South Indian fare for Venkaiah in France
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is particular about his food. Even when abroad, he looks around for his favourite South Indian fare.
Some days ago, Naidu was in France to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I. The French authorities took him to a village 200 km from Paris to inaugurate the Indian War Memorial at Villers-Guislain, a small village of about 700 people. The village mayor was present for the ceremony. Suddenly, it started raining and the weather turned cold. The deputy mayor requested Naidu and other Indian delegates to eat and relax for a while at his house. For Naidu and others, the food for the trip was procured from the Parisian outlet of Sarvana Bhavan, a popular global chain of South Indian vegetarian restaurant. During his official tour to Brussels in October, Naidu had eaten at Sarvana Bhavan.
In France, besides Naidu, leaders of 70 nations, assembled to commemorate the centenary of the signing of the armistice which ended WW-I. Among the many heads of state, Naidu met French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump.
Naidu told The Sunday Guardian that he would suggest to the Central government to highlight the “sacrifices of thousands of brave Indian soldiers who had fought gallantly” in various theatres of WW-I “though it was not an Indian battle in the true sense”.
Nearly 14 lakh Indian soldiers, according to Naidu, fought during the war in France, Belgium, Aden, Arabia, East and West Africa, Turkey, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Persia, Russia, China and Greece, and about 74,000 of them were killed. In France and Belgium alone, said Naidu, “about 1.40 lakh Indian soldiers fought and 9,300 died fighting on the side of righteousness that India has always stood for”.
Mission Modi 2019 from Haryana’s Ahirwal belt
For tomorrow’s (Monday) rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sultanpur in Gurugram (Haryana), the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is putting in great efforts to mobilise its party workers to make it a grand success. It will be the party’s show of strength at a time when the INLD is on the verge of split because of a feud within the Chautala family. BJP’s Haryana in-charge, Anil Jain has been taking stock of preparations daily. The BJP Legislature Party has devoted considerable time to try and impress the PM by organising a huge crowd. The rally is believed to be the launch of “Mission Modi 2019” from the Ahirwal belt on the pattern of the Rewari rally in 2013.
On 15 September 2013, Modi launched his 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign with a rally in Rewari after being declared the BJP’s PM candidate. Now the BJP is projecting the Sultanpur rally, organised to inaugurate the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, as a launch pad for the 2019 general election campaign. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has asked his MLAs to organise the maximum number of party workers for the rally.
Can Rajini help BJP?
Superhero Rajinikanth is in the news again for his comments “favouring” the BJP. But can he can help the Modi wave enter the Dravidian state? It is not clear how much of Rajini’s fan base will translate into a huge vote base. The BJP won just one of 39 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has no major cadre support in the state. And not much has changed since then. At this moment, the BJP does not seem to be averse to Rajinikanth, although some central leaders are sceptical about his capability to help the saffron party secure a respectable place in the state’s political spectrum.
The problem is that TN’s ruling AIADMK has started suspecting the Central government’s motives, after seeing it hobnobbing with Rajinikanth, who is expected to venture into politics soon.
Ex-terrorist’s wife is sarpanch in Kashmir
Eight years ago, Arifa Begum (35) came from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with her husband, Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a former terrorist. She has now been elected unopposed as the sarpanch of the Lolab area in the frontier Kupwara district. Originally from Muzaffarabad in PoK, Arifa Begum came to Kashmir via Nepal in 2010 with her husband Mir of Khumriyal village in Lolab.
She filed her nomination papers for the sarpanch and panch for halqa Khumriyal (B).Though her halqa will go to the polls in the second phase of the panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir, but she was declared elected unopposed on the last day of withdrawal of nominations on 5 November. The nine-phase panchayat elections began on 17 November and will end on 11 December.
Her husband had crossed over into PoK for arms training in 2001 and lived in the area till 2010. During this period, Mir married Arifa in PoK and both returned to Kashmir eight years ago. Mir came back home with his wife under the J&K government’s “rehabilitation policy” of 2010 for former terrorists living in Pakistan and PoK. So far, 377 former terrorists along with 864 family members have returned to Kashmir via Nepal and Bangladesh.
Delhi loves Governor’s Rule in J&K
BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav has surprised party leaders and workers in Jammu by stating that the saffron party was “in favour of continuing with Governor’s Rule in J&K”. Madhav’s statement is significant as local BJP leaders have been claiming that they are going to form government after the panchayat elections.
On Tuesday, while addressing a function to felicitate the newly elected municipal committee members and heads of the civic bodies, at Kathua, Madhav said, “We are happy with Governor’s Rule and that is why the BJP has decided to continue with it for some time.”
Under J&K Constitution, there is no provision for the extension of Governor’s rule beyond six months. Imposed on 20 June, Governor’s Rule expires on 19 December. After that, the Centre has to impose President’s Rule.
Punjab and WW-I heroes
Remembrance Sunday was observed in several parts of India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Puducherry. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, a noted military historian himself, recently visited the historic WW-I Helles Memorial in Turkey to pay homage to the Commonwealth soldiers, including Indians, who were killed in the Gallipoli campaign, and at the Haifa Memorial in Israel. He posted a tweet to mark 100 years of the Armistice. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, grandfather of Amarinder Singh, and other royals had contributed significantly to mobilising troops from undivided Punjab for WW-I.
However, Kulveer Singh, a history researcher based in Muktsar’s Doda village, which sent 41 men to the war, of whom two died, said, “Punjab-based Army authorities should have hosted functions on 11 November.” Lt Gen T.S. Shergill (Retd), senior adviser to the Chief Minister, told The Sunday Guardian that “we will honour the families of WW-I soldiers during the upcoming Military Literature Festival. A section dedicated to the conflict is nearing completion at the war heroes’ memorial-cum-museum in Amritsar.”