Latest news with #Gandhians
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Cong's ‘Urban Gandhian' To Counter BJP's ‘Urban Naxal'
Nagpur: After Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal said he is an 'urban Gandhian', chief minister Devendra Fadnavis , who was in Wardha on Monday, said he has no issues with anyone calling themselves 'Urban Gandhians', and he in fact welcomes this. Sapkal's statement had been in response to BJP's allegations that 'urban naxals' have infiltrated many Gandhian institutions. Earlier, CM Devendra Fadnavis also said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is surrounded by people who have extreme left ideological leanings, taking the urban naxal jibe further. Fadnavis, on Monday, said, "I am happy to hear that he (Sapkal) realised that he is an urban Gandhian. We have no issues. We welcome urban and rural Gandhians." A few days ago, Sapkal said, "I am an urban Gandhian. I am also an urban Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar follower." The urban Gandhian mention was specifically targeted at an accusation made by BJP MLA Sumit Wandkhede that urban naxals have infiltrated Gandhian organisations based in Wardha. The district is home to Mahatma Gandhi's Sevagram Ashram. Fadnavis said that while not everybody can be labelled as an urban naxal, there were some specific inputs which led to these allegations being made. "In the recent past, some events were held here. And some organisations which were part of the event are known to have urban naxal connections, as per police records. So, while Sevagram Ashram is open to all, and that's the way it should always be, caution has to be taken," said Fadnavis. Some Congress party members from Nagpur shared their photo from Sevagram Ashram on social media with comments like 'I am Urban Gandhian', thus taking the war of words to the social media space.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Urban Gandhian': Cong responds to ‘Naxal' jibe
Nagpur: CM said he has no issues with anyone calling themselves 'urban Gandhians', and he, in fact, welcomes this. Fadnavis, who was in Wardha on Monday, made the comments after Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal said he is an 'urban Gandhian'. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Sapkal's statement was in response to BJP's allegations that 'urban Naxals' have infiltrated many Gandhian institutions. Earlier, Fadnavis also said Rahul Gandhi is surrounded by people who have extreme left ideological leanings. Fadnavis on Monday said, "I am happy to hear he (Sapkal) realised he is an urban Gandhian. We have no issues. We welcome urban and rural Gandhians." A few days ago, Sapkal said, "I am an urban Gandhian. I am also an urban Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar follower." The mention was targeted at an accusation made by BJP MLA Sumit Wandkhede that urban Naxals had infiltrated Gandhian organisations based in Wardha. The district is home to Mahatma Gandhi's Sevagram Ashram.
The Hindu
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Meet on national campaign for peace and harmony in Mysuru on June 25
A meeting will be held in Mysuru on June 25 ahead of the launch of Sadbhava, a national campaign for peace and harmony. A preparatory meeting will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Youth Hostel in Gangothri Layout in Mysuru before a public event at Kirurangamandira in Kalamandira at 6.30 p.m. the same evening, during which campaign posters and other publicity material will be released. Gandhians, intellectuals, theatre personalities, and artists from across the country will be arriving in the city on this occasion, said chairperson of the Reception Committee Sabiha Bhoomigowda in a statement here. The participants include senior Gandhian and national convenor of Bapu Ke Log Vijay Pratap from Delhi, theatre personality and national president of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) Prasanna, national working president of IPTA Rakesh Ved, senior Gandhian Saroja Tulsidas, former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia, actor Prakash Raj, and others, the statement said. 'This national initiative aims to resolve human conflicts — between people, communities, and religions — with love and harmony, in unison with nature and the environment. It is an effort to overcome war, violence, suspicion, and arrogance through the Gandhian path. The movement distances itself from power politics, corruption, bribery, and greed,' it added.
Hindustan Times
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
50 years on, Emergency lingers as memory and metaphor in Mumbai
June 25, 1975. Bombay woke up to an announcement on All India Radio that Emergency had been clamped across India in view of 'internal disturbances.' Heavy rains darkened the city's bleak mood. 'There was a blanket of fear over Bombay in the first few weeks. No authentic information was available thanks to press censorship. I was 23 and scared as the future suddenly seemed grim and uncertain,' said music critic and writer Amarendra Nandu Dhaneshwar, who would go on to spend two years in prison as a class 'A' detainee as political prisoners were then termed. But initially, there were also some people, especially among the city's middle class, who were happy to see government officials with their noses to the desk and suburban trains arriving on time, said Gujarati writer Ramesh Oza. But very soon the reality of the Emergency started to bite and the protest movement began, he added. Oza recalls sneaking into the ward at Jaslok Hospital where Jayaprakash Narayan, helmsman of the anti-Emergency stir, was undergoing treatment for kidney ailment. 'I was 21 and hugely nervous. I told JP-ji that I was keen on doing my bit to restore democracy. From his hospital bed he put me on to a senior Sarvodaya functionary, and got me inducted into the Bombay Sarvoday Mandal, a hub of civil rights activists.' Over the next two years, it was the city's socialists and Gandhians who kept the embers of the anti-Emergency crusade burning. Several of them were arrested under the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), while many others went underground. 'The Gandhian-Socialist brigade dubbed it doosri aazadi ki ladai [second war of independence],' said Dhaneshwar. But every act of resistance was met by greater repression. Young men were randomly picked up from their homes for vasectomy. 'Aapression' (operation) became a dirty word across Maharashtra's rural heartland. On October 14, 1975, popular Sarvodaya leader Prabhakar Sharma's death by self-immolation at Wardha stunned the city. But it also fired up a whole new generation of protestors, most remarkably a slew of fiery women leaders. They included the writer-scholar Durga Bhagwat, Gandhian academics Usha Mehta and Aloo Dastoor, Socialist firebrand leader Mrinal Gore, Pushpa Bhave, Rohini Gavankar, Sudha Warde, and Jana Sangh leader Jayawantiben Mehta. Under Bhave's leadership, a small group of volunteers would plaster anti-Emergency posters in railway compartments after the last train had chugged out of Churchgate station. The police were constantly on Bhave's trail, but she always managed to give them a slip. As did Mrinal Gore, who dodged the cops for a year by changing homes and hair styles, said her friend and poet Usha Mehta. Gore once tip-toed into Usha Mehta's Shivaji Park residence at mid-night, unrecognisable because of her closely cropped hair and'modern' look. 'Mrinaltai would help us in household chores, even as she kept an eye on the window to check if a CID official was hovering around,' recalled Mehta, who memorialised the Emergency in a book titled 'Aanibaani Aani Aapan' (Emergency And We). Their comrade-in-arms Durga Bhagwat was arrested in June, 1976. The police entered the Royal (now Mumbai) Asiatic Society, her second home, even as she was sitting down to lunch. The cops were embarrassed when Bhagwat offered them food, said noted writer-translator Ashok Shahane. There were others such as Minoo Masani, the editor of 'Freedom First' who contested censorship orders while publisher-writer Ramdas Bhatkal of Popular Prakashan which would go on to publish JP's Emergency memoirs, and Usha Mehta and academic DV Deshpande floated the 'Group of 1977' to provide financial relief and legal aid to Emergency victims. When the state department for publicity objected to the publication of a coruscating translated essay by Sunil Gangopadhyay in the literary magazine 'Satyakatha', the editor Ram Patwardhan chose to keep the page blank rather than lop off of a few paragraphs from Gangopadhyay's piece, said Sunil Karnik, who was then a sub-editor on the magazine. Long incarceration brought some sections of the Socialists and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh closer. RSS members Wamanrao Parab and Swaroopchand Goel, among others, were Dhaneshwar's cell-mates at the Arthur Road prison. Sudhir Joglekar, a senior Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad member, shared the Yerawada prison cell in Pune with Sadanand Varde and Jagannath Jadhav (both Socialists), and Datta Patil and Prabhakar Patil (both Peasants' and Workers' Party). However, the camaraderie forged in jail did not quite dissolve ideological differences, which eventually brought down the Morarji Desai -led Janata government in 1979. Fifty years on, Emergency continues to flicker on Mumbai's grey horizon both as memory and metaphor.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Only Congress can save country from communal politics: TNCC chief
Trichy: Promising to make the Congress party the 'foremost' in the country again, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvaperunthagai said only Congress could save the country from the fascist and communal regime. Taking part in the celebration of the 95th anniversary of Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha in Vedaranyam on Wednesday, Selvaperunthagai joined Gandhians and party functionaries on the reenactment of the march. The reenactment concluded with the breaking of the British salt law before the Salt Satyagraha memorial pillar at Agasthiyampalli. Addressing the gathering, Selvaperunthagai said, "We (INC) have fought for the nation's independence. However, those who betrayed the independence movement are mocking us today." Calling Congress is in a 'helpless' state now, Selvaperunthagai said the party needs to gain strength to protect the nation. "BJP is dividing people on the basis of religion for vote and electoral politics and decides who can exist and who cannot. Congress, however, is working to ensure that the country belongs to all people," he said. "Authorities now demolish the houses of minorities, drives them out of home and asks them to go to Pakistan. Muslims were interwoven in the Independence Movement. India did not get freedom without their contribution," he said. After targeting the assets of Muslims and Christians, BJP is targeting the properties of Congress members, he added. Mayiladuthurai MP R Sudha, MLA Ruby R Manoharan, former MPs K V Thangkabalu and P V Rajendran joined Selvaperunthagai during the event.
