Ayodhya, April 5
The Deputy Prime Minister Mr L.K. Advani today sought to put the blame of Ayodhya tangle at the Congress doors when he said that the principal opposition party’s’ “double standards” on secularism had forced the BJP to join the temple movement and asserted that the Vajpayee government was confident of a negotiated settlement of the vexed issue soon after the coming elections.

The “Ayodhya movement was primarily a VHP programme. We did not want to directly back the movement, but for the Congress’ somersault on Supreme Court’s judgement on the Shah Bano case and allowing Shilanyas in Ayodhya and opening of the locks of the Ram temple for puja,” Mr Advani said in an interview with The Tribune on his way to Ayodhya from Lucknow in his Bharat Uday Yatra.

“The pseudo-secular face of the Congress came to the fore when the party, which claimed itself to be secular, upturned the court judgement even when it defended it in Parliament and allowed Shilanyas in Ayodhya and opened the lock of the Ram Temple for puja despite opposing the temple agitation,” Mr Advani said.

We could not have remained silent and thought it fit to declare the BJP’s support to the temple movement and challenge the Congress double speak, he said.

The then Prime Minister, late Rajiv Gandhi came to me (on my father’s death) and said that something must by done as there was lot of opposition to the court judgement on the Shah Bano case. I told him the Congress had defended the judgement in Parliament convincingly and there was no need for a rethink. Denying maintenance to a divorcee was a criminal code and not civil. I realised he was determined to set aside the judgement” Mr Advani recalled.

The Deputy Prime Minister claimed that when Mr Gandhi saw a Hindu upheaval, he thought it fit to send his Home Minister Buta Singh to identify space to perform Shilanyas of the Ram Temple and also subsequently opened the locks of Ayodhya temple.

“Before that we had no plan to involve in the temple movement,” he maintained.

Accusing the Congress and the Left parties of being bereft of issues, Mr Advani said now the entire debate on secularism was reduced to opposing the BJP.

Anti-BJPism has become the substitute for secularism and Marxism,” he said.

Denying that the BJP had in any way tried to dilute the Ayodhya issue in its Vision Document, Mr Advani said there were three options through which the vexed issue could be resolved : through court verdict, through resolution and through dialogue. “We have stressed that the resolution of the vexed issue through dialogue in an amicable manner will be the enduring solution,” he said expressing the confidence that a peaceful resolution of the issue would be achieved sooner than latter.

New Delhi, April 5
The Congress today sought an apology from Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani for his remark that wars with Pakistan had affected Hindu-Muslim relations in the country as “such an irresponsible statement” questions the patriotism of million of Muslims in the country.

“Such a statement challenges the integrity and patriotism of millions of Muslims in India,” Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal said and asked Mr Advani to apologise to Muslims.

“The Deputy Prime Minister should explain how a war with Pakistan can have any effect on Hindu-Muslim relations in India unless he believes that the patriotism of millions of Muslims in India is suspect.”

Mr Sibal told newspersons here that Mr Advani had, in the same breath yesterday, stated that it was only the BJP which cared for the Muslims in India. “The two statements contradict each other.”

“Organisations are like individuals and need to reinvent themselves from time to time. The Congress is at a stage when it has to learn to reinvent itself,” Mr Pitroda told a press conference here.

Mr Pitroda, who was teamed up with Rajiv Gandhi on the technology mission approach for the country, referred to the Labour Party in the UK transforming itself under Mr Tony Blair to end the Conservative stranglehold on power and suggested that the Congress, too, had to do likewise.

One of the key elements of the change would have to involve the Congress placing greater faith in the younger generation, he observed.

“We need young people in the mainstream. I admit it (lack of youngsters) is a problem in the party. It cannot be ruled and managed by people in their seventies,” he said.

Mr Pitroda said by campaigning for the Congress he was discharging a debt of gratitude to Rajiv Gandhi and also responding to the BJP’s claim that it had achieved in five years what the Congress could not manage in 50 years of governing India.

“It was during Rajiv Gandhi’s time that many seeds were planted which are flowering now. This is the time to reap the benefits but we should not forget who planted the seeds,” Mr Pitroda said.

“Just laying the final coat of paint does not entitle anyone to claim that they laid the foundation,” he added.

The former technocrat also did not shy away from acknowledging that the telecom policy of the National Democratic Alliance government had indeed been successful.

“Telecom has done well. I will not take away anything from anybody. I am very happy about it,” he observed.

Joining issue with the ‘India Shining’ slogan, he said “India is not shining for those at the bottom of the pyramid.”

New Delhi, April 5
A son, son-in-law and wife of three different Congress leaders figure in the Congress list released here today.

Mr Vijay Bahuguna, son of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister late H N Bahuguna, Mr L Rajgopal, son-in-law of former Union Minister P Upendra and Mrs Renuka Rawat, wife of Uttaranchal PCC chief Harish Rawat figure in the list of 20 candidates from four states released by the Congress today for the Lok Sabha poll.

While Mr Bahuguna would be contesting from Tehri Garhwal in Uttaranchal, Mr Rajgopal has been fielded from Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh, AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes announced in a statement today.

Mrs Renuka Rawat would contest the Almora Lok Sabha seat in Uttaranchal.

Mr Pinaki Mishra, once a close associate of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, has been fielded from the Puri Lok Sabha seat in Orissa.

There are five former MPs in the fray from Andhra Pradesh, namely Mr K.S. Rao (Eluru), Mr R. Sambasiva Rao (Guntur), Mr Raj Mohan Reddy (Narasaraopet), Mr M. Srinivasulu Reddy (Ongole) and Mr Chinta Mohan (Tirupathi).

The other candidates from Andhra Pradesh are Mr U. Arun Kumar (Rajahmundry), Mr Badiga Rama Krishna (Machilipatnam), Mr Bala Souri (Tenali), Mr A. Sai Pratap (Rajampet) and Mr S.P.Y. Reddy (Nandyal).

The candidates from Rajasthan are Mr Ved Prakash Gujjar (Bharatpur), Mr Habibur Rahman (Ajmer) and Mr Badri Ram Jakhar (Jodhpur).

New Delhi, April 5
The Election Commission has convened an all-party meeting tomorrow to discuss the controversial issue of opinion and exit polls during the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The EC is understood to have invited six national parties, including the BJP and the Congress, and 45 state-level parties for the meeting which is scheduled to begin at 10.30 am. The EC would take a stand on the issue after hearing the views of the political parties.

It is expected that at tomorrow’s meeting certain parties may raise the issue of surrogate election advertisements on the electronic media.

It may be recalled that at the time of the last General Election, the EC had placed a ban on the publication and telecast of opinion and exit polls for a month from the day campaigning ended in the first phase of elections till the completion of the polling process in all states and Union Territories. The Supreme Court, however, had intervened and the ban was subsequently lifted with the apex court holding that the EC was not the proper agency to monitor and enforce such restrictions.

The ban was originally imposed at the time of the 12th Lok Sabha elections in 1998 and was sought to be extended for the 13th parliamentary elections the next year.

In another development, the EC will soon issue directives to make the elections more “disabled friendly”, Mr Javed Abidi, Convenor of the Disabled Rights Group, told reporters here.

He said the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr T.S. Krishna Murti, and the other two Election Commissioners had given this assurance to a delegation of disability rights organisations here today.

The delegation requested the commission to build temporary ramps at polling booths, ensure easy accessibility to the booths and prepare Braille-enabled electronic voting machines.

New Delhi, April 5
Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul, Union Minister George Fernandes, BSP chief Mayawati and Bollywood star Govinda were among hundreds of candidates who filed their nomination for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections to 137 seats spread over 11 states on April 26.

Making his electoral debut, Rahul filed his nomination from Amethi which had in the past elected his father, mother and uncle. Flanked by his mother Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka and brother-in-law Robert Vadra, he submitted his papers to the returning officer at Sultanpur.

Janata Dal (United) President and Defence Minister George Fernandes filed his papers for Muzaffarpur constituency in Bihar which he represented four times before shifting to Nalanda from where he was elected to Lok Sabha three times in a row.

Mumbai, April 5
After crediting his success in Bollywood to the Almighty, Govinda is now depending on divine intervention and Congress workers to see him through his electoral bout with Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik.

Monday morning began as usual with Govinda invoking gods. According to sources, Govinda’s pooja stretched for more than an hour. After propitiating the divine, he met Congress workers who make a daily tour to his house to chalk out plans for the day.

And at a time chosen in consultation with his astrologers, the actor ventured out to file his nomination papers as the Congress candidate for the Mumbai (North) Lok Sabha seat.

Addressing a press conference after participating in a public meeting here, Varun, who was asked whether he was targeting his aunt and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, said it was a matter of political principle and not personal.

In the larger national interest and for security reasons, persons of foreign origin must not be allowed to hold key posts, he opined, adding that he supported Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s suggestion of holding a national debate on the issue.

When queried on reports that he had taken exception to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that were derogatory about Ms Gandhi and Rahul, Varun said that Mr Modi was “magnanimous” as he had said he would refrain from further mudslinging.

New Delhi, April 5
The CPM today hit the RSS hard by making public the copy of the alleged confessional statement of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his non-participation in the Quit India Movement of 1942.

“In 1942, Mr Vajpayee, around 16 years old as an active member of the RSS, not only did not participate in the freedom struggle (as decreed by the outfit which did not want to oppose the British), but also gave a statement of his non-participation in the militant events in his home village of Bateshwar on August 27, 1942,” CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechuri and party Rajya Sabha leader Nilotpal Basu said while releasing the statement at a press conference here.

The statement, recorded in Urdu, bears the signature of Mr Vajpayee, they said. It was recorded under Section 164, CrPC and Magistrate (Class II) S. Hassan appended a handwritten note in English to the statement, dated September 1, 1942.

“Here is an actual judicial evidence signed by Mr Vajpayee himself on his dubious role in the Quit India Movement,” they added.

“The two leaders wondered how Mr Vajpayee had claimed in a sponsored article in a fortnightly on January 20, 1998, that “it was my involvement in the Quit India Movement and my imminent arrest at Gwalior that I was sent to my ancestral village, Bateshwar, about 60 miles from Agra. But I got involved in the movement in Bateshwar too.”

Mr Yechuri and Mr Basu said it was now more than apparent that Mr Vajpayee not only did not participate in the freedom struggle but also kept claiming the otherwise.

New Delhi, April 5
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today challenged the Vajpayee government’s claim of the economic growth rate saying that in fact industrial production slid to 2.6 per cent under the NDA rule.

The CPM stressed that big business gained “enormously” during that period as small industries and employment declined consistently.

Top 50 big business houses had a “good time” from 1998-99, following the advent of the Vajpayee government with their income growth “ballooning from a growth rate of 7.4 per cent to 22.4 per cent by 2001-02 in sharp contrast to what was happening to the rest of the industry during this period,” CPM leaders Sitaram Yechury and Nilotpal Basu told newspersons here.

Quoting data to counter the government’s ‘India Shining’ claims, they said the “pro-big business bias of the NDA government” was reflected in the fact that while income growth rate had come down across all sizes and classes of industries, the bottom 40 per cent of the companies “suffered the most”.

The growth of small-scale industries went down from 5.3 per cent in 1997 to 4.2 in 2000, but increased to five the next year, Mr Yechury said, adding this this was primarily due to stiff competition from domestic big business and foreign multinationals.

“Opening of trade barriers in a backdrop of sluggish domestic demand has adversely affected the growth of SSIs as they were not able to compete with the technologically more sophisticated foreign firms,” he said.

Patna, April 5
Railway Minister Nitish Kumar is richer than RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, according to the affidavits filed by the two leaders in their nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar.

Mr Nitish Kumar has assets worth Rs 22.94 lakh in his name, while Mr Yadav has assets totalling Rs 20.8 lakh. The valuation of immovable properties of Mr Nitish Kumar (22.65 lakh) is also more than that of Mr Yadav (16 lakh).

Hyderabad, April 5
The use of technology as a tool to add punch to the poll campaign has never been so extensive in Andhra Pradesh as it is now with the main political players becoming tech-savvy to effectively carry their message to voters.

The SMS messages and ring tones on potential voters’ mobile phones, short films packed with catchy slogans and specially designed campaign vehicles fitted with LCD projectors, television sets and CDs form the ammunition for the poll battle ahead.

Leading the pack is IT-savvy TDP supremo and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Bhopal, April 5
The month-long Kumbh, this century’s first, began in Ujjain with the ritual bath by the established akharas of the sadhus in river Kshipra this morning as the state government helicopter with security personnel aboard kept a watch from the sky and a dog squad and the mounted police stalked the ground. Surveillance cameras too were installed at vantage points.

Mahant Paramanand Saraswati of the Joona Akhara performed puja of the Kshipra with great fanfare at Datt Akhara area at 5.40 am. After that sadhus were granted permission to enter the river for the auspicious bath.

Scores of akharas, camping on the outskirts of Ujjain for the entire Kumbh period, were allotted time and place for the holy bath after consultation.

By a strange tradition, the ordinary mortals are not permitted to go near the river till all sadhus belonging to various akharas have taken bath and returned to their camps — that is some time after noon. A slight change, however, was made this year and a limited number of common people were permitted to take bath in the river in the Datt Akhara area after 8 am, according to official sources.

An estimated 15 lakh persons took bath on the first “shahi snaan” of the Kumbh, locally known as Simhastha, today. As many as three lakh of them were said to be sadhus. The administration is not taking any chances. Strict checking of the vehicles moving towards Ujjain is being done. While, PWD minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is in charge of the Simhastha, has been camping in Ujjain and personally supervising the arrangements, chief minister Uma Bharati has been keeping in constant touch with the goings-on in Ujjain from Bhopal.

Meanwhile, according to a PTI report following the royal tradition, scion of the Scindia family Rajast (an Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was among the first to have a holy dip in Kshipra just past midnight.

While the sadhus bathed at the main Ram Ghat and Dutt Akhara ghat, other people were allowed to take dip in the river at the 28 newly constructed and 13 ghats renovated for the month-long mela.

Ujjain, April 5
He claims to have erased his original name from his mind and calls himself Swami Omkar Puri. Sitting cross-legged in the padmasan pose at the Simhasta Kumbh Mela camp site here, the fair-skinned sadhu with deep blue eyes speaks fluent Hindi.

He says he has been in India for the past 15 years. A disciple of Kalyanpuri Maharaj, he has come all the way from his present place of stay, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, to participate in the mela. A query about his previous name seems to irritate him. ‘’Don’t try to bring up the past that has been buried. Today, I am just Swami Omkar,’’ he says.

Persistent questioning reveals that he was formerly an officer in the French navy. “I was deeply affected by the spirituality of India when I visited the country as a tourist,” he adds.

New Delhi, April 5
The country’s latest battle tank T-90S tank, Bhishma, has protection against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare.

The tanks were acquired from Russia to counter the procurement of T-80UD by Pakistan. The Bhishma tanks, according to defence analysts, are much superior to the T-80UD, Ukrainian, in terms of armaments and weapons range.

The T-90S, defence analyst Mallika Joseph of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies said, met India’s no-first use nuclear doctrine.

They play the role of minimum nuclear capability required to absorb a first attack before embarking on a retaliatory strike, the analyst said.

The tanks can fire different armaments, including two kinds of missiles. However, the T-80UD carries only one type of missile. While the loading is automatic in the tank, it is hydro-mechanical in the Ukrainian tanks.

The Bhishma has Kontakt 5 ERA, the latest generation in armour protection, which protects the tank from frontal, flank and aerial attack. This ensures their protection from manually operated fire systems. The SHTORA-1 defensive aid makes it very difficult for the enemy to attack, especially if the fire system uses guided missiles and laser targeting.

Although the T-90S tanks are technically superior, active deployment of these tanks in the battlefield would depend on the ordnance factory keeping date with the production schedule.

With much funfare the T-90S tank, initial lot of Bhishma, was displayed at the Republic Day parade this year. As per the contract, 80 more tanks in semi-knocked down condition would be assembled in the country.

Another 100 would be assembled from completely knocked down kit in a year from now and the indigenous production of Bhishma is set to commence by 2006/ 07.

Defence analyst Joseph said “much depends on the ordnance factories adhering to the original schedule and rolling out the indigenous production on time.”

Given the track record of the Heavy Vehicle Factory at Avadi, analysts are sceptical whether the ordnance factory would keep up to the schedule and enable the country to continue enjoy supremacy over Pakistan in the battle tank field.

About 2000 Ajeya tanks, which form the backbone of the army, were intended to replace the aging T-55 Vijayanta tanks. Indigenous production of T-90S, Bhishma, was meant to replace Ajeya, but this process has been delayed.

The Avadi factory, set to produce 400 tanks each year, analysts said has never produced more than 200. During the last 15 years, about 11 Ajeya tanks have been produced. That apart, indigenous production has been beset with problems.

Roughly 770 gun barrels manufactured for the tanks did not adhere to the original critical heat treatment standards for tempering the barrels. This led to a large number of accidents in which the barrels cracked or burst.

Russian scientists, who investigated the accidents linked them to the barrels’ manufacture having deviated from the original heat temperature for tempering without consulting the original designer. In 1998, about 450 such barrels, valued at Rs 44 crore, were removed from stock and 300 barrels fitted on the tanks were placed under investigation.

New Delhi, April 5
The biggest-ever Indo-French naval exercise begins off the Goa coast from tomorrow.

The 10-day-long exercise, called Varuna 2004, will cover the entire spectrum of naval exercises — anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare and air combat. During the exercise, officers from both navies will be exchanged and cross deck landings of aircraft will take place.

The exercise will be the culmination of a series of Indo-French naval exercises which have been initiated in 1998. It will enable the names of the two countries, which are of comparable sizes, to undergo a sophisticated training and operate together, according to the French Embassy here.

Varuna 2004 will be unique in its duration. It will begin on April 6 with the French fleet moving out of the Arabic-Persian Gulf, to be met by the Indian fleet. The French and Indian navies will confront or combine forces in a wide range of naval war games up to Goa till April 15.

Another uniqueness about Varuna 2004 is going to be the number of aircraft and vessels involved by both nations. An equal number of vessels — six each — will participate and will be placed alternately under French and Indian command.

The French embassy said far from being individual demonstrations of knowhows, the exercise will bring the two navies in full fledged display of combat.

The French task force will be represented by a huge aero-naval group. The 40,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier Charies de Gaulle which can carry up to 40 aircraft and is equipped with the anti-missile system Aster, will be fitted with anti-air mission Rafale aircraft, Super Etendard aircraft for land strikes, early warning aircraft Hawkeye E-2C and Puma and Dauphin helicopters.

New Delhi, April 5
The Supreme Court today cancelled the bail of seven prime accused in the Viasnagar carnage during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

Setting aside the order of Gujarat High Court granting bail to the accused, a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat said the High Court should have not set them at liberty in a serious offence like this.

The grant of bail to them was challenged by Mohd Iqbal Khan Boloch, the complainant in the case in which a total of 43 persons were facing trial in Mehsana fast track court.

The case is one of the 10 major Gujarat riot cases in which the Apex Court had stayed trial proceeding following petitions by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and some NGOs for their transfer outside the state.

New Delhi, April 5
The Supreme Court today asked Solicitor General of India to place before it within a week the interim proposals for protecting those exposing corruption in government departments.

The direction was issued by a Bench comprising Ms Justice Ruma Palal and Mr Justice P.V. Reddi in the wake of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendra Dubey’s murder for exposing rampant corruption in the Golden Quadrilateral project in Bihar last year after he had written a letter to the PMO, which was some how leaked to media.

“When some brave people who bring to the public knowledge such corruption, what is being done to protect them,” the Bench asked Solicitor General Kirit Raval.

Raval contended that the Centre has to take into confidence all states for enacting the “Whistle Blowers Act” because the law and order is a state subject.

The court was hearing two public interest litigations (PILs) on Dubey’s murder, being investigated by the CBI.

New Delhi, April 5
The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and the CBI on a petition challenging the appointment of former Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P. C. Pandey as the Additional Director of the agency.

A Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice P. V. Reddi also issued a notice to Pandey, whose appointment was challenged by an NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace (CJP), on the ground that his role during the Gujarat riots was questionable.

New Delhi, April 5
The petitions of a senior IAS and an IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh Government requesting special security and release of salary, respectively, have been rejected by the Supreme Court, saying there is no merit in them.

IAS officer Sanjay Gupta and IPS officer G.C. Kaushal had alleged that they were being victimised by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for personal reasons.

A Bench comprising Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B.P. Singh rejected the plea of Mr Gupta for security by Central forces personnel instead of the Himachal Police, which had been provided to him according to the apex court’s January 27 order.

Mr Gupta had pleaded that he had no faith in the state police as it would be working under the instructions of the Chief Minister, whose land ceiling case had been examined by him earlier and he had given a report on it to the authority concerned.

When Mr Gupta’s counsel tried to raise the issue of the land ceiling case, the court asked why should it go into its merit when his writ petition on the issue was not being heard. The apex court in January had told Mr Gupta that he could file a petition regarding the case in the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

The apex court also rejected a petition of senior IPS officer G.C. Kaushal for the release of his salary by the Himachal Government, which according to him was withheld since April 1999.

His plea was rejected after the AAG submitted that Mr Kaushal, who was suspended in January 1997 for various acts of “indiscipline”, had not been attending his duty since then. He had attended office only for one day, Mr Attri said.

New Delhi, April 5
A Swiss couple convicted by a Mumbai court for sexual exploitation of minor children and selling their nude photographs to pornographic magazines abroad, was today restrained by the Supreme Court from leaving the country while grating them bail.

A Bench of the Chief Justice Mr V. N. Khare, Mr Justice S. B. Sinha and Mr Justice S. H. Kapadia, which had on March 31 stayed the Bombay High Court’s order reducing their sentence from seven years to three years, today said their passport would remain deposited with the trial court.

Granting bail to accused Wilham Marty and his wife Lily Marty, the court said they would remain in the country till the Maharashtra Government’s appeal against the High Court order was disposed of by it.

The High Court, while reducing the sentence of the accused had directed them to pay Rs 1 lakh to each of the six identified children between age of 8 and 13 years, exploited by them. The couple had been lodged in Mumbai jail since their arrest in 2002.

The apex court was informed that the Swiss Emabassy had already deposited Rs 6 lakh on their behalf with the authorities for payment to the children as was directed by the High Court.

Santiniketan, April 5
Santiniketan is no longer an abode of learning which Rabindranath dreamt of and built. Tagore’s Santiniketan is now in a shambles.

The ‘ashram town’, which Rabindranath built in early nineties, has now turned into a ‘jungle’ of multi-storeyed houses, cinemas, beauty parlours, fashion show arcades, liquor shops, cyber cafes, night clubs, bar and brothels, which would shudder and surprise all followers of Tagore. It is a different Santiniketan now than what the Nobel laureate wanted to build.

In Tagore’s Santiniketan now, criminals and anti-social elements reign. Visva Bharati, like other universities, has been a place of politics and power.

The present Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sujit Bose, however, does not agree that Santiniketan and Visva Bharati have been gradually turning towards deterioration. But he admits the Tagore’s Santiniketan has taken much changes with the time. However, we have been taking special care to maintain primary objectives and ideas of Tagore as far as possible even now at Santiniketan”, Dr Bose claims.

Local residents  say the rapid deterioration came to Santiniketan vis-à-vis Visva Bharati in the late seventies with the formation of Santiniketan Development Board (SDB), which jumped into the task of developing the Tagore’s ashram township into a modern metropolis with all amenities.

The SDB took over the vacant and vested lands in and around Santiniketan, Bolpur and Bhubandanga and developed there for industrial use and housing purposes, ignoring the strictures imposed by the Tagore Society at Santiniketan, they allege.

The Visva Bharati authorities, local residents and a large number of Tagore’s admirers protested, but there were no results.

Renowned writer, Mahashweta Devi and several others recently came out in the open protesting against the construction of the new township on the ‘rumbles’ of Tagore’s Santiniketan.

The recent incident of theft of Tagore’s Nobel prize and his memorabilia from the Uttarayan complex did not surprise Mahashweta Devi and other protesters as they felt this sort of thing was inevitable at today’s Santiniketan.

Now some followers of Rabindranath have formed the “Save Santiniketan Committee” and launched agitation against the present move of destroying Tagore’s Santiniketan in the name of development. But the agitation may not solve the present problem, say residents.

Salman’s lawyer Dipesh Mehta pleaded that the state’s appeal was “abuse” of law and an attempt to delay the trial.

The appeal came up for hearing before principal judge R.R. Vachha, who took Salman’s reply on record and deferred the matter to May 20 for arguments.

New Delhi, April 5
The police today claimed to have arrested a Pakistan- trained Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant from the Bhogal area in South Delhi. It also claimed to have seized a .30 Star Chinese pistol, eight rounds of ammunition, two fake identity cards in the name of Bashir Ahmed Wani and Tahir Nazir Mir and Rs 2.75 lakh in cash from his possession.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ashok Chand said Irshad Ahmed Malik (28), resident of Doda in Kashmir, was arrested following intelligence input that a youth was setting up a base in Delhi for terrorist operations in the Capital. He had already set up bases in Srinagar and Jammu.

Irshad was arrested from the Bhogal area when he had come here to collect hawala money. “He was here to set up base, stockpile arms and ammunition for terrorist activities, besides collecting hawala money, he said.

Mr Chand said the militant had not disclosed any specific targets so far.

“We are trying to ascertain the prime motive of his arrival here on March 27. Even though his local contact has been identified, he is yet to be arrested,” he said.

During interrogation Irshad said he joined the LeT in 1998 after meeting its district commander.

New Delhi, April 5
India today condemned attacks on Indian cargo vehicles by Maoist insurgents at various places in Nepal in which a number of Indian nationals were shot and seriously wounded and several oil tankers and vehicles were destroyed.

“This is a blatant act of terrorism and its perpetrators must be apprehended and punished for their crimes. The Government of India holds the leadership of CPN (Maoists) responsible for these incidents,” Foreign Office spokesman Navtej Sarna said in a statement here.

The statement said India will, as always, extend its full support to the people of Nepal and urged that both constitutional monacrhy as well as the political parties in Nepal needed to demonstrate flexibility and forge a national consensus to deal with this “unprecedented crisis” with the urgency it deserves.

Vadodara, April 5
A US-based NRI businessman was shot dead by two unidentified assailants here last night, police sources said today.

Manoj Patel (37), owner of a chain of motels in Virginia, was reportedly going to meet his sister, Aruna, here when the two armed motorcycle-borne miscreants intercepted his car at the Akota Garden crossing and shot him dead at point-blank range.

According to the police the DSP, Ebenezer (50), recently promoted to that rank in the Armed Reserve Police, Theni, gunned down his wife, Thilagavathy (40), son Paul Jebathurai (14), and daughter Angel Packiam (11), at his residence in the morning.

Later, he was reported to have killed himself with the service revolver.

Neighbours and a relative, staying in the house, rushed in on hearing the noise.

While Ebenezer, his wife and son died on the spot, Angel succumbed to the bullet injuries on way to hospital.

Top police officials visited the place along with sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts.

The police said the motive behind the DSP’s action was yet to be ascertained.

New Delhi, April 5
The CBSE has announced the withdrawal of provisional affiliation to Guru Harkrishan Secondary Public School, Raja Park, Ambala cantonment.