Filmmaker Ramasimhan Aboobakker quits BJP
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Malayalam filmmaker and Sangh Parivar fellow traveller Ramasimhan Aboobakker announced that he has quit the BJP.
Ramasimhan, as he is widely known after he renounced Islam in December 2021 and changed his name from Ali Akbar to Ramasimhan Aboobakker, was a state committee member of the BJP till he resigned all his organisational responsibilities in the saffron party in 2021.
The 'Puzha Muthal Puzhavare' director said there was no need to create any fuss about his decision as he is not going anywhere and would move with the "dharma" (a reference to Sanathana dharma) that he has learned.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Ramasimhan said he is "freed from everything. Only with one thing, with Dharma."
The director is the third film personality to quit the BJP in the past two weeks in Kerala. Earlier, Malayalam director Rajasenan and actor Bhiman Raghu had announced their decision to leave the saffron party and work with the ruling CPI(M).
The BJP has not reacted to the developments.
Ramasimhan said it has been a few days since he resigned. "Now it came out, that's all... It was now realised that if one wants to move with dharma, there should be no ties, so the ties were untied. That's it," he explained in another post on Friday.
In October 2021, the director-turned-politician resigned from all responsibilities in the BJP, including as a state committee member, as he was "pained" by the Kerala unit's organisational-level action against a Muslim BJP leader in Kerala. Akbar (as he was known then), however, had said he would continue as a member of the BJP.
In an emotional Facebook post, he had said it was very difficult for the common man to understand the kind of humiliations and abuses being faced by a Muslim, from his own family and community, while working for the BJP.
'Puzha Muthal Puzha Vare' based on the Malabar rebellion, also called the Moplah riot, that took place in north Kerala in 1921 was Ramasimhan's recent film.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
