Tag: Varun Gandhi

2024 Polls: BJP’s Fifth List of Candidates Includes Kangana Ranaut, Abhijit Gangopadhyay

While many of the candidates in the listed constituencies are repeat candidates from the 2019 elections, there are a few exceptions.

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its fifth list of candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls on Sunday (March 24), with 111 candidates on the list. Prominent names on the list include actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil from the Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh and Meerut seat in Uttar Pradesh, respectively. Both are first-time contestants and have been vocal in their support for the BJP.

Another (in)famous name on the list is former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned from his post recently to join politics after delivering a slew of judgments criticising the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. As The Wire has reported, several experts believed his decision went against judicial propriety.

While many of the candidates in the listed constituencies are repeat candidates from the 2019 elections, there are a few exceptions. Varun Gandhi, who is the sitting MP from Pilibhit but has made a number of remarks criticising party policy, especially regarding farmers, in the last few years, has been dropped by the BJP. However, his mother Maneka Gandhi has been given the ticket from Sultanpur again.

Other prominent names left out of candidacy this time are Union minister Ashwini Choubey and BJP’s Hindutva posterboy in Karnataka Anantkumar Hegde. Hegde created a controversy recently by claiming that the Narendra Modi-led party wanted more than 400 seats this time so that it could change the Constitution. Choubey is the sitting MP from Buxar in Bihar, but Mithlesh Tiwari has been given that ticket this time.

Dharmendra Pradhan, a Union minister who is the BJP’s national face from Odisha, has been shifted to the prestigious Sambalpur seat from his home seat Dhenkanal, which he had lost earlier.

Among the other announced candidates for the party is a woman from Sandeshkhali, Rekha Patra, from the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. Patra is one of the women who filed a police complaint against alleged gender violence from TMC leaders in the area.

Some defectors have also made their way to the list. Jagadish Shettar, who recently switched back to BJP, has been fielded from Belgaum instead of his home turf Hubbali-Dharwad. Also, former Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, whose company donated a lot of money in electoral bonds, had switched to the BJP and has been given the ticket from Kurukshetra, his former constituency.

Jindal isn’t the only electoral bonds buyer to make it to the list – Pallavi Dempo from the Dempo family, a prominent business house which is the biggest electoral bond donor to the BJP in Goa, has been fielded from the South Goa seat.

Employment Rate Among Youngsters at 5-Year Low: Varun Gandhi

In June, Modi had asked various government departments and ministries to undertake the recruitment of 10 lakh people on a “mission mode” in the next year and a half.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday cited the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data to claim that employment rate among youths has a hit five-year low.

He noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently asked government departments to fill up 10 lakh job vacancies and added that none of them have been able to frame a solid plan so far.

“How long the struggling youth will wait,” he asked in a tweet.

The CMIE data, he said, showed that the youth’s employment rate has fallen to 10.4% from 20.9% earlier.

The Pilibhit MP has been critical of the government on a host of issues, including its handling of the issue of employment.

In June, Modi had asked various government departments and ministries to undertake the recruitment of 10 lakh people on a “mission mode” in the next year and a half.

The direction from the prime minister had come following a review of the status of human resources in all government departments and ministries, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said.

(PTI)

Will Continue Fight Against Unemployment, Inflation, Says BJP MP Varun Gandhi

In an apparent dig at his own party, Gandhi said he is working for an India where children and youth get respect, and where nobody is compelled to bow his head for help.

New Delhi: In his latest contrarian stance, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday said he will continue his fight against unemployment, corruption and inflation until they cease to exist.

In an apparent dig at his own party, Gandhi said he is working for an India where children and youth get respect, and where nobody is compelled to bow his head for help.

“Until employment ceases to exist in this country and your children don’t get jobs, my sangarsh (fight) will continue. We will also continue our fight against corruption,” he said at a programme here.

“We will not allow the sacrifice of our ancestors to go in vain. The time has come for the people to raise their voice against basic problems, injustice and corruption,” he added.

During his Pilibhit tour, Gandhi inaugurated an indoor sports hall constructed at a cost of Rs 8 crore and also interacted with members of the urban local body.

Gandhi, who has taken on his party on several issues in the past couple of years, was recently critical of the Agnipath scheme and the discussion of ‘freebies’. Commenting on the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, he said in June, “If the Agniveers who serve for a short time are not eligible for pension, then why this ‘facility’ to public representatives… Can we, MLAs and MPs, not give up our pensions so that Agniveers get pension?”

Earlier this month, the Pilibhit MP also took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “muft ke revdi” (freebies) comment, saying loans up to Rs 10 lakh crore of corrupt businessmen were waived in the last five years.

(With PTI inputs)

Freebies: Varun Gandhi Takes Swipe at Union Govt Citing Waiver of Business Loans

“The same Parliament that expects the poor to express thanks at receiving five kg grains also says bad loans of Rs 10 lakh crore of corrupt businessmen have been waived in the last five years,” the BJP MP said.

New Delhi: BJP MP Varun Gandhi took a swipe at the government on Saturday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “muft ke revdi” (freebies) comment, saying loans up to Rs 10 lakh crore of corrupt businessmen were waived in the last five years.

Mehul Choksi and Rishi Agarwal top the list of those who received muft ki revdi, Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, sharing a government reply in parliament about the top 10 defaulter firms. Choksi and Agarwal are associated with two of those firms.

“The same Parliament that expects the poor to express thanks at receiving five kg grains also says bad loans of Rs 10 lakh crore of corrupt businessmen have been waived in the last five years. Who has the first right over the government treasury?” Gandhi asked.

He was apparently referring to another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP’s remarks during a debate in Parliament that Modi has been providing free foodgrains to 80 crore poor people since the COVID-19 outbreak. The government deserves praise for this, the MP had said.

The prime minister stirred a debate recently by criticising some political parties for offering muft ki revdi for electoral gains. This is very harmful for the country’s development, he had said.

(PTI)

Violent Protests Erupt Against Agnipath, BJP’s Varun Gandhi Says ‘More Disaffection’ Likely

The MP’s letter, which echoes Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s concerns, comes at a time when protests are being seen across the country against the scheme. Several veterans have raised concerns about the feasibility of recruiting temporary soldiers too.

New Delhi: As pros and cons of Agnipath – the Union government’s new plan to recruit temporary soldiers in the armed forces – are being debated and violent protests take place in Bihar, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi has weighed in with his criticisms of the scheme.

In a letter to the defence minister Rajnath Singh, the maverick MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit said that the recruitment of soldiers on a short-term contractual basis will not merely create disaffection among the youth but also burden the defence budget disproportionately, given the evidently restricted gains for the armed forces through the scheme. 

 

He expressed concern about the possibility of rising unemployment every year, since the scheme proposes to retire 75% of recruits after a period of four years without pension. This may lead to “more disaffection” among the youth, he said. 

He said that he was writing to the defence minister since a number of youth have expressed their anguish over the scheme on social media.

Also read | Trains Set on Fire as Agnipath Protests Rage in Bihar for Second Day

Pointing out that the corporate sector has shown very little interest in recruiting even regular military personnel who retire from the armed forces after 15 years, Gandhi said that in such a situation, the possibility of the private sector recruiting those who serve in the forces only for four years is negligible. 

Gandhi said that the four-year employment plan may additionally disrupt the regular cycle of education for new recruits. The temporary service in the armed forces may set the recruits back against their contemporaries, he said, adding that the recruits will find it difficult to get another job as they will be older to others with better qualifications. 

Additionally, he said that the six-month training programme may prove to be an “unnecessary burden on the defence budget”, given the fact that only 25% of the new recruits will be retained after four years. He added that the existing regiments will also find it difficult to give proper duties to those soldiers who they know will retire in four years, thus hampering the working of the forces. 

He said that while the government should focus on unemployed youth, it should immediately bring out details of the scheme and clarify its position on issues that are being raised about it at the moment.

Gandhi’s letter has come at a time when a large number of youths, especially in Bihar, have been protesting across the country against the scheme. Some of these protests have turned violent as well, with a train having been set on fire in Bihar’s Bhabua on June 16. In videos aired by channels and seen on social media, hundreds of youths were seen chanting slogans, smashing trains windows and eventually setting it on fire.

In Jehanabad, hundreds of protestors blocked National Highway-83 and burned tyres on the streets demanding the Union government withdraw the scheme. Tyre burning also took place in the state’s Nawada district where railway tracks were blocked. At the Arrah railway station, protestors reportedly threw scooters and furniture onto the railway track and set them ablaze.

Several veterans have raised concerns about the feasibility of recruiting temporary soldiers.

The BJP MP echoes cousin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s views on Agnipath. Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi tweeted to say that the new recruitment plan does not dignify the new recruits with either good pay or tenure, and nor does it guarantee a secure future for them.

A day ago, Varun Gandhi, who has frequently taken a divergent view from his party on different issues, had said that even the government is elected for five years and asked, “Why are the youth being given only four years to serve the nation?”

He had also shared the remuneration scale for temporary soldiers recruited through the Agnipath scheme, and asked his followers to give their opinion about the same.

He also reminded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his promise of providing two crore jobs every years, and appealed to him to work with greater speed to achieve the goal. 

‘Grateful,’ Says Varun Gandhi After Asaduddin Owaisi Cites BJP MP’s Data on Job Vacancies

Asaduddin Owaisi during a public meeting cited the data gathered by Varun Gandhi, which pointed out that there are 60 lakh vacancies in the government sector across the country even as joblessness remains at its peak.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Varun Gandhi has thanked All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi after the latter mentioned the former and figures collated by him to highlight the situation of unemployment in the country during a public meeting.

Taking to Twitter Gandhi, in Hindi, wrote, “Unemployment is the most burning issue of the country today and the leaders of the whole country should draw the attention of the government to this issue. Unemployed youth should get justice, only then the country will become powerful. I am grateful that my questions raised on employment were mentioned by @asadowaisi ji in his speech.”

The tweet carried a video excerpt from Owaisi’s speech delivered during a public meeting.

Also read: Until When Should India’s Youth Keep Patience?: Varun Gandhi on Lack of Govt Jobs

Reading out the number of vacancies in various departments, both at the national level and in states, the Hyderabad MP can be seen telling the crowd that there are 60 lakh vacancies while, on the other hand, noting that the unemployment rate in the country is at its worst in the last three decades.

“In total, there are a total of 60 lakh vacancies in the country. These are not my numbers but data gathered by BJP MP Shri Varun Gandhi,” the AIMIM chief can be seen telling in the video, holding the Narendra Modi government responsible for such a scenario.

Despite being part of the ruling party, Varun Gandhi, representing the Philbit constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has lately been slamming the Modi government on a number of issues. He has been outspoken lately on the record-high unemployment levels in the country.

In his earlier tweet, Gandhi had put out a graphic which carried the details of the number of vacancies in various ministers and departments, which Owaisi referred to his in speech.

“These statistics are startling when unemployment is at its highest level in 3 decades. While crores of youth are frustrated and disappointed due to the non-availability of jobs, there are 60 lakh ‘sanctioned posts’ vacant in the country if ‘government figures’ are to be believed.  Where did the budget that was allocated for these posts go? Every youth has the right to know this!” Gandhi had said.

During the height of the farmers’ movement too, Gandhi lent his support to their demand for the three farm laws to be revoked, at a time when BJP leaders, including members of the government, had slammed the protests. He has been taking stance on people-centric issues which are not in line with the BJP’s official position.

Even in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh election, the three-time MP was conspicuously absent from the BJP campaign.

Varun Gandhi Says He Has Tested Positive for COVID-19

In a tweet, Gandhi also said the election commission, which on Saturday announced the poll schedule for five states, should make sure candidates and political workers too get a precautionary dose of the Covid vaccine.

Pilibhit:  Bhartiya Janata Party’s leader Varun Gandhi, who is a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Pilibhit on Sunday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 with “fairly strong symptoms”.

In a tweet, he also said the election commission, which on Saturday announced the poll schedule for five states, should make sure candidates and political workers too get a precautionary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“After being in Pilibhit for three days, I have tested positive for Covid with fairly strong symptoms,” Varun Gandhi said.

He added, “We are now in the middle of a third wave and an election campaign. The Election Commission should extend precautionary doses to candidates and political workers as well.”

Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases with the counting of votes on March 10, 2022.

Chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra said he has asked the chief secretaries of poll-bound states to accelerate vaccination of all citizens above 18 years and ensure precautionary dose for all poll officials who have been designated as frontline workers.

(PTI)

BJP MP Varun Gandhi Submits Private Members’ Bill for Legal Guarantee of MSP

Gandhi has submitted the bill in parliament but it is yet to be introduced.

New Delhi: Continuing to back the demands of farmers, BJP MP Varun Gandhi has piloted a private member’s bill seeking legal guarantee of MSP with financial outlay of Rs 1 lakh crore.

The bill titled – The Farmers Right To Guaranteed Minimum Support Price Realization Of Agri-Produce Bill, 2021 – aims to provide legally guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) for 22 crops that should be set at a profit margin of 50 per cent over the comprehensive cost of production.

Gandhi has submitted the bill in Parliament but it is yet to be introduced.

MPs can pilot private members’ bill in their personal capacity irrespective of their party affiliations. Since 1952, only about a dozen private members’ bills have been passed.

As per Gandhi’s proposed legislation, any farmer realising a price less than the above declared MSP shall be entitled to a compensation equal to the difference in value between price realised and the guaranteed MSP.

Also read: Until When Should India’s Youth Keep Patience?: Varun Gandhi on Lack of Govt Jobs

It also proposes that payments should be made directly into the accounts of farmers within two days of the transaction.

The proposed legislation came a week after the Union government had introduced a bill to repeal the contentious three farm laws.

The protesting farmers have postponed their stir from the borders of the national capital and started returning home after the Centre assured them of taking back cases, and forming a committee to look into the issue of MSP.

Gandhi, the Pilibhit MP, had been publicly supporting farmers’ and suggesting the government to engage with them.

He was among the first to seek “strict action” against his own party leader and Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra for his son’s alleged involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident that left four farmers dead.

A day after the Prime Minister had announced the repeal of three farm laws, Gandhi wrote to Modi that many “innocent lives” could have been saved had the decision been taken earlier.

On the issues related to farmers, Gandhi has been taking a stand in support of farmers that appears to be not in line with the BJP’s official stance.

Giving rationale for the bill, Gandhi said the declaration of guaranteed MSP to farmers shall result in improved farm realisation for potentially 93 million agricultural households, leading to a resurgence in the rural economy.

Until When Should India’s Youth Keep Patience?: Varun Gandhi on Lack of Govt Jobs

The BJP MP has been critical in the past of the Union government’s handling of economic and employment issues in the country without ever directly targeting the ruling BJP.

New Delhi: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday, December 2 highlighted the lack of government employment opportunities for young people and asked how long they should keep patience.

“First, there are no government jobs. Still, if some opportunity comes along then the paper is leaked, if exam is taken then there is no result for years, or it is cancelled due to some scam. Over 1.25 crore youngsters are waiting for the railway group D job result for two years. Same is the case with Army recruitment. Until when should the youth of India keep patient?” he tweeted in Hindi.

The Pilibhit Lok Sabha MP has been critical of the government’s handling of economic and employment issues without directly targeting the central dispensation.

Also read: ‘Anti-National’: Varun Gandhi Slams Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Freedom Came in 2014’ Remark

Gandhi recently took to Twitter to express his discontent regarding the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to cancel the Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET) amidst reports of a paper leak last month.

He said, “UPTET exam paper leak is like playing with the future of lakhs of youth. Action on small fish of this swamp will not work. Government should take strict action against the education mafia and their political patrons. Most of the educational institutions are owned by political influencers, when will action be taken against them?”

Also read: Why Are Rajasthan’s Youths Protesting at the Congress’s Lucknow Office?

He had also been vocal in his support of the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws which were repealed without discussion by both houses Parliament through a Bill passed on November 29.

Compensate Families of Farmers Who Died Protesting, Make MSP Binding: Varun Gandhi Tells Modi

The Pilibhit MP once again struck a discordant note, saying if the move to repeal the laws had been taken earlier, many lives would not have been lost.

New Delhi: Striking a discordant note on the farmers’ protest again, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the families of farmers who died during the protest should be given compensation of Rs 1 crore and the demand to provide minimum support price (MSP) should also be met.

Gandhi is one of the few BJP leaders who have spoken up for the farmers, especially so since the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. After Modi announced that the three contentious laws would be withdrawn, most BJP leaders went into a self-congratulatory mode, praising the prime minister. Gandhi too praised Modi’s “large-heartedness in announcing that these three laws will be repealed”, but pointed out that if the decision had been taken earlier, “more than 700 of our farmer brothers and sisters” would not have been lost.

“It is my humble request to you that while expressing condolences to the families of our farmer brothers and sisters who were martyred in the movement, a compensation of Rs 1 crore each be announced for them,” he said.

Opposition leaders have said that the prime minister’s decision to repeal the laws was not borne out of a change of heart, but a calculated move ahead of assembly elections due next year in several states where the protests have been intensive. This has been the case in eastern UP, where Gandhi’s constituency Pilibhit is located.

Gandhi also said that all “politically motivated false FIRs that have been registered as weapons of harassment against our farmers during this movement must immediately be quashed”.

Also Read: How the Farmers’ Movement Brought the Modi Government to its Knees

He said the farmers, apart from demanding a rollback of the laws, have also sought to make MSP legally binding. “There are more than 85% small and marginal farmers in our country. For the empowerment of these farmers, we have to ensure that they get remunerative prices for their crops. This movement will not end without the resolution of this demand and there will be widespread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other,” he said, adding that the Swaminathan commission’s formula for MSP Must be followed.

The BJP leader also took on his colleagues who made “provocative statements against our agitating
farmers.”, saying they were responsible for creating an “adversarial atmosphere”. This, he said, was responsible for the deaths of farmer brothers who were crushed by vehicles in Lakhimpur
Kheri on October 3, he said.

“This heartbreaking incident is a blemish on our democracy,” he said, adding that the prime minister must take “appropriately strict action” against Union Minister Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra was allegedly in a car that ran over the farmers.

“Democracy runs on constitutionality, discourse and empathy. The farmers expect you to solve their problems in a sensitive and timely manner. I believe that by accepting the demands of the farmers according to the democratic and constitutional values of our nation, your respect shall further increase in the country. I hope you will take a concrete decision in this matter soon,” he said.