AAP Nominates Harbhajan, Raghav Chadha To RS

After a thumping victory in Punjab Assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced that it has nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha to Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

Harbhajan made his debut in 1998 and the last international match he played was in 2016 but official retirement was announced in 2021.
Chadha is an MLA from Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar and party’s co-incharge in Punjab.

Besides these two, Aam Aadmi Party has nominated Dr Sandeep Pathak to Rajya Sabha. He camped in Punjab for nearly three years and formed an organization at the booth level.

Aam Aadmi Party also nominated Chancellor of Lovely Professional University (LPU), Ashok Mittal to the Upper House. He is known for his work in the field of education – one category of the poll promises of AAP – and social services.

Aam Aadmi Party also nominated founder of Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Care Charitable Trust, Sanjiv Arora to Rajya Sabha.

AAP swept the recent state Assembly elections securing 92 of the 117-member House.

The five Punjab vacancies are arising due to the term of the following Rajya Sabha MPs ending on April 9. The last day for filing the nominations is Monday.

Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and SS Dullo, BJP’s Shwait Malik, SAD’s Naresh Gujral and SS Dhindsa from SAD-Sanyukt are the five Rajya Sabha MPs whose term is approaching the end.

In all, Punjab has seven seats in the Upper House.

The term of SAD’s Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Congress leader Ambika Soni, who are also Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab, will end on July 4. Elections to these two seats would be held later this year. (ANI)

President Kovind To Confer Padma Awards For 2022 Today

President Ram Nath Kovind will confer Padma awards for the year 2022 on Monday.

As per Rashtrapati Bhavan’s press release, President Kovind will confer two Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 54 Padma Shri Awards at the Civil Investiture Ceremony to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Amongst the prominent awardees at today’s Investiture ceremony will be Padma Vibhushan recipients Radhey Shyam and General Bipin Rawat (Posthumous).

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Gurmeet Bawa (Posthumous), N Chandrasekharan, Devendra Jhajharia, Rashid Khan, Rajiv Mehrishi, Dr Cyrus Poonawalla and Sachchidanand Swami will receive the Padma Bhushan awards.

The Civil Investiture Ceremony -II is scheduled to be held on March 28.

The Awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

These Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities such as art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field.

The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

The awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

As per the release, this year a total of 128 Padma Awards are being conferred, including two duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one).

The list of awardees comprises four Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri Awards.

34 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/ NRI/ PIO/ OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees. (ANI)

kashmir files

‘The Kashmir Files is A Farrago of Disinformation; A Propaganda’

Omair Hasan* counters the Bollywood narrative which, he argues, is an attempt to further polarize the country and a disservice to the cause of Kashmiri Pandits

I was about three year old when the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley happened. I have very little memory of the incident. But the story of their migration came in front of me in various forms. As I grew, I realized a couple of houses in my neighbourhood were always deserted. Those were the houses of Pandits who left during the 1990 violence.

I also came across many other stories of violence against them. Nobody can justify the atrocity and violence which happened on them. But weaponising those tragic incidents against Kashmiri Muslims is also not justified.

I saw The Kashmir Files and I seriously doubt the intention of the movie. It is a farrago of disinformation. A complete distortion of facts; a misrepresentation of history and a vicious propaganda.

Every incident has been presented in the movie in a way with an agenda. If we start with the death toll, 89 Kashmiri Pandits were killed in attacks since the inception of militancy in 1990, according to the government data. The movie completely evades the data on the number of killings.

There are various scenes in the movie which show the massacre but never address the number of deaths or what led to the start of killings.

ALSO READ: Kashmir Files Brings Alive Our Pain & Plight

In his book Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years, AS Dulat addresses the reason behind the start of killings. He writes that some Pandits were on the payrolls of Intelligence Bureau which he was heading. He also goes on to name some of them who were killed. This vindicates the position taken by militant groups that they were not targeting Pandits in general but had selective targets not linked to their religion but for their affiliations with Indian Intelligence.

This thus debunks and punctures the Indian state’s propaganda to shame Kashmiri resistance movement. I believe that the intention behind hiding the numbers and reason in the movie was to obfuscate people than to make them aware of the event.

Another distorted fact which has been shown in the movie is Kashmiri Pandits demanding removal of Article 370 in 1990. It is laughable. Why were Pandits demanding the removal of Article 370 then, when it also suited them as much as it suits Kashmiri Muslims?

Now let’s talk about slogans used in the movie. Slogan has always been a big part of any movement and so it has been in Kashmir. But the film shows some false slogans that was never a part of the public movement in Kashmir. The film shows Kashmiri crowd raising slogans like “Ralive, Tsaliv ya Galive (convert to Islam, leave the place or perish).” This is completely false. It was never a part of the ‘Kashmir movement’ in its entire history.

According to the movie, all Kashmiri Muslims support Pakistan, including Abdullahs and Muftis. The fun fact for readers of this article is that the so-called nationalist BJP has formed many governments with these so-called Pakistani supporters both at the Centre and in Kashmir.

The movie hails the present government at the Centre as if this is the first time the BJP government has come to power since 1990. I would like to remind people that in these 32 years, the BJP government has remained in power at the Centre for 14 years. We must not forget that it also formed government in Kashmir too. In these years, how many Pandits have been resettled in Kashmir?

Injustice has happened to Pandits but we can’t do justice to them with this kind of propaganda by building anti-Kashmiri narratives. Such kind of movie will further polarise the country and anger of people will be vented out on innocent Kashmiri students who are studying in universities and colleges in different parts of the country. These students have nothing to do with things which happened when they were not even born or were very young and had no say in the politics of the state.

Whether Pandits or Muslims, I think Kashmir is the real victim here. It has been victim for many centuries and still fighting the battle.

As told to Md Tausif Alam

* Hasan declined to share his picture for safety reasons. Respecting his wish, we have used a representational picture

Biren To Take Oath As Manipur CM Today

Senior BJP leader N Biren Singh, who was unanimously elected leader of the legislature party in Manipur on Sunday, will take oath as Chief Minister of the state for a second term on Monday at 3 pm.

Singh was unanimously elected as leader of the legislature party of the BJP in a meeting held on Sunday, which was attended by the party’s central observers, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union law and justice minister Kiren Rijiju.
Ahead of the BJP’s state legislature party meeting, Singh had visited Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party retained power in the state by winning an absolute majority with 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recently concluded Assembly polls. Congress bagged five seats and the NPP won seven seats. Naga People’s Front bagged five and the Kuki People’s Alliance got two seats. Independents bagged three seats.

The BJP leaders have been discussing the government formation in Manipur after the BJP won an absolute majority in the state for the first time. The BJP had formed the previous government in the state with the support of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP) with Biren Singh as Chief Minister. (ANI)

Rani Mukerji Turns 44, Wishes Pour In

Actor Rani Mukerji, who has given the Indian film industry some of the most memorable movies of all time including ‘Mardaani’, ‘Black’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Hum Tum’ and ‘Yuva’, turned 44 on Monday.

One of the most celebrated actors, Rani’s career began in the mid-90s and she quickly shot to fame with films like ‘Ghulam’ and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. With movies like ‘Hum Tum’, ‘Saathiya’, ‘Veer-Zaara’ and ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, the actor solidified her place in the industry.
Apart from giving the Indian cinema some acting gems, the actor also featured in some of the most popular tracks over the years including ‘Aati Kya Khandala’, ‘Chupke Se’, ‘Hadh Kar Di Aapne’, ‘Say Shava Shava’ and ‘Jee Le Zaraa’.

On her 44th birthday, Rani opened up about her plans to handpick the best scripts going forward and how she is excited to find movies that are about “hope and love” like ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’.

Talking about her journey so far, Rani said, “It has been an exhilarating journey in cinema so far for me and I hope that it remains the same in the years to come. I have been fortunate enough to collaborate with some of the best minds in the form of directors, producers, actors and technicians who have pushed me to excel on-screen and reinvent myself every single time.”

She added, “I want to continue doing that with every project because I always want to push my boundaries to see where I land. I always knew that my journey will be tough but I sailed through the last 25 years with the audience’s love by my side and my hard work and perseverance.”

The actor further said, “I have never accepted to be typecast or fit in a mould. I have always tried to be part of meaningful films with a very strong female protagonist at the centre of the story. I wanted to be a part of good films with important stories about Indian women. There have been times where I have been blessed with films that have worked and some that missed to make a mark with the audience but I think that’s the best part about our industry. You win some and lose some and that helps you to grow from strength to strength to carve a special place as an individual artiste in a cutthroat industry like ours.”

About her next outing, ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway’, helmed by Ashima Chibber, Rani said, “My next project Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway is a film very close to my heart. I’m hoping that the story of this film will resonate with every Indian the way it did for me and my team. It’s an incredible story of human resilience that will appeal to audiences across the country and across every age group.”

She added, “I’m very emotionally invested in this story as it connected with me as an actor and a mother. These are stories that need to be told. I really hope my next few years in cinema is studded with more such brilliant scripts. I’m hungry for them because these films not only entertain audiences but also deliver a great message to people. I want to do movies that are about hope and love.”

Rani was last seen in ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ opposite Saif Ali Khan. The film, which released last year, marked their on-screen reunion after more than a decade. Directed by Varun V Sharma, the film also featured Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh. (ANI)

Sonam Kapoor, Anand Ahuja Set To Embrace Parenthood

Actor Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and her husband Anand Ahuja will soon welcome their first child.

On Monday, Sonam took to Instagram and announced the good news with her fans and followers.

Sharing that the baby will arrive this fall, the ‘Neerja’ star wrote, “Four hands. To raise you the very best we can. Two hearts. That will beat in unison with yours, every step of the way. One family. Who will shower you with love and support. We can’t wait to welcome you. #everydayphenomenal #comingthisfall2022.”

She also dropped a few images in which she can be seen cradling her baby bump while lying on the couch with Anand.

As soon as Sonam announced her pregnancy, fans and members of the film industry chimed into the comment section to congratulate the celebrity couple.

“Wohoooooooo soooo happy for you both..can’t wait for the babies to play,” actor Kareena Kapoor Khan commented.

“Such wonderful news!!! So happy for you @sonamkapoor and @anandahuja,” actor Dia Mirza wrote while extending her heartfelt greetings.

Sonam and Anand tied the knot in 2018 in a traditional wedding ceremony in Mumbai. The two are currently staying at their residence in Delhi. (ANI)

K’taka: Body Of Naveen Shekharappa To Be Donated For Medical Research

Shekharappa Gyangoudar, father of Naveen Shekharappa, who died in a shelling attack in Ukraine on March 1, said on Monday that the remains of his son would be donated to a hospital for medical research.

The mortal remains of Naveen reached Bengaluru at 3 am Monday and were later taken to his hometown in Haveri in an ambulance. The remains reached Haveri at 9 am.

The final rites of Naveen are being conducted as per Hindu Veerashaiva Lingayat tradition by his parents and thereafter it will be taken out for a procession in the village. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is expected to Naveen’s village to pay his tribute.

The family has decided to handover the body to SS Medical College in Davanagere.

Shekharappa said, “Since childhood, he wanted to become a doctor and serve society. However, he did not get a seat in a government medical college in India, so he went to Ukraine to pursue his medical education. His dream of becoming a doctor did not come true, so we decided to donate his body so that the future generation could do their research and be beneficial for them.”

The father also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him and assured him that the mortal remains of Naveen will be brought back. He said, “Soon after his death reports came in, PM Modi called us. He said that the government is making all efforts to bring back the body to India.”

He also said that he was in touch with CM Bommai, local MLA and MP.

After the mortal remains of Naveen reached Bengaluru, CM Bommai paid last respect at the airport and later it was taken to Haveri. (ANI)

Ahead Of PM Modi-Morrison Summit, Australia Returns 29 Antiquities

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtual summit with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on Monday, Australia has handed over as many as 29 antiquities to India, which is seen as a boost to New Delhi’s bid to get back the country’s heritage from across the world.

The antiquities range in six broad categories as per themes – Shiva and his disciples, Worshipping Shakti, Lord Vishnu and his forms, Jain traditions, portraits and decorative objects. These antiquities come from different time periods, with earlier ones dating to 9-10 century CE.

These are primarily sculptures and paintings executed in a variety of materials – sandstone, marble, bronze, brass, paper. Representing a large geographical region in India, antiquities are from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inspected the antiquities returned by Australia.

The repatriated antiquities includes Shiva Bhairav, a 9th-10th century CE Rajasthan Sandstone, the child-saint Sambandar from 12th century CE, and seated Jina sculpture from Mount Abu region, Rajasthan.

Other antiquities repatriated includes the portrait of Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad Yamin Lala Deen Dayal, memorial portrait of Hiralal A. Gandhi, and untitled ‘Manorath’ portrait of donor and priests before Shri Nathji, Nathdwara.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the Narendra Modi government has been instrumental in bringing back some 200 stolen antiquities to India from across the world. (ANI)

Rahul Extends Greetings On Navroz

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday extended his greetings on the occasion of Parsi New Year-Navroz and wished everyone peace and prosperity.

Gandhi tweeted, “My best wishes on the occasion of Navroz! Peace and prosperity for all.”
Navroz or Nowruz is an Iranian and Persian New year, a day dedicated to the beginning of the spring and to promote peace, solidarity and friendship among people and different communities.

The day is dedicated to the beginning of spring and the renewal of nature. Navroz is celebrated on the first day of the first month of the calendar followed by Zoroastrians. (ANI)

Shuttler Lakshya Sen Loses In All England Final To World No 1

The world number one Viktor Axelsen on Sunday defeated India’s Lakshya Sen to win the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships.

It took the reigning Olympic champion just 53 minutes to defeat the unseeded Indian by 21-10, 21-15 here at Utilita Arena in Birmingham. The Dane shuttler has now increased his lead in the head-to-head against Sen by 5-1.

The young Indian shutter was bidding to become only the third man after Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) to win the All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England which is the world’s oldest and most prestigious badminton tournament.

The top-seed was the man on mission from the get-go as he took the 6-0 lead in the first game and then raced towards a nine points lead at the mid-game interval.

After the resumption, the Danish shuttler continued the demolition of the World number 11 Indian as he grabbed the first game without breaking any sweat.

The second game started on a pacy note as the shuttle kept changing on the racquet of both the players but it was again the athlete from Denmark who came out at the top in the mid-game break and this time with the lead of four points.

The change of sides didn’t do any favour for Sen as he continued to struggle against the smashes of the former All England champion. Axelsen who was playing in his fourth consecutive All-England final showed no respite to young shuttler as he continued his charge and demolished any resistance showed by Sen.

The Dane shuttler eventually called the match by winning the second game 21-15.

After taking part in this final, Sen is now only the fifth Indian – after Prakash Nath (1947), Prakash Padukone (1980 and 1981), Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Saina Nehwal (2015) – to make the summit clash of All England.

India’s rising badminton star has been in top form in recent times. He secured his maiden world championships bronze in December, before winning his first Super 500 title at India Open in January and finishing runner-up at the German Open last week. (ANI)