NEWS

The police in Uttarakhand booked Wasim Rizvi, now Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others for their alleged hate speeches at a convention in Haridwar. The police said Tyagi and others are accused of making provocative speeches to incite violence against the minorities.

Tyagi, who converted to Hinduism earlier this month and changed his name, and other speakers were seen making provocative speeches in some video clips which have been widely shared on social media.

The Uttarakhand Police's tweet (in Hindi) reads: "Taking cognizance of the video that is going viral on social media for spreading hatred by giving provocative speeches against a particular religion, a case has been registered against Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Narayan Tyagi and others under Section 153A IPC in Kotwali Haridwar and legal proceedings are in progress."

Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy made a faux pas on Friday when he said the BJP would win the upcoming civic body elections in West Bengal with a huge majority.

"The BJP will emerge victorious everywhere in the upcoming municipal polls," Mukul Roy said during a visit to Bolpur in Birbhum district, as quoted by a news agency.

As others looked at him in disbelief, Roy went on to tell reporters, "The TMC is BJP and vice versa."

The UP government is set to present one crore youth with free laptops and tablets on the occasion of the birthday of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 25. The digital devices will be distributed by CM Yogi Adityanath.

Meritorious students and girls from all the districts of Uttar Pradesh will come to Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium. So far, more than 38 lakh youth have registered for the distribution.

Students of MA, BA, BSc, ITI, MBBS, MD, BTech, MTech, PhD, MSME and Skill Development will be receiving the mobiles and tablets.

Reiterating his concerns over “a serious threat” to the state’s peace, security and law and order from across the border, former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday condemned the blast in Ludhiana Court complex, which left one dead and six others injured.

Hoping that Punjab Police and other security agencies will closely coordinate with each other in investigating the blast, the former CM regretted the “diversionary tactics” by the Punjab government, particularly Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

“It is not only unfortunate but highly irresponsible on part of the CM to jump to conclusions by trying to construct a link between the blasts, the sacrilege incidents and the FIR against an Akali leader without any investigation,” Captain said, observing that Channi must speak out with facts and not with political rhetoric, lest it bails out the real culprits and perpetrators.