Protesters did not even spare statue of Gandhi: Trump
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that the protesters, who went violent in the aftermath of the death of African-American George Floyd, did not spare even the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Washington DC, describing the demonstrators as a "bunch of thugs".
Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after white police officer Derek Chauvin handcuffed and pinned him to the ground, and knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while the 46-year-old from Houston gasped for breath.
The footage, which went viral, showed Floyd pleading with the officer, saying he can't breathe. His death sparked nationwide violent protests with some protesters resorting to vandalism, looting and rioting across the country, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
"You know, they started ripping down Abraham Lincoln. When they hit Lincoln, I said wait a minute. This is the man and you can do - then they hit George Washington, Thomas Jefferson. They had everybody, Trump said at a well-attended election rally in Minnesota, a State that he lost by a little over 44,000 votes in 2016, on Friday.
He also mentioned about the statue of Gandhi in Washington DC that was vandalised by unknown miscreants at the peak of the nationwide protests.
"They even had Gandhi. All Gandhi wanted was one thing, peace. Right? We have peace. Rip down his statue. We don't like him. I don't think they have any idea what they're doing," Trump said.
"I think they're just a bunch of thugs, okay, you want to know the truth. I think they're a bunch of thugs," he said.
The president told his cheering audience that he had signed an executive order that would put such miscreants in jail for 10 years.
Now, nobody even talks about taking statues down, he said.
The vandalised statue was restored later by the Embassy of India here, with the help of National Park Police and the State Department.
"We had a period of time when they were ripping down all of the statues and monuments, and I said to my people four months ago, I said this is crazy. These people--and they don't even know," Trump said.
Now that he has signed an executive order, Trump said that nobody has showed up in four months to take down a statue.
"Because you know why? They look and they say I want to take on that statue. I'm going to take down that statue. That statue's coming down. And then somebody says, you know, it's 10 years in jail. They go that's too much. I'm getting out of here. It's true," he said amidst laughter.
"Ten years is not acceptable. Ten years is a lot to rip down a statue, have a little fun, especially when they have no idea what they're ripping down. But we have an idea what they're ripping down. They're ripping down, in many cases, greatness. They're ripping down our past. They're ripping down our history," he said.
"That's where these guys begin. The take away your history. You look at the Middle East. You look all over. Look what ISIS did. Look what all of them do. They go down and they go to museums and they break everything and they rip everything. They want to take away your past. They are not taking away the past of the United States of America. Not as long as I'm here," Trump said.
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Karnataka Cabinet to meet again to discuss SC internal reservation during recruitment
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to meet again to discuss the issue of providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes for direct recruitment in the government sector, as deliberations on the matter remained incomplete.
While no specific date for the next meeting has been announced, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters it would be held "at the earliest" and reiterated the government's commitment to the issue.
The issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, amid reports of rifts between SC(Right) and SC (Left) factions within the ruling Congress over providing internal reservation in the recruitment to 56,432 vacant posts.
"The government is committed to providing internal reservation. We will meet again for further discussion. The chief minister will decide when to meet at the earliest. It will be a Cabinet meeting and will be held as early as possible," Patil said.
He said, "We had a detailed discussion on this matter for some time, but it was incomplete because many ministers are yet to speak on this. The order already issued (for filling up vacancies) will not be disturbed, and about other things, we will discuss in the next meeting."
The state government decided to conduct recruitment for 56,432 vacant jobs based on the reservation order in force before December 28, 2022, (15 per cent for SCs and 3 per cent for STs), due to the stay on the enhanced quota and internal reservation, while continuing to pursue its case in court.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state's total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this matter is still in court, the Congress government decided to provide internal reservation by slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes, under three groups, with a formula of six, six, and five per cent respectively.
According to sources, the SC(Left)/Madiga community, which has fought for internal reservation for decades, opposes recruitment for 56,432 jobs without providing internal reservation.
The SC (Right)/Holeya community, however, favoured recruitment without providing internal reservation.
At the meeting, the Cabinet gave administrative approval for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to purchase 144 'BS-VI' urban transport diesel buses at an estimated cost of Rs 62 crores.
It also granted administrative approval for the purchase of hardware and software for implementing ICJS (Inter-operable Criminal Justice System) and IT services in the state under the Police Modernisation Project at an estimated cost of Rs 227.58 crores.
The Cabinet also asked the health minister to speak with officers, doctors and other staffers appointed on a permanent, contract, temporary, or outsourced basis in the health department, who have threatened to go on strike over their various demands.
Approval was also given for amendments to certain sections of the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964, and the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, regarding advertisement charges under local bodies.
