Varun thankful for party support during detention under NSA

NEW DELHI: BJP candidate Varun Gandhi on Saturday expressed his gratitude to the party leader L K Advani for having stood by him during his incarceration after being booked under NSA for his alleged hate speeches.

29-year-old Varun, who was released on two-week parole from Etah jail in UP on Thursday, met Advani at his residence here.

During the nearly hour-long meeting, Varun is understood to have expressed his gratitude to the party for having stood by him "staunchly in his hour of crisis," party sources said.

During the meeting, Advani also inquired about Gandhi's campaign plans.

The BJP leader also enquired in detail about Varun's experience in Etah jail.

Varun's meeting comes ahead of his filing nomination for Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat on April 21, for which the last date of filing nomination is April 24 and polling will take place on May 13.

Varun's mother Maneka Gandhi is expected to file her nomination from Aonla seat in Uttar Pradesh today.

Varun was released from Etah jail on parole for two weeks following a Supreme Court directive, 20 days after he was detained under the NSA for making hate speeches at election meetings in Pilibhit.

Varun also assured Advani that he will be more careful with his campaign speeches.

The Supreme Court had ordered the release of Varun on the condition that he will not make any inflammatory speeches during the elections.

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Sanjay Dutt in trouble for ‘sexist’ remarks against Mayawati

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor and Samajwadi Party General Secretary Sanjay Dutt is courting controversy yet again after he offered ‘jaadu ki jhappi'to Mayawati.

Dutt has been slapped with a notice by the district magistrate of Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh for passing ‘sexist’ comments against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, according to Times Now.

"I will give Mayawati a hug and a kiss (jaadu ki jhappi). In her governance there are taps but no water, bulbs but no electricity, and hospitals without beds," Dutt said in an election rally in Pratapgarh on April 17, 2009.

Earlier on Tuesday, an FIR was registered against Dutt for allegedly violating the model code of conduct by making communal remarks in an election rally in Mau district.

Dutt was in the city to campaign in support of SP nominee Arshad Jamal Ansari contesting election from Ghosi parliamentary seat.

Dutt during his speech said, "Jab mai police custody me tha to police wale mujhe third degree dete the. Wo mujhe marte the aur kehte the ki tumhari maa musalman hai" (When I was in police custody I was given third degree by them because I am son of a Muslim lady).

The district administration of Mau reacted promptly in the matter and filed a complaint against Sanjay Dutt for violating the model code of conduct (MCC).

As per the MCC, "during an election campaign, no party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic."

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Jail that can hold me is yet to be built: Narendra Modi

BALASINOR (Gujarat): Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today took a dig at science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal for asking him to be prepared to go to jail for speaking "nonsense" about Congress
.

"My dear Congress friends, a jail that can hold Modi is yet to be built," the Gujarat chief minister told an election gathering here, in response to Sibal's remarks that Modi should stop speaking nonsense about Congress or else be prepared to go to jail
.

"I would like to tell the Congress people that they have dialled a wrong number. Are you trying to threaten me? Keep open the doors of all the jails in India and take me whenever you want, my address is known to all," Modi said.

The state BJP unit has already launched a complaint with Election Commission against Sibal's remarks.

"By making outrageous remarks against Modi, Sibal tried to prove that the Congress party runs the judiciary in the country," the BJP complaint said.

The Election Commission is yet to take action on the complaint filed two days ago.
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Varun not a criminal, why drastic measure like NSA: SC

NEW DELHI: "Varun Gandhi is not a criminal, why were such drastic measures invoked against him," asked the Supreme Court
on Monday, triggering a
Varun Gandhi
Varun Gandhi addresses media representatives in New Delhi. (AP Photo)
rethink in the Mayawati government, which had slapped stringent National Security Act provisions against the young BJP leader for his communal speech at Pilibhit.

This observation from a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam indicated that Varun could soon be released from Etah jail, where he was shifted from Pilibhit citing law and order situation. Varun also told the court that he was ready to give an undertaking that he would not commit the same mistake again.

Stung by the apex court's critical remarks, senior advocate Harish Salve and UP additional advocate general Shail Kumar Dwivedi did a quick re-think in strategy, especially after the state's affidavit justifying charging Varun with NSA, and told the court that they would get back with the Mayawati government's response on Thursday, when the case would be heard again.

So, on April 16, there is all likelihood of Varun getting out of jail as, apart from the SC virtually castigating the UP government for overreacting to the provocative speech, the young leader said he would give an undertaking not to repeat his mistake.

Right at the beginning of the hearing on Varun's petition seeking quashing of charges under NSA, the CJI asked a simple question: "You want quashing of the charges, but is the UP government serious about it?"

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Hate speech: BJP's candidate from Kandhamal, Ashok Sahu, arrested

BHUBANESWAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate Ashok Sahu was arrested on Tuesday for making an inflammatory speech in
Orissa's Kandhamal region earlier this month.

"Sahu was arrested from Phulbani town," Kandhamal district collector Krishan Kumar said.

Sahu, who is the BJP's candidate for the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, is accused of delivering a communally charged speech on April 5 at a public meeting in Raikia town. He allegedly accused the church of indulging in conversion.

Kandhamal district, about 200 km from here, witnessed widespread communal violence after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram on Aug 23, 2008.

At least 38 people were killed in the state and more than 25,000 Christians were forced to flee their homes after their houses were attacked by rampaging mobs. More than 3,000 people are still living in government relief camps.

Sahu, linked to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had made similar remarks during the communal violence last year. Christian leaders had immediately refuted the allegations.

While Sahu is contesting the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has also nominated Manoj Pradhan, an accused in the riots, for the assembly election from G. Udayagiri constituency in the district.

Pradhan was arrested about four months ago and is still in jail.

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Amar Singh accuses Congress of cutting secular votes in UP

BALLIA: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Monday accused the Congress
party of trying to cut through the secular vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, called the party a 'vote-cutter'.

Alleged that the Congress was not a true well wisher of Muslims, Singh said, "In the Congress ruled states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Assam, atrocities against Muslims are on the rise."

He completely ruled out any possibility of a post-poll tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing two rallies, Amar Singh said, "Samajwadi Party will not enter into any sort of post-poll tie-up with the BJP, as the party had in the past helped in forming the government of BSP on three occasions."

"If L K Advani becomes the Prime Minister, then Mayawati will become the deputy Prime Minister and union home minister, he claimed.

Taking an U-turn on the 'English controversy', Singh said, "The recent statement of Mulayam Singh Yadav as reported in a section of the media of putting a ban on English and computer education (mentioned in our manifesto) is completely false. He has only opposed English being made compulsory in governance."

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Poll panel finds Lalu, Rabri, Uddhav replies 'not satisfactory'

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday said the replies filed by railways minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray to the panel's notices on poll code violation were not satisfactory.

"The Election Commission did not find the reply satisfactory and have conveyed its strong displeasure," Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan told reporters here.

On April 9, the poll panel had issued notices to Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi for poll code violations and asked them to send their replies by April 11.

Lalu Prasad is in the dock for his remarks at an election rally April 6 that had he been the home minister "he would have run a roller over Varun Gandhi".

Lalu Prasad's remarks created a furore and the police had issued an arrest order against him. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi is in a jail in Uttar Pradesh
for his reported inflammatory speeches in Pilibhit district.

Rabri Devi was served a notice for her alleged derogatory remarks against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and state Janata Dal-United chief Rajiv Ranjan at Saran.

Balakrishnan said the commission has rejected the contentions made by Thackeray, who at a election rally March 20 in Mumbai, had referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a derogatory manner.

He said the poll panel has also asked the Maharashtra chief electoral officer to keep a track of the case filed against Thackeray in this context.

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IJP candidate found dead, protests held

JAUNPUR (UP): Body of an Indian Justice Party (IJP) candidate from Jaunpur parliamentary constituency was found hanging from a tree near his
IJP candidate found dead residence here today, triggering massive protests in the area.

The body of 35-year-old Vijay Bahadur Sonker was found hanging from a tree in Raja Saheb Ka Pokhra locality this morning, IG Police, Varanasi, Kamal Saxena said.

Family members of the deceased have alleged BSP candidate from Jaunpur Dhananjay Singh's hand in the murder. ASP Jaunpur Dinesh Chander confirmed that the police had got a complaint from Sonker on threat to his life from the BSP candidate.

People in large numbers took to the streets in the city, going to polls in the second phase on April 23, to protest the incident, prompting police to resort to cane charge to contain the mob.

Meanwhile, the BSP accused the SP of killing Sonker and demanded the state government to order a high level probe into the incident.

"Out of desperation, the SP hatched a conspiracy to kill the candidate as the party feared that its candidate will lose the election...We have demanded that the state government order a high-level probe into the incident," senior party leader Babu Singh Kushwaha told reporters in Lucknow.

The rival SP candidate Paras Nath Yadav described Sonker's killing as "the murder of democracy". IJP chief Udit Raj, who arrived in the city, demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.

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Varun national threat, Mayawati govt tells SC

NEW DELHI: Mayawati government has strongly opposed Varun Gandhi's challenge to his detention under the National Security Act.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court through the district magistrate of Pilibhit, the UP government has justified the detention of BJP candidate by calling him a threat to public order and accusing him of causing fear among Muslims. The next hearing is on Monday.

The strong defence of Varun's detention is significant in view of the sharp reactions the case has drawn. Both Samajwadi Party and Congress suspect that the use of a tough law against Varun just after his purportedly provocative speech against Muslims was meant to polarise the electorate. In fact, SP has even talked of a clandestine pact between BJP and BSP.

Mayawati's vigorous defence of its move against Varun Gandhi in the SC can only strengthen the suspicion about a clandestine pact between the BJP and the BSP to polarise the electorate. There are indications of rising appreciation among Muslim community for her tough stand against the BJP candidate, as well as signs of sympathy for the saffron party in Pilibhit and other constituencies of eastern UP.

In his affidavit, Ajay Chauhan, district magistrate of Pilibhit, has defended his preventive detention order against Varun, saying that latter's acitivities were prejudicial to public order.

He builds up his case against Varun by saying that he held his rally under the banner of "Hindu Samman Sammelan", and not as "Karyakarta Sammelan" as claimed in the petition challenging his detention.

The affidavit dismisses Varun's defence that the CD of his purported contents was doctored as irrelevant to present proceedings which it says is centred on the competence of the district magistrate to detain him under NSA.

It also says that the petitioner should have presented his case before the Advisory Board, which scrutinises the legality of preventive detentions under NSA, rather than the SC.

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Muslims are harassed in name of terror: PM

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that Muslim youth are sometimes harassed in the "name of terrorists", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday night asked security forces to observe "zero tolerance" for fundamental human rights violations while dealing with such cases.

Interacting with a group of senior Urdu journalists here, he said the entire community could not be suspected of being terrorists and that being a Sikh, he understands the concerns of Muslims.

He suggested that committees, comprising respected Muslims, should be set up in states to look into any case of harassment of innocent members of the community.

"Mai manta hun ki hindustan ke musalmanon ko kaafi mushkilat ka samna karna padta hai, kuch samay terrorist ke naam par Muslim navjawanon ko pareshan bi kiya jata hai (I agree that Indian Muslims face a lot of difficulties, sometimes in the name of terrorists, Muslim youth are harassed)," Singh said.

Underlining that he "understands" the problems faced by the minority community, the Prime Minister said his message to security forces, whether in Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere, is zero tolerance for fundamental human rights violations."

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