Let love and affection unite world: President Ramanath Kovind
President visits Pejawara Mutt, Sri Krishna Mutt
Udupi, December 27: President Ramanath Kovind stressed the need to unite the people in the world through love and affection.
The President was speaking after visiting the Pejawara Mutt and Sri Krishna Mutt here on Thursday.
The God has created many beings in the world. Among them, man was the best creation. Nowadays, there should be love and affection among them. Though the God was called in different names and different shapes, the God was one, he said.
"I was planning to visit the Sri Krishna Mutt since many days. I am happy that I have visited today. Union Minister Uma Bharathi told me many things about Pejawara Swamiji. At the age of 89, the Swamiji is active and I am happy to see his activeness. Let him complete hundred years. Let him do more religious and social works", the President said.
Rama Rajya was a model state. It was a model on how to rule and treat the subjects. If the model was followed, the world would be happy, he said.
Vishveshwara Thirtha Swamiji of Pejawara Mutt said that he was happy that the President visited the Sri Krishna Mutt, established by Madhwacharya.
Vidyadeesha Thirtha Swamiji of Paryaya Palimaru Mutt felicitated the President with the idol of Lord Sri Krishna on the occasion.
Savitha Kovind, wife of President Ramanath Kovind, Governor Vajubhai Vala, Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya, Udupi District Minister Dr Jayamala, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLA Raghupathi Bhat, ZP president Dinakar Babu, former minister Pramod Madhwaraj, Dakshina Kannada district Kannada Sahitya Parishat Pradeep Kalkura, Mysure Division Regional Commissioner Yashwanth, Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis, ADGP Kamal Panth, IGP Arun Chakravarthy, SP Lakshman Nimbaragi and other senior officers were present.
Ramanath Kovind’s first visit to Udupi
For the first time, President Ramanath Kovind visited Udupi district on Thursday to pay his respect to Vishvesha Thirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt who completed 80 years of his coronation.
President Ramanath Kovind, along with his wife Savitha Kovind, arrived at Adi Udupi helipad from Mangaluru airport at 11.20 am. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Acharya, District Minister Dr Jayamala, ZP president Dinakar Babu and others welcomed the President at the helipad. Later, the President reached Pejawar Mutt at 11.40 am and Mutt Diwan Raghuram Acharya received the President and took him into the Pejawar Mutt, where Vishvesha Thirtha Swamiji, junior pontiff Vishwaprasanna Thirtha and Vidyadeesha Thirtha of Paryaya Palimaru Mutt who were waiting for the President inside the Mutt, received Kovind and explained the history of the Mutt.
Later, the Pejawar Swamiji offered special pooja to Rama Vittala, mooladevaru of the Mutt and the President also participated in the ritual. Swamiji honoured the President with the idol of Lord Sri Krishna and the President also felicitated the Pejawar swamiji on the occasion.
At 12.20 pm, the President left the Pejawar Mutt for Sri Krishna Mutt, where the first citizen of the country was received with the chanting of hymns and Mangala Vadya and took him into the Sri Krishna Mutt.
The President had the darshan of Lord Sri Krishna and sat at the Chandrashale along with other dignitaries. Along with Pejawar swamiji and Palimaru Swamiji, the swamijis of Sode, Kaniyur and Adamaru mutts were also present on the occasion. Paryaya Vidyadeesh Thirtha Swamiji welcomed the President and expressed his pleasure for the President’s visit to Sri Krishna Mutt.
Paryaya Swamiji also felicitated the President with shawl, the idol of Lord Sri Krishna.
Speaking on the occasion, President Ramanath Kovind said that he was happy that Pejawar Swamiji was travelling across the country at this age and invited him to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan once.
At 12.45 pm, the President left for helipad from Sri Krishna Mutt and from there, he reached Mangaluru airport.
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.
After 17 years in exile, BNP leader Tarique Rahman returns to Dhaka to rousing welcome
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman returned home to a rousing welcome on Thursday after over 17 years in self-exile, a move that is expected to energise his party workers ahead of the February 12 parliamentary elections.
Rahman, the 60-year-old son of ailing former prime minister Khaleda Zia, has emerged as a leading contender for prime ministership in the polls even as the country's Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami has been trying to expand its support base.
The homecoming of the BNP heir apparent comes amid a fresh wave of unrest and political instability gripping Bangladesh following the killing of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi, who was a prominent face in last year's mass protests that forced the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government.
ALSO READ: India entered semiconductor industry a bit late, but it will soon start exporting: Shah
Rahman, accompanied by wife Zubaida and daughter Zaima, was received at the Hazrat Shahjalal International airport in Dhaka by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior party leaders amid tight security.
BNP emerged as the forerunner to capture power in the February polls as former prime minister Hasina's Awami League party has been barred from contesting the election.
Jamaat-e-Islami, the BNP's coalition partner during its 2001-2006 tenure in power, has emerged as its main rival in the upcoming polls after the interim government blocked Awami League's participation under the country's tough Anti-Terrorism Act.
After BNP announced Rahman's plan to return from London, he had said, "like any child, he longs to be near his critically ill mother at her moment of crisis."
Rahman's return to Dhaka also comes at a time Bangladesh-India relations are on a sharp downturn.
The BNP leader left the airport in a bulletproof bus. He is set to attend a mass reception with tens of thousands of his supporters waiting to greet him.
Rahman is also expected to go to see his octogenarian ailing mother and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, at the nearby Evercare hospital.
Before leaving the airport Rahman held a phone conversation with interim government chief Muhammad Yunus, BNP’s media cell said.
It is not immediately known what transpired in the phone conversation.
Zia, a three-time prime minister, has been undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU) at the hospital.
Around 4,000 army personnel, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police in riot gear and plainclothes were deployed in Dhaka to ensure Rahman's security.
"We have enforced an overt and covert security vigil," a senior police official earlier said as supporters queued in long lines on both sides of the street from the airport to the reception site.
Civil aviation authorities disallowed any use of drones near the airport and the Evercare hospital and restricted photography at the reception site.
Bangladesh witnessed violent protests after the death of Hadi. His killing has also triggered some fresh strain in India-Bangladesh ties.
India on Tuesday sought a thorough probe into Hadi's death. India's call for a detailed probe into the case came as unsubstantiated allegations about an Indian hand in Hadi's death triggered anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh.
The relations between India and Bangladesh came under strain after the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus came to power following the collapse of the Hasina government.
India has been expressing concerns over attacks on minorities, especially Hindus, in that country.
