[🇮🇳] Indian General Election 2024

[Saif]

Suspected rebels kill BJP activist in J&K

Suspected rebels shot dead an activist from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party in Kashmir, local authorities said yesterday after the latest violent attack in the disputed region.

www.thedailystar.net

INDIA ELECTION
Suspected rebels kill BJP activist in J&K

Suspected rebels shot dead an activist from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in Kashmir, local authorities said yesterday after the latest violent attack in the disputed region.

Police named the victim as Aijaz Ahmad, a local leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who was fired upon in Shopian district on Saturday evening, days after the region began voting in India's six-week national elections.

The BJP's local office in Kashmir confirmed yesterday that Ahmad had died and announced plans to stage a protest against the attack.

Two Indian tourists visiting the Himalayan territory were also wounded in a separate attack by suspected rebels in nearby Anantnag on the same day, police said, adding that both had been hospitalised.

Security forces had cordoned off the surrounding area to find those responsible for separate incidents, police said.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the Himalayan territory in full.​

 

[Saif]

Modi imitating ‘detractors of democracy’ in Bangladesh, Pakistan, says Kejriwal

India once used to give the world lessons on democracy, but under prime minister Narendra Modi it has been ‘reduced’ to ‘imitating detractors of democracy’ in...

www.newagebd.net

Modi imitating 'detractors of democracy' in Bangladesh, Pakistan, says Kejriwal
New Age Desk 20 May, 2024, 00:30

Arvind Kejriwal.

India once used to give the world lessons on democracy, but under prime minister Narendra Modi it has been 'reduced' to 'imitating detractors of democracy' in Pakistan, Russia and Bangladesh, New Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday, reports DAWN.com.

He is currently campaigning in the Indian state of Punjab where his 'Aam Aadmi Party' holds power, as well as in Maharashtra, where the opposition 'INDIA' alliance hopes to clinch a majority of the 48 seats up for grabs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Kejriwal claims that Modi is 'losing the election'. 'Should he win by any chance; he would have stolen a leaf from president Vladmir Putin, who has jailed his opponents to win with a huge margin.'

Kejriwal alleged that Russian president Vladimir Putin had 'locked up' various political opponents and killed others to score high at the hustings.

He termed the incarcerated founder-chairman of the PTI, Imran Khan as 'the tallest leader of Pakistan' and said he too, was jailed by his opponents to contrive his defeat.

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was similarly accused by Kejriwal of jailing political opponents to 'steal the election'.

'If he wins, Modi will definitely jail Udhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawaramong, among others' he stated, whilst pointing to the opposition 'INDIA' alliance hosts, present at the meeting.

Kejriwal secured bail after the Supreme Court intervened to give him '21 days of freedom'. This permits him to canvass support for his AAP party and allies, before returning to jail on the 2 of June.

'I have to return to jail before the votes are counted' he had said earlier, at an AAP meeting held in Delhi. 'If we win, I'll be out on June 5, otherwise I am going to be in prison for a long term.'

Kejriwal and the deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, are among the senior leaders jailed on alleged charges of 'corruption' under a 'draconian money-laundering law'.

'The dictatorship that is going on in our country is not acceptable. India has never seen such a period in the past 75 years, putting opposition leaders in jail' Kejriwal stated in Punjab.

He added that the Modi-led government was 'harassing' leaders of the Indian National Congress, Mamata Banerjee's 'TMC Party' and Tamil Nadu chief minister, MK Stalin's 'DMK', who are amongst the BJP's main political opponents.

'Put everyone in jail. Then only one party and one leader will remain but democracy will not survive. We do not have to let this happen' said Kejriwal.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court gave Kejriwal a 21-day respite from jail via interim bail.

The remarks come a day after the Delhi police registered an FIR against Kejriwal's secretary, Bibhav Kumar, for 'allegedly assaulting' an AAP woman MP, Swati Maliwal.

Maliwal has accused Kumar of slapping and punching her in Kejriwal's drawing room. She claims Kejriwal was inside the house when the alleged incident took place.

On Thursday, during a joint INDIA bloc press conference, Kejriwal appeared to be deflecting journalists' questions regarding Swati Maliwal. However, AAP leader Atishi, while commenting on the Maliwal assault case on Friday, said that the incident is a 'conspiracy by the BJP' to frame Kejriwal.

Atishi, in a press conference in the Indian capital New Delhi, said that Maliwal — a party MP in the Rajya Sabha — reached Kejriwal's residence without a prior appointment. 'Her (Maliwal) intention was to level allegations against Arvind Kejriwal,' Atishi stated.

Swati Maliwal insisted on meeting Kejriwal, but his aide Bibhav Kumar informed her that the CM is busy; she then shouted and tried to barge in, the Delhi State Minister said.

'The whole incident proves that it was a BJP conspiracy and Swati Maliwal was made its face to frame Kejriwal' she alleged. Dismissing Maliwal's claims that she was brutally assaulted, Atishi noted that a video surfaced on May 17, depicting an 'entirely different reality'.

In Rae Bareli, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi braved the heat to address a massive rally staged jointly by the Congress and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.

She said she had given Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi the same values that she inherited from her mother-in-law the late prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

'Think always for the upliftment of the poor, and never be deterred or frightened by anything that comes in your way to do the people's bidding.' The crowd subsequently roared in approval.

Rahul Gandhi is a candidate from Rae Bareli, where Indira Gandhi too, had contested elections. It was originally her husband Feroze Gandhi's constituency.

Rahul also addressed a big meeting in neighbouring Amethi (his old constituency), from where he is fielding an old family loyalist, Kishori Lal Sharma. Sharma is up against the BJP's Smriti Irani.​

 

[Saif]

Monks, Muslims vote to demand rights for India’s Ladakh

Buddhist monks and Muslims in the Indian Himalayan territory of Ladakh turned out to vote on Monday, demanding statehood and that their local culture be protected in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation...

www.newagebd.net

Monks, Muslims vote to demand rights for India's Ladakh
Agence France-Presse . Leh, India 20 May, 2024, 23:28

Buddhist monks and Muslims in the Indian Himalayan territory of Ladakh turned out to vote Monday. | — AFP photo

Buddhist monks and Muslims in the Indian Himalayan territory of Ladakh turned out to vote on Monday, demanding statehood and that their local culture be protected in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation.

Almost half the people in the sparsely populated, cold desert region bordering China and Pakistan are Muslim, with around 40 per cent Buddhist, putting it among the least Hindu places in the country.

Ladakhis' demands have so far gone unfulfilled by the government of Hindu nationalist Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, primed to win another stint in power.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[TheNewb77]

Buddhist monks and Muslims in the Indian Himalayan territory of Ladakh turned out to vote on Monday, demanding statehood and that their local culture be protected in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation.

Interesting place where Buddhists and Muslims, 90% of the population, live side-by-side. In Sri Lanka and Myanmar there are often skirmishes and small scale genocides that take place.

 

[Saif]

Interesting place where Buddhists and Muslims, 90% of the population, live side-by-side. In Sri Lanka and Myanmar there are often skirmishes and small scale genocides that take place.

I am waiting for the day when the percentage of Muslim in Assam becomes more than 50% of the total population. Bangladesh has to use the Hindu Muslim divide in Assam to create anarchy with a view to annex it. Bangladesh, Pakistan and China need to work together to disintegrate India to establish peace in the region.

 

[Suresh Naresh]

A Picture Symbolizing Indian 2024 General Elections

 

[Saif]

Modi falls short of landslide in India polls, celebrates victory

India’s Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi claimed election victory for his party and its allies on Tuesday, but the opposition said they had...

www.newagebd.net

Modi falls short of landslide in India polls, celebrates victory
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi, India 04 June, 2024, 16:54

Supporters of Narendra Modi, India's prime minister and leader of Bharatiya Janata Party celebrate vote counting results for India's general election, at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. | AFP photo.

India's Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi claimed election victory for his party and its allies on Tuesday, but the opposition said they had 'punished' the ruling party to confound predictions and reduce their parliamentary majority.

Commentators and exit polls had projected an overwhelming victory for Modi, whose campaign wooed the Hindu majority to the worry of the country's 200-million-plus Muslim community, deepening concerns over minority rights.

But for the first time in a decade Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party failed to secure an overall majority of its own, figures from the election commission showed, meaning it would need to rely on its alliance partners.

India has placed its faith in the ruling coalition 'for a third consecutive time', Modi wrote on social media platform X, referring to the BJP and its allies.

'We will continue the good work done in the last decade to keep fulfilling the aspirations of people.'

The main opposition Congress party was set to nearly double its parliamentary seats, in a remarkable turnaround largely driven by deals to field single candidates against the BJP's electoral juggernaut.

'Voters have punished the BJP,' Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told reporters. 'I was confident that the people of this country would give the right response.'

With nearly 99 per cent of votes counted, the BJP's vote share at 36.7 per cent was marginally lower than it was in the last polls in 2019.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​

 

[Saif]

Ridiculed for half a decade, Rahul slows Modi juggernaut

As the Indian parliamentary election results neared completion on Tuesday, supporters at the Congress party’s national headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in the heart of Delhi broke into celebrations.

www.thedailystar.net

Ridiculed for half a decade, Rahul slows Modi juggernaut

As the Indian parliamentary election results neared completion on Tuesday, supporters at the Congress party's national headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in the heart of Delhi broke into celebrations.

The happiest man was Rahul Gandhi as Congress, powered by his campaign, won 99 seats on its own recording its best performance in national elections since 2004.

Often derided as "pappu" and dismissed as a serial 're-inventor' constantly looking for an identity, Rahul perhaps thought he had had the last laugh in this Lok Sabha election. Congress' tally of seats is not only a quantum jump from the worst show of 52 seats five years ago but more importantly prevented BJP from getting a majority on its own. This is the first time that BJP under Modi failed to get to the magic figure of 272 in the 543-Lok Sabha.

Rahul carried out a 'padyatra' from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 2022-23 and a "Nyay Yatra' this year from Manipur to Mumbai in the run up to the parliamentary elections setting the narrative for Congress and staying the course and refusing to be distracted by setbacks.

To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.​