Uri attack probe: Terrorists locked soldiers in cook house, store

The two buildings, sources said, had been bolted from outside to prevent those inside from escaping before being set on fire, suggesting that the terrorists had a high degree of knowledge about their targets.

Soldiers guard outside the army base which was attacked suspected militants in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. PTI photo

Officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing Sunday’s terror attack on the Army camp in Uri which left 18 soldiers dead, believe that the terrorists spent at least a day in the mountains above the brigade headquarters complex, observing their target. The bulk of the fatalities, NIA sources told The Indian Express, took place in a cook-house and store room which burned down during the attack. The two buildings, sources said, had been bolted from outside to prevent those inside from escaping before being set on fire, suggesting that the terrorists had a high degree of knowledge about their targets.

Uri Terrror Attack: What Are PM Modi's 5 Options

 

Launching their attack from the western side of the complex, the four-man assault team first shot a sentry, before three headed towards tents where the soldiers were billeted, and the two buildings. The fourth terrorist moved towards the officers’ mess.Investigation sources said their hopes of proving that the terrorists began their journey in Pakistan now rest on retrieving data from a damaged Global Positioning System (GPS) set recovered from the attack site.National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) engineers have been tasked with attempting to recover data from the Garmin eTrex GPS set, one of two which the terrorists are believed to have used to guide them along their hike, cutting across the Haji Pir pass before reaching Uri.The second GPS set, Army sources said, was too badly damaged during the fighting for data to be recovered.Sources said the NIA had also taken DNA samples and fingerprints of the four terrorists before their bodies were buried Monday. “These will be preserved as evidence, and can be used to determine matches in future if necessary,” sources said.NIA chief Sharad Kumar reached the attack site Tuesday and was briefed on the manner in which the attack was carried out and the evidence recovered from the site so far.But until now, little hard evidence has emerged to link the perpetrators of the terror attack in Uri to specific jihadist groups in Pakistan, NIA officials said.Four Kalashnikov rifles used by the terrorists, and handed over by the military to investigators Monday, bore no markings or insignia of any kind, sources familiar with the ongoing investigation said. There were also no military markings on barrel-fired grenades destroyed by the Army Monday, or on launchers fitted on the Kalashnikovs.Lt General Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operations, had told reporters Sunday that the weapons had Pakistan markings. NIA officials, however, underlined that syringes, painkillers, other medications and packets of ready-to-eat food carried by the terrorists bore the markings of several Pakistani manufacturers, linking the perpetrators to that country.“All groups infiltrating from Pakistan carry this kind of kit,” an NIA official said, “so it doesn’t tell us anything very specific.”The ICom-manufactured handset used by the terrorists, intelligence sources said, matched a device recovered from Bahadur Ali, a Pakistani national arrested in July. The device was used to communicate with the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s main control station, code-named Alpha3.An NIA official said the fact that the Uri attackers used a similar set was not, in itself, conclusive evidence that the Lashkar carried out the strike. “ICom is a well-known manufacturer of high-trade tactical wireless equipment,” he said, “and its products are widely used, even by law enforcement.”The NIA, the official said, would be seeking details from ICom on the set that was sold.

ICC can’t run world without India, says BCCI president Anurag Thakur

BCCI chief Anurag Thakur took potshots at ICC’s chief Shashank Manohar even as he unveils bid process for IPL broadcast rights.

BCCI President Anurag Thakur (L) with CEO of BCCI Rahul Johri at the announcement of IPL tender rights. (Source: PTI)
The media session with the BCCI president Anurag Thakur and CEO Rahul Johri was unusually lengthy, lasting nearly 40 minutes including a neat power-point presentation of the new bidding process by Johri. Theoretically, the interaction intended to brief the new bidding procedure for the IPL broadcast and digital rights, but in essence, it turned out to be another dais for Thakur to defend and justify the recent spate of outbursts at the ICC, and specifically its chairman Shashank Manohar.
Going by the recent tirades between them, it was hardly unanticipated that Manohar’s name would pop up some time in the briefing. For the record, not once did Thakur address Manohar by his name, but the latter’s shadow lurked around uneasily in the room and several of his answers and observations were clearly directed at him. It seemed Thakur was comfortable speaking on the perceptible BCCI-ICC stand-off rather than explaining the mundane intricacies of the bidding process, which was mostly left to Johri. The ICC topic, in fact, seemed to banish all the jet lag he had accumulated in the 16-hour flight from Washington, where he was part of a delegation of Indian MPs who had gone to meet their American counterparts.
For the first time in the session, he broke into peels of laughter when someone asked him whether he wanted to helm the ICC. “I have no interest. Jisko ICC jana tha woh bahut pehli hi gaye,” he said, grinning, and not making any effort to hold back the sarcasm. The entire room echoed with laughter, before he repeated that oft-repeated line. “I’m more than happy serving Indian cricket. For me, serving the nation and Indian cricket comes first and foremost.”
The patriotic fervour was soon replaced by proud brag about the indispensability of Indian cricket, laced with another irresistible snide at Manohar. “You say you have no time to look after Indian cricket, because you want to look after the world, but if you don’t think about your country, how can you think about the world? (In cricket), they can’t run the world without India. World cricket is where they are now because of India and to sideline us will be counterproductive,” he emphasised.
Like in another press conference he had addressed last week, he dwelled into the conflicting views of the ICC and BCCI on Tests matches as well as the shelved two-tier system in Tests. “The ICC chairman thinks nobody watches Test cricket between 10 am and 5 pm. And here we are playing 13 Test matches this season and planning a grand celebration for India’s 500th Test. Also, two-tier system will widen the gulf between the countries. So it’s sometimes difficult (to work together),” he said, reiterating that the BCCI is duty-bound to stand by the likes of Bangladesh, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
He offered a simple solution to the ICC, too: “Instead of saying such things, the ICC should ask themselves why people don’t come to watch cricket and how to find the perfect balance between the three formats. That’s exactly what the BCCI is doing. We understand that there are people who watch Test cricket, so you need to have Test matches. There are people, especially the younger ones who watch T20s. So we have T20s. Now we have to think how we can make the T20-watching fans to follow Test cricket,” he asserted.
The indignation at not having a BCCI representative in the ICC financial committee still aches him. He admits it’s incomprehensible for him to find any logic in the decision. “India is where the maximum money comes from. So how can they have a financial committee without any BCCI representative?” he asks, wearing same the perplexed look whenever approached with this question.
It seems like the ICC-BCCI feud has evolved into a personal spitfire between the two. But he quickly clarifies that there’s no estrangement between the boards. “Hamare beech mein man-mutav kuch nahin hain,” he said.
Battles at home
Meanwhile, the BCCI and its president are fighting battles on their home turf as well, especially in dealing with the Lodha committee recommendations, some of which had asphyxiated the board . Though the BCCI has been vehemently opposed several of their recommendations, they have been prompted to toe the line on several others. Like for instance, tweaking the bidding process for IPL television and digital rights.
Whereas previously it involved close-door meetings involving BCCI and IPL functionaries and broadcasters, from now on, the BCCI will open tenders for the next 10-year cycle for television and five-year contract for the digital media. The invitation to tender document will be available from Monday while the last day for receiving bids is October 25 and is open to all non-news broadcasters, who don’t have a litigation with the BCCI.
However, the highest bidder is not automatically guaranteed to win the rights. It depends on the feedback given by the board’s auditing and consulting company, Deloitte, and financial advisers. “Sometimes you get very similar bids and then the financial adviser look at the value of the money. The final definition of the best offer for BCCI has to be left to the financial adviser,” said Johri.
The open tender process, Thakur says, will bring in more transparency and accountability “no nobody can point their finger at the BCCI”. As an after-thought, he added: “It has always been the case with the BCCI. We ensure transparency and accountability in everything. No broadcaster in the past can accuse us of anything. And we have always been open to reforms, even before the Lodha recommendations.”
As for Justice Lodha and his colleagues, he invited them to watch a few domestic matches from the stadium. “Anyway they have been unable to visit the state association offices or BCCI headquarters. Most of the meetings were held in five star hotels. But the domestic season is about to start, and I would request them to come and watch a few matches to see how well the BCCI is organising the biggest domestic tournament in the world,” he said.
There was no evident sarcasm in his tone, but the message was explicitly conveyed–those that have no practical experience of playing or running cricket shouldn’t have too much say in reforming the board.

India weighs response after 17 soldiers killed in Uri by terrorists from Pakistan

Seven of the 20 injured soldiers, who were evacuated in helicopters to the 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar, are said to be in critical condition.
An army soldier guards the army base which was attacked by suspected rebels in Uri, in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. (PTI Photo)
In one of the worst terror attacks on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir, 17 Army personnel were killed and 20 left injured early Sunday by four heavily armed terrorists who sneaked into the administrative buildings and store complex of an infantry battalion in Uri, home of the 12 Infantry Brigade, near the Line of Control (LoC).
Seven of the 20 injured soldiers, 18 of whom were evacuated in helicopters to the 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar, are said to be in critical condition.
The four terrorists were gunned down by Army personnel after a three-hour gunbattle, and a combing operation was underway. The Army said its initial findings suggested that the terrorists belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad and had come from across the LoC.
Among the dead, 15 soldiers were from the Bihar regiment while two were from the Dogra regiment. The Army said 13-14 casualties had been due to the tents and temporary shelters catching fire. It has not officially put out the list of the dead since some of the bodies are yet to be identified.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that the attack will not go unpunished, Army chief General Dalbir Singh flew to Srinagar and then to Uri to take stock.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar too reached Srinagar where he was briefed by the Army chief. A red alert has been sounded across Kashmir and security measures at all Army installations have been stepped up.
Army sources in J&K said, as per their assessment, the terrorists probably infiltrated in the last two days and familiarised themselves with the area through discreet reconnaissance. It is suspected that some kind of local intelligence was made available, guiding the terrorists to strike where they did at a particular time and place.
The attack site is barely a kilometre away from Uri town. On the other side of the camp is Jabla village, 1.5 km away. Villagers have to pass through highly fortified camps and have to show special border passes to enter the brigade headquarters and its adjacent camps. The encounter spot is barely 2.5 km from the LoC Trade Facilitation Centre at Salamabad.
In New Delhi, Lt General Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operations, said: “Initial reports indicate that the slain terrorists belong to Jaish-e-Muhammad tanzeem. Four AK-47 rifles and four under barrel grenade launchers, along with a large number of war-like stores, were recovered from them.”
Since the terrorists had some items with Pakistani markings, the DGMO spoke to his Pakistan Army counterpart and conveyed “our serious concerns on the same”.
A PTI report from Islamabad quoted Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa as saying that the DGMOs discussed the situation along the LoC over hotline. “Refuting the unfounded and premature Indian allegation, Pakistan DGMO asked his counterpart to share any actionable intelligence,” Radio Pakistan reported citing an ISPR release.
The terrorists opened fire at the Uri administrative base of 10 Dogra — the infantry battalion is being replaced on the LoC by 6 Bihar as part of the 12 Infantry Brigade — around 5.30 am. Army sources in J&K said the terrorists sneaked into the camp via nallahs at the periphery of the camp. Along with AK-47, the terrorists also used incendiary ammunition which led to some of the tents and temporary accommodation catching fire.
These temporary accommodation had been erected for the incoming 6 Bihar battalion which had moved to Uri last week after completing a three-week pre-induction training at Corps Battle School, Khrew. The battalion had been addressed by the Brigade commander at a Sainik Sammelan Saturday. It was supposed to move for ‘on the job’ training with 10 Dogra, before fully replacing them on the LoC by October.
“The turn-over of units is the most vulnerable time, and all units are advised to be extra careful during this period. It is definitely a lapse but the terrorists also got lucky. There is huge concern at the highest levels that we couldn’t prevent this attack,” a senior Army officer said.
Army sources in J&K said the administrative base of the battalion also had rations and stores for Advanced Winter Stocking (AWS) of its posts at the LoC. These items, which are ferried to the posts before snowfall, are used by soldiers on the far-flung posts to sustain themselves during winter when they are cut-off. Kerosene oil is a major item in AWS and could have aggravated the fire, sources said.
On reports that specific intelligence inputs were available about Sunday’s terror attack, sources in the Udhampur-based Northern Command told The Indian Express: “Broad intelligence inputs were available for various locations in all sectors, including Uri and Mendhar. If you see around the same time last year, these same inputs in similar language were given. It is not correct to suggest that these intelligence inputs were ignored.”
Uri Attack: All Four Terrorists Belonged To Jaish-e-Mohammed, Says DGMO
New Delhi, Sep 18 (ANI): Director General of Military operation Lt. Ranbir Singh on Sunday said that the four terrorists, who attacked the military base in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri, belonged to Pakistan's banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). During his briefing to media persons, Singh said that four AK 47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers and other war like stores have been recovered from the militants.

This was the third attack on the Army in north Kashmir in the past one month. Earlier, terrorists had attacked an Army convoy in Baramulla town, killing two soldiers. In another attack at Kralgund, three soldiers were injured.
A senior Army officer posted in the area said the reason for the high casualties was the large number of soldiers present due to the turn-over of battalions and the tents catching fire, as the terrorists fired indiscriminately. “As the troops were all over the camp, the Army and its QRTs (quick reaction teams) moved cautiously to avoid further casualties,’’ he added.
The camp had a designated QRT which reacted swiftly but maximum casualties were inflicted by the terrorists within the first few minutes of the attack. Soldiers within the camp and the QRTs cordoned off the area and engaged the terrorists who were heavily armed. Three terrorists were killed within 15 minutes of the start of firefight while the fourth terrorist was eliminated by 8.30 am.
The Army airlifted its injured to 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. From morning until afternoon, Army helicopters conducted more than 20 sorties. Civil surgeons assisted the Army in carrying out surgeries at the Army hospital.
Mohammad Iqbal, a resident of Uri town, said: “I woke up to a deafening sound around 5.30 am, followed by two more blasts and firing. I initially thought it was cross-border shelling. Half an hour later, when the firing continued, it was clear that it was an attack.’’
Another resident, Manzoor Ahmad Khawja, said he had to go to Srinagar and wanted to start the journey early in the day. “I was loading my bags in the car when I heard a big blast and then there were two more blasts. I thought it was ceasefire violation and shelling. But when I looked towards the Brigade headquarters, I could see plumes of smoke and there was sound of continuous firing.”

Najeeb Jung visits Delhi hospitals; calls for special care of elderly

New Delhi, Sep 18: Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today visited several hospitals across the city to take stock of their preparedness in dealing with the rising number of chikungunya and dengue cases in the national capital, and stressed on 'special attention' to the elderly.

His visit came a day after the AAP government accused him of adopting a 'casual approach' in dealing with the health crisis in the city.

Delhi is reeling under the viral onslaught of chikungunya and dengue, which have claimed at least 33 lives and affected over 2,800 people.

Jung, accompanied by Delhi Secretary Chandrakar Bharti and other top officials, visited fever clinics, laboratories at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and GTB Hospital. The team interacted with patients, doctors, medical superintendents, staff and other visitors to assess the situation.

'He instructed the medical superintendents and doctors to ensure that patients with complications, particularly those who are elderly, should be attended to with greater care,' a statement from the Raj Niwas said.

Jung also directed Delhi health secretary to help provide additional doctors, if required, seeing the surge of patients today.

The AAP government and the Lt Governor had a standoff yesterday after Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Water Minister Kapil Mishra went to meet the LG at his office to discuss the health crisis, but could not meet him as he was not present in his office.

While Jain questioned why Jung did not cut short his US visit 'even by one hour', the LG's office accused the AAP government of 'politicising the issue' when the city was grappling with the health crisis.

Scorpene data leak took place at DCNS office in France:Navy chief Lanba

New Delhi: Primary investigations have found that the Scorpene data leak did not take place in India but at DCNS office in France, said Navy chief Sunil Lanba on Saturday.
The high-level committee probing Scorpene leak will check if any mitigation measures required based on probe report, said the Navy chief.
Earlier, it was reported that India is unlikely to give French naval contractor DCNS a proposed order for three new submarines, in addition to the six it is already building in the country, following the leak of secret data about its capabilities, Indian defence officials said.
Details of the Scorpene submarine were published in the Australian newspaper last month, triggering concerns that it had become vulnerable even before it was ready to enter service.
DCNS had offered to build three more submarines to help India replace its ageing Soviet-era fleet, and had held talks over the past year, two Indian sources said.
That offer will not now be taken up, according to the officials. "We had an agreement for six, and six it will remain," a defence ministry official briefed on the navy's plans told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A navy officer said there had been a serious breach of data and the navy's efforts were focused on determining the damage done to the existing submarines. "No order will be signed, nothing is going to happen now," the officer, who is also been briefed on the submarine data leak, said when asked if the government planned to enlarge the order.
DCNS spokesman Emmanuel Gaudez said the company was "stunned" by the information. "The talks are ongoing with the government and our Indian partners. We have not been informed in anyway of such a decision," he said.
India's defence ministry had written to DCNS asking for details about the extent of the leak and how data relating to the Scorpene's intelligence gathering frequencies, diving depth, endurance and weapons specifications had ended up in the public domain, both officials said.
A naval group headed by a three-star admiral is looking at altering some features of the submarine, the first of which began sea trials in May for induction later this year, to minimise any damage.
The remaining five are in various stages of production at state-run Mazgaon Docks shipyard in Mumbai and they were all due to enter service by 2020.

Lenovo ZUK Z2 Plus landing in India on September 22nd

"The ZUK Z2 Plus is expected to be the Indian variant of the ZUK Z2, which sports a 5-inch FHD display, a Snapdragon 820 SoC, and 4GB of RAM"Last month, Lenovo announced that it will be launching a new ZUK-branded smartphone called the ZUK Z2 Plus in India in September. Today, the brand has sent out invites for its launch event in the country, which is scheduled to be held on September 22nd. The Lenovo ZUK Z2 Plus is expected to be an Indian variant of the ZUK Z2, which was unveiled in China back in May. For a recap of the specs, the ZUK Z2 features a 5-inch (12.7cm) full HD display, and is powered by a 2.15GHz quad-core Snapdragon 820 SoC, aided by 4GB of RAM.
It comes with 64GB of built-in memory, 13MP/8MP cameras, 4G LTE, a USB Type-C port, a 3,500mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 support, Android Marshmallow, and a U-Touch 2.0 fingerprint sensor integrated into the home key. In China, the phone has been priced around Rs 18,000. We will have more details regarding its pricing and availability for India at the launch event next week, so stay tuned.

Delhi’s dengue-chikungunya crisis: AAP ministers meet LG Najeeb Jung

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung Friday asked Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in Finland on an official tour, to return to Delhi in view of the breakout of chikungunya.

Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain and AAP MLA Kapil Mishra outside LG Najeeb Jung’s residence to meet him Saturday morning. (ANI)
After Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung Friday asked Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in Finland on an official tour, to return to Delhi in view of the breakout of chikungunya and dengue in the national capital, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and Culture Minister Kapil Mishra reached Jung’s residence to meet him on Saturday. The leaders are reported to have held discussions on controlling the outbreak of the vector borne diseases.
Opposition parties had earlier claimed that Sisodia was “holidaying” in Finland while the capital was facing a serious health crisis. Government officials also contacted Sisodia, who is currently in Finland’s capital Helsinki, to check whether he had received any communication from Raj Niwas, said sources.
“We were told that neither the Deputy Chief Minister nor the Indian Embassy in Helsinki had received any order or communication from the Lt Governor’s office, asking him to come back,” government sources told The Indian Express. “In any case, he was scheduled to return on Sunday, September 18,” said a government official.
In a series of tweets Friday, Sisodia defended his Finland tour, saying it was not a “sin” to study the schooling system of other countries to fix the problems in Delhi’s education system.
With the growing cases of chikungunya in Delhi, Health Minister Satyendar Jain Friday issued orders to the municipal corporations to notify chikungunya as a “dangerous/notifiable” disease under relevant provisions of the Municipal Corporations/Local Bodies Act and Rules.

Pakistan needs to cleanse itself of terror before internationalising issues with India

Has the Kashmir issue been “bilateralised” or is it still open to a “multilateral” solution?

Where does the world stand on Kashmir in 2016 as the Valley erupts again and India is crushing the Kashmiri protests with brute force?
One reason India and Pakistan can’t resolve the Kashmir issue is how the two interpret the Simla Agreement of 1972. The treaty put an end to the 1971 Indo-Pak war, thus endorsing the separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. The world takes cognisance of this treaty whenever a dispute erupts between the two South Asian rivals. What Pakistan conceded — without Pakistanis feeling too bad about it — was the text in the treaty: “That the two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon between them.”
Pakistan takes the official line that the above text doesn’t preclude its right to address international fora on the Kashmir issue because Simla Agreement doesn’t invalidate the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir. The stance, as explained by a foreign office spokesperson in Islamabad, in 2014, was: “Countries are condemned every year on various forums in the the UN, on one issue or the other, for violating the UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions”. This has been repeated in Islamabad on September 2: “Simla Agreement can’t change UN resolutions.”
But who is going to finally decide whose point of view is valid? Has the Kashmir issue been “bilateralised” or is it still open to a “multilateral” solution? Whether one likes it or not, the decision on this issue will always be political. Where does the world stand on Kashmir in 2016 as the Valley erupts again and India is crushing the Kashmiri protests with brute force? The pictures that the world sees of the latest outbreak are not pleasant and many in India are pained by what the TV channels are carrying daily into their bedrooms. Nationalism cannot be the permanent carapace of conscience.
But Pakistan is in a much worse position. If the Kashmiris want to make a case in front of the court of international opinion — and Pakistan wants that — they should be told by Pakistan not to raise the Pakistani flag when fired upon by Indian troops. The world simply looks away when a reference to Pakistan crops up. The “liberators” of Kashmir — the jihadis in Pakistan’s proxy war — carry UN bounty on them and are roaming around in Pakistan despite its commitment under the National Action Plan to get rid of “armed militias”. Unlike in the past, many columnists are asking for action against men like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed.
In June 2000, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected Pakistan’s application against India in the Atlantique case on grounds of lack of jurisdiction. In 1999, Pakistan had brought up the shooting down of a non-combat aircraft within Pakistani territory by India, which killed 16 crew members. The case couldn’t proceed because of the “optional clause” of the court allowing the target state to disavow jurisdiction. But then the court did something very significant. It reverted to the irreducible political nature of the enforcement of international law under the UN system by referring to the Simla Accord and the Lahore Declaration of February 1999 under which India and Pakistan are morally obliged to settle their “differences” bilaterally in light of Article 2 of the UN Charter.
But facts will intervene despite whatever decision Pakistan takes about internationalising the Kashmir issue. Pakistan had begun using its proxy warriors right after 1947. The cross-border covert war began hurting the world after terrorism, learned in Pakistani and Afghan training camps, spread out to Europe and America. As Pakistan faces internal disturbance by terrorists — who once formed its foreign policy tools – it is becoming aware of the futility of posing as a rights advocate against India and Bangladesh. Increasingly, Pakistani intellectuals are asking the state to cleanse itself of terror before regaining the confidence and sympathy of the international community.
(This article first appeared in the print edition under the headline ‘The bilateral bind’)

Samajwadi Party truce: Akhilesh Yadav returns uncle Shivpal’s portfolios after meeting with Mulayam

Akhilesh Yadav said at a function that he has rejected the resignation of Shivpal and he will comply with whatever his father Mulayam Singh directs.



The signs of patch up came after Mulayam Singh held discussions with brother Shivpal and son Akhilesh.
Patch up in the Yadav family appeared to be on the cards with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announcing on Friday night that his disgruntled uncle Shivpal Yadav will be given back his portfolios and Gayatri Prajapati will be reinducted as Cabinet minister, issues which had triggered an all-out war.
The announcements were made as per the compromise formula worked out by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who asserted that “There can be no division in the party, till I am there.” The signs of patch up came after Mulayam held discussions with brother Shivpal and son Akhilesh.
“Portfolios will be given back to Mr. Shivpal Singh Yadav,” Akhilesh tweeted about his uncle who was stripped of his key ministries only two days back by the Chief Minister, triggering all out war during which Akhilesh was removed as party’s state unit chief. In another tweet, the CM said, “Gayatri Prajapati will be inducted in the cabinet.”
According to party insiders, Prajapati, who was sacked as Mines Minister, could be accommodated in the Cabinet but with a different portfolio. Setting in motion the reconciliation process, Mulayam as well as Akhilesh earlier rejected Shivpal’s resignation from the Cabinet as well as the head of state party unit, to which he was appointed two days ago replacing Akhilesh.
Shivpal had resigned last night as a minister and as state party unit head. “Netaji (Mulayam) has heard all of us. He will talk to to some others if he wants and will take decision by tomorrow,” Shivpal said today, indicating a truce was on the anvil.
Akhilesh said at a function that he has rejected the resignation of Shivpal and he will comply with whatever his father directs. “Netaji (Mulayam) will find a solution (to the current crisis) and everyone will accept it,” he said.
Shivpal said he continues as UP party chief and is preparing for electoral challenge ahead but was evasive whether he will go back to the government. “That (resignation from party post) has not been accepted. When I have said that for me, Netaji’s hint is an order…Akhilesh has also said so. So where is the feud anymore,” he said.
At the same time, he indicated that he may not return to the government. “Look, I have resigned only recently. I have got a bigger responsibility. Elections are near and I have to work for the polls. Who is bothered about portfolios? I had only one portfolio, so I said why only one. I will work for the party.
Earlier this morning, Mulayam also broke his silence over the five-day no holds barred family war, saying, “There can be no division in the party, till I am there.” The party supremo, who rushed here last evening from Delhi to douse the raging flames of feud, said, “We have a big family, differences may occur…There is no fight between Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh.”

He has met Shivpal and Akhilesh separately and then together to ensure that the crisis was resolved. Mulayam said Akhilesh will not defy his words and announced that Prajapati will be taken back in the UP Cabinet, considered a bone of contention between Shivpal and
Akhilesh.
Akhilesh, on his part, said, “I have two duties, as Chief Minister and as son. I will honour the word of the party president and I will do everything to make my father happy.” At India TV’s ‘Chunav Manch’ conclave here, he said, “I felt bad and you saw its effect. I’m coming here after a discussion with Netaji (Mulayam). Samajwadi Party is a family and there are no differences in the party.”
He rubbished reports that he is behind the feud in the family saying, “It’s a fight for the chair. If a good person asks for the CM’s post, I am ready to give it up. “It’s election time. We should all come together and work. There is no fight between Ramgopal Yadav, Akhilesh and Shivpal.”
Making it clear that he wanted a say in the distribution of tickets in the upcoming state elections, Akhilesh said, “I say I will give back everything but then I will say I should have the authority to distribute tickets. It will be my ‘pariskha’ (test) in elections.”
Apparently attacking SP Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh for fuelling feud in the family, he said, “Everyone understands who is this outsider, even you know that. I have told Netaji that if an outsider comes between us, he will be thrown out.”
“Netaji and I have decided that we will not let outsiders drive a wedge between us,” he said. Shivpal defended ‘outsider’ Amar Singh while advising Akhilesh Yadav not to develop an ego and to “gain more experience”.
“Anyone sitting on the chair of the Chief Minster should not develop an ego. I have seen many Chief Ministers. Akhilesh needs to gain experience. He should learn from Netaji (SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav) and me as well,” Shivpal said.
Defending Amar Singh, he said, “His name should not have been taken. He can never cause any harm to our family. No decision in the party is taken without Netaji’s consent. Need to tactfully deal with outsiders, if any, and one should apply his mind.”
On Akhilesh’s demand for more say in ticket distribution, he said, “Netaji will decide on ticket distribution. How elections are fought are perogative of the party chief. Netaji will allocate responsibilities.”

Madhya Pradesh govt wants to sell Patanjali products at fair price shops

Chouhan said that by selling Patanjali products, which appear to be popular among consumers, the fair price shops can turn around their fortunes and make a profit.



Patanjali, started by yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna a decade ago, sells a range of mineral and herbal products.
The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is keen to sell Patanjali products at fair price shops in the state. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan floated the idea on Friday while inaugurating a two-day programme organised by the cooperatives department in Bhopal. Chouhan said that by selling Patanjali products, which appear to be popular among consumers, the fair price shops can turn around their fortunes and make a profit.
Patanjali, started by yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna a decade ago, sells a range of mineral and herbal products. Minister of State for Cooperatives (independent charge) Vishwas Sarang told The Indian Express that he would soon get in touch with Patanjali to formalise the arrangement.
“We want to convert fair price shops into multi-utility shops; they will benefit from associating with Patanjali products,” Sarang said. There are more than 16,500 fair price shops in the state’s 51 districts. In addition, there are thousands of cooperative societies that, too, can stock Patanjali products, Sarang said.
Madhya Pradesh was among the first states to roll out the red carpet for Ramdev nearly a decade ago. Though a deal to offer him land near Jabalpur did not work out because of opposition from the Congress, Ramdev is now set to start a manufacturing unit at Pithampur near Indore.

Donald Trump gets free air-time as media broadcasters duped into thinking hotel ad as campaign event

Ahead of the event, Donald Trump had hyped over Fox News that he would be making a major announcement about the 'birther' controversy of the US President, Barack Obama.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called this episode “universal sewer dwelling” for cable news. (Source: Reuters)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has outraged the media after he duped them into broadcasting an infomercial for his new hotel on the pretext of a “major announcement” to get more than 20 minutes of free air-time.
Not only CNN but also all the major networks showed Trump’s event at his newly inaugurated Trump International Hotel in Washington DC as pro-Trump military members started speaking.
Ahead of the event, Trump had hyped over Fox News that he would be making a major announcement about the ‘birther’ controversy of the US President, Barack Obama.
All the news networks – CNN, MSNBC, and Fox – started carrying the event live.
They kept on waiting for 20 minutes waiting for Trump to speak on the birther controversy. It was not before 20 minutes that the news networks apparently realised that they have been taken for a ride once again.
“We got played, again, by the Trump campaign, which is what they do,” CNN’s chief national correspondent John King said after the news channel showed live the GOP nominee for nearly 20 minutes waiting for the major announcement coming from Trump.
“He got a live event broadcast for some 20 minutes,” King said. Trump is known for spending less money on television advertisements, while his opponents Hillary Clinton is spending a huge sum of money.
About five minutes after that Trump took the podium to speak four short statements.
“Hillary Clinton in her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again,” he said.
“We all got rickrolled and played,” rued Jake Tapper of the CNN.
“It is insulting what he just did,” Congressman Gregory Meeks told the CNN.
“And he has done it time and time and time again, which tries to divide us as a nation. It’s like he thinks that it’s a game, you’re playing a TV show,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump campaign prevented editorial access to his tour of the hotel. In protest television reporters erased the video of his hotel tour. The Washington Post slammed news channels for showing this event live.
“While they waited, and waited, Trump provided what amounted to a campaign infomercial and shamelessly promoted his new Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington,” the daily said.
“This is a campaign and a candidate that completely understands how the press works — or doesn’t work — and exploits the blatant weaknesses of political journalism,” said Dan Gillmor, a media scholar at Arizona State University.
On Twitter he called this episode “universal sewer dwelling” for cable news.

Man ‘carrying calves’ in car dies after accident and assault in Gujarat

Police dispute allegation of ‘assault’ by gau rakshaks, say story ‘cooked up’
The victim was not carrying calves in his car, says brother . 

The driver of a car, which was “carrying two calves” when it met with an accident three days ago in Anandnagar area of Ahmedabad, died on Friday at V S Hospital due to severe injuries. He was also assaulted by unidentified people after the accident on September 13.
Another man who was with the victim in the car has told police that they were being chased by a group of gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes, but investigators disputed his claim, saying CCTV footage from nine major traffic junctions showed “nothing suspicious”.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat, following the accident at Crown Plaza on SG Highway, passersby discovered two calves “stuffed” in the car. “Some unidentified people had beaten Mohammed Ayyub (deceased) and Samir Shaikh before they were taken into police custody and admitted to the hospital,” he said. Shaikh is still in police custody. Police said a team of officials from the fire department had to cut open the car from behind to take out the animals. One calf is said to have died following the accident.
According to police, Ayyub suffered serious injuries due to the accident and also because of the assault. Shaikh has told the police that a group of cow vigilantes had “chased them and hit their car from behind near Honest circle at S G Highway”. Police, however, said Shaikh is highly “unreliable as he has cooked up a story”.
“We are looking into the case from all possible angles. So far, the angle of cow vigilantes has not cropped up. We have found that Ayyub and Shaikh were coming from Mehsana with two calves hidden in the back of their car. Shaikh told us that he had taken a lift from Ayyub from somewhere near Adalaj, but his call detail records showed that both were in touch over phone. In fact, phone data has confirmed Shaikh’s presence right from Mehsana from where they were coming till the scene of the offence,” said DCP ( Zone-2) Vidhi Chaudhari.
She said Shaikh claimed to have been chased from Adalaj till the spot where the accident happened. However, after checking CCTV footage obtained from nine major traffic junctions, nothing suspicious was found.
However, advocate Shamshad Pathan, speaking on behalf of Shaikh, claimed otherwise. He said that the two men were chased by cow vigilantes and “thrashed brutally resulting into the death of Ayyub”. He alleged that Ayyub passed away at 5 pm on Friday, but no police official from Anandnagar police station came to check him.
VHP city president Rajubhai Patel said that gau rakshaks were being wrongly blamed in the case. “Gau rakshaks reached the spot at least three hours after the accident in the presence of policemen and then lodged FIR for illegally ferrying animals,” he said.
“Those who killed my brother were indeed gau rakshaks. My brother was not carrying any cow or calf. Out of some grudge, these gau rakshaks mercilessly thrashed him. We want the police to nab the real culprits,” Ayyub’s brother Imran was quoted as saying by PTI.

PM Modi meets mother Hiraba in Gandhinagar on his birthday

Narendra Modi will be spending his birthday in his home state of Gujarat


Narendra Modi with his mother Hiraba at his brother’s residence in Gujarat. (Photo: ANI)

Marking the beginning of his 66th birthday today, Prime Minister Narendra Modimet his mother Hiraba in Gandhinagar. He sought her blessings before sitting down and talking to her. He will be spending the rest of the day in Gujarat where several programmes have been planned.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the tribal district of Dahod to inaugurate various irrigation projects.

PM Modi was given a grand reception in Ahmedabad as he landed at the airport Friday night, on the eve of his birthday. This is the PM’s third visit in recent times to Gujarat, where Assembly elections are due next year.
×Lamps lit in Navsari, Gujarat on the occasion of PM’s birthday. (Photo: ANI)

BJP is facing a challenge in Gujarat ahead of next year’s polls in the aftermath of Patel quota agitation and the protests of Dalit community after the Una atrocity incident.

Last month Modi visited his home state twice — to condole the death of Sawminarayan sect’s leader Pramukhswami Maharaj and later to inaugurate an irrigation scheme in Saruashtra region. This is his third visit to Gujarat in recent times.

Delhi: LG Najeeb Jung asks Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to come back from Finland

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung asked Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in Finland on an official tour, to return to Delhi, said officials in the LG’s office.

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia(C) is currently on an official tour to Finland while Delhi battles dengue and chikungunya. (Source: PTI/Shahbaz Khan)
Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung Friday asked Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is in Finland on an official tour, to return to Delhi, said officials in the LG’s office. Jung asked the minister to return in view of the chikungunya and dengue outbreak in the capital, said Raj Niwas officials. However, Delhi government officials said the Deputy CM’s office had not received any communication from the LG’s office.
Government officials also contacted Sisodia, who is currently in Finland’s capital Helsinki, to check whether he had received any communication from Raj Niwas, said sources. “We were told that neither the Deputy Chief Minister nor the Indian Embassy in Helsinki had received any order or communication from the Lt Governor’s office, asking him to come back,” government sources told The Indian Express.
“In any case, he was scheduled to return on Sunday, September 18,” said a government official. Opposition parties had earlier claimed that the minister was “holidaying” in Finland while the capital was facing a health crisis.
In a series of tweets Friday, Sisodia defended his Finland tour, saying it was not a “sin” to study the schooling system of other countries to fix the problems in Delhi’s education system. “Learning from across the world is not a sin. It’s a sin to defame an educational tour as a ‘holiday’. I’m in Finland. We need to learn a lot from their education system, the best in the world,” said the minister, who is also in charge of the education department.
Earlier in the day, Congress protested the alleged absence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia and other ministers from the national capital. Kejriwal is currently recuperating after undergoing throat surgery earlier this week.

The Opposition is making Modi look larger than he is

Kejriwal, Nitish, Rahul, they all seem diminished.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Modi government’s performance and grip over political reality are debatable matters. But those worried about Indian democracy should worry about the fact that the credibility of all alternative poles of opposition is plummeting even faster. The BJP may be trapped by its inflated claims and ideological leanings. But the sheer self-destructive pettiness and parochialism of the other parties is making it likely that the BJP’s failings will not be challenged by a credible Opposition, but by an outbreak of infantilism, where each alternative leader seems to get smaller by the day.

Look at possible poles of opposition. Arvind Kejriwal had emerged as a genuinely new political force. He still has a lot going for him. The BJP has inflicted a constitutional travesty upon Delhi, supported by a poor judgment of the Delhi high court. He is a victim of a shameless Central government and could have garnered sympathy. AAP still has a street tenacity that gets under the BJP’s skin. In a range of areas like servicing slums or education, AAP seemed to be open to interesting experimentation. But instead, Kejriwal’s own conduct and public interventions seem to now reek of daily pettiness, where the line between a dignified CM and low troll seems to be vanishing. The AAP’s visible faces seem to accumulate buffoonery by the day, denting all confidence in its maturity. AAP’s ideological leanings do not portend well: Kejriwal has, for the most part not attacked the BJP’s ideological excesses, even as it laments its authoritarian tendencies. On many issues relating to Hindutva and nationalism it is not providing an alternative.

One sign of a political party’s loss of direction is when it begins to claim everything is a media conspiracy. AAP, despite the media rooting for it, has reached that point rather swiftly. Its victimhood has now become an excuse for practically any kind of behaviour. Its battering ram politics may shake the BJP. But it is giving all the signs of a party that does not know how to move beyond a battering ram.

Nitish Kumar’s national fall has perhaps been even more spectacular. Nitish, a projected third front face, is still personally popular in Bihar. His first term did bring the state to the people in a way that was unprecedented and is still remembered.. He managed to provide some space for governance by managing a broad social coalition, and being inventive with government schemes. But his current incarnation has revealed the limits of his economic imagination: He seems to be at a loss over what next in the development model for Bihar. His ability to stamp his authority on the unlikely arrangement with RJD is increasingly in doubt. The scandalous release of Shahabuddin has cut Nitish’s authority and credibility to size. The chief minister who once brought law and order to Bihar has his authority challenged openly by a convicted criminal flaunting his power. Prohibition does have popular roots in Indian politics. But Nitish’s prohibition law, with its constitutional travesties of imputing collective guilt, its administrative imagination that is likely to result in greater lawlessness, shows a chief minister, whose common sense is now hostage to his own sense of virtue. For Nitish to become a national figure, he needed to create a new buzz around Bihar; now it is the conventional buzz of Bihar that is making him look like a floundering leader.

Rahul Gandhi has again decided to embark on old-fashioned campaigning in UP to showcase his commitment to India’s farmers. As a gesture of commitment, this is promising. And in any case he has no option but to try. But this strategy does not betray the slightest self-awareness of Rahul’s perceived deficits as a national leader: His inability to show that the Congress can overcome the mistakes of the past, his inability to show any principled leadership in moments of national crisis, to mediate conflict, and take tough decisions. It also says something retrograde when the party’s stated strategy in UP is also a back-to-the-fifties model: Making no bones about courting “Brahmins” being the new strategy.

All three poles have this in common: All are veering to the Left. This would be fine if it were a genuine commitment to a more participatory economy that smartly reconciles growth and justice. Instead the emphasis is entirely on public expenditure and old instruments of welfare, not new paradigms. All have forgotten that the way to get national prominence is to create something of a governance buzz. The virtues of the Gujarat model were highly exaggerated. But the point was that it did stake out claims to being a model. It should be a sign of worry that no one is remotely thinking of Karnataka (a major Congress-ruled state), Bihar, or Delhi as a model. All three parties believe in overbearing statism. The Congress and Nitish Kumar may project an aura of electoral secularism. But the Congress, especially, still cannot get itself to take a principled stand on an institutional defence of individual freedom, whether it be on sedition law or freedom of expression. They are still unable to set the agenda for national debates. And none of them seem capable of the central task of politics — mediating between different social groups.

The electoral space is opening up. Many BJP governments are in trouble. It is still hard to predict how new social forces will work themselves through the electoral system. So these parties could still give the BJP a run for their money in different states. But that may be small comfort for the Opposition. It is perhaps the case that national elections are becoming a little more than a sum of state elections; in which case merely local skulduggery, as important as it is, will not be sufficient. One has to project a national perspective, if not presence. The BJP is still being given a free run of this space. The danger is that new forms of social conflict may no longer be channelled through political parties. Besides the total loss of control in Kashmir, we have seen violent agitations in the economic powerhouses of Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana this year. Kerala is emerging as a new hotbed of violence, its model now under serious social strain. Maharashtra is on the verge of major caste conflict, and criminality and communalism still define UP’s identity. India will need deeper political resources for social mediation. All it might get is an Opposition that seems not to want to rise to challenges; they are all making Modi look larger than he is.

(This article first appeared in the print edition under the headline ‘With enemies like these’)

Kerala: CPM-BJP ideological battle set to spread

The CPM argues that it wants to build a “scientific temper” and create a progressive society to get rid of the “medieval philosophy” advocated by the BJP and RSS.

A BJP protest outside the CPM headquarters in Delhi over killing of a party worker in Kerala: Will violence spread from primarily Kannur to other districts? Express photo

With the CPM-led LDF government in Kerala shifting gear in recent weeks by going from wooing Hindus to adopting a more “rationalist” stance, the ideological battle with the BJP is set to escalate in the state even as the saffron party appears to be in a dilemma over its strategy to counter the Left.

The BJP sees the CPM’s moves to challenge “age-old traditions and rituals of Hindus” as an attempt to retain the minority support base it had built by projecting itself as the only political force in the state that can counter Hindutva outfits and, at the same time, compensate for a possible erosion in its Hindu support base in the Assembly polls. Although Kerala is set to face its next electoral test only in 2019, the CPM and the BJP’s ideological war, so far confined to the northern districts, will spread to other areas, say political observers.

The CPM argues that it wants to build a “scientific temper” and create a progressive society to get rid of the “medieval philosophy” advocated by the BJP and RSS.

This month, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan ordered government employees to not use office hours for Onam celebrations and PWD Minister G Sudhakaran spoke against lighting “nilavilakku” (traditional lamps) and offering religious prayers at official functions.

The CPM, which had earlier taken a neutral stand on the entry of women into the Sabarimala shrine, also argues for it now.

The latest state government move — banning arms training and drills in places of worship — is also seen as a setback for the BJP. The party says the decision is aimed at stopping RSS from conducting training at its shakhas on temple premises.

Calling the move a “political game”, P S Sreedharan Pillai, former president of BJP in Kerala, told The Indian Express, “By taking an extreme position on traditions and rituals, the CPM wants to keep its Muslim support base intact and earn more support from the Christians, which would weaken the Congress-led UDF, the main opposition.”

Party leaders also questioned the government for not having made any remarks on the relaxation on working hours during namaz on Fridays.

Yet, the latest CPM strategy appears to have confused the BJP leadership, which is trying to consolidate Hindu communities and Christian votes. Party chief Amit Shah is learnt to have advised state leaders to get closer to Christian leaders as the party wants the community’s support in states such as Goa, and in the Northeast.

“There is a state of flux in Kerala. Both the CPM and the BJP are targeting the same support base — Hindus and Christians,” said political observer B R P Bhaskar. Pointing out that the CPM, whose support base was predominantly Hindu, is now trying to balance the fall in its Hindu votes by wooing Muslims and Christians, Bhaskar said: “In the coming days, there will be greater intensification of the conflict between CPM and the BJP. The conflict has so far been limited to Kannur but will spread to other parts, too.”

But the BJP will not give up, Pillai said. “We will soon arrive at an understanding with more Christian groups,” he said.

Senior CPM leader and Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai, meanwhile, said the party and the government is trying to make people reject the “medieval philosophy” of the RSS and BJP. “What we have been trying to do is to rally together all secular forces in Kerala…to convey the importance of scientific outlook and logic,” he said. “(But the) BJP is trying to promote the philosophy of the middle ages.”