Congress runs in my blood but this isn't the party I knew: Satyavrat Chaturvedi

Satyavrat Chaturvedi is a Member of Parliament (MP) and a seasoned Congress leader who has risen from the ranks. He was first elected for the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly way back in 1980 and since then, on several occasions, he has been elected as MLA, MP to both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and has held several important positions in the party.

He is one of the most articulate voices in Congress and is known for his original thoughts. He comes from a family of freedom fighters and thinks that Congress is in his blood. In a candid chat with Sanjay Singh of Firstpost, he eloquently spoke of what ails the present day Congress, what is the way forward, and the way he perceives the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

FP: The pictures out in your office is of the Congress’ who’s who. There is much talk of an old guard versus new guard conflict in Congress. If an organisational change is done accordingly, giving primacy of position to young guards, most leaders seen in those pictures will become history. Do you agree?
Chaturvedi: It never happens that way. In any party, there is always a mix of youthful energy and elderly experience. That combination is always needed. The old guard vs new guard debate is nothing new, this is not happening for the first time. This debate happened even during the times of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indiraji, Rajivji, and it so happened that both the groups had been adequately represented in the leadership. This trend will continue in the future as well.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com

Tanmay Bhat, Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar: Here's everything you don't need to know

Tanmay Bhat's parodies of Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar has, to use a technical millennial term, broke the internet.

If like the rest of the world, you're wondering what the fuss is about, here's what really went down:

Bhat, a comedian, who had earlier posted a monologue on feminism, presented a short skit on Snapchat last week. Using the app's face-swap feature (you can unfortunately swap your face with anyone's or anything's), he mimicked Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar in a video titled Sachin v/s Lata Civil War. Starting with imitating Sachin, Bhat spouted lines such as "Virat is good with the bat, and the ladies”, and moves on to 'roasting' or as some people from the internet like to say, insulting Lata Mangeshkar (he says she is 5,000 years old). He also imitates Lata making fun of Sachin saying that her fans will mourn her by singing her songs at the singer's funeral. The video ends with a lot of jibes and insults in Marathi.

Bhat then took to Twitter to further voice his opinions.
But even before he posted the video, Bhat reportedly put out a disclaimer as saying that he loved both the icons.

As the controversy grew, the Shiv Sena and the BJP called for police action against Tanmay Bhat. Shiv Sena even asked the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take strict action against the comedy collective All India Bakc*** (AIB) and Bhat for allegedly seeking to vitiate social harmony through videos on Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar. The BJP's Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar also requested that a police complaint be filed against Tanmay Bhat and AIB.

The MNS meanwhile said that it will lodge an FIR against Tanmay Bhat and demanded that the video uploaded by him be removed immediately.

The Mumbai police has initiated a probe following the complaints. DCP (Operations) Sangramsingh Nishandar said the inquiry is being conducted by special branch of the city police. The inquiry was initiated after Shelar complained about the issue to city police chief Datta Padsalgikar.

Sachin's wife, Anjali Tendulkar also voiced her opinion on Twitter.

Source: http://www.firstpost.com