TOP NEWS

Proclaiming respect for regional parties, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said his party does not want to be the “big daddy” and will carry out a joint fight against BJP. He said his remark at the Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’ that “regional parties cannot fight the ideological battle against BJP, and only Congress can do so”, has been misinterpreted.

The BJP accused the former Congress chief of harming India in his “hate” against PM Modi and alleged that his frequent critical remarks about the country from foreign soils amounted to “betrayal”.

Speaking at an interactive session at the “Ideas for India” conference in London, Rahul alleged that the BJP government and “deep state” in India is attacking and capturing institutions in the country. “So, the deep state, the CBI, ED, is now chewing the Indian state and eating it, much like in Pakistan,” he said.

Opposing madrassa education for children, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday that schools should impart modern education so that students have the choice to do anything in the future and religious education can be given at home. Entry to any religious institution should be at an age where individuals can make their own decisions, he asserted here.

Speaking at a media conclave by RSS-linked weeklies Panchjanya and Organiser, Sarma said children will not be willing to go to a madrassa if they are told that they won't be able to become a doctor or engineer after studying there and claimed to admit them to such religious schools is a violation of human rights.

Responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s scathing criticism in London of the Modi government, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said during a visit to the United States few years back, he clearly told local media that then prime minister of India and senior Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh was not an ‘underachiever.’

“When Dr Manmohan Singh was the country’s PM, I was on a visit to the US. There, the American press asked me if Dr Manmohan Singh was an ‘underachiever.’ Then, I replied that he is not the prime minister of the Congress but of whole India, and an Indian prime minister can never be an ‘underachiever’,” Chouhan, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wrote on Twitter.

Judges appointed to the Supreme Court usually get a tenure of 4-5 years but this is not enough to understand the working of the top court, justice L Nageswara Rao said in his retirement speech on Friday. He headed the bench that had ordered the release of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict AG Perarivalan two days ago.

A former Ranji player who has even acted in films, justice Rao completed six years as a judge of the top court. He was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge directly from the Bar in March 2016, which resulted in the extended tenure. Before him, this distinction was enjoyed by six senior lawyers.

“Now that I have retired, I can say on the issue of whether judges of the top court should retire at 65 years; Look at it from a different dimension,” justice Rao said at the farewell function organised for him by the Supreme Court Bar Association.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the transfer of the proceedings pending before the Varanasi civil judge (senior division) in connection with the Gyanvapi dispute to the Varanasi district judge for trial.

A bench presided by Justice DY Chandrachud said, “Having regard to the complexity of the issues involved in the suit and the sensitivity, we are of the view that the suit before civil judge (senior division) Varanasi should be tried before a senior and experienced judicial officer of the UP higher judicial service. We accordingly order and direct that the suit shall stand transferred from civil judge (senior division), Varanasi, to the court of the district judge, Varanasi, for trial...”