1985.... Rajiv Gandhi justified Emergency ::::::: India debates Democracy and Emergency on 49th anniversary of 'Black night' imposed by Indira Gandhi

Responding to Madhu Dandavate, Rajiv Gandhi had said in Lok Sabha, 1985: “Not only have the hon. Members not paid attention to my press conference, they have not been listening to what I have been saying now. I have just said barely two minutes age that it is highly unlikely that one set of circumstances will ever repeat themselves in their totality. 

In my press conference I said the same thing, I said that one set of circumstances will not repeat themselves and after…".

Rajiv had referred to a statement he had made earlier at a press conference, and said: “I was asked a very specific question. One, whether I thought the Emergency when it was proclaimed in 1975 it was Correct? I said ‘yes’. 

I think it is correct and I stand by that statement”. 

India debates Democracy and Emergency on 49th anniversary of 'Black night'

New Delhi 

A few weeks ago there was much furore in India's political space when during the election campaign Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Muslims as those who give birth to 'many children'.But a five decades back, the table was turned and it was like a reversed role.

It is interesting to note that Indira Gandhi's Emergency rule for 21 monthssince June 25, 1975 was immensely unpopular with Muslims as the regime imposed family planning. 

In order to popularize a two-child-per-family trend, the administration coined the slogan "Hum Do, Hamare Do -- We two, our two" and imposed measures such as 'forced' surgically sterilizing young husbands and wives in households that already had two or more children.

Indira Gandhi's second son and present Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's uncle Sanjay Gandhi (now deceased) was at the forefront of this "crusade," a move Muslims publicly opposed as being against their faith.

In 1975, Congress leader and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, paternal grandmother of  Rahul Gandhi, imposed a 21-month "national emergency" on the country, suspending the fundamental rights of citizens.She had restricted the powers of parliament as well as the courts. 

Media persons and a series of opposition leaders were arrested and press censorshipwas imposed and news articles and new items were censored, checked and clearedby officials appointed by Sanjay Gandhi.

"India, that is our common people, should never forget. The then Opposition leaders includingtwo icons who later became Prime Minister Morarji Desai (of Janata Party) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (of BJP) were put behind bars," BJP national vice president and a Christian M Chuba Aotold UCA News.

The Emergency, a period of sustained authoritarian rule, lasted from June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977. The move authorized Indira Gandhi to curb civil liberties including press freedom.

In a blog in 2018, the then Finance Minister Late Arun Jaitley (under PM Narendra Modi) recalled that the Emergency was promulgated to curtail opposition protests seeking Indira Gandhi’s resignation as the prime minister after a High Court ruled against her in an election malpractice suit.

"The court was packed with the government’s preferred judges. A dangerous thesis was propagated by Law Minister H.R. Gokhale that the judiciary must follow the social philosophy of the government and judges must be appointed on the basis of their social philosophy," Jaitley wrote.

Indira Gandhi was also very fond of the likes of Congress leaders Devkanta Barooah — who echoed Nazi sentiments and coined the phrase "Indira is India".

BJP lawmaker Sudanshu Trivedi once said, "In 1934, Hitler's associates used the phrase 'Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler,' and the same spirit was rekindled by the Congress in 1976 when its president Dev Kant Barooah used the phrase 'India is Indira, Indira is India".

Paradoxically, the incumbent regime of Bharatiya Janata Party led by PM Modi is oftenalleged for trying to sabotage the Indian Constitution. The opposition often compare Modi withHtler.In fact on June 24 (Monday), when PM Modi took oath as a member of Lower House of Parliament in the first sitting of the House, Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi were seen holding up copies of the Constitution book as Modi walked up to take oath. 

Rahul later justified the gesture saying it was to show that the attack by “the PM and Amit Shah on the Constitution is not acceptable to us, we will not let this happen”.  Certainly this was unprecedented and in bad taste on the first day of any new Parliament session after general elections.

But everything seems to be fair in a political war.

One irony of politics also is that often old circumstances and issues do come back to haunt those who make them.Can one mistake become a legacy?

This is the dilemma the leaders of India’s leading opposition party, the Congress, now face.

Modi, leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has forged an image as a tough taskmaster since he rose to power in May 2014. This was used by Opposition during the just concluded elections to dub Modi as a dictator.

"Paradox is an art and a fashion in politics.  Do not mind my rhetoric.... But the fact ofthe matter is the Present is more important than the Past. If in the past, Indira Gandhiimposed Emergency...in the present there are reasons to believe under Modi there isundeclared Emergency... No one is safe and minorities are scared," says pro-Left analyst Ramakanto Shanyal in the province of West Bengal.  

Of course, the BJP leaders would deny such charges outright.

The BJP leaders and Modi's ministers every year on June 25th take to social networking sites, address press conferences, deliver speeches in seminars and write blogs lambasting the alleged "dictatorial traits" of the Congress party including Rahul Gandhi.

Recently when Rahul Gandhi announced that his sister Priyanka will contest from a southern statefrom Wayanad - a seat vacated by Rahul himself, the BJP leaders did not miss to point out that evenfamily or dynastic push in a democracy is actually anti-democratic.

One BJP spokesman said on the condition of anonymity, "Rahul Gandhi is an MP... his ailingmother who hails from Italy Sonia Gandhi has moved to the Upper House of Parliament -- whereasshe could have retired and take rest. And now the third member of the family is also set to enterParliament. Never in the past three members of the same family have entered Indian Parliament".

PM Modi, known for his anti-Congress rhetoric, has in the past on a number of occasions attacked the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi as a "black night that cannot be forgotten".

On June 25, 2023 (last year), Modi had tweeted: "I pay homage to all those courageous people who resisted the Emergency and worked to strengthen our democratic spirit. The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remain an unforgettable period in our history, totally opposite to the values our Constitution celebrates".

In fact on June 24 (this year),  addressing reporters before the beginning of the first session of new Parliament,  Modi described Emergency as a “dark chapter” in India’s parliamentary history, when the Constitution was disregarded and the country was turned into a "prison".

Provincial leader Anil Desai of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra flayed Modi saying, ”The Emergency period has gone, but what is the situation today? No one likes recalling the Emergency… I hope the dark days don’t return". 

Communist N K Premchandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) said, “It (Emergency) happened in 1975, 50 years have lapsed, it is totally irrelevant. We are talking about things that are happening at present. It is insignificant talking about the 1975 Emergency at this juncture".  

Legend has it that Christians were also antagonized by Indira's Emergency rule. Allegedlyshe once declined to meet a Catholic leader on learning he only represented 2,000 voters.

In that sense, it can be said she was a "people’s leader" — but only so long as these people voted for her, say Congress detractors.

Like Modi, one thing can be stated here that Inidra Gandhi too was 'popular' at the mass level;but she too was extremely populist. 

But Indian democracy has an inherent resilience of its own.

Apparently, it appears the BJP leaders ought to be told that Indira Gandhi was defeated in the elections following the Emergency.This implies the faceless Indian public would not accept any authoritarian rule -- either Modi's or Indira Gandhi's -- notwithstanding their earlier popularity.

Home Minister Amit Shah had posted on X (Twitter): “The yuvraj of the Congress party (Rahul Gandhi) has forgotten that his grandmother imposed the Emergency and his father, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, on July 23, 1985, said in the Lok Sabha, taking much pride in this horrific episode, “There is nothing wrong with an Emergency”.

ends 

Modi may visit Russia in July :::: "Indira Gandhi and Congress had become dictators, they strangled Constitution", says Shivraj

 Russia and India are preparing a visit to Russia by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian state news agency RIA quoted a Kremlin aide as saying on Tuesday.

It is being said in Moscow that Modi may visit Russia in July. 

The Kremlin said in March that Modi had an open invitation to come to Russia and that a meeting with President Vladimir Putin would take place.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan says, "... Congress talks about the Constitution today but who strangled the Constitution? Who amended the Constitution? Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party had become dictators, they strangled the Constitution... Leaders like me were arrested at midnight... 

No one can ever forget this black day, today is the day to take a pledge that emergency should never be imposed in the country again ...".

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath says, "Congress 50 years ago, under the leadership of (former PM) Indira Gandhi conspired to destroy the Constitution and democracy by imposing Emergency. Rights of people were taken away, restrictions were imposed on media and dictatorship-like atmosphere was imposed in the country."

Agri Minister Shivraj and blogger 

Mixed bag --- Kejriwal bail plea rejected by High Court :::::: Self goal by Opposition .... Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress didn't sign the nomination of Congress candidate K Suresh

Asaduddin Owaisi says 'Jai Palestine' while taking oath as Lok Sabha MP

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said in a post on X that he would continue to raise issues of India's marginalised with sincerity.

 Self goal by Opposition .... Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress didn't sign the nomination of Congress candidate K Suresh against BJP's OM Birla. 

Mamata Banerjee was  not consulted before. 

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi says "Today, we had to move the proposal for the post of the Speaker. Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah had a conversation with the leaders of the Opposition but they had a pre-condition to support our candidate for the Speaker. 

"When they raised the issue of the post of Deputy Speaker, Rajnath Singh said he would have discussions again when the Deputy Speaker is decided. They (Opposition) are going to contest against us although we have the numbers, but this is against the Parliamentary traditions...I am making a request to the leaders of the Opposition to rethink their decision and give support to elect the Speaker unanimously..."

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says "Today it is written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said that the Opposition should cooperate with the Govt constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker". 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju says:  "We had a conversation with all the floor leaders of the Opposition regarding the post of the Speaker. The Speaker is not for a party, it is for the functioning of the House. 

"The Speaker is elected unanimously. It is disheartening that Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker. No election has ever taken place for the post of the Speaker. Congress put this condition that if they get the post of Deputy Speaker they will support our candidate for the Speaker's post. This give and take of posts of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is not right...".

Civil Aviation Minister and TDP leader Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu says, "It is not a good thing to keep conditions. Democracy does not work on conditions. 

Here's what Union Minister and BJP President JP Nadda said while addressing the event 'Dark Days of Democracy', against the 1975 Emergency. 

"BJP is holding such events across the country, and in these events, we remember the days of Emergency to understand how important it is for a conscious democracy to remain alert from the evil mentality. 

We have celebrated the biggest festival of elections. India is the mother of democracy, and we must remember that Congress strangled such democracy."

Nadda says, "I request all of you to meet those who have seen the emergency and try to know what the situation was... Because of the sacrifices made at that time, democracy is standing strongly today...  Today, 50 years have been completed. 9000 people were arrested in one night. Any leader, big or small, was not spared and they were jailed for more than 19 months...". 

On #Delhi HC allowing ED's plea to stay for #Kejriwal bail, #BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa says, "The bail plea has been rejected...Delhi HC observed that there is sufficient proof against CM in Delhi Excise Policy case". 

Naga MP takes path:::: Balram Jakhar was elected LS Speaker twice ...... ... Speaker in 17th Lok Sabha Om Birla NDA candidate for the post of Presiding Officer of Lowe House again

On the second day of the maiden session of new Lok Sabha, Nagaland MP S Supongmeren Jamir of Congress took oath as a member of the Lower House of Parliament.

He was holding a copy of the Indian Constitution trying to drive home the point that the Modi regime allegedly has in the past tried to bulldoze its decisions and it did so at the cost of sabotaging the statute book. 
The charge is, however, denied by the BJP. The ruling side instead attacked Congress for the infamous Emergency of 1975. 

So far, Balram Jakhar was the longest serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha, whose tenure lasted 9 years and 329 days. 

#BJP MP and Speaker in 17th #LokSabha Om Birla  is #NDA candidate for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha too. 

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi says "Today, we had to move the proposal for the post of the Speaker. Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah had a conversation with the leaders of the Opposition but they had a pre-condition to support our candidate for the Speaker. 

"When they raised the issue of the post of Deputy Speaker, Rajnath Singh said he would have discussions again when the Deputy Speaker is decided. They (Opposition) are going to contest against us although we have the numbers, but this is against the Parliamentary traditions...I am making a request to the leaders of the Opposition to rethink their decision and give support to elect the Speaker unanimously..."

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says "Today it is written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said that the Opposition should cooperate with the Govt constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker". 

"The entire Opposition said that we would support the Speaker but the convention is that the Deputy Speaker post should be given to the opposition. Rajnath Singh said that he would call back Mallikarjun Kharge but he has not done that yet...PM Modi is asking for cooperation from Opposition but our leader is getting insulted...".   

The treasury bench pressed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to build a consensus on the Lok Sabha Speaker candidate. Opposition may not file a candidate but it is likely they may get Deputy Speaker.

AIADMK's M Thambi Durai was elected as Deputy Speaker in 2014. 

The post has been vacant since 2019 as no one was appointed to the post in the 17th Lok Sabha. 

 Highlight:  

Bharat Adivasi Party's lone MP from Rajasthan’s Banswara Rajkumar Roat arrives at Parliament on a camel to take oath as an MP. “I was stopped when I came on a camel. I will lodge a complaint,” he said.  

Balram Jakhar had the distinction of being elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha during his very first term in the House. 

Furthermore, served twice as Speaker of Lok Sabha, a rare achievement in Indian parliament history, holding office from 1980 to 1989, thus became the longest serving speaker in history.

Balram Jakhar also hailed from Rajasthan 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju says "We had a conversation with all the floor leaders of the Opposition regarding the post of the Speaker. The Speaker is not for a party, it is for the functioning of the House. 

The Speaker is elected unanimously. It is disheartening that Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker. No election has ever taken place for the post of the Speaker. Congress put this condition that if they get the post of Deputy Speaker they will support our candidate for the Speaker's post. This give and take of posts of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is not right...".

Civil Aviation Minister and TDP leader Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu says, "It is not a good thing to keep conditions. Democracy does not work on conditions. 

And as far as the Speaker election is concerned, whatever should have been done by the NDA, they all did it. Specially Rajnath Singh ji, being a senior leader, reached out to everyone. He also reached out to the opposition and told them that we are proposing Om Birla ji's name, so your help is needed in this. So when it was their turn to help, they put up a condition that we would do it only if you give us this (Deputy Speaker post). 

There was never a convention to support Speaker on a conditional basis...They want to do politics in this too...".

Ram Mohan Naidu, TDP 

ends 

PM Modi blasts Congress for Emergency legacy ........ "Indira Gandhi’s unbridled desire to continue in power .... led to Emergency" -- BJP

"Those who imposed the Emergency have no right to profess their love for our Constitution. These are the same people who have imposed Article 356 on innumerable occasions, got a Bill to destroy press freedom, destroyed federalism and violated every aspect of the Constitution," tweeted PM Narendra Modi. 

"Today is a day to pay homage to all those great men and women who resisted the Emergency.

The #DarkDaysOfEmergency remind us of how the Congress Party subverted basic freedoms and trampled over the Constitution of India which every Indian respects greatly." 

"The mindset which led to the imposition of the Emergency is very much alive among the same Party which imposed it. They hide their disdain for the Constitution through their tokenism but the people of India have seen through their antics and that is why they have rejected them time and again," Modi wrote. 

Just to cling on to power, the then Congress Government disregarded every democratic principle and made the nation into a jail. Any person who disagreed with the Congress was tortured and harassed. Socially regressive policies were unleashed to target the weakest sections. - the Prime Minister said. 

"Indira Gandhi’s unbridled desire to continue in power led to the imposition of Emergency and suspension of civil rights… ironically, the same Congress is today lecturing us on how to save the Constitution.
#DarkDaysOfEmergency
-- BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya

"1975: The Dark Days of Democracy! Constitution Crushed, Democracy Suspended," the party's official Twitter handle said.  

The emergency, a period of sustained authoritarian rule, lasted from June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977. The move authorized PM Indira Gandhi to rule by decree, suspend elections and to curb civil liberties including press freedom.

India debates Democracy and Emergency on 49th anniversary of 'Black night'.  

In a blog in 2018, the then Finance Minister Late Arun Jaitley (under PM Narendra Modi) recalled that the Emergency was promulgated to curtail opposition protests seeking Indira Gandhi’s resignation as the prime minister after a High Court ruled against her in an election malpractice suit.

"The court was packed with the government’s preferred judges. A dangerous thesis was propagated by Law Minister H.R. Gokhale that the judiciary must follow the social philosophy of the government and judges must be appointed on the basis of their social philosophy," Jaitley wrote.  

"Reflecting on the 1975 Emergency, let's follow the values of the Constitution for upholding our democracy!" -- Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis 

"Never forgive

Never forget 

Just holding a copy of Constitution won’t do

Acknowledge the crimes against Constitution you and your family committed 50 years ago." - Shehzad Poonawala 

25 June, 1975 ..... who imposed Emergency ?? ..... India that is Bharat should never forget ..... shame !! Congress .... Sickularism !!!

In 1975, Congress leader and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, paternal grandmother of Sickularism's favorite crown prince Rahul Gandhi, imposed a 21-month "national emergency" on the country, suspending the fundamental rights of citizens and restricting the powers of parliament as well as the courts. 

India, that is Bharat, should never forget. The Opposition leaders were put behind bars across the country.

The Emergency, a period of sustained authoritarian rule, lasted from June 25, 1975, to March 21, 1977. The move authorized Indira Gandhi to rule by decree, suspend elections and to curb civil liberties including press freedom.

In a blog in 2018, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (under PM Narendra Modi) recalled that the Emergency was promulgated to curtail opposition protests seeking IndiraGandhi’s resignation as the prime minister after the Allahabad High Court ruled against her in an election malpractice suit.

Jaitley refers to an episode whereby the Gandhi administration removed certain judges from the Supreme Court and appointed its own replacements to head the top court during this stormy period of undemocratic rule.

"The court was packed with the government’s preferred judges. A dangerous thesis was propagated by Law Minister H.R. Gokhale that the judiciary must follow the social philosophy of the government and judges must be appointed on the basis of their social philosophy," Jaitley wrote.

He has also courted controversy by comparing Indira Gandhi with Hitler.

PM Modi, known for his anti-Congress rhetoric, has in the past always attacked the Emergency, describing it as a "black night that cannot be forgotten."

BJP spokesman Sudanshu Trivedi once charged the Congress with pushing a "Nazi mindset" by bestowing on one leader and her family almost cult-like status.

"In 1934, Hitler's associates used the phrase 'Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler,' and the same spirit was rekindled by the Congress in 1976 when its president Dev Kant Barooah used the phrase 'India is Indira, Indira is India.' This reflect a Nazi mindset," Trivedi had said.

It is interesting to note that Indira Gandhi's Emergency rule was immensely unpopular with Muslims as the regime imposed family planning. 

In order to popularize a two-child-per-family trend, the administration coined the slogan "Hum Do, Hamare Do -- We two, our two" and imposed measures such as surgically sterilizing young husbands and wives in households that already had two or more children.

Indira's second son and Rahul Gandhi's uncle Sanjay Gandhi was at the forefront of this "crusade," a move Muslims publicly opposed as being against their faith.

Other minority groups were also antagonized by Indira's rule. Legend has it she once declined to meet a Catholic leader on learning he only represented 2,000 voters.

In that sense, it can be said she was a "people’s leader" — but only so long as these people voted for her. She was extremely populist and able to strike a balance with all sections of voters.

In Assam, her party’s electoral policy in the 1970s was reportedly aimed at "winning over Alis (Muslims) and Coolis (tea garden workers)".

Regarding Muslims, she was so eager to win their widespread support she even pushed to promote Urdu among Muslims in Kerala and West Bengal — the two states where local Muslims prefer to use their mother tongues of Malayalam and Bengali respectively. 

Urdu is the language traditionally used and favored by Muslims in South Asia.

By the 1970s and 1980s, she had even developed a rapport with the Communists, a faction of whom backed her emergency. Later, she would work well with long-surviving Marxist Chief Minister Jyoti Base of West Bengal.

During the emergency and in the years after, it came to light that she preferred a system and political loyalists who would take orders from her son Sanjay.

Indira Gandhi was also very fond of the likes of Devkanta Barooah — who echoed certain Nazi sentiments and coined the phrase "Indira is India" — and she was willing to take orders from her trusted lieutenants like Yashpal Kapoor.

ends 

Teesta water treaty with Bangladesh ..... the so-called 'Muslim-friendly' Mamata is against it ?? ::: Centre alerted State Govt in 2023

The Modi government wrote to the West Bengal government on July 24, 2023 (last year) and sought the name of their nominee in the committee for carrying out an internal review of the 1996 water treaty with Bangladesh.

The Centre wrote to the West Bengal government on July 24, 2023, and sought their nominee in the committee for carrying out an internal review of the 1996 treaty between India and Bangladesh on water sharing at Farakka.  

On August 25 (2023), the Mamata government conveyed the nomination of state's Chief Engineer (Design and Research), Irrigation and Waterways for the committee.

On April 5 this year, the Bengal government's Joint Secretary (Works, Irrigation & Waterways Department) conveyed their total demand for the next 30 years from the stretch of downstream of Farakka Barrage.

Mamata Banerjee has long opposed the water-sharing pact with Bangladesh, blaming the Farakka barrage for erosion, siltation, and floods in Bengal.

In her letter to PM Modi, she said, "People of West Bengal will be the worst sufferers due to the impact of such agreements. I came to understand that Government of India is in the process of renewing the Indo Bangladesh Farakka Treaty (1996) which is to expire in 2026." 

"It is a Treaty which delineates the principles of sharing of water between Bangladesh and India and as you are aware it has huge implications for the people of West Bengal for maintaining their livelihood and that the water which is diverted at the Farakka Barrage helps in maintaining the navigability of the Kolkata port."

In the recently held bilateral meeting between PM Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, the two leaders discussed the conservation and management of the River Teesta and the renewal of the 1996 Ganga Water Treaty.

According to the pact, India is set to build a large reservoir and related infrastructure to manage and conserve Teesta water.

The Farakka Agreement between Bangladesh and India on sharing of the waters of River Ganga ends in 2026. 

Under the treaty, the upper riparian India and lower riparian Bangladesh agreed to share the water of this river at Farakka, a dam on Bhagirathi river around 10 kms from Bangladesh border, says 'India Today'. 

Pakistani Defence Minister's admission: 'No religious minority is safe in country'

Speaking in National Assembly, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the attacks on religious minorities is a "matter of concern and embarrassment".

"Minorities are being murdered daily... no religious minority is safe in Pakistan. Even the smaller sects of the Muslims are not safe," Khawaja said during a session of Pakistan's National Assembly.  

The coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tabled a resolution condemning the recent incidents of mob lynching related to blasphemy allegations. Calling the attacks a "matter of concern and embarrassment", 

Asif called for a resolution to safeguard minorities. He highlighted that many victims had no connection to blasphemy allegations but were targetted due to personal vendettas.

"We must ensure the safety of our minority brothers and sisters. They have as much right to live in this country as the majority. Pakistan belongs to all Pakistanis, regardless of whether they are Muslim, Christian, Sikh, or of any other faith. Our Constitution guarantees full protection to minorities," Dawn quoted Asif as saying.

However, the government could not table the resolution due to strong protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are among the strictest in the world and have profound implications for religious minorities in the country. These laws, enshrined in the Pakistan Penal Code, prescribe severe punishments, including the death penalty, for various forms of blasphemy, which includes insults against Islam, the Prophet Muhammad, and desecration of the Quran.

Religious minorities, including Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs are disproportionately accused and convicted under these laws. Even Ahmadis, minority sect among Muslims, face persecution as they are not considered Muslims in Pakistan's Constitution.

On May 25, a Christian man was beaten and his house was set afire by a charged mob in Sargodha city over suspicion of blasphemy.

The persecution is not only limited to blasphemy allegations. Hindus and Sikh minorities, especially in the Sindh region, face social discrimination and girls are often abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and married off to Muslim men.

ends 

Opposition display 'bad taste' behaviour on first day of any new Parliament session after general elections :::: "This is a great victory, a grand victory. Our responsibility increased threefold...," says PM Modi

 

First time MP and actress Kangana Ranaut and fourth-term MP and former Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur took oaths as members of the 18th Lok Sabha. 

In the first sitting of the House, Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi were seen holding up copies of the Constitution book as Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to take oath. 

Talking about the display in Parliament, Rahul said it was done to show that the attack by “the PM and Amit Shah on the Constitution is not acceptable to us, we will not let this happen”.  Certainly in bad taste on the first day of any new Parliament session after general elections. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, "The people of the country have given us an opportunity for the third time. This is a great victory, a grand victory. Our responsibility increased threefold...So, I assure the countrymen that in our third tenure, we will work three times harder and we will get three-time results".

           Civil Aviation Minister taking oath as third time TDP MP 

 

Lone Nagaland Lok Sabha MP, Supongmeren with party colleagues

The first session of new Parliament began on Monday with PM Modi and other members taking oath as newly elected MPs of Lok Sabha.

The anointment of BJP leader B Mahtab as pro tem Speaker sparked off controversy with Congress questioning why 8 term member Suresh was denied the opportunity. 

Nagaland MP Supongmeren may take oath as MP on Tuesday

Stage set for a 'stormy' maiden Session of New Parliament

New Delhi 

The maiden Parliament session post the big battle of 2024 is likely to be stormy.  

Stage is set for the first day agenda on Monday, June 24.

Sources said 280 newly-elected MPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers, 

will take oath on Monday, while 264 other parliamentarians will take oath on Tuesday, June 25.

By convention the MPs from different states will take the oath in alphabetical order. 

This means that newly-elected parliamentarians from Assam will take oath first and those 

from West Bengal may be the last to do so.

Lone Nagaland MP Supongmeren Jamir may take oath on the second day, June 25th.

The election to the post of Lok Sabha Speaker will take place on June 26 and the Prime Minister will introduce his council of ministers to the House soon after.

Blogger 

The President is scheduled to address the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on June 27.

The debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address will begin on June 28. The Prime Minister is expected to respond to the debate on July 2 or 3.

Both the Houses are expected to go into a brief recess and re-assemble on July 22 for the presentation of the Union Budget.

The session is certainly expected to be stormy.

Even the conventional and routine anointment of BJP MP B Mahtab as pro tem Speaker, has run into controversy with the Congress, Left and other parties raising the Dalit bogey and stating that Congress MP K Suresh deserved to be given the honour as he has won for 8th term while Mahtab is only a seven term lawmaker. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has defended the government decision saying “as per the Westminster system”, the MP who has the longest-serving “uninterrupted tenure” is chosen for the position.

The NEET exam paper leak row and violence in Manipur are likely to figure prominently during the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

With their relative success in the just concluded parliamentary polls, the opposition will be in a more aggressive mood. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will be on back foot as the party's number came down below 272 mark. In fact, the saffron party took a hit of as many as 63 seats from its tally in 2019.

In contrast, the Congress tally has almost doubled to 99 from a modest 52 it had polled in 2019. 

The Congress ecosystem is already talking about Brand Rahul's rise and so-called revival of the 

grand old party and on the other hand the decline in the equity vis-a-vis Brand Modi.  

For BJP, the 2024 mandate may be an emotional outcome and also motivated by caste, religion and 

local issues. This was an accidental mandate and they hope nothing much has changed on 

ground vis-a-vis the popularity of Modi himself.  

In the process, important things to keep a watch will be the debate on Motion of Thanks to 

the President's address, the Budget 2024 and at a later stage performance of both BJP and 

Congress and the respective alliances in three state polls - Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra due by October 2024.

Of course by September 30, the centre and the Election Commission are duty bound to hold polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The process is on both at the political and administrative levels.  

"We are making every possible effort to remove all distances of J&K 

whether of the heart or of Delhi (Dil ya Dilli)," the PM has said.

In Manipur, the all-women body, the Khwairamband Ima Keithel Coordinating 

Committee for Peace has called for holding urgent discussions on the prevailing crisis in Manipur 

during the upcoming Parliament session. 

Zzzzzz

Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang says, "I have come here to congratulate the Prime Minister on behalf of the entire Sikkim, of all people of Sikkim because he is one such Prime Minister due to whom the country has made a lot of progress. He has become the PM for the third time and I came to congratulate him."

On changes in the northeast in last 10 years, he says, "There has been a great change. There has been a transformation in the northeastern states after 2014. So, I would like to thank the PM and the entire Central Government...Under the guidance of PM Modi, all 8 northeastern states are connected to each other as well as to neighbouring countries...On 16th May 2025, Sikkim is completing 50 years and it is a golden occasion so I have invited PM on the occasion. He has accepted the invitation..."

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Bihar Govt's Economic Offences Unit says probe “clearly suggests a paper leak” in NEET-UG examination

The central government had sought a report from the Economic Offence Unit of Bihar Govt, which took over the probe following the arrest of 13 people, including four examinees, soon after the exam on May 5. The EOU team is led by additional director general of police N H Khan.

In its report submitted to the Centre on Saturday, the Bihar government’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU) has said that its probe “clearly suggests a paper leak” in the NEET-UG examination, reports The Indian Express. 

Six-page report cites seizure of burnt remains of purported question paper, interrogation and confessional statements of accused, and questioning of examinees.

“Our report to the education department broadly mentions three points – clear suggestion of a paper leak based on evidence so far, probable involvement of an inter-state gang, and suspected role of Bihar’s notorious ‘solvers gang’,” sources told The Indian Express.

“We have been working on some contacts we have received in the course of our investigation, which is very much suggestive of a paper leak,” Khan had told The Indian Express.

The six-page EOU report to the Centre says that the seizure of burnt remains of the purported question paper’s photocopy, interrogation and confessional statements of the accused, and questioning of two more examinees indicate a leak, it is learnt.

It highlights how all the accused testified before the police that four examinees, who are among those arrested, had memorised answers from the leaked question paper while residing at a location in Rajbanshi Nagar, it is learnt. The four eventually got 581, 483, 300 and 185 marks out of 720.

The report also said that it also found evidence of the involvement of an inter-state gang with roots in Jharkhand, which worked with a ‘solver gang’ in Bihar. The EOU recently detained four people from Jharkhand, and arrested one Sanjeev Mukhiya of Nalanda, allegedly the kingpin of the ‘solver gang’.

EOU suspects the ‘solver gang’ members from Nalanda procured the question paper from Jharkhand and solved it with help of experts before passing it to two other accused, Nitish Kumar of Patna and Amit Anand of Khagaria. 

The four examinees were allegedly put in touch with Nitish and Amit by Danapur Municipal Council junior engineer Sikander P Yadavendu, another key accused in the case.

On the night of May 4, when the four NEET aspirants were allegedly memorising the solved paper, Patna police received a call from a Jharkhand-based police official that the next day’s exam may have been leaked. Patna police swung into action, but couldn’t immediately narrow down where the accused were, probe officers say. 

The exam was conducted at 27 centres in Bihar the following day. By the afternoon of May 5, Shastri Nagar police station got specific leads on some suspects having gathered at a house in Rajbanshi Nagar. 

Three teams were formed – one raided the house and seized a burnt question paper. Another visited an exam centre in the area and arrested an examinee and his father. And the third searched for a key accused, Yadavendu, the junior engineer.

With Yadavendu revealing names and whereabouts of more suspects, police arrested three more examinees as well as four ‘setters’, including Nitish and Amit. The confessional statements of the 13 accused were recorded before sub-inspector Tej Narayan Singh on May 5 itself.

The arrests became public on May 7 – by the time, all 13 accused had been sent to judicial custody under charges of criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. 

Patna police initially refrained from calling it a paper leak, though the confessional statements indicated that it was.

As pressure mounted, the Bihar government handed over the probe to the EOU, an independent investigating agency, on May 11.

EOU was more forthright in indicating there had been a leak, based on evidence such as the burnt question paper and post-dated cheques. 

Nitish had said in his confession statement to the police that they had demanded Rs 30-Rs 32 lakh for each student from Yadavendu, who allegedly asked for Rs 40 lakh from each aspirant.

The EOU also issued a show cause notice to nine more examinees on suspicion of being alleged beneficiaries of the leak. Two of the nine have appeared before the unit so far.

“We are trying to reconstruct the full story… The burnt question paper could be from a Hazaribag examination centre,” said a source. The EOU team led by Khan has also been to Delhi to brief the education ministry on the progress in the case.

What's common between KCR, Tejashwi and Kejriwal ??? Focus shifts to Parl session ... Budget 2024-25 ...... BJP's top priority to retain power in Maharashtra and Haryana by Oct 2024

The maiden Parliament session post the big battle of 2024 is likely to be stormy.  

On Monday, June 24, 280 newly-elected MPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers, will take oath, while 264 newly-elected parliamentarians will take oath on Tuesday, June 25.

The election to the post of Lok Sabha Speaker will take place on June 26 and the Prime Minister will introduce his council of ministers to the House soon after.

The President is scheduled to address the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on June 27. 

The debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address will begin on June 28. PM Modi is expected to respond to the debate on July 2 or 3.

Both the Houses are expected to go into a brief recess and re-assemble on July 22 for the presentation of the Union Budget.

Even the conventional and routine anointment of B Mahtab, BJP lawmaker from Cuttack in Odisha, has run into controversy with the Congress, Left and other parties raising the Dalit bogey and stating that Congress MP K Suresh deserved to be given the honour. 

With their relative success in the just concluded parliamentary polls, the opposition will be in more aggressive mood. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will be on back foot as party's number came down below 272 mark. In fact, the saffron party took a hit of as many as 63 seats from its tally in 2019.

In contrast, the Congress tally has almost doubled to 99 from a modest 52 it had polled in 2019. The Congress ecosystem is already talking about Brand Rahul's rise and so-called revival of the grand old party and on the other hand the decline in the equity vis-a-vis Brand Modi.  

For BJP, the 2024 mandate may be an emotional outcome and also motivated by caste, religion and local issues. This was an accidental mandate and they hope nothing much has changed on ground vis-a-vis the popularity of Modi himself.  

In the process, important things to keep an watch will be the debate on Motion of Thanks to President's address, the Budget 2024 and at a later stage performance of both BJP and Congress in three state polls - Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra. 

Of course by September 30, the centre and the Election Commission are duty bound to hold polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The process is on both at the political and administrative levels.  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget is also being talked about and it has all the potentials to decide the course of politics in next few months. The Opposition Congress and even parties like Trinamool will be desperate to take a shot at government formation if the NDA allies start moving the other way. 

The TDP and 16 MPs can be trusted as N Chandrababu Naidu would not like to harm his reputation and long term interest of his party by doing anything that may help Congress.  However, challenges are complex. 

The crucial polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand will also tell the political class which way the wind is blowing. 

If brand Moditva fails again and fails miserably, there will be immense problems for the Modi-Shah duo. The meeting between Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was important development since June 4 when UP gave a shocking verdict to the saffron party within months of inauguration of the Ram temple. 

The Congress and other opposition parties may start making political moves by December 2024 before or during the winter session of parliament.

A fact ignored by analysts:

Mandate 2024 also leave a few key players frustrated and it is not the usual Modi-Shah duo only. 

They are Arvind Kejriwal. The mandate was yet again people's disapproval to allow the AAP and leader take a big role at the national level. Mind you, Kejriwal is after his bigger ambition since 2014 when he contested against Modi in Varanasi. But he lost miserably. The BJP also won all seven seats in Delhi in 2014 and 2019 and even in 2024. There was no sympathy wave for Kejriwal going behind bars.

The AAP is desperate to draw a sympathy wave in favour of Kejriwal. It has thsus said Kejirwal, who was weighing 70 kg at the time of his arrest, his weight has dropped to a concerning 62 kg by June 22. Kejriwal tried other games in other states. 

He failed in Punjab yet again despite having 93 assembly seats in the state. 

Second leader who will be frustrated is RJD leader and Lalu Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav. 

His party's electoral success in 2020 assembly polls had created hopes in many that he will probably emerge a key player in cow-belt politics. Instead, in 2024, another Yadav brethern Akhilesh Yadav has emerged real Chhote Nawab of Lucknow. 

The third leader to figure in this list in KCR. Former CM of Telangana had even changed his party's name from TRS to BRS. Today, the party does not have either its hold in Telangana and also in Lok Sabha. 

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