QBullet: PM Talks CAA at Belur Math; Delhi Sees Record Protests
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1. PM on CAA: Pak Will Now Have to Answer for Oppressing Minorities
Amid the ongoing protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 12 January, said some sections were trying to “misguide” the youth on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act which, he said, is “a law to provide citizenship, not snatch it away”.
Addressing a gathering at Belur Math, the headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission, on the second day of his visit here, Modi said: “Aaj rashtriya yuva divas pe main phir se desh ke nawjawanon ko, Paschim Bangal ke naujawanon ko, North-East ke naujawanon ko… zaroor kuch kehna chahta hun. Aisa nahin hain ke desh ki nagarikatwa dene ki liye raaton raat koi naya kanoon banaya gaya hain. Hum sabko pata hona chahiye ke doosre desh se kisi bhi dharam ke, koi bhi vyakti, jo Bharat mein aastha rakhta hai, Bharat ke samvidhan ko maanta hain, Bharat ke nagarikatwa le sakta hain, koi duvidha nahin hain is mein.”
(On the occasion of national youth day, I want to tell the youth of the country, the youth of West Bengal, the youth of North-East that the law to grant citizenship was not changed overnight. We should all know that any person from any country, of any religion, who believes in India and its Constitution, can be granted Indian citizenship. There’s no doubt about this.)
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Will Execute Nothing in MP That Divides Society: Kamal Nath
Stating that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) cannot be “segregated” from one another or viewed in “isolation”, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Sunday, 12 January, that his government would not “execute” anything which “divides society or has the potential to divide”.
Speaking to The Indian Express, he said there was no crying need to amend the citizenship law or bring a nationwide NRC. The cry in the country, he said, was to get India out of economic distress. The overwhelming demand is for jobs and ensuring a fair price to farmers for their agricultural produce, he said. But the BJP government chose to amend the citizenship law and is talking about NRC to “divide society”, said Nath.
(Source: The Indian Express)
3. Protests in Delhi Hit a New High in 2019: Data
The national capital was rocked by the highest number of protests in at least eight years in 2019, government data shows, as people ranging from students and job seekers to airline professionals and even policemen, hit the streets of Delhi to air their grievances.
Figures from Delhi Police show 12,652 demonstrations, dharnas and protest meetings were organised in 2019, a spike of 46% from the 2018 numbers. This was the highest since 2011, the earliest year for which data was available. The previous highest number of protests (11,158) was witnessed in 2015.
The 2019 figure is only until December 15 and, therefore, doesn’t include the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, that roiled the city in the last two weeks of December.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4. Masked Woman in JNU Mob Attack Identified: Police
The Delhi Police on Sunday, 12 January, identified a woman, who was seen with two masked men involved in 5 January violence on JNU campus, as a student of a Delhi University college.
Officials of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), who are probing three cases of violence and vandalism on campus between 3 and 5 January, said they will serve a notice to the student Monday, asking her to join the probe and identify the two masked men, seen with her.
“She is a student of Daulat Ram college. Once she joins probe, we will question her about her role in the violence,” said deputy commissioner of police Joy Tirkey, who is heading the SIT.
JNU students and teachers have been alleging that the masked woman was from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The SIT officials refused to comment on the accused woman’s political affiliation.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
5. No Registration Until Fee Hike Is Revoked: JNUSU
A day after signalling that it was ready to call off its agitation if the university administration rolled back the hike in hostel fees, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) declared on Sunday, 12 January, that the boycott of registration for the winter semester would continue, after the varsity insisted that students would need to pay the hiked fees before registering and decided to suspend around 300 students for participating in the stir.
There will be no compromise until the hostel fee hike is totally revoked and vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar is removed, the students’ union said.
Meanwhile, the administration extended the registration deadline to 15 January. More than 4,300 students have already registered so far, the administration said.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. ‘Enemy Is Right Here’: Iran Erupts Over Downed Aircraft
Protests erupted across Iran for a second day on Sunday, 12 January, piling pressure on the country’s leadership after the military admitted it had mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner at a time when Tehran had feared American air strikes.
“They are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here,” a group of protesters outside a university in Tehran chanted, according to video clips posted on Twitter.
Security forces were reported deployed in large numbers across Tehran on Sunday, expecting more protests. Riot police in black uniforms and helmets massed in Vali-e Asr Square, Tehran University and other landmarks as calls circulated for protests later in the day. Revolutionary Guard members patrolled the city on motorbikes and plainclothes security men were also out in force.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Parliament Attack, Afzal Guru Shadow Back to Haunt J&K Police Officer
When J&K Police arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police Davinder Singh, a decorated counter-insurgency officer who is currently posted with the security and anti-hijacking unit of J&K Police at Srinagar airport, along with two “most wanted” militants in a car in South Kashmir on Saturday, it brought back questions about his alleged role in the 2001 Parliament attack case and other big cases in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2004, in a letter to his lawyer Sushil Kumar, Afzal Guru, then lodged in Tihar Jail for his involvement in the Parliament attack, had said that “DSP Davinder Singh”, then posted with J&K Police’s Special Operations Group at Humhama, had asked him to “take Mohammad”, a Pakistani national identified as one of those who carried out the Parliament attack, “to Delhi, rent a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him”.
(Source: The Indian Express)
8. All 4 Maradu Flats Demolished; Operation Successful, Say Officials
The authorities on Sunday, 12 January, completed demolition of four apartment complexes built near the backwaters in violation of coastal regulation zone norms in Maradu on the outskirts of Kerala’s Kochi by razing two remaining luxury skyscrapers through controlled implosions in compliance with a Supreme Court order.
Officials said it took just four seconds to pull down the largest of the four buildings, which housed 128 flats over 25,000 square feet, at 11 am. Another 17-floor building with 40 flats was demolished three-and-half hours later in two seconds to complete one of the largest demolition drives in the country that was planned over four months.
Two skyscrapers were earlier reduced to rubble in six seconds through controlled implosions on Saturday as thousands of people assembled in Maradu to witness the spectacle.
Officials said clearing 70,000-tonne rubble is now the main task after the demolition and it will take at least 40 days to clear it.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
9. Cong Accuses Corporations of Sitting on CAG Report
Alleging that BJP-run municipal corporations had become “hotbed” of corruption, Congress on Sunday, 12 January, released a report on alleged deficiencies in the functioning of the three civic bodies.
Calling Delhi’s civic bodies “most corrupt” among 205 municipal corporations of the country, Delhi Congress chief Subash Chopra alleged that the BJP-led dispensation did not table the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG) report to hide its corruption.
“The extent of corruption in the MCDs is evident from the fact that the CAG report has not yet been tabled in the three Houses. The CAG report has pointed to corruption of over Rs 5,000 crore in house tax, building department and disbursement of pensions,” Chopra alleged, demanding a CBI probe into the functioning of the three civic bodies.
(Source: The Times of India)
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