Oops! Goa polls ahead! Tejasvi Surya withdraws call to convert Muslims, Christians to Hinduism

News Network
December 27, 2021

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Mangaluru, Dec 27: The Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Bangalore South, Tejasvi Surya today unconditionally withdrew his call to convert Christians and Muslims to Hinduism. 

Surya tweeted: "At a program held in Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt two days ago, I spoke on the subject of 'Hindu Revival in Bharat'. Certain statements from my speech have regrettably created an avoidable controversy. I therefore unconditionally withdraw the statements."

Surya’s controversial remark had followed the introduction of the anti-conversion Bill by the BJP government in Karnataka, which was passed by the Assembly amidst protests by the Opposition.

Sources said Surya, who is considered close to the central BJP leadership, was told to issue the statement in light of the coming Goa elections, where Christians form a sizeable chunk of the population. It is the first time perhaps that the MP, often accused of incendiary statements, has issued such a clarification.

At the Mutt programme, Surya had said: “There are people who belonged to Hinduism but were converted to Islam or Christianity. It is our duty to bring these people back into the fold of Hinduism. Also, Hindus in Pakistan who were converted to Islam should be brought back into the fold.”

Calling Hindu religion “tolerant, scientific, progressive and forward-looking”, he added, “All the mutts and temples should have annual targets to bring back people to Hindu religion. For instance, there were people who had to undergo religious conversion because of Tipu Sultan… It is important to bring these people back to the fold of Hinduism. That is the only way a renaissance can happen.”

The BJP had finished behind the Congress in the last Assembly elections in Goa but managed to form the government. This time, apart from the Congress, the BJP is facing a resurgent AAP and the newbie Trinamool Congress.

Earlier this year, Surya had embarrassed the BJP by saying before the Tamil Nadu elections that the BJP wanted to end ‘Periyarism’ (all the main political parties in Tamil Nadu, including BJP ally AIADMK, swear by Periyar, who advocated atheism).

During the anti-CAA protests, Surya had courted controversy saying that only the “uneducated, illiterate, and puncture-wallahs (people who work in garage and tyre repair shops)” were protesting against the Act.

Karnataka has become the latest BJP-ruled state to bring in an anti-conversion Bill – officially called the Karnataka Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021. Prohibiting conversion from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, fraud, allurement or marriage, it advocates one of the strictest punishments for anyone doing this.
 

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News Network
November 25,2024

Udupi: Six junior artists from the prequel of Kannada blockbuster film ‘Kantara’ were injured, when the bus they were travelling in overturned in the district, police said on Monday.

According to police, the accident occurred near Jadkal on Sunday night when the mini-bus carrying the crew of the film overturned.

“The incident happened while they were returning to Kollur after completing the shoot at Mudoor in Jadkal. The mini-bus was carrying 20 junior artistes when it met with the accident,” a police officer said.

The injured were rushed to hospitals in Jadkal and Kundapur for treatment, they said.

The Kollur police are investigating the matter.

"The news making rounds is completely false. The Kantara: Chapter 1 team began shooting at 06:00 AM today, and everything is proceeding as normal. A minor accident occurred 20 kilometres away from the shooting location, involving a local bus carrying some members of the Kantara team. However, no injuries were reported," a source close to the production said.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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