KHATTAR MEETS PARTY WORKER WHO SAVED HIS LIFE
Was it a case of BJP’s “Sampark for Samarthan” (Contact for Support) programme, wondered the Opposition Congress in Haryana about Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s sudden visit to an ordinary party worker’s home in Ratia (Fatehabad). Many within the BJP also did not know what to make of it.
Kalu Ram, an old BJP worker, was taken by surprise when a group of policemen reached his house to inform him that the “CM Saheb” was about to reach his home. And the CM arrived within minutes.
A large number of people assembled on hearing about the CM’s surprise visit. Khattar told them that “I would have lost my life by falling from a running train one winter night in 1995 had Kalu Ram not come to my rescue.” Actually, Khattar was in town when he suddenly made this unscheduled visit to Ram’s house. “In 1995, I was the organising secretary of the party and nearly 1,700 workers of the party from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab were returning from Mumbai in a train after attending a party convention,” Khattar told the gathering. “Our train stopped in the Chambal area in the night. I decided to change my compartment. But the moment I alighted, the train started moving. I caught hold of a window and started beating it vigorously as all windows and doors were closed. I kept hanging for several kilometres in chilling cold and was about to lose grip when Kalu Ram appeared like an angel, opened the window and after recognising me, pulled me inside the train,” Khattar said.
Modest Kalu Ram later told The Sunday Guardian that Khattar’s gesture touched his heart. “I still remember that day when someone was hitting violently on the window of our bogey while their train was passing through the Chambal terrain and no one wanted to open the door for fear of dacoits.”
“I am 6 feet 6 inches tall and not afraid of anyone. I thought even if a dacoit is there, I would kick him out. I opened the window and was shocked to find that it was Khattarji, almost fainting. That evening, he had gone to another bogey to resolve a dispute between workers from Delhi and Himachal Pradesh,” said Kalu Ram adding that “had I not pulled him in immediately, he would have definitely lost his grip and fallen from the train.”
CENTRE MAY SOFT-PEDAL CITIZENSHIP BILL
The Central government is likely to soft-pedal the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, in view of the raging protests on the matter in Assam. The bill is being seen as detrimental to the protection of the rights and the identities of the indigenous population of Assam. The bill aims to provide citizenship to persecuted minority communities like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who had fled from their homes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Sources from the Northeast told The Sunday Guardian that “we have a feeling that because of the strong protests, the Central government is unlikely to table the Bill in Parliament’s current monsoon session.” They hinted that the BJP is contemplating to bring a private member resolution to prompt a detailed discussion on the matter.
At the same time, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the government is unlikely to withdraw the Bill “as it will lead to adverse repercussions in some other parts of the country”.
The BJP is not keen to impose it, at least, at this stage against the wishes of the people of Assam valley. The BJP’s ally in Assam, Asom Gana Parishad, has made it clear that the day the Bill is passed in Parliament it will snap ties with it. All Assam Students Union has asserted that the agitation will continue until the Bill is withdrawn.
INDIA ATTENDING ISRAEL HOMELAND CONFERENCE
India is planning to send its senior officers to Tel Aviv in Israel between 12 and 15 November for the fifth International Homeland Security (HLS) & Cyber Conference. Ahead of this conference, Zori Kor, an Israeli expert on homeland and cyber security, who has recently retired from the Israeli Security Agency after 25 years of service in a number of counter-terrorism and protective security posts, is coming to India this week. The November conference is a biennial event that combines a comprehensive exhibition of the most recent technological advancements and the latest developments with the presence of and insights by leading international experts.
The conference draws the attendance of hundreds of Israeli companies and thousands of security experts. It creates a hub for officials and executives from corporations, government, the business sector and academia to get updated on the latest trends in cyber security.
‘BENGALURU BECOMING DRUG CAPITAL OF SOUTH’
Is the JDS-Congress ruled Karnataka capital Bengaluru becoming the “drug capital of South India”? BJP’s Rajya Sabha member, Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Karnataka says so. “I am worried. Hope my home state does not start going Punjab’s way, which has been facing a major drug addiction problem,” Chandrasekhar told The Sunday Guardian.
On Thursday, Chandrasekhar raised the issue of the growing drug menace amongst the children of Bengaluru strongly in Parliament, asking the Central government to intervene and launch a national level mission with harsher laws. Chandrasekhar says Bengaluru is increasingly coming to be known as the “Drug Capital of South India”.
The Karnataka Assembly has been discussing the measures they would be taking under the “Goonda Act”, which is the Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-Offenders, Gamblers, Goonda Act, 1985, to control the problem of drug abuse.
“I am alarmed about the drug menace in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka,” Chandrasekhar said, adding that the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences have been cautioning about the rising trend of drug addicted children visiting them for cure.
According to Chandrasekhar, the Narcotics Control Bureau, Bengaluru, in the last two years, has seized huge quantities of marijuana in the state capital. “The network of peddlers is not just confined to Bengaluru and other cities in Karnataka. They are also connected with other southern cities,” the BJP MP points out. “It’s about time something is done before the situation gets irreversible and a whole generation of children become addicts. There is need for a strong national level mission that includes laws prescribing harsh penalties for drug peddling, drug consumption and sale.”
HOOKAH BARS SERVING CHILDREN
While hearing an anticipatory bail application recently, Delhi High Court’s Justice Mukta Gupta was aghast to discover that juveniles were being freely allowed in the capital’s hookah bars despite a ban.
She noticed that two children were produced before the Juvenile Justice Board after their arrest from a hookah bar in a west Delhi mall. Gupta denied anticipatory bail to the owner of the hookah bar. The police registered an FIR under Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. She must be feeling happy now as her guideline to check the menace of hookah bars serving juveniles has started showing results. Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik has directed the vigilance branch to conduct surprise raids in hotels and restaurants to check for the presence of hookah bars. The National Green Tribunal has banned restaurants from serving hookah. In her order, Justice Gupta had issued instructions to several authorities including the Delhi government. She directed that a “Drug Enforcement Directory” should be created, containing contact details of all stakeholders, and regular meetings and training programmes should be jointly held between officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Delhi Police, Narcotics Control Bureau, Excise and Customs Departments,
She suggested that a common database should also be created whereby dossiers of drug peddlers should be updated and shared amongst agencies; schools should be provided with medical and para-medical staff and counsellors to identify children indulging in substance abuse and hospitals should be identfieds for their detoxification and cure.