BJP CONDEMNS PROVOCATIVE REMARKS BUT SAYS: PROTESTERS TRIGGER SUCH REACTIONSThe BJP on Tuesday distanced itself from controversial remarks by some party leaders over protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but took exception to “provocative slogans and placards” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by protesters. “I would have condemned (controversial statements of BJP leaders) more strongly if it had not been started by them (protesters),” party general-secretary Anil Jain said on Tuesday.With the party leadership going aggressive about its arguments in support of CAA, Lok Sabha MP and West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh had on Monday praised the BJP governments in Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka for killing protesters “like dogs”.Another party leader from Uttar Pradesh, Raghuraj Singh, said people shouting slogans against Modi and Adityanath will be “buried alive”.“The BJP does not support these statements…. The party does not agree with them,” Anil Jain said. However, he argued, BJP leaders make such statements because there have been “objectionable slogans and posters” against Modi and Adityanath in the protests. “You cannot even read them (they are so offensive). What kind of posters were taken out by so-called intellectuals in Mumbai against Modi-ji and Hindus? How can you do this while living in this country? Can you do it in a Muslim country? Can you do it in any Christian country? But we are tolerating it.”That, Jain said, triggered “such reactions” from BJP leaders.He also justified party MP Meenakshi Lekhi’s jibe at Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who voiced concern over the fallout of the amended citizenship law in India. Lekhi tweeted that Nadella’s comments showed “how the literate need to be educated”.Jain said: “The statement is fine. He (Nadella) is not illiterate, but not educated about this. I would say all those fighting are not properly educated about the law — CAA is not something that is to be opposed by anyone, because it is not against any citizen of this country. It is meant to give some sort of relief to those who are persecuted in neighbouring countries.”BROADBAND BACK IN J&K INSTITUTIONS, WITH RIDERSThe Jammu and Kashmir administration Tuesday decided to restore broadband services in all government offices, institutions offering essential services such as hospitals and banks, and tourism-linked establishments, amid indications that the facility may be extended to the “general public” after the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.An order signed by J&K Principal Secretary (Home) Shaleen Kabra states that the administration is taking this decision despite Intelligence inputs of terrorist activities and threats of attacks in Kashmir, since it believes that the services have become essential.It acknowledges the Supreme Court ruling last week asking the administration to review all decisions related to curbs on Internet.However, it asks all ISPs to install firewalls to block access to social media sites.The order also puts the onus on government institutions and offices to ensure that Internet is not misused. It asks them to appoint nodal officers for managing and monitoring Internet use, keep a record of users, and change accessibility credentials every day.WE SHOW COURTESY EVEN TO ENEMIES, SAYS MAMATA BANERJEEChief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who Monday skipped an Opposition meeting amidst protests against the new citizenship law and proposed NRC and had faced flak for meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to the state, on Tuesday said it is the culture of Bengal to welcome and extend courtsey to guests and even “enemies”.The Congress and Left Front had questioned the Mamata-Modi meeting last Saturday, accusing them of having a hidden understanding with each other.On Tuesday, addressing the dharna of the TMCP, her party’s students’ wing, she explained, “We know how to behave with our guests. We show courtesy to even our enemies. This is the culture of Bengal, of India. But, that doesn’t mean we (TMC and BJP) are friends.”“But you people (BJP) didn’t allow our party leaders to enter Jammu, Uttar Pradesh, Guhawati (Assam) and JNU (Delhi),” she said, seemingly referring to Modi’s recent visit to Kolkata and turning away of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegations from various places.Hitting out at BJP for frequently naming Pakistan, Banerjee wondered whether the party has any “understanding” with the neighbouring country. “Do they (BJP) have any understanding with Pakistan or are they brand ambassadors of Pakistan? Why do they keep on advertising about them?” she said.KERALA BECOMES FIRST STATE TO MOVE SC AGAINST CAAIn an unusual move, the CPM-led Kerala Government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, becoming the first state to move the top court against the contentious law.It contended that the CAA violated principles of equality, freedom and secularism and went against basic structure of the Constitution.“It is part of our intervention to protect civil rights from within the Constitution. Secularism is the basic character of the Indian Constitution and deviating from it is equal to undermining the Constitution,” said Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala Chief Minister.Earlier, Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution against the CAA.IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: EU LAUNCHES DISPUTE MECHANISMBritain, France and Germany ratcheted up pressure on Iran on Tuesday to cease its violations of a landmark nuclear deal, stressing that they want to resolve differences through talks while starting the clock on a process that could result in a so-called "snapback" of United Nations sanctions.The three countries, which signed the international agreement in 2015 along with the U.S., Russia and China, said in a letter to the European Union's foreign policy chief that they had no choice but to trigger the deal's "dispute mechanism," given Iran's ongoing transgressions.The three said they rejected Tehran's argument that Iran was justified in violating the deal because the U.S. broke the agreement by pulling out unilaterally in 2018."We have therefore been left with no choice, given Iran's actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments," the countries said in a joint statement.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who coordinates the agreement, said the pressure on Iran from Europe does not mean sanctions will automatically be slapped on the Islamic Republic.The Europeans stressed that they want to "resolve the impasse through constructive diplomatic dialogue" and made no threat of sanctions in their statement.IRAQ'S SADR CALLS FOR ANTI-US PROTESTS AMID NEW ROCKET ATTACKFirebrand Iraqi leader Moqtada Sadr called on Tuesday for a peaceful "million-strong march" against US troops in Iraq, days after parliament urged their departure following Washington's killing of an Iranian general in a drone strike.Further upping the pressure on the American deployment, Katyusha rockets on Tuesday night targeted an Iraqi airbase north of Baghdad where US-led coalition forces are based, in the latest attack on American forces in the country."The skies, land and sovereignty of Iraq are being violated every day by occupying forces," Sadr, a populist Shia politician and cleric, wrote on Twitter.He urged Iraqis to hold "a million-strong, peaceful, unified demonstration to condemn the American presence and its violations", without giving a date.Bases where US forces are stationed have been under a steady stream of rocket attacks for several months that have killed one American contractor and one Iraqi soldier.On Tuesday, a new rocket attack targeted the Camp Taji airbase north of Baghdad, the Iraqi military said, without specifying how many rockets hit the base.DILIP GHOSH’S LATEST: WEST BENGAL IS NOW HUB OF ANTI-NATIONALSTwo days after saying that the BJP “governments” in Assam, UP and Karnataka have “shot” those protesting against the new citizenship law “like dogs, dragged them away and even slapped cases”, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh courted a fresh controversy Tuesday by saying that the state has become a hub of anti-nationals.“West Bengal is a place, which gave the country slogans like Vande Mataram and Jai Hind. Now, if someone here says Pakistan zindabad or Hindustan tere tukde honge (India will be Balkanised) Inshallah Inshallah, then it is apparent that this place has become a hub of anti-nationals. People who live in the land of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna (Paramhansha) have no courage to say go back to infiltrators or Rohingyas, but stage protest on the streets and ask the Prime Minister to go back. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is backing those people,” Ghosh said during chai pe charcha (discussion over tea) in Kharagpur on Tuesday, commenting on the protests during PM Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the state last weekend.COURT: POLICE BEHAVING AS IF DELHI’S JAMA MASJID IS PAKA Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi Police for their poor handling of anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests, saying that they were behaving as if Jama Masjid was Pakistan.Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau’s strong comments came after the Delhi Police opposed Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s bail plea but failed to show evidence against him. Azad was accused of inciting people during an anti-CAA protest at Jama Masjid on December 20.Fifteen other people arrested in the case were granted bail by the court on January 9. In his bail plea, Azad claimed that there was no evidence against the allegations made against him in the FIR and his arrest was illegal.As the Judge asked what evidence the police had to prove the allegations against Azad, Additional Public Prosecutor Pankaj Bhatia referred to social media posts of the Bhim Army chief wherein he called people to come to Jama Masjid and sit in dharna.“What is the problem with going to Jama Masjid? What is wrong with dharna? It is one’s constitutional right to protest. Where is the violence? What is wrong with any of these posts? Have you read the Constitution? You are behaving as if Jama Masjid was Pakistan and even if it was Pakistan, you can go there and protest. Pakistan was a part of undivided India,” the ASJ said.JNU VIOLENCE: POLICE NAME MASKED WOMAN IN VIDEO, ABVP ADMITS SHE IS THEIR MEMBERDelhi police say they have identified the masked woman seen in videos of the January 5 violence at jawaharlal nehru university as delhi university student Komal Sharma - a student of Daulat Ram college and a member of the ABVPAccording to police, they have served a notice to her and two others, Akshat Awasthi and Rohit Shah, under IPC section 160. Police said all three are yet to be traced and their phones are switched off.ABVP Delhi state secretary Sidharth Yadav acknowledged that Sharma is an activist from the outfit: “since the social media trolling against her began, we have been unable to reach out to her. The last information i received was that she is with her family. I have not been able to contact her to ask if she has received summons from police.”…“more investigation needs to be done into the allegations; it needs to be done as soon as possible so that the blot against her name can be removed. If she has indeed done something, that can be addressed. In the meantime, abvp as an organisation is itself investigating what happened on the 5th, and has found that many of our people were beaten in the university,” he added.SC JUNKS CURATIVE PETITIONS OF TWO NIRBHAYA CONVICTSThe Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed curative petitions of two of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case scheduled to be hanged on January 22. A five-judge Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana unanimously dismissed the curative petitions filed by convicts Vinay Kumar and Mukesh, saying there was no merit in their petitions.After the dismissal of a curative petition, a convict can file a mercy plea before the President under Article 72 of the Constitution. Even the dismissal of the mercy petition can be challenged before the top court. The convicts’ execution on January 22 appears unlikely in view of a 2014 ruling of the Supreme Court that said there should be a gap of 14 days between the receipt of communication of rejection of a convict’s mercy plea and his/her execution.INDIGO MAKES NEWS AGAIN, OVER ALLEGATIONS OF PILOT’S MISBEHAVIOURA woman passenger has claimed that she was threatened by an IndiGo pilot with jail after she asked for a wheelchair for her mother in the plane at Bengaluru airport, with Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri saying the airline has “off-rostered” the pilot.Supriya Unni Nair, who had asked for a wheelchair for her 75-year-old mother, after landing in Bengaluru on Monday night, alleged in multiple tweets that the pilot had misbehaved and threatened her with jail.Puri said on Twitter: “I requested my office to contact IndiGo as soon as I saw the tweet by Ms Supriya Unni Nair about the pilot’s behaviour with her & her 75 year old mother in need of wheelchair assistance”. “The airline has informed Ministry of Civil Aviation that the pilot has been off-rostered pending full enquiry,” he added.Nair has stated that the pilot threatened to get them detained and make them spend a night in jail.When Nair said that the pilot cannot issue such threats, the pilot reportedly said, “Yes, I will threaten you. I am a captain. You can’t touch us.” Nair claimed that the pilot said she has paid “piddly” Rs 2,000 and she does not own the aircraft. “I will make sure you are barred from the skies,” the pilot said,.She said that the pilot also threatened her of dire consequences if she wrote about this episode on social media.BAJAJ AUTO LAUNCHES ELECTRIC CHETAK FOR ₹1 LAKHPune-based two wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto has launched its electric scooter Chetak at a starting price of ₹1,00,000 (ex-showroom and inclusive of government subsidies). The electric Chetak, which has been developed and designed in-house by Bajaj, marks the revival of the company’s scooter business after about a decade and also Bajaj Auto's foray into the electric vehicle space."The company will open bookings for the electric Chetak from 15 January, and the electric scooter will go on sale with six variants across two model lines - urban and premium. With a running range of about 95 km per charge, the company said that it will offer a warranty of 3 years or 50,000 km, whichever is earlier...We plan to get the first electric vehicle right as the technology is new," said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto Ltd.VIDEO OF MAN HUGGING AND KISSING PRIDE OF LIONS GOES VIRALYou thought Tarzan existed only in stories? The man, who is friends with the entire jungle including lions, lionesses and their cubs was only fiction? Think again. This video that has been going viral on Twitter proves that Tarzan is real.The video shows the famous Dean Schneider, a Swiss wildlife worker and animal rights activist based in South Africa, being welcomed by a pride of lions, and the way the entire family showers love on him is just unbelievable. Schneider also shared the same video on his Twitter page with the caption, "Distance makes us realise how close we want to be with one another. Being loved and welcomed by the entire pride like this is the most satisfying and beautiful thing in my life! This is the reason for everything I do."The one-minute video shows Schneider calling out to the pride in the middle of the jungle and two cubs come running towards him. Slowly, the whole family comes and showers love on Schneider. The majestic moment is when the king of the jungle hugs him. The entire video shows Schneider playing with the large cats while hugging and kissing them.AUSTRALIA BEAT INDIA HOLLOW IN MUMBAI ODIRight through last year’s World Cup in England, where they eventually lost in the semifinals, India escaped the shellacking that possibly awaited them had they lost Rohit Sharma early in the piece. He pulled them through to the last four where he fell cheaply and India suffered.That scenario resurfaced in Mumbai as the imperious Australians stomped away first with the ball and then with the bat to expose India with a 10-wicket win with 12.2 overs to spare. Australia’s bowling oozed class — method and venom — and their openers ran away to Australia’s highest-ever opening partnership against India. In some ways, for the Australians, it was the reverse of what happened to them in their last ODI at the hands of England when they were humbled in the World Cup semifinal in a similar fashion.The Indian problem was the brittleness of the middle order against quality opposition, and even the top order when Sharma departs early. The match gave enough problems to ponder — it isn’t a crisis but would need clarity of thought and intent to solve them. When Virat Kohli said he would drop himself down the order to accommodate Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, it was couched in the context of the need to include all three in-form batsmen. The harsher truth probably is that the lower- middle order isn’t yet solid enough to soak up the pressure of early wickets against good bowling attacks.Scores: India 255 all out in 49.1 overs; Aus 258/0 in 37.4 overs