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Saturday,
February 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Don’t confine Rama to Ayodhya: Farooq PM did nothing to resolve Ayodhya: VHP
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Bofors case: Swedish firm seeks discharge
Muslims hold key in western UP Land scam: Supreme Court pulls up CBI Stop disinformation campaign: NCERT Film Fest Director’s house raided Laloo’s counsel shot at, injured Lt-Gen Gill is DG, Ordnance Services Kundra takes over as Mines Secretary
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Don’t confine Rama to Ayodhya: Farooq New Delhi, February 1 “Rama is not in Ayodhya alone. He is in each one of us. If you serve humanity, you will be serving Rama,” Mr Abdullah said pointing towards Mr Singhal at a programme for the Himalayan region organised by the Sangh-backed Himalaya Parivar. Regretting that religion was being unashamedly exploited to gain power, Mr Abdullah said he wanted Ram Rajya (Hindu utopia) to be ushered in as under it “everyone will progress.” Besides Mr Singhal, RSS Joint General Secretary in charge of BJP Madan Das Devi, RSS All-India propaganda secretary Shrikant Joshi, chief of the Juna Akhara, Swami Avadheshanandji, Union Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal were present on the occasion. He said the Hurriyat Conference had sought support in the name of Islam in Jammu and Kashmir and the result was that 70,000 persons had been killed in the state so far. “Kashmir will never secede from India. It will always remain in India’s crown,” Mr Abdullah declared, adding that “Farooq Abdullah is immaterial.” He appealed to Mr Singhal to take all religions along as only then the country will progress. He also urged Mr Singhal to launch a people’s movement for the maintenance and preservation of all pilgrimage spots in the Himalayas. Mr Singhal left immediately after Mr Abdullah’s speech saying he had to attend a meeting of the VHP’s Board of Trustees. Meanwhile, Mr Abdullah today welcomed the statement of the Hurriyat Conference about participating in the election process but rejected their suggestion for a separate election commission. “I welcome them into the election arena and hope it would be a healthy contest. Let them stop making fools of the people in the state. The thought underlying their statement is that they want to face the electorate and my response is that I welcome them with open arms,” Mr Abdullah said here. He said the suggestion for a separate election commission was only to fool the people of the state. However, when his attention was
drawn to the statement of the Hurriyat Conference inviting him to participate in poll under such a commission, Mr Abdullah quipped “Yeh to drama hai logon ke liye. Unhe bhi maloom hai sachai ka aur muje bhi. (this is a drama for the people. They also know the truth and so do I.) “And yes, I hope they have taken permission from their masters from across the border,” Mr Abdullah commented without naming Pakistan. The Hurriyat Conference should ensure that there would not be any use of guns from their side and “I assure them of
violence free polls,” he said adding that “if this realisation had come earlier to them, we would not have seen such a long bloody battle for nearly a decade.”
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PM did nothing to resolve Ayodhya: VHP New Delhi, February 1 “We are not happy. We went to him (Vajpayee) with certain expectations and we came back empty-handed. All assurance we got was that he will ask the Law Minister to examine the legal and constitutional aspects of our demand,” VHP President Vishnu Hari Dalmia said participating in Karan Thapar’s “Line of Fire” programme on SAB TV to be telecast on Saturday. Mr Dalmia said Mr Vajpayee could have referred the matter to the Law Minister even when it was pending with him for the last one year. While declining to comment whether Mr Vajpayee was “insincere”, the VHP leader said, “that we do not know. He may be having his own problems and compulsions we are not aware of. But for the past 12 months, they have been sleeping on this issue as far as we are concerned.” Participating in the programme, BJP general secretary and spokesman Sunil Shastri said: “The government will come into action in case they (VHP) tried to take law into their hands.”
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Hindu religious leaders blast BJP Lucknow, February 1 Jagadguru Ramanujacharya Swami Purushottamacharya, a senior member of the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust, said in Ayodhya that the issue might not be important for the BJP but was a matter of self-respect and faith for devotees of lord Rama. He also lambasted BJP president K. Jana Krishnamurty for making a statement “against the VHP”. Mr Krishnamurty had yesterday said if the VHP did not accept the court verdict, legal action would follow. The Jagadguru said the BJP should introspect its stand on the Ayodhya issue to resolve the matter. Baba Dharmadas, another member of the trust and the Mahant of Hanumangadhi at Ayodhya, said the movement was a religious and cultural issue, supported by overwhelming Hindus. “The statement of the BJP president is condemnable,” he added. VHP media in charge Sharad Sharma said, “Devotees would start the construction of the temple after March 12 in accordance with the decision of saints (top religious leaders).” He lamented that the issue was pending before the court for long. “The government should return the encroached land to Hindus. Only then can the issue be resolved” he claimed. According to a report from Kanpur, VHP Awadh province executive president Ramnath Mahendra condemned the statement of Mr Krishnamurty. He said the VHP was prepared to face any eventuality for its “sacred cause,” but warned the BJP that its new stand on the issue would invite the people’s wrath. In Allahabad, Jyotishpeethadishwar Jagatguru Shankaracharya Swami Basudevanand Saraswati said the Ayodhya issue should not be politicised as it was a matter of faith for the entire Hindu community. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a medicare camp at Magh Mela, the swami hoped that the temple would surely be built at Ayodhya.
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Bofors case: Swedish firm seeks discharge New Delhi, February 1 In an application filed before Special Judge R.K. Gauba, the company, now known as Kartongen Kemi Och forvaltning AB, said no prima facie case was made out against it from the charge sheet and accompanying documents filed by the CBI. The company further submitted that it would be against the principle of fair play and also amount to an abuse of the process of law to prosecute it as there was no scope to ascertain at this stage if the acts allegedly committed by its then officials amounted to an offence. The court issued a notice to the CBI and posted the matter for hearing on February 4, when it would consider arguments on charge. It also requested the court to direct the CBI to supply a copy of the government order with regard to the appointment of Indian agents for foreign defence suppliers in vogue during 1982-86. The CBI has accused Bofors of appointing agents and paying them huge commissions violating defence supply norms in vogue at that time.
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Muslims hold key in western UP Muzaffarnagar, February 1 In fact, the BSP had left the
Mulayam Singh led Samajwadi Party which had been claiming to be the champion of the rights of the Muslims, far behind by allocating the party ticket to 14 Muslim candidates as against six by the SP in eight prominent districts accounting for 49 seats. And with a section of the Muslims reportedly angry with Mr Ajit Singh for his alliance with the “communal” BJP, a close contest is on the cards in at least half of the seats falling in Meerut, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bulandshehar, Bijnore, Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad districts. Fielding of a number of Muslim candidates is being seen as a smart move by Ms
Mayawati despite poor performance by Muslim BSP candidates during the 1996 Assembly poll. Of the six party candidates, only Raja Gajanfar Ali could make it to the UP Assembly last time. The move is aimed at getting support of the Muslims who have been dissatisfied with the SP and the Ajit Singh-led RLD, said a BSP leader, adding that the party expected surprising results as the Muslim-Dalit combination was an unassailable combination. The BSP had fielded Muslim candidates from Merrut City, Kharkhauda, Khekhra, Thana Bhavan, Bijnor, Dhampur, Afjalgarh, Bulandshehar, Dibai, Kandhala, Katauli, Saharanpur, Baghpat Siohara and Muzaffarabad. The SP on the other hand, had fielded Muslim candidates from Kaithor, Meerut City, Afjalgarh, Bijnor, Siohara and Ghaziabad district. In the 1996 elections, the SP, Mr Ajit Singh’s Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party (BKKP), N.D. Tiwari-led Congress (T), the JD and the communist parties had fought the election as an alliance and fielded eight Muslim candidates. However, only three candidates belonging to the BKKP and one owing allegiance to the SP could win the elections. This could have guided the decision of the SP to have less representation for the Muslims this time. The party had instead tried to make inroads into the traditional vote bank of the BJP by fielding Vaish candidates from several constituencies including Kairana, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat. The RLD, considered to be a major force in certain parts of western UP, has given representation to all communities with Jats and Muslims cornering a substantial share of seats. Another Jat leader and INLD supremo and Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had tried to take all communities with him. |
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Land scam: Supreme Court pulls up CBI New Delhi, February 1 “It is really surprising that though more than two years have elapsed, the CBI has failed to submit its report to the court. The faith of citizens on CBI will stand eroded if this sort of callous attitude is shown by the CBI concerning a matter where the apex court is seized of the matter,” a Bench of Justice G.B. Pattanaik, Justice S.S.M. Quadri and Justice R.P. Sethi said in a recent order. The order came on a writ petition filed by the NOIDA Entrepreneurs Association bringing to the court’s notice the alleged irregularities committed in the allotment of the prime land during the tenure of Chairperson Neera Yadav. After the displeasure expressed by the court, counsel for the CBI P. Parmeswaran stated that the probe report would be filed before the court within four weeks. The Bench also directed Uttar Pradesh Government to file an affidavit indicating what final action, if any, has been taken on the basis of the three reports of the committees which had gone into the alleged irregularities in the matter of allotment of land. The petitioners made a grievance that the NOIDA authorities in some cases gave a hearing to the allottees while taking up the issue of cancellation of the land allotment but did not follow the same procedure in other cases. The Bench said, “It would be appropriate to call upon the NOIDA authorities to indicate why there has been discrimination and as to whether the procedure required to be followed for the cancellation has been duly followed”. It directed both the CBI and the NOIDA authorities to file their affidavits within four weeks. The court also allowed the amicus curiae Rajeev Dhawan to sit with the counsel for the authorities and examine the papers to find out what action had been taken and what more action was required to be taken by the authorities. After examining all papers concerned the amicus curiae would file a status report, the Bench said and directed listing of the case in March. It was alleged that the prime land in NOIDA was allotted to people who did not even fulfil the basic qualification for the consideration of money.
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Stop disinformation campaign: NCERT New Delhi, February 1 Reacting to SAHMAT statement listing errors in the new NCERT syllabus for history, the NCERT Director, Professor J.S. Rajput said the SAHMAT demand for including more details about dynasties, dates and events ignores the focus of the new endeavour to reduce curriculum load. In a statement issued here on Friday,
Professor Rajput said, “While all sections of consumers of the education system have welcomed the new thrust on sparing students the trauma of memorising facts, these persons want a status quo.” The NCERT Director has said that NCERT’s endeavour of curriculum renewal must not be trivialised. “The present campaign is hurting national unity at a very sensitive time. This disinformation campaign must stop in the national interest.” Professor Rajput said NCERT was “a professional institution dealing with educational reform and guided by the National Policy on Education (NPE). History is just of one of more than 12 subjects (three languages, three aspects of mathematics, four streams of social science, three branches of science besides work education) which a student has to cover between Class VI and X. There was demand from parents, students and academicians to rationalise the contents so that a student enjoys education and does not consider it a burden.” He said a narrow-minded approach where history enjoys a disproportionate importance over other fields of social sciences in neither scientific nor practicable if a holistic approach is to be taken.” The NCERT Director alleged that some elements were damaging national unity by misrepresenting facts about the syllabus. |
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Film Fest Director’s house raided Mumbai, February 1 “We have raided four of his houses in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai areas as well as his office in central Mumbai”, they said. The searches which began yesterday morning, continued late last night, the sources said. The Director’s bank books, documents and other important papers have been examined and a follow-up on the same would be carried out, they added. “We have also registered a case for possession of assets disproportionate to his known source of income”, they said. The incident was a major embarrassment to the organisers of the MIFF, who were yesterday forced to cancel a press conference to announce the films to be screened at the festival beginning on Sunday
here. PTI |
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Laloo’s counsel shot at, injured Patna, February 1 Additional Director General of Police (Patna zone) A.R. Sinha said the armed men barged into the house of Mr Chittranjan Sinha at Patel Nagar locality to loot the valuables. On being resisted, they fired a few shots causing pellet injuries to the lawyer and his wife. Patna Civil Surgeon A.K. Mishra, however, said the counsel suffered assault on the back of his neck and fainted and CT scanning was performed on him to ascertain the cause of injury. Mr Mishra said the counsel and his wife were out of danger.
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Lt-Gen Gill is DG, Ordnance Services New Delhi, February 1 Commissioned in June 1963, the General is a skilled Paratrooper. As a young officer, he had participated in the 1971 operations as part of the Paratrooper Brigade. He took part in the battle of Hajipur Pass and the assault at Tangail. He has held various prestigious assignments. As a Major, he was the Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quarter Master General of the Paratrooper Brigade. He had the rare distinction of commanding a depot in a foreign army and also served as an adviser to the Federal Government of Nigeria. During Operation Vijay, he was the Major-General Army Ordnance Corps of the Northern Command. Prior to his present appointment, Lt-Gen Singh was the Commandant, College of Materials Management at Jabalpur. |
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Kundra takes over as Mines Secretary New Delhi, February 1 Before taking over as Mines Secretary, Dr Kundra held the charge of Chairman, Tariff Commission, for one year. Prior to this, he was the Chairman of the Noida Export Processing Zone. Dr Kundra has served in various positions in Punjab including as Secretary, Health. |
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