News18 Daybreak | PM Modi's 'Bharat Ki Baat', TN Governor's Pat and Other Stories You May Have Missed
In case you missed it
Addressing a massive gathering of Indian diaspora in London, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the numerous incidences of rape in India, saying that rape should not be ‘politicised’. He also spoke about terrorism, the surgical strikes on Pakistan, poverty, Bhagwan Basaveshwara and the ‘great expectations’ that the people of his country had of him. More of his address at London’s iconic Westminster Central Hall, here.
While the PM received a royal welcome in Britain where he arrived late last night the PM also faced a protests staged by Kashmiri separatists in London. Protesters were seen holding up placards saying ‘Modi go back’ and others demanding justice for the 8-year-old victim of rape and murder in Kathua. The PM had arrived in UK for a two day business trip in the UK where he is expected to sign deals worth over £ 1 billion.
The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict today on a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge B H Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Loya had allegedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter. Those seeking an independent probe into the matter had referred to the sequence of events to highlight that a fair investigation was needed to rule out any foul play in the death. Read more on the case here.
Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit patted a woman journalist’s cheek without her consent during a press conference. He, obviously, has landed in trouble. The Governor was speaking to media regarding his allegations of his involvement in the ‘sex for degree’ scandal a TN college. He later apologised to the journalist after facing flak from journalists and politicians.
BJP national secretary H Raja stirred up a political storm when he called DMK leader Kanimozhi an illegitimate child of M Karunanidhi. Launching an attack on the BJP, Congress leader P Chidambaram said all children are perfectly legitimate and wanted to know what was BJP's stand on the issue. Read more on the controversy here.
Civilian fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir have gone up by 166 per cent in the past one year. An annual report released by the Ministry of Home affairs on Wednesday also said that there has been a spike not just in civilian casualties, but also in incidents of terrorist neutralisation.
Ending months of speculation, Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday appointedMember of Parliament Rakesh Singh as the new president of its Madhya Pradesh party unit. Singh, who is also the party chief Whip in Lok Sabha, reportedly enjoys the backing of PM Modi and party chief Amit Shah.
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee received flak from Bengal’s higher education circlesafter ordering a new draft of education rules that allegedly curtail the academic, administrative and individual rights of those in the state’s higher education fraternity. Read more on the alleged media gag here.
The BJP government in Chhattisgarh will start distributing smartphones to over 50 lakh people for free from May under the Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY), months ahead of assembly polls in the state. Women heads of households will be the priority recipients of the smartphones.
At least 18 people were killed in severe thunderstorms in Kolkata on Tuesday night after strong winds – nearly 100 kmph – accompanied by heavy rains wreaked havoc in the city and its surrounding areas.
On the second day of his indefinite fast, former VHP leader Pravin Togadia asked the Narendra Modi government to implement the BJP's promises regarding the Ram Temple, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Togadia is fasting for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya, a nation-wide ban on cow slaughter, enforcement of the uniform civil code and resettlement of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
While caste-based violence has taken a turn for the worse in the country, CS Rangarajan, a priest in Hyderabad's Chilkur Balaji temple hit the headlines after he carried a Dalit man, Aditya Parasri, on his shoulders into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sri Ranganatha temple and also hugged him. He reportedly did it as part of a‘re-enactment’ of a 2,700-year-old ritual.
Agree or Disagree?
On the day of Basava Jayanthi, top leaders of the country, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, competed against each other to greet people and garland the statue of the 12th century social reformer professing their faith in his preaching. But many of his followers regret that the great social reformer whom many call “Kannadiga of the Millennium” has now become a tool in the hands of politicians.
'A man with solid journalistic values and a politician with conviction. If there was one line to describe TVR Shenoy, this would be it,' writes John Brittas, MD, Kairali TV. Veteran journalist TVR Shenoy died on Tuesday in a Mangaluru hospital. He was 77 and had been suffering from several health problems. Brittas writes that Shenoy was a father-like figure for a generation of journalists, but shocked many with his political stand.
On Reel
The #battleforkarnataka has intensified-- from angry protestors to the return of the tainted, watch the video for a quick round up of all that has transpired in the prelude to the Karnataka 2019 elections and what every voter ought to know.