Goa government gone soft on Sanatan Sanstha: Writer Damodar Mauzo
Panaji, Aug 1: Goa-based Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Damodar Mauzo, who was last week given police security following death threats by alleged killers of Bengaluru-based writer Gauri Lankesh, on Wednesday said the state government has gone soft on the Sanatan Sanstha, headquartered in the coastal state.
"Why has this happened today? When a bomb blast happened in 2009, the government went soft on the accused. If the government had remained firm, things would not have come to this pass," he said.
Eight members of the Sanstha were accused of plotting an IED blast in Margao town in South Goa in 2009, but six were acquitted. Two others died while ferrying the bomb towards a crowded Diwali function.
The Sanstha has said it did not have a role in the blast. A Congress-led coalition government was in power when the blast took place.
Mauzo was speaking at a solidarity meeting convened in the state capital to condemn the death threat to him. The writer won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1983 for his novel 'Karmelin'.
Praising India's diversity, Mauzo said that in the name of evicting Rohingyas, the National Register of Citizens was being used to de-list native Indians.
"Do you know what is happening in Assam? In the name of evicting Rohingyas, they have prepared a National Register of Citizens. Please go and see whose names are on it. Please understand the agenda behind it and the thought behind... it is betrayal of society," Mauzo said, calling the controversial NRC an "unconstitutional move".
In 2016, then Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said that the Goa government would consult the Maharashtra Home Department, which was probing the death of leftist leader Govind Pansare, before deciding on a ban on the Sanstha.
Samir Gaikwad, a member of the Sanstha was arrested in 2016, for Pansare's murder, even as Rudra Patil, another member of the organisation, also linked to the same crime, is absconding.
Responding to the statement made by Mauzo and other comments by speakers at the event organised by the Goa unit of the 'Dakshinayan Abhiyan, the Sanatan Sanstha in a press statement issued late on Wednesday said, that the meeting was a "clear-cut show of anti-Hindu attitude" and that those accusing the organisation of a hand in the Margao blast of 2009 had no faith in the judiciary.
"Those who are putting allegations of Margao explosion on Sanatan Sanstha seem to have no trust in judicial system or Constitution. During Congress rule, six seekers of Sanatan Sanstha were proved innocent and were acquitted by the court from the case," the statement said, adding that there is not a "single case registered against Sanatan Sanstha; neither has it been proved guilty in any of the cases".
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Cong cites Kangana's purported remarks to accuse BJP of wanting to bring back repealed farm laws
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.
The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.
"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."
In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."
Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.
"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."
"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".
"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.
The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.
The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.
“तीनों किसान क़ानून वापस लाये जाने चाहिए” : BJP MP कंगना रनौत
— Supriya Shrinate (@SupriyaShrinate) September 24, 2024
जिन तीन काले किसान विरोधी क़ानूनों की मुख़ालिफ़त करते 750 से ज़्यादा किसान शहीद हो गए
उनको दोबारा से लाने की कोशिश की जा रही है. हम ऐसा कभी नहीं होने देंगे
सबसे पहला जवाब हरियाणा देगा pic.twitter.com/kRAkRuE2cc
