India politics news in brief for Oct 7: Indian home minister Amit Shah kicks off Assam visit

Here are news related to Indian politics for Friday, October 7, 2022:

Indian home minister Amit Shah on Friday started a three-day visit to north-eastern Indian state of Assam during which he will attend a meeting on floods, inaugurate a state-level police conference and address workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power both in New Delhi and Assam, PTI reported. Shah will also attend a meeting of chief ministers and directors general of police of northeastern states on narcotics; review the functioning of the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC); and inaugurate the newly built office of the BJP's Assam unit during the visit, sources said. The home minister, who reached Assam from Sikkim, would inaugurate the newly built state BJP office on Saturday before addressing a BJP 'karyakarta sammelan' (workers' meet) in the afternoon. On Saturday evening, he will attend a meeting with the chief ministers and police chiefs of the northeastern states on narcotics before chairing a review meeting of the NESAC (North Eastern Space Application Centre), according to the sources.

A court in Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday asked the Gyanvapi mosque management to file its reply to a petitioners' plea for carbon-dating of a structure, claimed to be a 'shivling', inside the complex on the next date of hearing on October 11. The petitioners contended that the 'shivling' found in the 'wazookhana' reservoir of the mosque during survey work on May 16 was part of the case property. The petitioners in the case involving the Gyanvapi-Shringar Gauri dispute put forward their arguments in favour of carbon-dating of the structure, according to district government advocate Mahendra Pandey. The petitioners' lawyer, Vishnu Shankar Jain, told reporters that the court wanted to know if the "Shivling" was a part of the case property and whether it could appoint a commission for the purpose of carbon-dating and a scientific investigation of the structure.

A political row erupted on Friday after a purported video of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister from Delhi, Rajendra Pal Gautam, at a "religious conversion" event went viral in which hundreds can be heard taking an oath denouncing Hindu deities, with the state opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launching an attack on chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and asking him to sack his cabinet colleague, PTI reported. Sources in the AAP claimed that the chief minister was "extremely displeased" with Gautam. However, an immediate response was not available either from the chief minister or the Delhi government. Gautam is the social welfare minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government.

Former Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi was on Friday joined by the mother and sister of slain activist Gauri Lankesh during the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' (Unite India March) at Chittanahalli in the southern state of Karnataka as he walked with them and said he stood with her and countless others who "represent the true spirit of India". He said the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' is the voice of people like Lankesh and that can never be silenced. "Gauri stood for Truth Gauri stood for Courage Gauri stood for Freedom I stand for Gauri Lankesh and countless others like her, who represent the true spirit of India. Bharat Jodo Yatra is their voice. It can never be silenced," Gandhi wrote on Twitter while sharing the picture of him walking with Lankesh's family members holding her mother's hand.

The Indian National Congress has nominated senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi as the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on commerce. This comes days after the Opposition party was stripped of the chair ship of the parliamentary committee on Home Affairs and the panel on Information Technology. While Singhvi headed the panel on home affairs, Shashi Tharoor headed the panel on Information Technology. The Congress has also been given the chairship of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertiliser but the party is yet to decide on its nominee.