The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 76

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The International News Weekly India January 18, 2018 | Toronto 08 It’s a Sangam of humanity as 2 crore take a dip at Kumbh Allahabad: It was still pitch dark, with biting cold wind blowing from the Ganga, when sadhus at 13 prominent Akharas — put up under temporary tents at the Kumbh Mela ground — started smearing ash on their bare bodies before they took the first plunge in the Triveni Sangam, the trijunction of three holy rivers — Ganga, Yamuna, and the now extinct Saraswati — on the first day of the Kumbh Mela o Tuesday. Brightly lit tents had devotees from across the country and the world thronging the grounds ahead of the first ‘shahi snan’ (royal bath), which began at 5.15 am on Makar Sankranti on Tuesday. Over two crore people took the holy dip on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti. Kinnar Akhara, the monastic order of the transgender community, created history on Tuesday when they took part in the shahi snan at the Kumbh Mela as a separate entity. “Historic moment is our biggest victory, more precious than the Supreme Court verdict favouring the LGBTQ community. Juna Akhara came forward to give space and dignity to the Kinnar community— it is a Front-row seat for Tytler at Cong event: Sirsa says party 'intimidating' witnesses Continued from page 01 The Congress is frustrated after Sajjan Kumar’s conviction in a 1984 case and is resorting to petty tactics to scare away riot survivors and witnesses. It is afraid that Tytler and Kamal Nath may be jailed for their role in the riots,” Sirsa claimed. He quoted the Delhi High Court as saying Sajjan Kumar had escaped justice for years owing to political patronage. The Congress accused the Akalis of “politicising a tragedy”. Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia said, “The Congress has always said it will respect the court verdict in every 1984 Sikh riot case. We respect the decision on Sajjan Kumar. But Tytler has not been convicted by any court. Contrast this with the history of BJP president Amit Shah. The Congress gave India its first Sikh PM. Our support for the Sikh community is for everyone to see. The Akalis should stop exploiting the grief of the Sikhs to further their political agenda.” The controversy comes on the eve of a January 31 Delhi court hearing in the Gurdwara Pul Bangash case in which Tytler is a suspect. Three Sikhs were burnt alive after a mob attacked the gurdwara in November 1984. After Sajjan Kumar’s conviction, this is the second case of anti Sikh-riots involving a former Congress MP. The case was one of the three that Nanavati Commission had ordered to be reopened, the other two being the killing of five members of Jagdish Kaur’s family in Delhi Cant (in which Sajjan Kumar has been convicted for life) and Sultanpuri killings in which Sajjan Kumar is facing trial. great moment for the community,” said Mahamandaleshwar Lakshmi Narain Tripathi, the head of Kinnar Akhara. Outside the Kumbh Mela area, the city was a sea of pilgrims walking in groups on foot, with vehicular traffic barred from the Mela grounds. As the processions commenced from 5.15 am, each of the 13 akharas were divided into categories of sanyasi, bairagi, and udaseen and allotted an hour to cross the pontoon bridge to reach their bathing areas and given 40 minutes to take the holy dip. They were then given another hour to return to their temporary ashrams across the Ganga. A devotee takes a dip at the trijunction of holy rivers in Allahabad Three Union ministers, Smriti Irani, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti took a dip at the Sangam on Makar Sankrantion Tuesday. On a day which marked the first shahi snan, the ministers took a dip like ordinary pilgrims without any security baggage. President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi are also likely to visit Kumbh. Kovind and Modi are likely to visit Allahabad on January 17 and 24, respectively. The visits of Irani and Bharti remained low key as UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had earlier this month banned VIP protocol in the mela area on the day of shahi snans and on the previous and corresponding days. Irani shared a picture of her Sangam dip on Twitter. The post was retweeted over 4,000 times and received 28,000 likes till 7pm on Tuesday. “Union textiles minister Smriti Irani arrived in Allahabad on Monday and stayed at a camp on the Mela Ground,” ADM (Kumbh Mela) Chandra Pal Tiwari said, adding that it was a personal visit and none was apprised of her programme.
The International News Weekly india January 18, 2018 | Toronto 09 Katarpur Corridor: BJP scuttling Sikhs’ dreams, says Capt Continued on page 01 Sampla is a former BJP state unit chief. Singh said Sampla’s statement rejecting passport waiver and making visa mandatory for “the poor and illiterate pilgrims” crossing the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor showed neither the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) nor its ally Shiromani Akalu Dal were interested in making the travel “hasslefree”. “Sampla’s claim that all Punjabis had passports was highly irresponsible and wrong, and showed how misinformed and disconnected from the masses the Minister was,” he said, adding that the BJP was on the one hand trying to take credit for the corridor and one the other, trying to impede its smooth operationalisation. He said Sampla’s statement reflected the BJP’s “anti-minority attitude” and the Modi government’s continued attempts to sideline the country’s minorities to further its political agenda. Pakistan speed up Kartarpur Corridor work : 35% work already done Lahore : There are report that Pakistan has already completed 35% of work for Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib corridor. The corridor would connect Gurdawara Kartarpur Sahib in West Punjab (Pakistan) and Gurdawara Darbar Sahib, Dera Baba Nanak in East Punjab (India). While here is not much progress on the East Punjab side by the Indian government, Pakistan is expected to finish the work before the predicted deadline. Pakistan government’s Religious Affairs and Interfaith Matter minister Noor Ul Haq Qadri visited the site of Kartarpur corridor work in Narowal district of West Punjab and took stock of the construction work. He was accompanied by Tariq Wazir, additional secretary of Evacuee Trust Property Board and Bishan Singh, former president of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee. Pakistani minister said that the Pakistan Government will ensure the completion of corridor work before 550th Parkash Gurupurab of Guru Nanak ji will falls in later part of this year. SC asks search panel on Lokpal to recommend names by Feb New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the search committee for the Lokpal, headed by former SC judge Ranjana Desai, to prepare a panel of names by the end of February for consideration of the selection committee. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi--which is hearing a PIL seeking direction to the government to appoint the Lokpal expeditiously--posted the matter for further hearing on March 7. It asked the government to provide all necessary support in terms of office, manpower and infrastructure to enable the search committee to complete its task within the timeframe fixed. Petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan demanded that there should be transparency in the functioning of the committee. The CJI said at this juncture it was only needed that the committee should complete its task at the earliest. The CJI said once the committee submitted to the panel, all the names would be given to the petitioner. The Bench asked Bhushan to have faith in the committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge and see things in a positive manner. Ram Dera chief, 3 others awarded life imprisonment in Chhatrapati murder case Continued from page 01 On hearing this, accused Krishan Lal went out of the cave of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and came back with his own revolver which he gave to Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh. The CBI Special Court had earlier sentenced Ram Rahim for 20-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) on August 28, 2017, in a case of rape of two women followers. He had also been facing Ranjit Singh murder case before the same court where he is an accused along with Krishan Lal, Jasbir, Indersen, Avtaar and Sabdil. Ranjit Singh was murdered on July 10, 2002. The CBI has alleged that Ram Rahim suspected him to be behind the circulation of anonymous letter of a sadhvi alleging sexual exploitation of sadhvis at Dera.
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The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 76

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