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Journalism of Courage
AT 21, Arya Rajendran has found admirers from across the border. In neighbouring Sri Lanka, Namal Rajapaksa – son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa – congratulated her for being elected the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Council. Namal, who is the Sports and Youth affairs Minister in the Sri Lankan Cabinet, said, “No doubt your success story will pave way and inspire more youngsters, particularly women, to follow your path.” Namal himself was elected an MP in 2010 at the age of 24.
Anniversary Plans
AS INDIA and Bangladesh plan to jointly commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Liberation War, the Congress too has begun parallel efforts to celebrate the event. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has set up a panel headed by former Defence Minister A K Antony to plan the party’s activities to mark the anniversary. The Congress does not want to let go of the occasion since splitting of Pakistan by the Indira Gandhi government had been its counter to the BJP’s nationalism plank. The committee includes Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Meira Kumar and Prithviraj Chavan among others.
Playing Mediator
EYES ON Christian votes in Kerala, the BJP seems to be working hard on every posssible opportunity. On Tuesday, Mizoram Governor and former BJP state chief P S Sreedharan Pillai brought the two warring factions of Jacobite and Orthodox church in Kerala to meet PM Narendra Modi. According to representatives of both factions, the PM gave them a patient hearing. While one side complained that their right to worship is being denied, the other side highlighted the 2017 Supreme Court verdict that stated that there could not be a division or separation of churches within the church. The order had given an upper hand to the Orthodox faction over the church’s temporal properties, but the Jacobite faction wants the state’s intervention to circumvent it. It remains to be seen if the BJP or PM would be able to resolve the decades-long dispute.
