‘Godsewaadi congress’
The Hindu Mahasabha’s Gwalior unit has announced that it will take out a “Godse Yatra” from the city on 14 March to the national capital and will demand Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to rename her party as “Godsewaadi Congress”!
Jaiveer Bhardwaj, national vice-president, Hindu Mahasabha, told The Sunday Guardian on Tuesday that a “Godse supporter”, Babulal Chaurasia joined the Congress in Madhya Pradesh last month. “By taking away one of our leaders, the Congress has proved that they welcome the ‘Godsewaadi’ ideology and want to make ‘Godsewaadi Congress’. So, we request Sonia Gandhi to rename her party to celebrate the legacy of Godse. We have written a letter to Sonia Gandhi in this regard.”
Chaurasia, who attended an event for the installation of an idol of Nathuram Godse in Gwalior in 2017, joined Congress on 24 February. The Hindu Mahasabha had issued a show-cause notice to Chaurasia and later expelled him. Bhardwaj says that Congress has “bought” Chaurasia as it is on the verge of falling apart.
Storm in a cup of Assam tea
Just two tea garden photographs have triggered a storm in a teacup in poll-bound Assam. The state’s Finance Minister and BJP leader, Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that the photos from Taiwan were being used by the Congress on its Assam campaign page. Sharing a screenshot of one of the photos, Sarma tweeted: “Official Congress campaign page is using a photo of tea garden from Taiwan to say ‘Assam Bachao’ (Save Assam). Congress leaders can’t even recognise Assam? This is an insult of Assam and Tea Garden workers of our state.”
Sarma shared the other photo in another tweet. “First Congress couldn’t identify Assam, now Congress can’t even recognise Assamese people. This is again a pic from Taiwan. Congress leaders have forgotten Assam. Let’s show @INCIndia how beautiful our land is,” he wrote.
The Congress has accused the BJP of resorting to propaganda. Congress leader Bobeeta Sarma told The Sunday Guardian that “The BJP is rattled as people are connecting with the Congress and looking for progress to come back. The minister should have verified the photos before using them. We are filing a complaint with EC.”
This time, both BJP and Congress are focusing more on the tea garden votes. Assam has 126 Assembly segments and in around one-third of them, the votes of tea workers will determine the fate of candidates. Hiking their daily wage to Rs 365 is one of the five-point “guarantees” of the Congress. The BJP has doled out money to the workers and taken up other welfare initiatives for them.
‘Metroman’ derailed?
By welcoming “Metroman” E. Sreedharan in the BJP, the saffron party had made it obvious that it wished to take full advantage of his legacy in the Kerala assembly polls. But within hours of tweeting that Sreedharan will be BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, Union Minister V. Muraleedharan clarified on Thursday that “I later cross-checked with the party chief who said that he has not made any such announcement.”
Deepika dons denim
India’s denim market is believed to be worth around Rs 30,000 crore. Jeans continue to attract people from all walks of life, especially women. To attract more women, global brand Levi’s has made Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone its brand ambassador. Levi’s has rolled out a campaign featuring Deepika. Titled “When you take a step, we all move”, the catchy campaign aims to inspire a culture of sisterhood and celebrates individuality through self-expression. The one-minute video campaign consists of a film which is set to the popular Bollywood tune, “Auva Auva”, from the 1980s classic song Koi Yahan Nache Nache from the movie Disco Dancer. The campaign went viral within a day of its launch, recording more than five million views so far.
Saikot Das, marketing director, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Levi Strauss and Co, says: “The campaign is an ode to the collective movement of women who are moving ahead with strength and shaping a massive cultural change. It’s great to have Deepika as part of the campaign as she embodies what it means to inspire generations to fearlessly chase their dreams and pursuits.”
HP man a billionaire in US
Jay Chaudhary of Panoh village in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district, on Wednesday was named among the top-10 Indian billionaires in America. A US citizen, Chaudhary is the CEO and founder of Zscaler, a cyber-security company. Born as Jagtar Singh Chaudhary to Bhagat Singh and Surjeet Kaur in 1959, Jay was the youngest among three brothers. He passed his Class X from a village school before topping the Prep under Himachal Pradesh University. Chaudhary did his graduation from BHU and later got Master’s and MBA from the University of Cincinnati. In 1997, Chaudhary founded Secure IT and Cipher Trust. He is also a board member of Air 2 Web. After Zscaler’s March 2018 IPO, Chaudhry was reckoned to be a billionaire. In the same year he made it to the finals of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award programme in Northern California.
With a net worth of 6.9 billion US dollars, Chaudhary was included in the 2020 Forbes 400 list of richest people in America, positioned 85th in the list.
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com