'The political responses to Rajan Vichare, a Shiv Sena MP, stuffing a chapati into a fasting Muslim’s mouth at the Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi last week tell us something about the texture of Indian politics after the general election... When the story broke, the Shiv Sena’s reaction was to flatly deny that such an incident had occurred.
"Taking law and order into his own hands is not something new for Rajan Vichare, the Shiv Sena MP from Thane who force-fed a Muslim catering supervisor to break his Ramzan fast at Maharashtra Sadan last week. In the last 25 years, around 24 cases have been registered against the senior Sena leader in various police stations of Thane...
"...RESUME
AMIT SHAH...
II. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
1) Arrested on July 25, 2010 on charges of murder, conspiracy, kidnapping and extortion besides five other sections of Indian penal Code in connection with the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter. Also, later for eliminating his wife Kausar Bi and associate Tulsiram Prajapati. (Please NOTE that this was the FIRST instance in the history of independent India that a serving home minister had been arrested on such charges.)
'WHEN, on February 4, 2000, Jog Haider’s Austrian Freedom Party, described by The Economist as “a party with Nazi echoes”, joined Austria’s new coalition government, 14 countries in the European Union imposed sanctions on Austria. If Narendra Damodardas Modi’s assumption of power as Prime Minister of India, on May 26, 2014, has not incurred the same measures, it is not because any one in this wide world has any illusions about his communal and blatantly autocratic tendencies. It is because India is far too great and powerful.
(This article was originally published by DNA, but subsequently removed from its website. We are carrying the full piece here.)
"Late last week, a special CBI court adjourned the bail application of Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin and Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter cases, accepting his excuse that he was engaged in political work in New Delhi. Shah, 49, the first serving Home minister of a state to have gone behind bars in a criminal case of murder and conspiracy had a legitimate reason to skip court hearings. He was presiding and taking part in day-long meetings in Delhi with senior RSS leaders and BJP functionaries who were all set to seal his fate as the next BJP President...
'AFTER all its grandstanding about upholding high standards of propriety and morality, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds itself in a tight spot as far as Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Nihal Chand Meghwal is concerned. There has been a growing outcry for the Minister’s resignation after a Jaipur court summoned him and 17 others in a sexual assault case. The case relates to the complaint by a 20-year-old woman from Sirsa in Haryana accusing her husband and 17 others, including the Minister, of raping her over several months in 2011.
"BJP MP Gopal Shetty was booked on charges of rioting by the Kandivali police on Wednesday, along with a contingent of 30 other party workers. The director of a construction company lodged a police complaint stating that the party workers had roughed up his staffers. No arrests have been made yet... Last month, the Borivli police had registered a case of cheating against Shetty and six others, including the city survey officer and the Borivli registrar.
"...As per candidates’ affidavits with the Election Commission, there are 185 MPs (34% of the total strength of Lok Sabha) who have criminal cases pending against them. Some 111 of them have serious criminal cases. Out of 185, there are 87 MPs (16.02% of the total strength of Lok Sabha) who are facing rioting charges under Sections 147, 148, 153A of Indian Penal Code. Party-wise, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has the largest share of such MPs who are facing rioting charges.
"Having rescued two women and arrested a pimp from a posh building in Versova, officials of the Social Service (SS) Branch of the Mumbai Police were shocked to find that the property that they had raided with success was owned by none other than former city police commissioner and incumbent BJP MP Dr Satypal Singh..."
"A sitting BJP corporator of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), who has faced criminal cases, turned sanyasi Sunday, in the presence of Chief Minister Anandi Patel and her cabinet ministers. Mahendra Solanki, a four-time sitting corporator from Ward 19 of RMC, took the “holy order” from Jivrajbapu, head of Satadhar, a religious place in Junagadh district at a ceremony organised at Aapa Gigano Otla, some 45 km from Rajkot in Surendranagar district... A builder by profession, Solanki was the deputy mayor of Rajkot in 2010 and the standing committee chairman during 2011-12.
