A special MP-MLA court on Thursday listed the matter related to the supplementary charge sheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler for a hearing on June 30.
The CBI filed the charge sheet on May 20 in Rouse Avenue Court. This case is connected with the killing of three Sikhs in the Pul Bangash area on November 1, 1984. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vidhi Anand Gupta took up the matter after receiving the case file.
ACMM Gupta said, “The file is received shortly and needs time to go through it. Thereafter an appropriate order will be passed.”
On the last date of the hearing, the CMM transferred the case to the special MP-MLA court since it is a case involving a former MP.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on May 20 filed a chargesheet against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a case related to Anti-Sikh riots in 1984 following the assassination of the then Prime Minister of India, on 31 October 1984.
Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, then Member of Parliament has been named as accused in the chargesheet.
In a statement, CBI mentioned that the agency had registered the instant case in November 2005 on an incident wherein Gurudwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market, Bara Hindu Rao, Delhi was set on fire by a mob and three persons namely Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh were burnt to death on November 1, 1984, near Gurudwara Pul Bangash.
Justice Nanavati Commission of Inquiry was set up in the year 2000 by the Government of India to enquire into the incidents of Anti-Sikh riots of the year 1984 in Delhi.
After consideration of the Commission’s report, the Ministry of Home Affairs (Government of India) issued directions to CBI to investigate the case against the then Member of Parliament and others.
During the CBI investigation, evidence came on record that on November 1, 1984, the said accused allegedly instigated, incited and provoked the mob assembled at Gurudwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market, Delhi which resulted in the burning of Gurudwara Pul Bangash and killing of three Sikh persons by the mob, apart from burning and looting of shops.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Congress-ear corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar and his non-profit organisation, Advantage India, for breaching the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). The chargesheet claims that the accused Talwar misappropriated funds intended for non-profit activities, redirecting them towards multiple business endeavours in violation of the FCRA.
In addition to Deepak Talwar and his non-profit organisation, Advantage India, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has included Girish Vaid, Krishna Kumar Nair, Tarun Kumar Kapoor, Archana Kapoor, and Pran Nath Monga as co-accused in the charge sheet. It is worth noting that the CBI initiated a case against Deepak Talwar and Advantage India in 2017 based on a complaint by the Home Ministry, alleging violations of the FCRA.
According to the CBI, Advantage India is accused of receiving ₹ 90.72 crores in foreign contributions from various sources from 2012 to 2016. Additionally, the organisation allegedly received donations from defence companies Airbus and MBDA.
According to a report by NDTV, the investigation has revealed that the non-profit organisation misused foreign contributions, intended for Deepak Talwar’s personal and business activities, thereby violating the provisions of the FCRA, sources said.
Quoting the source, NDTV reported, “The NGO (non-government organisation) spent ₹ 30.37 lakhs between May 2015 and January 2016 as expenses for the foreign travels of Deepak Talwar.”
Furthermore, the investigation has uncovered that the non-profit organisation acted as a guarantor, utilising its fixed deposits to secure overdraft facilities for Wave Impex, a company controlled by Deepak Talwar and his family. The funds from the non-profit were subsequently used for the business operations of the said company.
The source said, “The association had also submitted bills claiming to have purchased medicines worth ₹ 26.97 crores for various medical camps from two entities, Aastha Pharma and Hind Pharma, but during the investigation, both these entities have clarified that they have not dealt with the association.”
According to the CBI, the non-profit organisation was located within the premises of Deepak Talwar and allegedly paid rent of ₹ 80 lakhs to him between 2012 and 2015. This payment is claimed to constitute the utilisation of foreign contributions for personal gains.
Following the authorisation granted by the Home Minister to investigate FCRA violations, Advantage India became the first case registered by the CBI in 2017 regarding such violations. Deepak Talwar, in addition to this, faces charges by the CBI in the Air India case. In this case, he is accused of assisting multiple foreign private airlines in obtaining advantageous routes and schedules, resulting in financial losses for Air India, the national airline at the time.
The grand temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy, built in the picturesque Shivalik forests in the Majeen area of Sidhra on the outskirts of Jammu city, opened its doors for devotees on Thursday, June 8.
#WATCH | Jammu: Visuals of Tirupati Balaji temple, which will be inaugurated virtually by Union Home Minister Amit Shah today
The temple has been built on 62 acres of land with approx cost of Rs 25 crores and construction work was completed in a span of two years pic.twitter.com/OJFYWdprmJ
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, along with Union Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, dedicated the temple to the devotees amidst the chanting of religious mantras and the beating of dhol and nagaras in the morning.
Attended Maha Samprokshanam of Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple of @TTDevasthanams, Jammu along with Hon'ble Union Ministers Shri G Kishan Reddy Ji, Dr. Jitendra Singh Ji, Chairman, TTD, YV Subba Reddy Ji. It is a historic moment in the Sanatan Journey of J&K and the country. pic.twitter.com/AlqbbFg3nD
— Office of LG J&K (@OfficeOfLGJandK) June 8, 2023
Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy through video conferencing. Shah addressed the devotees and congratulated them on the grand opening of the temple. He added that he will visit the shrine whenever he goes on a state visit next.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri @AmitShah Ji will inaugurate 'Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple' in Jammu, via video conference, tomorrow at 10 AM. pic.twitter.com/UMa2qqzdTJ
— Office of Amit Shah (@AmitShahOffice) June 7, 2023
Union Minister G Krishna Reddy and other leaders and officials were also present on the occasion of the inauguration.
Speaking on the auspicious occasion, L-G Sinha said, “The dedication of Lord Venkateswara temple will strengthen the religious tourism circuit in J&K, give a boost to spiritual tourism and a major fillip to the economic development and employment opportunities in the Union Territory.”
“Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Shri Kailakh Jyotish & Vedic Sansthan and many other organizations are making immense contributions to promote Vedic culture & traditions. I am confident Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams will develop a Ved Pathshala & Health Centre on priority,” he added.
The temple, built on 62 acres of land on a similar pattern to the famous Tirupati Balaji temple in the hill town Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh, is the sixth built by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) outside the southern state — the others being Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Kanyakumari, and Delhi.
It is also one of Jammu’s largest temples and is expected to boost religious and pilgrimage tourism in the union territory.
On Wednesday (June 7, 2023), Lord Venkateswara’s eight and six-foot idols were installed in the temple after the pran pratishtha pooja was done on May 6, 2023, by 45 priests and saints from Andhra Pradesh. The main sanctum of the temple houses an 8-foot-tall idol of Lord Venkateswara. Additionally, a 6-foot-tall statue has been erected outside the sanctum sanctorum. According to reports, these idols have been made from granite stone and brought from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
Image source: The Indian Express
Besides several pilgrimage facilities like amenities complex and kalyana mandapam (wedding stage), the project includes educational and developmental infrastructure like Veda pathshala (Vedic teaching classrooms), hostel building and staff quarters.
From the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum to a gold-plated tower, the temple is the replica of the original Tirupati Balaji temple in Tirumala, built following the Dravidian style of architecture. However, some works within the temple premises are still in progress.
Image source: The Indian Express
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthan Board built this temple. In June 2021, the temple’s foundation stone was laid. Following that, more than 50 artisans from Andhra Pradesh began constructing the grand temple. The temple of Lord Balaji, as well as lodging and parking for the board’s priests and officials, were built in the first phase.
In the second phase, a Ved Pathshala, spiritual centre, and other facilities will be erected.
The construction had begun in 2021 after the government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir approved the proposal to allot the required area of land to build a replica of the famous Tirupati temple near Jammu.
In April 2021, the Administrative Council (AC), which is headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, met and approved the proposal to allocate 496 kanals of land on lease for 40 years to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) for building a temple and allied infrastructure.
In February 2021, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir agreed to allocate land to TTD near the Jammu-Katra highway for constructing a temple of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. TTD will be constructing a temple along with a Vedic school and hospital in a minimum span of two years.
Besides Jammu and Kashmir, TTD has also planned to build the grand temples of Lord Venkateswara, on the lines of the famous Tirupathi temple, in the sacred city of Varanasi and Mumbai.
Construction of temples in Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, and Bhuvaneshwar is underway. The TTD has constructed Sri Venkateswara Swamy temples in Hyderabad, Kurukshetra, and Kanyakumari which are functional and attract impressive pilgrim populations.
Instagram is drawing criticism after a recent report revealed that its algorithms are actively pushing networks of paedophiles who commission and sell child sexual abuse content on Meta-owned popular image-sharing app.
In a joint investigation by the Wall Street Journal, Stanford University researchers and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it has been found that Instagram algorithms not only host but also promote a “vast paedophile network” that advertises illegal “child-sex material”.
“Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects paedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those who share niche interests,” the joint investigation by WSJ and the academic researchers found.
The report claimed to have found that Instagram allowed users to search for explicit hashtags such as #pedowhore and #preteensex, which led them to profiles that featured menus of content pertaining to child-sex material for sale. Such accounts frequently claim to be controlled by the children themselves and have explicitly sexual handles such as “little sl*t for you.”
Furthermore, it was found by the Stanford Internet Observatory that some accounts allowed buyers to “commission specific acts” such as children harming themselves, and performing sexual acts with animals etc. Such accounts also offered to arrange paid “meet-ups”.
In response to the findings of the investigative report, Meta has acknowledged the problem within its enforcement operations and stated that an internal task force has been set to address the issue.
“Child exploitation is a horrific crime. We’re continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behaviour,” Meta said.
Meta stated that in January alone, it removed 490,000 accounts that violated its child safety regulations and that it has removed 27 paedophile networks in the last two years. The company further stated that it has blocked thousands of hashtags connected with child sexualization and removed these terms from search results.
When researchers’ test accounts accessed a single account in the network, they were bombarded with “suggested for you” suggestions of alleged child-sex-content dealers and purchasers, as well as accounts referring to off-platform content trade sites. Following only a few of these recommendations was enough to overwhelm a test account with child-sexualizing content. Upon using child-sex-related hashtags, the researchers found 405 sellers of “self-generated” child sex material. The report further suggested that many such accounts were run by children as young as 12.
Compared to Instagram, the report found that other social media platforms are less tractable to such child abuse networks.
As per the WSJ, the Stanford investigators identified “128 accounts offering to sell child-sex-abuse material on Twitter, less than a third the number they found on Instagram” despite Twitter having significantly fewer users, and that such content “does not appear to proliferate” on TikTok. According to the investigation, Snapchat did not actively promote such networks since it is primarily used for direct messaging.
The report further noted that Instagram permitted users to search several terms that its algorithms were aware to have a connection with illicit material. On such search terms, a warning popped up which read, “These results may contain images of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse or viewing sexual imagery of children can lead to imprisonment and other severe personal consequences. This abuse causes extreme harm to children and searching and viewing such materials adds to that harm. To get confidential help or learn how to report any content as inappropriate, visit our Help Center. Get resources. See results anyway”. The “See results anyway” option, however, was removed later without any explanation regarding why it was offered at the first place.
A screenshot taken by the Stanford Internet Observatory Cyber Policy Center shows the warning and clickthrough option when searching for a pedophilia-related hashtag on Instagram.
Meanwhile, Twitter owner Elon Musk shared the said WSJ report on Twitter and termed it as “Extremely concerning”.
Notably, in January this year, Meta announced that it would offer end-to-end encryption on its platforms. However, the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) comprising 15 law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Interpol had criticised Meta’s decision in April stating that the company’s plans to expand end-to-end encryption on its platforms were “a purposeful design choice that degrades safety systems” adding that increasing end-to-end encryption would blindfold them to child sex abuse.
“The abuse will not stop just because companies decide to stop looking,” the VGT statement said.
Apart from promoting child abuse, Instagram has also been criticised for its other “biases” as OpIndia reported in December last year, that a comment saying that the “genocide of Hindus is not a crime” was not found in violation of Instagram’s Community Guidelines and no action was taken back then.
A unique case of Love JIhad has come to the fore from Aligarh region of Uttar Pradesh in which the accused identified as Javed trapped two Hindu sisters in a love affair and tried to convert them to Islam. The accused is also reported to have assaulted the sisters, one of whom is a minor.
According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened in the Aligarh Kotwali area where one of the victims, a married Hindu girl was working in a factory. She got introduced to Javed at her workplace who trapped her in a love affair and got her divorced from her husband.
The woman then began living with Javed. This happened around 6 years ago. As per the complaint filed by the girl’s mother, Javed then tried to force the woman to convert her religion to Islam. Upon refusal, he then trapped her minor sister and took her away with him.
He expressed his willingness to marry the minor girl and again attempted to convert her religion to Islam. However, the minor girl and her mother refused saying that she was a Hindu and would marry only a Hindu family. The minor was then physically attacked by the accused.
The incident came to the fore only after the mother of the victim girl filed a police complaint after the accused took the girl away with him. He also said that he was ready to leave the elder sister and would stay only with the minor one.
The mother of the victim girl remarked that Javed first kept her elder daughter with him and now he has taken the younger daughter and wants to convert her. “We refused this and said that we are Hindus, we will ensure our daughter gets married in a Hindu family only,” the mother said.
The accused is a resident of Bhujpura. Upon the complaint of the victim’s mother, the police recovered the girl after registering a missing complaint. The victim girl also said that she was assaulted and beaten by Javen for refusing to convert religion to Islam.
One of the local BJP leaders commented on the matter and confirmed that the entire case is of Love Jihad. “A poor girl working in a factory was coaxed and taken with him after divorcing her husband, when she did not agree to change her religion, he left her and her younger sister, whose age is only 14 to 15 years, he took her with him,” the leader was quoted as saying.
“She was assaulted, left behind because she refused to convert to Islam, the entire family suffered, her mother was ill and had to be hospitalised; BJP members assisted her, and the daughter was then able to safely return home”, he added.
The police has launched a manhunt to nab the accused.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said 50 per cent of the to-be-withdrawn Rs 2,000 notes came back to the system.
“Totally so far about Rs 180,000 crore of Rs 2000 notes have come back. This is roughly about 50 per cent of the Rs 2000 notes which were in circulation on March 31,” RBI Governor Das said at a post-monetary policy meeting press conference. About 85 per cent of those notes, on a provisional basis, have come back as deposits in bank accounts. he added.
“Good thing is that there has been no rush in any of the banks,” Das said, appealing to people not to rush to banks in panic.
He particularly urged people to avoid the last-minute rush at bank branches.
On May 19, RBI decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 denomination currency notes from circulation, but said it will continue to remain as legal tender. However, RBI has advised banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes with immediate effect.
People can exchange or deposit their Rs 2,000 notes in bank branches and regional branches of RBI. A non-account holder also can exchange Rs 2000 banknotes up to a limit of Rs 20,000 at a time at any bank branch.
September 30 has been decided as the last date for the purpose of completing the exercise in a time-bound manner and to provide adequate time to the public. RBI is likely to revisit the September deadline based on the situation going ahead.
The Rs 2000 denomination banknote was introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of RBI Act, 1934, primarily to meet the currency requirement of the economy in an expeditious manner after the withdrawal of the legal tender status of all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes in circulation at that time.
The objective of introducing Rs 2000 banknotes was met once banknotes in other denominations became available in adequate quantities. Therefore, the printing of Rs 2000 banknotes was stopped in 2018-19.
The total value of these banknotes in circulation had declined from Rs 6.73 lakh crore at its peak as on March 31, 2018 (37.3 per cent of Notes in Circulation) to Rs 3.62 lakh crore constituting only 10.8 per cent of Notes in Circulation on March 31, 2023. It was also observed that this denomination is not commonly used for transactions.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
From US President Joe Biden asking for his autograph at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, to the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape breaking protocol by welcoming him post sunset and touching his feet in an extraordinary act of reverence, to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling him “The Boss”, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established himself as the biggest leader of the democratic world and beyond.
No other world leader commands as much aura, awe and respect every single time he steps out to foreign shores as much as Prime Minister Modi. Mind you, he is at the fag end of his second term, i.e., at the ninth year of his being the prime minister of the largest democracy in the world. But somehow, his popularity seems to be soaring with each passing year. What must have now become a habit, PM Modi has consistently topped the popularity charts of the “most popular world leader” for many years now. This year, as per a survey released by a global decision intelligence firm called ‘Morning Consult’, PM Modi once again emerged as the most popular global leader with an approval rating of 78%, beating the likes of Joe Biden of the US, Rishi Sunak of the UK, Justin Trudeau of Canada, Fumio Kishida of Japan, Emmanuel Macron of France, Da Silva of Brazil, and many more.
What started from an enthralling speech at a packed Madison Square Garden in New York in September 2014, Prime Minister Modi re-established his rockstar credentials at the other end of the Pacific in a packed Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney a few days ago. No wonder he has garnered the envy of many, as prominent Australian politician and leader of the opposition Peter Dutton remarked that his country’s politicians are “jealous” of PM Modi, referring to the kind of reception the latter received in a foreign nation.
Perhaps what Mr Dutton wanted to say was that he had never seen or even imagined that a politician could be so revered and celebrated that even a rockstar like Bruce Springsteen would pale in comparison. Given the fact that we are in the twenty-first century and in the age of social media and deeply divided societies across the world in terms of partisan politics, PM Modi’s unwavering popularity has perplexed many. Even so much that it has become the subject of case studies across academic discourses.
So, what explains PM Modi’s sky-rocketing global popularity, even though he has been the Prime Minister of India for nine years and has spent an even bigger time period in public office as the former chief minister of the state of Gujarat?
Ever since he came to power, PM Modi has been the beacon of hope for a new class of aspiring Indians both in India and across the globe. He has single-handedly given rise to a new sense of national consciousness among the hard-working Indians who have already made a name for themselves in the countries they have been living in in the capacity of doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, businessmen, etc.
PM Modi has instilled in them a sense of pride and belonging to their motherland which although not lost, was longing for purpose. Every time PM Modi has stepped out of the country and has spoken to the Indian diaspora be it in the US, Germany, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, and now Australia, he has sought to highlight the positives of India and showcase to the world how the country under his government is shining and marching ahead in various sectors. Be it Covid management, budding startup culture, strong diplomacy, heavy infra push, beneficiary schemes like building toilets and houses for the women, the poor and the marginalized, or even something elitist like the Padma Awards becoming the “People’s Awards”, PM Modi speaks about them all. No wonder Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) or even students listening to the Prime Minister of their motherland addressing them on foreign shores about the possibilities and opportunities that await them back home fills them with pride and excitement.
PM Modi’s vision of Digital India, often mocked and ridiculed by opposition parties, has become the largest digital transformation story in the world powering India towards the path of an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. As per a report by Ernst and Young, the number of digital transactions in India increased from 300 crores in November 2019 to 1052 crores in January 2023. With every foreign visit done by PM Modi, he has showcased “Brand India’ with our unique culture and attracted huge foreign investments. His “Make in India” has attracted foreign investments to the tune of US $ 83.6 billion in 2021-22, recorded as the highest ever. As per reports, in a Modi vs Manmohan (Singh as PM) comparison, India has seen FDI inflows rise by 39.3% since Modi came to power. India has also been consistently improving its rankings each year in the “Ease of Doing Business” Index and has also entered the top ten in the “Business Environment Rankings” for the 2023-27 period.
Every Indian wants to connect and contribute to the India story and make India a Vishwaguru led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While on the one hand, there are political princelings who deride India at every chance they get on foreign shores, on the other hand, there is a leader who has risen from humble beginnings and who is leading India towards the path of a developed nation. No wonder the popularity charts continue to soar.
(Amlan Dutta is a Junior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Dharmendra Chhonkar is a Political Analyst.)
On Wednesday, 7th June 2023, a shocking incident took place in Lucknow wherein a Muslim youth named Shahid barged into a house in the Indira Nagar area of the city to rape a minor girl. Shahid subsequently killed the 14-year-old girl. A case has been registered in this regard and the police arrested the accused Shahid late in the night.
According to a complaint filed by the victim girl’s father, the accused Shahid entered the house of the victim in the Takrohi area which comes under the Indira Nagar police station at around 1 pm on Wednesday. Shahid raped the 14-year-old minor girl who was alone at that time in the house. After committing the rape, Shahid hit the girl’s head with a hammer to kill her. Shahid then hung the dead body of the minor girl to the ceiling of the house. She was a class 10 student.
The girl’s family said that the accused was harassing their daughter for several days. She was alone at home. In the meantime, he barged into the house and raped the teenager and then killed her with a hammer. The girl’s mother said that when she returned from work in the afternoon, the accused was seen running away from her house.
She also tried to catch him but failed. When she went inside the house, the body of the daughter was found hanging. She alleged that the accused hanged the daughter’s body to make the murder appear like a suicide.
As the victim’s father informed the police, the police visited the spot and recovered the dead body of the victim. It was sent for the post-mortem. The father of the victim accused Shahid of rape and murder and lodged a complaint against him. The police registered a case of rape and murder based on this complaint and launched a search operation for the absconding accused Shahid who was apprehended late in the night.
Reportedly, Shahid has denied the allegations. He told the police that he was with the girl at her house when her family members arrived and caught them in a compromising position. He claimed that he ran away after that, and does not what happened after that. Based on the complaint of the victim’s family, the police are treating it as a murder case.
DCP North Lucknow Kasim Abdi said, “An FIR of rape and murder has been registered on the complaint of the girl’s family. The exact cause of death will be known after the post-mortem report comes. Late at night, the police took the accused teenager into custody. The accused says that the deceased girl has hanged herself.”
This incident in the Takrohi area of Lucknow has sparked significant unrest. The local community is gripped by fear and anxiety following the tragic incident involving the rape and brutal murder of this minor girl in her own home.
Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv, Sanjiv Bajaj has said that the company will soon give people an option to opt out of its spam calls, but those who choose to do so should not approach the company again for its services.
“You will see in three months’ time on our website and our web app, an option, you click it, and we will never bother you again. You have the right to be forgotten by us. But then make sure you never come back to us for our products and solutions,” he informed at an event.
“Because for the few thousand who do get bothered and I can understand that because they get so many calls and unfortunately a lot of those calls are not us. But if you ask me, ‘Can you tell me 100% sure’ I also can’t because there are so many numbers that they come from. But we want to give people the right to be forgotten by us as well,” he added.
Opt out of #BajajFinance telemarketing calls, but don’t come back to us for loans, says Sanjiv Bajaj.
However, the announcement didn’t go down well with the netizens who registered their displeasure on Twitter. One person remarked that he has never asked the company for a loan and never use Bajaj’s services again if they just stopped calling.
Sure, I’ll never ask & have never asked for loans from #BajajFinserv, but please for godsake- STOP those tele marketing calls -8 am in the morning, 10:30 PM in night & any other time in the day!! ?? Damn irritating when you are in an urgent meeting or having food & call comes! https://t.co/Ncqn8yTqp3
Swathi Bellam stated that the company is giving loans and not alms to the people. She further continued that people don’t have to show “gratitude to your company for the pestering calls offering loans.”
@sanjivrbajaj you are giving loans to people and that is your business and you survive by giving us loans You are not giving ALMS So cut this crap as if people should be paying gratitude to your company and taking all those pestering calls 10 times daily offering loans…
Malini wondered why people had to wait for three months to stop getting calls from Bajaj Finance, and why the company wasn’t being penalized for its spam calls.
First, why should anyone register their number with Bajaj Finance to avoid their marketing calls? Is the govt’s DND registry not enough? If an individual does not want to be troubled by call centre calls the person will be penalised by Bajaj Finance? Is that what he is saying? https://t.co/aLxC2WkWvy
Sanjiv Bajaj: "We will harass with you phone calls with no care for your time or privacy but if you complain, we will blacklist you, deny loans at your time of need & exact our revenge".
Same entitlement as Rahul Gandhi, if you don't make vote me, I will set the nation on fire.… https://t.co/4Sjk8CDaGC
Sanjiv Bajaj acknowledged that the present system might be problematic at times but emphasised the significance of outreach.”We issue 3 million loans a month and we get 1,500 complaints a quarter. No doubt, we have 1,500 people we have to solve for, to understand why they are getting bombarded, without 3 million people losing out on the opportunity to be financially included”, he said.
According to him, the lender presently receives 15% of its business as a result of telemarketing calls. This is a considerable sum, especially given that Bajaj Finance offers several small-ticket loans.
Loans marketed via phone calls are anticipated to account for less than 10% of Bajaj Finance’s total revenue. The company eventually hopes to reach a point where it will stop calling consumers to inquire about loans.
Bollywood and controversy have been synonyms for many years. Now, Anil Sharma’s magnum opus, Gadar 2: The Katha Continues, the sequel of the iconic cult classic “Gadar”, starring Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel is embroiled in a fresh controversy.
On June 7, Wednesday, a video of a romantic scene from the movie leaked online in which the two actors can be seen gazing at each other while standing arm in arm in a Gurdwara at Chandigarh while the dhol is playing in the background. Some youths dressed as Nihang Sikhs are also seen performing the traditional Gatka (Sikh martial art).
As the clip went viral on the internet, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) slammed the filmmakers and Sunny Deol for filming a romantic scene inside a religious place. They have also objected to the use of the traditional Gatka in the video.
“A video is going viral in which the Hindi film actor and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sunny Deol is there. It is being told that the footage is from Gadar 2 and they have used Gurdwara as a venue for shooting the love sequence which cannot be filmed inside a Gurdwara. Flowers are being showered and Singhs are doing Gatka around them,” SGPC general secretary Gurcharan Singh Grewal protested in a video released by the organisation and tagged both the actor and BJP’s Twitter handle.
“The film’s director and Sunny Deol should understand that Gurdwara is not a place to shoot movies. Gurdwara is a place of reverence and boundaries. We strongly object to the scene and the gatka performed by the Singhs. The Sikh community feels humiliated by such depictions. Sunny Deol has to be held directly responsible for this,” he added.
— Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (@SGPCAmritsar) June 7, 2023
According to reports, the scene which is has been slammed by the SGPC is the scene of the climax of the film, in which Sunny Deol meets the film’s lead Ameesha Patel inside the gurudwara after returning from Pakistan.
Gadar 2 director issues apology
After SGPC’s disapproval, the movie’s director Anil Sharma released a clarification on the issue and “sincerely” apologised for hurting or offending anyone unintentionally. “The shooting in Chandigarh gurdwara has led to a little confusion in the hearts of some friends. I have been taught ‘All religions are true, all religions are equal,’ and this is the mantra of Gadar 2’s unit,” he wrote on Twitter. However, Sunny Deol is yet to offer a statement on the matter.
#Gadar2 ki Chandigarah gurudwara sahab mein hui shoot ko lekar kuch galatafahami kuch mitro ke man mein hui ..usko lekar mera spashtikaran prastut hai .. “sab dharm sambhav , sab dharm sadbhav” yahi siksha payi hai maine aur yahi hai hamari gadar2 ki unit ka mantra pic.twitter.com/X13d5gqrmi
Gadar 2 is a highly anticipated sequel to the 2001 blockbuster Gadar which was also directed by Anil Sharma and featured Sunny Deol as Tara Singh and Ameesha Patel as Sakeena Ali. It is expected to release in August but the filmmakers have not yet announced a release date.
