With Dadri-like incidents triggering outrage, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said such “small episodes” cannot damage ‘Hindu culture’ and praised the Modi government for ushering in hope and confidence in the country and enhancing India’s standing abroad.

Making his annual ‘Vijayadashami’ speech in Nagpur, Bhagwat said that the primary agenda now is about how to make India a leading nation in the world as ‘expectations have risen’ since Prime Minister Modi’s government has come into power.

Bhagwat hailed Dalit icon B R Ambedkar for making provisions in Constitution to remove social and economic inequality faced by the weaker sections, a reference to the quota system, whose review he had recently suggested that pushed BJP on the backfoot in Bihar polls.

“Small episodes happen. They get exaggerated and presented in a big way… Small incidents keep happening but it does not distort Indian culture, Hindu culture. Since time immemorial, it respects diversity, coordinates among diversities to establish unity… This is Hindutva,” he said.

“Our country has stood as one and will stand as one. The Sangh has been doing the work of keeping the nation one on the basis of Hindutva for the last 90 years,” he said.

Bhagwat added that people are not as apprehensive as before as there is a sense of new hope now. “India is reaching heights that it had not imagined at one point and our image has improved worldwide.”

Stating that India helped Nepal and Maldives in times of disaster as we are expected to lead when there is a crisis, he added, “We are building good relations with other countries and keeping the interest of our country on the forefront.”

“Raavan was a great king, Ram sent Laxman to him to learn how to rule a kingdom. And yet today, we talk about how Ram ruled. Today we want Ram Rajya not Ravan Rajya in India,” he said.

Bhagwat also said that making policy is not enough. It is important to look at the implementation and get feedback. “Society, government and administration need to work in synergy for a continual and long standing change for the nation.

Talking about increasing population, he said, ” We have to look at the population growth; we have to see our capability to feed this population after 50 years. The population needs to be controlled, there should be a single policy for the entire country.

The RSS chief also stressed that the aim should be not just be material growth but spiritual growth.

Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back ‘purane din’ (old days) of the people, as the Bihar chief minister hit back at the BJP, which blamed him for the rising prices of pulses, and asked why states ruled by it also had the same rates.

“I feel like laughing at Union ministers blaming me for skyrocketing prices of pulses. If it was so, the price of pulses should have been Rs 200 per kg only in Bihar.”

“Why it is selling at Rs 200 per kg in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh?” Kumar wondered addressing an election rally at Nalanda, his home district, in favour of minister Shrawan Kumar.

Union Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and Food minister Ramvilas Paswan today addressed a press conference and blamed Kumar for hike in prices of pulses.

In a bid to present Centre’s stand on the price rise, the two ministers blamed Kumar for decline in production of pulses in Bihar in recent years and also the state government’s failure to utilise “price stabilisation fund.” “Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and West Bengal which used the ‘Price Stabilisation Fund’, are selling pulses at Rs 120 to Rs 130 per kg through retail outlets,” Singh said.

Slamming Narendra Modi government for “skyrocketing” price of pulses, Kumar sarcastically asked the Prime Minister to “keep your ‘achche din’ with you and return people their ‘purane din’ (old days).”

Seeking to make escalating rate of pulses a poll issue in Bihar, Kumar said pulses called “poor man’s meat” has vanished from plate of common man.

Kumar, who has been declared as the face of grand alliance in the Bihar poll, also raked up issue of ‘Bihari’ and ‘Bahri’ (outsider) against NDA, which is fighting the elections in the name of Modi, and exhorted people to “bid goodbye to outsiders as people have a better choice in him as a Bihari.”

Justifying the act of splattering ink on Jammu and Kashmir MLA Engineer Rashid, the founder of the Hindu Sena, Vishnu Gupta, said his organisation works on the agenda of establishing a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, and anyone who opposes it, would not be spared.

“The Hindu Sena, founded in 2011, works on the agenda of the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra in the nation, the construction of the Ram Mandir and the abolishment of Article 370, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir etc,” Vishnu Gupta told ANI.

Having its headquarters in New Delhi, the organisation claims to have numerous units in at least seven states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and New Delhi.

Around 50,000 people are online connected to the organisation and we have around 10,000 workers in the field,” he added.

Vishnu Gupta, who started as a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, said he had also worked for the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), but left it in 2012.

“I had protested against writer-activist Arundhati Roy after she had expressed her views on Kashmir in her address at the Indian Habitat Centre in 2011. However, the BJP had not supported us and that’s when I left BSKS. I had also worked with the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, which is the student wing of Shiv Sena. But in 2010, I had resigned from it, because I was against their ideology of attacking North Indians in Maharashtra,” he added.

Gupta said the Hindu Sena, founded in 2011, was registered this year, and has the registration number DL-10 August2015/1720.

On 8 January 2014, the Hindu Sena along with the Sri Ram Sena and the Bajrang Dal attacked the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Kaushambi office after warning Arvind Kejriwal to expel senior AAP leader Prashant Bhushan over latter’s controversial remarks on the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the Kashmir Valley. Bhushan had called for a referendum as a likely medium to gauge whether AFSPA was indeed needed in valley.

The organisation had also held a protest outside The Indian Express office on January 6, 2014, against what they called its “anti-national” coverage of the Pakistani boat incident.

“The reportage of January 3 edition of The Indian Express says the occupants of the Pakistani vessel were not terrorists. This is like speaking the language of Pakistan,” said Gupta.

Congress veteran and former PM Indira Gandhi’s close aide ML Fotedar has claimed that Indira had predicted her death days before she was assassinated and wished her granddaughter Priyanka Gandhi to step in her shoes.

Indira’s long time political advisor also said that the former prime minister saw potential in Priyanka and was certain that she had the ability to become a great leader and carry forward her political legacy.

According to a report published in an English daily, Fotedar said that Indira had told him that the next century belonged to Priyanka.

He said that three days before Indira was assassinated, they were both in Kashmir where one day after visiting a temple there they sat there and relaxed, it is then when began talking to him about Priyanka and her potential.

Fotedar further sad, “I was taken aback by the manner in which she opened up. Maybe she had a premonition that her end was imminent and she felt the need to talk about her desire to see Priyanka become a leader. I felt her words were really important. That night, I wrote down every word she said that day about Priyanka.”

Although, he said that Sonia Gandhi did not seem to agree with Indira’s suggestion. He said, “After Indiraji’s death, I told Rajiv [Gandhi] about Indira’s views on Priyanka. I have also told Soniaji about Indiraji’s desire to see Priyanka as a leader. I do see a lot of similarity between Indiraji and Priyanka. I feel Priyanka has the same aggression that Indiraji had as a leader. The Priyanka we are seeing today is nothing. Just wait and watch. As Indiraji said, the next century belongs to Priyanka​.”

Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 in Delhi. The Gandhi loyalist, ML Fotedar’s recollection of the olden times will be soon released in his book Chinar Leaves on October 30.

New Delhi, Oct. 20 (ANI): The opposition parties on Monday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA over rising incidents of intolerance, saying the ruling government at the Centre should act rather than just condemning the recent acts by extremist groups.
Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement condemning the acts of intolerance was made keeping the Bihar Assembly polls in mind.
“The recent statements by the ruling party were made by keeping the election campaigns in mind. The BJP president’s statement and the Finance Minister’s statement were limited to this. Even today, the Finance Minister condemned the violent protests taking place, but the government should go beyond it and take action,” Sharma told mediapersons here.
“The perpetrators are being protected because they are the part of their organisation. If the government is serious about it then they should act against these people,” he added.
CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury echoing similar sentiments questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s studded silence on the issue.
“It is a very strange statement by the Finance Minister. He says that it is very disturbing that people are using violence or force to establish their point of view. Did he forget that they are the government? There is law of the land under which giving such inciting speeches that will disturb communal amity in the country is a penal offence. Why is action not being taken by this government?” Yechury told ANI.
“The Prime Minister tweets on everything under the sun, but on this why has he kept quite… By not acting clearly, they are patronising these forces. That is the basic point, stop giving sanctimonious speeches, stop preaching, act and implement the law of the land,” he added.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier today said that incidents of intolerance would not be tolerated. He also expressed concern over the recent acts of vandalism and said that there is no place for violence in democracy.

In the wake of gangrape of two minor girls, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a strong pitch for handing over Delhi police control to state government. He also sought a meeting with the Prime Minister and Lt Governor.

The Chief Minister hit out at Delhi police saying it had “completely failed” to provide safety to the citizens, while urging PM Narendra Modi to “either act himself” or give AAP government the authority over law and order in the capital.

In a major embarrassment for the city, two minors were brutally gangraped in the capital , just days after the rape of a four-year-old girl in northwest Delhi.

Kejriwal visited the hospitals where the victims were being treated and said that his government has the requisite funds to take over the control of police and provide security.

Kejriwal alleged that LG Najeeb Jung and Delhi Police are interfering in their work. He insisted that they should focus on the safety and security of women in the capital. AAP has been at loggerheads with Delhi Police over a number of issues, with the party accusing the force of bias against it on several occasions.

While the demand for handing over Delhi police to state continues, both the state and central govt should jointly work together for making Delhi a safer place for women.

The much-anticipated talks between BCCI President Shashank Manohar and his Pakistan counterpart Shahryar Khan on the proposed bilateral series have been rescheduled for Tuesday after protests by Shiv Sena activists forced the Board to cancel the meet in Mumbai.

The meeting was to take place in Mumbai on Monday but was cancelled after 40 to 50 members broke into the BCCI’s headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and “gheraoed” president Shashank Manohar, saying, “We will not allow any cricket ties with Pakistan.”

The Shiv Sainiks charged into the office chanting ‘vande matram’ and slogans against PCB chief Shahryar Khan. They were carrying saffron flags of the party and black flags to condemn resumption of Indo-Pak cricketing ties.

However, protesting workers were later taken away by police.

“The talks have not been called off. Mr Manohar and Mr Khan will speak to each other on Monday evening and on Tuesday they are coming to Delhi for another round of talks,” IPL Chairman and senior Board functionary Rajiv Shukla told the news agency.

“In no way, the dialogue will be stopped. BCCI has never compromised with national interests,” he said.

Shukla also condemned the attack. Taking to micro blogging site, he said, “Strongly condemns the attack on BCCI Office by Shiv Sena,”

“BCCI is a responsible body and will not do anything against national interest. Cricketing decisions should be left to BCCI,” he added.

“Cricket is a gentleman’s game and the spirit of the game expects same generosity and tolerance from those who love the game,” he further tweeted.

Reacting to the incident, Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “Law and order has completely broken down in Maharashtra. Ghulam Ali, Kasuri ji and now Shahryar Khan- this is this how you treat guests.”

The Hindu Mahasabha has announced that it will observe November 15, the day Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse was hanged, as ‘Balidan Diwas’.

According to media reports, Mahasabha president Chandra Prakash Kaushik is planning events to observe the day across the country.

“Godse was much more patriotic than Gandhi. I am very sure several people in the country think so. ‘Balidan diwas’ should be a day for the countrymen to sit and think why Godse killed Gandhi,” Kaushik told The Economic Times.

Members of the Mahasabha will perform street plays enacting Godse’s life. There will be readings of the speech Godse made before he was hanged. Copies of Gandhivad Kyon, a book written by Gopal Godse, younger brother of Nathuram Godse, will be distributed.

Last year, the Hindu Mahasabha had declared that it will build temples to honour Godse who was hanged in Ambala Jail on November 15, 1949.