J&K PAID FOR NEHRU’S BLUNDERS, ART 370 WAS ROOT CAUSE OF TERROR: AMIT SHAH IN LS

Maintaining that Jammu and Kashmir suffered due to the “blunders” of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir “hamara hai”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Wednesday that 45,000 lives were lost due to Article 370 and this was why the Narendra Modi govt abrogated it. He said Article 370 was “the root cause” of separatism and terrorism in J&K.

Shah was replying to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 – the two Bills were passed by a voice vote later.

He said J&K witnessed terrorism after the 1980s. “People who were native residents were displaced. No one cared about them… Those who were responsible for stopping it were enjoying holidays in England. I don’t want to name them. Still, they talk about their sacrifice. If they had eliminated terror at that time, neither they (Kashmiri Pandits) would have had to leave nor would I need to bring these Bills,” he said.

“I say this with full responsibility that Kashmir suffered due to two blunders by Nehru… his decisions. First, the ceasefire (with newly created Pakistan) was announced when our forces were winning. If the ceasefire had happened three days later, PoK would have been part of India today… The ceasefire was announced before winning the whole of Kashmir. The second blunder was to take the Kashmir issue to the United Nations,” he said.

As soon as Shah mentioned Nehru, Congress members protested. “Why are you angry with me? I am just reading Nehruji’s quote… If they are angry, they should be (angry) with Nehruji.”

Highlighting changes witnessed by J&K following the abrogation of Article 370, Shah said J&K has seen unprecedented transformation ever since the Modi-led govt came into power.

He said there has been a 70 per cent reduction in terror incidents during the NDA rule from 2014 to 2023. “That is why I was right in saying that the root cause of separatism, the root cause of terrorism was nothing but Article 370.” He said 45,000 lives were lost due to Article 370.

The impact of the Assembly poll triumphs of the BJP is being felt in Parliament, with the govt side putting up an aggressive stance.

When Congress MP Manickam Tagore raised a query on the quality of food provided under the PDS and the grievance redressal mechanism for it. Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal answered by going into praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives for the poor.

When Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury objected, Goyal shot back: “Do you have any problem with the poor getting free ration? It looks like you have. Then say it aloud… The Opposition leader seems to have an issue with Prime Minister Modi distributing free food to 81 crore poor. It shows their mindset. In Karnataka, they gave a false promise of rice… We do not divide people in this country. But some of them create a North-South divide, some divide the people on caste lines.”

When DMK leader in the Lok Sabha T R Baalu got up to raise a supplementary question over purchase of hardware under the smart PDS scheme, BJP leaders jumped to their feet demanding that he first apologise for fellow party MP Senthilkumar’s remarks in the House the previous day, which had been later expunged.

Amit Shah took a jibe at the Congress for its recent push for OBC caste census, and its raising of caste issues. “Whenever the issue of backward classes comes up, the Congress never cooperates. It leaves.”

CONGRESS WARMS UP AGAIN TO INDIA BLOCK PARTNERS

At the instance of the Congress leadership, A Revanth Reddy — the Chief Minister designate of Telangana — Wednesday spoke to the non- Congress chief ministers of the opposition INDIA bloc, inviting them to his swearing-in ceremony in Hyderabad on Thursday.

In an attempt to end the chill that had set in within the multi-party INDIA bloc, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, on other hand, met Parliamentary leaders of the constituent parties over dinner. Thirty-one leaders from 17 parties, including DMK, NCP, RJD, SP, JD(U), AAP, CPM, CPI, Muslim League, MDMK, RLD, Kerala Congress (M), JMM, National Conference, RSP and VCK, attended the dinner meeting.

“A Parliamentary strategy meeting of like-minded parties of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha floor leaders was held at 10, Rajaji Marg. We will take up the issues of the people in the Parliament, in the remaining part of this session to make the govt accountable. A date for the meeting of INDIA parties will soon be fixed, in consultation with the leaders of all parties,” Kharge posted on ‘X’.

While the meeting was cordial, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, citing the objectionable remarks made by DMK MP DNV Senthilkumar in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, did point out that leaders and MPs of the alliance should exercise restraint. Such remarks, they said, give the BJP the political ammunition to target the alliance.

The parties decided to coordinate their floor strategy in Parliament.

A day after taking a swipe at the Congress over its performance in the recent Assembly elections, and laying their respective claims for leadership of the proposed INDIA bloc, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee seemed to indicate a mellowing.

The two had also declared that they would not be attending the INDIA bloc meeting called by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge for Wednesday; the pullout by various partners led to Kharge finally announcing postponement of the meeting.

On Wednesday, both Nitish and Mamata said they would attend the next meeting of the bloc, when it is held.

Nitish also downplayed the Congress’s defeats, in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, arguing that the party “did not do too badly”. “It (the Congress) got a good number of votes in Telangana. In elections such (wins and losses) happen,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

BIDEN'S $105B UKRAINE, ISRAEL AID PACKAGE FAILS TO ADVANCE IN US SENATE

The Democratic-controlled Senate failed to advance US President Joe Biden's over $105 billion spending package Wednesday, which largely consists of additional military aid for Ukraine and Israel.

The supplemental spending package failed to clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle by a vote of 49-51. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, instead joined Republicans in opposition after taking issue with the package's additional funding for Israel amid its war in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Sanders has voiced opposition to the additional aid, saying he voted against the package because "I do not believe that we should give the right-wing extremist Netanyahu govt an additional $10.1 billion with no strings attached to continue their inhumane war against the Palestinian people."

"Israel has the absolute right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorists who attacked them on Oct. 7. They do not have the legal or moral right to kill thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children," he said in a statement.

The $14.3 billion in funding for Israel -- on top of nearly $4 billion in military assistance the US supplies the country annually -- is part of a wider package proposed by Biden that includes over $61 billion for Ukraine. Funding is included for Biden's other national security priorities. The Senate vote Wednesday was to allow debate on the package to begin. Republicans have conditioned any support for the package on overhauls to US border policies.

Biden accused "extreme Republicans" of "playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies."

Congress has previously approved about $111 billion in funding for Ukraine's war effort since Russia invaded in February 2022, paying for the transfer and purchase of badly needed armaments. The White House has raised alarm that the funding is near complete exhaustion and is likely to run out by year's end.

ITALY DROPS OUT OF CHINA’S BRI

Italy has officially informed China that it is quitting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), two govt sources said on Wednesday, ending months of doubt over Rome’s future in the ambitious project. Italy in 2019 became the first and so far only major Western nation to join the programme, dismissing concerns from the US that it would enable China to gain control of sensitive technologies and vital infrastructure.

The 2019 accord expires in March 2024 and would have been automatically renewed unless Rome gave at least three months’ written warning that it was pulling out.

THE REST

=========

10 BJP MPs-TURNED-MLAS QUIT PARLIAMENT

Ten of the 12 BJP MPs who won the recent elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh resigned yesterday with two more set to put in their papers soon to play a prominent role in the states.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Prahlad Singh Patel were among the 10 MPs who resigned. Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Renuka Singh, who won from her seat in Chhattisgarh, will also resign soon.

Of the 10 MPs who resigned yesterday, veteran Kirori Lal Meena is from the Rajya Sabha. The rest are all Lok Sabha MPs.

These include Rakesh Singh, Udaipratap Singh and Riti Pathak from MP; Rajya Vardhan Rathor and Diya Kumari from Rajasthan; and Arun Sao and Gomti Sai from Chhattisgarh. Renuka Singh from Chhattisgarh and newly elected Tijara MLA Balak Nath are yet to submit their papers.

The BJP had fielded 18 MPs in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh of whom 12 won. While the BJP’s strategy of fielding sitting MPs worked in the Hindi heartland, it failed in Telangana where all three MPs it fielded lost.

JARANGE-PATIL SEEKS DECISION ON MARATHA QUOTA IN TWO DAYS

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Wednesday demanded that the govt should take a decision on their reservation demand within the next two days, even as the session of the State Legislature is set to begin from Thursday. The state govt, while reiterating its commitment to ensure reservation for the Maratha community, made no such promise of an early decision.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, flanked by Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, spoke about the govt’s intention to provide reservation to the Maratha community. ”We are committed to providing reservation for Maratha community. At the same time, we will ensure that the quota for the OBC community is not affected.”

Shinde, however, kept mum as to when exactly the govt will provide the reservation.

RAJASTHAN BANDH CALLED OVER KARNI SENA CHIEF'S MURDER

Markets were closed in Jaipur and some other Rajasthan districts and protesters blocked roads and stopped trains on Wednesday after a bandh call by the Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena over the killing of its chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi.

A dharna which was going on outside the private hospital in Jaipur, where the body of Gogamedi was kept since Tuesday, was called off on Wednesday night after the police assured the family members to arrest the accused in 72 hours and suspend the SHO of Shyam Nagar police station and other policemen guilty of laxity.

On Facebook, gangster Rohit Godara -- said to be linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang -- has claimed responsibility and said Gogamedi was killed for "backing" his enemies.

LeT MAN WHO PLOTTED ATTACKS ON CRPF, BSF CONVOYS KILLED IN PAK

Unidentified men gunned down Adnan Ahmed aka Abu Hanzala, a top-ranking LeT commander and plotter of a series of attacks on security convoys in the Valley over the years, in Karachi three days ago. Hanzala was shot multiple times in the head, chest and stomach at point-blank range by assailants who audaciously managed to break his two-tier security ring provided by the ISI.

The killing of yet another terrorist on India’s ‘wanted list’ stood out for two reasons. Unlike others wanted by India for involvement in terrorism and who were killed in Pakistan and the territory under its control, Hanzala was guarded by 24x7 multiple-layer security. Second, in his instance, the determination that he was eliminated in a “terrorist attack” came fast.

Hanzala’s killing comes a month after two other prominent faces of Lashkar were eliminated in mysterious manner.

Before that, LeT operative Maulana Ziaur Rehman was shot dead in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar locality and another Lashkar recruiter, Mufti Qaiser Farooq, was shot in Gulshan-i-Umar seminary in August.

More recently, global terrorist and LeT commander Sajid Mir, one of the key plotters of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, who is being held in a Kot Lakhpat jail since his sentencing by an anti-terrorism court in June last year, was suddenly admitted to hospital. Reports suggest that he was poisoned and has since been on ventilator support.

TOP LAWYER DUSHYANT DAVE WRITES OPEN LETTER TO CJI

Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave on Wednesday wrote an open letter to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, stating he is “deeply anguished at certain happenings about the listing of cases by the” Supreme Court “Registry”.

In the letter, also copied to the other judges of the SC, Dave claimed that benches of some listed cases were being changed.

“I have personally come across a number of cases listed before various Hon’ble Benches upon first listing and/ or in which notice have been issued, being taken away from those Hon’ble Benches and listed before other Hon’ble Benches. Despite first coram being available, the matters are being listed before a Hon’ble Benches in which second coram presides”.

He said that “matters listed before Courts 2, 4, 6, 7, amongst others, have been shifted out and listed before other Hon’ble Benches in clear disregard of the rules, the handbook on practice and office procedure…and established practice and convention. Curiously, the seniority of the first coram is also being ignored in doing so”.

Dave’s letter said that “our attention is also being drawn by esteemed colleagues at the Bar, seniors, and Advocates on Record (AoRs), about various cases in which they have appeared in the first instance on numerous occasions, later the matters being listed before different Benches”.

Stating that “it would not be proper for me to enumerate these matters as many of them are pending”, he, however, added that “it would not be out of place to mention that these matters include some sensitive matters involving human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, and functioning of statutory and constitutional institutions”.

The letter which referred to the CJI’s role as the ‘master of roster’ submitted that he holds CJI Chandrachud in high esteem and that he has “highest respect and love for judiciary”, adding, “but I will be failing in my duty imposed by the Supreme Court itself when it held that, the lawyers are supposed to be fearless and independent in the protection of rights of litigants” and “what lawyers are supposed to protect, is the legal system and procedure of law of deciding the cases”.

TENDULKAR, KOHLI, BIG B, AMBANI, ADANI AMONG 7K INVITED FOR RAM TEMPLE OPENING

The Ram temple trust has invited 7,000 people including cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, and billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani to the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple. Actors Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia, who played the roles of Lord Ram in the famous TV serial "Ramayan", have also been invited to the ceremony that will be held on January 22, 2024.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration.

The families of kar sevaks killed in the police firing in Ayodhya are also being invited.

The trust has also invited 4,000 seers from across the country.

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secretary Champat Rai said, "Efforts are also being made to invite one representative each from 50 countries for the consecration ceremony."

Besides, saints, priests, shankaracharyas, religious leaders, former civil servants, retired Army officers, lawyers, musicians and Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardees have been invited.

VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma said, "We have also invited journalists who supported the Ram temple movement through their newspapers, writings and reporting. Without them, this struggle for the Ram temple would have been incomplete."

‘BADALTA KASHMIR’: A SONG ABOUT VALLEY IS MAKING WAVES

“Na koi begunah mar raha, khoon na hai beh raha,” begins a new track by two young rappers from Kashmir. In a music landscape dominated by the pain and pathos of the 1990s, their song, titled Badalta Kashmir, chronicles the changes the two are noticing around them.

Rasik Ahmad Sheikh (21) aka MC Raa says financial difficulties at home led him to quit education after class 12, and in that period, he says, rap was his only refuge. For 14-year-old Humaira Jan, introduction to Indian rap gave her a taste of writing poetry and finding a beat to go with it.

The three-minute song has been widely shared on social media, and has garnered about 1.5 million views, says Sheikh. The video has been shared by GoC 15 corps, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai; former India cricketer Suresh Raina; and actor Anupam Kher, among others.

“I live in South Kashmir but every time I visit the city (Srinagar), I see the way things are changing. Whether it is infrastructure or just the way I feel free and hopeful. There is a space where I feel like I can also aspire for more,” he says.

INDICATORS

Sensex 69,654 (+358), Nifty 20,938 (+83)

Nasdaq 14,147 (-83) Dow 36,054 (-70), S&P 4,549 (-18)

US$-Rs. 83.33, GBP-Rs. 104.91, Euro-Rs. 89.87, UAE Dhm-Rs. 22.68, Can$-Rs. 61.37, Aus$- Rs. 54.77

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.92 /US$, Jap.Yen 147.23 /US$, Aus$ 1.52 /US$, Sing 1.34 /US$, Bang Taka 108.90 /US$, Can$ 1.35 /US$, Mal Ring 4.66 /US$, Pak Re 283.97 /US$, Phil Peso 55.31 /US$, Russian Rouble 91.95 /US$, NZ$ 1.62 /US$, Thai Baht 35.16 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.49 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 43,882, Dollar Index 104.10, Brent Crude 74.30, BDI 3143

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 2028 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 6,267 / 5,745, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 81,000

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humour to console him for what he is. - Francis Bacon

OFF TRACK

I was talking to an alternative medicine doctor, and after knowing my occupation he advised:

"You must stay away from liquor. Drink more plain water. Don't drive when going out. Take public transport or walk. Don't eat out. Eat less meat, avoid seafood completely. Keep to vegetarian diet if possible.

I nodded and asked " May I know what's wrong with me?"

He answered "your income is too low!"