This is an archive article published on May 19, 2024
Who stopped BJP from making PoK part of India in last 10 years: Sanjay Raut
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Home Minister had said during Lok Sabh election rallies that PoK would be part of India if PM Modi returns to power at the Centre.
Raut said Modi turned his focus on Pakistan after Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar handed him an ideal opportunity.
A day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would be within India after Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister once again, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday sought to know from the BJP who stopped it from doing so in the last ten years of the party’s rule at the Centre.
”First, it was Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) and then UP Chief Minister (Adityanath); Both have said that PoK will be brought within India. But I want to ask, who has stopped them from doing so in the last 10 years,” Raut told The Indian Express. While Adityanath made the statementin Vasai in the Palghar district of Maharashtra on Saturday, Shah had made a similar statement in Palghar earlier.
In his weekly column Rokhthok, published in the party mouthpiece Saamana, Raut raised the same issue of the BJP ”tom-tomming” about bringing PoK within India’s fold.
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Instead of taking up the PoK issue in Palghar or Vasai areas, Raut said, the BJP leaders should raise their voices in Srinagar. ”Isn’t that an ideal place to speak about PoK?” he asked.
Raut said PM Modi made a new declaration during campaigning. “He has said we will make Pakistan wear bangles. But when is the key question. PM Modi invited Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in ceremony. And it was Modi who suddenly landed in Pakistan to wish its prime minister a happy birthday and cut cake.”
Raut said Modi turned his focus on Pakistan after Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar handed him an ideal opportunity. ”BJP needs Pakistan as an election issue. And it is Congress leaders providing the BJP an election in the form of Pakistan. Since Mani Shankar Aiyar raised the issue of Pakistan, BJP has kept the issue alive during campaigning,” he said.
Raut was referring to the BJP’s attack on the Congress over a video of former Union minister and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s comments on Pakistan. In a video that went viral on social media, Aiyar was heard saying that India should accord due respect to Pakistan and hold talks with it. The Congress distanced itself from the comment and said the BJP was attempting to “deflect attention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s daily goof-ups.”
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Raut said that BJP’s election campaign is incomplete without mentioning Muslims and Pakistan.
The Sena MP said Pakistan is dear to PM Modi and Amit Shah. ”Pakistan has no democracy. Likewise, Modi-Shah are trying to finish off the democracy in India. In Pakistan, the election commission and judiciary have become a farce. Political leaders are being put in jail. The picture is no different in India. In Modi’s India, Pakistan formula is being used,” he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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