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“Shah Jahan Didn’t Float Tenders For Taj Mahal, Why Should I?”: Goa Minister’s Bizarre Reply To Critics

Shah Jahan

Minister for arts and culture in Goa Government, Govind Gaude, has made it to headlines over bizarre comments recalling Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and Taj Mahal in reference to a government tender. Under heavy fire from opposition for failing to call for quotations before approving the 49-crore cost of renovation of the iconic Kala Academy Complex in Panaji, Mr Gaude on Wednesday, in his defense, said even Shah Jahan didn’t call for quotations before building the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Renowned architect Charles Correa has designed the cultural hub in Goa’s capital, Panaji.

Mr Gaude, speaking in Goa assembly, said: “My esteemed colleague must have certainly visited the Taj Mahal in Agra. It was started to be built in 1632 and completed in 1653. Till today it looks beautiful and everlasting. Why do you think that is? Because Shah Jahan didn’t invite quotations when building the Taj Mahal and for 390 years it remains as it was.”

Vijai Sardesai, the opposition legislator in state assembly, has alleged that the work which was awarded to a specialised agency Techton Buildcons Pvt Ltd was done so without following due tender process in violation of the Central Public Works Department rules.

Mr Sardesai, who has alleged bypassing of norms to award the contract, said: “The work has been given on a nomination basis without tender because of a specialised agency. This tender violates the CPWD manual. Specialised work also needs tenders.”

Mr Gaude, in his reply during the question hour, said: “The work is of specialised nature, it was decided to award this work to a specialised agency.”

Kala Academy (Academy of the Arts) is a prominent cultural centre run by the Government of Goa. It plays the role of being an “apex body to develop music, dance, drama, fine art, folk art, literature, etc. and thereby promote (the) cultural unity of Goa.”

Funded by the Government of Goa, the centre offers training through its faculty, and also organises festivals, competitions, exhibitions, workshops, seminars, and other programmes related to various forms of the local arts.

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“New Dictionary For New India”: Rahul Gandhi Joins Furore Over New ‘Unparliamentary’ Words

Sakeena Sayyed
Dictionary
The Lok Sabha secretariat on Wednesday released a booklet terming the use of certain words as “unparliamentary”, Congress and TMC leader reacts.

Mumbai:  The Lok Sabha secretariat has recently issued a booklet that lists words, the use of which in both houses of Parliament will now be considered unparliamentary and will be expunged from records.The decision to designate certain words as unparliamentary has sparked a debate.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the center amid the growing protests by opposition lawmakers over the latest list of words considered unfit for the parliament and explained his version of it. The Congress leader took to twitter and used the banned words.

Rahul Gandhi shared an image on Twitter that described the word unparliamentary. The image described unparliamentary as, “Words used in discussion and debates which correctly describes the PM’s handling of the government, now banned from being spoken.”

He captioned the image as “New Dictionary for New India.”

TMC MP Mahua Moitra also joined the red flagging of the move to ban from parliament 40 words and phrases ,including those used frequently by the opposition to attack and critique the government. She fired four tweets in response to the banned list.

“You mean I cant stand up in Lok Sabha and talk of how Indians have been betrayed by an incompetent government who should be ashamed of their hypocrisy?” she tweeted.

Followed by, “Baith jaye, baith jaye, prem se bolein”. This was in reference to one of the Lok Sabha speakers, Meira Kumar when she tried to control a chaotic situation in the parliamentary house in the year 2013. Mahua Moitra further wrote that the current government has banned all the words that were being used to criticise them.

In another tweet of this series, the minister posed a question stating “Is truth unparliamentary?”. Mahua Moitra then went on to list a few facts about India’s gender gap index ranking.

In another tweet of her series, she mentioned one of the banned words in the list that was “sexual harassment” and replaced it with the word “Mr. Gogoi”.

The tweets by Mahua Moitra shows her witty and serious dig at the whole scenario.

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