{"id":211649,"date":"2023-02-25T01:12:18","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T19:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/?p=211649"},"modified":"2023-02-25T01:12:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T19:42:18","slug":"not-just-a-war-of-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/2023\/02\/25\/not-just-a-war-of-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Not just a war of words!\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIRs in Assam & UP<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Watch your words as these give unwarranted leverage for action! A veiled terse message from law enforcing authorities such as seen in Assam and Uttar Pradesh where the police pleasantly is proactive against those who dare to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Modi or the ruling BJP. The words used could be termed such as \u2018assertions prejudicial to national interest\u2019 or \u2018intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace\u2019 and the person put behind bars. The recent most case being of FIRs lodged in the two BJP-ruled States against Congress leader Pawan Khera, over his reference to Prime Minister as \u201cNarendra Gautamdas Modi\u201dat a press meet while criticising government over Gautam Adani row. Worse,he was arrested by Assam Police on Thursday last amidst high drama, deplaned from a flight to Raipur to attend Congress Plenary and his colleagues protested on the tarmac.Fortunately, he got interim bailby a Delhi court on Supreme Court\u2019s directions, but anger simmers: \u201cI was asked to deplane as if I was a terrorist\u2026they arrested me illegally without serving me any notice,\u201d said Khera and his party sees it as \u201ca new example of Modi\u2019s politics of vendetta, harassment and intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Assampolice insists he had used \u201cderogatory remarks\u201d against a democratically elected PM and filed charges under IPC sections mentioned above. The BJP justifies it saying Kheramade fun of PM and his late father, as Modi\u2019s full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi, (middle name of his father). Likewise, in Uttar Pradesh the police has sent a notice to Bhojpuri folk singer Neha Singh Rathore, known for her latest video song \u2018UP Me Ka Ba\u2019. Apparently, it\u2019s said it created \u2018disharmony and tension\u2019 as it criticised the Yogi Adityanath government and mentioned his name while referring to the Kanpur Dehat incident, in which two women immolated themselves during an anti-encroachment drive. She has been asked to reply and if found unsatisfactory, action can be taken against you under relevant sections of IPC\/CrPC. But she says \u201cI am not scared. I am a citizen of a democratic country. My Constitution guarantees me certain rights. I draw my courage from the Constitution.\u201d An illusion in present day politics, some or rather many would say.<\/p>\n

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Warning From Punjab?<\/p>\n

Are warning signals resounding in Punjab, reminiscent of the militant movement in Punjab during the 80s and 1990s? On Thursday last, the AAP-ruled State witnessed unprecedented scenes of protest led by pro-Khalistan sympathiser and preacher Amritpal Singh demanding release of his associate Lovepreet Singh Toofan from Ajnala police station on charges, including kidnapping. His supporters, some brandishing swords and guns, broke though barricades and stormed into the cop station complex and threatened to camp there till they were \u201cassured\u2019 that Toofan would be released. Shockingly, the police force refrained from taking action against them and next day the court released him as the police said they had no evidence against him! Both State and Centre need to be vigilant rather work in tandem,at least on this front, as Amritpal,who heads an organisation \u2018Waris Punjab De\u2019, has invariably been speaking the language of secession and separatism, evoking calls for freedom of Punjab and creation of Khalistan on several platforms.The pattern doesn\u2019t bode well for national security, it\u2019s better to be safe than sorry.<\/p>\n

Lid on AIADMK Fight<\/p>\n

The lid appears to have been put on the incessant infighting in MGR\u2019s party, the AIADMK. On Thursday last, the Supreme Court upheld a Madras High Court order allowing Edappadi K Palaniswami to continue as the party\u2019s interim General Secretary, dismissing petitions filed by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. EPS cadres are ecstatic as the verdict is seen as establishing his position as the party\u2019s single and supreme leader, and that the party name and \u2018Two Leaves\u2019 election symbol would eventually come to him. An elated EPS said the verdict has \u2018unmasked betrayers and the DMK\u2019s B-team\u2019 that wanted to finish off his party.Emboldened, he is all set to consolidate the party, making it amply clear that OPS, Sasikala and Dhinakaran won\u2019t be taken back in the party. And while he urges everyone who worked for the party to join him, the verdict should have impact on Tamil Nadu\u2019s political landscape. It will be back to a straight DMK-AIADMK fight, with the former getting no more leverage from a divided house.However,EPS has his first test\u2014the upcoming Erode East Assembly by-poll.<\/p>\n

Delhi Gets Its Mayor<\/p>\n

The national capital and AAP finally got its mayor on Wednesday last after three failed attempts since the elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi held over two months ago. But its smooth running will be a tall challenge for AAP\u2019s Shelly Oberoi, who defeated BJP\u2019s Rekha Gupta. In the evening all hell broke loose, reminiscent of attempts made earlier to elect the mayor. The MCD House witnessed ruckus till wee hours of Thursday morning \u2014brawls, flinging water bottles, fruit and ballot boxes at one another and forcing over a dozen adjournments to elect six members of the decision-making standing committee. This as BJP councillors opposed Oberoi\u2019s decision to allow members to carry their phones while voting! Though the process began on Friday morning again with Oberoi appealing to all, \u2018We are all respected members and we should uphold the dignity\u2026 all councillors will work from today\u2026\u2019 its easier said than done. The polls were facilitated by Supreme Court order but as the standing committee has powers to grant financial approval to projects, finalisation of policies, appointing sub-committees among others, she will have a daunting task. Hope in this AAP-BJP one-upmanship Delhiites don\u2019t get short changed on what is their due.<\/p>\n

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Double Whammy For Uddhav<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a double whammy for Uddhav Thackeray camp. In the long-drawn battle of which is the real Shiv Sena, the Election Commission has favoured Eknath Shinde-faction and ordered allotment of bow and arrow election symbol of the undivided party of Balasaheb Thackeray to it. Expectedly, Uddhav petitioned the Supreme Court, but it refused to stay the EC order and instead issuednotice to Shinde group for next hearing in 2 weeks. TheThackeray faction has been allowed to use \u2018Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)\u2019 name and \u2018flaming torch\u2019 as its poll symbol in the state\u2019sFebruary 26 byelections, but no more. The court refused relief on Thackeray\u2019s plea that party assets and bank accounts be saved from being taken over by Shinde group, as it wasn\u2019t part of EC order and the court can\u2019t overstep. So, there\u2019s lot more in store in the ongoing battle between the two factions. Importantly, all eyes would be on 2ndMarch results of Kasbapeth and Chinchwad Assembly byelections to see whether Thackeray\u2019s appeal to Shiv Sainiks to teach a lesson to a party which had stolen the Sena\u2019s title and symbol, finds favour with the people.\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 INFA<\/p>\n

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FIRs in Assam & UP By Insaf Watch your words as these give unwarranted leverage for action! A veiled terse message from law enforcing authorities such as seen in Assam and Uttar Pradesh where the police pleasantly is proactive against those who dare to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Modi or the ruling BJP. […]<\/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-211649","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\/211649","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=211649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}