In veiled dig at Congress, Bommai says there were attempts to forget Ambedkar, Shastri
Bengaluru (PTI): Amid controversy over excluding first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Karnataka government's newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress without naming it as he pointed at attempts to "forget" national icons like B R Ambedkar and Lal Bahadur Shastri.
In his address at the 76th Independence Day event at the Manekshaw Parade Ground here, he also said that all Prime Ministers and leaders of the country have contributed to India's progress in their own way, and there is no question of forgetting anyone.
"First Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Lal Bahadur Shastri and several Prime Ministers have ruled this country, all of them have contributed in their own way for the nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set up a Prime Ministers' Museum in New Delhi to highlight each one's contribution," Bommai said without directly referring to the controversy.
"If any Prime Minister had thought about making known the contributions of various PMs to the country it is Narendra Modi. There is no question of forgetting anyone here. Everyone has contributed in their own way. Only PMs have not contributed, there are several luminaries who have contributed," he said.
Highlighting the importance of Ambedkar and the Constitution prepared under his leadership, he said, "There were attempts to forget him. Should we forget Lal Bahadur Shastri who gave the call 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' or Abdul Ghaffar Khan? Several people have sacrificed for the freedom struggle. I pay my tributes to them," he said.
The Congress on Sunday took strong exception to the exclusion of Nehru in the newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters and termed the BJP government's action "pathetic".
Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had called Bommai an "RSS slave", while AICC general secretary and in-charge of the party affairs in the state Randeep Surjewala had said the BJP's hatred for the country's first prime minister had reached its zenith.
State BJP General Secretary N Ravi Kumar, however, had said Nehru's name was omitted "intentionally", as he was responsible for the partition of the country.
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Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case accused Mahesh Raut gets interim bail for law exams
Mumbai, Apr 3 (PTI): A special NIA court on Thursday granted interim bail to Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case accused Mahesh Raut from April 20 to May 16 to appear for his law degree exams.
Raut was arrested in 2018 for his alleged role in the case and is currently lodged in Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai.
Special Judge Chakor Bhaviskar granted Raut bail to appear for the second semester Bachelor of Laws (LLB) exams in Mumbai.
The special National Investigation Agency court granted Raut temporary relief on executing a personal recognition bond of Rs 50,000 with a surety of the same amount.
The court also allowed him to appear for the semester one ATKT (allowed to keep terms) exam on April 4 and viva-voice and assignment presentation on April 9 under police escort.
It also directed Raut to furnish proof of his residential address for this period as well as an active mobile number to jail authorities and the probe agency.
The accused shall not misuse the liberty granted to him and shall immediately surrender to the jail authority on the same day when the examination is over, the court said.
Raut and 14 other activists were booked in connection with allegedly provocative speeches that were delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017. It triggered violence at Koregaon Bhima there the next day.
As per Pune police, the conclave was backed by Maoists.
The National Investigation Agency later took over the probe into the case.
