Senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi today asserted that the Uttar Pradesh police stopped his convoy at the Ghazipur border, blocking his planned visit to violence-hit Sambhal. The Senior Congress leader added that the police denied him his constitutional rights to meet the affected people.

The Leader of Opposition said that he was ready to relinquish his convoy and go to Sambhal alone with the police. He said the authorities had asked him to return after some days. Rahul Gandhi mentioned that as a Leader of Opposition, it is his right to go to the violence-hit area, but the police are stopping him. He added that the police said that they will allow him to go after a few days.

He pointed out that denying him to go to Sambhal is against the rights of LoP and the Constitution. He said that they want to go to Sambhal and see what happened there, and meet the people. Claiming that his Constitutional rights are not being given to him, he said that this is the new India, an India to end the Constitution.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stated that as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi has the right to meet the victims of the violence. She mentioned that whatever happened in Sambhal is wrong. She asserted that Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the opposition, he has constitutional rights and he cannot be stopped like this. She continued that Rahul Gandhi has the constitutional right to be allowed to go and meet the victims. 

She asserted that Rahul Gandhi also said that he would go alone with the UP police but they are not ready to do that either. She said that the police have no answer, adding that maybe the situation in Uttar Pradesh is such that they cannot handle even this much. 

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh’s deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said Congress leaders were trying to politicise the Sambhal violence. He further appealed to the politicians to not spoil the law and order of the state. He said that cartridge shells that came from Pakistan have been recovered there and the matter is being investigated. 

He assured that whoever is involved in this will not be spared. He continued that UP has changed now, and they will not be able to divide UP. He mentioned that whenever there is a big disturbance, the police impose Section 144, under which a crowd cannot gather until peace is restored. As long as the section is in place, Congress should not attempt such acts there, he said.

In a tragic incident, a man opened fire at Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal this morning while he was serving his penance at the entrance of Golden Temple in Amritsar. Reportedly, the shooter was overpowered by people present on the spot.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, is performing sewadar duties after the Akal Takht pronounced the religious punishment for him and several other Akali leaders for mistakes committed during the party’s rule in Punjab from 2007 to 2017. The SAD chief has been asked to serve as a sewadar, wash dishes and clean shoes at Golden Temple and several other gurdwaras.

In the past two days, Sukhbir Singh Badal has been sitting at the gate of Golden Temple with a spear in one hand and dressed in blue sewadar uniform. The Akali Dal leader’s leg is in a cast and he is in a wheelchair.

Reportedly, the incident occurred around 9 am on Wednesday, shortly after SAD leader Badal had taken the sewadar’s place at the Golden Temple gate. The man has been identified as Narain Singh from Gurdaspur district, about 75 km from Amritsar. Several visuals from the spot show him slowly approaching the gate, and then quickly brings out a gun. 

Another man standing near Sukhbir Singh Badal spots him in time and holds his hand. The gun goes off but misses the SAD Chief and others near him and hits the wall. The shooter has been arrested and police are investigating the motive behind the shocking attack.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said the promptness of the state police foiled a conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabis. Taking to X, the Chief MInister said that the police achieved great success by arresting the assailant on the spot with their promptness. He appreciated the promptness of the police, and strongly condemned the attack on Sukhbir Badal. He added that he has issued strict instructions to the police to immediately investigate the incident and submit a report.

Furthermore, Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said alert police officers Rishpal Singh, Jasbir and Parminder Singh managed to foil the attack. He added that Narain Singh has a criminal record, and they have registered a case and the incident is probed from all angles. He also appealed to people to maintain peace.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill will strengthen governance in the Indian banking sector besides enhancing consumer’s and customer’s convenience with respect to nominations and protection of investors.

The Finance Minister moved the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha. The aforesaid bill seeks to improve governance standards and provide consistency in reporting by banks to the Reserve Bank of India. Furthermore, the amendments will also ensure better protection for depositors and investors and will also improve the quality of services in the public sector banks.

After the bill is passed, the Banking Regulation Act will allow up to four nominees for depositors. This will include provisions for simultaneous and successive nominations, offering greater flexibility and convenience for depositors and their legal heirs, especially concerning deposits, articles, safe custody and safety lockers.

Reports stated that the proposed amendments seek to increase the tenure of directors other than the chairperson and full-time directors in cooperative banks from eight years to ten years. Altogether 19 amendments are proposed in the Banking Laws Amendment Bill 2024. In order to ensure consistency in reporting by banks, the bill provides for reporting to RBI on the last day of every fortnight instead of Fridays.

Under the aegis RBI Act, scheduled banks must maintain a certain level of average daily balance with the RBI as cash reserves. This average daily balance is based on the average of the balances held by banks at the closing of business of each day of a fortnight.

Notably, a fortnight is defined as the period from Saturday to the second following Friday (including both days). The said Bill changes the definition of a fortnight to the period from the first day to the fifteenth day of each month or the sixteenth day to the last day of each month. Additionally, the bill also changes this definition under the Banking Regulation Act where non-scheduled banks are required to maintain cash reserves.

The bill further redefines substantial interest in a company, currently it refers to holding shares of over Rs 5 lakh rupees or 10 per cent of the paid up capital whichever is less, this has been proposed to be hiked to Rs 2 crore. The Centre is also empowered to alter the amount through a notification.

The proposed bill also allows a director of a central cooperative bank to serve on the board of a state cooperative bank. At present, directors can hold positions in only one institution and not more.

The structure of the cooperative bank necessitates this as unless a person is elected to one layer of the cooperative, they can’t get into the next layer and as a result, they will necessarily have to hold a position at more than one place.

The said bill also provides that any person whose shares or unclaimed/unpaid money is transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF), he can claim the transfer or refund. At present, if money in any account remains unpaid or unclaimed for seven years, it is transferred to the IEPF.