Shoot at sight anyone destroying rail property: Suresh Angadi
Bengaluru, Dec 17: Amid nationwide protests over the amended Citizenship Act, Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi on Tuesday said that he has asked authorities to "shoot at sight" anybody who causes damage to Railway property.
"If anyone is destroying railway property, then I ask the chief minister of the particular state to initiate stringent action just as Sardar Vallabhai Patel had taken to merge Hyderabad with India," he said at Hubballi.
This was in response to questions by reporters who asked him about the steps taken to prevent damage to Railway property due to CAA related protests.
Hyderabad merged with the Union of India after police action under the leadership of India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which forced the Nizam and his army to surrender.
Recently, railway services were badly affected in West Bengal as anti-CAA protesters blocked railway tracks, ransacked some stations and set fire on railway tracks.
When asked what he meant by stringent action, Angadi said, "Stringent action means to shoot at sight..."
Stating that the CAA will not cause any trouble to Indian citizens, the union minister said "the CAA shows how courageous Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are. "
However, he was peeved at protests turning violent and blamed the opposition for fanning the disturbance.
"Today the opposition parties opposing the Act should introspect. They are playing politics on this issue.
The opposition parties are destroying public property.
I request the states concerned to initiate stringent action against them," Angadi said.
He insisted that the CAA will not cause any trouble to the citizens of India as it is aimed at giving citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Buddhists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh so that they can make a living here.
The minister was in Hubballi to inaugurate the Railway Recruitment Board Satellite Office for the benefit of unemployed youths in the southern region.
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Hearing in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi postponed till March 27
Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): Hearing in the defamation case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, which was scheduled to take place on Monday at the MP-MLA Court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district, could not take place due to the non-appearance of the plaintiff Vijay Mishra.
The court will now hear this matter on March 27.
Santosh Kumar Pandey, the advocate of the plaintiff, on Monday said that he had submitted a formal application to the court during the previous hearing.
This application requested that the audio and video recordings of the statements made by Rahul Gandhi, which have been presented as evidence, be matched with Rahul Gandhi's authentic voice.
Due to Vijay Mishra's absence, the court has scheduled the next hearing for March 27, when the arguments in the case will be presented.
On February 20, Gandhi, the MP from Raebareli, had appeared before the court and recorded his statement, claiming the case was filed against him due to political vendetta. He had also told the court that the audio and video evidence submitted by the complainant was incorrect and said he would present his own evidence.
The case stems from Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign.
Following the remarks, Mishra, a resident of Hanumanganj under Kotwali Dehat police station area in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint.
In December 2023, the court had issued a warrant against Gandhi after he failed to appear before it. He later surrendered before the court in February 2024 and was granted bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
