Friday, April 10, 2009
Congress drops Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar
NEW DELHI: In the face of mounting controversy over their alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, a worried Congress on Thursday
withdrew its controversial leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the electoral fray. ( Watch Video)
"Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have expressed their sentiments that they do not wish to embarrass the party by contesting Lok Sabha elections when some political parties and individuals have tried to vitiate the atmosphere. They have opted out of Lok Sabha elections.
"The party has accepted their feelings and decided that they will not be Lok Sabha candidates of the Indian National Congress," party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters shortly after Tytler announced his decision to opt out of the race, PTI reported.
Their replacements will be decided soon, said sources.
The Congress decision comes amid a raging controversy over fielding the two leaders, whose names figured as accused in the 1984 riots, accentuated by the incident of throwing of shoe by a Sikh journalist at home minister P Chidambaram at AICC press conference on Tuesday.
The journalist said he was protesting against the clean chit given by CBI to Tytler in the riots case, an issue on which the agency today told a local court here that it had no jurisdiction to go into. The case has been deferred till April 28.
65-year-old Tytler, who had won thrice from the capital, was announced as party's candidate from the newly-created North-East Delhi seat.
with thanks : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Matrimonial profiles
Add your matrimonial profile on a sikh web portal with appx. 80,000 hits per month. You can add the profile absolutely free, though a paid option is also there.Please log on to www.sohnijodi.com
Akal Air - experience the difference
The website of Akal Air says :
Akal Air customers will always be treated with respect, due care and consideration and be offered a pleasant flight experience by all Akal Air staff from Check-in, boarding, in-flight through to baggage claim.
We plan to fly to multiple destinations at convenient times to the main airports. Whether customers are airborne or on the ground, Akal Air is focused on ensuring a full service experience.
Akal Air fully intends to provide our customers with safe, value driven, point-to-point air services. We aim to offer a consistent and reliable product and fares appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of International routes.
with thanks : www.akalair.com
Akal Air customers will always be treated with respect, due care and consideration and be offered a pleasant flight experience by all Akal Air staff from Check-in, boarding, in-flight through to baggage claim.
We plan to fly to multiple destinations at convenient times to the main airports. Whether customers are airborne or on the ground, Akal Air is focused on ensuring a full service experience.
Akal Air fully intends to provide our customers with safe, value driven, point-to-point air services. We aim to offer a consistent and reliable product and fares appealing to leisure and business markets on a range of International routes.
with thanks : www.akalair.com
Akal Air News : Signs that 2009 will be a much better year than 2008.
Signs that 2009 will be a much better year than 2008.
Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the credit crunch, airline failures and growing unemployment, some analysts are predicting that 2009 will be a much better year than 2008.
The reasons for these unexpected predictions are based on simple trends:
Oil prices are declining and this trend looks set to continue, reducing the single greatest burden on an airline’s balance sheets. The dollar is also declining, meaning that aviation costs (lease rates, fuel etc.) that are usually expressed in dollars are also declining.
Aircraft are becoming available in the lease market and these are on more reasonable terms, allowing airlines to acquire new aircraft at acceptable prices to service new and growing routes. Charter airlines are being steadily chased out of the short haul market by the low cost carriers, into medium haul routes not explored before. This segmentation of the market will help to stabilise charter operators in the face of fierce competition.
Although distressing, recent airline failures have meant that seat capacity has been significantly reduced, whilst demand has been maintained, meaning that more passengers will be chasing fewer seats.
The message is simple: if an airline can survive the winter of 2008, then it can expect a bumper year in 2009.
with thanks : www.akalair.com
Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the credit crunch, airline failures and growing unemployment, some analysts are predicting that 2009 will be a much better year than 2008.
The reasons for these unexpected predictions are based on simple trends:
Oil prices are declining and this trend looks set to continue, reducing the single greatest burden on an airline’s balance sheets. The dollar is also declining, meaning that aviation costs (lease rates, fuel etc.) that are usually expressed in dollars are also declining.
Aircraft are becoming available in the lease market and these are on more reasonable terms, allowing airlines to acquire new aircraft at acceptable prices to service new and growing routes. Charter airlines are being steadily chased out of the short haul market by the low cost carriers, into medium haul routes not explored before. This segmentation of the market will help to stabilise charter operators in the face of fierce competition.
Although distressing, recent airline failures have meant that seat capacity has been significantly reduced, whilst demand has been maintained, meaning that more passengers will be chasing fewer seats.
The message is simple: if an airline can survive the winter of 2008, then it can expect a bumper year in 2009.
with thanks : www.akalair.com
Hearing on Mr Jagdish Tytler postponed
Hearing on Mr Jagdish Tytler has been postponed and now it will be held on 28th April, 2009. He has been given a clean chit by CBI in the 1984 anti sikh riot case and a final hearing was due to be held today i.e. 9th April at Karkardooma court in East Delhi.
Congress may dump Tytler to secure Sikh votes
Congress may dump Tytler to secure Sikh votes
9 Apr 2009, 1024 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The fate of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's nomination from Delhi North-East is hanging by a slender thread. With the "shoe throwing" protest by journalist Jarnail Singh triggering sharp reaction among Sikhs, Congress leadership is seriously considering to dump Tytler to secure its prospects in Punjab.
The resentment triggered by Jarnail's action swept Punjab as dozens of Sikh groups held up trains at several places in the state on Wednesday, fuelling the Tytler issue anew.
The protests, which came as a surprise to the Akali government in Punjab, sensitised the Congress leadership to the risk of persevering with Tytler, a former Union minister who is one of the prominent accused in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
Congress is hopeful of improving its tally from Punjab, but fears that spotlight on Tytler may neutralise the advantage. Akalis have swiftly latched on to the controversy to remind Sikhs of the charge of official sponsorship of anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi.
Tytler's case comes up on Thursday before Rakesh Pandit, additional chief metropolitan magistrate of New Delhi who is to take a view on the CBI report which has disputed the veracity of the testimony of one Jasbir Singh who claimed to be a witness to Tytler's involvement in the rioting against Sikhs.
Congress sources, however, said Tytler may not be in the clear even if the court accepts the report of the investigating agency. "It is a matter of perception," said a party functionary familiar with leadership's thinking.
While Tytler was defiant and sought to rubbish reports about a re-think on his ticket, the leadership sounded out the party unit in Punjab on potential repercussions for party's chances in the state. "PPCC has already discussed and apprised party president Sonia Gandhi about the implications of Tytler issue on poll prospects in the state," Punjab Congress chief Mahinder Singh Kaypee told reporters.
Kaypee was not forthcoming on detials. But he did point to reports about party leadership's decision to review the decision to field Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, another prominent Congressman accused in the riots and party's candidate for South Delhi, when pressed by journalists in Chandigarh.
The protests in Punjab involved various Sikh outfits.Rail traffic remained disrupted for over four hours with activists of Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organizations led by Sant Samaj stopping trains and squatting on the tracks between 11am to 3pm. Several trains were stopped at various stations before the start of the dharna.
At the Dakoha railway crossing in Jalandhar, the protest was led by Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhuma and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.
Long-distance trains, including the Flying Express from Amritsar to Darbhanga, were cancelled and others like Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi and Dadar-Amritsar Express delayed. However, many trains that left the Amritsar area before the demonstrators blocked the tracks chugged along on schedule. Reports from most places said cops made no attempt to disperse the protesters.
In Haryana too, Sikh community leaders held a symbolic dharna at the railway station in Kurukshetra.
with thanks : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cong-may-dump-Tytler-to-secure-Sikh-votes/articleshow/4374095.cms
9 Apr 2009, 1024 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The fate of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's nomination from Delhi North-East is hanging by a slender thread. With the "shoe throwing" protest by journalist Jarnail Singh triggering sharp reaction among Sikhs, Congress leadership is seriously considering to dump Tytler to secure its prospects in Punjab.
The resentment triggered by Jarnail's action swept Punjab as dozens of Sikh groups held up trains at several places in the state on Wednesday, fuelling the Tytler issue anew.
The protests, which came as a surprise to the Akali government in Punjab, sensitised the Congress leadership to the risk of persevering with Tytler, a former Union minister who is one of the prominent accused in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
Congress is hopeful of improving its tally from Punjab, but fears that spotlight on Tytler may neutralise the advantage. Akalis have swiftly latched on to the controversy to remind Sikhs of the charge of official sponsorship of anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi.
Tytler's case comes up on Thursday before Rakesh Pandit, additional chief metropolitan magistrate of New Delhi who is to take a view on the CBI report which has disputed the veracity of the testimony of one Jasbir Singh who claimed to be a witness to Tytler's involvement in the rioting against Sikhs.
Congress sources, however, said Tytler may not be in the clear even if the court accepts the report of the investigating agency. "It is a matter of perception," said a party functionary familiar with leadership's thinking.
While Tytler was defiant and sought to rubbish reports about a re-think on his ticket, the leadership sounded out the party unit in Punjab on potential repercussions for party's chances in the state. "PPCC has already discussed and apprised party president Sonia Gandhi about the implications of Tytler issue on poll prospects in the state," Punjab Congress chief Mahinder Singh Kaypee told reporters.
Kaypee was not forthcoming on detials. But he did point to reports about party leadership's decision to review the decision to field Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, another prominent Congressman accused in the riots and party's candidate for South Delhi, when pressed by journalists in Chandigarh.
The protests in Punjab involved various Sikh outfits.Rail traffic remained disrupted for over four hours with activists of Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organizations led by Sant Samaj stopping trains and squatting on the tracks between 11am to 3pm. Several trains were stopped at various stations before the start of the dharna.
At the Dakoha railway crossing in Jalandhar, the protest was led by Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhuma and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.
Long-distance trains, including the Flying Express from Amritsar to Darbhanga, were cancelled and others like Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi and Dadar-Amritsar Express delayed. However, many trains that left the Amritsar area before the demonstrators blocked the tracks chugged along on schedule. Reports from most places said cops made no attempt to disperse the protesters.
In Haryana too, Sikh community leaders held a symbolic dharna at the railway station in Kurukshetra.
with thanks : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cong-may-dump-Tytler-to-secure-Sikh-votes/articleshow/4374095.cms
Sikh grievance legitimate, says Chidambaram
with thanks : CNN-IBN
New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday admitted that the Sikh community had "legitimate grievances" on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which just a few people have been convicted.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai and Meetu Jain just a day after a Sikh journalist, Jarnail Singh, threw a shoe at him during a press conference in New Delhi, Chidambaram repeated what he told Jarnail on Tuesday that pronouncing guilt is for the courts to decide.
Chidambaram also said he has forgiven the Sikh journalist who works with Dainik Jagran.
"I don't think Jarnail intended to hurt me, only to provoke me," said Chidambaram.
"The Sikhs have a legitimate grievance that not enough people have been punished. But some people have been punished," he said.
He also tried to assure the Sikhs saying that the government was not trying to whitewash anything and the law would take its own course.
"Law has to take its course. Those who have been charge-sheeted… some will be punished, some may be acquitted because of technical reasons but to the best of my knowledge, no one in the government is trying to whitewash anything," said the Home Minister.
"I am not a judge. I am not a court. It is improper for me to pronounce anyone guilty or innocent," Chidambaram said.
The Home Minister said he was "100 per cent sure" there was no question of revamping his security in view of the shoe-throwing incident. "One PSO (police station officer) is one too many," he said.
He also declined to comment if the Congress would continue with Jagdish Tytler as its candidate for the Delhi North-East Lok Sabha seat.
"I cannot answer this question," he said.
He also added that he had forgotten the shoe-throwing incident.
"It was an emotional outburst by one journalist and he has quite rightly regretted it. As far as I am concerned, it is over," Chidambaram said about Singh.
Jarnail threw a shoe at Chidambaram at the Congress headquarters expressing his anger over the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) giving a clean chit to Tytler for the riots.
with thanks to :
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sikhs-have-a-legitimate-grievance-chidambaram/89791-37.html
New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday admitted that the Sikh community had "legitimate grievances" on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which just a few people have been convicted.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN's Rajdeep Sardesai and Meetu Jain just a day after a Sikh journalist, Jarnail Singh, threw a shoe at him during a press conference in New Delhi, Chidambaram repeated what he told Jarnail on Tuesday that pronouncing guilt is for the courts to decide.
Chidambaram also said he has forgiven the Sikh journalist who works with Dainik Jagran.
"I don't think Jarnail intended to hurt me, only to provoke me," said Chidambaram.
"The Sikhs have a legitimate grievance that not enough people have been punished. But some people have been punished," he said.
He also tried to assure the Sikhs saying that the government was not trying to whitewash anything and the law would take its own course.
"Law has to take its course. Those who have been charge-sheeted… some will be punished, some may be acquitted because of technical reasons but to the best of my knowledge, no one in the government is trying to whitewash anything," said the Home Minister.
"I am not a judge. I am not a court. It is improper for me to pronounce anyone guilty or innocent," Chidambaram said.
The Home Minister said he was "100 per cent sure" there was no question of revamping his security in view of the shoe-throwing incident. "One PSO (police station officer) is one too many," he said.
He also declined to comment if the Congress would continue with Jagdish Tytler as its candidate for the Delhi North-East Lok Sabha seat.
"I cannot answer this question," he said.
He also added that he had forgotten the shoe-throwing incident.
"It was an emotional outburst by one journalist and he has quite rightly regretted it. As far as I am concerned, it is over," Chidambaram said about Singh.
Jarnail threw a shoe at Chidambaram at the Congress headquarters expressing his anger over the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) giving a clean chit to Tytler for the riots.
with thanks to :
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sikhs-have-a-legitimate-grievance-chidambaram/89791-37.html
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Shoe thrown at home minister P Chidambram by a sikh veteran journalist.
7.4.2009 / 1.30 PM
A sikh journalist hurled his shoe on Home minister P Chidambram during a press conference at New delhi. Jarnail singh the vetern journalist from Dainik Jagran asked the Minister about clean chit given to Mr. Jagdish Tytler.
Param jit singh sarna, president DSGMC has condemned the act of the sikh journalist in strong words.
A sikh journalist hurled his shoe on Home minister P Chidambram during a press conference at New delhi. Jarnail singh the vetern journalist from Dainik Jagran asked the Minister about clean chit given to Mr. Jagdish Tytler.
Param jit singh sarna, president DSGMC has condemned the act of the sikh journalist in strong words.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Cong says Tytler case won’t hurt
HT Correspondent
New Delhi, April 04, 2009
A day after Jagdish Tytler, Congress candidate from Northeast Delhi Parliamentary seat got the clean chit from the CBI, leaders in the city unit of the Congress said they did not see this impacting the Lok Sabha elections adversely.
While some quarters said the Sikh were not a big enough vote bank in Delhi to swing the poll results, others said the protests against the CBI deposition were politically motivated.
“An autonomous body has given Tytler a clean chit. There have been no cases against him in court; only the Nanavati Commission had taken up the issue. We know the protests are politically manipulated. The BJP is our political opposition and everybody knows that they are instigating these protests,” said Jai Prakash Aggarwal, Delhi Congress chief.
Aggarwal felt the common Sikh voters did not harbour any ill will towards the party. Some leaders within the party, however, felt that the timing of the clean chit would create problems in Parliamentary seats that have pockets with Sikh majority or are BJP strongholds.
Delhi BJP leaders are already planning to make it a poll issue. “The very fact that Congress announced Jagdish Tytler’s candidature from North-East Delhi just a few weeks before the CBI verdict goes on to show that the Congress is hand-in-glove with the investigating agency. The verdict has hurt the sentiment of Sikh across the country. And we will condemn it in our campaign,” said OP Kohli, Delhi state BJP president.
VK Malhotra, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly said, “We just can’t keep silent on this issue. The timing of the CBI verdict is very questionable. It raises a number of question about CBI’s credibility.”
The Shiromani Akali Dal has also come out in the open condemning the Congress and the CBI verdict. “Rahul Gandhi, during his last trip to Punjab, had categorically said the Congress would not give tickets to the accused of 1984 riots. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also said on the floor of the House that people responsible for anti-sikh carnage would definitely be punished,” said Manjit Singh, Delhi president, SAD.
Protest by Sikhs
Protesting against the CBI giving a clean chit to the former Union minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-sikh riot case, six members of the Shiromani Gurugwara Prabandhak Committee tried to immolate themselves on Friday. The police detained all of them before they could immolate themselves.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) staged a chakka jam near Jail Road in west Delhi.
with thanks to :
www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=8fb56626-fd63-4913-985d-97286ed299f4&Headline=Cong+says+Tytler+case+won%e2%80%99t+hurt
New Delhi, April 04, 2009
A day after Jagdish Tytler, Congress candidate from Northeast Delhi Parliamentary seat got the clean chit from the CBI, leaders in the city unit of the Congress said they did not see this impacting the Lok Sabha elections adversely.
While some quarters said the Sikh were not a big enough vote bank in Delhi to swing the poll results, others said the protests against the CBI deposition were politically motivated.
“An autonomous body has given Tytler a clean chit. There have been no cases against him in court; only the Nanavati Commission had taken up the issue. We know the protests are politically manipulated. The BJP is our political opposition and everybody knows that they are instigating these protests,” said Jai Prakash Aggarwal, Delhi Congress chief.
Aggarwal felt the common Sikh voters did not harbour any ill will towards the party. Some leaders within the party, however, felt that the timing of the clean chit would create problems in Parliamentary seats that have pockets with Sikh majority or are BJP strongholds.
Delhi BJP leaders are already planning to make it a poll issue. “The very fact that Congress announced Jagdish Tytler’s candidature from North-East Delhi just a few weeks before the CBI verdict goes on to show that the Congress is hand-in-glove with the investigating agency. The verdict has hurt the sentiment of Sikh across the country. And we will condemn it in our campaign,” said OP Kohli, Delhi state BJP president.
VK Malhotra, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly said, “We just can’t keep silent on this issue. The timing of the CBI verdict is very questionable. It raises a number of question about CBI’s credibility.”
The Shiromani Akali Dal has also come out in the open condemning the Congress and the CBI verdict. “Rahul Gandhi, during his last trip to Punjab, had categorically said the Congress would not give tickets to the accused of 1984 riots. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also said on the floor of the House that people responsible for anti-sikh carnage would definitely be punished,” said Manjit Singh, Delhi president, SAD.
Protest by Sikhs
Protesting against the CBI giving a clean chit to the former Union minister Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-sikh riot case, six members of the Shiromani Gurugwara Prabandhak Committee tried to immolate themselves on Friday. The police detained all of them before they could immolate themselves.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) staged a chakka jam near Jail Road in west Delhi.
with thanks to :
www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=8fb56626-fd63-4913-985d-97286ed299f4&Headline=Cong+says+Tytler+case+won%e2%80%99t+hurt
A mouthful of venom
By Khushwant Singh ji,
Hindustan Times
April 03, 2009
There is something weird about Varun Gandhi’s fulminations against Muslims and Sikhs; it defies common sense. He used the abusive term saley for Muslims and according to The Indian Express report, used the racial slur bara bajey (noon time) for his Sikh opponent.
It was the language of the gutter for which he should not be forgiven. I refrained from commenting on the subject as at one time I had quite a lot to do with his mother Maneka Gandhi, her mother Amtesh — both Sikhs, like all their other relations. We had a bitter parting of ways and I thought it would not be fair on my part to say anything about Varun’s bad-mouthing other communities. I was sorely disappointed as on one occasion, when his mother invited me to the launch of his collection of poems, I forced myself to go. I read his poems, liked them and gave them a favourable write-up. I thought if this young man is into poetry, he will be above dirty politics. I was wrong.
When and why did anti-Muslim venom enter his mind? During his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s time, a permanent fixture in the home was a Muslim, Mohammed Yunus. Both his parents addressed him as “Chacha Yunus”. They were married in his house on Tughlak Road by Navin Chawla, now election commissioner. I never heard Sanjay or any other member of the Gandhi family use derogatory words for Muslims. The word bara bajey for a Sikh is even harder to understand. Didn’t he realise that it would not go down well with the Badals and their Akali colleagues who are allies of his own BJP? His utterance must have deeply embarrassed his leader LK Advani (who is an Amil believing in Sikhism), Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley. In short, Varun Gandhi has, as the saying goes, cooked his own goose. Has he gone off his rocker? He would be well-advised to undergo psychiatric treatment and confine himself to writing poetry.
with thanks :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=94a7917a-6d5c-4ae4-879b-6da3e864f0b1&Headline=A+mouthful+of+venom
Hindustan Times
April 03, 2009
There is something weird about Varun Gandhi’s fulminations against Muslims and Sikhs; it defies common sense. He used the abusive term saley for Muslims and according to The Indian Express report, used the racial slur bara bajey (noon time) for his Sikh opponent.
It was the language of the gutter for which he should not be forgiven. I refrained from commenting on the subject as at one time I had quite a lot to do with his mother Maneka Gandhi, her mother Amtesh — both Sikhs, like all their other relations. We had a bitter parting of ways and I thought it would not be fair on my part to say anything about Varun’s bad-mouthing other communities. I was sorely disappointed as on one occasion, when his mother invited me to the launch of his collection of poems, I forced myself to go. I read his poems, liked them and gave them a favourable write-up. I thought if this young man is into poetry, he will be above dirty politics. I was wrong.
When and why did anti-Muslim venom enter his mind? During his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s time, a permanent fixture in the home was a Muslim, Mohammed Yunus. Both his parents addressed him as “Chacha Yunus”. They were married in his house on Tughlak Road by Navin Chawla, now election commissioner. I never heard Sanjay or any other member of the Gandhi family use derogatory words for Muslims. The word bara bajey for a Sikh is even harder to understand. Didn’t he realise that it would not go down well with the Badals and their Akali colleagues who are allies of his own BJP? His utterance must have deeply embarrassed his leader LK Advani (who is an Amil believing in Sikhism), Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley. In short, Varun Gandhi has, as the saying goes, cooked his own goose. Has he gone off his rocker? He would be well-advised to undergo psychiatric treatment and confine himself to writing poetry.
with thanks :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=94a7917a-6d5c-4ae4-879b-6da3e864f0b1&Headline=A+mouthful+of+venom
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