New Delhi, May 20: After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent social media posts seeking information on Operation Sindoor went viral in Pakistan, the BJP leaders have launched a scathing attack on him.

Assam cabinet minister Ashok Singhal on Tuesday accused Rahul Gandhi of following an agenda synonymous with that of Pakistan.

In a striking social media post, the Assam Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Irrigation Department said that Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir are divided by the border, but are united by an agenda.

Singhal shared a juxtaposed picture of Munir and Gandhi on his X handle — clean-shaven Munir in military uniform and a bearded Gandhi in a white T-shirt. The caption reads “One Agenda”.

This comes after Rahul Gandhi’s social media posts seeking information on Operation Sindoor and raising questions gained a lot of traction in Pakistan.

For the past few days, Rahul Gandhi has been targeting External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, claiming that the Centre “informed Pakistan at the start” of Operation Sindoor. Gandhi has said that this was not a “lapse”, but a “crime”.

On Saturday, Gandhi shared a video of EAM Jaishankar interacting with the media on his X handle and raised questions — “Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?”

Gandhi reposted the video on Monday, saying the External Affairs Minister’s “silence isn’t just telling – it’s damning”. “So I’ll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew? This wasn’t a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth.”

Soon after the Congress leader wrote on his X handle, the post went viral in Pakistan, and their leaders started quoting him while attacking India’s claims on Operation Sindoor. Since Rahul Gandhi’s posts, he has been widely discussed on Pakistani TV channels.

Although the Ministry of External Affairs clarified the EAM’s remarks, Rahul Gandhi has stuck to his statement.

The MEA issued a statement. “The External Affairs Minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out.”

On Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri briefed a parliamentary committee on the India-Pakistan military conflict in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Misri reportedly reiterated the government’s position that the decision to halt military actions was made at a bilateral level, rejecting US President Donald Trump’s claims about his role in de-escalating the conflict.

The BJP has called Rahul Gandhi’s remarks “an utter misrepresentation of facts”. The BJP has said the Leader of Opposition’s misrepresentation of the minister’s remarks “reeks of mala fide intent” and also has questioned the timing of this charge.

Kolkata, May 20: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to vacate the stay imposed earlier by its single-judge bench on recruitments for supernumerary posts in the upper-primary sections in state-run schools of West Bengal.

The stay on such recruitment was originally imposed by the single-judge bench of Justice Biswajit Basu. Thereafter, the state government appealed the decision and a division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das heard its plea to vacate the stay.

However, after days of hearing in the matter, the division bench of Justice Sen and Justice Das refused to vacate the stay imposed by the bench of Justice Basu.

The division bench observed that since the case related to recruitment for supernumerary posts was still pending at the single-judge bench, vacating the stay was not desirable.

The next hearing on the matter at the single-judge bench of Justice Basu is scheduled on June 18. The next hearing is crucial in the sense that more legal arguments both for and against the justification for supernumerary recruitment might surface then.

Recently, a group of candidates for the posts of upper-primary teachers staged protests in front of the chamber of Calcutta High Court’s senior advocate and the CPI-M Rajya Sabha member Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya.

The main grudge of the protesters against Bhattacharya was that his legal arguments often led to the cancellation of school jobs in the state. During those protests, the protesters also used derogatory comments on Justice Basu because of some negative observations by the latter in the cases on the alleged school jobs scam.

Already, a suo motu contempt-of-court case has been filed in the matter against the protestors and those masterminding that. The case is being heard by a special three-judge bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, which was constituted especially to hear this particular case.

Mumbai: The Supreme Court of India has granted protection to the Hazrat Syed Bale Shah Pir Dargah located in Mira Bhayandar, Mumbai and has issued an order to impose a stay on the demolition process for four weeks. Along with this, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Maharashtra government in this matter and sought a response. The Maharashtra government will file a reply in the court in this regard within four weeks, only after which a decision will be taken on the demolition process of the dargah.
State Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bankole had issued an order for the demolition of the dargah by May 20 in the House and issued a public statement, apart from this, no other notice was issued. A bench comprising Chief Justice BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih ordered an effective stop to the demolition process. Along with this, a response has been sought from the Maharashtra government on the petition filed by the dargah administration.

The petitioners argued that the demolition was ordered on the basis of the minister’s public statements in the state assembly and a recent police report despite the absence of any government notice. The petitioners said that the dargah is 350 years old and the state government has nevertheless classified it as an illegal structure. The trust claimed that a formal registration of the property was also sought in 2022 and the dargah has been standing at the same location for decades. According to the petitioner, the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court had wrongly rejected the petitions for urgent hearing on May 15 and 16. The dargah administration told the Supreme Court that the police had also issued a notice on May 15. In the notice, the members of the trust were warned not to obstruct or disrupt the demolition process. The demolition process is scheduled for May 20.

The petitioners argued that the demolition was carried out without any legal order or due process such as notice or opportunity to be heard, which is a violation of their rights. The Supreme Court adjourned the matter for four weeks and asked the Maharashtra government to file its response within that time.