JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy expresses regret over his statement on women, says comment twisted
Bengaluru (PTI): JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Monday expressed regret over his comments that women in rural areas have "lost their way" due to the five guarantee schemes of the Congress government in Karnataka, but claimed that his statement is being twisted.
The former chief minister attacked Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar accusing him of trying to blow up the remarks in a way which he did not mean, as he pointed out at comments made by Congress leaders against women recently.
"What obscene comments have I made? I have asked women to be cautious while making a decision and not to lose their way....What I meant is don't fall for the guarantee scheme and vote for Congress....For that Congress has decided for a state wide-protest. They don't have anything else to speak against me," Kumaraswamy said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, he need not learn from the Congress about respecting women.
"I still say what I said that day is -- I cautioned them (women) and asked them to decide carefully as they (Congress in the name of guarantees) will destroy your livelihood....I have no prestige, if my comments have hurt women office bearers of Congress and if my statement has caused sorrow to someone I express my regret," he added.
Further stating he had admitted on the floor of the Assembly that he too had lost his way in the past and that his wife corrected him and brought back him on the right track, Kumaraswamy said, "If my statement has hurt any women, that was not my intention, my statement is being twisted."
"I express my regret to all the women of the state, if my mothers are hurt. Even when I spoke that day I addressed women as mothers. Unlike Congress leaders who used distasteful comments," he said, adding, he will also respond to the women's commission notice over the issue.
Questioning as to from whose pockets the government is funding guarantee schemes, Kumaraswamy during a road show in Tumakuru on Saturday said, "This government (state) in the last election had announced five guarantees, (because of which), our mothers in the villages have lost their way. One should think about what will happen to their livelihood and that of their families."
The comment has elicited sharp reactions from the ruling party, with women Congress workers staging a protest with "Go back Kumaraswamy" slogans and placards in Mandya, from where he is contesting the Lok Sabha election, and other places, and also Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues attacking him.
Taking a dig at Shivakumar stating that he urgently held a virtual meeting of Congress office bearers, legislators, former legislators and women office bearers over this issue, the JD(S) state president today said: "He (Shivakumar) has said that after Indira Gandhi's assassination my disrespectful and unpardonable comments against women was the second most painful thing in his life."
"....I want to ask him about the instances where women of some families were kidnapped and their lands were taken over by threatening. Didn't he feel pain about those incidents? I have seen all these things," he said.
Pointing at several Congress ministers sharply reacting to his alleged comments and women workers of that party even holding a protest in Mandya, Kumaraswamy claimed that when someone asked those protesting women as to why they were doing so, they have stated that they were not aware of the reason but were paid Rs 250-Rs 300.
Shivakumar, who held a virtual meeting with Congress workers, has instructed them to hold protests against Kumaraswamy's statement across the state, he said.
"I want to ask Mr Shivakumar about his party's in-charge (Randeep Singh Surjewala) recent comments against Hemamalini, a noted actress of this country." He added sarcastically: "These are the people who give utmost respect for women."
Further questioning a Congress spokesperson's comments on the BJP candidate from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh Kangana Ranaut, he said, "Please speak about it Mr Shivaumar. You demanded a response from Narendra Modi and Nirmala Sitharaman regarding my comments. What Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have to say about comments by your party leaders?"
He also listed out various "distasteful comments" made against women by several Congress leaders including K R Ramesh Kumar and Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, and said "I need not learn from Congress about respecting women."
Noting that he was cautioning the women folk, the mothers of the state that the government is giving them Rs 2,000 per month, while they are pickpocketing Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 from earning members of their family, Kumaraswamy said, "So I told them to be cautious and not to lose their way, don't fall prey to it."
"Rs 2,000 won't give permanent solutions to issues faced by your families. Despite 75 years after Independence, you are still made to seek alms by extending your arms. While my programmes were aimed at strengthening you. This is what I have told the womenfolk," he said, adding that as CM he had banned arrack on the request of women.
Asking women workers of the Congress to go through his statement, instead of staging a protest under the hot sun with "Go back" slogans against him, Kumaraswamy said, "Go back has become a new trend these days...I need not fear 'your go back', when I have not committed a mistake."
On Shivakumar alleging that Kumaraswamy and his family owns about thousand acres of land around Bengaluru, he said, "Yes, I have 45-48 acres of land, which I brought from the money earned as a film distributor before entering politics. It was ten years before I entered politics. I do agriculture there, I have not done resorts. Come and see."
Noting that his father H D Deve Gowda, even when he was Leader of the Opposition did farming and strived, he said, "what did he (Shivakumar) strive for? Stealing rocks and sending them to foreign countries is his striving? There are many things to talk about, if I have to."
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SC stays CBI probe into West Bengal govt officials' role in teacher recruitment scam
New Delhi, Apr 29: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Calcutta High Court order directing the CBI to probe the role of West Bengal government officials in a teacher recruitment scam. It, however, refused to stay for now the cancellation of the appointment of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff.
The top court was hearing a plea by the West Bengal government against a high court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made by the School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run and state-aided schools.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, however, refused to stay the high court order cancelling the appointments and said it will hear the matter on May 6.
Observing that taking away the jobs of about 25,000 persons is a serious matter, the top court asked if it is possible to segregate the valid and invalid appointments on the basis of the material available and who the beneficiaries of the fraud are.
"We will stay the direction which says the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) will undertake further investigation against officials in the state government," the bench said.
Calcutta High Court had said the CBI would undertake further investigations with regard to the persons in the state government involved in approving the creation of supernumerary posts to accommodate illegal appointments.
If necessary, the CBI will undertake custodial interrogation of such persons involved, it had said.
Challenging the order, the state government, in its appeal filed before the top court, said the high court cancelled the appointments "arbitrarily".
"The high court failed to appreciate the ramification of cancelling the entire selection process, leading to straightaway termination of teaching and non-teaching staff from service with immediate effect, without giving sufficient time to the petitioner state to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a standstill," the plea said.
Calcutta High Court last week declared the selection process as "null and void" and directed the CBI to probe the appointment process. It also asked the central agency to submit a report within three months.
"All appointments granted in the selection processes involved being violative of articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, are declared null and void and cancelled," the high court said in its April 22 order.
The high court said those appointed outside the officially available 24,640 vacancies, appointed after the expiry of the official date of recruitment, and those who submitted blank Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets but obtained appointment to return all remunerations and benefits received by them with 12 per cent interest per annum within four weeks.
Observing that it had given "anxious consideration to the passionate plea" that persons who obtained the appointments legally would be prejudiced if the entire selection process was cancelled, the bench said it hardly had any choice left.
The high court held that all appointments involved were violative of articles 14 (equality before law) and 16 (prohibiting discrimination in employment in any government office) of the Constitution.
"It is shocking that, at the level of the cabinet of the state government, a decision is taken to protect employment obtained fraudulently in a selection process conducted by SSC for state-funded schools, knowing fully well that, such appointments were obtained beyond the panel and after expiry of the panel, at the bare minimum," the high court had said.
It said unless "there is a deep connection between the persons perpetuating the fraud and the beneficiaries" with persons involved in the decision-making process, such action to create supernumerary posts to protect illegal appointments is "inconceivable".
The division bench had also rejected a prayer by some appellants, including the SSC, for a stay on the order and asked the commission to initiate a fresh appointment process within a fortnight from the date of the results of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The bench, constituted by the high court chief justice on a direction of the Supreme Court, had heard 350 petitions and appeals relating to the selection of candidates for appointment by the SSC in the categories of teachers of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and group-C and D staffers through the SLST-2016.
In its 282-page judgment, the high court had said retaining appointees selected through "such a dubious process" would be contrary to public interest.
