Ramanath Rai backs Priyank Kharge’s call to ban RSS events on government premises
Mangaluru: Senior Congress leader and former Karnataka minister B. Ramanath Rai has extended his support to Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge’s letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) programmes on government properties and public spaces.
Speaking at a press conference at the Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee (DKDCC) office in Mallikatte, Mangaluru, on Thursday, Rai, who also serves as the Vice-President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), said that the entire party stands firmly with Kharge on the issue.
“The RSS continues to poison the minds of children and spread disharmony in society. Even in Dakshina Kannada, the social environment has deteriorated because of their activities,” Rai said.
He reiterated that the Congress Party would never support any organisation that uses religion as its foundation, stressing that the party’s focus remains on strengthening its ideological principles of inclusivity and secularism.
“I have always opposed the RSS because I follow the Congress ideology, and many others in our party continue to stand by these values,” he stated.
Rai highlighted the contributions of Congress leaders to the development of Dakshina Kannada, from freedom fighter Srinivas Mallya to the present generation of leaders. He accused the BJP of prioritising electoral politics over development, adding, “While our leaders worked for the progress of this region, the BJP only focuses on winning elections.”
Criticising the Central Government, he also questioned India’s diplomatic outreach to ministers from the Taliban government, calling it contradictory to the BJP’s public rhetoric on nationalism and security.
Responding to Legislative Council Chief Whip Ravikumar’s allegation that Congress members fund the RSS, Rai said the MLC “lacked knowledge and understanding” of the issue.
The press conference was attended by several Congress leaders, including former Mayor Shashidhar Hegde, MG Hegde, Baby Kunder, BL Padmanabha Kotian, S. Appi, Chittaranjan Shetty Bondala, Dinesh Muloor, Sadashiva Shetty, TK Sudheer, Girish Shetty, Padmaprasad Jain, Manjula Nayak, Ramananda Poojary, Sajith Shetty Vamanjoor, Yogish Kumar, Sunil Bajilakeri, and Shabbir Siddakatte, among others.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
