Sonia, Kharge, Rahul, Akhilesh join opposition leaders in protest against SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties, including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, protested in the Parliament House complex on Monday against the Election Commission's voter roll revision in Bihar, and demanded its rollback.
Ahead of the day's proceedings in Parliament, top opposition MPs, including Sonia Gandhi, Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, TMC's Derek O'Brien and Sagarika Ghose, DMK's Kanimozhi and A Raja, besides others, raised slogans and protested against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
There was a huge banner in front of them which read 'SIR- Attack on Democracy' as they lined up on and near the steps of the Makar Dwar of Parliament and staged a protest for the fifth consecutive day.
With 'Stop SIR' placards in hand, several MPs of the opposition, including those of the Congress, DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party, RJD and Left parties, participated in the protest and raised slogans.
The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the EC's exercise was aimed at "disenfranchising voters" in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections. They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses.
On Friday, several MPs of the INDIA bloc parties, including Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, had held an unusual protest in the Parliament House complex against the voter roll revision in Bihar by tearing posters with 'SIR' written on them and putting them in a 'disposal bin'.
They had also staged a protest march in the complex, demanding the rollback as well as a discussion on the issue in both Houses.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
