'The BJP’s Ghaziabad MLA has asked the police to shoot violators of the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of the coronavirus. According to a report in the Deccan Herald, Nand Kishor Gurjar has also announced a cash reward of Rs 5,100 to every cop who shoots the violators. Calling the violators “traitors”, Gurjar said that “cops should break their legs….if they do not follow the orders then the police should shoot them in their legs’.’...'
'On 15 March, the union ministry of home affairs sanctioned the appointment of Baseer Ahmed Khan, Kashmir’s divisional commissioner, as an advisor to Girish Chandra Murmu, the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Baseer is accused of being involved in a multi-crore land scam in 2009. A case against him regarding the matter remains pending with a special anti-corruption court in Baramulla. His elevation brings into question the Narendra Modi government’s promise of corruption-free governance in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution...'
'Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has practically paralysed the planet. On Tuesday, India went into a 21-day country-wide lockdown, the world’s largest quarantine measure ever. Yet one activity seems remarkably unaffected: the political wheeling and dealing of the Bharatiya Janata Party...'
'The Madhya Pradesh Economic Offences Wing has closed a case against former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and his family members, where they were accused of falsifying a property document while selling land, an official said on Tuesday. Scindia quit the Congress on March 10 and later joined the BJP. His resignation from the Congress triggered a revolt in the Madhya Pradesh party unit, with 22 MLAs who belong to his camp also tendering their resignations. This led to collapse of the Kamal Nath-led state government last week...'
'A BJP activist has been arrested for organising a cow urine consumption event here, claiming that it will protect people from coronavirus or cure those already infected, leading to a civic volunteer falling ill after drinking it, police said on Wednesday... According to police officials, 40-year-old Narayan Chatterjee, a local party worker of Jorasakho area in North Kolkata, had on Monday organised a cow-worship programme at a cowshed and distributed cow urine. He vouched for its “miraculous” properties while offering gaumutra to others.
'A BJP member of the Rajya Sabha is set to move a resolution in the House on Friday, seeking the removal of the phrase “socialism” from the preamble of the Constitution, arguing that the word is “redundant” in the current scenario, and that the word should be dropped to create space for “economic thinking without a particular thought”. The preamble of Constitution declares India to be a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic...'
'Amid growing fear over the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, Ashwini Choubey, the Union Minister of State for Health, had some unusual advice for those seeking to protect themselves from the infectious illness. Mr Choubey, whose previous "medical" advice included saying cow urine could be used to treat cancer, claimed today that sitting for 15 minutes in the sun could "improve immunity and kill coronavirus"...'
'While the world economy has taken some beating after the outbreak of coronavirus or COVID-19, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur on Tuesday pointed out that the latest data "do not suggest any adverse impact on the economy" after the outbreak of COVID-19. "Additionally, a positive impact on India's economy may arise from a decline in global oil prices triggered by the outbreak of COVID-19," Thakur said in reply to a query raised by Rajya Sabha member Vaiko...'
'A 34-year-old home guard, who had his first sip of cow urine in a north Kolkata neighbourhood on Monday, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday after he complained of vomiting and nausea. But Pintu Pramanik did not let that come in the way of his duty. He filed a complaint from his hospital bed against the BJP functionary who “induced” him to drink the gaumutra — as “prasad and preventive medicine” against Covid-19 — following which cops arrested Narayan Chatterjee on Tuesday...'
'While addressing the Lok Sabha on the violence that broke out in parts of northeast Delhi on 24-25 February, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi claimed that most incidents of rioting have taken place under the Congress regime adding that the only incident of riots, which everyone is always reminded of, was in Gujarat in 2002 and there has been no such case post that in the state... Let’s take look at how the data collected by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which falls under the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, contradicts Lekhi’s claims...'
