AAP Leadership Incompetent, Stands Exposed: BJP After Amanatullah Khan's Arrest

New Delhi: After the arrest of another AAP legislator, BJP today said the party stood "exposed" on the issue of probity, accused it of being "insensitive" towards common people with its workers blocking roads causing inconvenience and termed its leadership as "incompetent".

"As far as probity in public life is concerned, you have seen that so many legislators are now being accused and charge-sheeted on various criminal charges. There has been a series of events which gradually exposed the true face of their so called probity.

Now, as far as their concern for common man is concerned, today's incident has made it very clear that they are totally insensitive and just for the sake of political mileage and vendetta, they are trying to put the common man in problem," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters.

AAP legislator Amanatullah Khan was today arrested after a woman alleged that he tried to mow her down when she visited his residence to raise the issue of power cuts, making him the tenth party legislator to be arrested.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Trivedi said during the dharna staged by AAP workers after the arrest, they blocked roads and made the common people suffer.

"Some of them had serious problems and trying to go to hospitals and they were requesting AAP workers to give them way, but unfortunately it was not done and this shows the level of insensitivity that AAP is having towards the aam aadmi," he said.

Mr Trivedi said, "AAP had two self-proclaimed causes of which they consider themselves as champion. One is probity in public life and the other their concern for common man."

Mr Trivedi said AAP workers were dissatisfied and the party leadership was incompetent both in terns of governance and controlling the party.

Mr Trivedi said there is an established procedure of law and protests in the event of an arrest "means you are not having faith in law and neither you are sensitive to the common man".

The BJP leader also attacked BSP for inaction against the workers who used abusive language against expelled party leader Dayashankar Singh's family and said it was done as part of a "well though-out strategy".

"There is a distinct difference between what happened on the part of BJP and what happened on the part of BSP. One of our former state vice presidents Dayashankar Singh had said something in his private capacity which party totally denounced and condemned.

Though he himself tendered an unconditional apology, our party considered his action unpardonable. Our state president tendered an apology and our leader in the Rajya Sabha and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tendered apology and we have expelled him from the party," he said.

On the contrary, whatever BSP has done is a well-planned agitation under the guidance of their top leadership, he said.

This News Original post on NDTV

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Ban Or Only Certify Films? Panelists Discuss CBFC's Role

Sudhir Mishra along with BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, CBFC member Vani Tripathi and journalist Kaveree Bamzai discussed whether CBFC is regulating films way beyond its parameters and if it is the correct time to make changes in its rules and regulations.

 New Delhi: At a time when many celebrities from the entertainment industry are demanding big changes in the certification process of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), a panel discussion was held at the 7th Jagran Film Festival here to examine its role in the current era.

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra along with BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, CBFC member Vani Tripathi and journalist Kaveree Bamzai discussed whether CBFC is regulating films way beyond its parameters and if it is the correct time to make changes in its rules and regulations.

BJP-appointed Pahlaj Nihalani, chief of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the controversy regarding Udta Punjab and role of the central government in censor board were some of the topics that the panelists put light upon in the discussion titled 'Is cinema over regulated?'

Talking about the role of the censor board, Tripathi said: "CBFC is not a censor but a certification body. I have been its member since last two years. The process (of certification) is very complicated and it's not a monolith. There is not just one person who decides the certification of a film. We are only there to certify a film and not cut it. The word 'ban' is not at all part of the vocabulary of CBFC".

Trivedi said that cinema has a big influence on the audience, that's why a regulatory body is need of the hour.

Comparing media with films, Trivedi added: "There is a difference between news and the impact of cinema. Earlier we used to say that literature is a mirror of the society. But I feel today cinema is a mirror of the society".

"The impact that films have on children is not the same when they read news. So when there is a medium which is influencing our perception towards the society, then there should be a regulatory body which can keep an eye on it. We should looks out that what message the film is spreading," he added.

Speaking on the industry's behalf, acclaimed filmmaker and screenwriter Sudhir Mishra said discussions between the common people, fimmakers and the government can only help towards improving the standards of CBFC.

"There are various ways of looking at cinema. All films are fiction. They are a point of view. An artist shouldn't take on the responsibility of showing a direction to the society. This is not his job. His job is to pop questions and to leave a message with his work. He is not there to influence others," Mishra said.

"CBFC should be a certification body. I think there should be a lot of conversation about it. That's what is interesting in society where films like Housefull or Mastizaade will put up another kind of debate. Finally people have to start rejecting films that they don't wish to watch," he added.

During the discussion, Tripathi said the revising committee is a welcome change as the rules followed by CBFC are very old and not changed over the time.

"We as a board work under the 1952 Cinematograph Act, the guidelines of which need to be badly amended and redrafted. The collaboration has to happen between the industry and the policy. Otherwise we will be fighting. I feel why we are talking about this now is because we are revisiting something that is creating issues," Tripathi said.

Giving a journalistic view point on the issue, Bamzai said: "All governments, regardless of which party is in power, want to control movies and media. The BJP may have particularly ham-handed it. They don't have the finesse of the Congress government".

He said that technology has "outstripped" movie-making to such a degree that it really doesn't matter.

"It's just a question of revenue. If Udta Punjab had been released with the 89 cuts (that CBFC asked for), then also people would have watched (the uncensored version) anyway. I don't know whether Nihalani knows that we are living in the internet age."

The five-day Delhi leg of the Jagran Film Festival, which kicked off on Friday, will end on July 5.

This News Original Post on NEWS18

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Why is BSP, Congress silent on Mathura clashes?: BJP

NEW DELHI: Attacking BSP and Congress on their "silence" over the Mathura clashes, BJP today alleged that they were trying to save the Samajwadi Party government in UP as because of their understanding to help each other in the Rajya Sabha polls.   
  
"It appears that all these parties are trying to save the Samajwadi Party government... Probably a reason is that in the Rajya Sabha polls, SP is supporting Congress and BSP too is supporting it in some states," BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, referring to understanding among SP, BSP, Congress and Ajit Singh-led RLD.      
    
"Why are you silent? Is it because the religion and caste of the killed is not of help in fulfilling your political ambitions," he said at a press conference here.   
         
Trivedi said the silence of these parties is as much to blame as the UP government. He also attacked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the issue, saying he otherwise speaks on all national and international issues but has maintained a surprising silence on the violence.      

Citing a sting shown by a private channel to hit out at the Akhilesh Yadav government, he said it was left with no face-saver now.    
"It is clear now that what happened in Mathura was not due to negligence but part of a conspiracy," he said.    
BJP alleged that sting has "exposed" the ruling party's collusion with Mathura's Jawahar Bagh encroachers.       
The party also asked the state government to immediately recommend a CBI inquiry so that truth could come out.     
 
"The sting has exposed the Chief Minister and his government. He had blamed officers for the violence. Now it has emerged that over 80 intelligence inputs were sent to the government but it did not act because it was in collusion with land mafia," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma claimed.   

The sting operation purportedly showed intelligence officials saying they had informed the state government about threats posed by the well-armed encroachers, who were also part of a sect.
    
Dwivedi rejected the state government's decision to appoint a one-man commission as an attempt for "cover up".       

He said a senior state minister, who is also a member of the ruling family, was part of the conspiracy behind this "institutional land grabbing" by SP. BJP has earlier blamed Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh's uncle and a Cabinet minister, for the Mathura episode.  

Defending our civilisation

THERE are three dimensions to the issue regarding the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. One, the technical aspect of revamp. Two, the allegation that the Modi government is trying to undermine Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders. Three, the charge that we are trying to alter history.

Regarding the first point, our government reconstituted the committee after its term ended. In fact, after that, we continued with two members appointed by the UPA government—Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Nitin Desai. Mahesh Rangarajan remained as director, despite the fact that he was appointed on May 19, 2014, three days after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced. The UPA government made the appointment after they lost the polls. Was it appropriate to make the appointment—and that, too, for a term of almost ten years, till Rangarajan retired?

Still, we did not remove him. Rangarajan resigned. The reason he gave was personal, not political. So, it is ridiculous to say that we are indulging in political vendetta.

We have been questioned about the need for revamp. The proposal for a revamp of the Nehru museum was made by the previous government. We are just taking it forward. We want to make it more modern. Nehru was not just a Congress leader—he was the first PM of independent India. We want the museum to reflect his political vision and how India started emerging post independence. We may have strong differences with Nehru, but still, the good work he and his government did should be portrayed properly and judiciously.

Regarding the second point, allegations of undermining Nehru-Gandhi icons are in contrast with facts. We celebrated 125 years of Nehru with due respect. Our government issued commemorative stamps in honour of Jayaprakash Narayan and even Ram Manohar Lohia, with whom we had clear political differences. In contrast, a senior minister in the UPA government had the inscription of Vir Savarkar removed from the Cellular Jail. We cannot indulge in that kind of political vendetta. Howsoever strong our majority is, and howsoever different our political thinking may be, those who fought for the country will get all the respect they deserve.

Regarding the third point, India was not born on August 15, 1947. It is the oldest living civilisation in the world. Freedom fighters should get their due for the roles they played. Nehru played a role, and got more than his due. Revolutionaries like Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and Khudiram Bose, who sacrificed their lives for the country, are yet to get their due.

Do we have the appropriate version of Indian history? Textbooks say Maharana Pratap was a “fanatic” patriot, that Chhatrapati Shivaji “looted” Surat, that Guru Tegh Bahadur created a “law and order problem”, that Raja Suraj Mal was a “plunderer”, and that the First War of Indian Independence in 1857 was a “sepoy mutiny”. And history books teach that Vedic hymns were the songs of shepherds.

On the contrary, it was the ancient Indian civilisation that gave zero, quadratic equations and theorems of geometry to mathematics. It also developed the most ancient medical system in the form of ayurveda, and the structured principles of statecraft in the form of Rajdharma and Chanakya Niti. German scholar Arthur Schopenhauer called the Upanishads “the product of the highest human wisdom”.

V.S. Naipaul correctly said that Indian history, as it is taught, demeans nationalism and national pride. India is the only country that accepts its history as written by foreigners and adversaries. We have to come out of the colonial mindset, as it was designed to subjugate and undermine the virtues of India. Then only can the true potential of India be realised.

Sudhanshu Trivedi is the BJP’s national spokesperson.

This New is Originally Posted on THE WEEK