People are afraid to criticise the Centre, industrialist Rahul Bajaj tells Amit Shah
Industrialist and Bajaj Group Chairperson Rahul Bajaj raised concerns on Saturday over people’s fear when it comes to criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, The Indian Express reported. The businessman directed the questions to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at The Economic Times’ ET Awards 2019 event in Mumbai.
“During UPA-II [second term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance], we could abuse anyone,” Bajaj said. “You are doing good work, but if we want to openly criticise you, [but] there is no confidence you will appreciate that. I may be wrong but everyone feels that.” Bajaj noted that no one else from the business community would raise this matter.
Several industrialists, including Reliance Industries Limited Chief Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, Aditya Birla Group Chairperson Kumar Mangalam Nirla, and Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal attended the event.
Bajaj also highlighted the alleged remarks of BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur in the Lok Sabha on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse, and said that she had been included in a defence panel despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he would not be able to forgive her.
Thakur on Friday apologised in the Lok Sabha for her controversial remarks, adding that she did not “call Nathuram Godse a ‘deshbhakt’”. She said that her statement had been “distorted”, but offered an apology if she had hurt anyone’s feelings.
The industrialist on Saturday said that instances of mob lynchings in the country had created an intolerant environment. “We don’t want to say certain things but we see that until now no one has been convicted,” he said.
Shah said that there was no need for anyone to be afraid, and said that if such a situation existed then the administration would work towards improving it, The Print reported. The home minister added that the government was being run in a transparent manner and that it was not worried about opposition.
The minister said that senior BJP leaders had condemned Thakur’s statements and that neither the government nor the saffron party supported what the MP had said. Addressing the matter of lynchings, Shah said that they occurred in the past as well but had reduced now. He claimed that the media did not report on lynching cases where the punishment has been doled out to the accused.
Bajaj voiced his concerns a day after the Centre released the Gross Domestic Product figures for the July-September quarter, which contracted to 4.5%. This was the slowest growth rate in more than six years, and the sixth straight quarter of slowdown.
Hours after the numbers were released, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he was deeply worried about the current state of the Indian economy. “We need to change the current climate in our society from one of fear to one of confidence for our economy to start growing at 8% per annum,” he had said. The government has repeatedly denied the economy is in recession.
Courtesy: scroll.in
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Kannur dental student death: Case registered against loan app operators, parents allege murder
Kannur (PTI): A case has been registered against unidentified loan app operators in connection with the death of a Kannur Dental College student in Anjarakandy, officials said on Monday.
However, the victim’s parents alleged that their son was murdered and held the college faculty responsible for his death.
The Kannur Cyber Police registered the case on Sunday night based on a complaint by an assistant professor of the college.
According to police, Nithin Raj R L, a first-year BDS student, had taken a loan through an online loan app.
After he defaulted on repayment, the app operators allegedly began contacting the assistant professor.
The FIR stated that the accused contacted the woman faculty member via MMS and WhatsApp, threatening her over repayment and attempting to siphon off money illegally.
Sources said that in cases of default, such loan app operators often send messages to all available contacts of the borrower.
Raj (22), a native of Uzhamalackal, Puthukulangara in Thiruvananthapuram district, was found critically injured near the medical college block after falling from a building on April 10 and later succumbed to his injuries.
The family alleged that Raj was subjected to emotional harassment on caste and complexion grounds by two faculty members, following which a case was registered against Dental Anatomy Department Head M K Ram and Associate Professor K T Sangeetha Nambiar for abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Even though notices were issued to both accused to appear for interrogation, they are yet to respond to the police, officials said.
Police officials said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case is also examining whether Raj’s death was linked to threats from the loan app operators.
The cyber case has been registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 308(3) (extortion), along with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act (cheating by personation using computer resources).
Police said Raj’s mobile phone will be examined to gather details about the loan app, and a detailed statement will be recorded from the assistant professor who received the threatening messages and calls.
Meanwhile, the SIT has recovered chat details from Raj’s phone, which indicate that he had sought more time to repay the loan.
According to police, Raj had taken a loan of Rs 14,000, and the app operators had demanded immediate repayment of Rs 8,000.
As his family was facing financial difficulties, he had requested a few weeks’ time to settle the dues.
The SIT, led by the Station House Officer of Chakkarakkallu police station, visited Raj’s house on Monday and recorded statements of his parents and sister.
The four-member team also collected digital evidence from them.
The family also met the State Police Chief Ravada Chandrasekhar and filed a petition seeking a detailed probe into the incident.
Raj’s father Rajan said his son had taken the loan for his mother’s treatment.
“We were repaying it. But recently, the repayment defaulted. If the teacher was aggrieved by the loan app’s calls and my son had done anything wrong, they should have informed us. You can check my phone, there is no call from the college,” he said.
Rajan said he had little hope of getting justice.
“They all killed my son. What justice can I expect? I worked hard for his education. We lost everything,” he said.
He also alleged that even three days after Raj’s death, there had been no communication from the college authorities.
“He was a student of that college. Not even a word from the authorities. Students there, fearing for their future, are not speaking out. At least one student should speak out for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, protests erupted at Kannur Dental College on Monday, with final-year BDS students also joining the agitation.
The college has granted leave to students of other batches following the incident.
Students alleged that the accused faculty member, M K Ram, misbehaved with students by body-shaming and physical assault.
“We were living under severe pressure. Ram was involved in body-shaming. Verbal abuse was frequent. Apart from it, he used to hit students on the head. There were also complaints against him and disciplinary action taken earlier,” a student told reporters.
Political organisations, including KSU of the Congress, SFI and DYFI of the CPI(M), MSF of the IUML and ABVP of the BJP, carried out protest marches.
KSU and SFI activists who entered the college compound were later detained and removed by police.
Kerala SC/ST Commission Chairperson Shekaran Miniyodan visited Raj’s house and interacted with his family.
He said the Commission has registered a case and sought a report from the police.
“We will collect information along with the SIT about the incident. Apart from the preliminary investigation report, we will also examine the postmortem report,” he said.
Similarly, the Kerala Youth Commission has also registered a case and recorded statements of students of the college.
Commission Chairman M Shajar said students have raised serious allegations against M K Ram and that a detailed probe would be conducted with police support.
Earlier, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission had also registered a case and sought a report from the police.
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