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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BJP for creation of smaller states: Jaswant Singh

SILIGURI (WB): BJP candidate from Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat Jaswant Singh on Friday said his party was in favour of smaller states but refrained
from saying if it was for creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

He said BJP in principle favoured creation of smaller states and the NDA government had created three states in the country.

Without uttering the word 'Gorkhaland', Singh told a press conference that his party would 'sympathetically and appropriately' examine and consider the long-pending demands of Gorkhas, adivasis and other people of the area.

Later addressing an election rally at Sukhiapokhri in Darjeeling, Singh, describing the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's demand for a separate seat as 'constitutional', said he would raise the matter on the floor of Parliament and do everything possible for the development of the district.

The former external affairs minister, who is supported by GJM, accused West Bengal's Left front government for neglecting the district and the hills, in particular.

He charged the Left Front government, during its 32 years of rule, had failed to provide the people of the district with minimum facilities like health, education, and road communication.

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Praja Rajyam spokesman spits venom, quits

HYDERABAD: In a major setback to Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam ahead of the elections, its spokesman Parakala Prabhakar on Thursday quit the party describing it as a "poisonous tree".

"I am one of the founding members of the party. I had even signed on the documents to register the Praja Rajyam as a political party. I expected that the party would strive for clean politics. But it proved to be otherwise. This is a poisonous tree," he told reporters at the party office.

Prabhakar alleged that all is not well with the functioning of the party.

"Initially, I thought mistakes are happening because of lack of understanding. But I began to think about the aim of starting the party. There is a flaw in the birth of the party itself," he said.

He said he does not have the ability to reverse the process of decay in Praja Rajyam and thought it prudent to quit.

"Some people may think that this party is good because of my presence. I have a responsibility to tell them that it is an evil force," he said.

Replying to a query, Prabhakar said he did not apply for ticket to contest the elections.

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'No govt at Centre possible without SP, RJD, LJP'

SAIFAI (UP): In their first show of strength in Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday addressed a
joint rally in Saifai, claiming that the next government at the Centre cannot be formed without them.

Addressing the public meeting here, also his home town, SP supremo Mulayam Singh said, "No government at the Centre is possible without the three parties."

RJD chief Lalu Prasad said "Three brothers have come together, not only to win Lok Sabha elections, but also to fight communalism...we will show our strength in the cow belt."

Thanking Mulayam Singh for SP's support to the UPA government during the trust vote in July, Prasad said "had the SP not been there, the government would not have survived."

Taking a dig at political rivals, the RJD chief said when the three parties came together, some people in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh "got scared" as they were not expecting the new alliance to come through.

Attacking Congress, Prasad said "Congress wants to strengthen its organization
and not win elections in Bihar and UP."

Paswan, the Lok Janshakti Party supremo, claimed that he and Lalu "were standing like rocks" to support Mulayam Singh. "No one can separate us," he asserted.

Attacking the BJP, Paswan said "They (BJP) can only demolish, not construct anything." He was referring to the demolition of the Babri mosque.

Lalu also used the opportunity to target the saffron party and its leader L K Advani. "He wants to be the Prime Minister. But he cannot...People claim I know magic as I can predict the future," he said.

He said the NDA was disintegrating with BJD, AIADMK and National Conference deserting it. "They implemented POTA, but we removed it (POTA ko sota mar kar khatma kiya)".

Paswan said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has done little for the poor. "Elephant (BSP's election symbol) is meant for the rich and not the poor," he said.

The three regional political satraps are scheduled to address three more election rallies. The second rally will be held in Bareilly to cover the Ruhailkand area. Two other rallies will be held in Varanasi and Gorakhpur, two prominent cities of east UP which is also known as Purvanchal.

This is for the first time in nearly a decade that the three cow belt leaders have addressed a rally jointly.

Similar joint rallies have been planned for Bihar in the coming days.

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Congress may dump Tytler to secure Sikh votes

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The fate of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's nomination from Delhi North-East is hanging by a slender thread. With the
"shoe throwing" protest by journalist Jarnail Singh triggering sharp reaction among Sikhs, Congress leadership is seriously considering to dump Tytler to secure its prospects in Punjab. ( Watch )

The resentment triggered by Jarnail's action swept Punjab as dozens of Sikh groups held up trains at several places in the state on Wednesday, fuelling the Tytler issue anew.

The protests, which came as a surprise to the Akali government in Punjab, sensitised the Congress leadership to the risk of persevering with Tytler, a former Union minister who is one of the prominent accused in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Congress is hopeful of improving its tally from Punjab, but fears that spotlight on Tytler may neutralise the advantage. Akalis have swiftly latched on to the controversy to remind Sikhs of the charge of official sponsorship of anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi.

Tytler's case comes up on Thursday before Rakesh Pandit, additional chief metropolitan magistrate of New Delhi who is to take a view on the CBI report which has disputed the veracity of the testimony of one Jasbir Singh who claimed to be a witness to Tytler's involvement in the rioting against Sikhs.

Congress sources, however, said Tytler may not be in the clear even if the court accepts the report of the investigating agency. "It is a matter of perception," said a party functionary familiar with leadership's thinking.

While Tytler was defiant and sought to rubbish reports about a re-think on his ticket, the leadership sounded out the party unit in Punjab on potential repercussions for party's chances in the state. "PPCC has already discussed and apprised party president Sonia Gandhi about the implications of Tytler issue on poll prospects in the state," Punjab Congress chief Mahinder Singh Kaypee told reporters.

Kaypee was not forthcoming on detials. But he did point to reports about party leadership's decision to review the decision to field Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, another prominent Congressman accused in the riots and party's candidate for South Delhi, when pressed by journalists in Chandigarh.

The protests in Punjab involved various Sikh outfits.Rail traffic remained disrupted for over four hours with activists of Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organizations led by Sant Samaj stopping trains and squatting on the tracks between 11am to 3pm. Several trains were stopped at various stations before the start of the dharna.

At the Dakoha railway crossing in Jalandhar, the protest was led by Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhuma and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.

Long-distance trains, including the Flying Express from Amritsar to Darbhanga, were cancelled and others like Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi and Dadar-Amritsar Express delayed. However, many trains that left the Amritsar area before the demonstrators blocked the tracks chugged along on schedule. Reports from most places said cops made no attempt to disperse the protesters.

In Haryana too, Sikh community leaders held a symbolic dharna at the railway station in Kurukshetra.

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Mayawati slams EC for transferring top state officer

LUCKNOW: Criticizing the Election Commission for transferring a top state official, UP chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday said that such action
could demoralize the officialdom ahead of the first phase of polling and may lead to law and order problems in the state.

"Removing of the officer just due to political reasons on basis of their baseless allegation will demoralize officers of the state due to which law and order problem could erupt in the state. EC will be responsible if there is any terrorist or Naxal problem or any incident happens with me or any other leader during campaigning," Mayawati told reporters here.

The EC on Tuesday had ordered transfer of UP principal secretary of home, Fateh Bahadur Singh following complaints from the opposition.

Assuring the commission that the BSP government in the state was committed to hold free and fair polls, Mayawati said that she had given orders to its officers to follow directions of the commission and ensure that there should be no violation of model code of conduct during the elections.

"I have not only directed the officials, but also party candidates, office-bearers and workers that they must adhere by the model code of conduct and cooperate with the government machinery," she said.

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Maneka lodges complaint against Lalu for Varun remarks

BADAUN (UP): BJP MP Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday lodged a complaint with police against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for his alleged remarks that he
would have "crushed" her son Varun Gandhi under a roller for his anti-Muslim speeches.

"The RJD chief Lalu Yadav has threatened to kill Varun Gandhi by crushing him with a road roller in front of crowd of thousands of people and used derogatory words," she said in a letter to SSP, N Ravindran here.

"I came to know about this during my Badaun visit", Maneka said referring to the remarks attributed to the railway minister.

She demanded that the SSP lodge a complaint against Lalu Prasad Yadav under sections 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and arrest him immediately.

Addressing an election meeting in Kishanganj in Bihar, the Railway Minister said "had I been country's home minister, I would have crushed Varun Gandhi under the roller and destroyed him without caring for the consequences for his hate speech against Muslims".

Following the comments, the Kishanganj district administration had filed an FIR against Lalu Prasad accusing him of attempting to create communal disturbance.

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Cong may review Tytler, Sajjan candidatures

NEW DELHI: Apparently concerned over the political fallout of hurling of shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram, Congress on Tuesday indicated it was open to review the candidatures of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, who were facing allegations of involvement in the anti-Sikh riots.
"Congress is a large party and it takes considered decisions at appropriate time. Let us see what solutions emerge in the future," party spokesman Ashwini Kumar said at the AICC briefing held hours after the incident.

Kumar was asked to comment whether the party would withdraw nominations to Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, a demand also made by the BJP.

A section of Delhi unit of Congress has demanded reconsideration of candidature of Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, both facing allegations of involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

"A large number of Sikhs in the country are already seething in anger for the last 25 years since the 1984 riots. Instead of pacifying them, the party has added to their agony by giving Lok Sabha tickets to Kumar and Tytler from South Delhi and North-East Delhi parliamentary seats," a senior Congress leader from Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) said on the condition of anonymity.

Another DPCC leader said the incident involving a Sikh journalist hurling a shoe at Chidambaram over CBI clean chit to Tytler in the riot case has once again highlighted the issue in the run-up to the general elections.

"The incident has polarised the community across the country, stepping up demands for withdrawal of the nomination of the two accused leaders," he said.

The Congress leader cautioned that ignoring the sentiments would hurt party's poll prospects not only in Delhi but throughout the country.

Around 50 Sikhs were detained in the national capital after they tried to break a barricade and march towards Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's residence to protest the detention of a journalist who hurled a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Hundreds of Sikhs, including women, had gathered at Jantar Mantar soon after the news spread that a Sikh journalist threw a shoe at the minister and was detained by police.

Jarnail Singh was protesting against the clean chit given by CBI to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Raising slogans against Tytler and the Congress, around 50 protestors tried to jump the barricade erected at the Parliament Street and march towards Gandhi's residence. However, they were stopped by police.

All the protestors were taken into custody, a senior police officer said, adding they were released later. Some of the protestors were also seen thrashing the photograph of Tytler with shoes.

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Chiranjeevi ready to lend support to form fourth front

HYDERABAD: Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi has expressed his support to the efforts to forge a "Fourth Front" at the national level.


"Being secular we cannot join BJP. Since TDP is part of Third Front and Congress part of UPA, we cannot join them. I thought like-minded parties will be there who are looking for support to form a "Fourth Front". This is mutual," Chiranjeevi, Praja Rajyam Party chief told reporters after a meeting with Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Sanjay Dutt on Monday.

"I am here for exploring a possibility of like-minded, secular, non-Congress politicians. Can they come together, can they emerge as force? A force to ensure a healthy polity," Singh had said.

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Rift in SP as Amar Singh threatens to quit

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh has threatened to quit over party member Azam Khan, who he said insulted him. “SP can exist without me but not without Azam Khan, it appears,’ said an upset Amar Singh.

Trouble started when actress Jayaprada was renominated as the SP candidate from Rampur. Azam Khan asked the leadership to remove Jaya from what he saw as his political turf.

Mulayam Singh Yadav then asked a sulking Azam Khan to contest the high-profile minority seat himself.

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