If Cong really has sympathy, it should appoint Muslim party chief; give 50% tickets to them: PM Modi
Hisar (Haryana), Apr 14 (PTI): If the Congress really has sympathy for Muslims, it should appoint a Muslim as its president and give 50 percent tickets to people from the community, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday, accusing the party of pursuing a policy of appeasement which benefited none.
Addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of a new terminal building AT Hisar's Maharaja Agrasen Airport and flagging off a commercial flight to Ayodhya, Modi attacked the Congress on the changes made by it in the Waqf law in 2013.
He also said Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar advocated there should be no reservation on the basis of religion and the Constitution also bars it, but the Congress government in Karnataka gave reservation in tenders on the basis of religion by "snatching away" the rights of the SCs, Scheduled Tribes and the OBC.
He alleged the Congress followed a policy of appeasement which "pleased" only a few "fundamentalists" from among Muslims, while the rest of the community remained neglected, illiterate and poor.
The biggest proof of this Congress' policy was the amendments it made in the Waqf law on the eve of the 2014 general elections, Modi said.
"From Independence till 2013, there was a Waqf law. But to win elections, and in pursuing a politics of appeasement and vote bank, the Congress made amendments in the Waqf law hurriedly late in 2013 so that it can get votes in elections (few months later in 2014)," said Modi.
Modi said the changes effected by the Congress were "the biggest insult to Babasaheb" as they violated the Constitution he built.
"If they (the Congress) really have some sympathy for Muslims, they should appoint their president from the Muslim community. Why do not they do it?" he asked.
He also asked the Congress to give 50 percent election tickets to people belonging to the Muslim community. "After they win, they will put forth their views," said Modi. "But they (the Congress) will not do it. They will give nothing from the Congress but will snatch away the rights of citizens," he said.
The Congress never had any intention of doing any good to anybody including Muslims, he said. "This is the real truth of the Congress."
He said the Waqf board owns lakhs of hectares land in the country which could have been utilised for the benefit of the poor, the destitute women and children. "Had it been honestly utilised, Muslims youths would not have to spend their lives by fixing puncture tyres."
"It benefited only a handful of land mafia. There was no gain to Pasmanda Muslims. This land mafia was looting the land of Dalits, downtrodden, 'aadiwasis' and widows. Hundreds of widows women wrote to the Centre and then a debate on this law took place," said Modi.
After the amendment to the Waqf law -- enacted by his government and implemented from April 8 after the presidential approval to the Waqf Amendment Bill 2025 -- such loot of the poor will stop, he said.
"We have made another amendment in the Waqf law. Under this, the Waqf board now cannot even touch the land and property of any 'aadiwasi' in the country," he said.
Modi had recently said the new Waqf law was a significant step taken by his government towards social justice. He said the previous law, enacted in 2013, was an attempt for appeasement of land mafia and Muslim fundamentalists.
"We have done a big job of protecting the rights of Aadiwasi and following the spirit of the constitution," he asserted.
With the new provisions, the pious spirit of the Waqf will also be respected, he noted.
"Poor Muslim, Pasmanda families, Muslim women especially widows and children will also get their rights and their rights will remain protected in future," he said.
This is the real spirit and social justice, he said.
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Stock markets rise for 7th day; Sensex reclaims 80k-level on rally in IT shares, FII inflows
Mumbai, Apr 23 (PTI): Stock markets extended the winning run to seventh day on Wednesday with benchmark BSE Sensex jumping 520 points to close above 80,000 level for the first time in four months driven by strong gains in IT and auto shares.
The 30-share Sensex rose by 520.90 points or 0.65 per cent to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18. During the day, it surged 658.96 points or 0.82 per cent to 80,254.55.
The NSE Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67 per cent to 24,328.95.
Foreign fund inflows and positive global trends also boosted the market sentiment, analysts said.
Among the Sensex firms, HCL Tech surged the most by 7.72 per cent after the firm posted an 8.1 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,307 crore for March quarter 2024-25, mainly on account of large deals with a total contract value of about Rs 25,500 crore.
Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Maruti were also among major gainers.
Banking shares witnessed a sell-off after recent sharp gains with leading private lender HDFC Bank dropping by 1.98 per cent to emerge as the biggest loser among Sensex shares.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ITC and UltraTech Cement were also among the laggards.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory. Shanghai SSE Composite ended marginally lower.
Markets in Europe were trading significantly higher.
US markets bounced back sharply on Tuesday. Nasdaq Composite surged 2.71 per cent, Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.66 per cent and S&P 500 rallied 2.51 per cent.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,290.43 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"The Indian equity market sustained its positive momentum, driven by better outcome from the latest set of IT results and optimistic forward-looking comments. However, profit-booking was visible in financials after the recent sharp rally.
"While US-China trade tensions appear to be easing, a rally in US tech stocks has further bolstered overall global market sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.94 per cent and smallcap index went up by 0.26 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT surged 4.25 per cent, IT jumped 4 per cent, teck (3.10 per cent), auto (2.34 per cent), realty (1.37 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.02 per cent), healthcare (0.96 per cent) and industrials (0.84 per cent).
Financial Services, bankex and consumer durables were the laggards.
As many as 2,078 stocks advanced while 1,873 declined and 155 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.35 per cent to USD 68.35 a barrel.
The BSE benchmark climbed 187.09 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 79,595.59 on Tuesday. The Nifty went up by 41.70 points or 0.17 per cent to 24,167.25.
