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News18
3 days ago
- Politics
- News18
'National Hero Still In Exile': Netaji's Daughter Renews Request For Return Of His Remains From Japan
The statement comes ahead of the solemn occasion of August 18, the day Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is believed to have died in a plane crash in 1945 Two days before the 80th death anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, his daughter, Anita Bose Pfaff, once again made a heartfelt plea to the Indian government to bring his remains back from Japan. The renewed request coincides with the solemn occasion of August 18, the day Netaji is believed to have died in a plane crash in 1945. In a public statement, Pfaff reiterated her long-standing desire to see her father's ashes returned to his homeland, providing a sense of closure to millions of his followers. She maintained that a DNA test should be conducted on the remains, which are currently enshrined at the Rengeji Temple in Tokyo, to definitively settle the decades-long controversy surrounding his death. 'The time has come to put an end to this chapter of uncertainty," she said, stressing that scientific evidence would silence various conspiracy theories and honour her father's memory. Her appeal comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Japan later this month. 'Netaji's 80th death anniversary on August 18, 2025, marks a grim reality—a national hero remains in exile even 78 years after India became independent," Pfaff said. While the official narrative holds that Netaji died in the plane crash in Taiwan, many theories persist, claiming he survived and lived in anonymity. Pfaff has consistently dismissed these theories, advocating for the official acceptance of his death and the dignified return of his remains. She has also expressed her wish for a final, public ceremony in India where the ashes could be dispersed, allowing people from all walks of life to pay their last respects to the revered freedom fighter. The issue has been a subject of political and public discourse for decades, with successive governments facing calls to resolve the matter. view comments First Published: 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.
Time of India
3 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Netaji's daughter seeks return of father's remains from Japan
Kolkata: Subhas Chandra Bose's daughter Anita Bose Pfaff has yet again appealed to Union govt to repatriate the freedom fighter's ashes that lie in a temple in Tokyo. Netaji died in a plane crash in Taihoku, modern day Taipei City, on Aug 18, 1945. He was en route to Tokyo following Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's surrender in a nationwide radio message, which ended Japan's support for his and the Indian National Army's struggle for India's independence. In a statement issued on the eve of his 80th death anniversary, Pfaff appealed that her father's remains be brought from the Renko-ji Temple in Tokyo. She had made a similar appeal on the eve of Netaji's 128th birth anniversary on Jan 23 this year. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in Kolkata Following Japan's surrender, Netaji had set out to fly to Tokyo on Aug 17, 1945. The crash on Aug 18 resulted in severe burns, leading to his death the same day. He was cremated in Taipei, and his remains were subsequently taken to Tokyo. The head priest of Renko-ji Temple agreed to safeguard Netaji's remains "for a few months" at the request of the Indian community in Tokyo. Nearly a century later, his remains continue to be honoured and cared for by the current generation of head priests. "When asked about his greatest fear, Netaji reportedly stated it was 'to be in exile'. He had returned to India from exile in Europe in the 1930s despite warnings of immediate imprisonment. He only escaped from India again to avoid renewed imprisonment, continuing his fight for freedom from abroad and remaining in exile until death. As Netaji's daughter I invite Indians of today who still remember him and respect him to support his posthumous return from exile, to support the transfer of his mortal remains to India for a final disposal," Pfaff said. Other Bose family members in Kolkata have also appealed to the Union govt to bring back the ashes. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
David Pfaff Victorious In Irving City Council Race
David Pfaff won a hotly contested Irving City Council runoff Saturday, defeating Sergio Porres with 52.74% of the vote — a margin of just 580 votes. According to the official election night report, Pfaff received 5,591 votes to Porres' 5,011, improving his May 3 general election performance, when he secured 5,230 votes to Porres' 4,987. Both candidates gained supporters during the runoff campaign, but Pfaff ultimately widened his lead. Notably, The Dallas Morning News reported that it was not allowed inside the Porres campaign's watch party Saturday night — though The Dallas Express was. Inside the room, Porres' allies reflected on the campaign's broader significance, including its effect on other council races and the city's ongoing casino debate. 'Sergio's race kinda carried this whole campaign,' said attorney Cliff Riley, a close ally of the Families for Irving PAC, which backed Porres. He credited the Place 2 challenger's candidacy with creating a surge of opposition to casino development, which he said also boosted turnout for candidates John Bloch and Adam Muller — both of whom won their respective races earlier in May. Riley likened Porres' insurgent bid to that of former State Sen. Don Huffines' 2022 primary challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott, explaining that Porres was the one pulling the Overton window to the 'right.' He specifically pointed to Pfaff's decision to include 'no casinos' in his campaign mailers as evidence that the issue had become politically 'toxic.' 'We've won a big battle,' Riley said. 'Sergio made [the casino issue] utterly toxic for the other side.' Riley also emphasized the diverse coalition Porres built, saying his campaign was effective 'because of our Muslim friends' and other religious voters who had long felt alienated by Irving's political class. At the party, Porres personally thanked former general election opponents like Vicky Oduk, who endorsed him the day after the May election and campaigned with him in the runoff. He also thanked Elena Blake, president of the Irving Republican Women, who was among his earliest backers, among many others. 'We have done a really incredible thing,' Porres told supporters. Porres expressed optimism about his future political prospects, suggesting Saturday's results had only laid the groundwork for a potential rematch. 'This was a warm-up fight,' he said. 'We are going to be unstoppable.' He also pointed to shifting demographics in Irving, saying the city's Catholic and Muslim populations — including many large families — are aligned on key cultural issues and increasingly frustrated with the status quo. 'The demographics are on our side,' Porres said. For his part, Pfaff appeared elated in a video posted to his campaign's Facebook page shortly after the result was called. In the video, Pfaff is seen smiling broadly as he approaches a projector screen displaying the vote totals, then embraces his supporters. The caption read: 'THANK YOU, IRVING!' The election capped months of tension over the city's stance on casinos — an issue that dominated political discourse even after a proposed rezoning effort was formally withdrawn. Pfaff's backers included the Lone Star Conservative Action Fund, a political group linked to Las Vegas Sands, which spent nearly $200,000 supporting his campaign and others. Pfaff publicly distanced himself from the group during the campaign, saying in a video, 'I cannot be bought.' Porres, meanwhile, campaigned aggressively on an anti-casino message and frequently questioned why casino-affiliated groups were still involved in city races if the issue was truly 'dead.' The campaign also exposed shifting alliances in Irving's Muslim community. Though CAIR Action Texas initially backed Pfaff, it later withdrew its endorsement. Other Muslim civic organizations moved to support Porres, culminating in the formation of the Irving Muslims PAC, which endorsed him exclusively. Saturday's result means Pfaff will take the Place 2 seat on the Irving City Council — a seat previously held by Brad LaMorgese, who did not seek reelection. With Pfaff's victory, the composition of the council now includes a complex blend of pro- and anti-casino voices, but momentum appears to remain with casino skeptics — a movement Porres helped galvanize, even in defeat.
Indianapolis Star
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Last-minute change to human sexuality bill removes requirement to teach topic of consent
A last-minute change to an Indiana General Assembly bill on human sexuality instruction in Indiana's K-12 schools eliminates a proposed requirement that such instruction teach the importance of consent to sexual activity. State Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, on Monday morning announced the change to House Bill 442, which also requires that school districts publish a list of materials used in connection with instruction on human sexuality and makes other changes aimed at increasing oversight of what's taught regarding sexual education in public schools. The original version of Byrne's bill did not contain the consent language, so the change isn't out of left field. Byrne said local school boards would still be able to choose whether or not to talk about the topic of consent, but he said there "may be different thoughts in different communities." "That can still happen," Byrne said. "We're not going to require it in this bill." The change to eliminate required teaching about consent to sexual activity is included in a conference committee report that now requires signatures from lawmakers in the House and Senate. Both chambers will then have to give the bill a final vote before it's sent to Gov. Mike Braun. That means there's still time for the bill to change before it crosses the finish line. House and Senate Democrats immediately questioned the removal of required consent language after Byrne announced it, with state Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, saying teaching consent helps both boys and girls who might not otherwise be taught that "they can say no." Pfaff had previously convinced the Indiana House to add the consent language in the bill, which wasn't in Byrne's original version of the bill. "I don't understand how we could possibly not agree to consent to teach that as part of human sexuality," Pfaff said. State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said Indiana already has a problem with youth being subjected to sexual assault before they even leave high school. An Indiana Department of Health 2020 report found that more than 13% of high school girls in Indiana and 6.4% of high school boys here reported being physically forced to have unwanted sexual intercourse, and that instances of underreporting are high among Hoosier youth. "This is really important," Hunley said. Rep. Becky Cash, R-Zionsville, asked Byrne for a consideration "to put consent as age-appropriate" back in the bill. "If we were teaching this in sixth or seventh grade, it might be, 'We stay in our bubble, right? We don't touch somebody,'" Cash said. "If you decide to leave it in there, maybe it could be an alignment with age appropriateness." Byrne did not immediately reply to IndyStar's request for comment about the change to the bill.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge again halts CFPB's 1,500 layoffs
This story was originally published on Banking Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Banking Dive newsletter. A federal judge Friday again temporarily paused an effort by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to decimate itself. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia halted the CFPB from cutting off employees' access to the bureau's systems – a move that had been set for 6 p.m. Eastern time Friday as part of a reduction in force the agency's acting director, Russ Vought, announced Thursday in memos to nearly 1,500 workers. 'We're not going to disburse 1,483 people into the universe and have them be unable to communicate with the agency anymore until we have determined whether that is lawful or not,' Berman Jackson said at a hearing Friday. Attorneys representing the National Treasury Employees Union asked Berman Jackson late Thursday for an emergency hearing to force the CFPB to explain how the layoffs don't violate the preliminary injunction Berman Jackson granted last month – or, for that matter, a pared-down order an appeals court issued last week. Three witnesses – two CFPB employees and an attorney representing the NTEU – submitted declarations to the court Friday, ahead of the hearing. Matthew Pfaff, chief of staff at the CFPB's Office of Consumer Response, told the court he received a notice Thursday indicating that his employment would end June 16 but that he would lose access to the CFPB's systems – 'and thus, [the] ability to work,' Pfaff said – at 6 p.m. Friday. 'This RIF action is necessary to restructure the Bureau's operations to better reflect the agency's priorities and mission,' Vought wrote in a memo to affected employees. The memo was included in Pfaff's declaration to the court. Those priorities were laid out Wednesday in a memo from the CFPB's chief legal officer, Mark Paoletta, who said the bureau would pivot its focus away from nondepository institutions and toward 'tangible harms to consumers.' In doing so, the bureau would 'shift resources away from enforcement and supervision that can be done by the States,' Paoletta wrote Wednesday. The preliminary injunction Berman Jackson issued March 28 halted any mass reductions in force. An appeals court April 11 ruled the CFPB could send a RIF notice but only when employees have been 'determined, after an individualized assessment, to be unnecessary to the performance of [the] defendants' statutory duties.' 'These RIFs appear to go well beyond what the unstayed portions of this Court's injunction permit,' lawyers for the NTEU wrote Thursday to Berman Jackson. 'It is unfathomable that cutting the Bureau's staff by 90 percent in just 24 hours, with no notice to people to prepare for that elimination, would not 'interfere with the performance' of its statutory duties, to say nothing of the implausibility of the defendants having made a 'particularized assessment' of each employee's role in the three-and-a-half business days since the court of appeals imposed that requirement.' The cuts would leave the CFPB with a headcount of around 200, according to figures reported in September. 'Entire offices, including statutorily mandated ones, have or soon will be either eliminated or reduced to a single person,' the NTEU's attorneys wrote in their motion Thursday, calling employees' impending loss of access to CFPB systems a 'functional work stoppage.' The list of affected employees cuts a wide swath across the bureau, including all of the consumer response team, except eight managers; 'virtually everyone' in the research, monitoring and regulations division; everyone in supervision policy except the head of the office; everyone in supervision examinations except the office chief; everyone in the office of fair lending; virtually everyone in cybersecurity; and the legal team in the bureau's front office, according to a declaration by Jennifer Bennett, an attorney for Gupta Wessler, which is representing the NTEU. Pfaff gave more details as to the impact in the Office of Consumer Response, noting that 'even employees who already provided notice to the CFPB of their resignation from the federal service, as well as those who accepted the deferred resignation program, received this RIF notice.' Throughout the NTEU's case against the CFPB, the office's response to consumer complaints was held up as a prime example of a statutorily mandated function of the bureau. 'No leader in Consumer Response was consulted about what is needed to operate the office's statutory duties or how the RIF would affect the complaint handling program, which is currently projected to handle more than five million complaints and more than half a million calls in 2025,' Pfaff said in his declaration Thursday. 'Nearly all staff have been informed that their positions are being eliminated — including those that unambiguously align to statutory objectives and are necessary for collecting, investigating, and responding to consumer complaints.' Pfaff said the office will shrink to a staff of eight managers from what he estimates is a headcount of 135. 'Each of those eight employees is a manager of managers who does not carry out the day-to-day tasks that permit the Office to fulfill its mandatory statutory duties,' Pfaff said. Other employees went public on social media. Elizabeth Bond, a senior adviser to the CFPB's chief technologist, received her notice while on maternity leave. 'This termination came during a time where I'm supposed to be physically recovering, bonding with my child, and supporting my own family through this transition. I'm absolutely heartbroken to see the agency I dedicated my career to be destroyed,' Bond posted Thursday on LinkedIn. 'It means terrible things for all Americans.' 'No one will be protecting consumers and looking out for their best interests,' Bond told The New York Times. Still others spoke on condition of anonymity. "Anybody should expect a letter at any time for the rest of this administration," one CFPB staffer told American Banker. "It's the sword of Damocles." At least one consumer advocate – Erin Witte, the Consumer Federation of America's director of consumer protection – cited the CFPB's appeals court order in her statement Thursday, condemning the workforce cuts. 'Sabotaging the CFPB by firing almost 90% of its remaining civil servants who protect Americans from corporate crime is hardly the 'individualized' or 'particularized' assessment that the court required the CFPB to undergo,' Witte said. 'These mass layoffs,' combined with Paoletta's reprioritization memo from Wednesday, 'provide a blueprint for would-be cheats and lawbreakers about which laws they can violate without being held accountable by our nation's supposed consumer finance 'watchdog.'' Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, the architect of the CFPB who is now the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, lamented in a statement Thursday that the agency was 'gutted.' 'Dismantling the CFPB in the face of a court order blocking an illegal shutdown is yet another assault on consumers and our democracy by this lawless Administration, and we will fight back with everything we've got,' she said. Recommended Reading FCA: Staley misled regulators about his relationship with Epstein Sign in to access your portfolio
