Uddhav Thackeray shamelessly defends Shiv Sena leaders over force-feeding row

July 24, 2014

Mumbai, Jul 24: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday shamelessly backed his MPs after a video footage of paty MP Rajan Vichare forcing a fasting Muslim worker to eat at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi triggered outrage in Parliament and social media on Wednesday.

"The Opposition is making it political to target Sena", said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

uddhav

"MPs were telling him to eat food he serves. Religion was not written on the face of the caterer", Thackeray added.

Saying that the MPs revolted against mismanagement at Maharashtra Sadan, Shiv Sena, in its publication 'Saamna', said the incident was blown out of proportion and given communal colour. The mouthpiece also said that insult of 'Marathi manus' will not be tolerated.

Launching a scathing attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who promised a probe in the incident, Shiv Sena said food must be force-fed to Chavan.

The editorial says, "Even after spending a huge amount, there is no 'Maharashtra'' and 'Marathiness' in the Maharashtra Sadan at Delhi. Marathi people cannot walk in with pride. It is the history that Maharashtrians are always insulted in Delhi. If we are going to get insulting treatment even after spending so much amount, then anyone would get fury and so did we."

A day ago, Shiv Sena MPs who were involved in the act had denied allegations of forcing a Muslim catering supervisor to break his fast, but video footage grabbed by Zee Media emerged clearly showed Rajan Vichare, Sena MP from Thane, forcing the Muslim supervisor to eat a chapati.

The act had taken place when the 11 members of Parliament from Maharashtra – Sanjay Raut (Rajya Sabha), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Arvind Sawant (Mumbai-South), Hemant Godse (Nashik), Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Ravindra Gaikwad (Osmanabad), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Shivaji Adhalrao Patil (Shirur), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai-South Central) and Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan) – had visited Maharashtra Sadan.

The Sena further questions, "Why there is so much noise over the issue, and was the caste or religion of that supervisor written on his forehead?"

Criticising the media and politicians for creating uproar over the issue, the editorial says, "The media who were heating up the issue and the parliamentarians who were raising voices can see our act, but they don't see that the rape of a 10-year-old girl by the'maulavi' of a mosque in Afghanistan, that too in the auspicious month of Ramzan. Neither the media is speaking about this issue, nor it is being raised in the parliament. Recently, a Muslim teacher in Bangalore raped a small girl in the school even after having roza, but media is not speaking about this. This simply shows that the rape is okay, but not the chapati feeding."

"If the migrants at Maharashtra Sadan are going to consider Marathi people inferior, then the Shiv Sena will not tolerate it. The voice raised by the Shiv Sena MPs at Maharashtra Sadan is not hooliganism but an agitation against the inferior quality of service that is being provided there, even after complaining against the issues," said the editorial.

The editorial further added, "In reality, the chapati should have been force-fed to the state chief minister, PWD minister, chief secretary and Commissioner Bipin Mallick."

Attacking Congress, the editorial added, "The politicians who are giving the religions angle to suppress the corruption are digging a hole for themselves by their own hands. Tomorrow, the people of Maharashtra will bury the Congress in the same hole."

"Shiv Sena respect all religions. 'Faith' is an individual's Alma matter, but if someone is taking efforts to politicise the issue to malign Shiv Sena, then you are on the brink." The one who are politicising the issue should not forget that Shiv Sena is the prosperity of tomorrow's Maharashtra." editorial said.

The party also said that a huge amount was money was spent in building the Maharashtra Sadan, but there was nothing 'Marathi' in it. However, the NDA government on Thursday said the allegations were unsubstantiated.

A group of Shiv Sena MPs on Wednesday said a news report of them allegedly forcing a caterer at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi to eat roti during Ramzan fast was being given "a communal colour".

They said they did not know about the IRCTC catering supervisor's religion when the said incident happened

The incident, which took place last week, was reported in The Indian Express on Wednesday.

The Shiv Sena MPs were reportedly angry at not being served Maharashtrian food.

As a result of the incident, IRCTC, which provides catering to Maharashtra Sadan, have suspended its service.

It also complained to the Maharashtra Resident Commissioner for hurting religious sentiments of the staffer, identified as Arshad Zubair S., said the report.

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News Network
March 18,2024

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Mangaluru, Mar 18: The rising temperature has become a growing concern for residents of coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, as the issue of drinking water shortage continues to worsen in several parts. 

Though the water supply of Mangaluru city has not been affected much, nearby urban local bodies, including Ullal, Kotekar, Bajpe and other parts on the outskirts of Mangaluru have been facing an acute shortage of drinking water.

Though the water level in the Thumbe vented dam across Nethravati River has started going down in the last few days, officials have ruled out possibility of rationing the water supply in the city.

According to officials, the water level at Thumbe dam of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) stood at 5.8 m as against the maximum storage capacity of 6m height on March 16. The water level at the dam during the same period last year was 5.3 metres. The water level reduced from 5.9 m on March 15 to 5.8 m on March 16 due to the scorching heat, causing evaporation.

The MCC has been drawing 160 MLD of water from the Thumbe vented dam. According to officials, without inflow, the maximum water stored in the dam will be sufficient for only 50 days. Meanwhile, the MCC has already started pumping backwater from downstream of the Thumbe vented dam back to the dam using pumpsets. Water from Thumbe dam can be drawn only if it has more than 1.5m of water in it.

DC Mullai Muhilan MP said that the district administration is closely monitoring water levels in all the dams that supply water.

The AMR dam located upstream of Thumbe dam has 18 m of water from sea level. If the water level in the Thumbe vented dam recedes, then water from the AMR dam will be released into the Thumbe dam. There is water in a dam at Biliyoor, which is located upstream of the AMR dam, the DC said.

“Drawing water for irrigation purposes from Thumbe and AMR dams has been banned,” the deputy commissioner said, adding that an order in this regard has already been issued. Some of the pockets in rural areas too have started facing water crisis.

“We have made arrangements to supply water through tankers in Ullal, Kotekar and Bajpe areas. We will not introduce water supply rationing in MCC limits for the time being,” he said and appealed to citizens to use water judiciously.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Gokarna (Uttara Kannada): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Congress will decide about making him the Chief Minister in future, bringing to the fore again the issue of leadership change.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the Chief Minister's post after the Assembly election results in May last year, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational Chief Minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.

During a temple visit here, a priest prayed that God's blessings may be showered on Shivakumar, and he became the Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters here in Uttara Kannada district, Shivakumar, who has in the past made no secret of his ambition to become Chief Minister, amid speculations of change in guard mid-way of the Assembly term, responded to talk in some political circles about the leadership issue.

"What's wrong if a priest expresses his desire before God while praying? The priest has expressed his desire. Now Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister, I'm working as Deputy Chief Minister under him, also as party's state President. People speak about it and desiring it (Shivakumar should become CM) is a different matter, it will be decided by our party," Shivakumar said.

"Now we are all working under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, and our desire is that the state should progress further under his leadership," he said.

"There will be people including supporters and priests, who pray for us, they will express their opinion. Can we stop them from doing it? At the temple it is between God and his disciple, they have expressed their feelings to God," Shivakumar added. 

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News Network
March 19,2024

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Mangaluru: The Mangalore International Airport (MIA) will connect to a new domestic destination with the introduction of a non-stop flight to Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu. 

The non-stop service, once-a-week, will operate on Wednesday (from TIA) and Thursday (from MIA), starting April 3. Air India Express will operate the flight.

The flight is expected to help those taking up a pilgrimage to Vailankani shrine.

Sources from the AIE said that the airline carrier decided to fly non-stop between the two southern Indian cities as a flight to Jeddah, which will start from April 3, arrives from Tiruchirappalli International Airport. 

“It is a ferry or positional flight from TIA to MIA. Instead of flying empty, the management has decided to run it as a commercial flight. This will help both passengers and the airline. The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a 186-seater all-economy configuration on this route. 

The same flight, after landing in MIA, will further fly to Jeddah,” a source said. 

The flight IX 1498 will depart every Thursday at 5am from MIA to TIA. The TIA-MIA flight IX 1499 departs at 12.50pm. It is a one-hour nonstop flight. The same flights will also operate nonstop between Jeddah and MIA. 

The non-stop flight IX 499 will depart MIA at 2.50pm and reach King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah at 6.25pm. The IX498, will depart from Jeddah at 7.25pm and reach MIA early at 3.40am.

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