Mumbai: Leading Mumbai NGOs like OZ Seva Trust, Minara Masjid Trust, All India Ulema Board, Malik Liaquat Hussain Trust, National Uni-Ayush Activist Trust, Mumbai Central Association etc. today felicitated SP State President Abu Asim Azmi at Islam Gymkhana and appreciated his efforts to maintain unity and brotherhood in the society by respecting all religions in the Maharashtra Assembly. Azmi had introduced a bill in the Nagpur Assembly to enforce strict laws against religious hatred, blasphemy, prophets, religious leaders, and religious places, and hate speeches and hate crimes.

The event was organised at Islam Gymkhana, Mumbai. Addressing the event, Abu Asim Azmi said that nowadays hatred is being spread among the brothers by making objectionable or insulting inflammatory speeches against any religion, religious leader, religious book, religious place, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This poses a threat to peace and order. Therefore, we have presented this bill in the Legislative Assembly against those who insult any religion, religious leader, religious book, religious place, or Prophet. This bill proposes a penalty of imprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh for those who make slanderous statements about any religion, religious leader, religious book, or religious place or spread it on social media. Such a punishment will curb hate speech and hate crimes. MLA Raees Shaikh, State Working President Yousuf Abrani, Chief General Secretary Meeraj Siddiqui and Advocate Rizwan Merchant, Maulana Ijaz Kashmiri, Nizamuddin Rain, Naseem Siddiqui, Sarfaraz Arjo were present at the event.

The trumpet of the municipal elections has sounded in the state. Voting for 29 municipal corporations will be held on January 15, while the counting of votes will be held on January 16 and the results will be announced. In this election, everyone’s attention will be focused on the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections. The Shiv Sena Thackeray group will try to retain power in the Municipal Corporation. While Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and BJP will try to rule the BMC in Mumbai. Negotiations on seat sharing are ongoing in Mahayoti, but the electoral understanding has not been completed yet. However, a major rift has arisen in the Maha Vikas Aghadi before the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections. The Congress has announced to fight the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections on its own. Due to which the competition in this election has intensified further.

Congress will fight the elections alone
Congress has announced to fight the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections on its own. Congress’ Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chinnathala is currently on a visit to Maharashtra. After a meeting held in Mumbai today, Ramesh Chinnathala has said that he will fight the upcoming elections on his own. He said that there is a lot of corruption in Mumbai. That is why the Congress has decided to fight the elections alone. We have decided to fight against the BJP and the Shiv Sena Thackeray group. True patriots and secular people should support us in this fight. After coming to power, we will resolve the issues of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation in a good way. Therefore, I appeal to the voters to support us and we will develop Mumbai.

Mumbai Municipal Corporation Elections
The State Election Commission had announced the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections in a press conference on December 15. According to this announcement, candidates will be able to file their applications from December 23 to December 30, 2025. The Election Commission will scrutinize the applications on December 31. Candidates can withdraw their applications till January 2, 2026. Voting for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation elections will be held on January 5. The voting will be held on January 16, 2026 and the results will be declared on the same day.

New Delhi, Dec 20: Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday mounted a sharp attack on the PM Narendra Modi-led government, accusing it of systematically running a “bulldozer” over the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and undermining the rights of rural poor, farmers and landless workers, terming it an “assault on rural livelihoods”.

This comes two days after the Parliament passed the VB-G RAM G Bill 2025, which escalated into a major political slugfest between the government and the opposition.

In a video message shared by the Congress on X, Gandhi recalled the passage of the landmark employment guarantee law nearly two decades ago during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

She said MGNREGA was passed with broad consensus in Parliament and proved to be a “revolutionary step” that provided livelihood security to crores of rural families, particularly the most deprived and marginalised.

“The law stopped distress migration by ensuring employment in one’s own village, strengthened gram panchayats and gave a legal right to work,” Gandhi said, adding that the scheme embodied Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj.

She noted that MGNREGA acted as a lifeline for the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the Congress leader alleged that over the past 11 years, the Modi government had made repeated attempts to dilute the scheme by ignoring the interests of the rural unemployed and poor.

She expressed “deep anguish” over what she described as recent unilateral changes to the programme.

“Without consultation, discussion or taking the opposition into confidence, the government has altered the very structure of MGNREGA. Even Mahatma Gandhi’s name has been removed,” Sonia Gandhi claimed.

She warned that decisions on who gets work, how much employment is provided and where it is offered are now being taken “from Delhi, far removed from ground realities”.

Emphasising that MGNREGA was never a party-specific initiative, Gandhi said the Congress may have played a key role in bringing the law, but it was always meant to serve national and public interest.

“By weakening this law, the government has attacked the rights of crores of farmers, labourers and landless rural poor,” she said.

Gandhi asserted that the Congress was fully prepared to resist what she termed an assault on rural livelihoods. “I fought for the employment guarantee law 20 years ago, and I remain committed to fighting this ‘black law’ today,” she said, adding that Congress leaders and workers stood firmly with the people.