Chhattisgarh Cong MLA speaks about Hindu Rashtra
party calls it 'personal views', says it swears by Constitution, secularism
Raipur, Jun 17: A Congress legislator in Chhattisgarh reportedly spoke of the need for Hindus to unite so that "Hindu Rashtra" can be formed, prodding the ruling party to say the remarks were "personal views" and that it swore by the Constitution and secularism.
Dharsiwa MLA Anita Yogendra Sharma reportedly made the appeal on Friday while addressing an event in Raipur to mark the birth anniversary of Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati.
"Wherever we are, be it in a village or any place we should pledge and talk for Hindus. When we Hindus come together then only Hindu Rashtra can be created," she said in Chhattisgarhi language.
Reacting to the statement, Chhattisgarh state Congress communication head Sushil Anand Shukla said, "The Congress party stands with the Constitution. It is firm on secularism that is mentioned in the Constitution drafted by leaders like Babasaheb Ambedkar, Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru, Dr Rajendra Prasad".
Asserting that what Sharma said was her "personal views", Shukla said the Congress welcomes every person's ideology, religion, opinion and differences.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters during the day, Sharma said her statement had been misinterpreted.
"I was only talking about the unity of people who live in the country," she claimed.
Chhattisgarh Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Kedar Gupta said if the Congress supports the Uniform Civil Code, which he claimed was in the pipeline, then "Ram Rajya will prevail as the UCC will end the appeasement politics".
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Duleep Trophy: Pacers shine as India B beat India A by 76 runs
Bengaluru, Sep 8: KL Rahul's gumption, which helped him pile a patient fifty, found no resonance among his colleagues as India B pacers led by Yash Dayal pushed India A to a 76-run defeat on the fourth and final day of their Duleep Trophy match here on Sunday.
Chasing 275, India A were bundled out for 198 in their second innings as left-arm seamer Dayal (3/50), with able support from his colleagues Mukesh Kumar (2/50) and Navdeep Saini (2/41), led the India B attack.
Rahul top-scored for 'A' with a 51.
In the first session of the day, India B made 184 all out in their second essay to muster a handy overall lead of 274.
The India A chase began on a shaky note as Mayank Agarwal departed in the second over itself, wafting Dayal away from his body to Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made a wonderful diving catch at second slip.
That brought Riyan Parag to the middle and the right-hander followed the path set on Saturday by Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan.
Parag took on the bowlers and pacer Mukesh bore the brunt of his aggression, getting smoked for two sixes and the second maximum touched the roof of the Chinnaswamy Stadium over the mid-wicket region.
Parag added 48 runs for the second with a rather subdued Shubman Gill, who was dropped by Nitish Reddy at slips off Mukesh on 16, and 31 came off the former's bat in just 18 balls.
But the approach was tough to sustain considering the kind of assistance the bowlers were getting here, and soon his massive hoick off Dayal took an edge off Parag's bat en route to stumper Rishabh Pant.
Gill (21) departed soon, falling to Saini for the second time in the match and on this occasion, he edged the pacer to Pant.
Dhruv Jurel poked Dayal well outside off-stump to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully, as India batters perished to a combination of bowlers' persistence on that channel and their own carelessness.
They took the lunch at a queasy 76 for four that soon transpired into 99 for six after the dismissal of Shivam Dube and Tanush Kotian, an hour into the lunch.
However, Rahul batted out 180 minutes 121 balls and milked 42 runs for the seventh wicket with Kuldeep Yadav to delay the inevitable.
The standout shot in an otherwise dour innings was a whistling on drive off Mukesh that fetched him a boundary.
But Mukesh had his revenge soon when Rahul feathered a cut off him to Pant, who completed five catches in this innings, soon after reaching his fifty with a single off Saini.
It effectively signalled the end of the road of for India A, though Akash Deep (43, 42b, 3x4, 4x6) gave a few moments of fun with a cavalier innings.
But beyond the entertainment value, it always was a case of when more than if.
Earlier, resuming from their overnight score of 150 for six India B could only 34 runs more to the total before getting bundled out.
Pacer Akash, whom Sarfaraz Khan carted around for five fours in a row the previous day, found his mojo to add the scalps of Washington Sundar and Saini to complete a five-wicket haul (5/56).
The spell will keep his name floating among the contenders when the selectors sit together soon to pick up squad for two-match Test series against Bangladesh.
