- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Here are the news in brief related to India politics for Tuesday, August 16, 2022:
Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, on Tuesday expanded his cabinet, with the biggest chunk of seats going to coalition partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The new ministers were administered the oath of office by state governor Phagu Chauhan. A total of 31 ministers were inducted in the cabinet. The RJD got 16 while Kumar’s Janata Dal(United) kept 11. Tej Pratap Yadav, the brother of deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, became the state’s environment minister.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged the Narendra Modi government to use his government’s expertise in improving school education and healthcare facilities across India to make it the No.1 country in the world, Press Trust of India reported. He also appealed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to not term free education and health care facilities as “freebies”. There has been political acrimony over the issue of freebies with the BJP accusing Kejriwal of using it as a “bait” to trap people for power. Last month, prime minister Narendra Modi, after inaugurating the Bundelkhand Expressway in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, cautioned people against what he called the “revdi culture” of offering freebies for garnering votes and said it is “very dangerous” for the development of the country. Modi used ‘revdi‘ as a metaphor for freebies being promised by some parties to woo voters.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made another pre-poll guarantee in the western state of Gujarat on Tuesday saying if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is elected to power in the BJP-ruled state in this year’s election, it will give free and quality education to the people besides conducting auditing of private schools. This was Kejriwal’s fourth visit to the poll-bound state this month. Gujarat, which is being ruled by prime minister Modi’s BJP for more than two decades at a stretch now, will go to polls in December.
The BJP’s central leadership on Tuesday held a meeting with the party’s unit in Bihar in New Delhi. The meeting took place days after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) called off its alliance with the BJP and formed a new government with secular parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Indian National Congress. It was reported that the saffron camp deliberated on its future course of action keeping in mind the 2024 general elections. Organisational changes were also discussed at the meeting, as per reports. The meeting was attended by Indian home minister Amit Shah, party national president JP Nadda and other top leaders.
Maharashtra cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Tuesday said it was not mandatory for state government officials to say “Vande Mataram” while receiving phone calls. Any equivalent words reflecting nationalism can be used during phone calls, he said after facing criticism from the opposition parties over the directive. Mungantiwar had on Sunday said the country was celebrating the Amrit Mahotsav (75th anniversary of Independence) and hence all officials of the state government will have to say “Vande Mataram” instead of ‘hello’ while receiving phone calls in offices till January 26 next year. He had also said a formal government order will be out by August 18.
An MLA from the Shiv Sena faction of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has asked his supporters to beat up workers of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena amid the growing rift between the two groups, PTI reported. A video on Monday went viral on social media platforms wherein MLA Prakash Surve was also seen assuring his supporters to bail them out if they face any legal action. Later, workers of the Thackeray-led Sena complained to police, seeking action against Surve, the legislator from Magathane in northwest Mumbai. In the video, the MLA was seen saying, “We will not be complacent. We have to show them their place and not tolerate anyone bullying us…If anyone says anything then beat him up, Prakash Surve is sitting here…pulp them.” “If you cannot break their hands, then break their legs. I will ensure your bail the next day. We will not spare anyone who needles us. We will them by horns and disembowel them,” Surve said.
The opposition parties on Tuesday hit out at prime minister Narendra Modi over the release of 11 people convicted of rape and murder in the Bilkis Bano case of the 2002 Gujarat riots within hours of his praise for “Nari Shakti” in his Independence Day speech and said this is the “real face” of New India under the BJP, PTI reported. The attack by the opposition parties came a day after the BJP government in Gujarat released the convicts, serving life imprisonment for the gang rape of a pregnant Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family, under its remission policy. The convicts, who were also charged with killing the pregnant Muslim woman’s three-year-old daughter, were welcomed with sweets and garlands outside the jail.
