Punjab Speaker seeks Sushma's intervention
Chandigarh, July 28 : Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K.P. Singh has written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over Canada declining entry to two AAP legislators.
"All legislative bodies of India and Canada are branches of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and members of the legislative bodies in both the countries are members of CPA," the Speaker wrote.
"On the one hand, we strive for increasing CPA activities and, on the other, our MLAs or public representatives are treated differently and humiliated," he said.
The Speaker said when the public representatives had disclosed their identity at the Ottawa Airport, the Canadian authorities must have facilitated them.
"I request you to take cognizance of this incident and take up this matter with the appropriate authorities of the Canadian government so that public representatives from our country are not subjected to such type of untoward and humiliating incidents in future."
Refused entry to Canada, both Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Amarjit Singh Sandoa returned home this week.
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We need to create system in which people's skills get their due: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Friday called for creating a system in which people's skills get their due and everyone's contribution is respected, as he shared a Diwali video in which he interacts with paint job workers and potters.
Posting the over nine-minute video which features him also having a conversation with his nephew Raihan Rajiv Vadra on YouTube, the former Congress chief said, "A memorable Diwali with special people - I celebrated this Diwali working with some painter brothers and making earthen diyas with a potter family."
"I saw their work closely, tried to learn their skills and understood their difficulties and problems. They don't go home. We celebrate festivals happily and to earn some money, they forget their village, city, family," Gandhi said.
"They make happiness from clay. While lighting up the festivals of others, are they able to live in light themselves? Those who build houses can hardly run their own houses!" he said.
Gandhi said Diwali means light that can remove the darkness of poverty and helplessness.
"We have to create such a system -- in which people's skills get their due and contribution is respected -- makes everyone's Diwali a happy one. I hope this Diwali brings prosperity, progress and love in the lives of all of you," he said.
In the video, Gandhi is seen working with labourers at the 10 Janpath residence and learning to paint walls along with his nephew. In the second part of the video, Gandhi goes to the house of a woman who makes earthen lamps with her five daughters.
Gandhi tries his hand at pottery and makes 'diyas', which he says he would give to his mother and sister.
Since his Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and his Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi has been interacting with a cross-section of people from mechanics and cobblers to labourers and bus drivers.
He often posts videos of his numerous interactions and highlights the plight of various sections of society.
