Mangaluru: ‘Khamosh, ye ghalat kiya hai tumne’ Shatrugan Sinha to Modi on demonetisation and GST
Mangaluru: Former Union Minister and Bollywood superstar Shatrugan Sinha on Sunday visited Mangaluru’s Mudipu and addressed a public rally while campaigning for Dakshina Kannada Congress candidate for LS Election Mithun Rai.
Sinha made scattering attacks on BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioning their governance and silence over key issues of the nation. The former BJP MP was also in the awe of Congress President Rahul Gandhi and termed him as the ‘face of today and future of the country’.
Speaking about the reason behind his decision to leave BJP where he had been in the mix of the things for several years Sinha said “I left BJP because I have always believed in secularism. I have given so many years of my life to BJP, but since this government was formed the party has turned into ‘one man show and two men army’ it has become dictator’s party. People like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Kirti Azad who took the party to new heights are nowhere to be seen now in the party”
“Demonetisation was wrongly implemented, lakhs of people suffered for one bad decision. And then they introduce complicated GST before the nation could recover from demonetization. That was the double blow to the whole of nation. And that’s when I confronted them in the interest of the people of the country. I told them ‘Khamosh, ye tumne galat kiya hai’ (Whatever you have done is wrong).
“They also started threatening me to dispel me from the party as I have always been taking stands against what was wrong irrespective of who was doing it. For me party is more important than any individual and my country is more important than any party. So when I started taking stands against the wrong they were doing, it didn’t go down too well with them. That’s when I decided to bid goodbye to the party”.
Speaking of Congress Sinha added that there was no other party with more contributions to the country than Congress including its role in the freedom movement of the country and that is the reason he joined the grand old party.
Taking a dig at Modi wave and BJP’s 2014 election victory he said “What happened with these people is as they say ‘Power corrupts you and absolute power corrupts you absolutely’ so when they got into power, I don’t want to speak on how they got it. It might be with the help of EVM or something else. So when they came into power they decided to become dictators”.
Sinha also credited Congress’ election wins in MP, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh to the leadership skills of Rahul Gandhi.
“Within a year of taking charge as the president of INC Rahul Gandhi has displayed his leadership skills and shown to the opposition what he is capable of. He is the face of today and future of this country” he added.
Attacking Modi over Rafale deal, Sinha questioned his silence and reminded him that he was accountable to the people of this country and every single question by them has to be answered.
“I don’t say you are accused or involve in this scam or whether this is a scam or not. But there are questions and you need to answer them. Unless you answer them people will keep saying what Rahul Gandhi and others are saying that ‘Chowkidar chor hai’”.
Speaking of Mithun Rai, Sinha said his victory was the need of the hour for the development of Dakshina Kannada and the Country at large.
“It is important that Mithun Rai wins from here. This is young India and the youth can bring in a change. Under the young leadership of Rahul Gandhi, these leaders will be groomed and will take India to unprecedented heights. I am confident the youth of Dakshina Kannada will make the right decision and elect Mithun Rai” he concluded.
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SC issues pan-India directions for road safety, says expressways should not become corridor of peril
New Delhi (PTI): Observing that expressways must not become corridors of peril due to administrative lethargy or infrastructural gaps, the Supreme Court has issued a slew of pan-India guidelines for enhancing road safety, including a ban on parking of heavy vehicles on such roads.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar pointed out that national highways constitute two percent of India’s total road length but account for nearly 30 percent of all road fatalities.
A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar issued directions to the Ministry of Road and Transport, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and States and Union Territories to make roads safer, observing that the loss of even a single life to avoidable hazards like illegal parking or blackspots etc., represents a failure of the State’s protective umbrella.
"The loss of even a single life to avoidable hazards like illegal parking or blackspots etc., represents a failure of the State's protective umbrella. The 'Right to Life' enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India is not merely a guarantee against the unlawful taking of life, but a positive mandate upon the State to ensure a safe environment where human life is preserved and valued," the top court said in its order of April 13.
It passed the order in a suo motu case registered in the aftermath of the loss of 34 lives in successive road accidents on November 2 and 3, 2025, in Phalodi in Rajasthan, and Rangareddy in Telangana on the systemic negligence and catastrophic infrastructure failures that led to these inevitable casualties.
The bench, which issued pan-India directions said, “Recognising the safety of the commuter as an integral facet of the right to live with dignity as a constitutional obligation under Article 21 of Constitution of India, it is necessary in the interest to address the systematic root causes that these interim directions are issued in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.”
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The bench said the court reiterates that no pecuniary or administrative constraint can outweigh the sanctity of human life, and the strict timelines provided herein reflect the urgency of this constitutional obligation.
It directed no heavy or commercial vehicle shall park/stop on any national highway carriageway or paved shoulder except at a designated bay, lay-bye, or wayside amenity.
It said enforcement of the direction shall be effected through the Advanced Traffic Management System – ATMS real-time alerts to State Police, GPS – timestamped photographic evidence, and integrated eChallan generation.
"These directions must be complied with by the officials and personnel of National Highway Authority of India, state police, state transport department. The district magistrates of the concerned districts shall set-up a standard operating procedure for this purpose as regards periodical inspections and patrolling by all these authorities. These directions must be complied within 60 days from the date of this order," it said.
One of the important directions included prohibition with immediate effect on construction/operation of any new dhaba, eatery, or commercial structure within the Right of Way (ROW) of any national highway.
"District magistrates shall enforce demolition/removal of all new or existing unauthorised structures within 60 days, in terms of the CNH Act procedure and SOP dated August 7, 2025," the bench directed.
It said no department, authority, or local body shall grant or renew any licence, NOC, or trade approval for any site within highway safety zones without prior NHAI/PWD clearance and all such existing licences for such sites shall be reviewed within 30 days.
The bench further directed, "In every district wherever the national highway passes through, the concerned district magistrate within 15 days of this order constitute a district highway safety task force in every district across India within seven days of this order, comprising officers of the district administration, police, NHAI (or concerned land-owning agency), PWD, and local bodies."
Similarly, it further directed surveillance, patrolling and illegal parking surveillance of national highways, operationalisation of Advanced Traffic Management System – ATMS comprising cameras, speed detectors, emergency response and wayside amenities, construction of truck lay-bye facilities, accident blackspots and lighting and institutional co-ordination, reporting and road safety committee.
It directed MoRTH to file a compliance report after seeking data from different states and agencies before this court within 75 days from the date of uploading of this order.
"The respective authorities may take appropriate steps to coordinate with and facilitate all stakeholders for the purpose of carrying out the directions passed by this court. It is further made clear that, in case there are issues regarding compliance, the parties are at liberty to approach this Court," the bench said, as it has posted the matter for compliance after two months.
On December 15, last year, the top court mulled formulating pan-India guidelines to prevent road accidents on expressways and national highways.
