Cong’s disinformation campaign failed, public aware of truth: Union minister Rijiju
Mumbai (PTI): Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said that the Congress’ “disinformation campaign” has failed, referring to the opposition party’s claim during the Lok Sabha polls that the BJP would change the Constitution if it won the 2024 general elections.
People are now aware of the truth, said the BJP leader in a press conference here ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.
He targeted Rahul Gandhi over the latter’s visit to Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism 68 years ago, on Wednesday and attacked the Congress over historical political events and for “treating” Muslims as a vote bank.
Questioning Rahul Gandhi’s respect for the Constitution, he said, “The Congress should first answer why it insulted the Constitution and late Dr Ambedkar. The Congress had even ensured Dr Ambedkar’s defeat.”
He said the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru initially did not want Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, in his cabinet, although the Dalit icon was eventually inducted and made the law minister.
Rijiju also mentioned Ambedkar’s resignation, describing it as an insult to him. This marked the beginning of significant changes in the constitutional framework, said the former law minister, citing the 42nd Amendment, passed during Emergency (1975-77).
“The spirit of the Constitution was attacked in 1975, and democracy was murdered,” Rijiju said, referring to the Emergency imposed by then PM Indira Gandhi.
Rijiju also described Congress leaders holding copies of the Constitution as a “fake drama”, claiming the book had blank pages. “Some people told me that the books Congress party distributed to people (as copies of Constitution) had a red cover but with blank pages,” he said.
The BJP leader praised the pace of infrastructure development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the construction of highways and expressways.
The Maharashtra government, when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM, built the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway. He contrasted this with what he described as the failure of Congress-led governments in delivering on their promises in Telangana, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.
“Within one month, people were dissatisfied with the guarantees made in these states,” he claimed.
Rijiju also accused the Congress of exploiting Muslims as a vote bank.
“Congress fooled Muslims. They are still poor, and no major work was done for them. This affected both the Muslim community and the country as a whole,” Rijiju claimed.
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Mumbai police summon Raipur lawyer over death threat to Shah Rukh Khan
Mumbai/Raipur, Nov 7: The Mumbai police have registered an extortion case and summoned a lawyer from Chhattisgarh in connection with a death threat to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and a demand for Rs 50 lakh, officials said on Thursday.
The lawyer from Raipur has been summoned as the threat call was made from a phone number registered in his name, a senior police official from the Chhattisgarh capital said. The lawyer told the police that he lost his phone last week and had filed a police complaint, the official said.
The threat to Shah Rukh Khan follows a series of threats issued to fellow actor Salman Khan, allegedly from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
“The Bandra police station received a call threatening Shah Rukh Khan and asking for Rs 50 lakh. An offence has been registered. No arrest has been made yet,” a senior Mumbai police official said.
A case has been registered by the Bandra police under sections 308(4) (extortion involving threats of death or serious injury) and 351(3)(4) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the caller who threatened Shah Rukh Khan, the official said.
Police teams have been dispatched to various places for further investigation, he said.
While there was no confirmation from Mumbai police on reports that the call was made from Chhattisgarh, a Raipur police official said their counterparts from the Maharashtra capital on Thursday served a notice to a man from the city in connection with it.
As part of their investigation into the threat to Shah Rukh Khan, Mumbai police visited Raipur and summoned a lawyer, identified as Faizan Khan, who lives within the limits of Pandri police station here, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.
Police had earlier identified the man as Faiyaz Khan.
As per preliminary information, the threat call to the actor was made from a phone number registered in the name of Faizan, he said.
Faizan has been asked to appear for questioning at Bandra police station, Singh said.
A Mumbai police team arrived at Pandri police station in the morning and informed the officials about the case following which Faizan was called for questioning, City Superintendent of Police (CSP- Civil Lines) Ajay Kumar told PTI.
Faizan told the cops that he had lost his phone last week and lodged a complaint at Khamardih police station here, he said. Mumbai police have served a notice to Faizan and summoned him for further questioning, the official added.
Later, talking to reporters in Raipur, Faizan claimed that his phone was stolen and termed the threat call made from his number a conspiracy against him.
“My phone was stolen on November 2 and I lodged a complaint. I told Mumbai police about it. They interrogated me for about two hours,” he said.
He, however, said he had earlier complained to Mumbai police against Shah Rukh Khan over a dialogue in his movie ‘Anjaam’ (1994) referring to deer hunting.
“I hail from Rajasthan. The Bishnoi community (which is from Rajasthan) is my friend. It is in their religion to protect deer. So, if a Muslim says something like this about deer, it is condemnable. Therefore, I raised an objection,” he said.
Faizan added, “Whoever has made a call from my phone, it seems intentional. I think it is a conspiracy against me.”
