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Hindustan Times
5 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Telangana BJP faces internal rift ahead of local body polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana facing internal wrangling ahead of the elections to the local bodies in the state in September and to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) scheduled in December, party functionaries familiar with the development said. At least three prominent OBC leaders – Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind and Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh – were in the race for becoming the state BJP president, but the party high command chose Ramachander Rao, a relatively soft-spoken leader, for the post. (X/@Arvindharmapuri) At a time when 42% reservations for the other backward classes (OBCs) has become a big political issue in the local body elections, the appointment of an upper caste leader N Ramachander Rao as the Telangana state BJP president on July 1 has triggered discontent within the party. At least three prominent OBC leaders – Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind and Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh – were in the race for becoming the state BJP president, but the party high command chose Ramachander Rao, a relatively soft-spoken leader, for the post. Raja Singh, who alleged that he was denied the opportunity to file his nomination on June 30, resigned from the party and the high command accepted his resignation within no time. 'Raja Singh is the lone BJP MLA from Hyderabad and his leadership is crucial for the party to win the GHMC elections. So, the way the BJP leadership treated him was humiliating and it has terribly upset the BJP cadre in Hyderabad. It will definitely have an impact on the party prospects in the GHMC polls,' a senior BJP leader, who refused to be quoted, said. In fact, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind, too, expressed his dissatisfaction over the way Raja Singh issue was handled. 'All said and done, Raja Singh was an ideological icon for the BJP. But he was upset with the party on certain issues and quit the party. I am sure the party will take him back. It is a question of just one telephonic call,' Arvind told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday. On the other hand, Eatala Rajender, who was the front runner for the state BJP president post, was upset not only for being denied the opportunity, but also for being sidelined in the party, particularly in erstwhile combined Karimnagar district, which he had dominated when he was in the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the past. According to the party leader quoted above, Rajender has been facing troubles from Union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay, who represents Karimnagar parliamentary constituency. 'Obviously, Sanjay doesn't want Rajender to wield influence on the party in Karimnagar, as the latter is a relatively new comer to the BJP – he had joined the BJP in June, 2021,' he said. At a programme held in Huzurabad assembly constituency last week, Sanjay made an indirect attack on Rajender, who had earlier represented the constituency in the past. He said the party would not encourage leaders who worked for their individual domination, but only those who were loyal to the party. 'Why has groupism developed in Huzurabad when such divisions are not seen elsewhere in the state?' he said, adding that such indiscipline will not be tolerated in the party. Within hours of Sanjay's comments, BJP Huzurabad constituency convener Mada Goutham Reddy, a close follower of Rajender, resigned from the party's primary membership. 'None of Rajender's followers was invited for Sanjay's programme in Huzurabad,' he alleged. The next day, Rajender's followers came to his residence in Hyderabad and brought pressure on him to decide his future course of action. He tried to convince them saying he would fight it out and get justice for them. Speaking to his followers, Rajender alleged that during the previous Huzurabad assembly election, several people conspired to defeat him. He said that insults and humiliation are part of politics, and he endured them. 'I only believe in a straight fight, not a street fight. I cannot engage in double standards or backstabbing politics. I fight my enemies head-on. I have a history of fighting for a separate Telangana state,' he said. Without taking the name of Bandi Sanjay, Eatala said some leaders in politics are living on foundations of lies. 'I only know how to work sincerely for the party. Time will prove everything. A brave person never backs down and knows the limits of patience,' he said. He clarified that whichever party he was in, I would work with dedication. 'I don't need anyone's mercy. Not just in politics — covert players exist everywhere. We should ignore them,' he added. On the ongoing cold war between Rajender and Sanjay, Dharmapuri Arvind said the party should resolve the dispute at the earliest in the best interest of the party. 'The BJP leadership should constitute a neutral committee to look into the disputes between the two MPs. Newly-appointed state BJP president Ramachander Rao should take the initiative in this regard. If necessary, he should seek the intervention of party national leadership,' Arvind said.
The Hindu
7 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Detention of migrant workers from West Bengal
Bharat Karmakar is jolted when oil droplets from an overheated kadhai hit his arms on a sultry June afternoon. Having absent-mindedly dropped a chunky fish head into the wok, Karmakar, instead of stirring, had carelessly held on to the khunti (spoon for deep-frying, in Bengali), while staring at the speeding vans of the Delhi police. For the 50-year-old, who has been single-handedly managing a Bengali eatery on the Delhi-Haryana border, seeing the police vans was not new. However, in the past few months, the connotations have changed. 'The Delhi police would often enter this part of the highway to patrol or follow illicit liquor traders, but now they are looking for Bengali-speaking labourers who work in brick kilns,' he says. The road in front of Karmakar's shop leads to Haryana and ends on the Rajasthan border, with both sides of the road dotted with brick kilns. He says in the 37 years he has been running the eatery, this is the first time that there is vigilance on Bengali-speaking people. Police in plain clothes have come by in the past few months asking about the number of Bengali-speaking people coming to the shop and if he ever suspected that they were Bangladeshis from their accents. 'In this part of the world, only people from West Bengal and Bihar come in search of maach-bhaat (fish-rice). Following their trail, the police come to ask questions,' he says, while stirring the kadhai full of macher matha diye chorchori. The police arrive On the same day, about 15 km from his shop, six Bengali-speaking persons from West Bengal's Cooch Behar district were detained by the Delhi police on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. While one of them was released two days later, the remaining five were released six days later following the intervention of the West Bengal government. The persons who were detained say they hail from Dinhata in Cooch Behar and were employed as daily wage workers for 10 years in the National Capital Region (NCR). They claim that they used to reside in one of the 111 Indian enclaves located deep inside Bangladesh that were exchanged with 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India as per the Land Boundary Agreement signed between the two countries in 2015. Following the agreement, they decided to move to Dinhata. They say people living in the enclaves in India were given the choice of moving to Bangladesh or staying put and becoming Indian citizens. The Delhi police had seen Bangladesh-related documents on the mobile phones of women and men from this part of India. Around 4 p.m. on June 25, two vans of the Delhi police zoomed into Vikas Bhatta, a brick kiln in Jhajjar, Haryana, recalls Trilok Kumar, 50, the manager of the kiln. At least six police officers, some in uniform and others in plain clothes, stepped out and walked straight to the staff quarters, he says. 'They did not stop to answer our questions about why they were here,' he adds. Inside the cluster of bare-brick rooms, with a common kitchen and two bathrooms, the police officers looked around and asked for labourers who spoke Bengali, he recalls. In the next few minutes, Shamshul Haque, Rizaul Haque, Rabiul Haque, Rashida Begum, Roman Haque, and Johurul Miyan were allegedly asked to produce their government IDs to prove that they were Indian citizens. 'We informed them that the verification of each of the workers had been done by the Bahadurgarh police (in Haryana). Yet, the officers of the Delhi police said the workers were lying and took them away in their vans,' says Trilok. They were taken to the Shalimar Bagh police station in Delhi and detained on suspicion of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, he adds. As Trilok and his supervisor, Ajay Kumar, paced up and down near the main gate of the bhatti (kiln), they received a call from the police station. 'The SHO (station house officer) told me that the workers had all confessed that they were from Bangladesh and that they were to be deported the next day by flight. He said I must arrange to send their families to the chowki (police station) by 10 that night,' says Ajay. Connecting families Ajay dialled the sole number he had of one of the families of the detained persons in West Bengal. He got in touch with Sharmeen Khatun, Shamshul's 19-year-old daughter, and told her that her father and uncle, along with their neighbours, had been picked up by the police. He reassured her that they had not committed any crime. Sharmeen was not surprised by the development, but was scared about what would happen to her relatives. 'I reached out to the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board and asked for help,' says Sharmeen, adding that barring the information Ajay had given her, she had no other details for close to 48 hours since the detainment. The West Bengal government had set up the board in 2023 to take care of the needs of migrant workers. Ajay and Trilok booked a car and took the wife and minor son of one of the detainees to the police station. 'We packed all their documents — Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, land documents, and travel passes (issued by the Indian government to those who had changed their nationality in 2015) — to show the police that they were innocent,' says Trilok. However, when they reached the police station at 8 p.m., the police allegedly took the documents and detained the woman and her child. On June 27, Ajay recalls 52-year-old Johurul getting out of an autorickshaw in front of the iron gates of Vikas Bhatta. 'He had bruises on his legs and hands, and they were swollen,' he says. Johurul broke down and claimed that the police had thrashed him, says Ajay. Johurul says the police used a belt-like patta made of coarse material to beat him up. 'They took me aside in the same cell where all of us were kept. They began incessantly hitting the soles of my feet and then my arms, coercing me to say that I was a Bangladeshi, but I stuck to the truth,' he says. He adds that the detainees were first kept in a lock-up at the police station and a day later taken to a detention centre near Azadpur Mandi, a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Delhi. 'At the detention camp, the men were kept separately from the women and children,' he says. Action and reaction Trinamool Congress MP Samirul Islam, who heads the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, alleges that the migrants were harassed simply because they were 'Bengali-speaking Muslims'. He claims that BJP-ruled States are hounding Bengali Muslims by branding them as Bangladeshis. On July 4, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West) Bhisham Singh said he was told by his subordinates that the six persons were picked up from a railway station in Delhi. The kiln in Haryana is outside the Delhi police's jurisdiction. 'They were detained just for a day for verification when they were trying to flee,' he said. 'People who work in the brick kiln have been leaving the city ever since the monsoon hit the northern States,' he added. This is standard practice as the kiln is shut through the rains. Singh said he was told that the six workers were from Bagerhat in Bangladesh. On July 9, he admitted they were 'illegally detained' and that people should not be kept in detention for more than 24 hours. 'However, we never beat up anyone, even if it is proved that they are Bangladeshi nationals.' He said the six had produced their Aadhaar cards, but the document is no longer considered a proof of Indian citizenship. 'People must have a voter ID card to prove that they are from India.' In the first term of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre (2014-2019), there was a push for Aadhaar cards. Many government facilities were inaccessible unless an Indian national possessed the document. Singh said while all six detainees were released after their documents were verified, they 'confessed' that they were originally from Bangladesh. He also said the police found call detail records and monetary transactions linked to mobile numbers in the neighbouring country. Bengalis in Delhi Rizaul confirms this. 'They found Bangladeshi documents on our devices because five of us were Bangladeshi citizens till 2015. After the Land Boundary Agreement, it was left to us to choose which country's citizenship we wanted,' he says. The 42-year-old adds that while they tried telling the police the full story, the investigators did not want to listen. He adds that the transactions were money transfers to his ageing parents, who live in the Phulbari subdivision of Bangladesh. Rizaul is one of the 922 people who registered their names for Indian citizenship in 2015. 'My brothers and I chose to become Indian citizens, while Ammi (mother) and Abbu (father) wished to take their last breath in our ancestral home in Bangladesh,' says Rizaul. The family found a place in Dinhata, while several people settled in two other camps in the district: Haldibari and Mekhliganj. In August 2024, sources say the Ministry of Home Affairs had ordered a nationwide crackdown on Bangladeshi nationals staying illegally in India. Bengali and Bangladeshi language, food, and dress habits are similar. A senior official of the West Bengal government says on condition of anonymity that those who hail from the enclaves have been struggling more than other Bengalis. 'The sight of an old Bangladeshi document has become proof enough for officials to harass and later deport people who possess them,' he says. On July 2, Shamshul and the five others boarded a train back to their home town. 'In 2016, when I got this job offer, I gathered some of my neighbours and brothers from my village and set out for work in Delhi and Haryana. However, we have to leave now as we are being targeted for speaking Bengali and wearing lungis,' he says, unsure of their future. Shamshul, who is a contractor, says they can make up to ₹300 a day in West Bengal, but there is no regular work. In the NCR, they can make up to ₹600 a day, with guaranteed work. Rizaul agrees, saying they would not have put their safety at risk if there was work in their home State. 'After the monsoon, despite the risks, I will consider going back. How else will I feed my wife and children?' he says. The government official says almost all men in West Bengal's villages work outside the State. alisha.d@ Edited by Sunalini Mathew
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Daily Briefing: Highlights of the UK-India trade deal
Good morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting London, has signed the landmark free trade agreement with his British counterpart, Keir Starmer. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) comes against growing volatility triggered by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. The CETA promises to enhance bilateral trade, provide Indians with greater access to British products, ranging from cosmetics to cars, and allow for tariff-free access to 99% of Indian imports to the UK. Here's a look at some significant gains for India and the UK: 👉 The UK will eliminate import duties of up to 20% on job-creating sectors such as textiles, footwear, gems and jewellery. 👉 Indian food sectors, including seafood, dairy, and meat, will enjoy zero duties. Tariffs on tea and coffee have also been scrapped. 👉 In a first, India has allowed UK firms to participate in government tenders, giving them Class Two status under 'Make In India' rules, which require 20-50% domestic value addition. 👉 India has also halved the import tariffs on Scotch whisky, from 150% to 75%. Premium brands like Chivas Regal, Ballantine's, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, and Johnnie Walker are set to become more affordable. This gives Scotch distillers access to the world's largest whisky market by volume; however, the Indian alcoholic beverage industry has raised concerns over potential dumping. Also read: The history behind Scotch whisky 👉 You may see more British luxury vehicles on the roads as the CETA slashes duties on internal combustion engine cars to 30-50%. However, the benefit will be quota-based and apply to a limited number of vehicles. The duties will be further reduced gradually over the years. Zero-emission cars will also see reduced tariffs, depending on their cost, benefiting automakers like Jaguar Land Rover, a manufacturer of SUVs. 👉 Lastly, the UK and India have also agreed to ease the exchange of services. They will now require temporary employees to pay social security contributions only in their home countries, which would mean greater take-home salaries. Where the chips fall: The abrupt resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice-President hints at growing differences between the ruling BJP and the man it once welcomed as 'kisan putra' after his election in 2022. His acceptance of the Opposition's impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma, much to the government's chagrin, may not have been the sole reason for his exit, but was probably the last straw, writes contributing editor Neerja Chowdhury. The fallout from Dhankhar's exit is still unfolding, but Chowdhury opines that the next Vice President is unlikely to be someone outspoken. 🎧 For more on Dhankhar's resignation, tune in to the latest '3 Things' podcast episode, where we discuss the developments with our political reporter, Liz Mathew. Fall and fall: On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched over 35 locations in Mumbai linked to industrialist Anil Ambani, as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged Rs 3,000 crore bank loan fraud. The latest setback to the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group comes at a time when it was looking to recover from a years-long turbulent journey marked by debt defaults, financial losses, and insolvency proceedings in the wake of the Ambani brothers' split. Data loss: The April security breach at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the country's apex organisation in the sector, resulted in the loss of 'crucial data' related to recruitment and research projects. Here's what an ICAR committee report states. Rules of the game: The National Sports Governance Bill, introduced by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, proposes two significant changes to how sports are governed in the country. It will establish a National Sports Board with broad powers to oversee the functioning of federations, as well as a National Sports Tribunal to resolve disputes. My colleague, Mihir Vasavda, spoke with eminent sports lawyer Nandan Kamath about the key aspects of the Bill and why it was necessary. Smokescreen? The Maharashtra House cleared a Special Public Security Bill earlier this month to curb 'Left Wing Extremism (LWE)'. Columnist Suhas Palshikar points out the gaps in the legislature's language, which could leave social activists vulnerable and criminalise dissent. Read. ♟️ The Women's Chess World Cup has reached an interesting stage, with the final battle set between two Indian candidates. The battle is also intriguing because on one side is a young, ambitious 19-year-old who just defeated a former world champion, and on the other is the first Indian woman to become a grandmaster. At 38, Koneru Humpy is twice the age of Divya Deshmukh, who just completed the first of three norms required to become a grandmaster — and India's fourth woman grandmaster. That's all for today, folks! Happy weekend-ing! Sonal Gupta
