Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot appeared together in Jaipur after a meeting to review preparations for Bharat Jodo Yatra, attended by AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal. Pilot says the yatra will be welcomed in the State with enthusiasm and will be a “historic event”. They appeared together to speak to reporters after the meeting.
The development comes a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called both Gehlot and Pilot assets to the party. “When Rahul Gandhi has said that our leaders are assets then we are assets... where is the dispute then,” Gehlot said when asked about the former party president’s observation. “When the message has come from the top leader, we will work unitedly in the party’s interest.”
Gehlot’s remarks were in sharp contrast to the interview he gave last week to NDTV, calling Pilot, with whom he is caught in a tussle for power, a “traitor”. Asked to comment, Gandhi told reporters in Indore on Monday that both leaders were assets to the party.
“This is the beauty of our party that after our top leader says anything, there is no scope (for further argument),” Gehlot told reporters here.
Last week’s jibe by Gehlot — and a sharp response from Pilot — came just days before Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is scheduled to enter Rajasthan. The CM said all leaders together will make the yatra a success in the State.
“Rahul Gandhi also meant that every party worker is an asset,” he added. Gehlot on Thursday told NDTV that Pilot is a ‘ghaddar’ (traitor) who cannot replace him as he had revolted against the Congress in 2020 and tried to topple the State government. In response, Pilot said such “mud-slinging” would not help.
Will stop making films if Nadav Lapid can prove any event of ‘Kashmir Files’ not absolute truth: Vivek Agnihotri
The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri has said he will quit filmmaking if intellectuals, including Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, are able to prove that events depicted in his film are false.
A day after Mr. Lapid, who served as the chairperson of IFFI's international jury termed The Kashmir Files "vulgar and propaganda", Agnihotri challenged his detractors saying he will "keep fighting".
"I challenge the world's intellectuals and 'urban Naxals' as well as the great filmmaker who came from Israel if they can prove that any shot, dialogue or event of The Kashmir Files is not absolute truth, I'll stop making films. I'm not someone who will back down. Issue as many fatwas as you want, but I'll keep fighting," the Indian filmmaker said in a video statement shared on his official Twitter page.
Comments made by Mr. Lapid, viewed as an anti-establishment voice, came at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, Agnihotri in a cryptic social media post had said "truth is the most dangerous thing" as it can make people lie.
In his video, posted in the evening, the filmmaker said being attacked by "gangs" that want to divide India was not a new phenomenon for him.
"Such things are often said by terrorist organisations, urban naxals and the 'tukde-tukde' gang who wants to divide the country.
"What's surprising is that how an event organised by the government of India was used to support the narrative of terrorists who want Kashmir's separation from India and how many Indians living in India used it against the country?" asked Agnihotri.
The director, who won the National Film Award for best screenplay - dialogues for 2019's The Tashkent Files, said 700 people were interviewed as part of the research for The Kashmir Files .
"Were these 700 people whose families were butchered and gangraped were spouting propaganda and vulgarities? The place that used to be a Hindu-land (Hindu majority), no Hindus live there. Even today, Hindus are marked for murder and killed in front of your eyes. Yasin Malik, who confessed to his crimes, is rotting in jail today. Is this propaganda or a vulgar thing?" he said.
Written and directed by Agnihotri and produced by Zee Studios, The Kashmir Files portrays the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following the killings of people from the community by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The much discussed film, which opened to polarising reviews following its March 11 release, starred Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Mithun Chakraborty and Darshan Kumar.
In an Instagram post, Joshi described Lapid as a genocide denier.
It was unfortunate that a creative platform like IFFI was used for a political agenda "to preserve an old, false and jaded narrative about Kashmir", the actor, who is married to Agnihotri, said.
"For decades the international community remained silent on the sufferings of the Kashmiri Pandit Community. After 3 decades, the Indian film industry finally realised that it needs to tell India's story truthfully and objectively.
"... It is very unfortunate that a creative platform was used for a political agenda to preserve an old, false and jaded narrative about Kashmir. We are overwhelmed by the way people of India rose to defend The Kashmir Files against the rude and vulgar statements of a genocide denier," wrote Joshi.
Lapid’s remarks did not go down well with many. Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon reacted by saying that filmmaker Lapid has “abused” Indian hospitality. In an “open letter” to Lapid, the Israeli envoy, equated the film with Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust classic Schindler’s List and urged Lapid to “justify” his criticism.
Sudipto Sen, a jury member, has distanced himself from the Israeli’s director’s comments, terming them “personal”.
Interestingly, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut backed Lapid’s comments. “This is true about The Kashmir Files... It was propaganda by one party against another... The maximum number of killings in Kashmir have taken place after this film. Kashmiri Pandits and security personnel were killed... But, a party and the government were busy with publicity,” Raut said, asking, “Where were the The Kashmir Files people when the killings were going on in Kashmir, with even the children of Kashmiri Pandits launching an agitation?” He also demanded that some of the money earned from the film should be given to Kashmiri Pandits.
Supreme Court allows Mumbai Metro to pursue its case to fell 84 trees for ramp at Aarey metro car shed
The Supreme Court has modified its status quo order on felling trees in the Aarey Colony, allowing the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) to pursue its application before the Tree Authority for permission to cut 84 trees for a ramp at its metro car shed project.
“In such projects involving large outlay of public funds, the court cannot be oblivious to the serious dislocation which will be caused if the public investment which has gone into the project were to be disregarded… Undoubtedly, considerations pertaining to the environment are of concern because all development must, it is well-settled, be sustainable,” a Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and P.S. Narasimha observed in its order.
The court narrated the events which led to the State government’s decision to first accept its Technical Committee report of 2015, which had recommended the realignment of the metro car shed project primarily to Kanjurmarg, and then rescinded it later after receiving a communication from the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs in March 2022.
The letter from the Ministry had reportedly pointed out that the relocation of the project from Aarey to Kanjurmarg would lead to major cost, infrastructure and impact escalations.
The court said, at this stage, the factors represented in the Ministry communication cannot be disregarded. The State government had, after considering the entirety of the issue, restored the metro car shed project for metro line three back to Aarey from Kanjurmarg.
The Bench said it would not be possible to stay the State’s decision now. Besides, the court said a “substantial” number of trees in the area of the proposed depot had already been axed. “As already 2,144 trees were felled for the car depot while 212 trees were felled for the ramp. What is now sought is permission to apply to the Tree Authority for the felling of 84 trees pertaining to the ramp. It needs no emphasis that without a ramp, the work already completed would be of no consequence and be ineffective,” the court reasoned.
Considering the circumstances, the top court concluded that the MMRCL ought to be allowed to proceed with its application before the Tree Authority for permission to cut the 84 trees.
The court said the Tree Authority was at liberty to take an independent decision on the application and determine conditions. The court listed the case for hearing and disposal of the main special leave petitions in the first week of February.
The felling of trees is opposed by green activists and local residents. The case is based on a letter written by law student Rishav Ranjan in 2019 to the Chief Justice of India about the cutting of over 2,600 trees in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony.
The letter said Aarey was an unclassified forest and the felling of trees, robbing Mumbai of its green lungs, was illegal. The Bombay High Court, on October 4, 2019, refused to declare Aarey Colony a forest and declined to quash a Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s decision to permit the cutting of the trees for the metro car shed.
The Aarey Colony is located adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. It is home to five lakh trees and hosts a rich biodiversity.
Census reveals Christians are a minority in England; non-religious grow
Fewer than half the people in England and Wales consider themselves Christian, according to the most recent census — the first time the country’s official religion has been followed by a minority of the population.
Britain has become less religious — and less white — in the decade since the last census, figures from the 2021 census released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics revealed.
Some 46.2% of the population of England and Wales described themselves as Christian on the day of the 2021 census, down from 59.3% a decade earlier. The Muslim population grew from 4.9% to 6.5% of the population, while 1.7% identified as Hindu, up from 1.5%.
More than 1 in 3 people — 37% — said they had no religion, up from 25% in 2011. The other parts of the U.K., Scotland and Northern Ireland, report their census results separately.
Secularism campaigners said the shift should trigger a rethink of the way religion is entrenched in British society. The U.K. has state-funded Church of England schools, Anglican bishops sit in Parliament’s upper chamber, and the monarch is “defender of the faith” and supreme governor of the church.
Andrew Copson, chief executive of the charity Humanists U.K., said “the dramatic growth of the non-religious” had made the U.K. “almost certainly one of the least religious countries on Earth.”
In Brief:
Singapore Airlines has said Vistara will be merged with Tata group-owned Air India. As part of the transaction, SIA will also invest ₹2,058.5 crore in Air India. “This would give SIA a 25.1% stake in an enlarged Air India group with a significant presence in all key market segments. SIA and Tata aim to complete the merger by March 2024, subject to regulatory approvals,” SIA said in a release. Singapore Airlines (SIA) in October informed the Singapore Exchange that it was holding discussions with Tata Sons for the merger of Vistara and Air India. Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons in which the former owns 49% stake and the latter 51%.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.