V-Cs refrained from taking part in conclave due to SC verdict, says Higher Education Minister
Intimidating people runs in the DNA of Bharatiya Janata Party. But the State government has in its DNA, the courage to fight for its rights, said Higher Education Minister Govi. Chezhiaan here on Friday.
In response to the charge by Governor R.N. Ravi that the State government had threatened Vice-Chancellors of State universities because of which they did not attend the V-Cs conference he had organised in Ooty, Mr. Chezhiaan said the V-Cs were aware of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court which had passed the 10 Bills.
The State Assembly had passed the Bills twice, but the Governor did not give his consent. The State government had to approach the Supreme Court which approved of them. Enraged by these developments the Governor convened the V-Cs conference with the aim of indulging in wrestling for power, Mr. Chezhiaan said.
The V-Cs on their part refrained from the meeting as it would be against law. Recently the Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed a new leader for the State. The Governor might as well have opted for the post, he charged.
The Governor could not digest that the Supreme Court had determined that Governors will have only three months to approve of Bills passed in the legislative assembly, which is why out of heartburn he invited the Vice President to the meeting he organised in Ooty, the Minister said.
As Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi had charged that the Central government had not followed the recommendations of the Justice Mohan Punchchi Commission on the Centre - State relations which stated that politicians and persons with alternative ideals must not be made Governors. But, after becoming Prime Minister Mr. Modi was playing politics in non-BJP governments by appointing party politicians as Governors, Mr. Chezhiaan charged.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
34 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Bengal clashes: Suvendu Adhikari demands compensation for vandalised shops
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has demanded compensation for shopkeepers whose shops were vandalised in the Rabindra Nagar area of Maheshtala (South 24 Parganas). This comes after clashes erupted between two groups in the area on June 11, which left several police and locals injured and many cars and shops vandalised. Standing outside the West Bengal Legislative Assembly along with other Bhartiya Janta Party leaders on June 13, Mr Adhikari said that adequate compensation should be ensured for victims. 'They vandalised shops, cars, looted shops of 'Hindus', the 'other' community has done the same thing in Samserganj and Suti,' Mr Adhikari said. This came in reference to the communal riots in Murshidabad in April. The LoP also announced that BJP MLAs will participate in a protest against the Maheshtala violence on June 14 right outside the Assembly premises. He also alleged that they are not being 'allowed' to discuss the matter inside the Assembly. 'Our representatives will go to Rabindra Nagar on Saturday, including MLA Agnimitra Paul. If they stop us, we will protest wherever they stop us,' Mr Adhikari added. He also said that they will spend their own MLA salaries to offer medical assistance to the people who have been injured in the communal clashes in Rabindra Nagar. He also offered to pay for any other assistance that the affected 'Hindus' may need stating that the party will never 'abandon' one of their own. Violence broke out in Ward No. 7, Maheshtala, on Wednesday morning, reportedly over the setting up of a shop. The situation took a communal turn following allegations of an attack on a place of worship. Tensions escalated rapidly as two groups clashed, pelting stones and attacking police personnel. The police resorted to tear gas shelling and baton charges to disperse the crowd. Till now the West Bengal Police have arrested 40 people in connection with the violence. Seven FIRs have also been filed. The State BJP accused the police of trying to 'whitewash a communal attack' and sought the deployment of Central forces. The ruling Trinamool Congress, in turn, accused the BJP of trying to incite communal passions. Mr Adhikari met Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and also moved the Calcutta High Court on June 12 asking for Central Force deployment in the violence-hit areas.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader discontinues Marathi class for non-Marathi people due to poor response
Mumbai: In April, around the time the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was flexing its muscles—quite literally, after failing to do so politically in the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections—by assaulting people for not speaking in Marathi, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey came up with an idea. To ensure the MNS did not hijack the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Marathi agenda, the 44-year-old announced he would launch a free Marathi-speaking course to help non-Marathi speakers who recently moved to Mumbai. Initially, there was enthusiasm for the course, with around 1,500 registrations, according to Dubey. 'We had identified two locations in Kandivali and a third in Malad for the classes, and were planning to expand further,' he said. The first batch began in mid-April in Kandivali, a suburb with a significant north Indian population, with around 50 students. However, Dubey's initiative would eventually fall victim to a perennial issue in a city with a burgeoning population, inadequate public transport and poor road conditions—commuting time. 'After the first week, attendance went down to around 50%,' said Dubey. 'Participants said that due to their office timings or their work-related issues, they found it difficult to attend regularly. Meanwhile, many of those who registered informed us that they could attend online classes, but it was not possible to attend physically due to work- and travel-related issues.' The Marathi agenda To think that a party helmed by the son of the legendary Bal Thackeray is fighting to ensure another party does not hijack its pro-Marathi agenda is seeped in irony. The Shiv Sena was founded in 1966 by the late Bal Thackeray to address the perceived marginalisation of Marathi-speaking people in Maharashtra. Its core agenda was to promote the interests of the Marathi manoos or sons of the soil. This agenda resonated with many Marathi-speaking voters in Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai, as the Shiv Sena took control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 1985. Since then, it has never lost the polls to India's richest civic body. When Chhagan Bhujbal, then with the Shiv Sena, became the mayor of the city, he came up with the slogan 'Sundar Mumbai, Marathi Mumbai' (Beautiful Mumbai, Marathi Mumbai), with a commitment that the cosmopolitan metropolis with a diverse population would be seen as a city of Marathi people. The Shiv Sena has frequently reasserted this issue—of Mumbai's Marathi identity—in the last four decades. In March 2025, the issue was back on the political agenda after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi remarked that Mumbai does not have one language and that anyone coming to the city need not necessarily learn Marathi. His remark kicked up a controversy, with both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS criticising it and using it to target the RSS and its political offshoot, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). At his Gudhi Padwa rally on March 30 at Shivaji Park, MNS chief Raj Thackeray delivered a fiery speech emphasising the importance of the Marathi language and identity. He said that those who claim they cannot speak Marathi in Mumbai would 'get a slap on the face'. Immediately after the rally, there were several reported incidents of MNS workers assaulting people for not speaking Marathi, including bank and supermarket employees. The MNS's target appeared to be north Indians, the second-largest linguistic group in Mumbai after Marathis. Ever since it was formed in 2006, the party has had a history of aggressive rhetoric and violence against north Indian Hindi-speaking migrants in Maharashtra. It was in this backdrop that Dubey, who was born in Varanasi before his family moved to Mumbai when he was four, announced a Marathi-speaking course for non-Marathi people. The course was to be one month long and free. Dubey, who started his political journey with the Congress before joining the Shiv Sena in 2019, urged non-Marathi speakers to register for the course. He put up hoardings in Kandivali saying, 'Don't be afraid. Let's speak Marathi. Let's respect Marathi.' He also circulated a message on social media slamming the MNS for beating non-Marathi people for not knowing Marathi, but doing nothing to help them. There's no doubt the timing of Dubey's initiative was opportune, with the BMC elections expected to be held for the first time since 2017 after the monsoon. Following the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022 and a debacle in the 2024 assembly polls, the BMC elections could be make or break for the Shiv Sena (UBT). Party chief Uddhav Thackeray is keen to get the support of north Indians living in Mumbai. Dubey launched the Marathi-speaking course in Kandivali, where he's based. He appointed teachers who used to teach Marathi subjects in schools. Initially, it received a good response, with around 1,500 people registering. Accordingly, in the third week of April, the classes started, with the first batch of around 50. Most of the participants were north Indians, including shop owners, auto-taxi drivers, salesmen, employees of private companies and a couple of highly educated engineers. The challenges However, after the first week, attendance started dwindling as participants found it difficult to attend the class physically. Some participants also left the batch midway as they went to their hometowns for the summer vacations, Dubey said. As a result, the second batch could not start. Gulab Maurya, 42, a private sector employee from Dahisar who attended the first batch, said it was a good initiative and benefited him personally. 'The teacher, Rahul Jadhav, taught us communication skills in Marathi. First, he taught us similarities between Hindi and Marathi and then taught us words and sentences required in public places. After the first week, people started dropping out as some of them went on vacation, and some had work-related issues. At the end of the month, around 25 people completed the course. It gave me confidence that I can speak basic Marathi at office places and public places,' said Maurya. Lalu Yadav, 28, who runs a fruit stall in Dahisar, said that the class tenure should be around three months so that people can learn better. 'It was a good course to learn communication skills in Marathi. It was for one month, but I feel that it should be for around three months so that people can learn properly. Some people are quick in learning another language, but most people need time for it. Many people were demanding an online class, but I personally feel physical attendance is a better way to learn,' said Yadav. Dubey has discontinued the course for now, but said he would revive it if there is still demand for it. 'I am willing to restart it at any point in time,' he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Harshal Pradhan said the initiative had the party's support and was not a political move. 'Teaching Marathi to non-Marathi people is not a political event for us. It's a social service started by Dubey, and the party supports it. It would be continued as per the demand by people,' he said. However, the MNS's Mumbai president, Sandeep Deshpande, dismissed the initiative. 'It was nothing but a political stunt by Dubey. Those who want to speak Marathi learn it from other sources, and they don't need Dubey's class,' he said. Whether Deshpande changes his stance if the estranged cousins Raj and Uddhav Thackeray do reunite after two decades, as has been the subject of growing speculation in the last couple of months, remains to be seen.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Political battle over Tamil Nadu history escalates, Stalin says truth about Keezhadi excavation ‘doesn't suit BJP-RSS script'
Amid the row over the excavations in Tamil Nadu's Keezhadi, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday called the Centre's demand for 'more proof' regarding the antiquity of the site an attempt to suppress scientifically established truths about Tamil civilisation. 'Even when confronted with carbon-dated artefacts and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) reports from international laboratories on the Keezhadi excavations, they continue to demand more proof…,' Stalin said. 'On the contrary, despite strong opposition from respected historians and archaeologists, the BJP continues to promote the mythical Saraswati civilisation. They do so without credible evidence, while dismissing the rigorously proven antiquity of Tamil culture,' he alleged. He said the BJP-RSS 'ecosystem recoils' when it comes to the Keezhadi and the 'enduring truth of Tamil heritage'. 'Not because evidence is lacking, but because the truth does not serve their script. We fought for centuries to unearth our history. They fight every day to erase it. The world is watching. So is time,' the Chief Minister said. His remarks come days after Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat reaffirmed the Centre's stance on the issue. Shekhawat, addressing questions on the Archaeological Survey of India's decision to return archaeologist K Amarnath Ramakrishna's 982-page report on Keezhadi, said: 'The reports you are talking about have not been scientific. I am aware of the findings that you are mentioning. They are not yet technically well-supported and established. A lot of things are to be done.' 'Let them come with more results, more data, more evidence, more proof. Only one finding cannot seize the discourse, because people are trying to increase regional sentiments using this. That is not fair. We have to be very, very cautious on these things. Let the research be completed on all the parameters. Then we will take a call on this,' he said. When pressed about the BJP's alleged reluctance to accept Tamil antiquity, Shekhawat said, 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Tamil Nadu is the most ancient language and that Tamil civilisation is thousands of years old. Let it be decided by the archaeologists based on the facts and technical things.' Responding to this, Tamil Nadu Finance and Archaeology Minister Thangam Thennarasu had questioned the Centre's inconsistent approach. 'First, they said there was nothing in Keezhadi. Then the archaeologist excavating Keezhadi was transferred. Later, they refused to allocate funds for excavations at that site. Finally, they put the report on the back burner for two years. Now, they claim that the evidence is insufficient,' Thennarasu said. Ramakrishna's abrupt transfer to Assam in 2017 halted ASI's direct involvement at the site. Excavations resumed only after the Madras High Court allowed the Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology to take over, leading to the unearthing of more than 13,000 artefacts. On Thursday, the DMK's students wing, led by secretary R Rajiv Gandhi, announced a major protest to be held in Madurai on June 18. The party wing condemned the 'anti-Tamil BJP regime' for 'refusing to accept the Keezhadi archaeological findings despite it being established scientifically'. The Keeladi excavations have long been a lightning rod for political and academic discourse. Initiated in 2014 and led by archaeologist Ramakrishna under the ASI, the site revealed remnants of an advanced urban civilisation — brick structures, industrial furnaces, drainage systems, graffiti-marked pottery, and terracotta artefacts. Ramakrishna submitted his final report in January 2023, concluding that the site dated back to between the 8th and 3rd century BCE, based on stratigraphic analysis and AMS-dated artefacts. However, more than two years later, in May 2025, the ASI's Exploration and Excavation division returned the report and asked Ramakrishna to revise it based on comments from two unnamed experts. The ASI's letter argued that the proposed dating was 'very early' and suggested the earliest period should be revised to 'at the maximum, somewhere in pre-300 BCE'. Ramakrishna, in a formal written reply, defended the scientific basis of his chronology and rejected the demand to rework the sequence.
