Left made a mistake by fielding a candidate against Shashi Tharoor, says Prakash Raj
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The CPI(M)-led LDF made a mistake by fielding a candidate against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, according to actor Prakash Raj, who is known for his pro-Left political stand on various socio-political issues.
Praising Tharoor as "the best-spoken Malayali and a statesman" to whom even international politicians would listen, Prakash Raj here on Monday said that the Left should not have fallen into "the trap" of the BJP, which wanted the two secular fronts to fight between each other so that they could split the votes and gain benefits.
Addressing a press conference here, the actor said, "I know the Left candidate (CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran). He is a nice person and a good politician. But I think the Left made a mistake by fielding a candidate against Tharoor."
He said it is important to think about the welfare of the country rather than political parties.
The actor said what Tharoor has worked for over the past 15 years cannot be overlooked, and requested the voters of Thiruvananthapuram "not to let him down".
He also unleashed a barrage of accusations against the BJP-led NDA's Thiruvananthapuram candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Prakash Raj, who hails from Karnataka, a state Chandrasekhar represents in the Rajya Sabha, alleged that the BJP leader cannot speak anything against the 'Rajavu' (the king) -- apparently referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- and said the MP could not even demand Rs 500 per head drought relief for the poor farmers of his state.
"It was the first time a state government had to move the Supreme Court against a central government for getting drought relief," Prakash Raj said.
He said after 10 years of absolute inaction in Karnataka, Chandrasekhar has now come to Thiruvananthapuram, promising "development".
Prakash Raj also ridiculed the affidavit submitted by Rajeev Chandrasekhar before the Election Commission in which his taxable income for the year 2021-2022 is declared as just a mere Rs 680. He said he could not understand how the union minister who owns assets worth crores of rupees could be poorer than him.
He also questioned the candidature of a man on the BJP ticket from the royal family in Karnataka -- apparently referring to Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar (YKC), the titular head of the Mysore royal family -- who too, according to him, has covered up his multi-million rupee worth assets and submitted a false affidavit.
"These people are liars and thieves," Prakash Raj said.
Questioning each and every claim of the Modi government regarding development, he put out a challenge asking if anyone could show him at least 10 of the 100 smart cities promised by Modi, or the employment that the BJP-led government had supposedly created.
Prakash Raj said he always has high hopes for Kerala as a state that will not allow the BJP to open its account and requested the voters of Thiruvananthapuram not to let him down.
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.
'Amazon of Aligarh': Google Doodle pays tribute to India's first woman wrestler Hamida Banu
New Delhi (PTI): It was on this day in 1954 when Hamida Banu defeated famed wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just one minute and 34 seconds. While Baba Pahalwan deemed it fit to retire from professional wrestling, Banu's career expanded to international arenas and her victories reported across the globe.
Commemorating Banu's victory and to pay tribute to her as "India's first woman wrestler," Google on Saturday put up a colourful doodle on its homepage.
Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling, winning over 300 competitions throughout her career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s at a time when women's participation in athletics was strongly discouraged.
Banu, however, competed with men anyway, and issued an open challenge to all male wrestlers, wagering her hand in marriage to whoever defeats her, Google wrote in a post.
Banu's success in international matches gained her further acclaim. One of these matches was the one against Russian woman wrestler Vera Chistilin, who she defeated in under two minutes.
Having made newspaper headlines for years, Banu came to be known as the "Amazon of Aligarh".
The bouts she won, her diet, and her training regimen were widely covered.
According to a BBC report, she weighed 108kg and was 5ft 3in tall.
"Her daily diet included 5.6 litres of milk, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, a fowl, nearly 1kg of mutton and almonds, half a kilo of butter, 6 eggs, two big loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani," the British media outlet reported.
Reuters noted that she slept for nine hours and trained for six.
A "trailblazer of her time," Banu not only fought fellow wrestlers but the norms of her times.
"Hamida Banu was a trailblazer of her time, and her fearlessness is remembered throughout India and across the world. Outside of her sporting accomplishments, she will always be celebrated for staying true to herself," Google's note read.
