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Journalism of Courage
BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj led around 1,500 party activists in courting arrest, along with 50 sadhus, on the fifth day of the party’s high- voltage agitation today, demanding withdrawal of cases against former Madhya Pradesh CM Uma Bharati.
BJP Uttar Pradesh unit chief Kesrinath Tripathi, his predecessor Vinay Katiyar, former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, former Uttaranchal CM Bhagatsingh Koshiyari and former Himachal Pradesh CM Premkumar Dhumal also courted arrest. Sadhus from UP led by Katiyar also courted arrest as part of the BJP’s stir involving the party’s top leaders, including L.K. Advani, to pressurise the state to withdraw cases against the Bharati.
Addressing BJP workers from MP, UP, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, Swaraj accused the state government of giving the whole episode a communal colour and turning it into a Hindu-Muslim issue. ‘‘This is not at all a Hindu-Muslim issue, it is about hoisting of the national flag.’’ The BJP’s ongoing struggle is about ‘‘foreign attitude versus Indian attitude’’, she said, in an apparent reference to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress meanwhile, charged the BJP with misusing the Tricolour and dishonouring it to serve the party’s interests, KPCC chief B. Janardhan Poojary said, ‘‘We will consider filing criminal and civil suits against them.’’
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Shift me to jail and spare the cops, says Uma
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• HUBLI: BJP leader Uma Bharati has now urged the Karnataka government to shift her to jail as it pains her to see the staff suffering at the makeshift jail in Dharwad’s University of Agricultural Sciences. In a statement, Uma said, ‘‘I cannot bear the sight of the police and security staff risking their lives and paying for what is essentially a mistake of the state government and its political vendetta against me.’’ — ENS |
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