'Goli maaro...' slogan raised at BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's rally
Chandannagar (WB): At a rally led by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Chandannagar city, the provocative "goli maaro.." slogan was raised on Wednesday.
The slogan -- "desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro..." (shoot the traitors) -- was raised by a few BJP cadres, carrying the party flag along with the Indian tricolour while they were trailing a truck carrying Adhikari and Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee in the Rathtala area of the city.
They claimed that the slogan was aimed at the traitors of the country "some of whom are in the Trinamool Congress". State BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the party does not endorse these kind of slogans.
On Tuesday, a similar slogan was raised at a Trinamool Congress rally in south Kolkata with party activists calling for "shooting" the traitors of Bengal, in an apparent reference to the leaders who have switched over to the BJP.
The BJP spokesperson said that the slogan raised at the Chandannagar rally was aimed at terrorists, plotting against the country, while the Trinamool Congress men openly threatened the leaders who have left the party, branding them as traitors.
"There is a difference between the two incidents but we disapprove of such slogans in our rally," Bhattacharya said, refusing to specify if action will be taken against those who raised the slogan.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that though he condemns the slogan raised at the south Kolkata rally, the BJP needs to answer whether it wants to shoot the people opposed to its ideology.
"The BJP men are asking the Army to shoot the traitors. Does the BJP want to shoot the people opposed to their ideology?" he said.
In March last year, three BJP "supporters" were arrested for raising the provocative slogan while heading to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally in Kolkata.
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.
Fossils of possibly largest snake to have ever lived found in Kutch, scientists say
New Delhi (PTI): Fossils recovered from Kutch in Gujarat may have belonged to the spine of one of the largest snakes to have ever lived, according to new research from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.
From the Panandhro Lignite Mine, researchers discovered 27 "mostly well-preserved" bones forming the snake's spinal column, or vertebra, with some connections still intact. They said the vertebrae appeared to be from a fully-grown animal.
The snake is estimated to be between roughly 11 and 15 metres long, comparable in size only to the extinct Titanoboa, known to be the longest snake to have ever lived, the researchers said. Owing to its size, it may have been a "slow-moving ambush predator," similar to an anaconda, they said. The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The researchers have named this newly discovered snake species 'Vasuki Indicus' (V. Indicus) after the mythical snake round the neck of the Hindu deity Shiva and in reference to its country of discovery, India. V. Indicus is part of the now extinct madtsoiidae family, known to have lived across a broad geography, including Africa, Europe and India, they added.
The authors said the snake represented a "distinct lineage" originating in India which then spread via southern Europe to Africa during the Eocene, about 56 to 34 million years ago. The first ancestors and close relatives of the modern mammal species are said to have appeared in the Eocene period.
The authors dated the fossils to the Middle Eocene period, roughly 47 million years ago.
The vertebrae, measuring between 38 and 62 millimetres in length, and between 62 and 111 millimetres in width, suggested V. Indicus to possibly have had a broad, cylindrical body, the researchers said.
They extrapolated the measurements of V. Indicus to be between 10.9 and 15.2 metres in length.
Despite uncertainties in estimates, the researchers said the snake was comparable in size to Titanoboa, the fossils of which were first discovered in the 2000s from present day Colombia.
