Jharkhand minister asks Muslim MLA to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' outside assembly
Ranchi, Jul 26: After unrestrained 'Ram bhakts', a BJP minister in Jharkhand was on Friday seen on national TV brazenly asking a Muslim MLA to chant 'Jai Shri Ram', insisting he was a "Ram wala" and that "Babur or Timur Lang", the medieval era Muslim conquerors, were not his ancestors.
It all started on a lighter note when C P Singh, the state's urban development minister, and Irfan Ansari, a Congress MLA, were standing outside the Legislative Assembly surrounded by cameramen.
Singh was seen wrapping his arm around Ansari's shoulders and asking him to chant the slogan hailing the Lord.
"Ek baar zor se Jai Shri Ram boliye (say Jai Shri Ram vigorously," Singh told Ansari, who smilingly showed the red 'Mauli' tied on his right hand. The sacred thread is usually tied by Hindu priests on the hands of believers to ward off evil.
But what had started as good-natured banter soon turned into a heated argument when the minister repeated his demand, saying "you also belong to Ram. Babur, Timur Lang, (Mahmud) Ghazni, (Muhammad) Ghori were not your ancestors".
"Ram ka naam badnaam mat kariye. Ram sabke hain.
(Don't bring a bad name to Ram. He belongs to everyone)," the young MLA shot back.
"People need jobs, roads, electricity. They want drains to be cleaned. Go to Ayodhya and see the condition of Ram there," a visibly agitated Ansari said.
As the tussle appeared getting out of hand, the two lawmakers disengaged and went their separate ways.
A young Muslim man Tabrez Ansari was tied to a pole and beaten up for several hours by a violent mob in Jharkhand's Saraikela-Kharsawan district in June after he was allegedly caught sealing a motorcycle. He died a few days later.
His tormentors were alleged to have forced him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman'.
Ansari's death had set off massive public outrage and protests were organised in several cities and towns in the country.
On July 23, 49 celebrity filmmakers, authors and others from different walks of life had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over "religious identity-based hate crimes" and noted that "Jai Shri Ram' had become a "provocative war cry" leading to incidents of lynching.
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Patna-bound IndiGo flight makes emergency landing at Lucknow due to bad weather
Lucknow (PTI): Adverse weather forced an IndiGo Kolkata-Patna flight to make an emergency landing at Lucknow airport on Friday, airport sources said.
According to airport officials, weather conditions in Patna deteriorated suddenly on Friday afternoon, affecting flight operations.
IndiGo flight 6E 6917 from Kolkata, which was scheduled to land in Patna at 3.50 pm, could not land due to bad weather and kept circling in the air after failing to get clearance from air traffic control, they said.
The flight was later diverted to Lucknow and landed safely at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at around 5.15 pm. There were 180 passengers and six crew members on board, officials said.
The aircraft was later allowed to depart for Patna after weather conditions improved.
