Gujarat Muslims vote for BJP out of fear: Azam Khan
Lucknow: Some Muslims in Gujarat vote for the BJP out of fear, Uttar Pradesh Urban Development and Minority Affairs Minister Azam Khan said Monday. Khan’s statement came a day after BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi blamed Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for failing to check communal riots in UP. Azam Khan, a lieutenant of Mulayam Singh, rubbished reports that some sections of the Muslim community had begun to accept the idea of Modi as India’s prime minister. “After the bloodshed of 2002 in Gujarat, no one can even think like this,” he said. Admitting that some Muslims voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat, Khan said this was due to the fear of victimization at the hands of the Modi government if they did not do so. “If they do not vote for Modi, they will be hounded out of the state,” he alleged. (IANS)
Centre tells forces to remain alert in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
New Delhi: The Centre has directed security forces deployed in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to tighten vigil in the three states in view of intelligence reports which suggested that Naxals would try to carry out subversive attacks in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.Worried over the plans of Maoists who may target political rallies and prominent political personalities, the Home Ministry has asked the paramilitary forces deployed in the three states to take maximum precautions and work in close coordination with the state police to foil any attempt by the rebels to disturb peace, official sources said on Monday. The intelligence inputs suggested that the Naxals may carry out spectacular attacks similar to the strike on a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh before the state assembly polls in May 2013 which eliminated several top state leaders of the party. Nearly 30 people, including Chhattisgarh PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and former Union Minister V C Shukla, were killed in that attack. Besides, in 2013, there were 383 incidents of violence in Jharkhand in which 150 civilians and security personnel were killed and there were 353 such cases in Chhattisgarh where 110 people lost their lives. (PTI)
Abandoned Sikh youth reunites with uncle after 20 years
Vadodara: Joy of 21-year-old Vir Singh, abandoned by his father, knew no bounds when he reunited with his paternal uncle after a gap of about 20 years here. Vir, the youngest of the three siblings, was left at children’s remand home ‘Balgokulam’ here by his father Biyant Singh when he was about one-and-a-half years old, since his mother had passed away and his father was finding it difficult to take care of him. Thereafter, his father went to Chandigarh along with his two elder sons and never got in touch with the remand home. After Vir turned 18, the remand home’s rules did not permit him to stay there any further, superintendent of Balgokulam, Seemaben Yadav said. However, being kind to him, the authorities employed him as a guard. In the meantime, Vir’s uncle Santok Singh Tonk, a resident of Khodiyarnagar locality on Waghodiya road here, last week referred to his neighbour about his elder brother Biyant, who had died some time back, and his missing sons. The neighbour then told him about a youth at the children’s remand home, following which Santok Singh and his wife met Yadav claiming that they were Vir’s uncle and aunt. Santok produced old family photographs and documents to establish the relationship to the remand home authorities, when they asked him to prove his relationship. Finally, after the verification, Vir met his uncle and aunt on Sunday and was overjoyed meeting his family members. (PTI)
Court to hear defamation plea against ex-Army chief on July 19
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday fixed July 19 for hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed by former Lt General Tejinder Singh against ex-Army chief General VK Singh and others. The matter was to be heard on Monday but got posted to the July date as Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mittal, who was to hear the case, was on leave. The court had earlier on December 9 set a deadline of four months for the Centre to grant sanction for prosecution of the four army officials who are accused in the complaint along with VK Singh. The court had directed Tejinder Singh to approach the Centre on the issue and clarified that if the government fails to decide on the issue of sanction to prosecute the accused within the stipulated three-four months, then the permission would be deemed to have been granted. The order had come on applications filed by four of the accused, including a retired Army official, for appropriate directions or dropping of proceedings against them in the absence of sanction to prosecute them under Section 197(2) of CrPC. Section 197(2) stipulates that the court should not take cognisance of an alleged offence without prior sanction of the government. (PTI)