Planned murders: A challenge to all political parties
Owing to the efforts of Special Investigation Team, a shocking plan made by anti-social elements to kill some of the great thinkers and writers of Kannada has been revealed. Looking at this list, anybody that has some amount of humanity in them would be shocked. Every true Indian, and every political party needs to think seriously about this development that has taken place in Karnataka, to target the rationalists and thinkers of the state. Writer Girish Karnad won the most prestigious Jnanpith award for Kannada. He not only held the name of Karnataka high in the map of Indian literature, he has transcended the map of state and shone bright on the world map too, representing India on international platforms.
Chandrashekhar Patil went to jail, opposing imposition of emergency in mid 70s. Great leaders like Lokanayak Jayaprakash Narayan, LK Advani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and others were also jailed during that time. Champa was the president of Kannada Sahitya Parishat and chaired Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana during his illustrious career.
Prof K S Bhagwan translated Shakespeare’s works into Kannada and continued the rational thinking ways of Kuvempu even after the writer was long gone. Champa and Bhagwan have often issued controversial statements, have influenced thousands of students; and most importantly, they are open to discussion as far as their stances are concerned. Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji is a dalit and has always worked to bring progress into the society with his thoughts and speeches for the empowerment of progressive minds and Dalits. He has focused on religious reforms. Writer and former minister B T Lalitha Nayak has written extensively about the exploited Lambani tribals. She later joined Janata Dal and worked for the empowerment of Dalits and Lambanis. Dr C S Dwarakanath is a lawyer who got doctorate for his work on Kaivara Thataiah. He did phenomenal work during his time as chairperson of the minority commission. Banjagere Jayaprakash is a pride of Kannada and has been known for his poems and activism to empower the working class communities.
Along with all of them, planned attacks have been revealed on rationalist Narendra Nayak since a long time. All of them have contributed immensely to the progressive tag Karnataka wears with pride. They have stood with the voiceless and the exploited, across genders, in their works. One may have differences of opinion as far as their statements are concerned and people are free to accept/debate of distance themselves from such stances of these people. All of them have accepted criticism with grace in the past, while choosing not to resort to a language of derogation themselves in response. All their contribution has been regarded by India should be a matter of pride for Kannadigas.
Further investigation may reveal why their presence is a threat to people who want them dead. Experts have opined this is a wakeup call to for the rest of India to understand this is a massive threat to the cultural identity of India. Such heinous crimes may be carried out against anyone, cutting across partylines too. Politicians need to understand this well because owing to violence incited by such rabid groups in Kashmir, holding elections is a challenge in that state.
One particular ideology, fuelled by religion and politics, is at work there and there would be counter strategies too. This may turn the entire state into a Taliban mainstay. Such rabidity will soon spread to other fields such as Science, films and politics. Hence this bloodbath needs to be ended and every responsible person must raise his/her voice against this. All the parties Including the BJP, Congress, Janata Dal, Communists and Bahujan Samaj Party have to come together to fight against this. Seniors have to caution the youth against taking to violence that may spoil their life. And those persons who are ruining the lives of young men by engaging them in such crimes, have to introspect and see their actions would lead to dark and dinghy corners of the world. This would yield us more crisis than solutions to the differences of opinion they face with the others.
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Sensex, Nifty surge nearly 2 pc as US suspends additional 26 pc tariffs on India till July 9
Mumbai (PTI): Benchmark Sensex surged by 1,310 points while Nifty closed above 22,900 level on Friday on gains in banking, oil and metal shares as investors rejoiced the 90-day suspension of additional import duties by the US.
Defying a bearish trend in world markets, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 1,310.11 points or 1.77 per cent to settle at 75,157.26. During the day, it soared 1,620.18 points or 2.19 per cent to 75,467.33.
The NSE Nifty surged 429.40 points or 1.92 per cent to 22,828.55. In intra-day trade, the benchmark rallied 524.75 points or 2.34 per cent to 22,923.90.
The US announced suspension of additional tariffs on India for 90 days until July 9 this year, according to the White House executive orders. On April 2, US President Donald Trump slapped universal duties on about 60 countries exporting goods to America and additional steep levies on countries like India, potentially impacting sales of products from shrimp to steel in the world's biggest economy.
Tata Steel was the lead gainer among Sensex shares, rising by 4.91 per cent after the company announced a transformation plan, including job cuts, for its Netherlands steel plant to improve efficiency and margins.
HDFC Bank rose by 2.33 per cent, emerging as the biggest contributor to the Sensex's rise. Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC and Adani Ports were among the gainers.
IT behemoth TCS dropped 0.43 per cent after the company reported a 1.7 per cent decline in the March quarter net profit due to lower margins. Asian Paints declined 0.76 per cent.
"An unexpected pause on reciprocal tariffs by the US provided relief in the midst of the uncertainty. Though the IT major’s (TCS) result missed the street estimates, it opines optimism in the latter half of FY26 owing to growth in the order book," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 3.04 per cent and midcap index rallied 1.84 per cent.
All BSE sectoral indices ended higher. Commodities surged the most by 3.40 per cent, followed by consumer durables (2.92 per cent), utilities (2.76 per cent), power (2.64 per cent), energy (2.51 per cent), industrials (2.34 per cent) and consumer discretionary (2.25 per cent).
As many as 3,115 stocks advanced while 846 declined and 118 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Equity markets would remain closed on Monday for Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti.
World markets largely slumped amid growing concerns due to a tit-for-tat tariff war between China and the US.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index and South Korea's Kospi settled lower while Shanghai SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended higher. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index dropped nearly 3 per cent. European markets were trading lower.
US markets ended significantly lower on Thursday a day after a sharp rally. The Nasdaq composite tanked 4.31 per cent, S&P 500 slumped 3.46 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.50 per cent.
China on Friday raised its additional tariffs on imports from the US to 125 per cent in retaliation to the Trump administration's 145 per cent levies on Chinese exports.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,358.02 crore on Wednesday.
Indian stock markets were closed on Thursday for Shri Mahavir Jayanti.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.32 per cent to USD 63.53 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark dropped 379.93 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 73,847.15. The Nifty declined 136.70 points or 0.61 per cent to 22,399.15.
