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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led opposition, asserting that the “mahamilavati gang” is scared that if he comes to power again, their “shops” of corruption and dynasty politics will shut down.
Addressing an election rally here, Modi also said the opposition wants to strip the armed forces of their special powers, while the NDA government strives to give full liberty to jawans to deal with terrorists and Naxals. “The mahamilavati gang is actually afraid of something else though it may have other pretensions while scaremongering. They fear that if Modi comes to power again, their shops of corruption, dynasty politics and venal defence deals will shut down,” he said.
The Prime Minister said his government has been making efforts to bolster the quota system introduced by Baba Saheb Ambedkar. “They are saying that if Modi comes to power again, elections would be done away with. All constitutional bodies will be under threat. And reservations will be done away with. “The fact remains, this ‘chowkidar’ of yours has been making all efforts to strengthen the quota system introduced by Baba Saheb Ambedkar,” Modi said.
Bihar will witness a seven-phase polling for its 40 Lok Sabha seats.
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The Congress has alleged a security breach of party president Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. The party referred to the day when Gandhi went to the constituency to file his nomination.
According to Ministry of Home Affairs, they have not received any letter regarding the alleged breach in security of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Director of Special Protection Group, however, informed the “green light” shown in the video clip was found to be that of a mobile phone used by AICC photographer.
In a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the party have asked the government to “probe and neutralize the threat, if any”. They have also asked to ensure that the protocol relating the Congress president’s security detail is strictly followed.
Congress wrote to Home Minister over breach in security of its president Rahul Gandhi y’day; says Gandhi was addressing media after filing nomination from Amethi, “a persual of his interaction will reflect that a laser was pointed at his head.
The letter stated a green laser was pointed 7 times at Rahul Gandhi’s head when he was interacting with the media.
Congress said, “…a laser (green) was pointed at his head, intermittently on at least 7 separate occasions in a short period; including twice at his temple on the right side of the head”.
The party sent a video clip of his media interaction along with the letter signed by Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Citing the assassination of Rahul’s father and grandmother, former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, the party believed that the breach was “a cause of grave and pressing concern”.
The Congress told the Home Minister that Rahul Gandhi’s security was the “first responsibility” of the central government and the home ministry.
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India votes from today to elect the country’s 17th Lok Sabha, a process that will span seven phases till May 19. The verdict of the people is out on May 23.
The second is on April 18, third on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19.
The elections to 543 seats are being conducted in nearly 10 lakh polling booths across the country these elections.
In the first phase, there are polls in all Lok Sabha constituencies of Andhra Pradesh (25), Telangana (17), Uttarakhand (5), Meghalaya (2) and Arunachal Pradesh (2) besides lone seats in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep. Eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Maharashtra, six in Bihar, five in Assam, four in Odisha, two each in Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal and one seat in Chhattisgarh are also going to polls.
Among the prominent leaders standing for elections today are Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur), Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal West), V K Singh (Ghaziabad), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Buddha Nagar). Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary are also contesting.
Simultaneous Assembly elections are being held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim today.
Chief Election Commissioner of India Sunil Arora said in 2019, 900 million people are registered as voters, of which 15 million are in the 18-19 age groups. There are 84.3 million new voters since 2014, and 15 million voters in the age group of 18-19.
Polls are being held across 91 constituencies today across 18 states and two Union Territories.
It has been a bitterly fought run-up to the polls with both the ruling NDA, the Opposition Congress and other regional parties launching virulent and personal attacks on each other. The BJP-Congress campaign has centred on the ‘chowkidar-chor’ narrative, with the slogans ‘Phir Ek Baar, Modi Sarkar’ and ‘Ab Hoga NYAY’ being respective themes.
The Congress’ manifesto has been more welfare, promising crop loan waiver, jobs for women and NYAY – a scheme to pay 20 per cent of the poorest families Rs 72,000 a year.
The BJP balanced populist welfare initiatives with muscular nationalism, promising pension to 15 crore marginal farmers and small shopkeepers to counter Congress’ NYAY. It also vowed to extend Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) to the whole nation to push out infiltrators and show zero tolerance for terror.
It has promised to make India a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2025, reiterating on its unfulfilled promises of constructing the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and scrapping of Articles 370 and 35A.
The Congress has failed to lead a grand alliance of opposition and regional parties, managing a tie-up only in Bihar among the important states.
2014’s giant Modi wave is definitely missing this time, and if the BJP is on tenterhooks, it is certainly not showing it. The Prime Minister’s approval rates, however, are high.
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Charlize Theron has revealed that she is “shockingly available” but the actor said she needs a man to “step up” and ask her out.
The 43-year-old Oscar winner opened up about her love life in an interview with Entertainment Tonight while promoting her film “Long Shot” with co-star Seth Rogen.
“I’ve been single for 10 years, it’s not a long shot. Somebody just needs to grow a pair and step up. I’m shockingly available,” Theron said.
Rogen echoed her sentiments, saying, “She’s out there!”, to which Theron said, “I’ve made it very clear.”
Theron previously dated actor Stuart Townsend and they split up in 2010. She was then in a relationship with actor Sean Penn and were engaged in 2014. But they separated in 2015.
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Hollywood star Will Smith says his trip to India awakened a new understanding of himself and the world around him.
The actor, who visited Haridwar to shoot for his Facebook Watch show “Will Smith’s Bucket List”, took to Instagram Saturday to share the pictures of the experience.
“My Grandmother used to say, ‘God Teaches through Experience’.
“Travelling to India and experiencing the colours, people and natural beauty has awakened a new understanding of myself, my art and the truths of the world,” Smith captioned the series of photographs and a video, including that of the Ganga aarti.
For a previous episode, titled “Will Smith’s Bucketlist: Bollywood Dancing”, Smith shot a Bollywood dance sequence, which he said, was a dream come true for him.
In his latest India tour, the actor also roamed around in an autorickshaw across the busy streets of Mumbai and got some dance lessons from actor Ranveer Singh and filmmaker Karan Johar.
Smith’s dance sequence will also feature in Johar’s upcoming production “Student of the Year 2”.
This was not the Hollywood star’s first visit to the country.
In 2017, Smith had come to Mumbai for the promotion of Netflix film “Bright”. He also visited New Delhi for a conclave.
