BJP govt has failed to protect India from arbitrary tariffs, visa fees: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has attacked the BJP government commenting that an emergency has struck India's foreign policy under it and that it has failed to protect the country from arbitrary tariffs and visa fees.
He also said the government has failed to protect Indians living abroad from violent attacks.
In a post on microblogging site X on Saturday, Yadav said, "An emergency has struck foreign policy under the BJP rule: The BJP government is unable to protect India from arbitrary tariffs and arbitrary visa fees."
He said the government is unable to keep up relations with neighbouring countries, adhere to the country's historical non-alignment policy, protect overseas Indians from handcuffs, chains, public humiliation and violent attacks, and bring any country along on the matter of terrorism.
The post in Hindi added that the BJP government has put the foreign policy aside.
Speaking to reporters at the party office in Lucknow, the Samajwadi Party chief slammed the Centre over the US hiking H1-B visa fee, which is expected to affect several Indians.
"Your foreign policy has failed in the foreign countries. Your economic policies have failed. You have failed in making relationships," he said.
Yadav also attacked Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging that he wanted guns in people's hands, not books.
"Try to remember, he (Adityanath) does not want anyone to go abroad, neither for studies nor for work, but only to operate guns. People can go to Russia, join the army there. Go to Israel, and fight along with its army. (He wants) those with H-1B visas to go for good jobs," Yadav said.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said Indians will only get visa relief once the Narendra Modi-led Central government is out of power.
US President Donald Trump had on Friday signed a proclamation that will raise the fee for H-1B visas to a staggering USD 100,000 (Rs 88 lakh) annually.
The Trump administration's latest move to crack down on immigration is likely to impact thousands of Indian professionals.
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said the H-1B non-immigrant visa programme is one of the most abused visa systems in the country's current immigration system, and the hike in visa fees is intended to allow only highly skilled labourers, who work in fields where Americans are not employed, to enter the United States.
The move, he said, is aimed at protecting American workers from being replaced.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
