Suspense over the chief minister’s post in Karnataka continued on Wednesday as both the contenders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar met Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi amid media reports that Siddaramaiah could be made the CM and Shivakumar the deputy CM. Later reports said that Shivakumar did not want Siddaramaiah to become the CM. The situation remained volatile with no formal announcement till afternoon. The Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru is being kept ready for the swearing-in ceremony. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, the swearing-in ceremony will take place within the next 48 to 72 hours. He said, the talks for the post of CM are still going on and no final decision has been taken yet. The top Congress leadership is trying its best to work out an amicable settlement. This is not a new phenomenon. Whenever Congress wins after fighting a long battle, many leaders try to take credit for the victory. The two main contenders are known to all, but there are other contenders behind closed doors. It will not be easy for the high command to take a decision. Siddaramaiah claims that he has a majority of the newly elected MLAs, while DK Shivakumar claims that his contribution to the party’s victory is big. Siddaramaiah wants last chance to become CM considering his age, while DK Shivakumar says, his loyalty to Gandhi family should be looked into. There can be a solution in a day or two. Congress does not want to make any such mistake which may create a crisis like Rajasthan.
Controversy over Bageshwar Dham chief in Bihar
In Naubatpur near Patna, a huge crowd has gathered for the five days in the Hanumant Katha organized by Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, head of Bageshwar Dham. Seeing the huge response, Shastri has promised to visit Gaya, Bihar again in September. Meanwhile, both the RJD and BJP camps in Bihar are taking jibes at each other. Top BJP leaders like Sushil Modi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Giriraj Singh and Ashwini Choubey have already met Shastri and sought his blessings, while Tej Pratap Yadav, son of Lalu Yadav, a minister in the Bihar government, said Bihar was “Ram Raj Nahi, Would rather see “Krishna Raj”. Lalu Yadav made a cryptic remark, “Kya baba? He is not Baba”. Tej Pratap alleged that Baba was abusing the people of Bihar. He said, “Those who abuse Bihar will be given Sudarshan Chakra.” Senior RJD leader Jagdanand Singh compared Baba to ‘Madari’ (Juggler). “He is speaking against the Constitution, and those who sponsor him cannot be patriots”, he said. Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, ‘Why should leaders wearing Muslim caps and attending Iftar parties go to listen to Hanumant Katha? Because they don’t get votes for their parties there.” Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Baba’s promise to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ is nonsense, and “I don’t want to give importance to it.” One thing is worth noting: Tej Pratap Yadav had earlier also threatened not to allow Baba to enter Bihar, but he remained silent when lakhs of devotees flocked to the pandals to listen to Baba. RJD and JDU leaders are making scathing comments about Baba. I wonder what is the need to oppose a religious preacher who gets so much public support despite the scorching heat with thousands of people waiting for hours in pandals? Is Dhirendra Shastri being opposed only because some top BJP leaders went on stage to welcome him? Is it because of the allegations that Dhirendra Shastri has been brought in to create religious tension in Bihar? At least in Madhya Pradesh the leaders are more clever. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Congress leader Kamal Nath both went to Bageshwar Dham to seek his blessings.
terror through religious conversion
The Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested 16 people (11 from Bhopal and five from Hyderabad) in connection with ‘The Kerala Story’ type conversion plot. Police said, these people were working for Hizb ut Tahrir (HUT), a radical Islamic organization spread across 50 countries and has more than one million active members. HUT is considered more radical than the Islamic State. Among the eleven people arrested in Bhopal, there are three persons who were Hindus and Jains and converted to Islam. These three people converted four Hindu girls to Islam and changed their names and married them. Telangana police cooperated and arrested five people from Hyderabad. Those arrested include a software engineer, a gym trainer, a person running a coaching center and a computer technician. Police said, these people were working with the aim of establishing Islamic rule in India through HUT. MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra alleged that one of the arrested people works in a college in Hyderabad, which is run by Akbaruddin Owaisi, brother of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Police said, these HUT workers used to contact each other through dark web. Among those arrested, Venu Kumar converted to Islam and changed his name to Abbas Ali, Devi Prasad Pandey changed his name to Abdur Rahman. Both lived in Hyderabad, while Saurabh Rajvaidya changed his name to Mohammed Salim. Salim marries a Hindu girl Mansi and changes her name. According to the police, the process of religious conversion was going on for the last 13 years. Saurabh Rajvaidya converted to Islam in 2010, and has since converted other Hindu men and women. Some may argue that the constitution gives freedom to every citizen to practice the religion of his choice. If a Hindu converts to Islam, what is the harm in that? This is correct, but it is illegal to convert a citizen to another religion by conspiracy, inducement or fraud. In this case, it appears that people were misled by radical elements to convert to Islam and participate in anti-national activities. The matter should be thoroughly investigated and the truth should come out. Such activities can vitiate the atmosphere in our country.