Annamalai vows to not wear sandals till DMK regime is dislodged
Coimbatore, Dec 26: BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai on Thursday said he would not wear sandals and walk barefoot until the DMK regime is dislodged.
Further, he said he would lash himself six times with a whip on December 27 at 10 am outside his residence here to draw people's attention over the tragic sexual assault of the Anna University student. Also it was to condemn the police, and the state government for its "apathy" in handling such matters.
Addressing a press conference, Annamalai alleged that the accused, Gnanasekaran was a DMK office-bearer, which was denied by the ruling party. The BJP leader, showing photographs of the accused with DMK leaders, alleged that he was a ruling party's student wing office-bearer.
Tamil Nadu Law Minister S Regupathi asserted that the accused in the varsity student sexual assault case was not even a primary member of the DMK. The BJP leader alleged that the accused committed the crime emboldened by his affiliation to the ruling party.
"This is very simple," he told reporters here. Since, the accused was associated with the DMK, police did not act against him, he alleged and wanted to know about the use of Nirbhaya funds to prevent such crimes.
Annamalai also questioned the way the FIR was written and said it was drafted as if the victim had committed a crime. "The DMK (government) should be ashamed of disclosing the identity of the victim."
Announcing that he would not wear footwear till such time the DMK government is ousted, he said he would go on a 48-day 'Viratham' (spiritual vow) by worshipping Lord Muruga, offering prayers at all the six 'Aarupadai' temples in the state by February, 2025.
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Manmohan Singh 'tried very hard' to establish 'some kind of peace' with Pakistan: Former deputy NSA
New Delhi (PTI): During his tenure as prime minister, Manmohan Singh "tried very hard" to establish "some kind of peace" with Pakistan but it didn't work, former deputy NSA and his then-close aide Pankaj Saran said.
Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, died here at the age of 92 late on Thursday.
Saran on Thursday termed Singh's passing as "very unfortunate", and described him as an intellectual, an economist of world standing, but also a "man who symbolised humility".
He was a consensus builder, a very simple man, "never expected to be a prime minister, but he served for 10 years," the former deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) recalled.
Saran, a 1982-batch IFS officer, had served as India's envoy to Russia. He had also held various positions in India and abroad, including the country's high commissioner to Bangladesh.
He was appointed deputy NSA in 2018.
"He (Manmohan Singh) was always a great listener, intellectual, an economist of world standing, widely respected. He was the first (Indian) prime minister at the start of the G20 Summit in 2008, and he developed a very high reputation among the global leaders, whose understanding of economics... All in all, I would say, a very fine person, a great human being, both in his personal life and officially," Saran told PTI Videos.
Singh greatly believed that India's future "lay in good relations with the West", the former diplomat said.
"Among the neighbours, he tried very hard to establish some kind of peace with Pakistan but it didn't work. But he tried and he was very disappointed that his efforts did not succeed. In fact, they were rebuffed with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in 2008 when he was prime minister, and that really shook him up very badly," he recalled.
Singh also made greater outreach to the Gulf and he visited Saudi Arabia, one of the first prime ministers to do so, Saran added.
The veteran diplomat said he felt that Singh "gave India a very good image overseas of someone who was deeply committed to the country... building the country".
"After all, he was also the shaper of the economic reforms that began in 1991. He was the architect of those reforms, he was deeply committed to the growth of the Indian economy. In the foreign policy field, I think he will go down in history as the leader who changed the paradigm of India-US relations with his success of the nuclear deal with the US," he said.
"So, both on economic policy and foreign policy, he made a mark, as someone who was respected, but as an individual very understated, very simple man, willing to learn, willing to read, willing to understand," Saran said.
"He never tried to assert himself or shut down contrary opinions. I think he was one of the greats of the non-family Congress, and serving as prime minister for 10 years, outside of the family, was a huge achievement," he said.
