Action against Saeed important for regional peace: Jaswant

Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has said action against Mumbai terror attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was important for ensuring regional peace.

In an interview, Singh highlighted the importance of action against Saeed and other people responsible for the Mumbai attack.

"Pakistan's handing over of Hafiz Saeed will be a goodwill gesture," he said.

Singh, whose book 'Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence', had created a furore in his party leading to his expulsion, said the partition of the Indian subcontinent was a "great tragedy" that even Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah did not want.

Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah, who were originally from what is now the Indian state of Gujarat, wanted to unify India, Singh said.

Jinnah spent almost his entire life as an Indian and only 13 in Pakistan, said Singh, who concluded a visit to Pakistan to promote his book on Jinnah over the weekend.

Expressing grief over the partition, Singh argued: "Muslims did not benefit from the partition and if the Indian subcontinent had remained undivided, we would have become a great power".

Asked about the intolerance demonstrated by the BJP, which expelled him from the party after the release of his book, he said: "When (former premier Atal Bihari) Vajpayee wrote a note of appreciation for Mr Jinnah in the visitor's book at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, you washed the place we'd visited. What tolerance are we talking about?"

Singh also dismissed allegations that Indian intelligence agency RAW was involved in destabilising Pakistan.

Disband IPL, demands Yadav trio

After the exit of Shashi Tharoor from the union ministry, the Yadav trio on Monday trained its guns on the IPL cricket tournament and demanded in the Lok Sabha that it be taken over by the government.

As soon as the House met for the day, Lalu Prasad (RJD), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and Sharad Yadav (JD-U) were on their feet demanding that government disband the IPL which according to them has become a "betting and gambling ring".

"The moot question is the IPL and not Tharoor," Sharad Yadav said amid calls from Speaker Meira Kumar to allow the Question Hour to continue.

Prasad wanted the government to take over the IPL and the BCCI. He also wanted a probe into the alleged black money in IPL.

The demands for disbanding the IPL come in the wake of reports that the income tax department is set probe the IPL teams and start wide-ranging investigations into the flow of money in the T20 tournament.
haroor, who was accused of arranging a deal for his friend Sunanda Pushkar, had to resign as Minister of State for External Affairs yesterday for his involvement in the affairs of Kochi IPL team.

Shashi Tharoor quits

Shashi Tharoor tonight resigned as Minister of State for External Affairs after the high-level Congress Core Group decided that he should quit in the wake of controversy over the IPL Kochi franchise, capping a week-long drama that threatened to suck the government and the party into it.

54-year old Tharoor, a newcomer to politics from international diplomacy, was summoned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his residence late tonight and asked to tender his resignation.

"Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs has submitted his resignation from the Council of Ministers to the Prime Minister today. The Prime Minister has forwarded his resignation letter to the President with a recommendation that it be accepted," PMO spokesman said tonight.

Tharoor, a writer and a former Under Secretary General in the United Nations, earns the dubious distinction of becoming the first minister in the UPA-II to go under the cloud of corruption charges.
The continuance of Tharoor, a first time MP from Thiruvananthapuram who courted controversies throughout his 11-month stint, became untenable in the government ever since the IPL controversy exploded.

He got into serious problems after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed that Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar had equity stakes in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team.

It was later disclosed that Pushkar got sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore RSW following which the opposition has been gunning for his removal on the ground that it was misuse of office for pecuniary gain.
That Pushkar today offered to surrender the sweat equity and to quit RSW failed to convince the Congress top brass which met at the residence of the Prime Minister in the evening to finalise its strategy before Parliament resumes tomorrow after the week-end.

Singh, who met Gandhi one-on-one before the Core Group discussions, consulted her again before recommending the resignation to the President.

Tharoor's meeting with the Prime Minister in the night was the second during the day. He met him at noon to explain his side of the story.

SIT has no power to summon Modi: Gujarat Govt

The Gujarat Government today said the Supreme Court does not have the power to stay the ongoing trial in the post-Godhra communal riots and that the SIT cannot summon Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other accused in the murder of ex-Congress MP Ehasan Jafri.

In a fresh affidavit filed in the apex court, the State sought registration of criminal cases against NGO activist Teesta Setalvad and others for allegedly tutoring witnesses, intimidating the SIT and indulging in activities with ulterior political and vested interests.

Questioning the role played by various NGOs, Gujarat urged the apex court to issue notices to all States to examine the “extent of interference by such third parties”.

The State Government’s affidavit comes in response to the apex court’s April 6 decision to consider the application made by Teesta and certain others seeking stay on the trial and transferring the case to the CBI. The applicants had alleged that the SIT was functioning in a biased manner
Modi was earlier grilled by the apex court appointed Special Investigation Team on his alleged role in the 2002 killing of Jafri who was burnt alive by a mob at Gulbarg Society, even though he made frantic calls for help to police and the Chief Minister.

“I state and submit that though this Hon’ble court merely required SIT, in order dated 27th April 2009 ‘to look into the complaint’, the SIT started calling persons named therein and started recording their statements which is neither permissible in law nor contemplated in the aforesaid order,” the affidavit said.
On April 27, 2009, the apex court had asked the SIT to “look into the complaint” of the slain MP’s wife Zakia about the alleged role of Modi and others in the killing.

The apex court at the last hearing while mulling the idea of staying the trial had also asked the State to drop IPS officers--Geeta Johri and Shivanand Jha from the SIT. The case would come up for hearing on Monday.

Stoutly opposing stay of the trial, Gujarat said, “once the investigating agency has filed a charge sheet after conducting an investigation under supervision and monitoring of this hon’ble court, in the respectful submission of the State Government, the jurisdiction of this court,under Article 32 of the Constitution of India would come to an end,” and cited a number of earlier rulings.

The State took the plea that under Section 173(8) of the CrPC once the chargesheet is filed as in the present case, an aggrieved party can approach only the trial court to challenge the alleged shortcomings or the inadequacy of the investigation.

IPL Becomes Indian Political League With New Twists Every Day

Another twist added in the Modi-Sananda-Tharoor-Kochi issue. Former BCCI president and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said franchise of IPL Kochi’s consortium key members wanted the team to be based in Ahmedabad instead of the commercial hub of Kerala.

Pawar said that four members of the consortium met him after the auction with a request to transfer the Kochi team to Ahmedabad.
He said, “We told them please don’t do this at this stage and let the team stay in Kochi.”
However, Pawar declined to name anyone who came to meet him.
Gujarat Chief Minister and Gujarat Cricket Board President Narendra Modi also told to the media the investors met him regarding an IPL team based in Gujarat before the auction of Kochi team.
According to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, two members of the consortium, Harshad Mehta of Rosy Blue Diamonds and Mehul Shah of Anchor Earth, met him after the auction and asked him if the Kochi team could be still transferred to Ahmedabad. Rosy Blue Diamonds and Anchor Earth own 38% stake in the newly developed team.
He said, “They first came to me, and I told them I can’t do the transfer and they must approach Mr Pawar and Narendra Modi.”

Tharoor rules out resignation

Caught in a storm over his role in Kochi IPL franchise, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday dug his heels saying he would not not quit office even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he would take action in the matter if warranted.

Allegations flew thick and fast during another day of high drama which included a claim by Tharoor's personal staff that he had received a threatening call from Dawood Ibrahim gang asking him to drop out of Kochi team. In the end it turned out that the call had been made from Delhi for which one person was detained tonight.

Tharoor's friend Sunanda Pushkar, who is getting sweat equity worth about Rs 70 crore from the Kochi franchisee which has touched off the controversy, broke her silence and lashed out at the media for "haunting" the minister and reducing her to a "caricature".

Amid mounting pressure from the Opposition, mainly the BJP and Left parties, that Tharoor should resign, the Minister said, "I am not not going to resign. Obviously I am not going to be an embarrassment to the party. These are false and motivated charges levelled by business interests of some vested interests."
As a fresh controversy exploded in the government's face, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated to reporters in Washington that he could take action if warranted.

"I have heard about these things (allegations against Tharoor. I do not not have all the facts before me. When I go back (on Satuday), I will get all the facts and in the light of those, if any action is necessary, I think that would be the proper way to proceed," he said.
The Congress core group headed by Sonia Gandhi met in the evening and is understood to have discussed the strategy in Parliament which resumes second phase of the budget session.

After the meeting, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee called Tharoor to meet him amidst speculation that the party might have decided on some course of action to avoid any embarrassment in Parliament

Advani Says: Secularism has its roots in Hindutva

Senior BJP leader L K Advani on indicated that the party needs to work more to explain to the people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are synonymous.

Referring to an article by his former Cabinet colleague and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani in a magazine, Advani said in his latest blog posting: "the title of this article 'Hindutva is not property of BJP' sounds provocative. Some of my party colleagues may take umbrage and presume the article is critical. It is not. It is complimentary."

The Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party quoted Jethmalani as saying "It is a pity that the BJP has not been able to explain to people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are practically synonyms."

Pointing out that "indeed, the stress is on Indian secularism having its roots in Hindutva", the BJP leader recalled that Jethmalani had argued Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi's case in the Supreme Court and secured a landmark judgement on Hindutva in which the court had observed "Hindutva is a way of life or state of mind and cannot be understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism".
Advani also mentions about a book authored by Newsweek International's editor Fareed Zakaria. "He has repeatedly emphasised that Hinduism is not a religion in the 'Abrahamic' sense of the word," he said referring to 'The Post American World'.

"Zakaria argues that it is this non-doctrinaire character that gives Hinduism its absorptive and assimilative power. I hold that it is this Hindu ethos that accounts for the success of both democracy as well as secularism in India," he said in his blog titled 'The roots of democracy and secularism'.