A plea has been filed seeking an FIR and a restraining order on Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for his remarks to 'eradicate' Sanatan Dharma
Sonia Gandhi leads the debate, parties try to claim credit for Bill, MPs call for caste census and question role of delimitation
The women's reservation bill is not about reservation but an "act of removing bias and injustice," DMK leader Kanimozhi said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while asserting that women want to be respected as equals. Participating in the discussion on the constitutional amendment bill 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', she said the clause pertaining to 'after delimitation' in the bill should be removed as there could be an inordinate delay in the implementation of the reservation for women. The 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, as proposed in the bill, will come into effect only after census and the delimitation exercise. "How long should we wait to see this bill implemented? It can be easily implemented in the coming Parliamentary elections. This bill, you should understand, is not a reservation but an act of removing bias and injustice," she said. She stressed that the politics of tokenism must evolve into politics of ideas. "This bill is called
Amid this political slugfest, the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Aam Aadmi Party, which are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, distanced themselves from the DMK leader
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Amid a raging row over DMK leaders' remarks on Sanatan Dharma, some Congress leaders on Saturday called for a cautious approach on the matter and the party not getting drawn into the BJP's agenda. Sources said some leaders, including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh, said at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting that the party should stay away from such issues and not be drawn into it. Rahul Gandhi said that instead of getting involved in the Sanatan Dharma row, the leaders should focus on the poor and their issues as they have been the party's traditional vote bank, the sources said. He said the party should raise the issues of the poor, irrespective of their caste, according to sources. The sources said that during the CWC meeting, both Baghel and Singh pointed out that speaking on the Sanatan Dharma row would hurt the party and will help the BJP. When asked about the matter at a party briefing, senior par
According to reports, the INDIA alliance can hold discussions on seat sharing, and a joint campaign plan is also on the table
Addressing a press conference at party headquarters in the national capital, the BJP leader accused the Opposition alliance of vote bank politics.
The BJP Tamil Nadu unit has slammed State Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy for his remarks that the opposition INDIA alliance was forged as an "opposition to Sanatan ideology," saying the DMK was trying to divide people on religious lines for electoral gains. Parties like the Congress and Left were aiding DMK, the BJP alleged. Ponmudy's remarks show the "cat is out of the bag," the saffron party's TN Vice-President Narayanan Thirupathy said in a social media post. He was responding to a viral video of Ponmudy, a senior DMK leader, at a recent anti-Sanatan Dharma conference here that the multi-party INDIA bloc has been created against Sanatan ideology. "This INDIA (bloc) is an alliance created in opposition to Sanatan ideology. There may be differences of opinion (among its constituents) but there is no divergence in opposing Sanatan. Those (parties) in this (grouping) want to create equality, safeguard minorities, protect gender equality," Ponmudy was heard saying in the ...
Hitting out at DMK leaders' remarks on Sanatan Dharma, senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that attacking the 'Sanatan Dharma' has become a "fashion" for the "frustrated fraternity" but their "bankruptcy will backfire". Participating in the BJP's nationwide 'Meri Maati, Mera Desh' campaign here, Naqvi said 'Sanatan Dharma' is the soul of Bharat and those who are trying to attack that soul, will be destroyed. "If someone attacks the Sanatan Dharma, the oldest faith on Earth, it reflects their mental illness," Naqvi was quoted as saying in a statement from his office. Attacking the 'Sanatan Dharma' has become a "fashion" for the "frustrated fraternity" but the "blasphemous bankruptcy" of the "Sanatan bashing brigade" will backfire, the former Union minister said. Naqvi said Bharat has witnessed hundreds of foreign invasions which not only looted resources but also attacked "Sanatan values and Bharatiya culture" and identity. The foreign invaders succeeded in looti
Under intense attack from the BJP over his alleged anti-Sanatan Dharma remarks, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday accused the saffron party leaders of "twisting" his statements and vowed to face all cases in this connection legally. He also launched a strident attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was "globe-trotting", afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence. "For the last 9 years, all your (BJP) promises are empty promises. What have you exactly done for our welfare is a question currently being raised in unison by the entire country against an unarmed, fascist BJP government. It is in this background that the BJP leaders have twisted my speech at the TNPWAA conference as 'inciting genocide'. They consider it a weapon to protect themselves," he said. What is surprising is that those like Union Minister Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states were demanding action against him based on "fake news," Udhayanidhi said.
DMK leader Stalin has come under severe criticism since he mentioned on Saturday that Sanatan Dharma should not merely be opposed but 'eradicated'
Over 260 eminent citizens, including former judges and bureaucrats, have written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud urging him to take cognisance of DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's eradicate "Sanatan Dharma" remark. In a letter to the CJI, the signatories, including former Delhi HC judge S N Dhingra, said not only did Stalin make a hate speech but he refused to apologise for his remarks. The letter by 262 people said the undersigned are deeply concerned over the remarks made by Stalin and that these remarks undeniably amount to "hate speech" against a large population of India and strikes at the very core of the Constitution of India which envisages Bharat as a secular nation. The letter said action is needed in order to preserve the secular character of the country. Any delay on the part of the administration in taking action on very serious issues will invite the court's contempt, it said. The letter said the state government has refused to take action and allegedly acted
Further, hitting out at the newly formed opposition bloc, the party said that Congress and INDIA coalition support for 'Stalin's bile is most disconcerting'
Unfazed by attacks from various leaders, Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi Stalin on Monday said that he would repeat the same thing again
Warning that "nobody can save India if this is not stopped now", Stalin said that the INDIA bloc was created to fight for social justice, federalism, secularism, and social harmony
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday dubbed as "treason" the remarks on Sanatan Dharma' made by Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Udayanidhi Stalin and demanded his arrest. The Rajya Sabha MP also asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad to clarify their stand on the issue, given their affinity with the DMK. "Udayanidhi Stalin should be arrested and sent to jail for having compared Sanatana Dharma to ailments like dengue and malaria, the former Bihar Deputy CM told reporters here. "The statement amounts to treason (deshdroh') since Stalin did not advocate eradication of the ills plaguing the faith, but called for rooting out the faith itself. The DMK has historically been associated with this type of politics, alleged Sushil Modi. Stalin, whose father M K Stalin is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and heads the DMK, made the remarks on Saturday when he was addressing a writers' and artists' meet. Sushil Modi also questioned the "silence of Niti
A Special Court trying cases relating to MPs and MLAs of Tamil Nadu on Friday extended the remand of DMK Minister V Senthil Balaji, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till August 28, 2023. Special Judge Sivakumar, before whom Balaji was produced through video conferencing by the jail authorities, extended the minister's remand to judicial custody till Monday. Directing the jail authorities to produce Senthil Balaji physically before the court, the judge posted to August 28, further hearing of the case. After several rounds of litigation before the courts up to the level of Supreme Court, the Enforcement Directorate had on August 7 taken custody of Balaji for five days and after the completion of the period, it had produced him before Principal Sessions Judge S Alli, who remanded him to judicial custody till August 25. The ED had also filed a charge sheet running to about 3,000 pages before the PSJ on the same day. The PSJ had on August 14 taken the charge sheet on file
Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare Udhayanidhi Stalin also participated in the one-day hunger strike in Chennai organized by the DMK student wing and the medical wing
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Wilson accused the central government of forcing Hindi throughout India by introducing the three recently introduced Bills in Hindi