JHARKHAND RESULTS: BJP LOSES ANOTHER STATE Jharkhand Mukti Morcha working president Hemant Soren is set to return for a second stint as Jharkhand CM, with the alliance led by his party (30 seats), which also includes Congress (16) and RJD (1), winning 47 seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly. For the BJP (25 seats), the loss in Jharkhand joins a string of poor performances by the saffron party in state elections in the past one year. Besides being recently outwitted by the Congress-Shiv Sena-NCP combine in Maharashtra, BJP has lost major states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, while failing to gain a simple majority in Haryana. Addressing reporters, Hemant Soren, son of former Union minister and tribal leader Shibu Soren, said people have given a clear mandate for the JMM-Congress alliance. "Today a new chapter will begin for this state. I want to assure everyone that their hopes will not be broken irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and profession," the 44-year-old leader said. Soren, who won from both Dumka and Barhait constituencies, said the time had come to fulfil the demands of the people. "Congress, RJD and JMM fought together, I thank Guruji ( his father Shibu Soren), Laluji and Soniaji, Rahulji, Priyankaji, all central leaders overseeing the campaign who reposed trust on me," Soren further said. BJP contested the polls alone for the first time since the creation of Jharkhand in 2000 after failing to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with Sudesh Mahto's AJSU party (2 seats). In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 37 seats and formed the government with alliance partner AJSU that won five seats. Six MLAs of the Babulal Marandi-led JVM-P joined the BJP soon after the elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won 12 out of 14 seats. However, there were feelers from the ground in Jharkhand that it would not be smooth sailing for BJP or Raghubar Das this time around. Despite being the first CM to complete five years in office, Das faced anti-incumbency, rural distress, resentment over lack of jobs, disenchantment among the tribal community. Moreover, Das lost his Jamshedpur East constituency, which he has represented five times since 1995, to expelled BJP leader and former minister Saryu Roy. Saryu Roy, who was the MLA from Jamshedpur West, decided to contest against Das as an Independent candidate after BJP did not give him a ticket in the elections. POLL RESULTS NOT A REFLECTION ON CAA, CLAIM LEADERS With Jharkhand the BJP on Monday lost another state and its celebrated Narendra Modi-Amit Shah election machinery received another political setback; that too in the middle of countrywide protests against the amended Citizenship Act which the party-led government recently pushed through the Parliament. The BJP is now limited to big states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam and a few smaller ones like Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and the northeast. However, BJP leaders call Jharkhand results "a reflection on Raghubar Das, a not-so-popular CM, bad selection of candidates and infighting". "It is not about CAA or NRC, it is about Raghubar Das, otherwise how could Sarayu Rai win," they insist. BJP losing plot in Haryana, Maharashtra and now Jharkhand is expected to echo in states like Delhi and Bihar, the two states BJP chief Amit Shah failed to deliver despite the party sweeping the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, riding the "Modi wave". TOP CONGRESS LEADERS SIT ON 'SATYAGRAHA FOR UNITY' AT RAJGHAT The top Congress leadership, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, sat on a "Satyagraha for unity" at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat here on Monday, demanding protection of the rights of people as enshrined in the Constitution. Top Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, participated in the "Satyagraha". Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi read out the Preamble to the Constitution of India as part of the "Satyagraha". The party members also observed a one-minute silence in support of their cause and against the BJP-led government's policies. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said the programme was organised to remind the government about the strength of India's Constitution. "This is to show solidarity with all the students of the country who are agitating for the cause of freedom of speech and expression. The country is going through a very difficult period because of the bad policies of this government. Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and senior party leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, KC Venugopal, Meira Kumar, besides Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretaries and state in-charges took part in the "Satyagraha". The grand old party said it was committed to upholding the principles enshrined in the Constitution and fighting for the continuation, maintenance and safeguarding of the rights of all. The party was up against the government for using "brute" force against "silent and peaceful" protesters across the country and for "stopping" people from holding demonstrations against the new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), proposed to be implemented across the country, it added. CAA PROTEST: MAMATA PUTS POLITICS OVER NATIONAL INTEREST, SAYS JP NADDA BJP working president J P Nadda on Monday led a rally in Kolkata in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying she was misleading people on the new law. Addressing party workers, Nadda said Banerjee always prioritised politics over national interests. The BJP leader did not refer to NRC during his 35-minute speech. "Mamata Banerjee has always given priority to her politics over national interests. Modi ji abrogated Article 370 but our Mamata didi says, 'Hobe na, Hobe na, Hobe na' (won't happen). But why won't you let it happen? There are a large number of Matuas, Rajbanshis and Namasudras in West Bengal who are Dalits. We are giving citizenship to these people who have come from Bangaldesh. Now, Mamata didi is trying to stop them from getting citizenship. Now tell me who is anti-Dalit? To her, votes are more important than the interest of this country," said Nadda. Targeting the Trinamool Congress supremo further, Nadda said, "I want to ask Mamata ji what was her government doing when violence erupted in West Bengal for the last 15 days. She said the Centre is responsible. She is the chief minister and the home minister of this state. She runs the government here and yet, she said the Centre is doing this. And she did not condemn the violence even once. She is now seen making appeals to the people (to stop the violence). Is it the duty of a chief minister to only appeal and not take action? You have all the power and yet she only appeals." SAUDI SENTENCES 5 TO DEATH OVER JOURNALIST KHASHOGGI'S MURDER Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Monday five people had been sentenced to death and three more to jail terms totaling 24 years over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in October last year. Khashoggi was a US resident and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler. He was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, where he was to receive papers ahead of his wedding. His body was reportedly dismembered and removed from the building, and his remains have not been found. The killing caused a global uproar, tarnishing the crown prince's image. The CIA and some Western governments have said they believe Prince Mohammed ordered the killing, but Saudi officials say he had no role. Eleven Saudi suspects were put on trial over his death in secretive proceedings in Riyadh. Saudi Public Prosecutor Shalaan al-Shalaan, reading out the preliminary verdict in the trial, also said Saud al-Qahtani, a former high-profile Saudi royal adviser, had been investigated but was not charged and was released. JAPANESE PM ADVISES CHINESE PRESIDENT TO LET HONG KONG BE "FREE AND OPEN" Hong Kong should "continue to be free and open", Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the Chinese president on Monday. Abe met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing ahead of flying to the southwestern city of Chengdu to join a trilateral meeting on Tuesday, which will also be attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in. In a press briefing after the Xi-Abe meeting, Otaka Masato - spokesman for the Japanese Minister of foreign affairs - said Mr. Abe "urged China to continue its self-restraint" over Hong Kong and expressed "hope for an early resolution of the situation". According to the Japanese spokesman, Mr. Xi replied to Mr. Abe's comments on Hong Kong by repeating China's position that Hong Kong "is a domestic matter". ROUND 2 OF AFGHAN PREZ POLL LIKELY AMID THOUSANDS OF PLAINTS Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission said on Monday the election might go to a second round as it begins reviewing thousands of complaints a day after the preliminary result handed incumbent President Ashraf Ghani a narrow victory. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Sunday a much delayed preliminary result of the September 28 presidential vote which was marred by allegations of massive fraud, technical problems with biometric devices used for voting, attacks and irregularities. IEC said the total turnout was over 1.8 million with Ghani securing 50.64 per cent to win the first round of voting, beating his main rival Abdullah Abdullah who currently shares power with him in a unity government. However, if a review by the complaints commission reduces Ghani's vote share to below 50 percent and no other candidate has a majority, a second round will be held between the two top contenders. IF NO INDIA-WIDE NRC, ASSAM WILL GO TO SC FOR REVISED LIST: HIMANTA BISWA SARMA Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said that if a nation-wide NRC is not implemented, the government of Assam would take the Supreme Court route to seek revision of the current National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state. Speaking at a press conference in Guwahati, Sarma said a Government of Assam petition and several other pleas seeking re-verification of citizens are already pending in the Supreme Court. The Assam minister added that the detention centres in the state are due to a Gauhati HC order, and not because of any decision taken by the Centre. Sarma's remarks come in the wake of statements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Delhi rally Sunday, that were a departure from the BJP's stand on the NRC. While in November, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Parliament that a fresh NRC exercise would be carried out in Assam along with in the rest of India, the PM said there were no plans for an immediate countrywide NRC. DETENTION CENTRE CIRCULAR, CITED IN PARLIAMENT BY THE GOVT, TWICE The Narendra Modi government had in January this year sent a "Model Detention Centre/ Holding Centre Manual" to all state governments and Union Territories for implementation and compliance, government sources recalled on Monday. On Sunday, the Prime Minister had denied that any detention centres existed in the country. But the circular, which was cited in Parliament by his government at least on two occasions, contradicts Modi's claim. While several detention camps already exist in Assam, the Union home ministry through the circular issued in January asked other states also to set up such facilities. "The manual clearly said illegal immigrants who have entered the country through fake documents and also those who been declared foreigners by tribunals and are awaiting deportation can be kept in the detention centres," a home ministry official said. "A new detention centre based on the ministry's 'model' centre has already been constructed on the outskirts of Bangalore and is all set to be inaugurated in a couple of months by the BJP-led Karnataka government," the ministry official said, adding that two such camps are planned in Bengal. The home ministry, led by Amit Shah, has suddenly fallen silent on the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens after Modi said on Sunday "there has been no discussion" on it. Shah has said several times in the past that the CAA would be followed by a nationwide NRC. 'WE WILL NOT SUBMIT' TO CAA AND NRC Around 1 lakh people from different faiths crammed into an idgah in Bangalore on Monday while nearly another two lakh thronged the streets and lanes outside, all pledging not to furnish any documents if the National Register of Citizens was updated nationwide and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act enforced. "Let us not submit our documents. We will opt for civil disobedience and throw the (citizenship) law back in the government's face," said former civil servant S. Sashikanth Senthil, one of the speakers at the Khuddus Saheb Idgah whose voice was carried over almost a 2km radius by loudspeakers installed along the roads. Senthil had resigned from the IAS protesting the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and later written to home minister Amit Shah that he would boycott the NRC and was ready to be locked up in a detention centre as a non-citizen. PASSENGERS SLAM PRAGYA THAKUR FOR DELAYING SPICEJET FLIGHT Two days after BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur accused private carrier SpiceJet of not giving her the seat she had booked, a video has surfaced which shows the MP from Bhopal being confronted by the passengers. Thakur had booked a seat in SpiceJet flight SG2489 from Delhi to Bhopal and had come to the airport in her own wheelchair on Saturday. She alleged that the airline did not let her sit at the pre-booked seat in the emergency row citing rules. The flight got delayed by approximately 45 minutes due to this matter. A SpiceJet spokesperson said, "The Delhi-Bhopal flight is operated by Bombardier Q400 aircraft (78 seater). On this aircraft, the first row is the emergency row seat and is not allocated to passengers on wheelchairs. "As the BJP MP had come with her own wheelchair and had not booked through the airline, the staff wasn't aware of this fact that she was a wheelchair passenger. "She was requested by the crew to shift to 2 A/B (non-emergency row) due to safety reasons but she refused. The duty manager and other staff also requested her to move to another seat," the spokesperson said. In the video, people can be seen confronting the BJP MP and reminding her that she is people's representative and her job is not to "trouble them". ETAWAH SSP REASSURING YOUTH AMID CAA PROTESTS WINS PLAUDITS ONLINE While several reports of clashes between the police and protesters fighting against Citizenship (Amendment) Act are doing rounds on the internet, a heartwarming video of a cop from Uttar Pradesh educating a group of young boys on the new law has gone viral on social media. In the video, Senior Superintendent of Police(SSP) Santosh Mishra is seen interacting with the youngsters around him and explaining the provisions of CAA. "There is no law to remove any citizens of India," he said while reassuring the youth. He further warned them of rumours about the law and requested them to not believe any false information being spread. With the video being shared widely on several social media platforms, the police officer won praise from netizens. 16 INDIAN-AMERICANS STRANDED AT JFK AIRPORT FOR NOT CARRYING OLD PASSPORTS At least 16 Indian-Americans with valid OCI cards headed to New Delhi from the US experienced some anxious moments at the John F Kennedy airport on Sunday as the national carrier Air India was unable to process their boarding passes since they were not carrying their old cancelled passports, officials said. As per the new temporary rules, which they were unaware of, these passengers were required to carry their old cancelled passport whose number is mentioned in their Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card. Under the provisions of the OCI card, which gives the cardholder lifelong visa to India, those below 20 years and above 50 years need to renew their OCI card every time they have their passport renewed. Early this month, the provision has been relaxed till June 30, 2020, but the OCI cardholders concerned have been asked to carry their old passports with them to fly to India. However, not many OCI cardholders are aware of these new rules, officials said. TEAM INDIA SELECTION: BUMRAH RETURNS, ROHIT RESTED FOR SRI LANKA SERIES India's leading seamer Jasprit Bumarah, who was out of action for a long time due to an injury returns to the international circuit. Bumrah had been laid low by a stress fracture of the back and recently bowled during India's net session ahead of the second ODI against the West Indies in Visakhapatnam. Opener Shikhar Dhawan, who had a deep gash on his knee which required 25 stitches, has also made a comeback to both the squads, chairman of selectors M S K Prasad announced after a meeting of the five-member panel in New Delhi. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma who was superb with the bat, amassing 258 runs in three ODIs has been rested for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Mohammed Shami has also been rested from next month's T20 series against Sri Lanka. After securing a series win against Windies in the limited-overs format, the Men In Blue will kick-off the proceedings in Guwahati against Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series, starting from January 5. The second and the third T20Is will be played on January 7 and 10 respectively. India will then take on Australia in a three-match ODI series against Australia. The first ODI will be played on January 14 in Mumbai. The remaining two matches will be played on January 17 and 19.