India

By Saiyed Moziz Imam Zaidi
New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) The 3,570-km Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra that will pass through 12 states and two union territories, could be a game changer for the Congress, which is in search of an electoral success to revive itself after being confined to two states -- Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.


The yatra, which is passing through Kerala, is getting good support and the Congress workers are enthusiastic about it. The Congress leaders say the BJP is rattled as it is attacking the yatra.

A few days back Rahul Gandhi said, "The BJP has an opinion. RSS has an opinion but, in the Congress Party, this is a journey, this is an attempt at understanding what is going on on the ground in India and an attempt at undoing some of the damage that the BJP and the RSS have done."

The Congress leaders allege that the BJP is spreading canard as it has sensed that it can't counter the Congress on the issue of inflation and unemployment.

Sonia Gandhi too is hopeful about the Congress getting back after this yatra. On the launch day, she said, "This is a landmark occasion for our great party with such a glorious legacy-the Indian National Congress. I am confident that our organisation will be rejuvenated. It is also a transformational moment in Indian politics."

The Congress is saying that it is a battle between the ideologies, which has been going on for ages. "This battle has been going on for a couple thousand years now between two different visions. So, I don't think this battle is new. There are two different visions of India. There have always been two different visions of India. One vision, which is rigid, controlling and another vision, which is plural, open minded and I think, this battle will continue. We are playing our role in this fight."

Congress has to face seven major elections ahead of the 2024 polls. This year it will be Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, then next year Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. These account for 150 Lok Sabha seats approximately.

Rahul Gandhi said they are not fighting a political party anymore, they used to fight a political party and "now, the fight is not between one political party and another political party. Now the fight is between the structure of the Indian state and the Opposition and everybody understands this. Now, this is not an easy fight. This is a difficult fight."

He said under pressure from agencies many leaders are leaving the party "but the party will fight for a certain idea of India, a certain notion of this country and there are many-many people in the Congress Party and in the opposition, who are convinced of this fact."

The Congress says that "the aim of yatra is to counter polarisation and to connect with the people, listen to the people, understand what they are facing and also communicate to them a few things, communicate the fact that India has changed. The institutional framework of India has been captured and there is an attempt to place one vision on top of this country. This country which has multiple visions, one vision has been enforced."

Rahul Gandhi has alleged that the "country is divided along religious lines, that is very clear. The country is divided along state lines, that is very clear. People do not have employment; people do not have work, that is very clear."

He said, "Two or three big businesses are controlling everything; the third richest man is now in India, who is probably going to become the richest very soon, a close confidante of the leader of the country, that is not harmonious. But there is a massive price rise."

--IANS
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Lucknow, Sep 11 (IANS) The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, around midnight on Saturday, has suspended 15 officials for alleged laxity in connection with the Levana Suites hotel fire incident that claimed four lives in Lucknow on September 5.

Besides, action under applicable rules would also be taken against four retired officials.

These steps come as a high-level probe pointed towards alleged "connivance" in connection with the functioning of the Lucknow hotel where the blaze erupted.

A departmental inquiry has been ordered against the officials as well.

A government spokesman said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave directives for strict action after receiving the report of Police Commissioner S.B. Shirodkar and Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Roshan Jacob who jointly conducted a high-level inquiry into the incident.

The report that was submitted in the early hours of Saturday also found that officials did not raise a red flag on various violations in the hotel premises, people privy to the development said. The chief minister had formed the committee comprising Shirodkar and Jacob soon after the incident.

The five departments, whose officers face action include the departments of home, energy, appointment, housing and urban planning (Lucknow Development Authority) and excise.

Sushil Yadav, the then fire officer, Yogendra Prasad Yadav, fire officer (II), chief fire officer Vijay Kumar Singh, assistant director (electricity security) Vijay Kumar Rao, assistant engineer Ashish Kumar Mishra and sub divisional officer Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Mahendra Kumar Mishra PCS (then competent authority) Lucknow Development Authority have been placed under suspension.

Departmental inquiry will also be initiated against them.

Others placed under suspension include Lucknow Development Authority's then assistant engineer Rakesh Mohan (housing and urban planning department), junior engineer Jitendra Nath Dubey, junior engineer Ravindra Kumar Srivastava, junior engineer Jaivir Singh and Ram Pratap Mate, the then district excise officer Santosh Kumar Tiwari, excise inspector sector 1 Amit Kumar Srivastava and deputy excise commissioner (Lucknow) Jainendra Upadhyay.

Action under applicable rules would be taken against chief fire officer (retired) Abhay Bhan Pandey, LDA executive engineer (retired) Arun Kumar Singh, executive engineer (retired) Om Prakash Mishra and assistant engineer (retired) Ganeshi Dutt Singh.

The probe report also mentioned multiple flaws related to the entry and exit routes, ventilation as well as faulty fire-safety gadgets, people privy to the issue said.

In the joint report, deficiencies were reportedly found in fire-fighting equipment inside the hotel. Besides it came to light that though fire-fighting arrangements were inadequate, the fire department had given an NOC to the hotel.

The report stated that there was no emergency exit but no civic department objected to it. Besides, no notices were issued to the hotel highlighting these deficiencies.

Moreover, the parking lot in the basement was used for storing other things instead of parking vehicles.

The kitchen had open wiring exposing everyone to fire in case of a short-circuit.

The bar was reportedly operational without safety equipment required to douse flames. Besides, there were poor arrangements for evacuation, improper training of hotel staff and improper construction at numerous points.

A senior police officer, who examined the spot, had stated earlier that liquor bottles were found lying on the third floor, and there was a bar on the floor above it. He suspected that due to the inflammable nature of alcohol, the fire tore through liquor bottles, causing the flames to spread to the third floor.

Shirodkar said, "We finalised the report late night on Friday and signed it around 12 a.m. on Friday/Saturday midnight. Thereafter, the report was sent to the state government."

The police had earlier filed an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 304 (causing death due to negligent act), 308 (risking people's lives by making them unconscious with their act) against four people, including the hotel's two owners Rahul and Rohit Agarwal, Rohit's father Pawan Agarwal, and the hotel's general manager Sagar Srivastava. Three of them - Rahul, Rohit Agarwal and Sagar Srivastava - were sent to 14 days' judicial custody.

The allegations mentioned in the FIR lodged on the complaint of Hazratganj police station senior sub-inspector Daya Shankar Dwivedi had stated that no fire safety measures were in place at the hotel. Besides, the hotel did not have emergency entry and exit routes.

--IAND
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New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS) A 46-year-old Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of Delhi Police was found dead on Saturday under mysterious circumstances at his home in Central Delhi's IP Estate.

The deceased -- identified as Yunus Khan, was posted with the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.

The police said a PCR call was received at around 2.45 p.m.

"The caller said that a body of a policeman was lying at a house on Mirdard Road, opposite GB Pant Hospital... and there were children at the house. Later, a police team went to his home where his second wife Heena Khan (30) was found present along with her three minor children," a police officer said.

The police said that Heena Khan told the police team that her husband was posted with Crime Branch.

On Saturday night, her husband along with with two children were present in the house while she went to her parental home with her 6-year-old daughter.

Khan told the police that when she called her husband in the morning, no one responded to the phone calls.

On suspicion, she went to the house and knocked the door but he did not open.

The door was eventually broken with the help of neighbours.

When they went inside, two other children kids (aged 2-3 years) were sleeping with the body of the deceased in one room.

"The crime team was called at the spot. There was no injury mark on the body. The body was photographed and preserved in mortuary. The relatives were informed," the police said.

The deceased is survived by two wives -- Zarina, and Heena Khan.

He has 7 children from his first wife Zarina who lives at his ancestral village in Mewat, and 3 children from second wife Heena Khan who lived with him.

--IANS
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Kolkata/New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) After over 13 hours of counting that began on Saturday morning using eight currency-counting machines operated by SBI officials in connection with a mobile gaming app fraud case, the final seizure of cash by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stood at Rs 17.32 crore.

According to ED sources, the cash was seized from the Garden Reach residence of city-based businessman Amir Khan, who allegedly launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public.

The ED officials reached the spot at 8.30 am on Saturday. The counting started at around 10 am and went on till 11.10 pm after which the ED sleuths and bank officials, escorted by central armed forces personnel, left the residence of the Khan family. The seized cash was mainly in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes. The entire recovery and counting process was video recorded.

"Some amounts were in lower denominations. We had to segregate the notes in bundles as per denomination and hence it took so long to complete the counting process," an ED official said.

Meanwhile, ED sources said that Amir Khan, who is the mastermind behind developing and launching the mobile gaming application that duped people of several crores of rupees, is absconding and his three mobile phones are switched off since Saturday morning.

Besides the huge amount of cash, the ED sleuths also recovered certain documents and a diary from the room where the cash was stashed.

The ED sleuths will now closely examine the contents of the documents and the diary to track the money trail.

"While Amir Khan is absconding, his father Nasir Khan was unable to give any satisfactory answer about the source of the large amount of cash. We are also trying to find out who were the other masterminds besides Amir Khan behind this racket. We suspect the involvement of some influential people in this entire episode," an ED official said.

The ED started conducting raids on Saturday morning under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at six premises in Kolkata.

According to sources, the case was registered at the Park Street police station based on a complaint filed by Federal Bank authorities against Aamir Khan and others.

"Amir Khan had launched a mobile gaming application named E-Nuggets, which was designed for the purpose of defrauding the public. During the initial period, the users were rewarded with commission and the balance in the wallet could be withdrawn in a hassle-free manner. This provided initial confidence to the users, who started investing bigger amounts for greater percentage of commission and a greater number of purchase orders," said an ED official.

The official said that after collecting handsome amounts from the public, all of a sudden withdrawal from the said app was stopped at one pretext or the other.

Thereafter, all data, including profile information, was wiped out from the said app server.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS) Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday offered condolences on the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK.

"She was a great and much-loved figure of our times... it is a moment of sadness, but also a time to celebrate her long and devoted reign as sovereign of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth," the Congress leader said.

"For generations across the world, in a period of rapid change over seven decades, she was a symbol of constancy and continuity. Her passing is also an occasion to remember her warm association with our country, cherished by her and by us," she added.

She said during her visits to India both symbolised and cemented the close relationship between the two countries, starting shortly after the Independence when the government of Jawaharlal Nehru played a determining role in establishing the Commonwealth.

"The bilateral relationship between India and UK has evolved naturally with the passage of time, but it has remained durable and important for both countries," Gandhi added

--IANS
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Bengaluru, Sep 10 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced on Saturday that President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the Mysuru Dasara celebrations this year.

"Mysuru Dasara, which will be celebrated from September 26, will be inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu. She has given her consent for this," Bommai said.

On September 6, Bommai had written to the President inviting her to inaugurate the event. The President's office has now confirmed it, an official communication from the state government stated.

The BJP government is celebrating Dasara with grandeur this time following two years' of Covid hiatus.

--IANS
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Gurugram, Sep 10 (IANS) Gurugram Police have busted a gang of cyber cheats who were extorting money from people on the pretext of providing small loans through China-based/funded loan applications, officials said on Saturday.

According to the police, the culprits were running call centres in Gurugram and Noida. Four persons have been arrested in connection with the case though the police are yet to disclose their identity.

"The accused registered a company under dummy directors and were running call centres to extort money from people by harassing them," said a senior police officer.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the accused used to provide loans to needy persons and then recovered higher amounts by blackmailing them with chats containing derogatory remarks and morphed photographs.

--IANS
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Agartala, Sep 10 (IANS) The BJP government in Tripura would undertake a two-and-a-half months long campaign on good governance in every household from September 17, the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said on Saturday.

Officials said that Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha held a meeting with the senior ministers and top officials to successfully conduct the 'Proti Ghore Shushashon' (good governance in every household) campaign to take the benefits of flagship schemes of the Central government and the state government to the door steps of the people from the district to the gram panchayat level.

The campaign would continue till November 30.The Chief Minister asked the officials and other concerned to carry out the campaign in a mission and festive mood.

Information and Cultural Affairs Department Secretary Pradip Chakraborty said that as part of the good governance campaign, developmental meetings, fairs and exhibition, rallies and various other events would be organised in each block.

--IANS
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Doddaballapur (Karnataka), Sep 10 (IANS) Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, on Saturday termed the killers of BJP Yuva Morcha activist Praveen Kumar Nettare, who was hacked to death by bike-borne miscreants on July 26 in Dakshina Kannada district, as cowards.

Addressing a large gathering at BJP's 'Janaspandana' mega event in Doddaballapur near Bengaluru to commemorate completion of one year in office of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and three-year tenure of BJP in Karnataka, Irani claimed that the intention of killers was to create terror in the minds of people.

"Praveen has given his blood for the country. I congratulate the organisers for paying tribute to him by placing his photograph here," she said.

"The grave of terrorist Yakub Memon was beautified during the tenure of the Congress government. Rahul Gandhi does not have the courage to question this. If Rahul Gandhi opposes terrorism, why did he fail to condemn this," Irani questioned.

She also said the Congress has included those who raised anti-India slogans in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"This is an anti-national act. It is betrayal to the nation to support those who raised slogans against the country. This anti-national act must be questioned by the Congress workers," the Union minister said.

She also accused the Congress of discriminating against the people of Karnataka.

"During its tenure at the Centre, Congress gave Rs 2,000 crore to Karnataka through the Central Finance Commission. The BJP, which runs a double engine government, has given Rs 5,000 crore to the state.

--IANS
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Jodhpur, Sep 10 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached Jodhpur on Saturday, the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, where he launched a scathing attack on the CM, accusing him of making false promises to people before the Assembly polls in 2018.

Shah accused Gehlot for the rising rate of crime and unemployment in the state, saying the CM should leave the chair if he is unable to handle the situation as people are waiting to bring the BJP back to power in Rajasthan.

Shah was in Jodhpur to address BJP's National OBC Morcha working committee meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Shah said, "The enthusiasm of the workers of Marwar show that the BJP will form a majority government in Rajasthan in 2023, while in 2024 Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister for the third time by winning over 300 seats."

Later, Shah attended a booth convention at Ravan Ka Chabutra, where he was accorded a warm welcome by the booth presidents who came from Jodhpur division.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, "Rahul Baba went on a Bharat Jodo Yatra wearing a foreign jersey. Congress can only do vote bank politics."

Recalling the Udaipur murder incident, Shah said, "Our brother Kanhaiya Lal was killed. Will anyone tolerate this? Will Hindus bear the ban on festivals? Will you accept the way Ram Navami procession was stopped, the way the 300-year-old temple in Alwar was demolished? Gehlot has carried out well-planned riots in many cities of Rajasthan."

Shah also applauded former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for providing free treatment to people during her rule, and said, "When Vasundhara Raje went, the unemployment rate of the state was 5.4 per cent. Under Gehlot's rule, it has gone up to 32 per cent. An unemployment allowance was promised, but no one got it. The Congress government had promised to provide 20 lakh jobs... Gehlotji, give us a calculation of just 10 per cent of those jobs.

"The Indian government reduced tax on petrol, the BJP states reduced VAT, but Gehlot did not cut VAT. The most expensive petrol-diesel in the country is found in Rajasthan. The most expensive electricity is available in Rajasthan. Today, the Congress government has left Rajasthan behind in the race for development. It has become a crime capital.

The Home Minister added, "If Gehlot can't not take care of people, he should leave. People are ready to bring the BJP back to power in Rajasthan. Mahant Vijay Das was forced to commit suicide in Bharatpur, yet no action was taken against the mining mafia. Did you hear about such incidents in Rajasthan before? Gehlot has no control over the administration."

--IANS
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