National
Tripura parties’ ally with BJP, Congress: Pre-poll activities pick up
Agartala/Shillong, Jan 6 (IANS) With the political activities gradually picking up ahead of the crucial assembly elections in February in Left-ruled Tripura, tribal parties are negotiating with the BJP and Congress for electoral alliances, informed sources said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah began a three-day tour to Meghalaya and Tripura on Saturday to formally kick off the party’s election campaign in the two northeastern states.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Brinda Karat is now on a five-day election campaign in Tripura while party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has already addressed a central election rally in Agartala earlier this week.
Assembly polls would be held in three northeastern states — Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland — with 60 assembly seats each, in February. The five-year terms of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura assemblies would expire on March 6, 13 and 14, respectively.
While the Left Front holds power in Tripura, the Congress is in power in Meghalaya and the Naga People’s Front-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) in Nagaland. The DAN is supported by the BJP.
Tripura’s main tribal based party, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), which has been agitating since 2009 for upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council into a separate tribal state, held a series of meetings in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for PMO Jitendra Singh and central BJP leaders.
Assam’s powerful minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who holds the Finance, Health and Family Welfare and Education portfolios in the BJP government, arranged these politically significant meetings.
Sarma, who is also the convener of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) anti-Congress front, is the party’s election in-charge of Tripura.
“Our meetings about our separate state demand with the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and other ministers and BJP leaders are positive. The Union Home Ministry would announce a committee on January 8 about our long pending demand,” IPFT’s President Narendra Chandra Debbarma told IANS over phone from Delhi.
Leading a ten-member IPFT delegation to Delhi, the veteran tribal leader said: “After returning to Agartala, we would hold meetings with the state BJP leaders to finalise the electoral alliance and seat sharing strategies. Now the long pending hurdles about the alliance with the BJP have been settled.”
Most of the political parties, including the ruling CPI-M, Congress and the BJP had earlier rejected IPFT’s demands saying it is not practical to divide the small state.
Two other important tribal based parties — Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and National Conference of Tripura (NCT) — have also started talks since Friday to form an electoral alliance with the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura.
The INPT and NCT also opposed the IPFT’s separate state demand.
“We are holding talks with the Congress and TMC leaders to form an anti-BJP and anti-Left electoral alliance to fight against both the ruling Left Front and opposition BJP,” INPT spokesman Srota Ranjan Khisa told IANS.
A top official of the Tripura Election Department said that the Election Commission likely to announce the election schedule in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland next week.
After about a four-and-half-month-long summary revision of the voters’ list, the final photo-affixed electoral rolls were published on Friday simultaneously across Tripura with January 1, 2018, as the qualifying date of age.
“With the regular instructions from the Election Commission, we are readying ourselves to conduct the elections in the state. The commission is in close touch with us about the preparations of the elections,” Tripura Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sriram Taranikanti said.
–IANS
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National
Foodman Vishal Singh Honored for Hunger Free World Mission in Bangkok
Lucknow: Vishal Singh, a renowned social worker from Lucknow, also known as Foodman, has once again made India proud. He was honored by the Happy Hands Gloves Cooperative Limited Company in Korathai, Thailand, for his work with the Hunger Free World Mission.
The Hunger Free World Mission’s meeting was held in Korathai, Thailand, under Vishal Singh’s leadership. Representatives from several countries, including Mr. Raja Dwivedi (Managing Director of Happy Hands Gloves Limited), Thailand Coordinator Mr. Raja Mishra, and member Mr. Varun Singh, attended the event.
Under Vishal Singh’s leadership, the attendees took a pledge to work together toward creating a hunger-free world.
Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Singh explained that the main goal of the Hunger Free World Mission is social participation. He said the mission is not just about feeding people but also about meeting other basic needs of those who are struggling. The mission focuses on helping families of terminally ill patients in hospitals by providing food and shelter. It also works to fulfill essential needs like education, jobs, and care for the elderly.
For the last 16 years, the Vijay Sri Foundation has been providing free services, benefiting thousands of people. Vishal Singh highlighted that the mission aims to gain global recognition like other organizations such as WHO, WWF, and Red Cross, which work for social causes.
During this meeting, Vishal Singh was appointed as the Chairman of the Hunger Free World Mission by representatives from various countries. They also discussed holding regular meetings in different countries to push the mission forward.
Business tycoon Dr. Abhishek Verma has also supported this humanitarian mission, vowing to promote the idea of “Seva Parmo Dharma” (Service is the highest duty) worldwide. Vishal Singh praised him, stating that people like Dr .Abhishek Verma inspire others to work for the betterment of society.
Recently, Romania’s Ambassador, Mr . Daniela Sezonov Ţane, invited Vishal Singh to the Romanian Embassy in Delhi, where they discussed the mission in detail. Impressed by his humanitarian work, she honored Vishal Singh and invited him to Romania to take the mission forward .
Food man Vishal Singh has been serving the people of India for the past 16 years. Through the Vijay Sri Foundation, he provides free meals to cancer patients & their families ,shelter, and education for women & children along with running free old-age homes in Lucknow.
In addition to his humanitarian work, Vishal Singh also addresses issues like crime and corruption through his role as Chairman of Seva Path Media and Managing Director of Vijay Sri Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vishal Singh and his team worked tirelessly to provide food and help to the needy, including starving children, elderly citizens, and pregnant women. Despite contracting the virus himself, he continued to assist others after his recovery. He even created a life-saving oxygen regulator using household items, which was praised by doctors both in India and abroad.
In his address at the meeting, Vishal Singh spoke about his mission to create a hunger-free world. He pointed out that India’s large population, along with issues like unemployment and poverty, has caused the country to fall on the Hunger Index. He urged people to contribute just one handful of grains daily to help create a hunger-free world.
He concluded by saying that through social participation, we can empower the people around us, meet their basic needs, and work together to build a stronger, more prosperous, and developed society.