As Kamala Harris inches closer to victory, Tamil Nadu's twin villages prepare for early Deepavali
Nagapattinam (TN): With Democratic candidate for the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris confident of her victory, the people of two villages in Tamil Nadu, which are native to her maternal grandparents, are also equally convinced that she would emerge victorious and eager to celebrate her win, an early Deepavali.
The mood is upbeat at Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu, tucked away in a corner of Tiruvarur district, a part of the fertile Cauvery delta region, and people are waiting only for a formal declaration that Kamala has won alongside Joe Biden to start celebrations.
The villagers have now kept firecrackers ready to hail a win for Kamala Harris, also a US Senator.
Women are also planning to draw a mega rangoli in front of the village temple.
"We have collected Rangoli powders in different colours and are planning to draw the image of Kamala Harris.
It is a matter of pride for the entire womenfolk," said Meenakshi, a housewife at Thulasenthirapuram.
The people feel proud that their villages happen to be the native place of the grandparents of Kamala Harris.
The road leading to Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu villages from nearby Mannargudi town is filled with wall posters and digital banners wishing a resounding win for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Though it may sound strange, US presidential election results are an animated topic of discussion presently in this hinterland of Tamil Nadu in public places like tea stalls.
Some people are also glued to the television looking for updates on US elections.
Earlier, on November 2, when the US went to the polls, the people performed special prayers in the local temple praying for a win for Kamala.
Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu are agrarian villages and are located very close to each other near Mannargudi which is about 50 km from here.
Kamala's grandfather P V Gopalan moved out of Thulasenthirapuram village as a young man and took up a job in the British government service.
Her grandmother Rajam belonged to the nearby Painganadu village.
Though Kamala's ancestors left the village many decades ago, family members had kept their connections with the temple at Thulasenthirapuram intact.
Gopalan and other family members have made donations for temple renovation during various periods.
As recently as 2014, a donation was made says the temple trustee Ramani.
"It all started about a year back when Kamala Harris herself disclosed about her grandfather in social media. We realized that someone connected with our village was becoming prominent in the US.
Everyone here started talking about her," said Ramanathan, a retired school teacher in the village.
"We don't know much about her ancestors. Yet, it feels good she is creating history in the US," he added.
In all likelihood, Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu villages appear to be headed for prolonged celebrations.
Confident of their victory in the US presidential election, Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris have begun working on the task ahead by focusing on two critical areas of public health and economy, both battered by the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
