\n
Wrestlers’ Protest<\/strong><\/p>\n By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Kudos to the country\u2019s top wrestlers for coming out of the ring and on to the streets, bringing out the dark side of Wrestling Federation of India. The ongoing protest in Delhi\u2019s Jantar Mantar by wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Anshu Malik and Bajrang Punia against BJP MP and WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment and physical abuse, demands swift action. The Sports Ministry must ask him to go first and investigations into the grave allegations taken forward. It cannot be seen as just a wrestling match between the medallists and the \u2018powerful\u2019, as the charge is that \u201cWomen wrestlers and so many girls have been sexually harassed at national camps by coaches and also the WFI president,\u201d and worse for many years. Singh\u2019s denial and Haryana Chief Minister Khattar\u2019s statement on Thursday last that the issue has been taken note of it by him and Sports Minister and WFI asked to respond in 72-hours, is simply not enough. It hasn\u2019t convinced the protestors of justice. A stern message instead must go out from the Centre, to give confidence to women so they no longer silently tolerate the abuse.<\/p>\n The Opposition in Haryana has spoken out in support of the wrestlers and so also the Phogat khap as majority of them are from the State. Why is the Union government not listening is a question being raised, with another \u201cIs it because the accusations are being levelled at a BJP MP (six terms)?\u201d A government, said the Congress, is supposed to be the guardian of a sports person. \u201cThese sports persons who bring laurels for our nation are children of our soil. How can the BJP-JJP coalition government remain silent after seeing such injustice being meted out to them?\u201d The issue should not turn into a political slugfest as the wrestlers have risked their career and dreams by speaking out. For enough is enough. There must be zero tolerance towards sexual abuse. They have appealed to Prime Minister, Home and Sports Ministers to hear their demands and regain their trust. Not asking for too much, is it?<\/p>\n \n Telangana Takes 1st Step<\/p>\n Telangana and its chief KCR has sounded the bugle for battle 2024. The mega rally at Khammam on Wednesday last was a big-ticket event for the Chief Minister. His intent of changing TRS to Bharat Rashtra Samiti left no one in doubt as he said: \u201cIf a BRS proposed government\u201d was to capture power, Centre\u2019s initiatives like the \u2018LIC disinvestment\u2019 and Agnipath scheme would be scrapped. Prime Minister Modi would go home after Lok Sabha polls\u2026The podium was shared with just two Chief Ministers \u2014Delhi and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and CPM\u2019s Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, SP\u2019s chief Akhilesh Yadav and CPI leader D Raja. However, the message by those present has set the ball rolling: \u201cBJP has started counting its days and it would not last a day more in power after its present tenure; Now, the country wants a change. People have come to know these people (NDA government) didn\u2019t come to change the country. They just came to ruin it. 10 years is over. How long will you wait?\u201d was the message. The question would oddly apply to the Opposition itself, for the absence of non-BJP States does raise an eyebrow. Will there be a united front?<\/p>\n NE Opens Poll Season<\/p>\n Three north-eastern States, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland are kicking off the election season this year. Nirvachan Sadan announced polling dates as February 16 for the former and 27 for the latter two. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee promptly launched TMC\u2019s campaign at a public rally in North Garo Hills, Meghalaya, accusing NPP-led Conrad Sangma government of playing \u2018proxy\u2019 for BJP and \u2018taking dictation\u2019 from Delhi and Guwahati (Himanta Biswa Sarma.) \u2018If you want to change the corrupt and discredited government, then there\u2019s no alternative to TMC\u2019, she urged the voter. Notwithstanding, \u2018scams\u2019 her ministers and MPs are mired in! TMC has already declared 52 candidates of 60 seats, after emerging as main opposition with 12 Congress MLAs (3 having left though), led by former CM Mukul Sangma, joining her. Big test alright after miserable performance in Goa. Meanwhile, Congress has knocked on EC door expressing concern over \u2018law and order situation\u2019 in Tripura, following an attack on its In-charge and 16 leaders on Wednesday by \u2018known BJP faces.\u201d The northeast polls promise to get national attention.<\/p>\n Congress Jodo Instead?<\/p>\n What should Rahul Gandhi\u2019s next agenda be after \u2018Bharat jodo yatra\u2019? No guess required\u2014\u2019Congress Jodo yatra\u2019, is an obvious answer. The last day of his yatra in Punjab saw former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal join the BJP. His resignation letter read: \u201c7 years ago, I merged the People\u2019s Party of Punjab with yours with immense hope, and an expectation of being integrated into an organisation with a rich history\u2026Initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to disappointing disillusionment.\u201d A day before the yatra reached J&K, spokesperson Deepika Pushkar Nath resigned on \u2018ideological grounds\u2019 following the party\u2019s decision to allow former minister Lal Singh, responsible in sabotaging the 2018 Kathua rape case, to join the yatra. Add to this, the fire hasn\u2019t yet been doused in simmering Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot fired yet another salvo, the 4th in a row, against Chief Minister Gehlot, questioning that four years of government have passed and why action hasn\u2019t been taken on corruption allegations against BJP leader Vasundhara Raje? Whereas, the BJP is making false allegations against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, lodging cases against them, having them summoned by ED, etc. But that\u2019s not the main problem. As Badal said \u2018how can one operate in a party which is at war with itself, not in Punjab but in many states\u2026\u201d Rahul needs to walk the talk.<\/p>\n \n TN Governor \u2018Backtracks\u2019<\/p>\n Round one may well go to the ruling DMK in its big fight with the Raj Bhavan. Governor Ravi on Wednesday last had to issue a clarification on \u201cTamizhagam\u201d saying the word \u2018Tamil Nadu\u2019 has become a topic of discussion, but a smug DMK views it as \u2018backtracking.\u2019 Unwilling to put an end to the controversy it rejected Ravi\u2019s explanation, accusing him of projecting the party as \u2018divisive\u2019 and hitting hard that \u201ca person who occupied the gubernatorial position has no locus standi to comment on Tamil Nadu or its culture or language.\u201d Recall Raj Bhavan\u2019s Pongal celebration invites printed in Tamil, referred to him as \u2018Governor of Tamizhagam\u2019 and had also replaced state government emblem with that of the Union. This triggered widespread protest from both public and political parties. In fact, it is said that BJP leadership is concerned about the ongoing tussle as it does impact its plans in the South. Will there be a change of guard as demanded by DMK?\u00a0 \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n \n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wrestlers’ Protest By Insaf Kudos to the country\u2019s top wrestlers for coming out of the ring and on to the streets, bringing out the dark side of Wrestling Federation of India. The ongoing protest in Delhi\u2019s Jantar Mantar by wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Anshu Malik and Bajrang Punia against BJP MP and WFI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}