Kerala Governor under fire from UDF for supporting CAA
Kozhikode, Dec 22: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan came under attack from Congress-led UDF on Sunday for reportedly supporting the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, with the Opposition alleging he has stooped to the level of a BJP spokesperson.
The Governor, like the BJP, was trying to present a "distorted" version of history, the opposition front said referring to his speech at the Nehru Museum Memorial and Library in New Delhi on Saturday.
Speaking on the topic of "Citizenship institutional and civilizational," Khan had said the Congress had "committed itself in 1947 to accept" the people who have already fled Pakistan and who are likely to flee because their lives and honour were in danger.
"It is unfortunate that the Governor who holds the high constitutional post has stooped to the level of a BJP spokesman,"Congress parliamentary party deputy leader in the Kerala Assembly, K C Joseph, said in a statement.
The Governor, like the BJP, is trying to present a "distorted" version of history, he said, a day after Khan said in the programme, justifying CAA and indirectly blaming the Congress for protesting the law meant to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
"The governor's finding that CAA had been the creation of the Congress is absolutely baseless,'' Joseph said.
He said the Congress had never decided to determine citizenship of a person in the name of his religion.
Hitting out at the Governor, former state Congress Chief V M Sudheeran accused him of working like PRO of the Central government.
The Governor is taking efforts to whitewash the CAA, a "mad decision" taken by the Centre, he said.
The senior Congress leader urged the Governor to desist from directly or indirectly justifying the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Otherwise, the Governor will lose the acceptance he receives from Kerala society, he said in a statement.
IUML state general secretary K P A Majeed condemned the statement of the Governor, terming it "very bad."
Speaking to reporters here, he said such statements were not expected from a person holding the post of Governor.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
