Recently, the video of a confrontation by Atal Bihari Vajpayee has gone viral on social media. The late BJP leader and the Former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had once schooled the famous lyricist, Javed Akhtar when the latter attempted to paint the Hindu majority and the BJP as communal. The netizens are losing it over the perfect reply by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s perfect reply to Javed Akhtar
During an interview with Pritish Nandy and the show’s co-host Javed Akhtar on ‘Face Off’ in 1998, Javed Akhtar claimed that often ‘communalism’ of the majority community in various countries is shrewdly painted as nationalism.
At about 17:26 minutes into the video, Akhtar insinuated that ‘communal Hindus’ used nationalism as a veil to cover their deeds.
Javed Akhtar asked,
“What is the definition of nationalism and communalism for the majority community?”
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is seen responding,
“If a Hindu in India by virtue of his majority demands more rights for himself and seeks lesser for the minority community, then, I will call such a behaviour as communal”
“If the rights are the same and it is guaranteed by the Constitution (with independent judiciary), vigilant press and elected representatives of the Parliament, then, the scope of injustice to minorities is significantly reduced”
The Former Prime Minister argued back saying, that India is secular not because of the BJP or the RSS when Akhtar interjected saying that India is secular despite them.
Nonetheless, Vajpayee continued,
“Bharat is secular because 82% of its populace is Hindus. It is the thought process and philosophy of Hindus that make this country secular. Hindus are not bound by a single book, or a single prophet. Even an atheist is a Hindu. Hinduism embraces all”
The BJP leader further added,
“Now there is Human Rights Commission, and Minorities Commission. These were constituted by a State where Hindus are a majority. No one objected to it. Once Pakistan was formed, the Hindu majority did not seek an exclusivist Hindu Raj with no place for minorities”
Akhtar further pointed out,
“There is no demand for Hindu Raj (theocracy) but Hindu Rashtra, which is entirely a different concept. None has demanded theocracy so far or the declaration of the Hindu Faith as a State religion or that Muslims be discriminated for the virtue of their religion”
Atal Bihari Vajpayee said,
“I want to assure you that. The concept of Rashtra is different. India wasn’t born in 1947 but an ancient civilisation…Sometimes the Hindu community should be thanked for upholding secularism in the country”
Javed Akhtar trying to drive a wedge between former PM and Advani
Around 10 minutes into the conversation, Javed Akthar tried to drive a wedge between the two by inquiring Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani if their ideology matched when it came to religious minorities.
Vajpayee responded,
“They are not different. Both of us believe in the same thing. In fact, our party believes in the same thing…Minorities are citizens of India and are entitled to equal rights and responsibilities.”
He further added,
“There has never been discrimination on the basis of religion in this country. And this will not change even in the future. The BJP has made its stance clear that India was/is/ will be a secular state”
“Minorities in India should not live under any false sense of fear. Our rivals have created this fear in the minds of minorities by presenting us as ‘demons.’ But this game won’t last for long. Muslims have started to realise that other parties have exploited them as vote banks”
On relationship with RSS
Javed Akthar then went on and attempted to paint the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a radical Hindu outfit, which apparently does not consider Muslims to be equal citizens of India. He claimed that such an idea has been reflected in the writings of KB Hedgewar, MS Golwalkar, and others.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee refuted this by saying,
“They have clearly written that those who live in India and love the country will be treated fairly and won’t be discriminated against on the basis of religion”
At 26 minutes into the conversation, he highlighted that,
“The relationship with the RSS is of the people. All members of the BJP are not members of the RSS. As the party will grow in future, there will be people who are not associated with the RSS in any way”
The former Prime Minister lastly pointed out that there is no contradiction in the ideologies shared by that of the RSS and of the BJP.
Daylight robbery is not quite usual but it does not strike out the fact that it is highly possible. Many a time cases as such have surfaced online where normal people were robbed in broad daylight. Recently, the passengers in a taxi got robbed inside the Pragati Maidan tunnel in Delhi on Saturday afternoon.
Four men rob taxi passengers at gunpoint in broad daylight and here is what Delhi Police have to say
On Saturday, a delivery agent and his associate were robbed at gunpoint by a group of unknown assailants, stealing around Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh cash from them. In spite of having 16 security guards in the Pragati Tunnel, there were no CCTV cameras installed. Although the Public Works Department assured that cameras are installed, they did not confirm their operational conditions.
The victims made a complaint at Tilak Marg police station later in the evening. The Pragati tunnel is a 1.5 km tunnel that connects New Delhi with Sarai Kale Khan and Noida. The police said that following the complaint made by the victims, a case has been filed under Sections 397 IPC which covers robbery, or dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt and 34 (common intention).
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Pranav Tayal, has shared that the complainant can be identified as Patel Sajan Kumar and his associate Jigar Patel. Patel Sajan works as a delivery agent for a private firm in Chandni Chow and has informed the police that he and Jigar were going to Gurugram to deliver the cash to a client.
As per the registered complaint, the two of them hired an Ola cab from near Red Fort. As soon as the cab entered the Pragati Maidan tunnel from Ring Road, four assailants on two motorcycles surrounded their cab and robbed the cash off them keeping them at gunpoint.
Delhi Minister Atishi also took to Twitter and slammed the incompetency of the Lieutenant Governor. She tweeted,
LG साहब: अगर आपको @ArvindKejriwal के कामों का क्रेडिट लेने से फ़ुरसत मिले तो कभी अपनी संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी पर भी ध्यान दीजिए। दिल्ली वालों को सुरक्षा देना आपका काम है। और अब दिन दहाड़े दिल्ली में चोरी, डकैती और क़त्ल की वारदातें हो रही हैं। या तो आप सुरक्षा की ज़िम्मेदारी लीजिए,… https://t.co/RG4c9ozWnW
Coming across train service complaints on social media is nothing new. Very often than not we find passengers complaining about bland food or bugs in the cooked food provided to them. Quite recently someone took to Twitter regarding a complaint where they found plastic in the railway food. But the latest thing that happened has actually stunned everyone when a video of the roof of a passenger coach train surfaced online.
Indian Railways slammed over water leakage in AC coach
Netizens have harshly criticized the poor management and maintenance of the train coaches after a surprising video surfaced online. Recently, a video went viral on social media platforms in which it can be clearly seen rainwater seeping in through the roof of the 2-tier AC coach of the Avantika Express. The Congress party also reshared the video uploaded by a passenger and took to Twitter to play the blame game immediately.
“काश खोखले प्रचार की जगह रेलवे के लिए कुछ काम किया होता। झंडी दिखाने वाले रेल मंत्री अभी विदेश में हैं, नाम वाले रेल मंत्री ध्यान दें। (Wish some actual work would have been done for the Railways in place of empty propaganda. The railway minister who shows the flag is currently abroad, the named railway minister should pay attention)”
काश खोखले प्रचार की जगह रेलवे के लिए कुछ काम किया होता।
झंडी दिखाने वाले रेल मंत्री अभी विदेश में हैं, नाम वाले रेल मंत्री ध्यान दें। pic.twitter.com/FNLvQL1Ihu
It was a jab at the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who recently flagged off 11 Vande Bharat Express, the Railways’ newest hi-tech train.
Railways response to the above-mentioned tweet
The Western Railway took to Twitter to respond to that tweet hours later and stated that all the coaches of the Avantika Express train were properly checked.
“All coaches of Avantika Exp have been checked thoroughly & issue has been attended to promptly. The train has commenced its return journey & there are no such issues now. Passenger convenience is of utmost priority & WR leaves no stone unturned to resolve passengers’ grievances”
All coaches of Avantika Exp have been checked thoroughly & issue has been attended promptly.
The train has commenced its return journey & there are no such issues now.
Passenger convenience is of utmost priority & WR leaves no stone unturned to resolve passengers’ grievances. pic.twitter.com/V9QyKiIowJ
Thandi hawa ke sath sath sarkar ne barish ke pani ka bhi anand lene ke liye ye nayab tarikib lagai hai isme bhrastachar bilkul nhi hai aur haa jine murko ke ye lgta hai isme amir log travel krte hai to unko ye bta du amir log plan me jate hai aur dikhave wale amir train me….🤐
— Mahua Moitra Fans (@MahuaMoitraFans) June 25, 2023
This is probably not the first time that something has happened as per the claims of this Twitter user,
Recently travelled from 12424 Rajdhani Express to #Guwahati , had a very bad experience. As it was raining the rainwater was leaking in every coach and also there was no water in most of the dirty toilets. TTE ignored the complaint and asked to register complaint via phone.
On Sunday, Shah Rukh Khan aka the King Khan, completed 31 years in Bollywood industry. It was in 1992, when he made his debut in the industry with the movie Deewana opposite late actress Divya Bharti. As the fans celebrated the big day on social media with amazing messages and tributes for the actor, SRK also decided to celebrate the occasion with his fans in his own style.
Shah Rukh Khan completed 31 years in Bollywood
He took some time out of his busy schedule and held an #AskSRK session on Twitter. Starting the question and answer session on Twitter, SRK wrote:
“Wow just realised it’s 31 yrs to the day when Deewana hit the screens. It’s been quite a ride mostly a good one. Thanks all and we can do 31minutes of #AskSRK ??”
In no time, his Tweet was flooded with a variety of questions from fans for their favorite actor. SRK, who is known for his hilarious sense of humor, gave amazing replies to his fans with wit and humor.
Wow just realised it’s 31 yrs to the day when Deewana hit the screens. It’s been quite a ride mostly a good one. Thanks all and we can do 31minutes of #AskSRK ??
While interacting with the fans, King Khan stumbled upon a question that was asked by a female fan, who is currently pregnant with twins. The fan came up with an epic Tweet for the Pathaan actor. She asked:
“sir i am pregnant with twin babies..wish me luck i will name them pathaan and jawan.”
sir i am pregnant with twin babies..wish me luck i will name them pathaan and jawan ❤️ #AskSRK 5
Besides all the funny and hilarious answers, SRK was also seen giving some serious answers. A fan asked him if he would do a movie like Swades again, a role that was loved by one and all
Talking about his work front, SRK made a comeback after a hiatus of 4 years with Siddharth Anand’s blockbuster action-thriller Pathaan, which hit the theatres in January this year. SRK will be next seen in the upcoming action-thriller Jawan, which will be released on September 7th.
Jawan is directed by South filmmaker Atlee. Produced under SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment, the movie also stars Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi in lead roles.