Author: LokMarg

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has been booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments after her comment on Goddess Kali stirred a controversy.

An FIR has been registered in Bhopal against Moitra under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for hurting religious sentiments. She had called Kali “meat-eating” and “alcohol-accepting”.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Hindu religious sentiments have been hurt by Moitra’s statement and that insult to Hindu deities will not be tolerated at any cost.

Reacting to the complaints against her by the BJP leaders, the TMC MP said: “Bring it on BJP! Am a Kali worshipper. I am not afraid of anything. Not your ignoramuses. Not your goons. Not your police. And most certainly not your trolls. Truth doesn’t need back up forces.”

Soon after she made those remarks on Kali, the TMC distanced itself saying the comments were made in her personal capacity.

In a tweet, the TMC said the comments made by Mahua Moitra and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity “and are NOT ENDORSED BY THE PARTY in ANY MANNER OR FORM”. “All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments,” the party tweeted.

Moitra’s remarks came after a controversy erupted over a poster of filmmaker Leena Manimekalai’s documentary ‘Kaali’. The poster of the film depicted a woman dressed in a costume portraying the goddess and smoking. A flag of the LGBT community is seen in the background.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi said that people must be careful when they play with the emotions of people which are reflected in such symbols, culture and faith.

“We won’t like to comment on other parties, but I believe that balance must be maintained in symbols and essence of our faith. Heart and spirit of our culture cannot be trivialised by anybody anywhere be it elsewhere, abroad or here,” he said. (ANI)

On Wednesday, the makers of ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ unveiled a new poster of Aishwarya’s look from Mani Ratnam’s directorial.

In the film, Aishwarya will be seen in dual roles. She will play queen Nandini, the princess of Pazhuvoor, who is on a mission to seek vengeance, as well as Mandakini Devi in the historical drama.
“Vengeance has a beautiful face! Meet Nandini, the Queen of Pazhuvoor!,” tweeted Madras Talkies, the banner which is bankrolling the two-part epic along with Lyca Productions.

In the poster, Aishwarya looks as majestic as Nandini. Undoubtedly, she is exuding elegance with her new look.

Fans have been going gaga over her look ever since the poster was released.

“She (Aishwarya) is so so beautiful,” a netizen commented.

“How stunning,” a fan wrote.

“She is graceful. Can’t take my eyes off her,” a social media user tweeted.

Earlier, Chiyaan Vikram and Karthi’s characters from the film were revealed by the makers, and they play the respective characters Aditya Karikalan and Vanthiyathevan.

Aishwarya has previously worked with Mani Ratnam in the 2007 film Guru and the 2010 film Raavan, both of which featured Aishwarya’s husband Abhishek Bachchan. The duo even worked together in the 1997 Tamil film Iruvar, which marked Aishwarya’s debut in the Tamil film industry.

‘PS-1’ is slated for a worldwide release on September 30, 2022, in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. (ANI)

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma resigned on Wednesday amid widespread criticism following charges that he had employed two unauthorized persons to tweak tax rates.

Sharma’s resignation follows the formation of an 11-member parliamentary probe committee over charges of breaching the budgetary discipline, which experts say amounts to financial crime, reported Kathmandu Post.
He made the announcement of his resignation while addressing the meeting of the House of Representatives.

“While I fully refute allegations against me, I have decided to cooperate in the investigation,” said Sharma in his address to Parliament. “I announce my resignation to facilitate the probe process.”

Sharma has been embroiled in a series of controversies. In the latest one, he was accused of inviting two unauthorized persons to change tax rates on May 28, a day before he presented the budget for the next fiscal year, reported Kathmandu Post.

Earlier on Wednesday, discussions were held to form a parliamentary committee to investigate the charges against Sharma.

Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives unanimously endorsed a proposal of Speaker Agni Sapkota for the formation of the Parliamentary Probe Special Committee.

The committee has four lawmakers from the CPN-UML, two each from the Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre, and one each from the CPN (Unified Socialist), Janata Samajbadi Party and Loktantrik Samabajbadi Party.

The main opposition party CPN-UML has been demanding Sharma’s resignation ever since reports suggested that he involved two persons to change tax rates, reported Kathmandu Post.

Amid calls for a probe into Sharma, a new controversy arose after the ministry failed to provide the CCTV footage of May 28, saying storage of only 13 days’ recording is possible.

In response to the demand for the CCTV footage, the Finance Ministry has said that it got erased because the record of only 13 days remains in storage.

The ministry’s response has raised multiple questions. Also, civil society members have demanded Sharma’s resignation and a fair probe into the incident, reported Kathmandu Post.

Nepali Congress leaders including General Secretary Gagan Thapa have publicly demanded Sharma’s sacking.

On Tuesday, six former vice-chairmen of the National Planning Commission demanded an investigation into the charges of budget tampering. (ANI)

The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi on Wednesday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody of accused Vaibhav Jain till July 11, the alleged associate of Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain in a money laundering case. The court also sent another accused Ankush Jain to Judicial Custody (JC) in the same case.

Both of them were arrested by the ED last week.
On Wednesday, ED produced them before the court of special judge Geetanjali Goel at the end of their custody period.

The Enforcement Directorate’s case was represented by Advocate Zoheb Hossain and Advocate Naveen Kumar Matta.

According to the ED, Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain are among those who assisted the Delhi Minister in the money laundering case.

In this case, Delhi Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested on 30 May 2022. Besides them, Naveen Jain and Siddharth Jain (Directors of Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), G S Matharoo (Chairman of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust which runs Prudence Group of Schools), Yogesh Kumar Jain (Director in Ram Prakash Jewellers Pvt Ltd), father-in-law of Ankush Jain and Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust are also on ED radar for assisting Satyendar Jain, the ED informed.

The ED on June 6 had seized 2.85 crore cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg from Satyendra Jain’s aides during its day-long raid conducted at various places across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The agency had also seized various incriminating documents and digital records during these raids.

The ED then said that the total movable assets were seized from “an unexplained source” and were “found to be secreted” in the raided premises.

The assets were seized during a search operation carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 at the premises of Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and his accomplices and other persons who had either directly or indirectly assisted him or participated in the processes of money laundering.

ED investigation in the case has revealed that one accomplice of Lala Sher Singh Jivan Vigyan Trust had provided accommodation entries for the transfer of land from a company beneficially owned by Satyendar Jain to family members of accomplices in order to alienate the property and to frustrate the process of confiscation.

The ED had also initiated a money-laundering investigation on the basis of a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 24 August 2017 under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Satyendar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.

The CBI filed a chargesheet on 3 December 2018 against Satyendar Kumar Jain, Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain.

The chargesheet mentioned that Satyendar Jain, while holding the office as a Minister in the Government of Delhi, during the period from 14 February 14 to 31 May 2017, had acquired assets which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The CBI has accused Satyendar Kumar Jain and others of the commission of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

Jain was arrested after the ED attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore, in April, owned by the companies named Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 in connection with the disproportionate asset and money laundering case registered Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and others. (ANI)

Several houses were submerged in the Sinhkund village of Naugachhia town in Bhagalpur due to flood erosion by the Kosi river that started on July 1.

Situated on the banks of the river, the houses built by the labourers of the village are slowly getting washed away. The villagers are being forced to move out after having their homes wiped out and lands eroded by the intensifying rate of inundation.

“The houses have been demolished and all the villagers are migrating to another safer village,” said Nanhaku Mandal, a victim.

Kaushalya Devi, another victim worked as a labourer and built the house which has been torn down by the calamity.

“My whole house has been torn down. I don’t know where to go, what to eat. I have been alone in this house, both my husband and son are dead. I am very distressed,” she said.

Another victim, Kanchan Devi said, “There is nothing left. The whole house is covered in Kosi. There is no food. No one has come to aid the situation. No public representative or administrative came even once to our rescue. Not even a brick could be saved.”

Having no approach road connecting them to the city, the remote village cannot be reached via road and can only be travelled to and from via boats.

Since July 1, the Kosi river has been waterlogging the villages of Bhagalpur, causing several homes to be swept away by the overflow. Other homes near the banks can be eroded at any moment. (ANI)

Two Cabinet Ministers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, who will cease to be members of the Rajya Sabha from Thursday, will have to resign from the Union Cabinet by tomorrow according to the procedure.
The Rajya Sabha term of Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Steel Minister RCP Singh will end on Thursday.

According to the sources, this is the first time that a sitting minister has been out of both Houses of Parliament.

There is a precedent that both may continue as a minister for another six months before they get re-elected to either house but in this case, they will have to take the oath of office of Minister again.

Recently, several BJP leaders were elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. However, the party did not give a Rajya Sabha ticket to Naqvi.

RCP Singh, who comes from an ally party in Bihar, JD(U), had sworn in as a minister in the Modi government a year ago on July 7, 2021. However, in the recent announcement of the Rajya Sabha tickets, Nitish Kumar denied RCP Singh’s election to the Rajya Sabha.

A Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant from Tripura after the resignation of Manik Saha who has recently elected to the Tripura Assembly. Besides this, there is no Rajya Sabha seat which is going to be vacant in the next few months. (ANI)

West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday exuded confidence that the central government will implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“BJP has a track record of keeping its promises. We had promised to build the Ram Mandir; we have done it. CAA is our goal, and we will achieve it. It is our promise that we will implement CAA. I have complete faith that CAA will be implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” Majumdar told ANI.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has several times said that she would not allow the implementation of CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.

According to the BJP, CAA and NRC will stop illegal infiltration across the borders.

CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The Centre has said that citizenship to the eligible beneficiaries of CAA will be given only after rules under the legislation are notified.

Majumdar hit out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) saying that the party cannot “disassociate” itself from the comments made by Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra about Goddess Kali.

“TMC can’t detach itself from the comments of Mahua Moitra. If TMC actually doesn’t endorse it, they should take action – they should either expel her or suspend her from the party for a few days,” said the West Bengal BJP.

Majumdar also demanded the arrest of Mahua Moitra.

“Our Mahila Morcha will stage a sit-in protest, go to police station and request that she (Mahua Moitra) be arrested,” said Sukanta Majumdar.

Mahua Moitra had on Tuesday issued a clarification on her earlier statements about Kali and said that she has “never backed any film or poster or mentioned the word smoking”.

Taking to Twitter she said, “To all you Sanghis- lying will NOT make you better Hindus. I NEVER backed any film or poster or mentioned the word smoking. Suggest you visit my Maa Kali in Tarapith to see what food and drink are offered as bhog. Joy Ma Tara.”

A massive controversy erupted over a poster shared by filmmaker Leena Manimekalai’s on her documentary ‘Kaali’. The poster of the film depicted a woman dressed in a costume portraying the goddess and smoking. A flag of the LGBT community is seen in the background.

Condemning the remarks made by Moitra, the ruling TMC, however, distanced itself from the comments. “The comments made by @MahuaMoitra at the #IndiaTodayConclaveEast2022 and her views expressed on Goddess Kali have been made in her personal capacity and are NOT ENDORSED BY THE PARTY in ANY MANNER OR FORM. All India Trinamool Congress strongly condemns such comments,” the party said in a Twitter post.

Moitra on Tuesday said, “within Hinduism, being a Kali worshipper I have the freedom to imagine my Kali in that way… that is my freedom and I don’t think anyone’s sentiments should be hurt. I have the freedom… as much as you have to worship your god.”

She stated, “For me, Goddess Kali is a meat-eating and alcohol-accepting goddess. And if you go to Tarapith (a major Shakti peeth in West Bengal’s Birbhum district), you will see sadhus smoking. That is the version of Kali people worship (there).” (ANI)

As heavy rainfall lashed the metropolitan, severe waterlogging was recorded in several parts of Mumbai on Wednesday.

The waterlogging was recorded in Dadar and Sion areas today, and Powai Lake started overflowing Tuesday evening due to the downpour.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert on Tuesday predicting very heavy showers in the city for the next five days from July 5 to July 9.

The capital city is witnessing heavy rain since Monday following which areas are waterlogged and traffic movement has been affected.

On Tuesday, a landslide incident was reported in Ghatkopar’s Panchsheel Nagar in Mumbai amidst heavy rains, demolishing a house.

The Central railway informed that the trains on all corridors are running, however, some main and harbour line trains are running late.

Several rivers in the state have reached the warning level. The Kundalika River has crossed the warning level and the water level of Amba, Savitri, Patalganga, Ulhas and Garhi rivers is slightly below the warning level.

The IMD also issued an orange alert for Thane, Palghar, Pune, Beed, Latur, Jalna, Parbhani and several other areas in Maharashtra for the next five days. Ratnagiri and Raigad are on red alert.

Amidst the downpour, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed officials to monitor the situation and keep the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) squads ready, said the CM’s office (CMO) on Tuesday.

Particularly in Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane, Palghar, Sindhudurg and Kolhapur districts, the CM has directed citizens to inform about the rising water and flood situation due to rains and make arrangements at appropriate places for evacuation.

Apart from this, the Chief Minister directed the district collectors and the Water Resources Department to remain alert and take proper precautions as the water of the Jagbudi and Kajli rivers is flowing at the warning level.

The IMD has predicted that isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall and thunderstorm/lightning are very likely over Gujarat, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, Coastal and South Interior Karnataka, Kerala and Mahe during the next five days from July 5 to July 9.

“Isolated extremely heavy rainfall also likely over south Gujarat Region and ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra on 08th and over Konkan and Goa on July 7 and 8,” the IMD said.

The weather forecasting agency also predicted scattered rainfall activity with isolated heavy rainfall likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal during the next five days.

“Widespread rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall and thunderstorm/lightning likely over Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha during next five days,” it added. (ANI)