Akhilesh Yadav asks UP CM to also 'reveal' caste of other Gods
Lucknow, Dec 12: Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked him to "reveal" caste of other deities so he could pray to the God of his caste.
Yadav's remarks come days after the chief minister described Lord Hanuman as a Dalit.
Adityanath had, during a poll rally in Rajasthan's Alwar district, said, "Hanuman was a forest dweller, deprived and a Dalit. Bajrang Bali worked to connect all Indian communities together, from north to south and east to west."
"Caste of only some Gods have been revealed. It will be good if he tells caste of all of them. I will also pray to the God of my caste," Yadav told reporters Wednesday.
Adityanath was strongly criticised by the opposition for his remarks while one of its own Dalit MP quit the party.
Bahraich BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule claimed that Lord Hanuman was "a Dalit and a slave of 'manuwadi' people" and alleged that Dalits and backwards were being called 'bandar' (monkey) and 'rakshas' (demon).
The Lok Sabha member quit the BJP last week, charging it with playing politics to divide the society.
Asked to comment on the results of the just-concluded assembly elections in five states, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, Akhilesh said the outcome was "encouraging".
"Results of assembly polls are out. I thank people of these state especially of Chhattisgarh, MP and Rajasthan and welcome the 'janadesh'. Though our (SP's) performance was not good, we won a seat in MP and stood at second at some places," he said.
To a question on forging future alliance, he said, "Presently I am seeing how strong my party is and emphasising on its preparations upto booth level. The SP always stood against communal forces and its objective it so see happy and prosperous India."
Yadav said that his party did not contest many seats so that it did not ruin the political pitch of other parties against the BJP.
"We did not contest too many seats. We contested on seats where we had some base. We did this to not botch political prospects of other parties against the BJP," he said, adding that his party has already offered support to the Congress in MP.
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.
Rupee falls 9 paise to record low of 90.87 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee plunged 9 paise to a record low of 90.87 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by sustained FII outflows and no breakthrough in the India-US trade deal.
However, a weaker greenback and a decline in global crude oil prices capped further losses in the domestic unit, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at its all-time low of 90.87 against the US dollar, down 9 paise from its previous close, and traded in a narrow range of 90.77- 90.87 in early trade.
ALSO READ: Rupee falls 9 paise to all-time low of 90.58 against US dollar in early trade
The rupee on Monday settled at a new all-time low of 90.78 against the US dollar, registering a loss of 29 paise over its previous close, weighed down by uncertainty over an India-US trade deal and persistent foreign fund outflows.
"The US-India trade deal still seems to be off by a distance with the Commerce Secretary saying the first phase will be signed before the end of the year and news that we are closest to the deal being signed. The uncertainty has clouded the recovery on the USD/INR pair as the rupee opened lower with dollar buying happening every day," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Even a reduction in trade deficit on Monday could not bring about a recovery in the rupee with Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) outflows continuing, he added
According to the latest government data released on Monday, India's trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low of USD 24.53 billion in November, as exports rebounded by 19.37 per cent to a six-month high of USD 38.13 billion after contracting in October, driven by higher shipments of engineering and electronics goods.
At the same time, the country's imports dipped by 1.88 per cent to USD 62.66 billion due to a fall in the inbound shipments of gold, crude oil, coal, and coke.
FIIs sold equities worth Rs 1,468.32 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
Also, wholesale price inflation stayed in the negative for the second consecutive month in November at (-) 0.32 per cent, even though there was an uptick in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at (-) 1.21 per cent in October and 2.16 per cent in November last year.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 98.27.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.61 per cent lower at USD 60.19 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, declined 363.92 points to 84,849.44 in early trade while the Nifty was down 106.65 points to 25,920.65.
