Rajnath Singh at Visva-Bharati; attempt by student body to screen BBC docu foiled
Kolkata (PTI): A Left-leaning student group was prevented from screening the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Visva-Bharati University on Thursday evening, as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was present elsewhere on the campus to attend a cultural function organised by the authorities.
Singh, who will attend the convocation of the central university on Friday, reached the campus on Thursday afternoon.
A spokesperson of the Democratic Students Organisation (DSO), the student's wing of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), said both the university authorities and the police prevented them from screening 'India: The Modi Question' on a ground by not allowing a projector and a screen inside the campus.
"We had initially thought about screening the film in January but later on decided to defer it. After coming to know that Rajnath Singh, who is an important member of the Narendra Modi cabinet, would reach Visva-Bharati on Thursday, we decided to screen it in the evening," he said.
A police officer said there was no information about any screening of the said BBC documentary on the campus and the police took the required steps as per standard security protocols owing to the presence of a VVIP like the defence minister.
The Visva-Bharati spokesperson could not be contacted for comment on the issue.
Student bodies in several other universities in West Bengal had screened the documentary.
Earlier, Singh arrived in a helicopter at the campus and discussed the university's academic activities with Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty.
He later witnessed a cultural programme performed by students of Visva-Bharati.
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We are together at home: Sharad Pawar on Ajit Pawar
Mumbai (PTI): Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he and nephew Ajit Pawar are together as a family, but made it clear that the latter was heading a different political party.
“Gharat tari ekatrach ahet (we are together at home least),” the veteran politician said at a press conference at Chiplun in coastal Konkan region.
He was responding to a query about the demand from “various quarters in the state” that the uncle-nephew duo should come together once again.
In July last year, Ajit Pawar broke away from his uncle to join the Eknath Shinde-led government in the state as deputy chief minister. Of late, there has been speculation over his continuation in the ruling alliance.
Asked about Ajit Pawar’s recent remarks the decision to make his wife Sunetra Pawar contest the Lok Sabha polls against Supriya Sule in Baramati was a mistake, the veteran politician said, “He is in a different party. Why should we comment on decisions taken by another party?”
Asked if the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of NCP (SP), Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had decided its chef ministerial face, Pawar said, “I don’t think that it is an urgent issue at the moment”.
When elections were held after the Emergency, Morarji Desai’s name as PM candidate was not disclosed before polling, he added.
“Our (MVA) attempt is to give a progressive alternative in Maharashtra with help of other parties like Samajwadi Party and Peasants and Workers Party,” he said.
“Our observation is that the people of Maharashtra have made up their mind to give us (MVA) a chance in the ensuing elections,” he said.
Asked about Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu’s claim that sub-standard ghee with 'animal fat' was used to make prasad laddoos at Tirupati temple during Jaganmohan Reddy's tenure as CM, Pawar said, “If anything was mixed, it is very wrong and action should be taken against those involved”.
