Rijiju slams retired judges' campaign against Amit Shah, criticises opposition
Bengaluru (PTI): Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Saturday questioned the involvement of retired High Court judges in the ongoing process to elect the Vice President, criticising their signature campaign and comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
He said the Vice President's election is a political matter and the participation of retired judges gives an impression that they had ideological leanings even during their tenure.
Rijiju maintained that launching such campaigns against constitutional authorities was inappropriate.
Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha, Rijiju said, "Some retired judges have written something against the Home Minister. This is not good. The election for Vice President is a political matter — why should retired judges interfere? It gives an impression that they had a distinct ideology even when they were judges. This is not right to launch a signature campaign against the Home Minister and write a letter".
The minister, who was in Bengaluru to address a lawyers' conference, also accused Congress leaders of using abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"We are democratic people and we speak with respect, but opposition leaders — be it Rahul Gandhi or some MPs, including Mahua Moitra— have resorted to invective. Abusing the prime minister and his mother—who is no more—is not good for the nation's future," he said.
Rijiju asserted that the BJP-led NDA contests elections within the constitutional framework and accused the Congress of blaming the Election Commission for its electoral losses.
"What's the point in abusing the Election Commission if people are not voting for you? After losing three elections, Rahul Gandhi's anger against the country, its people, the Constitution and the Election Commission is not justified," he said, adding, "It's not our fault that people don't like you."
The minister further said the Congress, which ruled the country for six decades, could still return to power if it earns public support, but claimed that its current behaviour and language make such a prospect unlikely.
"The people of India will never give an opportunity to a person who has such kind of thinking and uses filthy language," he remarked.
Rejecting opposition allegations that the proposed law that mandates removal of sitting prime minister, chief minister and ministers if they jailed for 30 days is aimed at eliminating political rivals, Rijiju pointed out that India's judicial system offers protection to anyone who has not committed wrong.
"Aren't there something like courts in this country? If you have not done any corruption, the court will give you bail. Why will anyone go to jail if they have not committed anything wrong? If the mind is clean, there is no fear. Since there is impurity, they have started abusing laws," he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Malian defence minister killed in attack that saw jihadis and rebels seize towns, military bases
Dakar (AP): Malian Minister of Defence Gen. Sadio Camara was killed in an attack as jihadi and rebel forces seized towns and military bases across the country, according to a military officer and two other sources on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from the Malian government.
“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence, Gen. Sadio Camara, has been killed during the attack which targeted his house yesterday,” said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the media.
Two other people, a civil society leader and a security member, confirmed the information.
Separatist fighters on Saturday joined Islamic militants in launching one of the biggest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities that left at least 16 wounded.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and Islamic State group-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
Malian troops and Russian mercenaries withdrew from the northern city of Kidal after the attacks, the rebels said Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a separatist group, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
The Malian army did not respond to requests for comment but in an earlier statement said they were “tracking down terrorist armed groups in Kidal.”
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
It was the first time the separatists worked alongside the al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM, which also claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on Bamako's international airport and four other cities, including Kidal, in central and northern Mali.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.
Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said that the coordination between the two groups, as well as the explicit call for the Russian military to leave, is new.
“The coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time, real coordination on the military level but also on the political level because both claims of both groups they acknowledged that they worked together, this is a first,” said Nasr.
Mali government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on state television late Saturday that 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.
The governor of Bamako's district, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, announced a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Economic Community of West African States has condemned the attacks and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”
The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.
In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako's airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while the attacks were a major blow to the credibility of Mali's Russian partners, JNIM is unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.
“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities. They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” Laessing said.
