A New York-based Sikh rights group, which had earlier campaigned against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, has launched an online petition campaign urging President Barack Obama to cancel invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
“Instead of hosting Modi at White House, President Obama should condemn Modi and ban BJP for perpetrating violence against Muslims, Sikhs and Christians,” says the White House online petition which was launched by the Sikh for Justice (SFJ) on 21 July.
Obama has invited Modi to visit the US and for a meeting with him at the White House on September 30.
UN BODY RECALLS GUJARAT RIOTS, INSISTS ON ENACTING “DROPPED” COMMUNAL VIOLENCE BILL
At a time when the Narendra Modi government is all set to consider dropping it, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has asked the Government of India (GoI) to “promptly enact the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill” as an important step to prevent violence against women. It notes “continued marginalisation and poverty of women and girls survivors of the Gujarat riots living in the relief colonies and their precarious living conditions with limited access to education, health care, employment and security.”
This law is also needed, CEDAW indicates, because there has been a “significant number of displaced women and girl, particularly in the North-Eastern region”, resulting from “sporadic communal violence”.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER ACCUSES PM MODI OF ‘RACISM’
A Spanish member of the European parliament (MEP) has tabled a written question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that revealed a lack or selective knowledge about India and its facts, reports said on 23 July. Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, who is part of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe (ALDE), addressed the question to the European Commission vice-president, and called on the EU to address the “issue of inequality” in India. According to her, Modi has a “highly problematic history of racism”, and that following the 2002 Gujarat riots, the United Kingdom had “announced a 10-year boycott”, when there was no such “announcement” at the time.
GUJARAT GOVT. UNDULY FAVOURED RELIANCE, ADANI: CAG REPORT
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) – the country’s apex auditing agency – has slammed the Gujarat government in its five different reports, for severe mismanagement of the state’s financial resources. The reports highlight irregularities amounting to more than Rs 25,000 crore, which includes what the CAG says was around Rs 1,500 crore in undue benefits to certain companies, including Reliance Petroleum, Essar Power and the Adani Group. The reports were tabled in the assembly on 25 July, the last day of the budget session.
In its audit report on the ‘Economic Sector’, CAG noted that the Gujarat Maritime Board applied incorrect wharfage rate under the Captive Jetty Agreement “with Reliance Petroleum Ltd, which resulted in short recovery of Rs 649.29 crore to the government.” CAG also noted that the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) did not fix delivery points after the finalization of power purchase agreement, resulting in “undue benefit of Rs 587.50 crore to Essar Power Gujarat Ltd.”
CAG said the non-monitoring “of the construction quay in phase 1 of Adani Group-owned Mundra port led to short recovery of Rs 118.12 crore.” CAG censured the Gujarat government for excessive payments to solar power companies in the state. It noted, “…contracting excess capacity under solar policy by the GUVNL led to excess burden of Rs 473.20 crore on the consumers of the state.”
BJP MP DECLARED ABSCONDER IN BABRI MASJID DEMOLITION CASE
Sakshi Maharaj, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao constituency, has been declared an absconder by a special CBI court after he failed to appear for a trial. The move came in the wake of Sakshi Maharaj’s continued absence for the trial he is facing in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Sakshi Maharaj’s name, with other senior BJP leaders, figured in a First Information Report (FIR) filed in Ayodhya on Dec 2, 1992. While 49 people were named as accused for the demolition of the mosque, 13 were acquitted of the charges at the primary stages. The CBI has challenged their acquittal in the Supreme Court and the case is pending.
DIG BOOKED FOR RAPE IN MUMBAI
The Mumbai Police on 24 July booked Deputy Inspector General Sunil Paraskar for allegedly raping a model. Paraskar is an IPS officer of the 1997 batch, and a state service promotee who currently holds the charge as Deputy Inspector General (Protection of Civil Right). The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch for investigation. The model reportedly approached Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria on 22 July and submitted a written application claiming that Paraskar had raped her last year when he was holding the post of Additional Commissioner of Police (North Region). A probe was initiated against him by the Crimes Against Women’s Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch.
VHP LEADER HELD ON WAY TO KANTH IN MORADABAD
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Dr Prachi was arrested at Najibabad while on her way to Kanth in Moradabad to offer ‘Jal-abhishek’ at a temple that is at the centre of a row after a loudspeaker was removed from there last month. Sadhvi blamed senior minister Azam Khan for her arrest. She was, however, released soon.
“This is Hindustan and not Pakistan. No one can survive by hurting the sentiments of Hindus. I have been arrested at the behest of Azam Khan. I was going only for jal-abhishek at the temple in Kanth village, which is my right,” Sadhvi Dr Prachi said after she was arrested. “Mine was a peaceful programme but the administration did not allow it,” she added.
RICH ENCOURAGE FEMALE FOETICIDE, BIHAR CM
Chief Minister of Bihar Jitan Ram Manjhi on 20 July claimed rich families were encouraging female foeticide. The Poor are God-fearing believe children are gifts of God, said Manjhi while speaking at a political conclave on ‘No children born to die’. The CM said those influenced by the western civilization were responsible for female foeticide. Illiterate people were more conscious about saving children. Dr Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, president of Bihar chapter of Indian Medical Association, in his keynote address on ‘Bihar – state of newborn and child survival’, said Bihar was at the 21st position out of 23 states covered in Indian Human Development report of the Planning Commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement filed in the apex court, the NIMC on 17 July alleged that in most cases, the state authorities were hand-in-glove with clinics engaged in this lucrative business. Worried about the skewed sex ratio in the country, the Supreme Court has sought detailed affidavits from all states and the Centre on steps taken by them to curb female foeticide.