Uddhav Thackeray wants ban on BJP MLA for objectionable remarks on women
Mumbai, Sep 5 : Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday demanded stringent action against Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ram Kadam for his reported objectionable remarks on women.
"Not only should strict action be taken against him, he should not be given a ticket by any party to contest future elections. He is a person of a low character and mentality," Thackeray told the media here.
The Sena chief summoned a hurried press conference after the BJP legislator's remarks on Monday sparked off an uproar in Maharashtra, drawing all-round condemnation from social and political circles.
"I am not aware whether the BJP has launched a 'Beti Bhagao' programme. But if anybody speaks like this about our sisters and daughters, we will not tolerate it," Thackeray warned, coming down heavily on Kadam.
Kicking off a huge controversy, Kadam, a BJP legislator from Ghatkopar in north-east Mumbai, declared publicly that he would abduct girls and bring them to their spurned suitors, and even provided his phone number.
"You need anything, just come to me. If you have proposed to a girl and she has rejected you, I will help you 100 percent. Come to me with your parents and say that they approve of her. Then, I will catch her and bring her to you," Kadam told the gathering.
A video of the incident which went viral on Tuesday evening. But Kadam claimed he had been quoted out of context and the full video clip was not shown, and later, even blamed the media for blowing it out of proportion.
"I had no intentions to hurt anybody's sentiments. But if I have done so, I regret it. Certain opponents are behind this misunderstanding," Kadam said in a late night tweet.
As the issue snowballed, a group of women activists on Wednesday 'gheraoed' Education Minister Vinod Tawde while the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party organised noisy protests in the city, demanding action against the legislator.
In another development, a young Pune girl, Minakshi G. Patil, threw an open challenge to Kadam, daring him to "touch" her if he had the guts.
"I am throwing the gauntlet, accept it. Let's settle this in person. I will come to Mumbai... Lay a finger on me and leave the rest to me. This is shameful and cheap, such statements have no place in Chhatrapati Shivaji's Maharashtra where women are treated like Goddesses," she said.
State Congress President Ashok Chavan asked: "Has the BJP made him a legislator to kidnap women?"
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said "the BJP's 'Ravana' face has emerged. He is talking about kidnapping women. So henceforth he should be called 'Ravana Kadam'."
Senior Shiv Sena leader and spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said though he (Kadam) was named after Ram, he harboured evil thoughts like Ravana.
Samajwadi President Abu Asim Azmi said the BJP MLA's speech was a clear indicator that the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign was a sham.
The NCP Women's Wing demanded an unconditional apology from Kadam besides action against him by the BJP.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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