the Asianindependent 1st to 24 Pages June Edition

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8 June 2019 ASIA www.theasianindependent.co.uk Unpredictable Mayawati! Mayawati, President of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is known as an unreliable, unpredictable politician in India. After the death of Kanshi Ram on 9 October 2006, her political mentor, Mayawati was supposed to run the BSP as Kanshi Ram wanted her to run but it did not happen. Although Kanshi Ram joined hands with the BJP to make Mayawati the first time Dalit Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a most populous state in India, in 1995 under the benevolence of the BJP, a party of Brahmins, Thakurs. Kanshi Ram, an unassertive orator, was the leader who always maintained clean and honorable image and followed the ideological path as laid down by his social, political mentor-Bharat Ratna(highest civilian award instituted in 1954)Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the constitution of India. Mayawati notoriously claims that she has been sacrificing everything for the upliftment of the Dalits but the truth is that Mayawati aims only for her own pecuniary advancement. In 2016, Swamy Prasad Maurya, an OBC leader in BSP left Mayawati accusing her turning the party into an “industrial house” and allegedly selling tickets. Later on, the same leader joined the saffron BJP party. It is not Swamy Prasad Maurya who first time leveled serious accusations against her but there are many other BSP leaders at the national and local level found that accusations leveled by Maurya are truthful. Vaishnav remarks that the BSP President Mayawati is quite open that a candidate should make a hefty contribution to the party in exchange for nomination. As a freelance journalist, I happen to meet leaders and workers of the BSP in Punjab and Delhi. A BSP leader from Punjab on the condition of anonymity said: “My wife and I are BSP workers since the days of Kanshi Ram. Kanshi Ram personally visited their house in Phagwara (a district in Punjab) during his election campaign. Today the BSP is not the same as it used to be at the time of Kanshi Ram. Kanshi Ram was a man who loved his workers and party sympathizers. He used to listen to the opinions, views of all the party workers and accordingly planned the election strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Dalits. People from the Dalit communities thronged his public meetings. Today, when Mayawati comes to Punjab leaders and workers have to spend a lot of money from their own pockets and sometimes raise funds from the public to hire truck, cars, and bikes to carry the people to the venue of the public meeting. Mayawati is a dictator who does not listen to anyone in the party. She sometimes humiliates the party workers in the public”. You see, no assembly or parliament seat is won by the BSP candidate in Punjab for the last decades, he said. The onus lies on Mayawati who never comes and support the Punjab BSP leaders. They are left on their own. The alliance with the Badal family(Akalis) in Punjab proved to be a disastrous alliance since the Badal family and Jat Sikhs succeeded in convincing the Dalits that Mayawati took money from the Badam family and did not turn up a single time in Punjab to support the BSP candidates, he said. Tell me what is the utility of billions when Mayawati cannot save her reputation; what the utility of billions is when Mayawati has no son or daughter. It is beyond my imagination for what she is amassing wealth and for whom, he said. Another BSP workers from Jalandhar(Punjab), said: “ Mayawati generally does not trust the Dalits from Punjab. She is under the impression that Dalits from Punjab can be controlled by her greedy, ravenous party UP In-charges. She sends office in-charge from the central office, UP to control the state leaders of Punjab. The state President are treated badly by the appointed office in-charge. Sometimes, the local BSP Punjab leaders and state Presidents, vice-presidents are humiliated by the UP men on the issue of funds collection. The litany is that the UP office In-charge claims that Behnji needs enormous funds to travel by helicopters to various states of India for election campaigns. The UP office in-charge will sometimes stays 15 days and collect the money and go back to deliver the money to the central office. God knows how much Behnji receive and how much is eaten away by the UP office Incharge. You see the majority of the Dalits are poor, daily laborers despite that they contribute funds with a full heart. Their only dream is to see Bhenji the Prime Minister of India”. Some funds are collected through The Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAM- CEF) founded by Kanshi Ram in 1978. A BSP worker from BSP Delhi unit stated: “The state President collected funds from the SCs/STs officers working in various government departments. The state President asked for the funds to give to Bhenji for going to various states of India for election campaigns by helicopter. The state President collected funds but most of the funds were utilized for their own expenses and some are claimed to be spent on the maintenance of the BSP Delhi office”. Another BSP workers from Karol Bagh, a central Delhi district, the area the BSP Delhi office is situated stated: “A meeting was called by the BSP Delhi unit state President to discuss the celebration of Behnji birthday i.e 15th – Dr Rahul Kumar January 1956, This day is also celebrated as Jan Kalyankari Diwas(Public Welfare Day). The basic idea behind the gargantuan celebration is to raise funds for the party. In the meeting all the participants were told that Behnji has given a target of ten Million (One Crore) for Delhi unit, the State President said. The state President collected huge funds from the Dalit officers, teachers, engineers, and local workers. A BSP party worker, a retired government SC employee, from Nagloi, a district in the west of UT Delhi stated, “Mayawati has given instructions to all state presidents or secretaries not to organize any political protest. The purpose of a political party is to raise the issues of the people to the ears of the government and find a permanent solution. If a party of Dalits will not raise an issue of Dalit atrocities, then who will? If you become an air-conditioned leader who will give you vote? If you do not fight for the rights of the people as reverend Baba Saheb Ambedkar fought for the rights and social dignity of the poor Dalits, who will become your party member? Baba Saheb Ambedkar fought assiduously for the Dalits rights and won ‘Reservation’. What Mayawati has done for the poor, underprivileged Dalits in India? In UP she could not fight in the Allahabad court to save the reservation for the Dalits while she was the Chief Minister. She has no political ethics to continue to represent us in the parliament. Today, the situation is that the Dalits are not trusted neither in the political circle nor in the social circle and it is because of Mayawati`s money-grubbing, aimless politics, he said. Her opportunistic politics has rigorously tarnished the social and political reputation of the Dalit communities at large. After defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh(UP), the largest state having 80 parliamentary seats she got upset with the alliance Samajwadi Party(SP) and suddenly broke the alliance by accusing the SP of not translating the Yadav votes to the BSP. Such accusation seems absurd. How can Mayawati as the President of the BSP level such vile allegation against the party of Yadavs when she knew it very well that the majority of the Yadavs hate Dalits and its leaders inside their hearts and minds. The result of Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Lok Sabha elections shows that the BSP fielded candidates in 38 seats out which 10 are won by the BSP, it means the BSP is the gainer whereas the SP fielded candidates in 37 seats and won only 05 seats it means the SP as an alliance partner stands loser after the alliance with the BSP. A local leader from the Yadav community after the official statement of temporary break-up made by Mayawati on national televisions claims that “Mayawati is under pressure from the BJP. Mayawati knows it very well that if she does not come forward to break the alliance with the SP, sooner or later the BJP would compelled her to break under the threat of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He further said that Neta Ram, a close aide of Mayawati is already under CBI scanner. The BJP is going to use him as bait to torment Mayawati.”Mayawati knows it very well that her party has no cadre workers who would stage nationwide protest if Mayawati is arrested on the charges of corruption, he said. Mayawati herself claim that the SP leaders gave her a lot of respect. After allegation against the SP leaders, this respect earned by her went with the wind. On that, Arpana Yadav, younger daughter –in law of Former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said: “Those who cannot digest respect cannot digest defeat ether”. GVL Narasimha Rao said, “ this was predicted by the Prime Minister a long time back so it happened. He further said, “the era of caste politics in India is over”. Mayawati has to face a lot of criticism in the coming days for her immature act. She could have waited for few months before jumping to the conclusion before announcing break-up officially. Today Mayawati is 63 years old. Modi has already occupied the seat of Prime Minister for five years i.e. till 2024 Mayawati has no chance even at distance to become a Prime Minister of India. Mayawati out of desperation sacked office bearers, coordinators in Uttrakhand, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Punjab and more to follow after the ignominious defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What it indicates that the BSP Supremo Mayawati has lost political credibility. Those who were hoping to see her Prime Minister of India should sit at home and whine her premature political demise. Dalits Diaspora in UK,Canada and USA and other western countries should stop funding the state Presidents, vice-president, secretaries of the BSP in the name of Mayawati. They should invest their money and time on education of the boys and girls belonging to the marginalized communities. That would be an honest tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar- THE WORLD HERO.
www.theasianindependent.co.uk ASIA June 2019 9 Amid 'divergent' statements by aides, ED to tighten noose around Vadra New Delhi : The Enforcement tries to associate with him and has never Directorate is all set to tighten the noose around Robert Vadra, brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, as there are discrepencies in his and his associates' statements. A senior ED official told IANS that the statements made by Vadra during various sessions of questioning between February- March 2019 contradict the statements produced by his associates and counsels during the questioning in the case. The official said, "When he appeared for the first time on February 6, Vadra had said that he could not categorically say he knew Puja Chadha. While on March 8, he told the officials that he did not know Chadha. "The official said when Vadra was asked whether he knows Sumit Chahdha, a relative of arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, he said he has not met Sumit Chadha. "Meanwhile, one of his associate said that Vadra knows Sumit Chadha," the official said. "To a question whether he knows Dubaibased businessman C.C. Thampi through whom the ED suspects kickbacks were routed in a petroleum deal in 2009, Vadra stated that he had met him on board an Emirates flight," the official said, adding, "while Thampi stated that he met Vadra through Madhavan, personal assistant of Sonia Gandhi." The ED has recorded the statement of Thmapi on April 6 this year. Pointing out another contradiction, the official said Vadra was asked whether he has any knowledge about 12 Bryanston Square (BSQ) property in London. "Vadra during questioning on February 7, replied that he has never stayed there. While Thampi in his statement on April 6 said that Vadra did stay at 12 BSQ in London," the official said. Another contradiction was raised on emails of Vadra from Sumit Chadha and Puja Chada. The official said that on February 6, Vadra agreed that a particular email ID belonged to him. However, the very next day he denied that these mails were written to him. "On the contrary, the close aide of Vadra, Manoj Arora, who was also questioned by the ED on January 16, told the investigators that "email appears to have been sent by Sumit Chadha on the email ID of Vadra and only he can explain the content of the emails as these are addressed to him," the official said. The official said during questioning, Vadra denied he knew Vipul Beriwala. "While Arora's mobile has the contact number of Briwala saved in it," he said. The official then said that during questioning on March 8 this year, Vadra denied he knew Sanjeev Varma, while again the mobile phone of Arora has the contact of Verma. Pointing out to another discrepancy, the official said when Vadra was asked if RV stands for his name in emails, he has stated that "he is not known as RV and people do not refer to him as RV". "While the mobile phone of Arora on January 31 said that the contact of MRV in his phone stands as Mr Robert Vadra," he said. The official then said that when on February 6 Vadra was asked if he knows Jagdish Sharma, he told the agency that Sharma hovers around him, follows him and worked for him. "On the other hand, on December 8 last year, Sharma during his questioning stated that he is close to Gandhi family but he is closest to Vadra," the official said. "He said he does political profiling of Vadra and also advises him on various matters," the official said. Highlighting other discrepancies, the ED official said when Vadra was asked on February 7 if he is known as 'sahab', the husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he stated that his subordinates refer to him as "boss". "While Sharma during questioning on December 10, stated that 'sahab' is referred to Vadra. And Anuj Nautiyal in his statement to the ED on December 8 stated that Sharma had told him that his 'boss' had invested in the foreign properties in question and Sharma referred to Vadra as his 'boss'," the official noted. "Even Vadra has stated on March 8 that he is not referred as 'Robert Saheb', while Arora has stated that Vadra is also addressed as 'Robert Saheb' and 'RV'," the official said. Besides, the discrepancies, the ED has also questioned Vadra whether he traveled with Bhandari to France. "Vadra has stated he was not sure," the official said. The official said that Vadra on February 9 also said that he cannot recollect the emails of Vishal Bajpai regarding the reservations made for him and Arora. Vadra has also denied knowledge about the ownership of Columbyne Management Ltd. and that he knew Sanjay Dhir. Vadra is being investigated by the financial probe agency in connection with a money laundering case involving foreign assets worth 1.9 million Great Britain Pound. So far he has been questioned by the ED for over 14 times. A Delhi court on Monday allowed Vadra to travel to the Netherlands and the US for medical treatment for six weeks. 21 stocks surged over 50% in Nifty's 11,000-12,000 journey Mumbai : Around 21 stocks contributed the most in the Nifty's 333-days journey from 11,000 to the 12,000 mark, with over 50 per cent gain during the period. The index settled above the 12,000 mark for the first time on Monday. On Tuesday, it settled at 12,021.65, lower by 66.90 points or 0.55 per cent from its previous close. Among the 21 stocks of Nifty 500, shares of three companies rose more than two-fold, according to data from Ace Equity. Adani Power, Balrampur Chini Mills and Vinati Organics rose by 160.88 per cent, 125.14 per cent and 122.30 per cent respectively. They were followed by Fine Organic Industries and Praj Industries, which increased by 93.28 per cent and 84.76 per cent. other companies in the top 10 were Procter and Gamble Health (77.44 per cent), Info Edge (India) (75.08 per cent), Power Finance Corp (74.03 per cent), UPL (73.06 per cent), ICICI Lombard General Insurance (71.61 per cent). The 21 top companies also included ICICI Bank (55.31 per cent), Axis Bank (50.95 per cent), Interglobe Aviation (50.44 per cent). The other stocks included SRF, Bata India, Muthoot Finance, DCM Shriram, Tube Investments of India, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Titan Company and Heidelberg Cement India. Analysts said that the recent surge in the market was mostly based on hopes of reforms, return of the BJP-led NDA government to power and also of probable interest rate cuts. "The journey of 1,000 points was a hope rally. Now, the market now would depend upon how fast the reform process takes place and the problems with NBFCs get resolved," Saurabh Jain of SMC Comtrade said. The Nifty50 may reach 13,000 mark and the BSE Sensex may touch 43,500 by the end of the year, Jain said. Punjab top brass reject reports on ISI's plans Chandigarh : A high-level meeting, chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, here on Tuesday reviewed the state's internal security as well as law and order situation, and raised doubts about the authenticity of alleged intel reports suggesting an ISI project to target retired army and police officials to revive militancy in Punjab. Even as he directed the officials to take all possible steps to maintain peace and harmony in the state, the Chief Minister agreed with them that reports referring to intel inputs on such a project seemed far-fetched and removed from the ground realities. The reports were not verified and could be false, the meeting felt, with the Chief Minister asking the police to take all possible steps to verify such reports and check the spread of rumours, which could lead to panic among people. The Chief Minister, however, made it clear that his government would not allow the state's peace and law and order to be disturbed at any cost. The meeting comes a day after Punjab Police said Pakistan-based Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) handler Harmeet Singh alias 'Happy PhD' was plotting to carry out a Rajasansi-like attack on the anniversary of the Operation Bluestar. The disclosure came after seizure of smuggled hand-grenades at Kukranwala Adda in Amritsar district's Ajnala sub-division. After initial investigations, the police said Harmeet 'PhD', also a suspect in the grenade attack on a prayer congregation at the Nirankari Bhawan in Rajasansi, was believed to be behind the smuggling of hand grenades from Pakistan. Police officials briefed the Chief Minister on the incident and informed the meeting that probe was on to ascertain details about the make of the grenades and the smuggling route. ED questions Vadra over six hours in money laundering case New Delhi : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-inlaw Robert Vadra for over six hours in connection with a money laundering case involving assets allegedly held abroad. Vadra was asked about the money received by his company as alleged kickbacks in petroleum deals in Gujarat. The agency said the money was used to buy properties in London. He appeared before the investigators at ED's Jamnagar office in central Delhi following summons. The case relates to the ownership of 1.9 million pounds of overseas assets and undisclosed entities set up to evade tax. In a Facebook post before arriving at the ED office, Vadra wrote: "As I make my way for the 13th time, post almost 80 hours with the Enforcement Directorate, answering any number of questions, amidst sensation and unnecessary drama around, I stay focused and calm." The businessman was upset with news reports and media questions on his health and wrote: "But blatantly and carelessly airing my health matters is not correct... But my time spent with people with worst problems, ailing, blind and orphaned kids to see them still smile, gives me the strength to go on..." Vadra appeared before the financial probe agency, a day after a Delhi court allowed him to travel to the Netherlands and the US for six weeks of medical treatment. Last Thursday, Vadra was questioned by the ED for over seven hours on the amount received by his company as kickbacks in petroleum deals in Gujarat. The agency accused him of using the money to buy properties in London. However, he skipped the ED questioning the next day citing ill-health.
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