Rajnath Singh formally elected BJP president
by Ashok Sah

    New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formally elected Rajnath Singh as its new president at its national council meeting on Friday. Delivering his maiden presidential address to party members, Singh placed emphasis on the party's stance on old issues like the abolition of Article 370, imposition of Common Civil Code and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. "We have ruled the country for six years following the principles of justice and humanity," Singh said. "We back Hindutva, which does not preach discrimination; rather it stops breeding of differences and discrimination," Singh said while readvocating the BJP's Hindutva agenda. Praising the excellent performance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said that India's GDP (10.1 percent) was the highest in the world during the last quarter of 2003. He also made a daring attack on the UPA government for its "appeasement policy, politicisation of education, anti-farmer, anti-poor policies, erosion of constitutional bodies and defence of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi," among other issues.

    Earlier in the day, Singh's predecessor L K Advani proposed his name which was seconded by the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and was unanimously endorsed by over 1500 delegates attending the BJP National Council meeting, which was specially called to ratify the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's appointment as party chief on January 2. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior party leaders were present on the occasion. Meanwhile, party sources have indicated that Singh is likely to name his team of office-bearers and national executive members on Saturday. However, the list of BJP general secretaries is yet to be finalised.

Monks oppose demolition of Mahaparinirvan complex (Go To Top)

    Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh): The Uttar Pradesh Government's decision to demolish illegal structures at the temple, dedicated to Lord Buddha here has invited the wrath of Buddhist monks. They are now all set to protest against the decision. The decision to demolish the three structures- a charitable rest house, a clinic and a temple- within the compound of the Mahaparinirvan Temple comes in the wake of a recent court order ordering the demolitions. The Mahaparinirvan Temple has been constructed with the help of funds provided by the Government of Myanmar. The court took the decision to demolish the illegal structures after a public interest litigation was filed in this regard. "They cannot break it at least before we die. This controversy is bound to spread to the entire world. We have already sent communications to several embassies and Buddhists organizations across the world. We are not scared, but if they will try and do something wrong then it can only happen over our dead bodies," said Bhikshu Gyaneshwar, the secretary of the Temple.

   Earlier, the temple authorities were given time till December 25 last year to demolish the structures, failing which the administration would step in. But the court stayed the order after several Buddhists applied for reconsideration. An administrative committee is currently looking into the matter. The administration, meanwhile, says the monks are not following the rules. They also say that these structures are not a part of the original design approved by district officials, and constructions took place after 1990. According to a 1992 ruling by the Archaeological Survey of India, the prime body that manages archaeological sites in India, no construction can take place within 100 meters of a protected monument. The Kushinagar Monastery has violated the ASI Act on three counts. "Structures can be constructed within 100 meters of the Mahaparinirvan Mandir (main temple). These constructions have been found to be within the 100 meters area. For example, the small Buddha temple has been found to be inside and it goes against the map of the premises. That is illegal. The two-room clinic has also been found illegal. A rest house next to the boundary wall is also illegal. So in all, three of their structures have been found to be illegal," D. S. Upadhyaya, Sub- divisional Magistrate of Kushinagar, said. Officials say the new structures do not conform to the conditions laid down by the Archaeological Survey of India. Several countries have contributed to construction of temples and meditation sites at Kushinagar, and the Burmese temple is one such among them. Kushinagar is believed to be the place where Gautam Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana, or the release from the endless cycle of birth and rebirth, more than 25 centuries ago.

Over 8000 overseas Indians apply for OCI cards (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: More than 8000 Overseas Indians have applied for Dual Citizenship under Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card Scheme announced recently by the Government. Out of these, the first batch of 374 OCI certificates and Visa stickers has already been dispatched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) through the respective Indian Missions. Another batch of 1000 OCI certificates and Visa stickers is likely to be issued by the next week, and others are under process, an official release here said.

    Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had formally handed over the first two OCI certificates and Visa stickers to Nivruti Rai and Iftekhar Ahmed Shareef on January 7 at the 4th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held at Hyderabad recently. The facility of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), which is operational from December 2 last year, provides for a certificate of registration and a sticker on the passport granting a multiple-entry multi-purpose life-long visa with no requirement of prior registration with the local police, to Overseas Indians. Persons of Indian origin, who have migrated from India and acquired citizenship of a foreign country other than Pakistan and Bangladesh, are eligible for grant of OCI as long as their home countries allow dual citizenship in some form or the other under their local laws. However, the persons registered as OCI have not been given any voting rights. A person registered as OCI can also apply for grant of Indian citizenship under section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 if he/she is registered as OCI for five years and has been residing in India for one year out of the five years before making the application.

Lok Sabha Speaker not to reply to Supreme Court (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Speaker of the Lower House of the Parliament, Somnath Chatterjee, has decided not to reply to the notice served on him by the Supreme Court in connection with the expulsion of 10 Members of Parliament who were caught taking bribes on television during a sting operation last month. The all-party meeting, convened by Chatterjee in this regard, near unanimously backed the stand. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was of the view that while Chatterjee should not appear in person, he can send his representative to put across his views in the court. Leaders of almost all major parties attended the meeting.

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