Nalhati (West Bengal), April 6 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son Avijit, who has filed his papers as a Congress nominee for the West Bengal assembly polls, owns assets worth over Rs. 5 crore jointly with his wife.
In affidavits submitted while filing his nomination from Nalhati in Birbhum Tuesday, the junior Mukherjee said he had movable assets worth Rs.58,22,890 (Rs.58.2 lakh). This includes four four vehicles and jewellery. His wife Chitralekha owns movable assets worth over Rs.90 lakh, including jewellery of Rs.52 lakh.
Avijit also posseses agricultural land and non-agricultural land currently valued at around Rs.30 lakh, while his wife owns agricultural land worth Rs.42,31,930. Both own residential property worth over Rs.1 crore each.
The income statement for the fiscal 2009-10 mentioned in the affidavits shows Avijit and Chitralekha have earned Rs.21,16,740 and Rs.2,06,259 respectively.
Avijit, who worked as a general manager at Steel Authority of India Limited, took voluntary retirement recently for testing his fate in politics.
Noting that extremists have accelerated their nefarious designs against the state, it said that in the past seven days, almost as many attacks have left the country reeling from destruction and loss of lives.
A string of terror strikes in the country over the past week, including suicide bombings at a Sufi shrine in Punjab province April 4, have left 43 people dead.
"The militants are making sure that there is no space left in Pakistan for men and women of enlightened beliefs and moderate standing. They are obliterating any remnants of sanity so that only their ilk remains."
It noted that anti-Taliban lashkars exist as the state has failed to protect the citizens from the extremists' wrath.
"They exist to safeguard the beliefs, principles, views and values of an entire people who do not follow the rigid interpretations of the extremists' theology. It is because of this very reason that they are being targeted so ruthlessly."
The editorial sought more efficiency in the intelligence agencies and security apparatus to pre-empt any threats and strikes.
Lamenting that the country has become "fair game for the extremists, where lawlessness and anarchy are being spread to their advantage", it said: "Without our intelligence agencies sitting up and taking notice of the fraying of the writ of the state and the murder of moderate elements, Pakistan will see many more such attacks on the citizenry."