'Will take Hardik's agitation to national level'
Ahmedabad, Sep 4 : Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Tuesday called on fasting Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel and said that they will take his agitation over the demand for reservation for Patels and farm debt waiver to the national level.
On Energy Minister Saurabh Patel's remarks that Hardik's indefinite fast was backed by the opposition Congress and that the state was doing its best for the Patel community and farmers, Shatrughan Sinha said that all political parties were supporting the fasting leader.
"The whole country is moved by Hardik's fast, except the governments at the Centre and the state," Yashwant Sinha told reporters. Yashwant Sinha resigned from the BJP in April.
Both leaders said they had extended support to Hardik on his demands.
"The farmers issues raised by Hardik are not confined to Gujarat but are relevant to the whole country. Farmers are in deep distress and the situation requires a permanent solution. I appeal to everyone, including the opposition, to raise the issues of farmers across the country," Yashwant Sinha said.
Rubbishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claims that Gujarat was a model state, Shatrughan Sinha said there was nothing like a Gujarat model. "The Gujarat model has failed. Now, you are not going to get bonus (in 2019 elections)," he said.
According to medical reports, Hardik has lost around 20kg ever since he began his fast 11 days ago and his condition continues to deteriorate.
Meanwhile, Gujarat's six religious organisations of the Patels discussed the issues arising out of Hardik's agitation and offered to mediate or help him end his fast. Their leaders later in the evening rushed to state capital Gandhinagar for a meeting with BJP Ministers from the community to discuss the situation.
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SC asks states to treat rising child trafficking cases as grave; seeks coordinated action
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control.
The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard.
“As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request”, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday.
The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks.
Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present.
The verdict, delivered on April 15, 2025, had mandated several institutional reforms, including completion of trials in trafficking cases within six months on a day-to-day basis.
It had also directed strengthening of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) and improving investigation standards.
Besides asking for setting up of state-level committees to monitor vulnerable trafficking hotspots, it had asked the authorities to treat missing children cases as trafficking unless proven otherwise.
Earlier, the bench had termed the compliance reports filed by a few states as "nothing but an eye wash."
On Wednesday, the bench noted that Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab had still failed to file reports in the prescribed format.
When the home secretary of Madhya Pradesh offered an apology for the lapse, the bench granted a "final opportunity" but warned that continued failure would lead to states being officially branded as "defaulting".
The bench noted that at least 15 states are yet to constitute review committees mandated to identify and monitor trafficking-prone areas.
The matter will now be heard on April 29.
