Congress veteran and former PM Indira Gandhi’s close aide ML Fotedar has claimed that Indira had predicted her death days before she was assassinated and wished her granddaughter Priyanka Gandhi to step in her shoes.

Indira’s long time political advisor also said that the former prime minister saw potential in Priyanka and was certain that she had the ability to become a great leader and carry forward her political legacy.

According to a report published in an English daily, Fotedar said that Indira had told him that the next century belonged to Priyanka.

He said that three days before Indira was assassinated, they were both in Kashmir where one day after visiting a temple there they sat there and relaxed, it is then when began talking to him about Priyanka and her potential.

Fotedar further sad, “I was taken aback by the manner in which she opened up. Maybe she had a premonition that her end was imminent and she felt the need to talk about her desire to see Priyanka become a leader. I felt her words were really important. That night, I wrote down every word she said that day about Priyanka.”

Although, he said that Sonia Gandhi did not seem to agree with Indira’s suggestion. He said, “After Indiraji’s death, I told Rajiv [Gandhi] about Indira’s views on Priyanka. I have also told Soniaji about Indiraji’s desire to see Priyanka as a leader. I do see a lot of similarity between Indiraji and Priyanka. I feel Priyanka has the same aggression that Indiraji had as a leader. The Priyanka we are seeing today is nothing. Just wait and watch. As Indiraji said, the next century belongs to Priyanka​.”

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 in Delhi. The Gandhi loyalist, ML Fotedar’s recollection of the olden times will be soon released in his book Chinar Leaves on October 30.

New Delhi, Oct. 20 (ANI): The opposition parties on Monday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA over rising incidents of intolerance, saying the ruling government at the Centre should act rather than just condemning the recent acts by extremist groups.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement condemning the acts of intolerance was made keeping the Bihar Assembly polls in mind.
“The recent statements by the ruling party were made by keeping the election campaigns in mind. The BJP president’s statement and the Finance Minister’s statement were limited to this. Even today, the Finance Minister condemned the violent protests taking place, but the government should go beyond it and take action,” Sharma told mediapersons here.
“The perpetrators are being protected because they are the part of their organisation. If the government is serious about it then they should act against these people,” he added.
CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury echoing similar sentiments questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s studded silence on the issue.
“It is a very strange statement by the Finance Minister. He says that it is very disturbing that people are using violence or force to establish their point of view. Did he forget that they are the government? There is law of the land under which giving such inciting speeches that will disturb communal amity in the country is a penal offence. Why is action not being taken by this government?” Yechury told ANI.
“The Prime Minister tweets on everything under the sun, but on this why has he kept quite… By not acting clearly, they are patronising these forces. That is the basic point, stop giving sanctimonious speeches, stop preaching, act and implement the law of the land,” he added.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier today said that incidents of intolerance would not be tolerated. He also expressed concern over the recent acts of vandalism and said that there is no place for violence in democracy.

In the wake of gangrape of two minor girls, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a strong pitch for handing over Delhi police control to state government. He also sought a meeting with the Prime Minister and Lt Governor.

The Chief Minister hit out at Delhi police saying it had “completely failed” to provide safety to the citizens, while urging PM Narendra Modi to “either act himself” or give AAP government the authority over law and order in the capital.

In a major embarrassment for the city, two minors were brutally gangraped in the capital , just days after the rape of a four-year-old girl in northwest Delhi.

Kejriwal visited the hospitals where the victims were being treated and said that his government has the requisite funds to take over the control of police and provide security.

Kejriwal alleged that LG Najeeb Jung and Delhi Police are interfering in their work. He insisted that they should focus on the safety and security of women in the capital. AAP has been at loggerheads with Delhi Police over a number of issues, with the party accusing the force of bias against it on several occasions.

While the demand for handing over Delhi police to state continues, both the state and central govt should jointly work together for making Delhi a safer place for women.

The much-anticipated talks between BCCI President Shashank Manohar and his Pakistan counterpart Shahryar Khan on the proposed bilateral series have been rescheduled for Tuesday after protests by Shiv Sena activists forced the Board to cancel the meet in Mumbai.

The meeting was to take place in Mumbai on Monday but was cancelled after 40 to 50 members broke into the BCCI’s headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and “gheraoed” president Shashank Manohar, saying, “We will not allow any cricket ties with Pakistan.”

The Shiv Sainiks charged into the office chanting ‘vande matram’ and slogans against PCB chief Shahryar Khan. They were carrying saffron flags of the party and black flags to condemn resumption of Indo-Pak cricketing ties.

However, protesting workers were later taken away by police.

“The talks have not been called off. Mr Manohar and Mr Khan will speak to each other on Monday evening and on Tuesday they are coming to Delhi for another round of talks,” IPL Chairman and senior Board functionary Rajiv Shukla told the news agency.

“In no way, the dialogue will be stopped. BCCI has never compromised with national interests,” he said.

Shukla also condemned the attack. Taking to micro blogging site, he said, “Strongly condemns the attack on BCCI Office by Shiv Sena,”

“BCCI is a responsible body and will not do anything against national interest. Cricketing decisions should be left to BCCI,” he added.

“Cricket is a gentleman’s game and the spirit of the game expects same generosity and tolerance from those who love the game,” he further tweeted.

Reacting to the incident, Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “Law and order has completely broken down in Maharashtra. Ghulam Ali, Kasuri ji and now Shahryar Khan- this is this how you treat guests.”

The Hindu Mahasabha has announced that it will observe November 15, the day Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse was hanged, as ‘Balidan Diwas’.

According to media reports, Mahasabha president Chandra Prakash Kaushik is planning events to observe the day across the country.

“Godse was much more patriotic than Gandhi. I am very sure several people in the country think so. ‘Balidan diwas’ should be a day for the countrymen to sit and think why Godse killed Gandhi,” Kaushik told The Economic Times.

Members of the Mahasabha will perform street plays enacting Godse’s life. There will be readings of the speech Godse made before he was hanged. Copies of Gandhivad Kyon, a book written by Gopal Godse, younger brother of Nathuram Godse, will be distributed.

Last year, the Hindu Mahasabha had declared that it will build temples to honour Godse who was hanged in Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949.

Rajkot district superintendent of police Gagandeep Gambhir said this evening that the police would be registering an FIR against the Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel for “insulting” the national flag.

According to Gambhir, Hardik’s feet touched the national flag which he was carrying as he jumped on a car in an attempt to talk to the media when he was stopped by the police at Madhapar crossroads in Rajkot on Sunday afternoon.

“Hardik always tries to be in media…when he was stopped by police, he suddenly jumped on the roof of his car with the national flag. While doing so, the flag touched his feet, which is against the dignity of the tricolor,” said the SP.

“Whatever he has done is not allowed as per the law. So we will file an FIR for disrespecting the national flag.” Hardik was detained by police on his way to Khandheri cricket stadium in Rajkot ahead of the India-South Africa One Day International. He had threatened to stage a protest at the stadium.

Also read- Patel agitation: Hardik Patel’s detention sparks sporadic protests in Gujarat

Gambhir said that action will also be taken against the driver of the car in which Hardik was travelling.

“We have also seized the car as the occupants failed to produce any document related to the vehicle. The person who was driving did not have driving license,” he said.

Former Congress leader Cherian Philip said that women leaders in the Congress party had to perform sexual favours in order to secure tickets for elections. Philip made the statement on his Facebook page on Sunday.

Kerala Congress chief VM Sudheeran condemned his statements while Mahila Congress leaders Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman said his statements were an insult to women. The two women leaders are contemplating taking legal action against him, media reports say.

In his Facebook post, Cherian Philip clarified saying that his comments were not targeted at the women but at the men who exploited women in the party. He referred to Mahila Congress leaders Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman as his sisters. He said that since they had known him for many years now they should not misunderstand his statements.

“When Antony was president and Sudheeran was vice president in the state Congress, I was the party general secretary. Sudheeran knows what happened then and so do I,” stated Philip. He said he knew ‘secrets’ about how women in the party got tickets and that if VM Sudheeran filed a case against him, he’ll have to take a polygraph and the secrets will come tumbling out.

His remarks on Facebook come after a ‘shirtless’ protest undertaken by some Congress activists in Thrissur recently. The protest was against tickets denied to them for the local body polls to be held in November. Philip stated that this was a new model of protest that should be followed by people. He added on his Facebook post that this is similar to the protest carried out by women earlier in order to get tickets.

In another Facebook post, Philip added that he had nothing to hide and was willing to reveal the truth, but that it would mean Congress leaders in the state would get exposed. CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP and AIDWA leader TN Seema have asked Philip to withdraw the comments and apologise.

Philip is a former close aide of senior Congress leader AK Antony. In 2001, he was denied a ticket for the assembly elections and quit the party in revolt.

The political firestorm in the wake of rape of two minors in the national capital intensified on Sunday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stepping up attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he will not let him sleep “peacefully” if “jungle raj prevails”.

After a meeting with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Kejriwal lambasted the Centre and Delhi Police, asserting that he will not remain silent on the issue of women’s security even as investigators claimed to have cracked the case of rape of a two-and-half year old child with arrest of two juveniles. “We will not allow the Prime Minister to sleep peacefully if women in Delhi do not get proper safety and the present trend of rapes continues. That is guaranteed,” Kejriwal said.

Claiming that “jungle raj” was prevailing in the capital, Kejriwal urged Modi not to remain “stubborn” and hand over law and order control to city government for at least one year, a demand he had made yesterday as well. “The Prime Minister must understand that I am not (previous Chief Minister) Sheila Dikshit. I will not remain silent,” he said. Dikshit had yesterday accused Kejriwal of indulging in blame game. Without giving details, the Chief Minister said his government was exploring all options to ensure safety of women and improve overall law and order situation. Sources said Delhi Government was contemplating approaching the Supreme Court “to fix accountability” of the Delhi Police.

Also read- Delhi Child Rape: BS Bassi hits back at CM Arvind Kejriwal over ‘jungle raj’ remarks

Responding to Kejriwal’s jungle raj comment, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said “these type of remarks should not be given much importance as they are made keeping political positioning in mind. There is no jungle raj in Delhi.” In the meeting with Jung, Kejriwal submitted figures of crime against women in the last four years and cases of missing children and requested him to take urgent measures to improve the law and order situation. Kejriwal has called a cabinet meeting tomorrow to discuss the law and order situation.

A two-and-half-year-old girl and another five-year-old were brutally raped in the capital on Friday, barely a week after a sexual assault of a minor, triggering widespread outrage and a political slugfest. “We met the L-G along with last four years’ record on crime cases. Around 31,000 cases of crime against women were recorded. Out of these, chargesheets were filed in only 13,000 cases. In 18,000 cases, there was no charge sheet. Only 146 people were punished overall. So you can see how safe our women are,” the Chief Minister said.

BJP attacked Kejriwal over his jungle raj comments, saying his outburst on the city’s security scenario was a mere “political skulduggery”.

In the 45-minute-long meeting which was attended by several top officials, Kejriwal questioned the “control” over police, emphasising that they must be made accountable. Jung on the other hand assured the Chief Minister that all possible measures will be taken to improve security of women in the city. “There is absolutely no democratic control over Delhi Police which is very dangerous for a democratic country,” Kejriwal said, adding the law and order situation will see significant improvement if police was handed over to Delhi Government.

Kejriwal said that people of Delhi are “very angry” over the rapes and that there was a sense of insecurity among them. “Rapists know that they commit crime and get away with it,” he said.

Meanwhile, investigators said two juveniles have been apprehended in connection with the rape of the toddler at west Delhi’s Nihal Vihar area. Both the accused, aged around 17 years, live in the same neighbourhood and were known to the girl’s family, police said.

On Friday night, they took advantage of powercut in the area and allegedly abducted the girl, after which at least one of them raped her, a police official said. “More than 15 teams were formed in this case and around 250 locals were questioned throughout the night, after which the police zeroed in on a few and later the accused juveniles were apprehended,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Dependra Pathak. In the second incident, a five-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by a co-tenant and two of his associates at a slum cluster in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar area last evening.

The girl’s parents are labourers and she was alone at home when the accused lured her to their accommodation just above the victim’s house. As the incident came to light, the neighbours thrashed the three and handed them over to police. The accused have been identified as Prakash, Rewati and Sitaram.

Both the girls suffered severe injuries and are recovering in separate hospitals. The two rape incidents came a week after brutal rape of a four year-old girl in north west Delhi’s Keshavpuram area.

As the second phase of Bihar polls was underway, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday anticipated a victory for Nitish Kumar and claimed that the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, was all set to “badly” lose the elections.

The AAP convenor said that incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will get another shot at power. Kejriwal has openly endorsed Kumar’s candidature.

“As per my information, Modiji is losing Bihar elections badly. Nitishji is winning the polls,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Kejriwal had extended full support to his Bihar counterpart’s candidature at a conclave organised by the Delhi government in the capital in August.

However, he did not campaign for the JD(U) in the ongoing polls.

Making common cause against Modi, the duo also attacked him for announcing a Rs 1.25 lakh crore package for the election-bound state.

AAP has had to walk a tightrope in supporting Nitish as his party JD(U) is part of a grand alliance of which Lalu Prasad-led RJD is also a part.

Naing/EPA
Oliver Holmes in Bangkok and Jason Burke in Delhi
Wednesday 7 October 2015 10.41 BST Last modified on Sunday 11 October 2015 12.27 BST
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Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s opposition leader, has said she plans to lead the country if her party triumphs in forthcoming parliamentary elections despite a ban on her serving as president, indicating there will be a fierce post-poll battle with the country’s entrenched military rulers.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is expected to win the polls, but Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel peace prize in 1991, is barred from the presidency due to a constitutional provision that excludes those with foreign children from the office.

Her late husband was British and she has two British sons and the clause was specifically aimed at denying her the post.

“If the NLD wins the elections and we form a government, I am going to be the leader of that government whether or not I am the president. Why not?” she said in an interview with prominent Indian journalist Karan Thapar to be broadcast by the India Today TV network on wednesday. “Do you have to be president in order to lead a country?”

Aung San Suu Kyi said “the constitution will have to change to allow civilian authorities to have the necessary democratic authority over the armed forces” – a direct challenge to the powerful military.
“I am sure they won’t like it. I don’t expect them to like it,” she said. “But I do believe there are many members of the army who want what is best for the country and if we can agree with one another what would be best for the country then we can come to the arrangement.”

The 8 November election is for seats in both houses of parliament for five-year terms. About 30 million people are eligible to vote, and 90 parties are contesting it. The military, however, is guaranteed a quarter of the seats under the constitution it drafted.

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A president will not be chosen until early 2016 after elected MPs have nominated two candidates. MPs appointed by the military nominate a third candidate, and then all parliamentarians vote to determine who becomes president.

As a quarter of seats in parliament are reserved for the army, the NLD will have to win 67% of the vote for a majority.

It is unclear if during that transition period the parliament would be able to amend the constitution to allow her to be nominated as president or to change the system of government. Parliament failed in June to amend the clause.

“You wait and see and hope I win the elections 100% to see what I have in my mind,” she said.

The hour-long interview with Thapar was the first Aung San Suu Kyi has given since August. That it was granted to an Indian network is an indication of how important the emerging south Asian power is to her and the senior leadership of the NLD, even though Delhi failed to support her and other pro-democracy campaigners.

Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar emerged from international pariah status when a semi-civilian government took power four years ago following decades of military rule.

However, the ruling Union Solidarity and Development party is in effect a political extension of the military and the NLD and activists have criticised widespread economic reforms pushed through while, despite some releases, many political prisoners remain in jail and the media is strictly controlled.

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“They have been cracking down on the press since about a year ago, and there are a few journals and news weeklies that are bravely carrying on the fight but a lot of our media are learning to self-censor to a certain extent,” Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday.

The politician also expressed concerns about the electoral roll and the political sympathies of the election commissioner, the senior official overseeing the poll.

The army regime have a history of tough action when their power is threatened. A landslide victory by the NLD in the 1990 general elections was ignored by the junta. Aung San Suu Kyi, now 70, spent 15 years since then under house arrest.

In August, the military dismissed parliament speaker Shwe Mann, a rare member of the establishment who was also an ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, from his post.

Aung San Suu Kyi, known locally as “the Lady”, has asked the world to keep its eye on the country after the elections.

She rejected recent criticism that she has not been sufficiently outspoken against sectarian violence in her country, particularly attacks on the Rohingya Muslim minority in the west of the country.

She said she was restricted by laws against mixing religion and politics but expressed concern about rising religious intolerance in Myanmar.

There has also been criticism of her dominance of the pro-democracy movement in her country, and doubts over her ability to make compromises or deals some say are necessary in day to day politics as a leader.

“I have always been a pragmatic politician,” she said. “I have always said I don’t like to be called an icon, because icons do nothing except sit on the wall. And I have had to work very hard.”