QBullet: Karunanidhi Laid to Rest; Day-Long Bandh in Mumbai
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1. Kalaignar Karunanidhi Buried Next to Mentor Annadurai at Marina Beach
Five-time Tamil Nadu chief minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi was laid to rest with full state honours at Chennai’s Marina beach on Wednesday, 8 August, after a brief legal wrangle over the burial site, as a galaxy of top politicians and a massive throng of mourners turned out to pay their last respects to the Dravidian leader.
Wrapped in the Tricolour with his trademark black glasses and yellow shawl, the supreme leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was buried next to his mentor and Tamil icon CN Annadurai as hundreds of thousands of his followers chanted “Thalaivar” (leader). His sandalwood coffin bore the inscription: “A person who continued to work without rest, now takes rest.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former PM HD Deve Gowda, chief ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), K Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) and V Narayanasamy (Puducherry) were present at the funeral.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury were also in attendance.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Maratha Groups Call Bandh in Mumbai Today
A day after leaders of the Maratha Kranti Morcha announced a sit-in protest outside the office of the Mumbai Suburban Collector in Bandra (East) on 9 August, another group of Maratha leaders on Wednesday, 8 August, announced a bandh in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra on Thursday. However, there will be no bandh or any protest in Navi Mumbai and Thane.
Muslim organisations such as the Maharashtra Muslim Ekta Parishad and Jamait Ulama-i-Maharashtra have extended support to the bandh. Amol Jadhavrao, convener of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, said the bandh would be observed from 8 am to 6 pm.
“But we have excluded all the essential services such as medical, schools and colleges, milk and public transport from the bandh. We will request shops and commercial establishments to remain shut and will request autorickshaws and taxis to stay off the roads,” he added.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Bihar Minister Resigns Over Shelter Rapes
Bihar social welfare minister Kumari Manju Verma resigned on Wednesday, 8 August, amid allegations that her husband had links with the main suspect in a scandal linked to the sexual abuse of inmates of a government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur.
Verma’s resignation letter was immediately faxed to Bihar governor Satya Pal Malik, who is in Delhi, for acceptance, officials aware of the development said on condition of anonymity.
The resignation came hours after Brajesh Thakur, the main suspect in the scandal, told reporters outside a Muzaffarpur court that he had “no special connections” with the minister’s husband, Chandeshwar, but used to speak to him “over political and other issues.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Fearful Families Flee UP Village as Cops Crack down to ‘Help’ Kanwarias
“We have secret information that during the Kanwar yatra you might create trouble…with this red card we are informing you that if you create any trouble during the Kanwar yatra, action will be taken against you. You will be held accountable.”
This is what “red cards” given to at least 250 residents – Muslims and Hindus – of Khelum village in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh by police over the last week say. Apart from the police’s red cards, meant to deliver a “psychological message”, the district administration has identified 441 locals who “may cause trouble” and have had them sign “symbolic” bonds of Rs 5 lakh if they disturb the peace.
The measures, which have set off panic in the village and prompted 70 Muslim families to leave, come a year after violence marred this village during the annual Kanwar Yatra that is underway.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Begging Decriminalised, Delhi HC Says State Has Failed to Provide for Them
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday, 8 August, struck down the legal provision criminalising begging in the capital, and observed that “people beg on the streets not because they wish to, but because they need to”.
“Begging is their last resort to subsistence; they have no other means to survive,” a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said, declaring 25 sections of the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, which have been extended to Delhi, as “unconstitutional”.
The court added that the state is at liberty to bring in an alternative legislation to curb rackets of forced begging, after undertaking an empirical examination on the sociological and economic aspects of the matter.
(Source: The Indian Express)
6. Shourie, Sinha Allege Rafale Scam; Not a Grain of Truth, Says Jaitley
The Opposition’s attack on the government over the cost of 36 Rafale jets that India has agreed to buy, found support from new quarters on Wednesday, 8 August.
Former cabinet ministers in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha, along with Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, alleged that the BJP-led government had agreed to buy the 36 aircraft with no additional add-ons and yet will pay Rs 1,000 crore more per plane as compared to the earlier deal.
Union minister Arun Jaitley has called the allegations an attempt to malign the government.
At a press meet, Shourie, Sinha and Bhushan said public sector unit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which was part of the original negotiations, was pushed out and a newly-minted company, Reliance Defence Ltd, bagged an offset contract. They said such an agreement between Reliance Defence and Dassault Aviation, which makes Rafale jets, should have come after governmental approval.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. ‘Don’t Act Smart or We Will Make You Homeless’: SC Slams Builder Amrapali
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 8 August, warned that Amrapali Group directors will be rendered homeless if they do not act “appropriately” or “play smart” with the court.
A bench of justices Arun Mishra and UU Lalit told Amrapali’s advocate, Gaurav Bhatia, that the court would not allow the company to collect money from the hassled home-buyers and directed the real estate group to submit a list of its properties that can be sold to raise funds to complete its unfinished projects.
The bench got irked after Bhatia furnished a list of properties that could fetch Rs 400 crore. And when the court asked him how much money was needed to complete the unfinished projects, Bhatia said Rs 4,000 crore.
The court also sought details of immovable and movable properties of managing directors and directors of the group along with their valuation report within 15 days.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. NDA Ahead in RS Deputy Race
The BJP-backed candidate, Harivansh, appeared on course to be elected deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 9 August, with the BJD announcing support for the JDU member late on Wednesday night.
Even before this shot in the arm for the BJP, the Opposition's numerical advantage in the Rajya Sabha had eroded when the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday made their support conditional to a formal request from Congress president Rahul Gandhi to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Till late in the night on Wednesday, that call had not come through and AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh tweeted: "Nitish Kumar called up Arvind Kejriwal and sought AAP's support for his party member who is being backed by the BJP for the election. It is not possible to support the BJP. If Rahul Gandhi does not want the support of AAP for his party's candidate, then AAP has no other option but to boycott the election." With the AAP playing difficult to get and at least five possible absentees in the Opposition camp, its number is now down to 109 while the NDA's has galloped to 118 with the BJD.
(Source: The Telegraph)
9. Partition Wouldn’t Have Happened if Jinnah Had Become PM: Dalai Lama
India would have remained a united country if Jinnah had become the first prime minister, the fourteenth Dalai Lama said in Goa on Wednesday, 8 August.
Speaking at an event organised by Goa Institute of Management to kick off its silver jubilee celebrations, the Dalai Lama said the “mistake” has cost India.
“Mistakes always happen. Now, look at India. I think Mahatma Gandhi ji was very much willing to give prime ministership to Jinnah. But Pandit Nehru refused. I think Pandit Nehru’s was a little bit self-centred,” he said. “Pandit Nehru, I know very well, was a very experienced person, very wise, but sometimes mistakes happen.”
He was answering a question asked by a student on how to “make sure we don’t take wrong decisions due to our emotions while making these choices.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
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