PANAJI: BJP Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy Sunday claimed that the value of the rupee was falling in comparison to the United States dollar because black money was "leaving" India.

Swamy was delivering a lecture titled "Indian Cultural Heritage and Its Importance" in Margao Sunday morning.

Stating that the fall in the value of the rupee had nothing to do with the US, Swamy said, "It has got to do with the fact that a large amount of black money is now leaving the country."

"When there is an over-supply of the rupee to the dollar, value is bound to go down," Swamy explained.

The rupee is the worst performing emerging market currency having lost almost 14 per cent since January this year. Between April and September the rupee has plummeted more than 7 to the dollar and has breached the psychological 73 mark last week.

The BJP leader, himself an economist, further claimed that the US dollar would continue to rule the global economy as long as that country remained the most developed nation in the world.

"The day it (USA) ceases to be most developed (nation), some other currency will take its place. But at the moment, there is no challenge to the dollar," he commented. Speaking on the topic of the lecture, Swamy said that mythological king Ravana was born near Delhi and not In ancient Lanka as is widely believed.

"He was born in a village called Bisrakh near Delhi," Swamy claimed. The MP told the gathering that Ravana, armed with a boon from Lord Shiva for a penance at Mansarovar, proceeded to defeat Kuber to become "Lanka Naresh" there.

Courtesy: timesofindia

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Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday asserted that his government's "uncompromising stand" in taking steps against Bangladesh-origin Muslims swayed people in favour of the BJP-led NDA in this year's assembly elections, resulting in the alliance securing a two-thirds majority.

He maintained that the NDA's win was a victory for the Assamese indigenous people and affirmed continuing developmental work in the state.

Addressing a press conference, Sarma said, "The double-engine government and unprecedented development the state witnessed in the last five years are among the main reasons for our victory."

"We had assured of securing the Assamese 'jati' (community) and took steps to deliver it. Assam progressed in the cultural and economic sectors. Our uncompromising stand against Bangladesh-origin Muslims also had an impact," he said.

The NDA swept to a third successive term in the state by securing 102 seats in the 126-member state assembly. The BJP won 82 seats, while its allies AGP and Bodoland People's Front bagged 10 each.

On Sarma predicting nearly exact numbers for the alliance before the results, he said the assessment was based on his connect with the people.

"I visited every assembly segment thrice before elections. I have a good mass connect system, which helped in my assessment," he said.

Sarma claimed that recommendations of the Justice (retd) Biplab Sharma committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which deals with constitutional safeguards for the indigenous Assamese population, were implemented by his government.

"It was because of it that the Assamese people won yesterday. It was not just a BJP victory," he asserted.

The CM claimed the NDA secured the support of all sections of people, including Gen Z, which was evident in the young faces fielded by the BJP emerging victorious.

He dismissed the charge that the BJP has an "outsider" among its MLAs, referring to Guwahati Central legislator-elect Vijay Gupta.

"Vijay Gupta is an Assamese. If he is a Bihari, we (ancestors) also came from Kannauj. We all have come from different parts. Mongoloids came from outside, Aryans came from outside. This outsider narrative has been created by you all (media)," Sarma said.

On the Congress' poor poll performance, he maintained that there were very few people in the opposition party who understood the sentiments of the Assamese people.

Otherwise, the Congress would not have brought singer Zubeen Garg's name in its manifesto or levied allegations against an Assamese woman, Sarma added, referring to the opposition party's charges of multiple passports and undisclosed foreign investments of his wife.

The CM also maintained that Raijor Dal could have won four-five seats had it not joined hands with the Congress.

The Congress and Akhil Gogoi-led Raijor Dal were part of a six-party opposition alliance that fought the elections together. Congress won 19 seats and Raijor Dal two, with the other allies drawing a blank.

"If Akhil Gogoi had not made the mistake, Sherman Ali Ahmed would have been his MLA today," Sarma said, referring to the expelled Congress leader who won as a TMC candidate after Raijor Dal refused him a ticket owing to the alliance.

On Gogoi being the only opposition MLA to win from a Hindu-majority seat, Sarma said, "It is the people of Sibsagar who decided who will represent them. On my part, it was the only Hindu majority seat where I didn't go to campaign."

"Akhil Gogoi should be kept in the assembly, else he will create chaos on the streets with his protests," Sarma said.

He also claimed that Gogoi had failed to make a single serious speech in the assembly during his first tenure as MLA and dubbed the Raijor Dal president a "comic relief" when the proceedings get dull.