being burned. A plastic bottle was retrieved from the scene near the corpse which was sent for forensic examination.

Deceased’s family changes statement

The deceased’s family has now changed their statement given to the police. They now say that Arjun was not murdered but his death was a suicide. They have admitted that the accused had filed for inquiries into Chotka’s term as village pradhan and the deceased’s alleged corruption, and it was this worry that drove the deceased to take his own life.

No relief for the innocent

However, the accused have been in jail for the past three months and have not yet been released as investigations are pending. The accused Rajesh Mishra’s mother passed away recently, but despite several pleas, he was not released on bail to attend to his mother’s cremation and other funerary rites. Rajesh Mishra was the only son to his parents.

Alhough the accused are now not being charged with murder, they are facing charges of abetment of suicide.

(Source: Falana Dikhana)

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