Tag: Kerala

BJP awaits PM’s visit to Kerala for major fillip in its outreach to minorities

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Kottayam: The BJP in Kerala is looking forward to the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state next week in hopes that it would give an impetus to its campaign aimed at bringing minorities into its fold.
The reason behind the expectation, according to BJP state president K Surendran, is the “flow” of people, especially from minority communities, to join the party.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Surendran said the BJP will begin a massive campaign to bring religious minorities into its embrace with Modi’s visit.

He said the Prime Minister’s trip to Kerala would be a turning point for the party as even before his arrival, people have started flocking to join it.
The BJP leader said around 80 persons from prominent families belonging to minority communities joined the BJP in Kottayam district today.
More are expected to join the saffron party from Pathanamthitta district in the coming days, he added.
“Kottayam was the beginning. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kerala, there will be a huge influx to the BJP from the religious minorities,” he said at the reception held here for the new members who joined the party.
He also said the party has prepared a list of persons whom it wants to invite as members and these are people who are concerned about Kerala’s future.

Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs John Barla met Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at his residence.
After the meeting, Barla said in a Facebook post that it was “positive interaction”, where many national issues related to the Christian community were discussed along with the mission and vision of PM Modi.
During the day, he also met with Archbishop Kuriakose Mar Severios at the Knanaya Jacobite Archdiocese at Chingavanam and visited the St Kuriakos Elias Chavara pilgrim centre at Mannanam here.
Meanwhile, Surendran also said rubber rates will see some changes soon.
Recently, a senior Bishop — Thalassery Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany — of the influential Syro-Malabar Catholic Church had said that if the Centre promised to increase the price of rubber procurement to Rs 300 per kilogram, BJP’s dearth of an MP from the southern state would be addressed.
His statement had created ripples in the political waters of the state.
On Tuesday, Surendran said the central government will take a stand favourable for rubber farmers and alleged that it was the state government which was lying to them.
He urged the ruling Left front to implement what it had said in the poll manifesto regarding rubber pricing and to indicate its stand on the issue of hiking the rubber price to Rs 300 per kg.
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#BJP #awaits #PMs #visit #Kerala #major #fillip #outreach #minorities
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 19, 2023
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan visits RSS headquarters

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Nagpur: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday visited the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) here.
Khan arrived in Nagpur on Monday to attend a programme organised by `Dainik Bhaskar’.
A release from the RSS said that on Tuesday morning Governor Khan visited the organization’s headquarters in Mahal area where he was welcomed by senior Sangh functionaries Rambhau Bondale and Shridharrao Gadge.

Khan also visited a museum on the premises.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is not in the city at present.
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#Kerala #Governor #Arif #Mohammed #Khan #visits #RSS #headquarters

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 19, 2023
Kerala to consider Stalin’s proposal on time limit for Governor’s assent to Bills

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Thiruvananthapuram: Joint action against Governors’ moves that curtail State governments’ functioning and threaten federal principles is imperative, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
Vijayan said his government will consider with “utmost seriousness” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s proposal for States to pass Assembly resolutions seeking time frame for Governor to clear State Bills.
Responding to a letter written by Stalin, who had proposed to pass a resolution in the Kerala Assembly similar to that passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislature to fix the time limit for Governors to approve the bills, Vijayan said as defenders of the federal spirit of our Constitution, “we have to cooperate in every effort to prevent the curtailing of the functioning of elected state governments.”

“Even though the time period for giving assent to the bills is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it has to be a reasonable one,” he said.
A week after the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a resolution in this regard, Vijayan said going by the experience of many States, the Justice M N Venkatachaliah Commission to review the working of the Constitution and the Justice M M Punchi Commission on Union-State Relations has recommended mentioning a time limit, within which the Governor has to take a decision on giving assent to bills, in Article 200.
“In this matter, we are ready to extend wholehearted cooperation to you and will consider the proposal in your letter with utmost seriousness,” the Kerala Chief Minister said in the letter, offering full support to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for future actions.
In his April 11 letter to Vijayan, Stalin explained the circumstances that forced the Tamil Nadu Assembly to pass a resolution to fix a time limit for the Governors to approve bills passed by the respective legislatures and requested the Kerala CM to extend his support in this regard to uphold the sovereignty and self-respect of the State governments and the legislatures by passing a similar resolution in the Kerala Assembly.
Fully appreciating the views expressed by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in the letter, Vijayan said they were in consonance with “the stand taken by us” in Kerala.

“As you have rightly stated, presently elected governments in many states are facing this issue. In Kerala too, certain bills passed by the State Assembly after due deliberation have been kept pending by the Governor for an unduly long time, some for more than a year. This despite the fact that the ministers and officials have personally visited and given the clarifications sought by the Governor,” he said.
The Kerala Chief Minister said putting a halt, that too for an inordinately long time, to the legislative measures passed by the State Assemblies which represent the will of the electorate tantamounts to nothing short of negation of democratic rights of the people.
Vijayan alleged that the time-tested convention of parliamentary democracy that the Governor has to act in accordance with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers is being violated through the act of holding back assent to the bills passed by the legislature.
He said the Constitutional discretion of the Governor operates in narrow confines of the Articles, where there is explicit mention of the word discretion and in extreme situation of invoking Article 356, which was expected to remain a dead letter, as agreed to by the eminent Constitution maker Dr B R Ambedkar in Constituent Assembly Debates.
“Article 356, instead of remaining a dead letter has been put to oft-repeated use (many times misuse) to oust State governments enjoying majority support in the Assemblies. The examples are the dismissal of the Communist government headed by Shri E M S Namboodiripad in Kerala in 1959 and the DMK Government headed by Thiru M Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu in 1976 and 1991”, Vijayan said.
Later, in a tweet, Vijayan said, “Joint action against Governors’ moves that curtail State Govts’ functioning and threaten our federal principles is imperative. Thiru @mkstalin’s proposal for coordinated efforts in this regard is highly appreciated.”
Stalin thanked Vijayan for his prompt response to his letter.
“Thank you Hon @PinarayiVijayan for your prompt response to my letter & extending full support. TN & Kerala have traditionally stood as a bulwark against any attempt to erode state autonomy. We will win in our crusade against the gubernatorial overreach too,” the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister tweeted.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on April 10 adopted a resolution urging the Centre and President to fix a timeframe for State Governors to approve Bills adopted by the House, indicating increasing dissension between the DMK government and Governor R N Ravi.
Chief Minister Stalin who piloted the resolution fired sharp barbs at Ravi accusing him of being more faithful to the BJP leadership than the Constitution of India.
“I will not say that the Governor doesn’t know the Constitution. But, his political allegiance has swallowed his loyalty to the Constitution,” Stalin had said and cautioned that he would not remain idle if the Governor continued to target his government for political reasons.
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#Kerala #Stalins #proposal #time #limit #Governors #assent #Bills
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 18, 2023
Teary eyed final goodbye to Kerala couple who died in fire at Dubai

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Kochi: On Monday, all roads led to the uncompleted house at Vengara in Malappuram of a couple who died in a massive fire that broke out in a residential building in Dubai killing 16 people, on Saturday.
When the fire broke out the couple was busy preparing a feast for their friends who were observing the Ramzan fast.
Their bodies arrived here in the wee hours of Monday and were brought to their soon to be completed house at Vengara, which they were getting ready to live in from June.

Rijesh Kalangadan, 38 was working in a travel agency in Dubai, while his wife Jeshi Kandamangalath, 32 was a teacher at a local school in Dubai.
Since morning hundreds of local residents filed past the bodies with tears in their eyes.
“Rijesh was a great soul and was at the forefront of helping people here whenever anyone needed help. He was a very nice human being and we are all heartbroken and have nothing more to say,” said a close friend of Rijesh.
Sixteen people were killed and nine injured in the blaze in the Al Ras area, which Dubai Civil Defence attributed to a lack of compliance with building security and safety requirements.
The fire broke out on the fourth floor of the building on Saturday at 12.35 p.m. and soon spread to other areas.

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#Teary #eyed #final #goodbye #Kerala #couple #died #fire #Dubai
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 17, 2023
Kerala train fire: Accused highly radicalised person, alleges SIT

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Kozhikode: The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has been probing the train arson incident of Kerala that resulted in the loss of three lives, on Monday said the accused is a “highly radicalised” person who reached the state to commit the crime in a pre-planned manner.
ADGP (Law and Order), M R Ajith Kumar, who heads the SIT, said the accused Shahrukh Saifi used to watch radicalised videos of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and said provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, have been invoked against him based on the scientific evidence collected.
The investigation team has invoked Section 16 of the UAPA which deals with punishment for terrorist acts.

“We went to various states and based on scientific, documentary and oral evidence collected, conducted a comprehensive probe and decided to invoke the concerned provisions of UAPA. He is highly radicalised. He saw radicalised videos of Zakeer Naik and others. He came here in a pre-planned manner to commit the crime,” Kumar told the media here.
The senior police official said the accused is 27 years old and has completed plus two education from National Open School.
He said the investigation team has found evidence in connection with the accused and the crime he committed and was probing whether he received any help from anyone else.
The investigating team, which has been granted custody of Shahrukh Saifi, had on April 12 taken him to Kannur for collecting evidence from the two train coaches of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train in which he had set fire to some passengers leading to the death of three persons, including a two-year-old child.
Saifi’s police custody is set to expire on April 18.

A Kozhikode First Class Judicial Magistrate had granted 11-day custody of Saifi to police after he was discharged from the hospital upon undergoing treatment for the injuries he suffered during an attempt to escape from the moving train.
Saifi has also confessed to the crime committed by him, according to the police.
On the night of April 2, Saifi had set his co-passengers on fire onboard the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train when it reached the Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode.
Nine people had suffered burn injuries in the incident while three, including a toddler, were found dead on the tracks. Police suspect that they fell while trying to escape from the fire.
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#Kerala #train #fire #Accused #highly #radicalised #person #alleges #SIT
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 17, 2023
Kerala police to invoke UAPA on main accused in train arson case

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Kozhikode: Kerala police has decided to invoke provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the main accused in the train arson incident that resulted in the loss of three lives.
A senior police official, who is a part of the special investigation team (SIT), told PTI on Sunday that UAPA provisions will be slapped on the accused in the matter and further details will be revealed in the coming days.
The investigating team, which has been granted custody of Shahrukh Saifi, had on April 12 taken him to Kannur for collecting evidence from the two train coaches of the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train in which he had set fire to some passengers leading to the death of three persons, including a two-year old child.

Saifi’s police custody is set to expire on April 18.
A Kozhikode First Class Judicial Magistrate had granted 11-day custody of Saifi to police after he was discharged from hospital upon undergoing treatment for the injuries he suffered during an attempt to escape from the moving train.
Saifi has also confessed to the crime committed by him, according to the police.
On the night of April 2, Saifi had set his co-passengers on fire onboard the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express train when it reached Korapuzha bridge near Elathur in Kozhikode.
Nine people had suffered burn injuries in the incident while three, including a toddler, were found dead on the tracks. Police suspect that they fell while trying to escape from the fire.
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#Kerala #police #invoke #UAPA #main #accused #train #arson #case
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 17, 2023
Kerala to get Vande Bharat Express, BJP starts celebrations

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala, which had witnessed intense protests due to which the state government had to shelve its proposed flagship Silver Line semi-high-speed rail corridor project, will get a new Vande Bharat Express train from the Centre soon.
Though an official announcement is yet to come, the state BJP leadership confirmed on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would make the big announcement on his arrival in the state later this month.
They described it as a “Vishu kaineettam” to the people of the state from the Centre and the Prime Minister. According to tradition, elders of the family give gifts, especially money, to members of the house as “kaineettam” on the day of the harvest festival “Vishu”, which falls on Saturday, April 15, this year.

The unexpected arrival of rakes of the semi-high speed train in Palakkad this morning from Chennai evoked a great response among local people, who thronged the station along with BJP workers to get a glimpse of it and accord it a grand reception.
Railway officials of the train were garlanded, and sweets were distributed among them by saffron party activists celebrating the occasion.
“I am so glad to see that the coaches of an express train like Vande Bharat are arriving in my state. I am in my late 70s, and I am so happy to know that I can travel in an express train in Kerala soon,” an elated elderly man told reporters at Palakkad railway station.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan and state BJP president K Surendran said the new Vande Bharat Express was a “Vishu Kaineettam” by PM Modi to the people of the state.
In a Facebook post, Surendran also criticised their political opponents. “Those who have been making fun of (us) over Vande Bharat are now lamenting that they have not been informed about its arrival,” he said.

He also said it was “childish” to allege that the prestigious train was being introduced in the state only in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Sharing the same sentiments, Muraleedharan said the Prime Minister had now given an answer to those who raised doubts over the introduction of the Vande Bharat Express in Kerala, and thanked Modi and the railway minister for allotting it to the southern state.
He told reporters here that the semi-high-speed train would accelerate the development of Kerala.
Taking a dig at the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state government here over its shelved Silver Line project, he said the Centre does not bring development by evicting tens of thousands of people.
“The state government is trying to implement the Silver Line by evicting thousands of people. But, the Centre is bringing Vande Bharat for the smooth journey of everyone without causing any difficulty to anyone,” he said.
He also rejected the charges of a political agenda behind the allotment and said the PM had made such announcements ahead of his visits before as well.
CPI(M) Lok Sabha member A M Ariff and UDF MP N K Premachandran welcomed the unexpected allotment of the Vande Bharat Express to Kerala but opined that it could not be seen as a special consideration shown by the Modi government to the southern state.
Ariff said the traffic issues in Kerala could not be resolved by the arrival of a single train.
Rejecting BJP leaders’ claims that the train was PM’s gift to the people of the state, Premachandran said there was no need to attribute any politics to it and that Kerala had been allotted the new train just as many other states have.
V Abdurahiman, the minister in charge of railway affairs in the state, said he would respond only if the state government received an official confirmation in this regard.
The arrival of Vande Bharat is likely to be a hot political topic during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the state, as the BJP leaders and workers are claiming that the train was allotted to the state thanks to the PM’s care for Keralites.
BJP leaders are calling the Vande Bharat train the answer to the state government’s charges that the Centre was creating hurdles in the development path of Kerala by denying permission to its ambitious Silver Line project, which it was forced to shelve due to intense protests by local people.
The Silver Line project was envisaged to cover a 530-kilometre stretch from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod and was to be developed by K-Rail, a joint venture of the Kerala government and the Ministry of Railways.
It was planned that the semi-high-speed rail line would have 11 stations and be built at an estimated cost of around Rs 64,000 crore.
Also known as K-Rail, the mammoth project was opposed by parties, including the Congress and the BJP, as well as by the local people in some parts of the State.
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#Kerala #Vande #Bharat #Express #BJP #starts #celebrations
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 14, 2023
Kerala: Hindu temples hold mass iftars during Ramzan

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Two temple committees in Malappuram organised a huge Iftar for Muslims during the holy month of Ramzan, serving as an example of interfaith peace.
On April 7 and March 28, respectively, committees of the Sree Puthuveppu Manaliyarkavu Bhagavathi temple in Othalur and the Chathangadu Sree Maha Vishnu temple in Vaniyannur in Tirur staged the mass Iftar on the premises of the respective temple grounds.
According to a report by the TNIE, Muslims in large numbers participated in both gatherings.

“It was an initiative taken by a group of youngsters in the area. Our aim is to strengthen the bond between people from the Hindu and Muslim communities. Religious harmony is important and we want to celebrate every festival together in a peaceful and jovial atmosphere,” the report quoted Krishnan Pavittapuram, secretary of the Sree Puthuveppu Manaliyarkavu Bhagavathi temple.
Dijith K, one of the event’s organisers, said that a member of the Muslim community sponsored the annadanam during the temple’s annual installation celebration, which this year coincided with Ramadan. “We will continue to organise the mass Iftar in the coming years,” Dijith said.
For Chathangadu Sree Maha Vishnu Temple, this is the second iftar.
“Like the previous year, people from the Muslim community could not attend the annadanam this year as our annual installation festival fell during the Ramzan month. So, we organised the mass Iftar a day after the annual festival. We will organise it next year if the date of the annual installation festival falls during Ramzan month,” said Lakshmanan K K, temple committee secretary.
Panakkad Rasheed Ali Shihab Thangal, an IUML leader who attended the Vaniyannur Iftar, praised the temple’s decision.

“The temple has set a model for others to follow. All communities should live in harmony in the country. We should move forward while respecting and helping each other. There should be no space for hatred in our hearts,” he said.
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#Kerala #Hindu #temples #hold #mass #iftars #Ramzan
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 14, 2023
After ‘Sneha Yatra’ on Easter, Kerala BJP workers to meet Muslims on Eid

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Thiruvananthapuram: BJP workers in Kerala will visit the residences of Muslim community members in the state to exchange greetings on the occasion of Eid next week, a party source said on Wednesday.
The party had last Sunday conducted “Sneha Yatra”, reaching out to Christians on the occasion of Easter.
The decision to reach out to Muslims on the occasion of Eid was taken at the BJP’s state core committee meeting held in Kochi on Wednesday, the source said here.

At the meeting, the BJP’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar congratulated the party’s state unit for reaching out to Christians to greet them on Easter.
He informed the meeting that Narendra Modi strongly believes that Indians are beyond caste, religion, and regional thinking, and directed them to work hard to realise the prime minister’s idea of uniting everyone, the source told PTI.
At the meeting, Javadekar directed the BJP workers to celebrate the “Vishu” with everyone on Saturday and also visit Muslim houses to exchange greetings on Eid next week, the source said.
The source also said that the prime minister’s visit to a Church in New Delhi on the occasion of Easter has helped “demolish the propaganda” by the Congress and the Left parties that the BJP was against the minorities.

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#Sneha #Yatra #Easter #Kerala #BJP #workers #meet #Muslims #Eid
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 13, 2023
Kerala: RSS worker loses palms while making bomb

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A 20-year-old RSS worker suffered severe burn injuries while making a bomb near Eranjolipalam in Kerala‘s Kannur district on Tuesday night.
Vishnu lost both his palms in the incident. According to locals, they heard an explosion near the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker’s house while making a bomb.
Vishnu was rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for urgent medical attention. Police are investigating the matter.

This is the second incident in April. Earlier this month, Santosh, a BJP worker in the Kakkayangad area of Kannur district was injured while making explosives. His wife Lasitha was also injured.
Luckily Santosh’s children and mother were unharmed as they were in another room when the blast took place. A case was registered against the BJP worker.
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#Kerala #RSS #worker #loses #palms #making #bomb

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 12, 2023