Australian Senator compares Muslims with 'poisonous jelly beans'
Sydney, Aug 15: Australian Senator Fraser Anning on Wednesday compared Muslims with "poisonous jelly beans", following his "racist" maiden speech in the Senate seeking immigration restrictions based on race.
Anning, from the conservative Katter's Australian Party, advocated a return to White Australia policy and called for migration bans on Muslims in his speech in Parliament on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined other politicians and community leaders in criticizing the Queensland Senator for suggesting a "final solution" (the phrase that refers to a plan hatched by Nazis to annihilate the Jews) to the immigration "problem".
Turnbull said Anning made "a shocking insult to the memory" of those murdered in the Holocaust.
Following his controversial speech, Anning targeted Muslims once again in an interview to a Sydney talkback radio.
"Look, if you can tell me which ones are not going to cause us harm, then fine, that'd be great. But unfortunately if you have a jar of jelly beans and three of them are poisonous, you're not going to try any of them," he told Alan Jones of radio 2GB, while referring to Muslims.
Anning insisted that Muslims should be stopped from entering Australia. "I'm afraid that the Muslims, as a group, there's going to be three or four or five per cent that are going to mean us harm.
"Because I can't tell who's who, I think the safest thing for Australians is that we don't have any of them," he said.
Earlier in his Parliament speech, Anning said: "The record of Muslims who have already come to this country in rates of crime, welfare dependency and terrorism is the worst of any migrants and vastly exceeds any other immigrant groups.
"We have black African Muslim gangs terrorising Melbourne. We have Islamic State-sympathizing Muslims trying to go overseas to fight for it. While all Muslims are not terrorists, certainly all terrorists these days are Muslims," he said while urging for a plebiscite to decide who enters Australia.
Several Australian parliamentarians denounced the speech as "disgraceful" and called on Anning to apologize for his choice of words.
Muslim MP Anne Aly said that the Queensland Senator deliberately used "neo-Nazi, white supremacist terminology".
"That was a deliberate use of a heinous word that brings back so many painful memories and sets a precedent for the future of our country that we need to stand up and stop it," said a tearful Aly in Parliament.
"I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of having to stand up against hate, against vilification, time and time again."
Besides Muslims, Anning also targeted international students as he asked for an "end to Australian-job-stealing 457 visas" and "force international students to return to their country of origin once they finish their education".
He also sought the number of student visas to be cut drastically. India is the second largest source of international students after China.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
