New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday urged the government to condemn the Israeli attack on a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
‘India must also work actively with other countries from the non-aligned nations in the UN and other bodies to force Israel to lift the illegal siege of Gaza,’ the CPI-M said in a statement.
The statement said Israeli armed forces ‘illegally attacked’ the flotilla in international waters Sunday night, killing at least 15 international activists and injuring many.
About 700 activists from a number of countries were on the six ships aiming to take 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, ‘which has been under relentless siege for almost three years now’.
‘The attack … shows the complete contempt Israel has for international law or international opinion. Attacking ships in international waters and killing its passengers is a brazen act of piracy,’ it said.
Twitter Gate: Congress will take action against Tharoor at the appropriate time: Tewari
New Delhi, Sep.18 (ANI): The Congress party on Friday said it would take appropriate action against Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his “cattle class” comments through the medium of Twitter at the appropriate time.
Addressing a party news conference in the capital, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said: “We will take appropriate action (against Mr. Tharoor) at the appropriate time.
Tewari further said that action against Tharoor was not ruled out.
He also justified Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s statement on Thursday seeking Tharoor’s resignation for what he called “irresponsible” comments on the social networking site Twitter.
“It was unfortunate and unbecoming on his part to make such comments. In my view he should tender his resignation as Minister,” Gehlot had said.
“To make such irreverent comments is all the more despicable when one is holding a responsible position as that of the Minister of State for External Affairs,” Gehlot told journalists at his official residence here after a “Roza Iftar” party on Thursday evening.
Gehlot had termed Tharoor’s references posted on the site such as “cattle class” and “holy cows” as unacceptable in Indian politics.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also said Tharoor had no right to continue in the Union Cabinet.
“I believe that in a democracy, people are God. To refer to them as ‘cattle’ is an insult to them. And I believe that such a person has no right to be a Union minister,” he told reporters.
Tharoor, who is on an official visit to Liberia, had earlier apologized through the Twitter medium, saying he was “sorry” for hurting any sentiments and that his words had been misunderstood.
“To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorry. It’s a silly expression, but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstood,” Tharoor said.
The minister said that he had learned belatedly of the fuss “over my tweet and pointed out that the phrase “cattle class” was used in the query, which he just repeated. (ANI)