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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017 INTERNATIONAL Hardline Hindu youth call the News in brief shots on streets of north India Australia toughens foreign worker visas SYDNEY: Australia will abolish a temporary work visa popu- Muslim men ‘singled out for courting’ Hindu women lar with foreigners and replace it with a new program requiring better English-language and job skills, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday. Turnbull, strug- UNNAO: One recent afternoon, dozens of roots and putting pressure on police. The ered a resounding victory to the ruling hopes will drag India into the modern era and gling with poor voter approval ratings, rejected suggestions young Hindu men, swords drawn and saffron appointment of the 44-year-old, known for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). create enough jobs for a swelling workforce. the visa policy change was in response to far-right wing scarves draped around their necks, rode fiery anti-Muslim rhetoric and a campaign In return for his successful campaign, the Adityanath represented the BJP during the political parties, such as One Nation, demanding more motorcycles through a Muslim neighborhood against “Love Jihad” - or the conversion of Hindu party handed the priest one of India’s most Uttar Pradesh state polls earlier this year, and nationalistic policies. But in a Facebook announcement near the capital of India’s most populous state women to Islam - has shocked some Indians, powerful positions, emboldening his militia to helped Modi consolidate power as he bids for Turnbull said: “Our reforms will have a simple focus: and chanted “Hail Lord Ram!” In the preceding who say it undermines the country’s secular sta- act and speak more openly than it did under re-election in a national ballot in 2019. The Australian jobs and Australian values.” In a similar vein, US weeks they and their peers had acted as tus. They worry that Prime Minister Narendra the previous administration. Based in Uttar priest, however, has often defied BJP discipline President Donald Trump will sign an executive order yester- informers, police officials say, helping them Modi’s “development for all” agenda will be Pradesh and funded by members who want to and is not part of the RSS machine, raising fears day directing changes to a temporary visa program used to identify thousands of Muslim-run butchers’ overtaken by radical, Hindu-first policies with win favour with local power brokers, the youth that Modi may have unleashed radical bring foreign workers to the United States to fill highly “Hindutva”, or religious-nationalist forces that skilled jobs. The order is an attempt by Trump to carry out he will struggle to contain. “The BJP has no his “America First” election campaign pledges. command over this organization. They respond to Adityanath and no one else,” said Gilles Verniers, assistant professor of political sciences Spain’s PM called as at Ashoka University. witness in fund trial A close aide to Modi said it was Adityanath’s job to maintain law and order in the state. “The MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been onus lies on him. It is his duty to take care of his called to stand as a witness in a trial of members of his rul- vigilante group,” said the aide. Daljit Singh ing People’s Party (PP) following a long investigation into Chawdhary, additional director general of an alleged party slush fund, a court spokeswoman said police for Uttar Pradesh, dismissed the threat of yesterday. The appearance, on a date yet to be decided, the youth force acting outside the law. “We are will be embarrassing for Rajoy, who has sought to dis- not tolerating any vigilante group taking the tance himself from a string of corruption scandals sur- law into their (own) hands, while at the same rounding his party. Rajoy heads a minority government, time anyone is free to provide us with tip-offs,” having lost support to newcomer parties in a general elec- he said. “We have had no recent complaints tion last year where Spaniards’ weariness with perceived against the Hindu Yuva Vahini, so there is no institutional corruption played a major role. The long-run- reason for us to take action against them.” ning investigation into kickbacks-for-contracts, known as the Gurtel case, went to trial in October after a probe last- Devotion and power ing nearly a decade, with dozens of suspects including The original source of Adityanath’s power business people and PP members in the dock. The PP is an ancient temple in Gorakhpur, eastern denies any senior party officials were involved in any cases Uttar Pradesh, where people treat the shaven- of alleged corruption. It says only a tiny number of its headed priest with reverence. Soon after he politicians are corrupt and that it is tackling the problem. was named chief minister last month, a devo- tee collected dust from the rug on which Adityanath had walked, so as to worship it. Built on such devotion, the youth force has evolved into a powerful group that dispenses justice and has proved itself a formidable vote-getter. The BJP’s national spokesman, Nalin Kohli, said the party’s victory in Uttar Pradesh was not only thanks to Adityanath and his private mili- TRIPURA, India: An Indian Hindu devotee runs over smouldering charcoal during the ritual of Shiva Gajan in the vil- tia. But Singh expressed little doubt about the lage of Pratapgarh on the outskirts of Agartala. Devotees believe that by enduring the pain, Shiva, the Hindu god group’s importance in securing the result. of destruction, will grant their prayers. —AFP “Modi won Uttar Pradesh because of Adityanath’s ground force,” Singh said. One of shops that have since been shut and urging the potential to stoke communal tensions that force says it is 2 million strong and growing. In Adityanath’s first directives after becoming officers to stop Muslim youths talking to Hindu have erupted sporadically through India’s 70- Unnao, police stood back as members blocked chief minister was to impose a ban on Uttar girls in the street. year history. Adityanath declined to be inter- traffic, honked horns and shouted pro-Hindu Pradesh slaughterhouses that operated with- Their organization is the Hindu Yuva Vahini viewed for this article. slogans on the busy streets. Muslims who came out licences. Most Indian states have laws that (Hindu Youth Force), a private militia set up in “Blood can be shed, and Muslims will feel out to watch did so quietly from their doorways. ban the slaughter of cows, considered sacred 2002 by Yogi Adityanath, a local priest and the pain,” Pankaj Singh, a senior leader of the by Hindus, while buffalo slaughter requires per- Volunteers help survivors and retrieve victims from a politician, to assert the dominance of India’s Hindu Youth Force, told Reuters in an interview Hindu right, Hindu radical mission from state governments. passenger bus that fell in a ravine killing dozens in main religion which he felt was being eroded on the sidelines of the rally in Unnao, an hour’s Modi himself is the product of the Hindu Butchers in Uttar Pradesh have long com- Carranglan township, Nueva Ecija province, northern by minority faiths. Since Adityanath’s promotion drive southwest of the capital Lucknow. Such right, coming from the BJP and its powerful plained that authorities failed to issue new Philippines yesterday. —AP last month to chief minister of Uttar Pradesh comments have sent a chill through some in parent movement, Rashtriya Swayamsevak licences, although the outgoing government state, home to 220 million people of which a the Muslim community, on the defensive in Sangh (RSS), that nurtured him early in his allowed them to continue operating anyway, At least 26 die as bus fifth are Muslims, the group has become Uttar Pradesh since this year’s election in which career. But since sweeping to power in 2014, he ensuring employment and food for the Muslims plunges into ravine emboldened, openly proclaiming its Hindu Adityanath rallied the Hindu majority and deliv- has focused on economic reforms that he who dominate the industry. —Reuters MANILA: At least 26 people were killed and 21 injured when a passenger bus crashed into a deep ravine in the mountain- ous northern Philippines yesterday, authorities said. The bus ‘Dirty’ Jakarta election looms; plunged about 24 meters in the upland province of Nueva Ecija before noon after its brakes failed while travelling on a religious politics resurfaces winding road, police and local officials said. “The vehicle is totally wrecked,” said senior inspector Robert De Guzman, JAKARTA: Luar Batang is one of the over the Quran comments erupted, said police chief of the town of Carranglan where the accident Indonesian capital’s oldest neighbor- one woman who did not want to be occurred. The impact appeared to have ripped the top off the hoods, founded in the 17th century to named, sitting outside a small shack amid vehicle, he added. “Almost all of the passengers, both dead collect tolls from ships sailing in from the the rubble. “We see it as a gift from God,” and injured, were found outside the bus.” Authorities were still Java Sea when the city was the centre of she said, describing the slur as a means to investigating the cause of the accident but Carranglan Mayor the Dutch East Indies spice trade. Now, it bring down Purnama. Mary Abad told ABS-CBN television there were 60 passengers is being demolished and many of its resi- onboard although the bus had a capacity of only 45. Abad dents are being evicted to make way for a Neck and neck race added the wounded, some of whom sustained critical injuries, giant seawall meant to keep Jakarta from Opinion surveys show Purnama run- were rushed to nearby hospitals.

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