New
Delhi: The 30th anniversary celebration of BJP held here on Tuesday was a dull affair with two of its most prominent faces -- Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj -- keeping away from the event despite being present in the city.
While Advani, who returned yesterday from a trip to Uttarakhand, stayed at home during the programme, Swaraj kept herself busy in other engagements though she had been invited.
Even BJP President Nitin Gadkari rushed in from the airport quite late in the programme.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was the main speaker who took on Home Minister P Chidambaram for "playing politics" on the issue of Naxalism.
"I can use the language of the Home Minister and say that the buck stops with the Home Minister's chair. But I don't think this is necessary," he said, adding, "He can politicise the issue from Lalgarh."
Chidambaram had said in Naxal-infested Lalgarh on Sunday that when it came to law and order in
West Bengal, the buck stops at the Chief Minister's table.
Jaitley said some groups in the country were functioning as "overground faces" of the "underground movement".
"Democracy is under threat in
India. More than 200 districts in the country are affected by Naxalism. This means one-third of the country," he said.
Jaitley said the "Red Corridor" has spread from "Pashupati (Nepal) to Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)".
"Ninety of the Naxal-affected districts are such where the writ of Maoists runs more than that of the administration. There aim is to overthrow Parliamentary democracy. Here power flows through the barrel of a gun," he said.
Jaitley insisted that during the rule of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which was guided by a "nationalist inspiration", the presence of Naxals was only symbolic but there was a spurt in their numbers during UPA-I regime.
The senior leader maintained that BJP was the only "India first party" and had never engaged in votebank politics.
Two minutes' silence was observed at the beginning of the programme for the CRPF personnel martyred at the deadly Naxalite strike at Dantewada in
Chhattisgarh today.
Gadkari attacked the Congress-led UPA government, alleging it was soft on terror which had resulted in incidents like the one in Dantewada that has claimed 76 lives.
He also referred to his recent visit to
Assam and the infiltration of Bangladeshis in the state.
"Bangladeshi infiltrators have entered Assam in big numbers. While the natives face problems in getting their papers (like ration cards, voters' I-card) made, the Bangladeshis get them with ease. The natives are living there as tenants," Gadkari said.
He accused political parties, especially the Congress, of indulging in appeasement politics for vote bank. Gadkari insisted that China had made incursions into Indian territory in 147 places but the Indian army only showed them banners, saying "this is our land" and asking them to go back.
He also accused the government of allowing foodgrains to rot as this could then be used for making liquor.
"I ask the Prime Minister to come clear on how much of rotten foodgrains are supplied to distillers for making foreign liquor," Gadkari said.
In his speech, Jaitley alleged that government's "soft" policy and Article 370 had resulted in Jammu and Kashmir turning from "a separate state to separatism".
"Now terrorism from across the border has local modules and sleeper cells in the country," he said.
Jaitley also referred to the Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik case and said even in a country like Pakistan has started moving towards progressive laws since 1961 but this has not been the case in India due to minority appeasement.
BJP supports imposition of a Uniform Civil Code in the country and removal of Personal Laws as it considers them regressive.
BJP general secretary Thawar Chand Gehlot, who is also the scheduled caste face of the party, spoke against the Ranganath Mishra report and said any move to give reservation to "converted Dalits" is a "big conspiracy" that would lead to a "flood of conversions".
PTI
New Delhi: The 30th anniversary celebration of BJP held here on Tuesday was a dull affair with two of its most prominent faces -- Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj -- keeping away from the event despite being present in the city.
While Advani, who returned yesterday from a trip to Uttarakhand, stayed at home during the programme, Swaraj kept herself busy in other engagements though she had been invited.
Even BJP President Nitin Gadkari rushed in from the airport quite late in the programme.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was the main speaker who took on Home Minister P Chidambaram for "playing politics" on the issue of Naxalism.
"I can use the language of the Home Minister and say that the buck stops with the Home Minister's chair. But I don't think this is necessary," he said, adding, "He can politicise the issue from Lalgarh."
Chidambaram had said in Naxal-infested Lalgarh on Sunday that when it came to law and order in West Bengal, the buck stops at the Chief Minister's table.
Jaitley said some groups in the country were functioning as "overground faces" of the "underground movement".
"Democracy is under threat in India. More than 200 districts in the country are affected by Naxalism. This means one-third of the country," he said.
Jaitley said the "Red Corridor" has spread from "Pashupati (Nepal) to Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)".
"Ninety of the Naxal-affected districts are such where the writ of Maoists runs more than that of the administration. There aim is to overthrow Parliamentary democracy. Here power flows through the barrel of a gun," he said.
Jaitley insisted that during the rule of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, which was guided by a "nationalist inspiration", the presence of Naxals was only symbolic but there was a spurt in their numbers during UPA-I regime.
The senior leader maintained that BJP was the only "India first party" and had never engaged in votebank politics.
Two minutes' silence was observed at the beginning of the programme for the CRPF personnel martyred at the deadly Naxalite strike at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh today.
Gadkari attacked the Congress-led UPA government, alleging it was soft on terror which had resulted in incidents like the one in Dantewada that has claimed 76 lives.
He also referred to his recent visit to Assam and the infiltration of Bangladeshis in the state.
"Bangladeshi infiltrators have entered Assam in big numbers. While the natives face problems in getting their papers (like ration cards, voters' I-card) made, the Bangladeshis get them with ease. The natives are living there as tenants," Gadkari said.
He accused political parties, especially the Congress, of indulging in appeasement politics for vote bank. Gadkari insisted that China had made incursions into Indian territory in 147 places but the Indian army only showed them banners, saying "this is our land" and asking them to go back.
He also accused the government of allowing foodgrains to rot as this could then be used for making liquor.
"I ask the Prime Minister to come clear on how much of rotten foodgrains are supplied to distillers for making foreign liquor," Gadkari said.
In his speech, Jaitley alleged that government's "soft" policy and Article 370 had resulted in Jammu and Kashmir turning from "a separate state to separatism".
"Now terrorism from across the border has local modules and sleeper cells in the country," he said.
Jaitley also referred to the Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik case and said even in a country like Pakistan has started moving towards progressive laws since 1961 but this has not been the case in India due to minority appeasement.
BJP supports imposition of a Uniform Civil Code in the country and removal of Personal Laws as it considers them regressive.
BJP general secretary Thawar Chand Gehlot, who is also the scheduled caste face of the party, spoke against the Ranganath Mishra report and said any move to give reservation to "converted Dalits" is a "big conspiracy" that would lead to a "flood of conversions".
PTI
He accused political parties, especially the Congress, of indulging in appeasement politics for vote bank. Gadkari insisted that China had made incursions into Indian territory in 147 places but the Indian army only showed them banners, saying "this is our land" and asking them to go back.
He also accused the government of allowing foodgrains to rot as this could then be used for making liquor.
"I ask the Prime Minister to come clear on how much of rotten foodgrains are supplied to distillers for making foreign liquor," Gadkari said.
In his speech, Jaitley alleged that government's "soft" policy and Article 370 had resulted in Jammu and Kashmir turning from "a separate state to separatism".
"Now terrorism from across the border has local modules and sleeper cells in the country," he said.
Jaitley also referred to the Sania Mirza-Shoaib Malik case and said even in a country like Pakistan has started moving towards progressive laws since 1961 but this has not been the case in India due to minority appeasement.
BJP supports imposition of a Uniform Civil Code in the country and removal of Personal Laws as it considers them regressive.
BJP general secretary Thawar Chand Gehlot, who is also the scheduled caste face of the party, spoke against the Ranganath Mishra report and said any move to give reservation to "converted Dalits" is a "big conspiracy" that would lead to a "flood of conversions".
9:58 PM
sha
Tokyo: There is question mark on the fruition of a planned civil nuclear deal with Japan, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday saying India will not force the same on Tokyo. 
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A woman bows her head as the names of the victims killed during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center are read aloud in New York September 11, 2010. Nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks, visible progress is finally being made toward rebuilding the World Trade Center site known as Ground Zero. Delays from political, security and financing concerns have dominated the public image of the roughly $11 billion project in the absence of a gleaming new skyscraper or memorial to those who died when al Qaeda hijackers destroyed the Twin Towers. 
A Muslim kisses the word Mohammad, depicted on a wall of the Shahi Jama Mosque, after Eid al-Fitr prayers in Ahmadabad, Saturday, Sep. 11, 2010. Eid-ul-Fitr festival marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. 
President Barack Obama, flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, at the Pentagon Memorial, marking the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Saturday, Sept. 11, 
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The three suspended Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Amir, 2nd left, Salman Butt, centre, and Mohammad Asif, 2nd right, questioned by police over fixing allegations pass through Heathrow airport in London en-route back to Pakistan.
Afghans paste posters at the mausoleum of the country`s national hero Ahmed Shah Massoud, on the 9th anniversary of his death, in his hometown of Panjshir, 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 9,2010. 
