Mumbai: A day after the split in the saffron alliance, Shiv Sena on Friday lashed out at BJP, calling it “enemy of Maharashtra”, signalling a return to its original pro-Marathi agenda for next month’s assembly polls.
“Our other (Mahayuti) alliance parties wanted the Sena-BJP association to continue. More than that, it was what the 11 crore people of Maharashtra wanted. Those who trampled these sentiments are enemies of Maharashtra,” Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’
“This (breaking of alliance) is an insult to the 105 Marathi martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement,” the editorial went on to say. It also termed as “unfortunate” the demise of the long-standing alliance between the two ideologically compatible pro-Hindutva parties.
“It is unfortunate that the Sena-BJP alliance, which for the last 25 years was bound by the Hindutva ideology, has ended. We made sincere efforts till the end to ensure that the alliance with BJP and other parties of Mahayuti remained intact,” the editorial said.
“Those who till yesterday were praying in this tent are now offering namaz in the other tent,” it said, apparently targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent remarks praising the “patriotism” of Indian Muslims. “Soon the realisation will dawn that those who flew away (BJP) were crows of ‘pitrapaksh’ and those who remain are Mavle (a term used for Chhhatrapati Shivaji’s soldiers),” the editorial said.
Referring to senior Congress leader Narayan Rane’s recent allegation that the BJP-led government at the Centre was trying to reduce the importance of Mumbai as the country’s financial capital by shifting RBI’s foreign exchange divisions to Delhi, the editorial said, “Today Congress leaders are decrying conspiracy to reduce the state’s importance. But Morarji Desai too was of flesh and blood of Congress.”
It was during Desai’s tenure as Chief Minister that 105 volunteers of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement were killed while demanding a separate state for Marathi-speaking people with Bombay as its capital.
Frankfurt, Sept 26:
After an overnight transit halt here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today left for his maiden visit to the US, during which he will address the UN General Assembly, hold talks with President Barack Obama and meet top American corporate honchos, besides a series of other engagements.
On his first leg of the high-profile five-day visit, Modi will land in New York, where he will address the 69th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) tomorrow and a rally at the famous Madison Square Garden on Sunday, which is likely to be attended by around 20,000 people from the Indian-American community.
Modi will have a summit-level meeting with Obama on September 30 and today in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the Prime Minister described America as India’s “natural global partner’’.
“The US is our natural global partner. India and the US embody the enduring and universal relevance of their shared values,” Modi wrote.
Modi is visiting the US after being denied a visa in 2005 for his alleged role in the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat when he was the tate’s chief minister.
The Prime Minister will have a gruelling schedule in New York which includes a meeting with as many as 11 top corporate honchos over breakfast on September 29 apart from one-on-one meetings with six more business captains the same day.
In New York, Modi will pay a visit to the 9/11 memorial on Saturday following which he is expected to drive down to the United Nations headquarters to address the 69th annual session of the UNGA.
Obama will host a rare private dinner for Modi at the White House on September 29 to establish a personal relationship with the Indian leader ahead of summit talks the next day. The two leaders are meeting for the first time.
Modi will also be participating in a business meet, to be organised by the US-India Business Council (USIBC), expected to be attended by 300-400 businessmen in Washington on September 30.
Seeking enhanced ties, in the op-ed, Modi said the complementary strengths of India and the US can be used for inclusive and broad-based global development to transform lives across the world.
“This is a moment of flux in the global order. I am confident in the destiny of our two nations, because democracy is the greatest source of renewal and, with the right conditions, offers the best opportunity for the human spirit to flourish,” he said.
New Delhi: Significant differences on ‘critical issues’ forced NCP to take ‘bold’ step of ending the 15-year-old alliance with Congress in Maharashtra, party chief Sharad Pawar said on Friday.
The Maratha strongman also said that his party would seek support of “other secular parties” for the assmebly polls next month.
In a series of tweets, Pawar said, “I would like to say that there were significant differences between our party & Congress on various critical issues. Due to time constraint & other issues, we were compelled to take bold step to end 15 years of alliance with Congress in Maharashtra.
“So our party has decided to contest this elections independently and we will be happy to take support from other secular parties,” he tweeted.
While he did not elaborate on what were the critical issues, NCP had pulled a rabbit out of its hat by raising the demand for rotational Chief Ministership at the last minute during the seat sharing talks with Congress in Maharashtra.
NCP had sought the Chief Minister’s post for half of the 5-year term if the alliance retained power. The formula was adopted by Congress in Jammu and Kashmir sometime back with its then state partner PDP.
Supporters of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan were hinting for long that NCP leader Ajit Pawar would not like the alliance to take place as he aspired for the top post.
The condition of SRA buildings is below human standards at Golibar, Bandra East. The term shifting is a mockery to the word where people are living for more than 8 years with no sign of shifting. The water supply is filled with large insects. In this context a small girl died after consuming this dirty contaminated water. The toilets are absolutely horrible where some of it are open with the possibility of children falling out. One of the lifts is out of order for more than a year. The roof has several leakages.
The flies and mosquitoes are a terror with the possibility of many diseases. It is very unfortunate that the government has not bothered to do anything about this grave situation. The local residents say that the local corporator, MLA and other political parties have been sold out to Shivalik Ventures. Megha Patkar the social activist has raised serious concerns about the irregularities of the SRA scheme and its nexus with the builders.
Real News of India will further investigate different SRA buildings located at many locations in Mumbai. We would like to draw the attention of all concerned bodies to look into these problems where the government says houses for all. The bonafide citizens of India have a full legal right of proper housing facilities by all means.
The Chief Reporter Sayed Fanus and reporter Marywin Nazareth have taken great pains to investigate this report. They have spoken and pacified the victims of honest and real news to be published by Real News of India.
http://youtu.be/SH9mwKGll0E?list=UUxoQcj5v7JJ28ChDDw0-qdg
Patna: Widows from Vrindavan, who are here to visit religious places of the state, Thursday said they were hurt by Mathura MP Hema Malini’s “outsider” remarks and urged her to withdraw the ‘painful’ comments.
“We are hurt and pained by the remarks of Hema Malini,” Mandoloi (70), who hails from Madhya Pradesh and has been living in Vrindavan for the past 15 years after her husband’s death, told PTI.
Fifty widows, living in five ashrams at Vrindavan have been sponsored by Sulabh International, a non-profit voluntary organisation, to visit religious places of Bihar and West Bengal.
“We are in Vrindavan to offer prayers to Lord Krishna,” the widows said.
The group includes 95-year-old Kanak Lata Devi, who will visit her ancestral place after 40 years to enjoy the Durga Puja festivities in Kolkata.
The former screen goddess and now a BJP MP Hema Malini had recently stoked controversy with her remarks that widows from West Bengal and Bihar should not crowd Vrindavan.
She had said that responsibility of looking after widows should be of states from where they hail.
Patna-born Kaushalya Devi (70) and Arti Mistri from Odisha objected to Malini’s remarks of widows begging in Vrindavan and said they were actually following the traditional practice of “madhukari”, which means collecting honey from flower.
“Their trip to Kolkata is an effort to bring some joy and sense of belongingness to their lives. They are going back to the land of their ancestors,” says Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, Founder of Sulabh International.
The widows would meet West Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi during their stay, NGO officials said.
The Syrian opposition leader pleaded “for expedited assistance to put an end to the progress and aggression of” Islamic State group militants, which have seized a large area of Syria.
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The Syrian opposition leader appealed to the international community for more weapons and air support to defeat both militants and the Assad regime, as nations unveiled more non-lethal aid. “We welcome that the world has joined this battle, we welcome the partnership of the world in our battle against terrorism,” Syrian National Coalition leader Hadi al-Bahra told a special ministerial meeting.
But he pleaded “for expedited assistance to put an end to the progress and aggression of” Islamic State group militants, which have seized a large area of Syria and sent some 200,000 Kurds fleeing from their villages in recent days. “We call on the international community, we call on our brothers and sisters to assist the operations of the free army, by supporting air support,” Bahra told a meeting of the Friends of Syria.
American and British leaders pledged about US$115 million in new funding to help the Syrian moderate opposition as it fights both the militants and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
US officials said the Department of Defence was moving to equip and train the moderate Syrian opposition which has been vetted, but warned it could take several months. “We have cooperation from Saudi Arabia and others to do the training. We haven’t gotten into the specifics of equipment,” a senior State Department official told reporters. “Training and equipping will take place as soon as possible, and it will be as quick as it can be. But it does take a certain amount of time. First you have to get facilities and the move forward with the actual training program.”
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said his country would be increasing aid to £ 46 million (US$75 million). And US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was boosting its non-lethal support by a further US$40 million. Some US$15 million was for communications, vehicles and meals for troops, with US$26 million for building the civilian opposition.
“Friends of Syria today expressed their support once again for the vision of a Syria free of tyranny and terrorism, enjoying democracy, pluralism under the rule of law,” Hammond told reporters. “Today we made our commitment to work with the moderate opposition led by the Syrian National Coalition to turn that vision into a reality.”
SECURITY VACUUM
The Friends of Syria group reaffirmed the need for a political settlement in Syria after more than three years of civil war. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, whose country has joined the US-led air strikes against IS militants in Syria, said the campaign against the extremists “should start by putting an end to the causes of this terrorism.”
“The regime in Syria is the cause of the appearance of ISIL,” he said, adding it had created a security vacuum which had led to the group’s rise. “Our support for the moderate opposition should not be only military sphere, but should also include practical steps to weaken the Syrian regime by an economic blockade,” the prince said, calling on those responsible for crimes to be brought before international courts. “The only thing that we expect is for this regime to go.”
Bahra suggested that Assad was hoping to seal his country’s fate through military victory. Fighting has raged in Syria has killed more than 180,000 people and caused millions to flee their homes. The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday said he had “no grand projects at the moment” to revive the peace process.
China will not feel ‘jealous’ of India’s Mars mission success but will have ‘myriad reasons’ to feel delighted at the feat, state media here said today.
“Apparently, China will not feel jealous of Mangalyaan entering Mars orbit. Chinese people understand that they boast much more advanced technological, economic and social development than India does,” state-run Global Times said in its editorial titled ‘India’s Mars success boosts space research’.
“The Indian public fully expressed their elation at having surpassed China in Mars exploration. China’s first Mars exploratory probe, Yinghuo-1, went missing one year after its launch in 2011,” the editorial said.
Watched by Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists broke into wild cheers and congratulated each other after the 1,350 kg Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft ‘Mangalyaan’ was manoeuvred into its designated place.
“There is rhetoric on India’s Internet that the success of Mangalyaan is pouring salt into China’s wounds, which, however, is too serious and strong a characterisation,” the article said.
“Actually, Chinese people have myriad reasons to feel delighted at the success of the Mangalyaan probe alongside Indian people,” it said.
Soon after Mangalyaan’s successful entry into Martian space, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hailed the achievement as Asia’s pride.
“This is pride of India and Pride of Asia and also is the landmark progress in humankind’s exploration of outer space. So we congratulate India on that,” Hua said.
Almost all the Chinese media featured Mangalyaan’s success prominently with photos of celebrations in India.
“The total cost of the Indian mission has been put at Rs 4.5 billion rupees ($74 million) cheaper than the cost of making a Hollywood movie,” state-run Xinhua news agency said in its report.
The Global Times, known for its nationalistic posture, however, took a dig at India’s Martian achievement saying that “If a country that is relatively backward in scientific research is able to send a probe to Mars, it is highly possible that Yinghuo-2 may succeed in the future.
India’s maiden mission to Mars, the Mangalyaan, has arrived in orbit after a 300-day marathon covering over 670 million kilometres (420 million miles). Science writer Pallava Bagla traced its journey as it neared the Red Planet.
On the morning of 24 September, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) slowed down the spacecraft sufficiently so it could be caught in the orbit of Mars.
“India will become the first Asian country to have achieved this and if it happens in the maiden attempt itself, India could become the first country in the world to have reached distant Mars on its own steam in the first attempt,” said Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan as it approached.
Both Russia and the US failed in their maiden attempts. The first Chinese mission to Mars, called Yinghuo-1, failed in 2011 alongside the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission with which it was launched. Earlier in 1998, the Japanese mission to Mars ran out of fuel and was lost.
Undoubtedly, India – a late starter – is way ahead of its Asian rivals in trying to get to the Red Planet.
“We are really not racing with anyone, but with ourselves to reach the next level of excellence,” said Mr Radhakrishnan.
‘Pink of health’
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) – an indigenously made unmanned robotic mission weighing 1,350kg (2,976lb) – was launched from the rocket port at Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal on a balmy afternoon on 5 November last year.
Since then, the mission “has been in the pink of health”, says Isro, and has been cruising at breakneck speed to reach close to Mars, half-way around the Sun.
The death toll in Assam in the current flood rose to 30 on Wednesday with 14 bodies recovered from worst-affected Goalpara and Kamrup (rural) districts even as relief and rescue work continued round-the-clock.
Six bodies were recovered from Bolbola and Krishnai areas of Goalpara taking the total death toll so far to 14 in the district, where army, NDRF and SDRF are conducting rescue operation, a senior district administration official said.
Another eight bodies were recovered from neighbouring Kamrup(Rural) district, where the toll rose to 10. Four others are still missing, Deputy Commissioner J Balaji said.
Goalpara district administration sources said 94 relief camps have been set up by the district administration and more than 90,000 people have taken shelter in them.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday called up Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to take stock of the flood situation in the state. Gogoi apprised him about the slew of steps initiated by the state government to rescue the marooned people in the flood-hit areas. He also asked the home minister to raise the ex-gratia amount to the next of kin of those who died and sustained injuries and enhanced central assistance for damaged houses and crop land.
Assam Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka and Forest Minister Rakibul Hussain have been deputed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to review the prevailing situation in the district and coordinate the relief and rescue operations, an official spokesman said.
The ministers have announced that the state government would provide ex-gratia payment of Rs 3.5 lakh to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the current floods.
In Kamrup (rural) rescue operations were on and the situation was improving gradually with no rains since Tuesday. Balaji said road communication between Nagarberra and Hekra was affected as a concrete bridge was washed away on Tuesday.
Traffic along NH 37 has resumed but they were moving very slowly as several parts of it are still submerged, he added.
Situation in Guwahati, which falls in Kamrup (metro) district, was improving slowly though the severely affected areas of Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar, Tarun Nagar, Rajgarh besides Zoo Road in the heart of the city are still under water, a spokesman of the district administration said.
Flood water from neighbouring Meghalaya inundated Betkuchi, Bashishta Chariali, Katahbari and Gorchuk localities of Guwahati along NH 37, the spokesman said.
All government and private educational institutions in and around the city remained closed for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
In Kamrup (metro), five people have died so far while in Dhubri district a child was killed by landslide at Hatisinghmari on September 22.
A population of nearly four lakh have been affected in 12 districts by the current wave of flood which has inundated 415 villages and nearly 9,000 hectares of crop area, a Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) release said.
The affected districts are Goalpara, Kamrup Metro, Kamrup Rural, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Udalguri, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Nalbari, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Darrang and Lakhimpur.
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