
‘I started laughing…': Rajya Sabha nominee Ujjwal Nikam recalls when PM Modi asked him 'Mai Marathi bolun ya Hindi'
He told news agency ANI that he had received a phone call from PM Narendra Modi, who asked him if he should talk in Hindi or in Marathi.
"He spoke in Marathi firstly, then he said, "mai marathi bolun ki Hindi bolun? I started laughing over the tone in which he said this," Nikam said.
"He then spoke to me in Marathi and told me that the President wants to give me responsibility, after which he informed me about the President's decision," the new Rajya Sabha nominee said.
"I immediately said yes...," he added.
He further thanked the President, the Prime Minister and the party leadership.
"I assure that I will discharge my duties as a member of the Rajya Sabha, representing the President of India, truly and honestly...," Nikam said, adding that, "Its a proud moment for me."
On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the contributions of former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, special public prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case Ujjwal Nikam, Kerala BJP leader C Sadanandan Master and historian Meenakshi Jain after they were nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
In a notification issued late Saturday night , the Union Home Ministry said the President has nominated the four to the Rajya Sabha.
The President nominates 12 people to the Rajya Sabha, who are people of eminence in various fields.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Deccan Herald
33 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
Omar Abdullah scales graveyard gates to offer tributes to martyrs, shares video of being 'manhandled' by police
#WATCH | Srinagar | J&K CM Omar Abdullah jumped over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada to recite prayers after he was allegedly stopped by the security forces Omar Abdullah said that he did not inform anyone before coming to the Mazar-e-Shuhada, as he was house arrested… — ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2025 Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, National Conference (JKNC) chief Farooq Abdullah and others pay tribute to July 13 martyrs at Naqshband Sahib graveyard in Old City of Srinagar Credit: PTI Photo This is the physical grappling I was subjected to but I am made of sterner stuff & was not to be stopped. I was doing nothing unlawful or illegal. In fact these 'protectors of the law' need to explain under what law they were trying to stop us from offering Fatiha — Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 14, 2025


Scroll.in
40 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
Indore cartoonist agrees to delete ‘undignified' Modi caricature after Supreme Court criticism
An Indore-based cartoonist who was booked for depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in an allegedly undignified manner, on Monday agreed to remove his social media post after being verbally criticised by the Supreme Court, Live Law reported. A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar was hearing a special leave petition filed by cartoonist Hemant Malviya challenging a Madhya Pradesh High Court order denying him anticipatory bail in the case against him. The High Court in its July 3 order observed that Malviya had 'clearly overstepped' the limits of free speech and misused his right to expression. The court held that the cartoonist had failed to exercise discretion while publishing the caricature, and held that his custodial interrogation was necessary. During the hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court verbally criticised the cartoonist. Following this, his counsel agreed that the post would be deleted. Malviya also agreed to issue a statement saying that by amending his work, he was not endorsing the allegedly objectionable comments. His counsel agreed that Malviya's comments and the cartoon, while not being an offence, could be considered to be 'unpalatable' or in 'poor taste', Live Law reported. When the court was told that the Malviya was over 50 years old, Justice Dhulia remarked that the post was still immature and inflammatory. The case will be heard next on Tuesday. The case Malviya had published the original cartoon on January 6, 2021, which depicted Modi as a doctor administering an injection to a man dressed in what may have appeared to some as the uniform of the RSS. The RSS is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was accompanied with the Hindi caption: 'Why are you worried? Serum's Poonawala has said that the vaccine only has water, you won't die from the side effect of water!' This was a reference to Serum Institute of India's chief executive Adar Poonawalla alleging that many Covid-19 vaccines in the market were only as effective as water. According to the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, a Facebook user had republished the cartoon, but replaced the caption with one in which the man in the purported RSS uniform addresses Modi as an incarnation of the Hindu deity Shiva and asks to be injected with such a strong dose of the caste census in his buttocks so that he forgets the Pahalgam terror attack, the controversial Waqf Act, among other matters. Malviya had shared the amended version of his cartoon on Facebook on May 1, writing that anyone could use any of his cartoons by writing their own names and captions. All his cartoons were for the public, by the public and dedicated to the public, he said. He added that the amended cartoon was shared with him by a friend and that whoever had created the caption had written well. Based on this, a RSS member had filed a complaint, alleging that Malviya had posted objectionable content on Facebook that defamed the Hindutva organisation and hurt religious sentiments. Malviya was booked in May under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups, acts intended to outrage religious feelings, intentional insult and electronically publishing or transmitting material containing sexually explicit acts. Malviya has argued that he was falsely implicated in the case and that his work was merely satire. He also said that the comments about the caricature on Facebook were not his own, and therefore, he could not be held responsible for them.


News18
43 minutes ago
- News18
'Unable To Understand...': Jitan Ram Manjhi On Chirag Paswan Questioning Bihar's Law And Order
Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi praised Chirag Paswan as a "good leader" of the NDA but criticised his lack of understanding of Bihar's situation. Jitan Ram Manjhi, former Bihar chief minister and Union Minister, called his ally Chirag Paswan a 'good leader" of the NDA but said he is unable to understand the situation in the state. Manjhi's remarks come after Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Paswan's repeated attacks on CM Nitish Kumar over the law and order situation in the wake of a series of murders in the state. 'Sometimes, even trustworthy people are unable to understand the situation and make statements on it. Chirag Paswan is a good leader of the NDA… The person whose name you are taking has some shortcomings, and before making any statement, it is important to understand the entire situation by looking at the past, present and future… He has some shortcomings, due to which fingers are being raised at the NDA," he said. #WATCH | Delhi | Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi says, '…Sometimes even trustworthy people are unable to understand the situation and make statements on it. Chirag Paswan is a good leader of the NDA… The person whose name you are taking definitely has some shortcomings, and… — ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2025 Paswan is a part of the NDA government at the Centre, and his LJP is a junior partner in the Nitish Kumar government. He has expressed his wish to contest the upcoming assembly election in the state. Gandhi also asserted that in the upcoming assembly polls, the vote will not be just to change the government, but to save the state. The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha shared on X screenshots of media reports pointing to 31 murders in 11 days and on the 'contract killing industry" in the state. In his post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, 'Bihar has become the 'crime capital of India' — fear in every alley, unease in every home! Unemployed youth are being turned into killers by 'GuNDA raj'." 'The CM is busy saving his seat, while BJP ministers are raking in commissions. I'm repeating again – this time, the vote is not just to change the government, but to save Bihar," he said. (with inputs from ANI, PTI) view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.