Anti-patriotic': RSS wing says India must not issue foreign currency bonds

They say it is anti-patriotic as it could create long-term risks for the economy, potentially allowing rich foreign nations and their financial institutions to dictate the country's policies.

An influential Hindu nationalist group close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has demanded his government review its plan to raise money by selling foreign currency bonds.

They say it is anti-patriotic as it could create long-term risks for the economy, potentially allowing rich foreign nations and their financial institutions to dictate the country's policies.

"We can't allow this to happen," declared Ashwani Mahajan, the co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

ALSO READ: Budget 2019: In a first, India to issue sovereign bonds in global market

The RSS was the key founder of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and has people it nurtured in top positions in the government, including Modi himself.

Declaring that the SJM will campaign against the plan by convening meetings of influential economists, Mahajan said: "We are confident that government will withdraw its decision on these bonds."

"We must look at the experience of countries that have taken loans from international markets to meet their government deficit. The experience of these countries has been far from good," he said, citing Argentina and Turkey as examples.

Mahajan said going overseas to borrow may mean that the rupee currency depreciates at a faster rate and allows foreign governments to demand tariff reductions.

A Finance Ministry spokesman declined to comment for this story.

Speaking at a business summit in London, British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed hope that the Indian government would choose the British capital as the location to issue its first international sovereign bonds.

New Delhi has not so far given any details about where they will be issued.

Subhash Chandra Garg, the top official at the Finance Ministry, told Indian business leaders last week that the overseas debt move was part of efforts to bring down real interest rates for Indian firms, to help the economy grow faster.... : Like it or not, gene

LS polls phase 3: 25% candidates are crorepatis, 21% with criminal charges

Of the 230 candidates facing serious criminal charges, 14 have declared they have been convicted in the past.

Of the candidates contesting the third phase of Lok Sabha elections, 340 (21%) have declared they are facing criminal cases of which 230 (14%) face serious criminal charges, as per an analysis of candidates’ affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The figures come from the affidavits of 1,594 of the 1,612 candidates contesting in phase three as the affidavits of 18 candidates were illegible or incomplete.

As many as 392 (25%) of 1,594 candidates whose affidavits were studied have declared assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Among the major parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Samajwadi Party have the highest proportion (90% from SP, 84% from BJP and 82% from Congress) of ‘crorepati’ candidates.

Nearly 43% of all candidates have declared they have a graduate degree or above, while 3.6% have declared they are just literate and 1.4% are illiterate.

More than a third of candidates are aged between 25 and 40 years, while nearly half are between 41 and 60 years.

The third phase of polling began on April 23, 2019. Affidavits of 18 candidates were not analysed as they were not properly scanned or were incomplete.

Criminal charges

Of the 230 candidates facing serious criminal charges, 14 have declared they have been convicted in the past. Persons convicted are debarred from contesting elections for six years from the date of conviction, but only if they have been sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more.

Among Congress’s candidates, 27% (24 of 90) face serious criminal charges. As many as 27% (26 of 97) of BJP candidates face serious criminal charges, 10% (9 of 92) of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), 27% (6 of 22) of the Shiv Sena, 32% (6 of 19) of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), 50% (5 of 10) of Nationalist Congress Party, 40% (4 of 10) of Samajwadi Party and 44% (4 of 9) candidates from All India Trinamool Congress face serious criminal charges.

13 candidates have declared they are facing cases related to murder, 30 have declared cases related to attempt to murder, 14 related to kidnapping, 29 related to crime against women and 26 related to hate speech, the ADR analysis shows.

Among the major parties, 44% (40 of 90) Congress candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. As many as 39% (38 of 97) candidates from BJP and 17% (16 of 92) candidates from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Business Standard

BJP and RSS trying to divide, spread hatred in India: Rahul Gandhi

Gandhi made the statement while addressing the Indian Overseas Congress on Thursday in Berlin.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has lambasted the BJP and RSS, saying they were working "to divide and spread hatred" in India.

Gandhi made the statement while addressing the Indian Overseas Congress on Thursday in Berlin, the Congress said on Friday.

His address was not aired live due to a technical glitch.

ALSO READ: Rahul Gandhi slams mob lynchings and attacks on Dalits; BJP hits back

Interacting with the Indian-origin parliamentarians, Gandhi said that "the government which is now ruling in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, want to divide and spread hatred in the country.

The Congress party will not let this happen".

Gandhi said the strength of India lies in listening to the views of every citizen, irrespective of his/her religion or caste.

Article Source BS

Grand alliance to take on BJP, RSS a sentiment of people: Rahul Gandhi

The opposition has been asking PM Modi to bring prices of petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The grand alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not just the sentiment of politicians but also of the people, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday.


The Congress, he said, is trying to join together these voices and the work is going on.


"It is the sentiment of the people and not just political parties which are opposed to the BJP, to have a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) that can take on the BJP, the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said at a press conference.


"Prime Minister Modi and the BJP are attacking the Constitution and institutions of the nation," he alleged, saying the question facing the people is how to stop this.


He said the opposition has been asking Prime Minister Modi to bring prices of petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but "he is not interested."


"There was an attack on Mumbai (through demonetisation). There are small industries, traders here... The leather industry and the cloth industry. They were attacked through the 'Gabbar Singh Tax'. The whole country is sad. Small businessmen are sad and we are fighting for them," he said.


He said during the UPA government's rule, the crude price was $130 a barrel that has now come down to $70 a barrel.


"However, the benefit has not been passed on to the common man. Where does this money go? In the pockets of 15 to 20 rich people," Gandhi alleged.


The 47-year-old Congress president is on a two-day visit to Maharashtra since yesterday.

Pranab Mukherjee's daughter had opposed his RSS event visit

The two, according to sources, had a row when Mukherjee had accepted the invite from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat some weeks back.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee, slated to address Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres on Thursday, landed in Nagpur on Wednesday evening but didn’t offer tributes at the memorial of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar located there.

However, it also transpired that not just several leaders in the Congress, but also Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha had opposed his visiting the RSS headquarters.

The two, according to sources, had a row when Mukherjee had accepted the invite from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat some weeks back. But this came out in the public domain when sections of the media reported on Wednesday evening that Sharmistha, the chief of the women’s wing of the Delhi unit of the Congress party, could be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from West Bengal’s Malda Lok Sabha seat in 2019. The media reports attributed the information to BJP sources.

Sources in Mukherjee’s office denied these reports. They said Mukherjee has had “no political discussions” with RSS-BJP. An upset Sharmishtha, who is currently on vacation, took to Twitter where she not only denied the news but told her father that she had forewarned him about this.

“I joined politics because I believe in the Congress party. I would rather leave politics than leave Congress,” she said. But that wasn’t all.

In her second tweet, where she also tagged her father, Sharmistha said: “Hope .@CitiznMukherjee now realises from todays’ incident, how BJP dirty tricks department operates. Even the RSS wouldn’t believe that you are going to endorse its views in your speech. But the speech will be forgotten, visuals will remain and those will be circulated with fake statements.”

In a third tweet, she said: ".@CitiznMukherjee by going to Nagpur, you are giving BJP/RSS full handle to plant false stories, spread false rumours like today and making it somewhat believable. And this is just the beginning!"

The former president had already conveyed to the RSS leadership that he, unlike other chief guests at such events, will not offer floral tributes at Hedgewar’s memorial.

The RSS welcomed Mukherjee’s visit, and said it should be an example to the Congress and others who pursue politics of untouchability.

Bypoll results 2018: BJP's Lok Sabha tally down to 271 from 282 in 2014

The BJP managed to retain only one seat-Palghar, Maharashtra-after the bypolls held on May 28, 2018, where the party called in Yogi Adityanath for campaigning.

With the loss of Kairana, Uttar Pradesh and Bhandara-Gondiya, Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now has 271 seats in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament), down 11 from the 282 seats it won in the 2014  Lok Sabha elections .

The BJP managed to retain only one seat–Palghar, Maharashtra–after the bypolls held on May 28, 2018, where the party called in Yogi Adityanath for campaigning.

While the BJP lost the Kairana seat to Rashtriya Lok Dal, it lost the Bhandara-Gondiya seat to the Nationalist Congress Party.

With its tally down to 271 in Lok Sabha after bypoll losses, BJP as a party has lost simple majority, which is 272 seats. NDA, including BJP and allies, still has majority with 315 out of 543 seats.

Since March 11, 2018, bypolls were held for seven Lok Sabha constituencies and 11 state assembly constituencies across the country. The voting for all the state assemblies were held on May 28, 2018 and the result was announced on May 31, 2018.

The BJP did not win any seats in the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha bypolls held earlier on March 11 and March 14, 2018, thus losing the seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur held by chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, respectively.

So, in UP, where the party had won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, the BJP is now left with 68 seats.

The reason being highlighted for the poll results by the opposition in Uttar Pradesh is the farmer distress in the state. ‘Jinnah nahi Ganna jeeta hai’ (Not Jinnah but sugarcane has won), claimed Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh.

The results of the bypolls to 11 assembly seats across 10 states also came as a major setback to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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Why Mukherjee's Nagpur visit should worry BJP brass more than Congress

Some in the Congress have criticised Mukherjee for accepting the RSS invite, arguing that would give legitimacy to the RSS, but others have for months advised the Congress against attacking the RSS.

In the past two years, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has called on former president Pranab Mukherjee on four occasions. Two of these meetings took place while Mukherjee was still a resident of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the two subsequent meetings were held at his new address – 10, Rajaji Marg.



These meetings have helped Mukherjee and Bhagwat develop mutual respect for each other. Bhagwat has come to admire Mukherjee’s knowledge of Indian history and his understanding of the Hindu social reform that began in Bengal in the 19th Century.



Mukherjee attaches much importance to preserving the robustness of institutions to keep democracy alive in India, and it is likely that the subject would have come up during his discussions with Bhagwat. In turn, Mukherjee has come to appreciate the various social service projects that RSS undertakes, particularly in the northeastern states.



Bhagwat had invited Mukherjee at least on four earlier occasions to attend an RSS event. Mukherjee refused as he didn’t deem it fit that a serving President of India should attend an event of an organisation with a contentious record. Eventually, the former president relented and accepted the latest invite.



A lifelong Congressman with strong secular credentials, Mukherjee is likely to speak at the RSS event on the subject of India’s civilisational ethos of inclusive nationalism, espoused in modern times by such thinkers as Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. It would be interesting to see if Mukherjee chooses to quote Nehru’s criticism of the RSS. Mukherjee’s speech will be keenly followed across the country.



Some in the  Congress have criticised Mukherjee for accepting the RSS invite, arguing that Mukherjee’s presence would give legitimacy to the RSS.



But there are others who have, and for months now, advised the Congress leadership against attacking the RSS. According to sources in the Congress, over the past year, the RSS has reached out to some of the Congress leaders. The RSS pointspersons have told the Congress that the Sangh is a “nationalist organisation”, which has in the past supported the Congress, particularly Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, on specific issues.

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