
PM Modi reaffirms stand against terrorism at Jain leader's centenary celebration
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday underscored India's resolute response to terrorism and highlighted nine key resolutions aimed at building a sustainable and prosperous India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday attended the centenary celebrations of Jain spiritual leader Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. (DPR PMO)
Addressing the centenary celebrations of Jain spiritual leader Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, PM Modi said, 'Whoever challenges us (Jo hume chedega)...,' prompting the audience to complete the sentence with slogans. '...I didn't even say half of the sentence, and you completed it,' he added.
Jain spiritual leader Acharya Pragya Sagar lauded the Modi government for decisions taken during its tenure, including the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, publishing the new map defining the cartographic boundaries of the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, and Operation Sindoor, launched by India in the early hours of May 7 following the Pahalgam terror strike in which 26 people were shot dead.
'Despite not saying it in words, maybe you were giving your blessings to Operation Sindoor,' PM Modi said.
Also Read: How abrogation of Article 370 has helped India diplomatically
Modi also reiterated the nine key resolutions aimed at building a sustainable and prosperous India, including: conserving water, planting trees, promoting cleanliness, supporting local enterprises, travelling within the country to explore its cultural richness, encouraging organic farming, adopting healthy lifestyles, embracing yoga and sports, and extending support to the underprivileged.
Also Read: Op Sindoor instilled fear in minds of terrorists: Defence minister Rajnath Singh
He paid tribute to Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj for his contributions to Jain philosophy and society, which included authoring works on the official Jain flag and emblem, restoring ancient Jain temples across India, and promoting the Prakrit language.
The centenary of Acharya Vidyanand Maharaj will be observed from June 28 to April 22, 2026, with a series of cultural, literary, educational, and spiritual events across the country, as announced by the Union Culture Ministry. The inaugural ceremony brought together prominent Jain Acharyas, spiritual leaders, Members of Parliament, and scholars..
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

New Indian Express
35 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Railways face glitz or safety option
A fatal accident and a major project delay has reignited issues that have plagued the Indian Railways. Earlier this month, as many as 5 Mumbai commuters were killed when two overloaded trains travelling in opposite directions came dangerously close on a turn between two suburban stations. Those hanging out on footboards brushed each other and many fell off. In an unrelated development, three giant-sized tunnel boring machines (TBMs), on order to drill an underground route for a 21-kilometre stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, have been held up at a Chinese port. The ground breaking ceremony for the project was performed way back in September 2017 by Prime Minister Modi and then Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. However, issues mainly related to land acquisition have slowed the project. Now, the TBMs have added to the delay. Built in Guangzhou, China by German tunnelling specialist Herrenknecht, they were to reach India by October 2024, but clearance from the Chinese authorities has not come. Meanwhile, project cost has almost doubled to Rs 1.08 lakh crore, and completion of the new rail corridor has been pushed back to 2029. The massive Mumbai suburban train accident, and the lack of funds for improving safety, on the one hand, while huge funds are allocated to what P Chidambaram called 'vanity projects' like the Bullet Train', is triggering serious debate. Mumbai's death trap It is indeed a scandal that Mumbai's rail network has become a death trap. Suburban rail accident figures show 51,802 people died in accidents over two decades from 2005 to 2024 – an unacceptable 7 deaths every day.


The Hindu
40 minutes ago
- The Hindu
What are the issues around deportation?
The story so far:At least seven West Bengal residents who were pushed to Bangladesh by the Border Security Force (BSF) on suspicion of being Bangladeshis were brought back to India after the intervention of the State government. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on June 25 that residents speaking in their native Bengali language are being branded as Bangladeshis in some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States. Several people who were pushed from Assam to Bangladesh also returned as they were found to be Indians or that their citizenship cases were sub-judice. Why have matters escalated? After the regime change in Bangladesh in August 2024, the police across the country were asked by the Union Home Ministry to detect Bangladeshis who had illegally entered the country and were living here on forged documents. The drive assumed momentum after the Pahalgam terror attack in April and the subsequent 'Operation Sindoor'. The Ministry has issued instructions to States to deport undocumented migrants but in most cases pushbacks are happening. Around 2,500 suspected Bangladeshis have been pushed back so far. On May 10, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the government has decided to implement the 'pushback' mechanism to check infiltration instead of going through the legal route which is a long-drawn process. Home Minister Amit Shah has asked top intelligence officials to make an example of 'infiltrators' by detecting, detaining, and deporting them. In 2022, at an Intelligence Bureau meeting, Mr. Shah had asked officials to identify around 100 illegal migrants in each State, check documents and arrest and deport them. He asked them to continue with the crackdown even if neighbouring countries do not accept the undocumented migrants. What is the difference between deportation and pushback? Deportation is a legal process which involves detaining and arresting a foreigner suspected to be living in India without documents or who has entered the country illegally. The case is presented before a court and after exhaustion of all legal avenues, which includes conviction by the court, the country which the foreigner belongs to is contacted and the deportation takes places once the identity is confirmed. Pushbacks are not a legal procedure and there are no stated rules. They happen when a foreigner has been caught by the border security force on the international border and, depending on the intensity of the case or the discretion of the border personnel, they are either arrested, made to face the law here or pushed back. Since citizenship and foreigners are Union List subjects, it is the Home Ministry which delegates powers to deport foreigners to State governments. In 2024, the Ministry told the Jharkhand High Court that since the 'Central Government does not maintain a separate federal police force exclusively dedicated to the task of detection and deportation of illegally staying foreigners, action in this regard has been entrusted to the State police.' What is the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950? On June 9, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the State government was likely to enforce a 1950 law to identify and evict illegal foreigners, adding that under the law, district commissioners are empowered to declare individuals as illegal immigrants and initiate eviction proceedings. The 1950 Act was passed by Parliament amid communal disturbance and violence following the Partition of India in 1947 and creation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) bordering West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Act says that 'it extends to the whole of India', but has Assam-specific provisions. Section 2 of the Act says that if the Union government is of the opinion that any person or class of persons, having been ordinarily resident in any place outside India are detrimental to the interests of the general public of India or any Scheduled Tribe in Assam, the Union government may by order, 'direct such person or class of persons to remove himself or themselves from India or Assam within such time and by such route as may be specified in the order'; and 'give such further directions in regard to his or their removal from India or Assam as it may consider necessary or expedient'. What are the laws for foreigners? Till April this year, matters relating to foreigners and immigration were administered through 'pre-Constitution period' laws enacted during the First and Second World Wars, which were the Foreigners Act, 1946, Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and the Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, 2000. In April, Parliament enacted the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 repealing the old laws. Unlike Pakistan and Bangladesh borders, the rules for movement of people along Nepal and Myanmar are different. Nepal has a free-border agreement with India, and a Free Movement regime (FMR), allowing movement of people residing within 10-km on either side, exists along the India-Myanmar border. Following the May 2023 ethnic violence in Manipur, the Ministry in 2024 decided to fence the entire 1,643-km Myanmar border in the next 10 years. Post the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, over 40,000 refugees from Myanmar belonging to the Chin ethnic group who are closely related to the Mizo community crossed over to Mizoram. On March 10, 2021, the MHA sent a letter to the State governments of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram that the refugees should be identified and deported and that the State Governments have no powers to grant 'refugee' status to any foreigner as India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol. The refugees continue to live here. What is behind this recent drive? Since the April 22 terror attack at Pahalgam, the police has intensified the drive to detect undocumented migrants. Initially, they were taken by trains to border districts and then pushed to Bangladesh by the BSF. In some instances, migrants after being up picked from Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, were flown by planes to Agartala in Tripura and transported to the Bangladesh border by BSF personnel. The police and the BSF record biometrics and photographs of the undocumented migrants. It is to be noted that the BSF has never acknowledged any of the pushbacks. The Ministry has asked the States to verify the claims of undocumented migrants who claim Indian nationality after which District Magistrates are to send a report within 30 days, failing which the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer would deport them. In 2022, the Unique Identification Authority of India was asked to maintain a 'negative list' to stop undocumented migrants from procuring identity documents in the future.


Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Gujarat Confidential: ‘Not bidding for a job'
During an interaction at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) on Saturday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was asked if he would prefer being an education minister or a foreign minister. He replied: 'That'll sound as if I am bidding for a job so I won't answer that question'. Tharoor, who heads the parliamentary committee on External Affairs, is part of an all-party delegation, formed to convey a united message of India's zero tolerance against terrorism following the terror attack in Pahalgam and 'Operation Sindoor' in response to it.