'Modi-mukt Bharat': Raj Thackeray launches attack on NDA govt
Mumbai: In a blistering attack on the BJP-led NDA government, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday called for opposition unity and a "Modi-mukt Bharat" by 2019.
Addressing MNS workers at a rally in Mumbai, Thackeray said, "The country is fed up with the false promises made by Narendra Modi and his government."
All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure a "Modi-mukt Bharat".
"India got its first independence in 1947, second in 1977 (after the post-Emergency election) and 2019 can bring a third independence if India becomes Modi-mukt," the MNS chief said.
If the Modi government was ousted and an inquiry was ordered into demonetisation, it (the note ban) might turn out to be the biggest scam in the country since 1947, he said.
"The Babri Masjid demolition case is in the Supreme Court and it will be deliberately discussed in the coming days to instigate communal riots," he claimed.
"The Ram mandir should be built, but it should not be used as an election plank to divide the society and win votes," he said.
Taking a dig at Modi's foreign tours, Thackeray said the prime minister was apparently visiting those countries to get "flour for pakoda" as the visits had not fetched any investments.
The MNS chief also said films like "Toilet Ek Prem Katha" and "Padman" were a covert propaganda for government schemes.
Taking potshots at Fadnavis, who recently featured in a video song about river conservation, the MNS chief said, "There are so many problems in the state, but apparently the CM is busy singing songs."
Thackeray also questioned the government's decision to accord a state funeral to Bollywood actor Sridevi last month.
"Sridevi was a great actor, but what did she do for the country that her body was wrapped in the tricolour?" he asked.
The media might have covered her funeral extensively at the government's behest to divert the people's attention from the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank scam, he said.
The government was trying to control the media, judiciary and agencies like the CBI, Thackeray said, alleging that the media was under tremendous pressure from the BJP-led government.
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.
Indian-origin astronomer wins UK's Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal
London (PTI): US-based astronomer Professor Shrinivas Kulkarni has been awarded the prestigious Gold Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) in London for his "field-defining" discoveries in time-domain astronomy.
Maharashtra-born Kulkarni is the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he has discovered a wide range of astronomical objects, including brown dwarfs and remote bursts of gamma rays.
His RAS Gold Medal citation from last week recognises his "sustained, innovative and ground-breaking contributions to multi-wavelength transient astrophysics".
In receiving the highest honour from the historic organisation, awarded annually since 1824, he joins great scientific minds such as Stephen Hawking, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Albert Einstein and Edwin Hubble.
"I was very surprised to hear the news, especially given the stellar list of past winners," said Kulkarni.
"I would like to thank my long-term collaborators and the engineering crew and members of the Palomar Transient Factory and the Zwicky Transient Facility for their immense contribution to the projects," he said.
The scientist described this discovery of the first millisecond pulsar as "the most fun achievement in my life", adding: "I was a graduate student when I made the discovery. I could not sleep for several days!"
Kulkarni, who also won the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy recently, joined Caltech in 1985 and has since made many landmark findings including demonstrating in 1997 that powerful gamma-ray bursts originate outside our galaxy.
He went on to lead the development of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which have caught thousands of real-time cosmic events as they blink, explode, and otherwise light up the skies. ZTF, based at Caltech's Palomar Observatory near San Diego, is still going strong and surveying the entire Northern sky every two nights.
His RAS award citation notes that these "have revolutionised time domain astrophysics at optical wavelengths".
In his 2024 Watson Lecture at Caltech titled 'Illuminating the Dynamic Night Sky: Discoveries from the Zwicky Transient Facility’, Kulkarni discussed his passion for building instruments to explore uncharted areas in astronomy. He has built a total of 10 instruments in his career.
"My motto has been to build a big enough gizmo and things will happen," he said at the time.
Currently, Kulkarni is involved with developing NASA’s Ultraviolet Explorer (UVEX) mission, led by Fiona Harrison, the Harold A. Rosen Professor of Physics at Caltech. The mission, targeted to launch in 2030, will perform the most sensitive sky survey in ultraviolet light to date.
He is the principal investigator of Z-Shooter, a very powerful and versatile spectrometer for the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawai'i that is under development with a first light expected in 2029.
Kulkarni received his Master's from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1978, his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1983 and has been based at Caltech for over 40 years.
Each year the RAS recognises significant achievement in the fields of astronomy and geophysics through a number of awards, medals and prizes, encompassing different types of talent from research to education and outreach.
This year's Gold Medal in Geophysics has been won by Professor Andrew Jackson of ETH Zurich for his instrumental work in the field of geomagnetism.
