BJP national president Nitin Nabin 
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
| Photo Credit: Arun Kulkarni

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. File picture
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Kalaburagi (Karnataka):

Raising concerns over the inhumane treatment of Indian migrants deported from the US, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have called his ‘old friend’, US President Donald Trump, and asked him not to send them back in such a manner.

Modi will pay a two-day working visit to the US starting Wednesday and hold a bilateral meeting with President Trump.

“Modi did not receive an invitation initially. However, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar went to the US and made arrangements, after which Modi received an invitation and is now visiting,” claimed Kharge, while speaking to reporters in Kalaburagi and wondered whether it would be a ‘success’ meet.

“Modi himself has claimed that he has been conversing with his ‘old friend’ (Trump), which he says will benefit the country. But if they were indeed close friends, Modi should have asked Trump over the phone not to deport Indian migrant labourers in such a manner,” the Congress chief said.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha alleged that Indian migrants were brought back to India in a cargo plane and “treated worse than garbage”.

Modi did not ask Trump to send these migrants on a passenger flight, nor did he arrange one from India, which proves that his claim of a close friendship was false,” the Congress president said.

He added that while personal friendships are fine, it is more important for countries to maintain friendly relations. He argued that people may know each other personally but may not necessarily show concern for India’s interests.

“Modi speaks with confidence, but he also has a habit of lying. Hence, he will not get good results,” said Kharge.

India on February 7 registered concerns with the US over the deportation of illegal immigrants in shackles and conveyed that this kind of treatment could have been avoided.

The remarks of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri came amid uproar over the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants by the US in handcuffs during their 40-hour flight onboard a military aircraft.

Kharge also pointed out that Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on imported goods and warned that he would impose taxes on countries that have raised tariffs on American products. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The government will allocate space for a memorial of former prime minister Manmohan Singh and this has been communicated to his family and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Union home ministry said on Friday night.

In a late-night release titled “Facts of the matter regarding memorial for Former Prime Minister Late Dr Manmohan Singh”, the ministry said the government received a request to allocate space for a memorial for Singh from the Congress chief.

Immediately after the Cabinet meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah communicated to Mr Kharge and the family of Manmohan Singh that the government would allocate space for the memorial.

In the meanwhile, cremation and other formalities can happen because a Trust has to be formed and space has to be allocated to it, the home ministry said.

Dr Singh, who headed the Congress-led UPA government and is credited with economic reforms, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92.

He was India’s prime minister for 10 years between 2004 and 2014.

The Congress on Friday said that not finding a location for the cremation and memorial of Singh was a deliberate insult to the country’s first Sikh prime minister.

The party raised the issue after the home ministry said Singh’s last rites would be held at New Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat at 11.45 am on Saturday with full state honours.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday evening doubled down on his party’s attacks on Amit Shah – after his “… has become the fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…” remark in Parliament last night – calling them “condemnable” and slamming the ruling BJP for disrespecting for the Constitution.

Mr Kharge also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Amit Shah. “If PM has any respect for Babasaheb Ambedkar, he should drop Shah from the Cabinet. (But)… instead of telling Amit Shah (he) is wrong, PM is defending him. He insulted a Dalit hero. They do not believe in the Constitution.”

The Congress leader also called out the Prime Minister for his fierce, six-post on X defence of Amit Shah, his No 2, in which he lashed out at the “rotten (political) ecosystem” populated by his rivals.

“If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!” the Prime Minister had said.

READ | PM Leads BJP Fightback As Opposition Ups Ante In Ambedkar Row

“People of India have seen, time and again, how one party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in every possible dirty trick to obliterate the legacy of Dr Ambedkar…” he said on X.

“PM Modi made six tweets to defend Amit Shah. What was the need? If someone says (something) wrong about BR Ambedkar, he should be removed from the cabinet,” the Congress chief responded this evening, “But they are friends and are supporting each other’s sins…”

If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think their malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of several years, especially their insult towards Dr. Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!

The people of India have seen time and again how one Party, led by one dynasty, has indulged in…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 18, 2024

Mr Shah’s remarks about Dr Ambedkar – regarded as the architect of the Constitution – were delivered at the tail end of a four-day debate on the text, two each in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha..

The debates were seen as a way to restore normality in a Parliament session roiled by a multiplicity of protests between the government and the opposition, with the attendant frequent disruptions.

The “Ambedkar is fashion…” statement came in Mr Shah’s concluding remarks in the Rajya Sabha debate; the Home Minister said sarcastically, “It has become the fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…’ If they (the opposition) took God’s name so many times, they will get a place in heaven.”

READ | “No Less Than God”: Opposition Slams Shah’s Ambedkar Remark

The quip provoked furious protests from the Congress and other opposition parties, with Mr Kharge saying the “insult” had again proven that the BJP and its ideological parent – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – were against the country’s best interests. Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and  Rahul Gandhi also issued scathing counterattacks, and demanded Mr Shah apologise.

Sharing pictures from a protest outside Parliament – in which the opposition was united, despite recent differences over strategy and questions over the Congress’ leadership of the INDIA bloc – Mr Gandhi said, “Babasaheb is the Constitution’s architect… a great man who gave direction to the country.”

READ | “Country Will Not Tolerate Insult Of Dr Ambedkar”: Rahul Gandhi

“The country will not tolerate his insult… the Home Minister should apologise!”

It isn’t just the Congress that is up in arms. The Samajwadi Party – which contests elections on its ‘PDA’ strategy, in which the ‘D’ stands for Dalits – said it showed “the BJP is nervous about the struggle…”

“Babasaheb Ambedkar is God to a lot of deprived sections of the society. He is worshipped in each house and village. The BJP is nervous about the struggle of the PDA and that is the reason such statements come from them from time to time…” Akhilesh Yadav said.

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool has also rallied against Amit Shah and the BJP; hours earlier the party filed a privilege notice against the Home Minister; Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien, who moved the notice, accused Mr Shah of insulting the Dalit leader.

READ | “Mask Falls”: Trinamool Moves Against Shah In Ambedkar Row

Ms Banerjee posted a separate post in which she called the remarks “a display of BJP’s casteist and anti-Dalit mindset” and “an insult to millions who look up to Ambedkar”.

Amidst all this, Mr Modi and Mr Shah met Mr Gandhi and Mr Kharge this afternoon. Sources said the meeting had no connection to the “Ambedkar is fashion” row, stating the four senior-most political leaders in the country were meeting to appoint the next National Human Rights Commission chief.

With input from agencies

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Jaipur:

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar warned against “some forces” in and outside the country which are “unable to digest India’s progress” and looking to divide the country. He urged people to be together in “neutralizing every anti-national narrative.”

While speaking at an event in Rajasthan’s Jaipur on Wednesday, VP Dhankhar mentioned, “There are some forces in the country and outside which are unable to digest India’s progress. There is a well-planned effort going on to disintegrate the country, divide the country and insult its institutions. We must neutralize in togetherness every anti-national narrative.”

“One thing is very clear, it cannot be said that India is a nation with potential, that stage is behind us. India is on the rise, and as I said that rise is unstoppable,” the VP continued.

Earlier on Tuesday, INDIA bloc parties submitted a no-confidence motion at the Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody’s office, seeking the removal of the Chairperson of the Upper House, Vice President Dhankhar for allegedly conducting the proceedings of the Council of States in “extremely partisan manner.”

“All parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon’ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States. It has been a very painful decision for the INDIA parties to take, but in the interests of parliamentary democracy, they have had to take this step. The motion has just been submitted to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha,” Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, also accused Dhankhar of behaving like a “spokesperson of the government for his next promotion.”

He alleged that the “biggest disrupter” in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself.

“He (RS chairman) does schooling like a headmaster… From the opposition side, whenever important issues are raised as per rules – the chairman doesn’t allow to have a discussion in a planned manner. Time and again opposition leaders are stopped from speaking. His (RS Chairman) fidelity is towards the ruling party instead of the Constitution and constitutional tradition,” Mr Kharge alleged.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has dissolved the pradesh, district, city and block committees of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit with immediate effect.

The move came on Thursday, months after the Lok Sabha polls and days after bypolls in the state in which the Congress did not field any candidates, supporting the Samajwadi Party and INDIA bloc allies on nine seats.

It seems to be aimed at reorganising the state unit of the Congress and strengthening the party at the grassroots level.

Mr Kharge has approved a proposal to dissolve the pradesh, district, city and block committees of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit with immediate effect, a statement issued by Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) is headed by Ajay Rai.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday dissolved the pradesh, district, city and block committees of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit with immediate effect.

The move comes months after the Lok Sabha polls and days after bypolls in the state in which the Congress did not field any candidates, supporting the Samajwadi Party and INDIA bloc allies on nine seats.

The move seems to be aimed at reorganising the state unit of the Congress and strengthening the party at the grassroots level.

Mr Kharge has approved a proposal to dissolve the pradesh, district, city and block committees of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit with immediate effect, a statement issued by Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) is headed by Ajay Rai.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)