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Veteran Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev passes away at 83

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Santosh Mohan Dev

He made immense contribution to build the party right from grassroots level in the Northeast

~By Sujit Bhar

Santosh Mohan Dev, a veteran Congress leader and a pillar of support for the party in Assam’s Silchar as well as in Tripura, died at a hospital on Wednesday (August 2). He was 83.

The former Union heavy industries and steel minister and seven-time MP from the area died in a local hospital. His daughter, Sushmita Dev, also an MP, tweeted: “Nothing could have prepared me for this moment. I lost him at 6.06 am today (Wednesday). Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, your love for him,” as per agency reports.

Apart from heavy industries and steel, he had also held the Minister of State (MoS) for Communications from 1986-1988 and MoS for Home between 1988and 1989. It was during the PV Narasimha Rao government in 1991 that he got independent charge of Steel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said: “Saddened by the passing away of Santosh Mohan Dev. He was a veteran political leader who worked extensively for the welfare of people. My thoughts are with the family and supporters of Santosh Mohan Dev in this hour of grief.”

Congress President Sonia Gandhi said: “In a political career spanning five decades, Dev held numerous crucial political assignments in the Congress party and in the government, including that of a Union Cabinet Minister. His immense contribution to building the party in the Northeast, right from the grassroots level, would always be remembered.”

What Sonia was talking about was the other side of Dev that the Congress benefitted from. Dev had great knowledge of and influence on the intricate politics of the north eastern region, especially the tribal areas. Apart from his ministerial work, he also delved in issues such as the Bodo agitation that took shape at the time. With the usual Congress method of neglect growing in contentious areas, Dev was asked to step in and provide appeasement with money.

This correspondent had been around when hard cash was dumped on the movement and dissent soon dampened. Dev was instrumental in bringing civic relief, albeit through means that would not have any lasting effect. However, as long as Dev was active – in the latter stages of his life he somewhat withdrew from public life, leaving the political work mostly to his daughter – he wielded the great influence that his family had in the area in containing any form of dissent. Unfortunately, such methods of containment, over time, yielded to more dissent and ulterior motives of the Congress in keeping dissent alive in the area were alleged, though never proved.

Technically, Silchar remains an underdeveloped town, with little communication and sparse facilities for the public at large. This correspondent had been around in the town during Dev’s heydays, when the water supply of the town became so putrid and dangerous, this correspondent was tied to bed with blood dysentery. Doctors diagnosed the water supply of the town as the culprit. Diseases were rampant and the presence of an important Union minister in town was barely noticeable.

What Dev did excel in was in the inside working of the party, specific to his area, where he held sway on several counts. He managed intricate small fiefdoms of minor leaders with aplomb, but he was more adept at knitting into his design the presence of senior Congress leaders from New Delhi. Back home in Silchar, this was a large selling point for influence-garnering.

He hailed from a freedom fighter’s family. He was a third generation Congressman and his father Satindra Mohan Dev was a freedom fighter of repute and was close to Jawaharlal Nehru, being jailed more than once for his opposition to British rule, while his grandfather Kali Mohan Dev was also an active member of the Indian freedom struggle and a member of the first ever Silchar Municipal council in 1913. That had installed his family as virtually the first family of Silchar. His sphere of influence was so immense in that area that he became one of the rare cases where he was elected as MP from two different states – Assam and Tripura – and he did use his influence to stymie popular uprisings in the area with ease.

While tensions have remained in the area, the pipe-chewing, suave image of Dev will remain imprinted in the minds of many who have known him. He was the quintessential Congressman as history in India has recorded. They don’t make any like them anymore. Not in the Congress.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Amit Shah says there will be jungle raj in the country if INDIA Bloc is voted to power

The Union Home Minister asserted that, if INDIA Bloc alliance comes to power, there will be a complete jungle raj in the country as well as in Bihar.

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that there will be jungle raj in the country if INDIA bloc partners – Congress and RJD – are voted to power. He was addressing an election rally in favour of senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, in Bihar’s Samastipur district where he said that the latest recovery of Rs 30 crore and more from the house of a minister in Jharkhand proves INDIA bloc alliance leaders are corrupt.

The Union Home Minister asserted that, if INDIA Bloc alliance comes to power, there will be a complete jungle raj in the country as well as in Bihar. Earlier the Enforcement Directorate on Monday recovered a huge amount of unaccounted cash during searches at the premises of a domestic help who was allegedly linked to the secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam.

Shah asked the people at the rally that who will be the prime minister of the INDIA bloc? He asked if Sharad Pawar  would become the prime minister? Or Will Mamata Banerjee will become the PM of the country or MK Stalin or Uddhav Thackeray? He jokingly took at dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that he would like to take another name. He asked the people not to laugh and said can Rahul baba become the PM?

Shah accused the leaders of the RJD and the Congress of not attending the Ayodhya Ram temple Pran Pratishtha because of vote bank politics.  He further added that RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Congress always opposed the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Shah pointed out that Congress has always opposed reservation for the backward classes. Sarairanjan block comes under the Ujiarpur Lok Sabha constituency where Rai is seeking a reelection. Rai, who is the NDA nominee, is up against RJD’s Alok Mehta.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Union Minister Anurag Thakur lashes out at Congress, accuses party of receiving support from Pakistan

Anurag Thakur was speaking to the media during an event in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district

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Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday alleged the influence of foreign powers in the Congress manifesto and accused the grand old party of receiving support from Pakistan. He said the BJP never believes in politics in times of disaster and emergencies, but the Congress has stooped so low that it is doing politics in such matters as well.

Anurag Thakur was speaking to the media during an event in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district on Monday. He also applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for its proactive role during disastrous floods and rains in Himachal Pradesh. The Union Minister said that the Modi government has distributed crores of rupees in Himachal Pradesh during the disaster.

Thakur took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said that the Wayanad MP forgot to follow his own slogan of daro mat. He said that Gandhi is running from one seat to another while fearing defeat in the ongoing Loksabha elections. Thakur further added that Rahul Gandhi first ran from Amethi to Wayanad and now he is contesting from Rae Bareli and the Congress will be wiped out from Rae Bareli as well.

Anurag Thakur targeted the Congress and said the grand old party is living in fool’s paradise of winning the elections on false promises. The Union Minister claimed that the Congress’s dreams will be shattered on June 4 after the election result announcement.

Anurag Thakur is contesting Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Hamirpur seat. He said he was confident that BJP will win the election this time as well. He claimed of having support of the people of the constituency. He also said that his victory margin this time would be more than the previous margin of about 4 lakh votes. Thakur who is a 4 time MP also expressed optimism that the BJP-led NDA will win more than 400 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi challenges PM Modi to lift 50% cap on reservation

Rahul Gandhi today addressed a rally at Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, where he said this election is being fought to save the Constitution.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced today that the party would raise quota benefits for members of Dalit, backward, and tribal communities and lift the 50% restriction on caste-based quotas imposed by the Supreme Court.

Speaking at a election campaign in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi said, the Constitution is being defended in this election. “BJP and RSS wish to bring this to a close and alter it. And this is being saved by the Congress and the INDIA bloc. You have rights on jal (water), jangal (forest), and zameen (land) under this Constitution. With a copy of the Constitution in his hand, he declared, “Narendra Modi wants to get rid of them and have total power.

He claimed that if the BJP won, its leaders would change the Constitution. They used the slogan 400 seats for this reason. However, they won’t be getting 150 seats; forget about 400, he added. They promise to eliminate reservations. He would like to inform that going forward, they will surpass the 50% reservation cap. Congress will reserve as much space as is necessary for the underprivileged, the backward, Dalits, and Adivasis, he said.

Gandhi’s comments come with a heated campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and contentious discussions about reservations between the NDA and the INDIA alliance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP has claimed that the Congress intends to modify the backward class reservation in order to benefit Muslims. The claims have been refuted by the Congress. At a rally in Gujarat, Banaskantha, the PM said, he challenges the shehzada of the Congress as well as his party and its supporters to announce they will never misuse reservation in the name of religion, nor will they play with the Constitution or grant reservation in the name of religion.

Gandhi claimed during the Ratlam rally that stories about crimes against Adivasis are not covered by the media. The media does not report on the rape of your children or the seizure of your land. These media companies do not employ Adivasis, he said.

Meanwhile, Ratlam will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 13. Former MP and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria has been named by the Congress for Ratlam seat. The BJP’s choice from the seat they won in the 2019 election is Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan.

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