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"We Are Considering Humanitarian Aspect": Veep On Citizenship Law CAA

admin Mar 28, 2024 0

'We Are Considering Humanitarian Aspect': Vice President On Citizenship Law CAA

He highlighted the long history of India giving refuge to many religious communities (File)

New Delhi:

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed his strong disapproval of the use of sovereign platforms for making ignorant observations about CAA.

Emphasising that CAA is meant to give reprieve to those persecuted on religious grounds in our neighbourhood, VP Dhankar highlighted that none is being deprived of citizenship and still the narrative is so different.

“How can an observation on the Citizenship Amendment Act be made in ignorance of ground reality? We are considering the humanitarian aspect, a reprieve to those who have been persecuted on religious grounds in our neighbourhood. No one is being deprived. We are not inviting people to benefit from it. Benefit of this is being given to those who have been in this country for over a decade,” the VP said while addressing the American Bar Association (ABA) India Conference 2024.

Referring to the 2014 cutoff date for citizenship under CAA, the Vice President said that we are not inviting people to take advantage of it. “Benefit of this is being given to whom? Who are already in this country. They have been in this country for over a decade,” he stressed.

Addressing the 2nd edition of the American Bar Association Spring Conference as chief guest in Delhi, Mr Dhankhar highlighted the long history of India giving refuge to many religious communities.

The Vice-President said that those trying to teach lessons to us while being ignorant about ground realities must be rebuffed.

Underscoring the structured democratic tradition in India right from parliament to panchayat level, the Vice-President objected to the remarks made by some from sovereign platforms about India’s institutions. “We are not a nation to get scriptures from others,” Mr Dhankhar stated.

“We are a nation with a civilisational ethos of more than 5000 years. Look at the motto of G20: One Earth One Family One Future. We did not coin it for G20. It is the nectar of our civilisational worth, embedded in our ethos!,” he added.

VP further said, “There are some countries, from several platforms, they want to teach us what democracy is?” and asked the youth to speak against such things on social media and other platforms.

He called upon the young minds to enlighten the countries, trying to teach us lessons out of their ignorance, to engage in diligence.

Tracing the economic journey of India from fragile five to big five, the Vice-President questioned those who had been in power but only spread pessimism. ” My heart hurts when someone who was in a position of power in this country, in the field of economics, spread only pessimissim,” he added.

R Venkataramani, Attorney General of India, Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), Pratibha Jain, Chair, India Committee, ABA and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

India's Richest Woman Savitri Jindal Quits Congress, Joins BJP

admin Mar 28, 2024 0

India's Richest Woman Savitri Jindal Quits Congress, Joins BJP

Savitri Jindal was listed as the richest woman in the country by Forbes India this year.

Chandigarh:

Former Haryana minister Savitri Jindal quit the Congress and joined the BJP in Haryana’s Hisar on Thursday, days after her son and industrialist Naveen Jindal switched parties.

The 84-year-old Ms Savitri Jindal joined the BJP along with her daughter Seema in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and other BJP leaders.

Announcing her decision to quit the Congress in a social media post late on Wednesday night, she said, “I represented the people of Hisar for 10 years as an MLA and have served Haryana state selflessly as a minister. The people of Hisar are my family and on the advice of my family, I am resigning from the primary membership of the Congress today.”

Savitri Jindal was listed as the richest woman in the country by Forbes India this year.

According to the Forbes list of the 10 richest women in India, Savitri Jindal, the wife of the late industrialist and former minister O P Jindal, has a net worth of USD 29.1 billion (one billion = Rs 100 crore).

In a post on X, Mr Saini said, “We welcome into the BJP family veteran Congress leader, former minister in Haryana government, famous social worker Smt. Savitri Jindal ji and her daughter Smt. Seema Jindal ji.” Savitri Jindal was a minister in the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana.

In 2014, she lost to BJP’s Kamal Gupta from Hisar. Mr Gupta is currently a minister in the Saini-led government.

Naveen Jindal, who represented Kurukshetra in the Lok Sabha from 2004-14 as a Congress MP, quit the party on Sunday. He has been named as the BJP candidate from Kurukshetra.

After being welcomed into the party fold by Saini and Khattar, Savitri Jindal said, “We will work together to form a strong government at the Centre under (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s leadership once again.” “I express gratitude to every office-bearer and worker of the BJP for making us a member of the ‘Modi Parivar’. We will live up to the party’s expectations,” she said.

Haryana witnessed unprecedented development under the previous Khattar government, she added.

Savitri Jindal further said, “I am impressed by the prime minister’s vision of making India a developed nation by 2047.” Speaking about her husband O P Jindal, who died in a helicopter crash in 2005, she said he was of the view that India can become a great nation with the upliftment of the downtrodden and economically weaker sections.

“He entered politics with this pledge in 1991. After his demise in March 2005, I entered politics to realise his dreams,” she said.

“Hisar is my janam and karam bhoomi. People of Hisar have always showered their love and I also treated them as part of my family,” she said.

Savitri Jindal said the country needs the BJP and PM Modi today.

Speaking on the occasion, Saini said the BJP’s double-engine government did a lot of development work in the past 10 years.

Party leaders Kamal Gupta, Bhavya Bishnoi, and former governor Ganeshi Lal were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, party leaders also inaugurated the election office of Ranjit Singh Chautala, who has been fielded by the BJP from Hisar Lok Sabha seat.

Polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Here are 5 facts about Mukhtar Ansari:

Since 1952 nobody won from Mau in Uttar Pradesh for a second consecutive time, but Mukhtar Ansari broke the myth by winning the seat five times in a row beginning 1996, including twice as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate. He last contested the assembly polls in 2017.
Mukhtar Ansari, who has been in jail since 2005 in various criminal cases, was brought to Banda jail by the Uttar Pradesh government from Punjab after a court battle.
The gangster-turned politician had over 60 criminal cases pending against him. He was sentenced in eight cases since September 2022 by different courts of Uttar Pradesh.
In April 2023, Mukhtar Ansari was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. He was sentenced to life in prison on March 13, 2024, in a case related to the use of forged documents for obtaining an arms licence in 1990.
The gangster, who hailed from Mau, was believed to have strong influence in Ghazipur and Varanasi districts as well. His name was on the list of 66 gangsters issued by Uttar Pradesh Police last year.