Martyr Udham Singh's great-grandson on dharna for peon's job

New Delhi, Jan 3, 2016, (PTI)

When nationalism and patriotism are dominating the national discourse, the great grandson of iconic revolutionary Udham Singh is struggling to secure the job of a peon in Punjab government which had been promised to him by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh 10 years ago.
The promise of Congress government did not materialise as the party was out of power for 10 years in the state. The repeated pleas of Jagga Singh, who is great grandson of Udham Singh's elder sister Aas Kaur, to the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP government did not yield any result.

In a daredevil act, Udham Singh had avenged the killing of hundreds of innocent people in Jallianwala Bagh on Baisakhi Day on April 13, 1919 by General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer.

Singh, who was present on the spot at Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar on the bloodiest day of Indian Independence struggle history, had avenged the massacre 21 years later by killing in London Michael O'Dwyer, who was the Governor of Punjab when the massacre took place in Jallianwala Bagh.

Charged with murder, he was hanged to death in one of the prisons in London.
Singh is going through days of extreme poverty with a family of six to take care of which includes his 60-year old father Jeet Singh, a daily labourer.

30-year old Singh, a class X pass out who works at a cloth merchant shop in Sangur on a monthly salary of Rs 2,500, is hoping to draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh through his letters.
Braving the chill of foggy mornings here, Singh has shifted his protests to Jantar Mantar hoping to get his voice heard in the power corridors of the national capital.
But so far, neither the BJP, which is ruling the Centre, nor the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state have offered anything concrete to him.
Speaking to PTI, an emotional Singh said he was promised a job in 2006 by the then Punjab CM Aamrinder Singh but after the government changed, he has been running from pillar to post to get the promise implemented.
"We met Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindhsa several time. After a number of meetings, he had told me that our representation was put before the Chief Minister, who said that he cannot help us as the letter of appointment was issued by the Congress-led Amarinder Singh's government and so the job cannot be given to us," Singh claimed.
He said the then Deputy Collector whom his father had met after Amarinder Singh issued a letter could have given him any job "even that of a peon" but the present regime is not ready to offer even that.

"We even met Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann of Aam Aadmi Party. He asked us to write our problem and took our representation but his PA said that since his party is not in power he can't do anything. Later he also stopped picking up our phones.

"He goes to Bhagat Singh's place but he failed to help the family members of martyr Udham Singh," Singh remarked Singh claimed to have met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal five times, whenever he comes to pay tribute to martyr Udham Singh on his martyrdom day at their village.

He also claims to have met Yoga Guru Ramdev, a prominent proponent of nationalism, but even his recommendation letter to the Punjab Chief Minister did not yield results.

"We have been sitting on dharna for the past four days in this biting cold. We are ready to sacrifice our life and continue with our dharna till we get a job. We have written to the PM, Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Today also we have given a memorandum to him, but we have not got any reply, let us see what action will they take," he said.

Singh said his father was working with the Electricity Board but he could not continue due to his ill health, so he was dismissed from the service.

"We have given representation even to President Pranab Mukherjee, who had written to the Punjab Chief Minister to give us a job but the Punjab government did not pay heed to it," he claimed.

"We don't have land, though there was some but we had to sell it to meet our finances. We are not begging from the government to give us money, we are just asking for a job, which is our right and not wrong demand," he said.

Militant killed in encounter with security forces in J-K

Srinagar, Jan 3, 2016, (PTI)

An unidentified militant was today killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore area of North Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said.
Security forces had laid an ambush at Haritar in Sopore during the intervening night following information about movement of militants through the area, a police official said.
He said security forces on noticing suspicious movement in the wee hours challenged the persons who opened fire.

"In the retaliatory firing, one militant was killed. Further details are awaited," the official said.

Man who hacked Kareena's IT e-filing account arrested

Mumbai, Jan 2, 2016, (PTI)

An employee of Central paramilitary forces was arrested by the cyber police here for accessing Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor's Income Tax e- filing account, police said tonight.
The accused wanted to get Kareena's personal mobile number so he hacked her IT account, they said.

Kareena's chartered accountant had last year approached the police with the complaint that somebody had hacked her IT e-filing account and tampered with it.

Cyber-police tracked down the culprit today.

The accused files income tax returns for people as a part-time job while working with paramilitary forces, police said, without disclosing his name. Further probe was on.

BJP never did politics of religious polarisation: Rajnath

New Delhi, Jan 3, 2016 (PTI)

BJP never did nor will it do politics of religious polarisation, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said, stressing that the "secular" parties need to be cautious in the wake of the Supreme Court order that candidates should not seek votes in the name of religion, caste or creed.

Asked if his party will raise the issue of Ram temple in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Singh said the matter is sub-judice.

"After the Supreme Court order, the so-called secular parties should be cautious," he said, adding that the court was "absolutely right" and politics should not involve caste or religion.
"BJP neither did politics of polarisation nor will it do in future. I feel if it was doing politics of polarisation, it would not have got clear majority in Parliament.

"It is for the first time that a non-Congress party has got clear majority in Parliament. Now to accuse that political party and its workers and volunteers is not right," he said.

On the Supreme Court order, he said, "Whatever Supreme Court has said is absolutely right. I fully agree with whatever the apex court has said.

"Politics should not be on the lines of caste, cult or religion. Politics should be only in the name of humanity and justice."

Akhilesh camp stakes claim to 'cycle' symbol before EC

New Delhi, Jan 3, 2016 (PTI)

Cycle, the election symbol of Samajwadi Party, today formally came under dispute with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's camp telling the Election Commission that the party is "actually" headed by him now and not its founder Mulayam Singh.

Yesterday, Mulayam himself drove down to Nirvachan Sadan, the EC headquarters, to inform the poll watchdog that he continues to head the party and the decision to anoint his son Akhilesh as its president by the rival faction was unconstitutional as per the SP constitution.

Leaders loyal to Akhilesh -- Ram Gopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal and Kiranmoy Nanda -- met the Commission this morning to stake claim over SP and its election symbol.
All three who represented Akhilesh before the poll panel stand expelled from SP by Mulayam.

"The real Samajwadi Party belongs to us as 90 per cent of the people support us," Ram Gopal, who is Mulayam's cousin and has sided with Akhilesh in the family feud, told reporters after meeting the Commission.

He was asked about what he conveyed to the Commission on the party and its symbol.
Now, with the rival factions staking claim over the party and its symbol, the ball is in the Commission's court. Since the assembly elections to Uttar Pradesh are set to be announced any day now, the Commission has little time to adjudicate the matter.

As an interim measure, it is now likely to freeze the cycle symbol and ask the two factions to contest on a new symbol.

It may also give the two sides a new name to contest the polls till the time a final decision is taken on the real 'ownership' of Samajwadi Party and its symbol 'cycle'.
While Mulayam, who was in Delhi since yesterday afternoon, left for Lucknow, his close confidant Mohd Azam Khan reached here.

Khan said he will do what he can to bring about a rapprochement.
"Anything is possible. Who would have thought that their expulsion would be revoked," he told reporters here.

A bitter critic of Mulayam's close aide Amar Singh, Khan is seen as the party's Muslim face and has maintained a neutral profile in public during the ongoing feud.

Before the Commission proceeds to adjudicate the matter, it will ask Mulayam and Akhilesh to respond to the claims by the opposite side. The process, EC sources said, may take up to four months before a final order is issued. 

Arunachal to convert CM residence into state guest house

Itanagar, Jan 3, 2016 (PTI)

The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to convert the official bungalow of chief minister into a state guest house soon.
The bungalow, situated at Niti Vihar area in the state capital, has earned moniker of 'haunted' building after former chief minister Kalikho Pul committed suicide on August 9 last year.

Barely two months later, a staff of the bungalow was also found hanging from the ceiling of an adjoining room there.

Two chief ministers, Dorjee Khandu and Jarbom Gamlin, who had lived there, met with untimely deaths.

"We are converting the bungalow into a state guest house. A decision has been already taken," deputy chief minister Chowna Mein said today.

He also said that necessary renovations would be made soon, so that the guest house becomes functional in three to four months.

Mein said that as people consider it a 'haunted' building, the government would also organise some rituals in order to dispel doubts and hesitations.

"I think we will have to carry out some rituals in order to remove the doubts and fears," Mein added.

The construction of the state-of-the-art building which was started during 2007-08 was completed in the year 2009-10.

With a total plinth area of 2794.80 square meters, the estimated cost of the building was Rs 59.55 crore.

The project was executed by the state PWD and its design was prepared by the urban development department and chief architect of the town planning department.

A Guwahati-based Vaastu expert, who had inspected the bungalow during Nabam Tuki's tenure had found some "errors" in its lay-out and had suggested certain changes including shifting the water-source from the existing south-west location to the north-east.

The present building was constructed during Dorjee Khandu's regime after the previous building that was constructed in the early 1980s.

Dorjee Khandu took possession of the bungalow on November 14, 2009, after performing special pujas by Tibetan spiritual guru the Dalai Lama.

But Khandu was killed in a helicopter crash on April 30, 2011 and its next occupant Jarbom Gamlin – who remained chief minister for only six months before he resigned – died young at the age of 53 on November 30, 2014.

The next occupant Nabam Tuki too had a turbulent term.
First "removed" by a special session of the assembly in December 2015, he could not continue in office even after the apex court restored his office on July 13, 2016 as dissidents within the party replaced him by Pema Khandu four days later.

Tuki, however, had already vacated the bungalow when President's Rule was imposed in the state on January 26, 2016, with Kalikho Pul occupying it after he was sworn in as the chief minister on February 19, 2016. The present Chief Minister Pema Khandu stays at his private residence. 

Partying late night not in Indian culture: Abu Azmi on B'luru mass molestation

Mumbai, Jan 3, 2016 (PTI)

Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi today said though it was the duty of police to ensure safety of women on the New Year eve, women should not forget that "security starts at home", and that partying late night is not in the Indian culture.

"Partying late night in half attire, blindly following western culture, has never been our culture. Ladies hailing from well-to-do families, be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP, they come out in decent attire and mostly with their family members," he said, when asked about alleged harassment of women in Bangaluru during the New Year eve.

"I am saying what happened is very unfortunate. Undoubtedly, making security arrangement to thwart any eventuality is police's job. But, as far as Bengaluru molestation is concerned, women and their guardians must also take precautions and think that security starts at home. Our women must think about their own security themselves," Azmi told PTI.

New Year revelry turned into a nightmare for several women who were allegedly molested despite huge police presence at a large gathering at Bengaluru's downtown region, sparking widespread outrage.

"But when few women in half dress come out on streets at late night with their friends, such incidents do occur," said Azmi, an MLA from Shivaji Nagar in suburban Mumbai.

He also recited Urdu verses, "Achchi soorat bhi kya buri shay hai, jisne bhi dali...buri nazar dali"

"The women are pride of our family and country. Therefore, it is our duty to safeguard them. If we allow them to follow western culture blindly, then I am sorry to say that people will misbehave them in such ways," the SP leader said.

Azmi also defended Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara who had stoked a controversy by blaming the youngsters' "western ways" for the incidents.

"He (Parameshwara) said the harsh reality. These kind of things do happen when women try to copy the westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing," he said.

Eyewitness accounts suggest that women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in a posh area of Bengaluru even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.

National Commission of Women (NCW) Chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam had come down heavily on the police and slammed Parameshwara's remarks, demanding that he should resign.

The NCW as well as the Karnataka State Commission for Women also sought separate reports from administration and police over the incidents.