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Tag: referendum

  • AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel seeks referendum on Aurangabad renaming

    AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel seeks referendum on Aurangabad renaming

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    Aurangabad: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP Imtiaz Jaleel has demanded a referendum on the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government’s move to rename Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, as he said that only people can take a decision on the name change and not any leader sitting in Delhi or Mumbai.

    The Union government last month approved the renaming of Aurangabad city as ‘Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar’ and that of Osmanabad city as ‘Dharashiv’. Aurangabad derives its name from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, while Osmanabad was named for a 20th century ruler of the princely state of Hyderabad.

    AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel, who represents the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, on Thursday night led a candle march from the district collector office to Jubilee Park here against the decision to rename the city.

    Addressing the participants, Jaleel said, “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena were in power during 2014-2019. That time they did not rename the city, but when his government was about to go, Uddhav Thackeray remembered that the dream of his late father (Bal Thackeray) has to be fulfilled.”

    Renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv was the last cabinet decision of the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress government that collapsed in June last year following Shinde’s rebellion against Thackeray.

    The new government headed by Shinde scrapped the Thackeray-led cabinet decision and took a fresh decision to rename Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. That decision was taken by the two-member cabinet of CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.

    Jaleel said, “Only the CM and the Deputy CM took the decision of changing the name of Aurangabad city.”

    “No leader sitting in Mumbai, Delhi…no matter how big they are, can decide about renaming any city in the country. The decision should be through a public poll. A referendum should be held on this,” the AIMIM’s Maharashtra unit chief said.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Oklahoma weed legalization referendum defeated

    Oklahoma weed legalization referendum defeated

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    oklahoma question marijuana 67030

    But many marijuana legalization advocates fear that the outcome will embolden state lawmakers who have long been wary of the freewheeling medical program to step up their efforts to put stricter limits on the marketplace.

    “The anti-revolutionary forces want to return Oklahoma to their dream of this bygone era,” said Lawrence Pasternack, a legalization advocate who’s written extensively about the state’s weed experiment. “They see marijuana as anathema to that dream.”

    The rejection of the Oklahoma referendum marks the latest ballot failure for legalization advocates in recent months. Voters in Arkansas, South Dakota and North Dakota defeated legalization referendums in November, while voters in Maryland and Missouri approved adult-use legalization petitions.

    Oklahoma voters backed medical marijuana legalization by a double-digit margin in 2018, despite overwhelming opposition from elected officials, health care groups and business interests.

    The medical program doesn’t require a pre-existing condition to qualify, so pretty much anyone can get a medical card. There were also initially no limits on business licenses, and they cost just $2,500. But last year lawmakers implemented a two-year moratorium on new licenses that took effect in August.

    Legalization supporters touted the potential economic benefits of full legalization, particularly the tax windfall that would come from out-of-state shoppers from Texas and other neighboring states.

    They emphasized that passage of the referendum would allow people with cannabis-related criminal convictions to have their records expunged, as well as enable people serving time for those charges to petition to have their sentences reduced or scrapped.

    But the referendum’s backers faced serious headwinds from a constant stream of law enforcement raids on illegal grows over the last two years. In addition, there were some headline-grabbing crimes associated with weed farms, most notably the quadruple murder of four Chinese nationals in November.

    An opposition campaign chaired by former Republican Gov. Frank Keating relied heavily on law-enforcement officials to make the case that recreational legalization would open up the state up to even more criminal behavior and endanger kids.

    There are now 37 states with comprehensive medical programs, while 21 states allow anyone at least 21 years old to legally possess weed.

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    #Oklahoma #weed #legalization #referendum #defeated
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )