Intolerance on the rise in Modi, Trump regimes, says Martin Luther King III

News Network
July 22, 2017

Bengaluru, Jul 22: A day after the BJP sent a strong political message by ensuring an emphatic victory for Ram Nath Kovind in presidential elections, a three-day conference in Congress-ruled Karnataka on Dalit icon BR Ambedkar triggered a parallel narrative on the state of Dalits in the country.

In his inaugural address at the symposium on Friday, human rights activist and social reformer Martin Luther King III drew a parallel between India and the US, saying both countries are now ruled by people who have “little regard” for the poor, and where there is no respect for the rule of law.

King III said both India and the US are seeing a rise in hate crimes — a sweeping indictment of the Modi and Trump governments.

"A California State University research says there have been over 1,000 hate crimes in the US since the 2016 election. And here (in India), cow vigilantes kill Muslims and Dalits as the police stand by," King III, the son of acclaimed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, said.

He was addressing 2,000 delegates at the conference, including Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi.

“If my father were here, he would have stood by the Dalit demonstrations that the country is seeing in different places,” King III added, drawing parallels between the values espoused by Ambedkar and King Jr.

The conference is being hosted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a time when the Congress is trying to retain power in a state that has a majority population of Dalits and OBCs.

The state is headed to polls in April 2018.

The conference is also symbolic of the nation-wide turf war for a larger contest in the offing for Dalit votes which has traditionally been with the Congress since Independence. The BJP, in the last three years, has made a concerted attempt to impinge on this constituency.

Siddaramaiah, who will be seeking a fresh mandate in the coming months, hit out at the central government.

"Today we are told that being a good Indian means we have to ignore the inequality and exploitation in our midst. I reject such majoritarianism. It is opposed to the spirit of the Constitution,” he said.

The three-day conference would conclude with a 'Bangalore Declaration' that outlines specific constitutional and institutional ways to respond to attacks on social justice.

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Pulimunchi
 - 
Monday, 24 Jul 2017

Thank God! He did not bite something else!

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Beltangady, Mar 17: A three-year-old boy was crushed to death under the wheels of an auto-rickshaw in front of his house at Panakaje Mundadi in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada. 

The gut-wrenching tragedy took place on Saturday, March 16 morning when the boy ran out of home to the road. 

The victim has been identified as Kaushik, the son of Chandrashekhar and Usha couple. Their home is situated adjacent to the main road at Panakaje.

It is learnt that the auto-rickshaw failed to notice the boy who suddenly darted towards the road and hit him. 

Even though the injured boy was rushed to a private hospital in Ujire and later to Mangaluru, he breathed his last. 

The Beltangady traffic police have registered a case in connection with the incident.

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News Network
March 26,2024

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Mangaluru: Officials from Cyber Economic and Narcotics Crime Police Station in Mangaluru have arrested a man for allegedly engaging in an online fraud by deceiving a person on the pretext of offering a part-time job. The arrested is Saddam Gauri alias Bavuri, 30, from Rajasthan.

City police commissioner Anupam Agrawal said the CEN police received a complaint regarding an online scam related to a part-time job offer.

Police registered a case under sections 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act, along with IPC Section 420. The complainant had received a link via WhatsApp from an unknown number, purportedly offering a part-time job opportunity.

Upon clicking the link, the complainant was instructed to complete certain tasks to earn money. However, during the process, the complainant incurred a loss of Rs 1.1 lakh.

Following an investigation into the matter, the CEN police successfully arrested the suspect and presented him before the court. In the course of arrest, police seized two mobile phones, eight debit cards, four bank cheque books, Aadhaar card, PAN card, and other relevant documents from the accused.

The arrest was made possible through the efforts of CEN station inspector Shyam Sundar and his team, under the guidance of City Crime Records Bureau (CCRB) ACP Ravish Nayak and DCP Siddharth Goyal.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 25: Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Gangavati MLA, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had formed the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha' (KRPP) ahead of the state assembly polls last year, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP.

Reddy today merged his KRPP with the BJP as he, along with wife Aruna Lakshmi and some family members, joined the party in the presence of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, state President B Y Vijayendra, and others.

Reddy had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

However, in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls he had extended support to the Congress candidate.

Calling it a "home coming", Reddy explained that the move to merge KRPP with the BJP is to "make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister a third time".

"Amit Shah had invited me to Delhi and told me that -- there is no question of extending outside support (KRPP supporting BJP in LS polls) and instead I should join the BJP and work for it, as I took my political birth in the party. Accepting it, I'm joining the party," he said.

Praising Yediyurappa and the leader's contribution in his political growth, Reddy said he is happy that he will be working in the party now with the veteran leader's son Vijayendra.

"I will work as a common party worker along with other leaders under the leadership of Vijayendra. I have not come with any conditions or expectations. Whatever responsibility the party gives me, I will honestly work.

"BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years," he added.

Welcoming Reddy back into the party, Vijayendra said his joining will strengthen BJP in the Kalyana Karnataka region.

"Liking Narendra Modi's leadership and accepting BJP's ideology, Reddy has rejoined the party. Reddy has said that Karnataka should have a larger contribution in making Modi PM once again -- to ensure that BJP and JD(S) alliance win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, he is merging his KRPP with BJP and is joining the party," he said.

Before the assembly polls last year, Reddy had been largely politically inactive for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the CBI for an alleged role in a mining scam. During this period, he had a brief stint ahead of the 2018 assembly polls when he campaigned for his close friend and former Minister B Sriramulu in Molakalmuru Assembly segment.

In the run up to the 2018 assembly polls, the then BJP national president Amit Shah, in response to a reporter's question, had distanced the party from him and stressed that "the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhana Reddy." Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015. Several conditions were imposed by the top court in its order which includes prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in Karnataka and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

Because of these restrictions, he had to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavati in Koppal district.

Expressing his displeasure about the way BJP had ignored him, Reddy had announced a new party last year and also took a dig at his brothers -- Karunakara Reddy and Somashekar Reddy -- and Sriramulu, as they remained with the BJP.

The three of them had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls, with Reddy's new party said to have impacted their performance in the election.

Sriramulu, a ST community leader and former Minister is now the BJP's candidate from the Bellary (Ballari) Lok Sabha constituency.

Reddy had played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP in the Ballari district and is still believed to enjoy a considerable clout there as well as in adjoining districts like Chitradurga, Koppal and Raichur, which could be useful for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, managing director of Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011.

The company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Ballari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari in Karnataka and the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy first came to political limelight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when he campaigned for BJP leader, the late Sushma Swaraj, who had contested against Congress' Sonia Gandhi from Ballari.

Former Congress Minister T John's son Thomas John also joined the BJP today.

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