The episode relating to Samajwadi Party chief Abu Azmi praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb has not only rocked Maharashtra, but its reverberations have reached Uttar Pradesh, where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “the kambakth (wretched man) who praised Aurangzeb should be sent to UP and we will give him a proper treatment”. Abu Azmi was suspended by Maharashtra assembly for the rest of the budget session, while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis promised to send Azmi “to jail 100 per cent” for “insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji and his son Sambhaji Maharaj”. Akhilesh Yadav, from London, opposed the suspension of Abu Azmi saying it amounts to curtailing freedom of speech. Akhilesh’s defence has further complicated matters. The entire political matrix of NCP(Sharad) and Uddhav’s Shiv Sena revolves around Shivaji Maharaj and his son Sambhaji. It is an emotional issue for Maharashtrian voters. Whether it is Uddhav Thackeray or Rohit Pawar, or BJP or Shinde’s Shiv Sena, all of them are unanimous on this issue. They know no politician worth his salt can survive in Maharashtra politics by praising Aurangzeb. UP CM Yogi has said, what Abu Azmi spoke reflects the ideology of Samajwadi Party leaders, who are defending a person “praising a cruel bigot”. Yogi knows how to hit a sixer on a full toss ball. By defending Azmi, Akhilesh sent a full toss, and Yogi lost no time in sending the ball beyond the boundary. Till yesterday, Yogi was trying to corner Akhilesh on spreading false rumours about the arrangements at Maha Kumbh. Now Yogi has got a new issue. It relates to the cruelties meted out by Aurangzeb. The nation knows Aurangzeb was a bigot who hated Hindus. After taking over as emperor, he imprisoned his father Shahjehan till death, and allowed him to have only a fistful of grains for making food. Aurangzeb brutally got his brother Dara Shikoh murdered and his head was displayed in a procession. He killed all his brothers in quest of power. He carried out a pogrom of Hindus killing one lakh Hindus on a single day. He vowed to crush Hinduism, and brutally murdered Sambhaji Maharaj, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and the young sons of Guru Gobind Singh. How can anybody living in India praise a cruel ruler like Aurangzeb? Abu Azmi has committed a sin and Akhilesh has poured oil on fire. That’s why Yogi said, Samajwadi Party leaders are “no more Samajwadis, nor are they Sanatanis.”
Farmers : Bhagwant Mann needs to be more patient
At last, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s government flexed its muscles against the agitating farmer leaders. Samyukta Kisan Morcha had announced ‘Chandigarh March’. Massive police deployment wad made and all 18 entry points to Chandigarh were sealed by setting up barricades. There were huge traffic snarls on the national highways. Mann had been supporting the farmers’ stir till now, but when farmer leaders asked him to fulfil his party’s promises, Mann changed his stance. Farmers are demanding waiver of all electricity bills, opposing pre-paid power meters and demanding one-time settlement of all NABARD loans taken by farmers. In 21 places of Punjab, including Amritsar, farmers set fire to effigies of the Chief Minister. Mann, till last month, was describing farmers as “annadata”, and he is now blaming farmers for disrupting rule of law. His minister Aman Arora is describing farmer leaders as “blackmailers”. At one time, Mann had sent volunteers from Punjab to assist agitating farmers, and the then Kejriwal government in Delhi had made arrangements for food. At that time, Mann used to say that the Constitution has given the right to protest in a democracy. Mann used to visit farmers who had staged a long sit-in on Haryana-Punjab border. But now the tables have turned. There is a proverb, ‘Example is better than precept’. I think, had Bhagwant Mann not walked out of his meeting with farmers, heard their demands seriously, sought more time, farmers would not have taken to the streets.
Why an actress took to smuggling gold?
Actress Ranya Rao, stepdaughter of a DGP rank officer in Karnataka, was arrested from Bengaluru airport by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials, when they found 14.2 kg gold bars hidden in a belt and strapped to her waist. She had come from Dubai. Ranya Rao has acted in Kannada and Tamil films and her stepfather Ramchandra Rao is the DGP looking after Police Housing Corporation. Officials suspect she could be part of a gold smuggling syndicate. DRI officials later, during search, found Rs 2.06 crore worth gold ornaments and Rs 2.67 crore cash at Ranya Rao’s home. The actress has been sent to 14 days’ judicial custody. DGP Ramchandra Rao says, he is surprised over his stepdaughter’s act, as she does not stay with him at his residence. Two points are clear: One, Ranya Rao took advantage of her father being one of the seniormost police officials and two, she was an actor. She probably thought that it was difficult for anybody to catch her red-handed. Reports say, she made 27 trips to Dubai in a year and reportedly earned Rs 12 lakh for each trip. She was in a hurry to get rich quick and this spoiled her career. Gangs of smugglers work in cahoots and she fell prey to one of these gangs. One must learn a lesson, “Greed is the root of all evils”. If you earn illegally, it can cost you heavily.