‘Missions' statement on attacks on African students painful'

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday termed as “unfortunate, painful and surprising” the African missions statement describing the attacks on African students as “xenophobic and racial”, saying the Indian response to this cannot be called inadequate by any means.

She told the Lok Sabha that racial crimes are “preplanned”, which was not the case with the recent attack on the African students by a mob in Greater Noida, asserting that the government is committed to their safety.

Her deputy in the ministry V K Singh spoke to him about the prompt response taken by her as well as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and told him that the African missions could have sought a meeting with the Prime Minister if they were still not satisfied, she said. NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday assured that there is no need for Indians to be concerned about Islamic State (IS) as the terror group has little penetration in the country.

“There is no need for Indians to be worried about IS (penetration) in India. If a few youth get radicalised by them, we also have counterradicalisation programmes,” Rajnath told the Rajya Sabha. In response to a question by a member whether unemployment and poor socio-economic background -- and not just religious fundamentalism -- were responsible for Indian youths' radicalisation, Rajnath ruled out the possibility.

“We are running several programmes for socio-economic uplift of minorities, including for the Muslims. These include skill development programmes, easy bank loans for business etc,” Singh said. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked the Home Minister if Saifullah, killed in a police encounter in Lucknow on March 8, had links with the IS. He said an American intelligence website said as much.

To this, Rajnath Singh said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was probing the matter. He said that “because of things found on Saifullah, some people concluded he had links with IS”. The Uttar Pradesh police had called Saifullah a “self-radicalised terrorist”, though Madhya Pradesh police said he was part of an IS module. NEW DELHI: The Congress is not inclined to move any amendments to the GST enabling bills in the Rajya Sabha before they are returned to the Lok Sabha but may support the amendments moved by other opposition parties. Sources said the party leaders will meet on Thursday to decide on whether to support the amendments moved by other parties on GST bills.

The Congress' top leadership discussed the issue at length on Wednesday and decided not to press or move any amendments in the four GST enabling bills. Congress president Sonia Gandhi chaired the meeting. It was for the the first time that Sonia Gandhi attended a strategy meet since her return from abroad.

During the meeting, sources said, the top party leaders discussed various aspects of GST bills and came to the view that the party would not oppose those since the first GST bill proposed by then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee included the proposal for formation of the GST Council. However, party vice president Rahul Gandhi met CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the afternoon and discussed the opposition strategy to be adopted in the Upper House.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has moved an amendment to the GST bills to include that anything passed by the GST Council should also get parliamentary approval. “It was discussed and a consensus emerged where it was decided that this amendment is not going to be taken forward as the Congress Party's amendment,” party spokesperson Rajeev Gowda told reporters. He said it is not going to be pressed because ultimately it opens up issues with regard to powers of Parliament and those of the GST Council “as the states also could come forward and say we also want to ratify whatever is being proposed to be passed.