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Mamata Banerjee to hold meeting with Bengal imams next week on opposing Waqf Act

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Kolkata, April 11: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a meeting with the imams, muezzins, and religious leaders from the Muslim community in the state on April 16 to prepare the blueprint on how to oppose the recently promulgated Waqf Amendment Act.

The venue of the meeting will be Netaji Indoor Stadium in central Kolkata.

Firhad Hakim, the West Bengal Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Minister and the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, will also be present at the meeting.

Recently, at a programme of the Jain community in Kolkata, the Chief Minister gave a subtle message to the Union government that the Waqf Amendment Act will not be implemented in West Bengal.

He also described the Waqf Act as an “attempt to snatch others’ property”.

“Just as no one has the right to snatch my property, similarly, I too do not have the right to snatch others’ property. In West Bengal, I will never allow that. In West Bengal, the people from the minority community are almost 33 per cent of the population. Always remember that your Didi is there to protect you and your property. Our mission should be — ‘Jio Aur Jine Do (Live and let live)’,” CM Banerjee said on Wednesday.

Political observers feel that the proposed meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium on April 16 will be an extension of the Chief Minister’s proclamation as regards the Act and the involvement of the imams, muezzins, and religious leaders from the Muslim community had been done to ensure that future movements on this issue take a bigger shape in the coming days.

Haikm, on Friday, told media persons that West Bengal is fortunate to have a Chief Minister as a result of which the interests of people from all religious communities are protected in the state.

“In West Bengal, there is no question of misrule arising out of attempts to divide people on the basis of religious beliefs. Our protests against the Waqf Amendment Act will continue,” he said.

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Mumbai: Western Railway Felicitates 12 Employees For Ensuring Safe Train Operations

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Vivek Kumar Gupta – General Manager of Western Railway felicitated 12 employees at WR Headquarters, Mumbai for their outstanding work which resulted in safe train working. These employees were awarded for their alertness on duty and their valuable contributions in preventing untoward incidents, during the month of August, 2025 and thereby ensuring the safety of train operations. Out of the 12 employees, 02 each are from Mumbai Central, Vadodara, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Bhavnagar Division.

According to Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway,  Vineet Abhishek,  Gupta appreciated the alertness of the staff who were being awarded and mentioned that they are exemplary role models for everyone to emulate.

The employees’ high level of commitment and dedication towards safe running of trains in various areas of safety such as detection of broken bolt, detection of smoke and spark underside of a coach/engine, track fracture, broken coupler body, dangling objects in wagons and Accident Relief Train (ART), application of emergency brakes before an open level cross gate to save untoward incidents, etc.

Western Railway commends all awardee employees for their quick thinking and alertness, which played a key role in preventing untoward events. 

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Rahul Gandhi now links unemployment and vote theft, claims ‘joblessness highest in 45 years’

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New Delhi, Sep 23: Firing a fresh salvo at the Centre, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that the country’s youth are being ‘pushed to darkness’ because of the ‘unprecedented’ rise in unemployment levels under the current dispensation.

Taking to X, the Congress leader slammed the Modi government for ‘failing’ to address high unemployment among the youth and also linked it to vote fraud and ‘vote chori’.

“The biggest problem for youth in India is unemployment – and it is directly linked to vote theft,” he wrote in the post on X.

He said that whenever any government comes to power by winning the trust of people, its first duty is to provide employment and opportunities to the youth and accused the BJP of having scant regard for this.

“BJP does not win elections honestly – they stay in power by stealing votes and holding institutions captive. That’s why unemployment has reached its highest level in 45 years,” Rahul Gandhi alleged.

He further claimed that jobs are declining, recruitment processes have collapsed, and the youth’s future is being pushed into darkness.

Stepping up the attack further, he said that the government was prioritising businessmen and billionaires over the youth and said this has dashed the latter’s hopes.

While levelling these charges, he also shared a video comprising multiple incidents of lathi charge by policemen on the protesting students.

He said that the youth of the nation was now realising that they must fight the vote theft as this is the ‘real’ challenge before them.

“As long as elections continue to be stolen, unemployment and corruption will also keep increasing. Now, the youth will neither tolerate the looting of jobs nor the theft of votes,” he said, seeking to evoke public support.

“Freeing India from unemployment and vote theft is now the greatest patriotism,” he said on a concluding note.

Rahul Gandhi’s fresh assertions and drawing a link between unemployment and vote theft assume significance as they seek to galvanise the support of unemployed youths ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.

Congress has already upped the ante on ‘vote chori’ claims ahead of state elections. Rahul held his second presser on electoral malpractices recently and also warned of ‘big disclosures’ under the imminent hydrogen bomb threat.

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Bombay HC Questions PIL Against MNS Chief Raj Thackeray, Advises Affected Citizens To Approach Court

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Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned the maintainability of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a city based lawyer seeking registration of an FIR against MNS chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly assaulting citizens for not speaking in Marathi. 

The PIL filed by advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay has sought registration against Thackeray and his party workers for repeatedly targeting non-Marathi-speaking citizens, especially from North India. 

His advocate, Subhash Jha, argued that the political party often targeted non-Marathi-speaking citizens before the elections. Citing a Supreme Court judgement, Jha submitted that the apex court has clearly said that the state must ensure that violence by political parties and workers do not take place and the same should be  dealt with iron hands. 

He said that they have written to the Election Commission of India and State Election Commission to de-recognize the political party. “We have given instances. These are not solitary instances, but they are rampant. Especially when elections are round the corner,” Jha said, adding that the civic elections would be held. 

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad remarked that the affected persons could approach the court. “Why a Public Interest Litigation (PIL)?” the bench asked. 

To this Jha replied that it affected a large number of people. “It affects a large number of people. How can anyone be targeted for their language?” he said. 

On a court query, Jha said that they had sent complaints to the deputy Inspector General of police, commissioner of police. The bench then said they would have to hear the issue in detail, as it has questioned the maintainability of the PIL. 

Earlier, Upadhyay had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking the withdrawal of recognition granted to MNS, alleging that the party routinely engages in acts that threaten national unity. The PIL highlighted a rally held on July 5, where Thackeray allegedly incited violence by suggesting that those who do not speak Marathi should be “hit below their eardrums”. He also reportedly mocked Hindi-speaking states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan, saying, “If Hindi couldn’t solve the economic problems of those states, how will its imposition solve Maharashtra’s issues?” 

The apex court had, however, asked Upadhyay to approach the high court with his grievance. 

Hence, he filed the PIL in HC. It will now come for hearing in due course of time.

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