Daily Bulletin: Congress to hold Bharat Bachao rally to highlight BJP's 'divisive' policies; anti-CAB protests spill over to Delhi, West Bengal

Top Congress leaders to hold ‘Bharat Bachao’ rally to highlight BJP’s ‘divisive’ policies Congress, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, will hold a ‘Bharat Bachao’ rally at Ramlila grounds on Saturday to highlight the “divisive and disruptive” policies of the BJP government. Top party leaders will also address the rally and highlight the “failures” of the Narendra Modi government and its alleged attempt to divide the country and its people. The party’s Overseas Congress will join the Bharat Bachao Rally through demonstrations around the world. “Our message to save India from divisiveness, arrogance and incompetence will be spread worldwide,” the Overseas Congress said. Top Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande visited the Ramlila grounds and made an assessment of the preparations for Saturday’s ‘Bharat Bachao’ rally. [caption id=“attachment_7780681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Protestors take part in a hunger strike organised by All Assam Students Union (AASU) in protest against the passing of Citizenship Amendment Act. PTI[/caption] Delhi Congress president Subhash Chopra claimed that over 50,000 people from the city will take part in the protest. Protests against Citizenship Act oversteps North East, reaches Delhi and West Bengal A large number of protesters, including Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind (JUH) leaders, protested at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Friday against the amended Citizenship Act, describing it as “unconstitutional” and “divisive”, and demanded its immediate withdrawal. Separately, Jamia Millia Islamia University students held a protest against the law at the university. A third protest was organised by the Delhi Congress in Seelampur area of East Delhi. The protesters at Jantar Mantar, led by JUH general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani, carried placards with slogans like “Save Constitution, Withdraw CAB”, “Division on basis of religion unacceptable"and “CAB nahin Rozgar Chahiye”. Madani said the law “is against the Constitution of India which denies discrimination on the basis of religion.” He urged Muslim youths to maintain peace and tranquillity. Protests over the amended Citizenship Act also reached the shores of West Bengal on Friday, with agitators resorting to violence and arson at railway stations and thoroughfares across the state, seeking immediate revocation of the law. People in the minority-dominated districts of rural Howrah, Murshidabad, Birbhum, parts of Burdwan and North Bengal hit the streets in the morning, raising slogans against the Modi government, according to police sources. Some of them even attacked local BJP workers and leaders, prompting the saffron camp to allege that the attacks were masterminded by the ruling TMC. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to maintain peace and warned protesters to refrain from taking law into their hands. A similar plea was also made by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. BJP to launch campaign about amended Citizenship Act across nation  Countering the Opposition’s allegation over the amended Citizenship Act, the BJP is set to launch a public awareness programme to inform people about its features and benefits, and also “dispel the propaganda” that the legislation is against any community. Though the party intends to start a nation-wide campaign, it will run an intensive exercise in states where the legislation’s beneficiaries are in large numbers. West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh told PTI that the party will launch a mass contact programme and distribute literature about the law. He estimated that over two crore people can get Indian citizenship under the amended Act. At many places, the campaign will start from Saturday, a day after the Winter Session of Parliament ends. Narendra Modi Modi to cruise on Ganga, review Namami Gange project during Kanpur visit Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday to review progress of the Namami Gange project aimed at cleaning river Ganga. He will chair a meeting of the National Council for Ganga (NCG) and will cruise on the Ganga to asses the changes achieved under the project in past few years. The meeting will also be attended by chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Uttarakhand. Several Union ministers, including Environment minister Prakash Javadekar, senior central and state officers will be attending the NCG meeting. The meeting will start at 10 am at the Chandrashekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology and is expected to conclude by 2.30 pm. House committee to take historic vote on impeachment charges against Donald Trump Democrats propelled President Donald Trump’s impeachment toward a historic vote by the full US House as the Judiciary Committee on Friday approved charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It’s the latest major step in the constitutional and political storm that has divided Congress and the nation. The House is expected to approve the two articles of impeachment next week, before lawmakers depart for the holidays. The partisan split in the committee vote — 23 Democrats to 17 Republicans — reflects the atmosphere in Congress. The Democratic-majority House is expected to approve the charges against Trump next week, but the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to acquit him after a January trial. Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to probe his actions. “Today is a solemn and sad day,” Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters after the session, marking the third time in US history the panel has voted to recommend impeaching a president. He said the full House would act ‘’expeditiously.”’ At the White House after the votes, Trump denounced the inquiry and actions against him, using the terms he’s relied on for months. He referred to the impeachment effort four times as a hoax, twice as a sham and once each as a scam, a witch hunt and a disgrace. He described his actions as perfect three times and said four times he did nothing wrong. Apple buys UK-based startup Spectral Edge Apple has acquired a UK-based startup for an undisclosed sum, a filing made public on 12 December was spotted by The Verge. Spectral Edge is believed to help Apple improve the camera capability on the future iPhones. The startup “has developed computational photography tech that could blend data from a standard lens and an infrared lens to enhance photo quality".