Ballia (UP), Jun 7: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday termed Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a patriot while mocking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for "merely" sharing the surname.
"Gandhi ji was killed, that is a different issue. But as far as I have understood and read Godse, he too was a patriot. We do not agree with the killing of Gandhi ji," the BJP leader told reporters.
Targeting the former Congress president, Rawat said merely having the Gandhi surname did not make his ideology Gandhian.
He said making a show of wearing the "janeu", or the sacred thread, does not change Rahul Gandhi's identity. "He just talks," Rawat claimed, accusing Rahul Gandhi of cashing in on the Mahatma's name.
Rawat referred to the controversial remarks made by the Congress leader in the US, and said his "efforts" will not help the party "which is soon going to be a thing of the past".
"Rahul Gandhi is speaking out of frustration, seeing the deteriorating condition of his party. He is speaking in mental stress. The public will not accept a person going through mental stress," he said.
On the Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's meeting Wednesday with Aam Aadmi Party chief, Rawat said, "There is no bigger theatrical leader in this country than Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Akhilesh Yadav wants to learn theatrics from Kejriwal."
He accused Yadav of throwing Uttar Pradesh into "goonda raj" during his term as chief minister. The SP recruited gangsters and made the mafia "respectable", the Uttarakhand leader alleged.
He said people will again reject the SP.
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Bengaluru (PTI): The Crew of an Iraqi cargo vessel were denied permission to disembark at Karwar port in Karnataka by the coastal security authorities as per special instructions given by the central government "after the Pakistan incident", Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Friday.
According to a senior port official, permission was not given for the crew of an Iraqi cargo vessel to disembark at Karwar port due to the presence of Pakistan and Syrian nationals among them. They were repatriated, he said on Wednesday.
Reacting to this development, Parameshwara told reporters here, "After this Pakistan incident, special instructions have been given by the Government of India to all the armed forces and the state departments. So, we as a state, have a coastal survey force.... they have stopped (the crew of an Iraqi cargo vessel from disembarking at Karwar port). Naturally, every vessel will be scrutinised before letting it into our water. So they have done a good job. I think whatever the instructions have been given to them, they have done a good job," he told reporters here.
According to senior port officials, the ship, which had departed from Al Zubair, Iraq, was carrying bitumen and docked at Karwar with a crew comprising 15 Indian nationals, one Pakistani, and two Syrians.
Following standard inspection protocols and heightened vigilance, the presence of Pakistani and Syrian nationals aboard the vessel prompted a security response from port authorities and the Coastal Security Police, he said.
Their mobile phones were confiscated through the ship's captain to restrict communication, and they remained confined on board for two days while the cargo was unloaded.
The vessel has since left Indian waters with the individuals on board, as per directives, the port official had said.