Ranchi tense as 2 die in clashes amid row
RANCHI: Jharkhand’s capital city remained tense and in virtual shutdown on Saturday with heavy police presence in sensitive areas, a day after widespread violence led to the death of two persons and left eight others with serious injuries.
The injured are admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences. One of them, Nadeem Ansari, is in critical condition.
No untoward incident was reported from any part of the city on Saturday as security was beefed up across the state capital. With heavy police presence, streets across Ranchi remained deserted through the day as all markets were closed, except medical establishments and petrol pumps. Few vehicles were seen on the roads. Auto rickshaws started plying only in the afternoon. The violence-hit Mahatma Gandhi Road was barricaded and manned by personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force and Rapid Action Force. Security personnel conducted flag marches in the area.
Internet services remained suspended for an indefinite period and curfew was extended from Mahatma Gandhi Road on Friday evening to 12 police station limits of Ranchi on Saturday. Police would assess the situation on Sunday before taking a call on lifting prohibitory orders as well resuming internet services, officials said.
The last rites of the two deceased, Mohammad Mudassir Kaifi, resident of Hindpirhi, and Mohammad Sahil, resident of Karbala Tank Road, were conducted on Saturday, said a police officer.
A total 14 policemen received injuries in the clashes after Friday prayers, police said. As many as 13 persons were brought for treatment at RIMS, officials said.
“Of the 13, three were discharged after required treatment from the emergency itself. Two succumbed to their injuries,” said Dr Hirendra Birua, superintendent, RIMS. “Eight others, including one policeman, are under treatment in different wards. One person is critical. He is under treatment in the trauma centre and is currently on ventilator.”
Birua declined to dwell on the nature of injuries to the deceased and injured. “Bodies of the two deceased were handed over to their families after postmortem. We can’t reveal the findings at this stage...,” he said. “The injured are being treated in different wards as per the nature of their injuries.”
Chief minister Hemant Soren on Saturday ordered a probe into the violence, an official said. A two-member committee, comprising IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal, and additional director general of police Sanjay Latkar, was formed to investigate the violence, an official told PTI. The panel will submit its report to the state government in a week.
A special investigation team has also been set up to probe the incident, Ranchi’s deputy inspector general Anish Gupta said.
The injured and the deceased received bullet injuries after police opened fire on Friday evening after people started protesting against remarks made by former spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Navin Kumar Jindal of the Bharatiya Janata Party, their family members told HT at the hospital.
Of the four protesters being treated in the intensive care unit at RIMS, one of them, Mohammed Afsar, told HT that he was hit by six bullets during the police firing near Daily Market crossroad.
“I was standing near the parking stand next to the Hanuman temple when police opened fire. I have bullet injuries in both my legs. Doctors have pulled out four bullets while two more are to be extracted,” said Afsar. The other three protesters under treatment on beds next to Afsar also had injuries in the lower part of bodies. was disqualified, handing Sharma a narrow victory.
Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections finished at 4pm on Friday but counting was stalled in Maharashtra and Haryana over a web of allegations and counter-allegations of malpractice and bias. The Election Commission gave the go-ahead for counting only around 1am on Saturday.
In two other states, however, the results were announced on Friday. In Rajasthan, the Congress won three seats and the BJP one. Congress nominees Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari won as did BJP’S Ghanshyam Tiwari. Tiwari defeated Bjp-backed independent candidate Subhash Chandra.
In Karnataka, the BJP won three seats and the Congress one as the Janata Dal (Secular) drew a blank amid allegations of crossvoting. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Kannada actor Jaggesh and MLC Lahar Singh Siroya – all from the BJP – were declared winners. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh won from the Congress.
The results of the elections brought more embarrassment for the Opposition, which was not able to match the BJP’S challenge in Maharashtra and Haryana. In both states, opposition parties had the numbers to get their nominees through but were done in by infighting, an inability to convince smaller parties and independents to back them and cross-voting. It also means that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is already close to a working majority in the Upper House, will have the upper hand for the remainder of its term on pushing through key items of its legislative agenda.
Rajya Sabha members are elected based on relative strengths of their parties in state assemblies. In this round of biennial elections, 57 seats were on offer and 41 were declared uncontested last week. Of the 16 that went to the polls on Friday, the BJP won eight, the Congress won five, its allies won two and an independent backed by BJP won one.
This round of elections marked a victory for the BJP, which, purely on its own strength of law
RAJYA SABHA POLLS
makers, should have won six seats but picked up an extra seat in Karnataka and Maharashtra each, and propelled Sharma to a victory in Haryana. The Congress won 10 seats.
The BJP’S strong performances in assembly elections in recent years has buoyed its Upper House tally, which rose from 68 in 2018 to 95 before this round of biennial elections. The BJP effectively maintains its tally of 95 (this includes Sharma). This, in addition to the party’s demonstrated success at getting other parties to back it, will give it the edge in the presidential elections in July.
The BJP raised the stakes in this round by fielding extra candidates in Maharashtra (three candidates when it had the numbers for two) and Karnataka (three candidates when it had the numbers for two) and backing independents in Haryana and Rajasthan. For the Opposition, therefore, the challenge was to keep its lawmakers united and gain the support of independent MLAS, a test it failed largely, except in Rajasthan.
After the fireworks on Friday night, all eyes were on Maharashtra and Haryana, where counting was stalled for nine hours.
In Maharashtra, the BJP alleged that NCP’S Jitendra Awhad, Congress’s Yashomati Thakur and Sena’s Suhas Kande violated the model code. The BJP alleged Awhad and Thakur handed over their ballots to their party agents instead of only showing them the ballots, while Kande showed his ballot to two agents.
In the end, the EC cancelled Kande’s vote. This, coupled with possible cross voting and the inability of jailed ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, damaged the MVA.
In the state, a candidate needed 41 votes to win. In the first round, Goyal (48 votes), Bonde (48 votes), Pratapgarhi (44 votes), Patel (43 votes) and Raut (41 votes) won.
In the first round, Mahadik received 27 votes and Pawar got 33. In the second, Goyal and Bonde’s surplus votes (seven each) went to Mahadik (who was the second preference candidate), bumping him up to 41.
“Elections are contested not just for the fight, but the victory. Jai Maharashtra,” tweeted Devendra Fadnavis, former CM.
“The sixth seat was a risk for the MVA, but Uddhav Thackeray took the risk. In politics, one has to take risks,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.
“The MVA candidates received votes in proportion to the number of MLAS. However, one has to accept the miracle in which BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis succeeded in weaning away independent MLAS and also those from smaller parties, who would have otherwise supported the MVA. He was successful in bringing people close to him by using different means,” he said.
The loss will hurt the image of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, who both worked to coordinate the alliance’s strategy and sequester lawmakers away from poaching attempts. The state government is already battling corruption charges and the Rajya Sabha defeat is likely to cause further unrest.
In Haryana, the BJP went to the EC accusing Haryana Congress’s legislators BB Batra and Kiran Choudhry of “openly displaying their ballot papers”. Moreover, a feud between Hooda and Congress lawmaker Kuldeep Bishnoi hurt Maken’s chances.
With one independent MLA abstaining and one vote cancelled, the formula for winning came down to 29.34 votes. In the first round, Panwar received 36 votes, Maken 29 and Sharma 23. In the second round, Panwar’s surplus 6.66 votes were transferred to Sharma, pushing his tally to 29.66 – marginally above Maken. “Bishnoi has heard the voice of his inner soul to connect with the emotion of the Nation,’’ said chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
The results hurt the chances of Hooda, who was hoping to be the chief ministerial face of the Congress in the 2024 assembly elections.
Hooda said a report will be sent to the party high command and action initiated against Bishnoi.
The Congress on Saturday expelled Bishnoi from all party positions.
Kapur plays her endearing father Yusuf Khan. Mumbai-born actor Zenobia Shroff plays Muneeba, her strict but gossip-loving mother.
Religion is part of the plot – Kamala’s brother Amir (played by Indian-american actor Saagar
Shaikh) reminds her to pray before every test. Fawad Khan, Yasmeen Fletcher, Rish Shah and Nimra Bucha are among the cast.
Marvel’s score is in keeping with the theme. Sampled across the series are AR Rahman’s Oh Nanba, from the 2014 Rajinikanthstarrer Lingaa; Raja Kumari’s Goddess; Ritviz’s Sage; and Disco Gully by Ishq Bector, Kully Bhamra, and Angus Campbell.
In between are older songs, such as Ko Ko Korina, the 1966 Pakistani hit that is often considered South Asia’s first pop song. Pakistan’s first female rapper, Eva B, has an Urdu rap song, Rozi. And there’s Sohniye I Love You from the 1987 Pakistani film Babul Veer, and Coke Studio’s Peechay Hutt.
Vellani says she auditioned for the role because, unlike much of the superhero universe, Kamala’s story echoed her own. “I have loved the comic for years; it felt like I had no choice because I knew my 10-year-old self would hate me if I didn’t audition.”
For South Asian audiences, more local surprises await. Filmmaker and actor Farhan Akhtar makes his Hollywood debut with Ms Marvel, though which character he plays has not been revealed. A day before the series debuted, Akhtar tweeted that he was “proud to be part of their conscious inclusiveness”.
Ms Marvel is no lightweight superhero. Her powers – in the comics at least – range from superhuman strength and elasticity to regenerative healing and bioluminescence. And yet, as brown kids know, superpowers have no use against family.
Kamala does wear the occasional salwar kameez to keep her mother happy. She has to beg her parents to let her attend a superhero convention at night. She must fight through the familiar burden that carving your own identity will ultimately disappoint your parents.
they practice subsistence agriculture. They cannot be left unprotected to face global competition from developed countries where large-scale commercial farming is practised with astronomically high subsidies,” one of them said.
“Similarly, India has enacted a National Food Security Act. Under that, highly subsidised grains procured by government from farmers at MSP [minimum support price] are distributed to 800 million poor people. In fact, the government’s ₹3.40 lakh crore free 5kg ration per month under PMGKAY is in effect since April 2020,” this person added.
India is leading a group of developing countries along with South Africa, seeking a temporary waiver for certain provisions of Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement to provide universal access of Covid-19 vaccines and medicines to poor countries. “Interestingly, the Pope has supported the humanitarian proposal led by India,” a second person, who will be present in MC12 at Geneva said.
The US, EU, India and South Africa agreed on a draft “compromise agreement” on waiving intellectual property (IP) rights for Covid-19 vaccines, HT first reported on March 17. Another key issue for India is related to e-commerce and electronic transmission of goods and services. “Developed countries want to extend the customs duty moratorium further. But developing countries are losing over $10 billion in revenue on this count,” a third person said.
(With inputs from Zia Haq)
Correction
The pictures of BA Road at Dadar TT and Chembur Circle were erroneously interchanged on the ‘Monsoon Audit 2022’ page of the HT edition dated June 11, 2022. The error is deeply regretted.