'God made me not to participate in Tipu Jayanti who destroyed church'
Former Minister Pramod Madhwaraj's video goes viral
Udupi: State government celebrating Tipu Jayanti may be right or wrong. But, when I was MLA and minister, God made me not to participate in Tipu Jayanti programme because Tipu had destroyed church," said Udupi district former in-charge Minister Pramod Madhwaraj.
A video clip of him speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of St. Peter's Church in Pethriya, near Brahammavara on December 10, has gone viral on social networking sites.
Pramod Madhwaraj was the legislator of Udupi constituency when the government started the celebration of Tippu Jayanti in 2015. Pramod was absent from Tippu Jayanti program that was organized by the district administration in Udupi Bannanje.
"When I was MLA and minister, our government had celebrated Tippu Jayanti. It may be right or wrong. But I did not get the opportunity to participate in that Tippu Jayanti celebration. It was God, who made me not to attend the programme because Tipu's army had destroyed this church," he said.
In 2016, when Pramod Madhwaraj was the district in-charge minister, Tipu Jayanti programme was organised at Lions Bhavan in Brahmmagiri, there also he remained absent. The public, then, had expressed displeasure over the minister when he missed the scheduled programme and had gone to Bengaluru for a day.
Similarly, in 2017, he had to inaugurate the Tipu Jayanti programme at Rajatadri in Manipal. But, there also he had given a miss.
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Not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India: White House
Washington (PTI): There are not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India, the White House has said, applauding the people of India for exercising their right to vote.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby was responding to a question on the ongoing Indian elections in which more than 969 million people are exercising their right to franchise at one million polling stations to elect 545 Members of Parliament from thousands of candidates representing as many as 2,660 registered political parties.
The voting will conclude on June 1. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on June 4.
“Not too many more vibrant democracies in the world than India. And we applaud the Indian people for exercising, you know, their ability to vote, and to have a voice in their future government. And we wish them well throughout the process, of course,” Kirby told reporters at a news conference here.
Responding to another question, Kirby said the India-US relationship has strengthened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular during the last three years of the Biden administration.
“Our relationship with India is extremely close and getting closer,” he said.
“You saw it on a State Visit (last June). We launched all kinds of new initiatives, working on critical emerging technologies together, and bolstering and expanding the relevance of the Indo-Pacific quad, of course, which India is a part of. And then, just the people-to-people exchanges, and the military that we share with India,” Kirby said.
It's a very vibrant, very active partnership, he said.
"We are grateful for Prime Minister Modi's leadership,” said the senior White House official.
When asked if President Joe Biden believes that India and Japan are xenophobic countries, he replied in the negative and said the president was making a broader point.
“I mean, the president was making a broader point here about the vibrancy of our own democracy, here in the United States, and how inclusive and participatory it is,” Kirby said.
Biden earlier this month had called Japan and India "xenophobic", grouping them with Russia and China as countries that "don't want immigrants".
