Victims of atrocities suffer crushing defeat in UP as Cong hits rock bottom

News Network
March 10, 2022

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An intense campaign, huge crowds, attractive slogans and charismatic leadership. Yet the Congress has hit rock bottom in Uttar Pradesh, putting a question mark on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's leadership abilities.

The party is likely to end up with just two seats, compared to the seven it won in 2017.

The party has faced drubbing in its one-time bastions -- Rae Bareli and Amethi -- where the party has not won even a single seat.

When Priyanka announced 40 per cent reservation for women in tickets, many political pundits thought it would be a game-changer for the Congress.

However, the party turned this into a non-serious issue when it gave away tickets to victims of atrocities. The move earned accolades for the party, albeit temporarily, but none of the 'victims' could enlist public support and votes.

The battle for votes is strikingly different from a battle for emotions and this election has proved it.

Priyanka, when she opted for victims as candidates, was probably trying to replicate the success story of Phoolan Devi in the nineties.

Phoolan, who was a victim of gang-rape, was also charged with the massacre of 21 Thakurs in Behmai.

The then Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav's decision to field Phoolan for the Lok Sabha elections created more controversy than commendation but Phoolan did go on to become MP.

Priyanka fielded Asha Singh, mother of the 2017 Unnao rape survivor. Former BJP MLA, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who was convicted in the case in 2019, enjoys considerable influence in Unnao and even has sympathy since many believe he was wrongly convicted.

A four-term MLA, Sengar's family had strongly opposed the ticket to Asha Singh who now lives in Delhi with her daughter.

"We have none in the family. I am fighting this election to get justice for my brother-in-law, and for all the victims of rape," she had told reporters when she got the ticket.

Asha Singh turned her campaign into a personal battle rather than a political one and she has lost the polls.

Another player of the Congress victim card is Sadaf Jafar, who became the face of the anti-Citizen (Amendment) agitation in the state after she was kicked in her stomach. She contested the Lucknow central seat and lost.

The Congress fielded Ritu Singh from the Mohammadi seat in Lakhimpur. Ritu Singh hit the headlines when her sari was pulled off by the police personnel during the panchayat polls last year.

The leader of ASHA workers in state Poonam Pandey -- who was allegedly assaulted by men in khaki when she tried to meet Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Shahjahanpur to voice the problems faced by the ASHAs in state -- was fielded from Shahjahanpur.

Both Ritu Singh and Poonam Pandey lost without even putting up a decent fight.

Another victim candidate is Umbha's tribal activist, Ram Raj Gond, who fought for the victims of the massacre in Obra in east Uttar Pradesh.

According to a senior party leader, "The experiment failed because these victims had not been trained to fight political battles. NGOs can help you fight for justice and get headlines but they cannot make you win elections. If Priyanka wanted to give 40 per cent tickets to women, she should have started preparing these women candidates, at least, a year ago."

Another party functionary admitted that when tickets were being announced, the focus was to ensure 40 per cent representation to women and not on the quality of candidates.

The dismal performance of the Congress under Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's leadership is now bound to impact her future as a leader in the Congress.

The party, in her tenure, has already expelled several leaders while an even larger number has left the Congress, blaming the leadership -- rather lack of it.

Its vote share has been on a steady decline. It was at about 6.25 per cent in the 2017 Assembly polls and has slipped to 2.4 per cent in this election.

The state of affairs in the party can be assessed for the fact that state party president Ajay Kumar Lallu has faced a humiliating defeat from the Tamkuhiraj seat where he trailed behind the BJP and SP candidates. 

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News Network
November 11,2024

Udupi, Nov 11: A traveller reportedly lost ₹4.1 lakh after attempting to book a cab online in Udupi. 

At around 1:30 PM on November 7, the man from West Bengal searched for car rentals on Google and selected a website named "Shakti Car Rentals." Shortly after, he was contacted by someone claiming to be "Rohit Sharma," who directed him to pay a registration fee of ₹150 on the site.

After unsuccessful payment attempts via both his Canara Bank debit card and SBI credit card (without receiving an OTP), "Rohit Sharma" instructed him to pay the driver directly. But at 1:47 PM, he received messages showing deductions of ₹3.3 lakh from his SBI credit card and ₹80,056 from his Canara Bank debit card, totaling ₹4.1 lakh.

The complainant alleges fraud through a deceptive link disguised as a booking token fee. A case has been registered at Udupi Town Police Station.

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News Network
November 10,2024

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The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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News Network
November 10,2024

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Mangaluru: A tragic accident took place on Saturday at Chembugudde near Thokkottu, claiming the life of a 47-year-old woman after a tanker lorry ran over her. The victim, identified as Rahmat H Rashid, was riding pillion with her husband, Abdul Rashid G, on their scooter. 

The couple was traveling from Yenepoya Hospital to Bajpe when the scooter skidded on the poorly maintained road. Rahmat fell onto the road and was fatally struck by a tanker lorry that was coming from behind. Despite being rushed to the hospital, doctors declared her dead upon arrival.

The incident prompted a swift response from the DYFI Ullal Taluk Committee, which staged a protest on Saturday night, condemning the unsafe condition of the road. Nithin Kuthar, president of the committee, criticized MLA and Legislative Assembly Speaker UT Khader for failing to ensure safe infrastructure, despite touting the road as toll-free. 

Kuthar demanded immediate repairs, warning that the committee would march to the MLA’s office with black flags if the road is not fixed within a week.

Former DYFI State President Sunil Kumar Bajal also voiced frustration over the deteriorating condition of Thokkottu market, highlighting the struggles people face while crossing roads riddled with dangerous potholes. In response to public outcry, temporary repairs were made to the road at Chembugudde on Sunday, though locals remain wary and demand a more permanent solution. 

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