Delhi's AAP govt 'indulged in corruption', polluted Yamuna, says Annamalai
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP's Tamil Nadu unit chief K Annamalai on Sunday accused Delhi's AAP government of "indulging in corruption" and polluting the Yamuna even further.
Addressing the Delhi Tamil Confluence organised by the Tamil Nadu Prakosth of the BJP's Delhi unit at Talkatora Stadium, Annamalai also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given respect to the Tamil community everywhere.
He said, "The people of Delhi are quite honest and they have embraced the people of Tamil Nadu, which is a matter of pride for Tamil Nadu. After May 13, all colleagues from Tamil Nadu are preparing to come to Delhi so that they can ensure our victory on all seven seats."
The BJP's Tamil Nadu chief also hailed Modi's welfare schemes.
"In his 10 years of work, whether it is providing permanent housing, LPG cylinders or other schemes, the benefits of the Modi government's schemes have been received by all sections of society without discrimination," he said.
"But within Delhi, there is a government of a person who should serve the common people but is continuously involved in scams. There was talk of never joining hands with such a person but, today, they are talking about forming a government with him," he claimed, referring to the Congress' electoral alliance with AAP in Delhi.
Annamalai alleged that besides indulging in "corruption" in every department, the AAP government has polluted the Yamuna river even further.
"Therefore, on May 25, victory on all seven seats of Delhi must be ensured. After the victory, we will call big leaders from Tamil Nadu and the country and organise a big event," he said.
Earlier in the day, Annamalai addressed more than 1,000 social media volunteers and discussed in detail how to use the platform in the elections.
Asserting that the BJP has always believed in truth and not narrative, Annamalai said, "We have to take the truth to people through social media".
"Those who do not want development of the country set such a narrative that works to divide the people of India," he alleged.
Annamalai also accused the Congress of spreading a narrative in south India that Modi is has set a target of 400-plus seats because he wants to end the Constitution while reality is that the Constitution was in danger and its provisions suspended during the Congress era.
"Today, if there is any first-time voter, he would have been eight years old during the Congress government. So it is necessary to give him information about what happened in history," he added.
Annamalai also claimed that the opposition INDIA bloc neither has candidates for prime minister nor any narrative.
Polling for the national capital's seven Lok Sabha seats will be held in the sixth phase on May 25.
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.
Angry protesters from New York to Alaska assail Trump and Musk in 'Hands Off!' rallies
_vb_98.jpeg)
Washington (AP): Crowds of people angry about the way President Donald Trump is running the country marched and rallied in scores of American cities Saturday in the biggest day of demonstrations yet by an opposition movement trying to regain its momentum after the shock of the Republican's first weeks in office.
So-called Hands Off! demonstrations were organised for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organisations, labour unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans and elections activists. The rallies appeared peaceful, with no immediate reports of arrests.
Thousands of protesters in cities dotting the nation from Midtown Manhattan to Anchorage, Alaska, including at multiple state capitols, assailed Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's actions on government downsizing, the economy, immigration and human rights.
On the West Coast, in the shadow of Seattle's iconic Space Needle, protesters held signs with slogans like “Fight the oligarchy.” Protesters chanted as they took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, where they marched from Pershing Square to City Hall.
Demonstrators voiced anger over the administration's moves to fire thousands of federal workers, close Social Security Administration field offices, effectively shutter entire agencies, deport immigrants, scale back protections for transgender people and cut funding for health programs.
Musk, a Trump adviser who runs Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in the downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. He says he is saving taxpayers billions of dollars.
Asked about the protests, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump's position is clear: he will always protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for eligible beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Democrats' stance is giving Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare benefits to illegal aliens, which will bankrupt these programs and crush American seniors.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, criticized the administration's treatment of the LBGTQ+ community at the rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where Democratic members of Congress also took the stage.
“The attacks that we're seeing, they're not just political. They are personal, y'all,” Robinson said. “They're trying to ban our books, they're slashing HIV prevention funding, they're criminalizing our doctors, our teachers, our families and our lives.”
“We don't want this America, y'all,” Robinson added. “We want the America we deserve, where dignity, safety and freedom belong not to some of us, but to all of us.”
In Boston, demonstrators brandished signs such as “Hands off our democracy” and “Hands off our Social Security.”
Mayor Michelle Wu said she does not want her children and others' to live in a world in which threats and intimidation are government tactics and values like diversity and equality are under attack.
“I refuse to accept that they could grow up in a world where immigrants like their grandma and grandpa are automatically presumed to be criminals,” Wu said.
Roger Broom, 66, a retiree from Delaware County, Ohio, was one of hundreds who rallied at the Statehouse in Columbus. He said he used to be a Reagan Republican but has been turned off by Trump.
“He's tearing this country apart,” Broom said. “It's just an administration of grievances.”
Hundreds of people also demonstrated in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, a few miles from Trump's golf course in Jupiter, where he spent the morning at the club's Senior Club Championship. People lined both sides of PGA Drive, encouraging cars to honk and chanting slogans against Trump.
“They need to keep their hands off of our Social Security,” said Archer Moran of Port St. Lucie, Florida.
“The list of what they need to keep their hands off of is too long,” Moran said. “And it's amazing how soon these protests are happening since he's taken office.”
The president golfed in Florida Saturday and planned to do so again Sunday, the White House said.
Activists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Trump and Musk multiple times since Trump returned to office. But before Saturday the opposition movement had yet to produce a mass mobilization like the Women's March in 2017, which brought thousands of women to Washington after Trump's first inauguration, or the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floyd's killing by police in Minneapolis in 2020.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, protesters said they were supporting a variety of causes, from Social Security and education to immigration and women's reproductive rights.
“Regardless of your party, regardless of who you voted for, what's going on today, what's happening today is abhorrent,” said Britt Castillo, 35, of Charlotte. "It's disgusting, and as broken as our current system might be, the way that the current administration is going about trying to fix things — it is not the way to do it. They're not listening to the people."
Among thousands marching through downtown San Jose, California, were Deborah and Douglas Doherty.
Deborah, a graphic designer, is a veteran of the 2017 Women's March and was nervous that fewer people have turned out against Trump this time. “All the cities need to show up,” she said. “Now people are kind of numb to it, which is itself frightening.”
 (1)_vb_94.jpeg)
