Tonight on Left, Right & Centre :
Maharashtra Legislator Suspended For Refusing To Say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'
The latest controversy around what freedom of expression and patriotism mean erupted in Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday evening after a legislator of MIM was suspended because he refused to stand up and say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' at the end of the session. He says 'Hindustan Zindabad' instead.
NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal Arrested, Who's Next?
Maharashtra's former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal is at the centre of controversy around a massive scam in several construction projects. He's accused of siphoning and laundering money to the tune of nearly Rs 900 crore. The man who once hoped to be chief minister was arrested along with his son two days ago. His party, the NCP, has predictably cried political vendetta. With the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government having made a promise to investigate all corruption cases against politicians from the previous dispensation, is this arrest a warning for others - for example Ajit Pawar, his party colleague and Sharad Pawar's nephew - or is that politically too close for comfort?
World's Biggest Bio-metric Database
The Aadhaar Bill passed through the Rajya Sabha with some amendments that the Congress pushed for - on restrictions on data access, the role of the state and cases in which information can be disclosed. With the Congress party's Jairam Ramesh and the CPM's Sitaram Yechury taking on the government in the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a spirited defence of the Aadhaar bill the government is keen to implement, saying not just that it was meant to ensure government money goes to the right people, but perhaps more controversially, that privacy is not an absolute right. What did he mean?