MONDAY 08 APRIL 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR PM Modi slams TMC for attack on NIA officials Opposition parties formed INDIA bloc to defend corruption & corrupt leaders: Modi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE SILIGURI, 7 APRIL P rime Minister Narendra Modi today condemned the attack on the National Investigation Agency (NIA) during a raid on Saturday at Bhupatinagar in East Midnapore. Addressing an election rally at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri, Narendra Modi slammed the Trinamul Congress (TMC) on many issues and said: “TMC wants its extortionists and corrupt leaders to ensure a free license for terrorism.” “When NIA officials conducted a raid, TMC attacked them led by women. TMC is a party that disobeys the law and the constitution,” the Prime Minister said, adding, “The whole country has come to know about the Sandeshkhali horror where women have been harassed and tortured. TMC’s ‘syndicate raj’ continues here unabated. The situation is such that people here have to bear the torture. The court had to finally intervene in all cases to ensure justice.” “Should the culprits of Sandeshkhali be punished? Should they be sentenced for life imprisonment? Should Prime Minister Narendra Modi being garlanded by Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar and others during a public rally for the ANI upcoming Lok Sabha polls, in Jalpaiguri on Sunday. the TMC leaders involved in ration and teachers’ recruitment scam be punished?” Mr Modi asked the audience. Mr Modi also said: “Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already attached properties of around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 crore belonging to the TMC leaders, who have collected money from the people in the name of services in school and government offices. I am planning to return money WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 36 & 17 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 63 % Min. 21 % TEMPERATURE Max: 36.6 °C+1) SUN RISES 6:03 hrs MOON RISES 06:15 hrs Min: 16.3 °C (-4) SUN SETS 18:43 hrs MOON SETS 19:33 hrs THUMBNAILS Devotees break their fast (Roza) with Iftar during the month of Ramadan at Jama ANI Masjid in New Delhi on Sunday. to the people, who gave money to them. I am consulting the matter with legal advisors. It is Modi’s guarantee.” “The Congress, Left and TMC parties are the same. They have formed the INDIA bloc to save corruption and corrupt leaders. It is my guarantee after 4 June 2024 more action will be taken against corruption,” he said. Mr Modi, addressing the public meeting at Dhupguri, AAP observes Samuhik Upwas to protest against CM’s arrest STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 APRIL Senior AAP leaders, ministers, MLAs, councilors, workers and supporters observed a day-long ‘Samuhik Upwas’ (collective fast) on Sunday at Jantar Mantar here in protest against the arrest of party’s national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, who attended the ‘Samuhik Upwas’, said supporters of democracy all over the country are on hunger strike. "The supporters of democracy all over the country and even the world are on a day-long hunger strike. This battle has now started against those who buy MLAs of the elected governments and bring down their governments. We can protect the Constitution of India. They AAP leaders Sanjay Singh,Ram Niwas Goel, Rakhi Birla, Gopal Rai, Atishi, Shelly Oberoi and others during party's day-long 'Samuhik Upwas' at Jantar Mantar, SUBRATA DUTTA in the Capital on Sunday. wanted to break the AAP, but we became stronger," Goel said. Meanwhile, Delhi Cabinet Minister and AAP leader Atishi reiterated that the money trail from liquor trader Sarath Reddy in the liquor policy scam can be traced to the BJP. "Sarath Reddy donated Rs 55 crore to the BJP. Why has the BJP not been raided, or accused, why has the BJP's National President not been summoned or ‘India will hunt down its enemies within and outside its borders’ AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 7 APRIL Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in no uncertain terms, stated the country’s position on those engaging in terror activities on Sunday. He said that the ‘new Bharat’ will not take terror incidents lying down and will hunt down its enemies within and outside the country’s frontier. Rajnath Singh said that India has become a world superpower today. He said that during earlier regimes, many states including Jammu and Kashmir grappled with terrorism insurgency but that is no longer the case in ‘New India’. “We will kill the nation’s enemies on this side of the border, and if required, we will go and kill them on the other side of the border. This is the strength of new India,” Rajnath Singh said. The Defence Minister said this while addressing an election rally in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu on Sunday. The minister also targeted Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge over his remarks on Article 370 and also questioned the Congress party over its questioning of the Indian Army’s valour. an Assembly segment in Jalpaiguri LS constituency, expressed his sympathies to the storm-hit people and loss of life and properties. Terming the TMC as ‘antiSchedule Caste and antiSchedule Tribe party’, Prime Minister claimed that the state government here has prevented all the welfare schemes of the Central Government meant for poor people from being implemented. “A total of Rs 30,000 crore was allocated for housing scheme. The TMC-led government demanded that the funds should come to its account as we decided to disburse it to the accounts of beneficiaries directly. Why should the Centre allow TMC to loot the funds?” Mr Modi asked. “The conditions of tea gardens here are very bad compared to other states in the country due to the TMC-led government. Several tea gardens are closed. A TMC cadre lives in a bungalow but tea workers here are deprived of their basic needs,” the PM said. He also also showcased his government's role to develop North Bengal by developing road and rail connectivity and to bring this region on to the world tourism map. (See also Page 5) “He (Kharge) questioned how Article 370 would affect Rajasthan. We had said the day we get a full majority in both houses of Parliament, no one will be able to stop us from abolishing Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. We did it and today Jammu and Kashmir has the same status as any other state in the country. Congress President asks how Article 370 will affect Rajasthan, how will these people run the country?” Rajnath Singh asked. “They (Congress) ask whether Surgical and Balakot strikes were done by the Army. I want to ask them whether they doubt the bravery and valour of the army. Congress leaders are still doubtful over India’s potential while the entire world is accepting this,” said Mr Singh. He added: “Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say that friends can be changed but not the neighbours. So we want to maintain good relations with the neighbouring countries. But one should not take advantage of it.” Earlier on Saturday, Mr Singh, during an interview with a television news channel, had said that India would enter Pakistan to kill them if terrorists try to disturb peace in India and run away to the neighbouring country. He was responding to a question on a report by British newspaper The Guardian that claimed Indian intelligence agencies carried out assassinations of terrorists in Pakistan. Reacting to Mr Singh’s statement, the Pakistan foreign office on Saturday described it as provocative, and a clear admission of culpability. “India’s assertion of its preparedness to extra-judiciously execute more civilians, arbitrarily pronounced as ‘terrorists’, inside Pakistan constitutes a clear admission of culpability,” said the Pakistan Foreign Office on Saturday. arrested? ED, CBI act as political weapons of BJP", she said. "People of Delhi love Arvind Kejriwal. They don't think of him as a CM but as their son, or brother. All want bail for Arvind Kejriwal. BJP's ED and CBI haven't been able to show a single penny of liquor scam from the leaders of AAP. If there is any money trail in this issue, it's from liquor trader Sarath Reddy to the BJP,” the AAP leader said. CDS to chair Tri-Service Conference STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 APRIL Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan will, on Monday, chair a day-long “Parivartan Chintan” here, a pioneering Tri-Service Conference aimed at generating new and fresh ideas, initiatives and reforms to propel jointness and integration efforts, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. With the Indian armed forces having embarked on a major transformative change in their quest to be ready for the envisaged future wars, initiatives are being undertaken to promote integration as structures are modified to enable Tri-Service multi-domain operations. The ‘Chintan’ will be the first-ever conference of the Heads of all Tri-Services Institutions, the Department of Military Affairs, Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and the three Services, with officers from varied service brackets, through their diverse understanding and experience, recommending measures to achieve the desired “Joint and Integrated” end state with celerity. Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman
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