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‘Love Jihad’ case in Greece: Pakistani asylum seeker says he killed 17-year-old Nicoletta because she ‘spoke badly of the Quran’, asked him to become Christian

OpIndia Staff
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‘Love Jihad’ case in Greece: Pakistani asylum seeker says he killed 17-year-old Nicoletta because she ‘spoke badly of the Quran’, asked him to become Christian

The Greek Police who arrested an illegal Pakistani immigrant named Ahsan for murdering a 17-year-old girl in Peristeri revealed on Tuesday that the accused possessed four different identity documents with different names and age. The names on the four different identities appeared unique as they had variations in both his own and his parents’ names.

The first identity he possessed showed his name as Munasif Ashan born on the year July 23, 2001. The remaining three identity cards were in the name of Hasan Hasan, Shamin Akhtar, and Munasif Ashan with a different date of birth mentioned. The Police earlier said that the accused was 30 years old, but considering the 4 identity cards recently recovered, the officials stated that the age of the accused may be around 22 but is yet to be confirmed. The Police also revealed that he had his asylum application rejected.

According to the reports, the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum confirmed that the accused had filed an asylum request once, last July, which was rejected within 15 days, while he then filed a late appeal. Last week, the Pakistani accused, earlier identified as ‘Sunni’ had killed his 17-year-old girlfriend over an argument in Peristeri, Athens. He was hosted at the house of the victim who was staying with her mother and her sister. The teenage minor girl’s affair with the 30-year-old Pakistani man was reportedly objected to by her mother.

However, Nicoletta’s father while talking to the media had said that the duo was in a relationship for the past 10 months. The lawyer of the 17-year-old stated on August 8 that the accused was an illegal immigrant and was involved in illegal activities like cigarette smuggling. The lawyer also confirmed that his brother had testified before the authorities that Ahsan aka Sunni was a criminal.

“His abusive behavior against the 17-year-old is proven even before the act of intentional homicide, with evidence of violence against her. But this man had nothing to kill for, he had no inhibitions. This bipedal anthropomorphic monster had no moral inhibitions to stop him from doing evil. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old fell into his hands without knowing and without being able to resist. She fought for 7-8 minutes for her life but finally, she couldn’t be saved,” he added.

He also said that the relationship of the duo was opposed by the victim’s family considering his degraded behavior towards the 17-year-old girl. According to the reports, the accused had planned the murder as the incident happened last week when the parents of the victim were away from the house. He executed the murder and packed his clothes and left for Kilkis. “All this planning shows that the crime was premeditated”, the lawyer affirmed.

‘The accused operated coldly, deliberately, and showed no signs of dejection or remorse after committing the crime’

The forensic examination revealed that Nicoletta died from suffocation as the culprit covered her nose and lips. The victim’s death by suffocation took four to five minutes, and it seemed that she struggled a lot to survive. According to judicial officials, the accused operated coldly, deliberately, and systematically. His post-act behaviour showed no signs of anger, dejection, or remorse for the horrible murder of the young girl, as per reports.

The Police stated that the accused wasted no time in hurrying to vanish and make an attempt to depart Greece as soon as possible on the afternoon of the murder. During the investigation the accused also confirmed to the Police that he killed the girl after an argument. The accused was arrested along the border with North Macedonia while he was trying to reach Central Europe with illegal immigrants.

greek journalist Paul Antonopoulos shared that the Greek authorities had listed the accused Pakistani man for deportation in 2021, but they released him from the migrant camp during a ‘decongestion’ drive.

Reports mention that the accused had fled from the spot with his phone and with the victim’s phone. The police had issued an international warrant in the case and tracked the accused’s phone to arrest him along the border with North Macedonia.

Victim’s mother objected to the relationship, she wanted to break up

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother elaborating on the case stated that she had opposed Nicolleta’s relationship with the accused. The 17-year-old’s mother pointed out that the victim girl was receiving threats from the accused and revealed that a few days ago she asked to break up with him, thus giving a potential reason why he allegedly killed her. “They weren’t fighting. She was fine, but lately, she wanted to break up. She didn’t want it anymore. He killed my child and took my soul. I only ask for justice”, she quoted.

The Police officers during the investigation retrieved the data from the victim’s mobile phone to confirm that the girl had received threat messages from the accused. These communications, according to the investigation, were exchanged a few days before her death and after the girl informed the Pakistani man that she wanted to end her relationship with him.

The father of 17-year-old Nicoletta, who was discovered dead in her home in the Peristeri neighborhood of western Athens, is requesting the death sentence as fitting retribution for the killer of his daughter, who is thought to be a 22-year-old Pakistani. Her younger sister, who was the first to discover her dead, is distraught and unable to accept the fact that she would never see her again.

‘Accused says he killed her because she spoke badly of Quran’

Greek City Times reported on Wednesday, August 10 that the accused Pakistani man has revealed that he had wanted to get married to Nicoletta and had plans to have the wedding in Italy. As per the report, the accused has stated that he was asking Nicoletta to help him with his asylum application and she refused. Nicoletta reportedly asked him to become a Christian and ‘spoke badly of the Quran’.

The lawyer of Nicoletta’s family has stated that the murder was planned because the Pakistani man entered the house when nobody else was there and immediately after the murder, he did not waste a single minute contacting other Pakistanis and trying to get out of the country.

Nitish Kumar resigns from Bihar CM post as BJP-JDU alliance breaks in the state, JDU-RJD alliance set to return to form the government

OpIndia Staff
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Nitish Kumar resigns from Bihar CM post as BJP-JDU alliance breaks in the state, JDU-RJD alliance set to return to form the government

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned from his post as Bihar Chief Minister as the BJP-JDU alliance has once again fallen apart in the state. After days of speculations, Nitish Kumar resigned after meeting Governor Phagu Chouhan today afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar made the announcement of breaking the alliance with the BJP in front of JDU MLAs and MPs who had gathered in Patna for a meeting on this issue.

This is not the first time that JDU has broken its alliance with the BJP. The party walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2013 in protest against the announcement of Narendra Modi as the PM candidate. However, after a brief affair with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nitish Kumar re-entered an alliance with BJP in 2017.

As per sources, during the JDU meeting, all its MPs and MLAs supported Nitish Kumar’s decision to break the alliance and said that they will continue to support him in the future as well.

The relationship between BJP and JDU has been strained since the last Bihar elections, but the tensions had been rising in recent days and the breaking point may have been former union minister RCP Singh’s resignation from JDU last weekend, calling it a sinking ship. JDU had called it BJP’s attempt to split the party through RCP Singh.

Nitish Kumar is expected to partner with Rashtriya Janata Dal once again now, in a formula that is likely to see Nitish retain the CM’s chair while Tejaswi Yadav becomes deputy CM. Congress is also likely to be a part of this government, while communist parties have already extended their support to JDU-RJD alliance.

Congress back to hating Gujaratis, social media in-charge of Mahila Congress says they are only good enough to loot banks, not to win medals

OpIndia Staff
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Congress back to hating Gujaratis, social media in-charge of Mahila Congress says they are only good enough to loot banks, not to win medals

While the country is busy celebrating the stupendous performance of its athletes at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Congress couldn’t stop itself from using the occasion to once again target Gujarat and Gujaratis. Social media in-charge of Mahila Congress, Nattasha Sharrma, used this opportunity to say Gujaratis are only good for looting banks, and not to win medals.

As the Indian contingent returned from Birmingham after a highly successful games, Nattasha Sharrma took to her Twitter account and taunted Gujaratis by saying, “Has anyone from “Gujarat” also returned with a Gold Medal from the games? Or are they gold medallists only in looting banks and running away?”

Screenshot of Nattasha Sharma’s tweet

So proud of her mockery of Gujaratis was Sharrma, that she chose to retweet her own tweet after a while, to ensure more people can appreciate her “wit”.

Following her tweet, many social media users noted how this is not a new phenomenon and Congress always looks to insult Gujarat and Gujaratis.

One social media user Darshan Pathak tweeted, “No wonder Gujaratis have kept @INCIndia out of power since 1995.”

With Gujarat elections barely 5 months away, some users wondered if Congress is even planning to fight the elections there with their constant targeting of Gujaratis.

Few Congress supporters also couldn’t believe that such people are running the social media for their party.

Some helpful users even tried to educate Sharma that Gujaratis have returned from the games with medals as well, including Bhavina Patel who won a Gold in her Table Tennis event. However, Sharrma doubled down on her Gujarati hate even after that by retweeting her own tweet to share it again.

This is not the first time that Congress has needlessly tried to insult Gujarat and Gujaratis. Maybe they can’t tolerate that the state hasn’t voted Congress back to power in nearly 3 decades, or maybe because the state produced Narendra Modi who decimated Congress at the national level. Whatever may be the reason, this propaganda against Gujarat stems from the very top, and Nattasha Sharrma is not the first Congress leader to target the state.

MP: Mirchi Baba who performed yagna for the victory of Digvijaya Singh arrested on rape charges; the victim had approached him for a child

OpIndia Staff
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MP: Mirchi Baba who performed yagna for the victory of Digvijaya Singh arrested on rape charges; the victim had approached him for a child

Mahamandaleshwar Niranjani Akhada and Spiritual Guru Vairagyanand Giri Maharaj, a self-styled seer popularly known as Mirchi Baba, was arrested on Tuesday from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on rape charges. 

According to the reports, Mirchi Baba was arrested from a hotel in the city in a joint action by the Bhopal Police and Gwalior Crime Branch, and handed over to the Bhopal Police, said Amit Sanghi, the Gwalior superintendent of police. 

Mirchi Baba was arrested after a middle-aged woman from Raisen filed a complaint to the Mahila Police station accusing him of raping her on the pretext of conceiving a child. 

Reportedly, the woman had approached the seer with the grievance that despite four years of marriage, she was still bereft of a child. In July this year, she visited the Baba to seek his blessings to have a child. When she confided about her grief to the seer, he asked her to come to him to offer havan and prayers for begetting a child. Under the pretext of prayers for conceiving a child, he reportedly drugged her and raped her, the complaint said.

The police have registered the case under section 376 of IPC.

It is worth noting that Vairagyanand Giri alias Mirchi Baba came into the limelight during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he performed a havan of five quintals of red chillies for the victory of Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh. Mirchi Baba had then vowed to take samadhi if Digvijaya Singh loses the elections. However, BJP candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur emerged victorious in the polls. When people reminded him of his vow to take samadhi, he quietly retired from public life.

AAP MLA claims wrestler Divya Kakran never represented Delhi, she shows certificate

OpIndia Staff
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AAP MLA claims wrestler Divya Kakran never represented Delhi, she shows certificate

Recently, Indian wrestler Divya Kakran stirred a controversy by saying that she did not get any support from Delhi Government despite promises. As Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) Delhi Government started to get criticism over the allegations, its MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj tried to claim that Kakran never represented Delhi. In reply to the August 9 tweet of Bharadwaj, Kakran produced certificates to prove she had represented Delhi between 2011 and 2017.

In a tweet, Kakran wrote, “I represented Delhi from 2011 to 2017. This is my certificate from Delhi State. If you still do not believe me, I can upload 17 Gold medal-related certificates as well.” It is noteworthy that she has won over 60 medals including 17 Gold medals in Delhi State Championship.

Divya Kakran had thanked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his wishes on winning a medal at Commonwealth Games 2022 and reminded him that despite the promises made by the Delhi Government, she did not receive any help from the state. Kakran had earlier blamed Delhi Government in 2018 for the same.

Quoting Kakran, Bharadwaj added screenshots of news reports that pointed to Divya Kakran representing her home state Uttar Pradesh. He wrote on August 7, “The whole country is proud of you sister. But I do not remember that you play for Delhi. You have always been playing for Uttar Pradesh. But the player is of the country. You do not expect respect from Yogi Adityanath Ji. I think the Chief Minister of Delhi will listen to you.

He added, “Maybe I am the wrong sister but when I searched, I found that you have always been playing for Uttar Pradesh, not from Delhi State. Today the whole country is proud of you. I pray to God that you go ahead.” It is unclear why Bharadwaj did not approach the sports department of the Delhi Government to check if Divya played for Delhi and used media reports.

Retaliating to her statement, the AAP government had said,” The Delhi government respects all sportspersons of the country and prays for their bright future. Currently, Divya Kakran plays for Uttar Pradesh. If she had played from Delhi or she had been part of any sports scheme of the government or she has applied in any such scheme then the government will surely look into it.”

Jumping to back Delhi Government’s attempts to get away from supporting Divya, filmmaker Vinod Kapri decided to add his own two cents. He said, “You must get respect Divya Kakran. In this regard, you should also write to the Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath immediately because you are a real resident of UP and you play from UP. Also, you work in railways.”

On 7th August 2022, Divya Kakran, the wrestler who won a bronze medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022, shared on Twitter how she hasn’t been given any prize money to date by the Delhi government. She shared this in response to the congratulatory tweet from Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Divya Kakran tweeted, “Heartfelt thanks to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi for congratulating me on the medal. I have a request for you that I have been living in Delhi for the last 20 years and have been practising my sports wrestling, but so far I have not been given any kind of reward money from the state government nor any help has been given to me.”

‘Not the job of court’: SC on a plea seeking minority status for Hindus in some states

OpIndia Staff
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‘Not the job of court’: SC on a plea seeking minority status for Hindus in some states

The Supreme Court on Monday said that it was not the Court’s job to declare Hindus as a minority in a state where they are fewer in number compared to other communities. The Court stated that the process of determining minority status is outside the purview of the law since it depends on several factual variables and data.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Devkinandan Thakur, who was contesting a section of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, and asking the Centre to define ‘minority’ and layout standards for identifying minorities at the district level.

“It is not the job of the court to declare minorities. This has to be on a case-by-case basis. There cannot be a general declaration to declare Hindus as a minority unless you show us something concrete about denial of rights”, the bench led by Justices Uday U Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat said on August 8.

The petition filed by Thakur in June alleged that the rights of Hindus under Articles 29-30 are being unjustly siphoned off to the state’s majority population since the Centre has not notified them as a ‘minority’ under the NCM Act, 1992. The petition challenged Section 2(C) of the Act, which designated Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikhs, and Jains to be national minorities, and asked for guidance on district-by-district designation of minorities and state-by-state status.

“Cause of action continues till date because followers of Judaism, Bahaism, and Hinduism; who are real minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, cannot establish and administer educational institutions of their choice because of non-identification of the minority at the state level, thus jeopardizing their basic rights guaranteed under Article 29-30”, the plea read.

On Monday, the bench informed Advocate Upadhyay appearing for Thakur that the Supreme Court has issued decisions since 1957 establishing that religious and linguistic minorities must be granted minority status by the state. According to the reports, the Supreme Court ruled in 1957 that the minority must be assessed in relation to the entire population of the state. “Why should we say or clarify anything now? The problem is that you want to make out a case when there is none”, the Court told Upadhyay.

“If you give us examples where Hindus are in minority and some directions are required, we may perhaps look at that. But you are asking for a general direction to declare Hindus as a minority in some states. Why should we do that? We cannot declare any community as a minority because we don’t have the statistics of different states or other facts”, the Court added.

Regarding an appeal in the PIL on the declaration of minority status on a district level, the bench made it clear that such a plea is not proper. “If the Supreme Court has said it had to be state-wise, why should we interfere?”, the bench said to Upadhyay. It may be noted that in the case of TMA Pai and others vs State of Karnataka (2002), the Supreme Court held that minorities must be identified at the state level.

Meanwhile, Upadhyay asked the Supreme Court’s bench to associate Thakur’s PIL with another issue that was already pending before a separate bench. In that situation, Upadhyay is the one filing the petition. As Upadhyay submitted that the matter before the other bench is expected to come up on August 30, the bench listed Thakur’s plea in the first week of September along with the other PIL.

Upadhyay’s plea is still pending before the judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul-led panel. In that argument, Upadhyay contends that Section 2(f) of the NCMEI Act is invalid because it grants the Center unrestricted authority to limit minority benefits to the six registered religious communities.

According to the report, there are just 1% of Hindus in Ladakh, 2.5% in Mizoram, 2.7% in Lakshadweep, 4% in Jammu and Kashmir, 8.74% in Nagaland, 11.52% in Meghalaya, 29% in Arunachal Pradesh, 38.49% in Punjab, and 41.29% in Manipur. In his appeal, Upadhyay also questioned why the National Minorities Commission and the Minority Education Commission were established, claiming that the Center did so to divide and dominate.

In a decision stated by the Court in May, Justice Kaul’s bench gave the Centre time till August 30 to engage with the stakeholders and submit a report on whether Hindus may be granted minority status based on their numbers within a state. The court judgment came on the heels of the Union government’s announcement on May 10 that it will launch a wide consultation with states and other stakeholders to determine whether Hindus may be accorded minority status in states where their numbers are lower than those of other groups.

The government requested more time for consideration while abandoning its prior position in March when it sought dismissal of Upadhyay’s writ suit and upheld the NCM Act, 1992 and the NCM Educational Institutions (NCMEI) Act, 2004. In its first affidavit, filed in March, the central government placed the onus on states and Union territories (UTs) to decide whether or not to grant minority status to Hindus in areas where they are numerically smaller, adding that both the Centre and states have the legislative authority to enact laws protecting minorities.

However, in withdrawing its previous affidavit in May, the government acknowledged that the issue posed in the petition has far-reaching implications throughout the nation and that, as a result, any position taken without detailed deliberation with stakeholders may result in an unforeseen complication for the country. The May affidavit stated that, while the central government has the authority to notify minorities, the Centre’s position on the concerns raised in the batch of petitions on the issue will be finalized after extensive consultation with state governments and other stakeholders.

Whoever is the king, it is Bihar that is at the loss. Whether Nitish Kumar stays with NDA or sides with ‘jungleraj’, he will remain burden for Bihar

अजीत झा
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Whoever is the king, it is Bihar that is at the loss. Whether Nitish Kumar stays with NDA or sides with ‘jungleraj’, he will remain burden for Bihar

Many are predicting huge changes in Bihar political landscape. Media reports are suggesting that the JDU again wants an out from the NDA alliance. There are also reports which suggest that Nitish Kumar met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to discuss formation of new alliance and government. There are also rumours of Nitish Kumar being in talks with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and other left parties. Amidst all this, the BJP leaders have maintained a stoic silence. When some rivers are flooded some parts of Bihar while other remains dry, literally and figuratively, question is what will an average citizen gain out of it?

Goswami Tulsidas ji wrote,

करि कुरूप बिधि परबस कीन्हा। बवा सो लुनिअ लहिअ जो दीन्हा॥
कोउ नृप होउ हमहि का हानी। चेरि छाड़ि अब होब कि रानी॥

It can be roughly translated into the creator has created me ugly, why should anyone else be blamed. I reap what I sow, take what comes my way. Whoever is the king, what is my fault, will I become the queen instead of a mere servant?

During the coronation of Lord Ram as king, when Kaikeyi did not fall into trap of Manthra, she described her situation and said that whether the king is Ram or Bharat, it does not matter to her, she would always remain a servant. But it seems Bihar is so cursed that whoever becomes the king, the public will continue to suffer the most.

Usually when there are elections, people elect the party or the leader whom they understand. But for Bihar, the situation is different. Here, the people don’t vote for betterment. They elect those to power who they think are the lesser evil. It is like the popular advertising tagline, ‘how is my shirt more white than yours’, but in the end they all know all shirts are stained.

In such situation of choosing lesser of the two evils, the people of Bihar chose the NDA alliance. It was not that the people were happy with the Nitish Kumar led NDA government in the state. In fact, there has been huge dissatisfaction amongst people in Bihar regarding the Nitish led government, especially JDU leaders. Despite that people chose the NDA because on the other side were those who are synonymous with ‘jungleraj’. To escape this ‘jungleraj’ only did Biharis gave a chance to Nitish Kumar in 2005 and then again in 2010.

After these two elections, it seemed like Bihar will get back on track. Those universities which used to take 5-6 years to confer degrees started giving them in three years’ time. Schools and hospitals were being set up, electricity was reaching villages. Roads were constructed. Those ‘bahubalis’ from whom even the police was afraid of, were now behind bars. Their cases were being heard in fasttrack courts. The kidnapping industry had kind of ceased to exist. In short, Bihar had reached a stage where it can start dreaming of development. Do keep in mind what I stated above were steps to cover the pits dug in Bihar during the jungelraj.

In such a scenario, in 2013, for his own political ambitions, Nitish Kumar cut ties with NDA alliance. This was a major setback to the dreams Bihar had just started dreaming. Whatever that was gained between 2005 to 2013 was started to go away. In 2015, Nitish joined hands with Lalu Yadav for election, the same Lalu who had become synonymous with jungleraj in Bihar. They won the elections and the downfall of Bihar’s development gained pace.

Suddenly the ‘bahubalis’ and goondas were back flexing power. Development had taken a pause. Education, health, law and order again started going backward. In 2017, Nitish returned to NDA fold and formed government again with the BJP. While he formed government again with the BJP, the situation didn’t quite change. In past five years, Bihar not been able to reach that state where it had reached in 2013 after starting the journey in 2005. Hence, in 2020 Vidhan Sabha elections, everyone in Bihar was upset with Nitish Kumar. So much that in desperation he said that this would be his last ever election.

But in current situation, it was still a little relief that Nitish Kumar was away from the clouds of jungleraj. Data shows there is a steady increase in crime rate. In recent times when violence broke out against the central government’s Agnipath scheme, many houses of BJP leaders were also targeted. Despite that, the situation was not that bad that one goonda from Siwan would pour acid over sons of Chanda Babu and kill them.

If Nitish again changes sides, Shahbuddin will rise again. Many Chanda Babus will lose their sons when they are drenched in acid. Anyway since many years, Nitish Kumar has been a burden on Bihar the way Lalu and Rabri were for over a decade prior to him.

UP: Video of Islamists waving Tiranga defaced with Islamic symbols during Moharram procession goes viral; complaint filed

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Video of Islamists waving Tiranga defaced with Islamic symbols during Moharram procession goes viral; complaint filed

A video from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh has gone viral on social media platforms in which Islamists can be seen holding a large defaced Tiranga where Ashok Chakra has been replaced with Islamic symbols at the Muharram procession. Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have filed a complaint in the matter with Kanpur Police.

In the 33-second video that is going viral on the internet, some Muslim youth hold the Tricolour, defaced with Islamic symbols. The Ashok Chakra is missing from the centre of the flag, and Islamic symbols are emblazoned on it.

In a statement, BP Jogdand, Kanpur Police Commissioner said, “We have received a complaint from VHP regarding disrespect of the national flag. The probe is underway and the culprits will be punished as per the law.”

This is not the first time Islamists have defaced Tiranga. On June 10, during a protest over controversial remarks by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammed during a debate, flags with Islamic verses were used.

The incident took place outside the Masjid-e-Rahmath mosque in Mahbubnagar, where hundreds of Islamists had gathered to stage a protest against the comments made on Prophet Muhammad. The crowd reportedly shouted slogans against Nupur Sharma and the BJP and submitted a memorandum to the Collector demanding strict action against the former BJP spokesperson.

However, the uproar saw disrespect being meted out on the Indian tricolour as the Islamists defaced it and replaced the Ashok Chakra with a Kalma.

Modi govt has completed yet another successful telecom spectrum auction and Congress is using it to wash its own 2G scam sins

S. Sudhir Kumar
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Modi govt has completed yet another successful telecom spectrum auction and Congress is using it to wash its own 2G scam sins

The Modi government has completed yet another successful telecom spectrum auction. Through the auction, the government will be getting a whopping INR 1,50,713/- crores. This immediately prompted our opposition leaders and sections of English media to justify Sonia Gandhi’s government action in the 2008 Spectrum allotment. They claimed that the then CAG flagged at a loss of INR 1,76,000/- crores in 2008 for 2G, but even in 2022 and that too for 5G, the actual spectrum auction fetched only INR 1,50,713 crores! 

First, let us quickly analyse the spectrum auction over the years. When a spectrum auction is announced, the government invites companies to bid in different frequency bands (units in MegaHertz or GigaHertz). For example, here is a snippet of the notice issued for the latest auction:

Notice inviting applications

We can equate a Frequency Band to a road highway. Companies bid for different lanes on that highway – some buy all lanes; some buy few lanes. You cannot buy the entire highway, nor can you buy one lane for the entire country in one go. India is divided into 22 Telecom circles – companies have to bid for slots allocation in different bands in each one of these circles. 

The government will decide what frequency bands to put up for auction. It is not necessary that everything that has been put up for auction is sold, quite naturally. The cost of bidding is very high because the resource available is scarce. With this background, let’s begin analysing the table below. This table has multiple columns, which we will discuss further. 

Spectrum auction over the years

The first big auction happened in the year 2010, after a massive uproar in the country over the illegal 2008 allotments. Two types of spectrum were put up for auction and a whopping INR 1,06,261/- crores were earned by the government of India. Only one band was put up for auction and 7 companies bid for various slots in that band only. 

You would have by now seen the very low amounts in the 2012 and 2013 auctions. This was because of a lot of issues between the companies and the then UPA government. You can also see in the table that 3 different bands remained unsold in these auctions. Even with such a poor performance, no one accused the UPA of a scam in these auctions, simply because unsold bands don’t indicate a scam! 

The 2014 auction for 2G spectrum only and the government earned good money from that auction – INR 61,162 crores! This auction was necessitated because the spectrum licenses that companies first got in the year 1994 were expiring. So, from auctions during the UPA time, a total of INR 1,80,469 crores was earned by the government of India! 

The first auction in the NDA government happened in 2015, and a new frequency band, 2100 MHz, was also put up for auction for the first time. This was yet another successful auction, with GoI earning INR 1,09,874 crores from the auction. For the 2016 auctions, we can also see that the government approved the auction of many more bands. This is very natural because now your existing highways don’t have enough lanes, so you open up new highways and lanes for auction! If all the frequency bands that were put up for auction were sold, the expected revenue was nearly 4.5 lakh crores! The bulk of this revenue was expected just from the 700MHz band (nearly 3.5 to 4 lakh crores!). 

You can see in the table that the 700MHz band went unsold both in the 2016 and 2021 auctions – quite obviously because of the very high reserve price for this band. The 2021 auction also saw no bids for a new band, 2500MHz. And you can also see that the GoI was able to earn INR 77,814 crores, making this yet another successful auction! 

The recently concluded 5G Spectrum auction was by far the highest amount that the GOI could earn – a whopping 1,50,713 crores! You can also see that some slots in the 700MHz were sold this time (Reliance bought it for nearly 40,000 crores!), but the new 600 MHz found no bidders, yet again because of a high base price. With all the information at our disposal, we can understand the trend too – some bands with high reserve prices will go unsold in the first auctions because companies need to weigh the pros and cons of investing so much in those bands. 

Thus far, the auctions under the NDA government fetched a whopping INR 4,04,190/- crores, as opposed to the INR 1,80,469/- crores under UPA. Together, GoI has earned a whopping nearly INR 6,00,000/- crores from the auctions of these spectrums, over the last 12 years. 

Now, did you know how much we earned under Sonia Gandhi’s watchful eye in the 2008 2G Spectrum allotment? We earned just close to ~12,000 crores! In the year 2008, Sonia Gandhi’s government allotted 2G spectrum to 9 companies. Each company paid INR 1650 crores, a rate that was decided in 2001! One such company, Unitech, sold 60% of this stake to Telenor for INR 6120 crores. So simple math suggests that if 60% value is 6120 crores, then 100% is 10,200 crores. Yet another simple math suggests that if one company is valuing this at 10,200 crores, then the total expected from 9 companies is 10,200*9 = 91,800 crores! 

The CAG report in 2010 took sales of 3 such companies into account; it took into account recommendations of various government bodies; and it took into account the successful 3G auction (shown in our table above). And came up with a range of “presumptive loss” – from a whopping INR 57,666 crores to a whopping INR 1,76,645 crores! For obvious reasons, it is the 1,76,645 crores number that garnered the most attention. 

CAG report

Such was Sonia Gandhi’s hold on the government that the then Telecom minister, A.Raja could ignore advice from the Law and Finance minister and defy orders even from the Prime Minister of India! A total of 122 licenses were allotted to these 9 companies – 85 of them to ineligible companies! 

CAG report

The Supreme Court declared the entire allocation of 122 licenses illegal and cancelled all the licenses! An illegal allotment was done in 2008 and yet sections of English media want us to believe that what Sonia Gandhi’s government did was perfectly alright! We have seen how valuable the spectrum is (6 lakh crores in 8 auctions) and yet the English media wants to argue that the mere ~12,000 crores earned by GoI in 2008 was the right decision at that point in time! 

It is indeed true that the CBI was not able to prove a financial scam in the courts, but for us to ignore the illegality of the 2008 allocations as confirmed by the same courts; and for us to ignore the huge earnings through spectrum auctions all these years, only amounts to deceiving the people of the country. 

Coimbatore: Corporation stops temple demolition as devotees, Hindu organisations protest, devotees move to High Court to save the temple

OpIndia Staff
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Coimbatore: Corporation stops temple demolition as devotees, Hindu organisations protest, devotees move to High Court to save the temple

On Thursday, the Coimbatore Corporation stopped the demolition of a temple located on the Veeriyampalayam Road near Ramalakshmi Nagar in the city after the Hindu organizations and devotees led a strong protest against the corporation officials. The protesters raised slogans and chanted ‘Om Namah Shivay’ as the Corporation attempted to execute the demolition.

According to the reports, the High Court in June had ordered the demolition of the temple citing the reason that it was encroaching upon 50 feet wide road. The Court was hearing the petition filed by an individual who owns a commercial complex. The city corporation on August 5 reached the spot to execute the Court orders, however, the officials were forced to leave without completing the task.

As the Corporation attempted to demolish the temple, a large number of devotees, members of Hindu organizations like VHP and Hindu Munnani, and also BJP members gathered around the temple to protest against the demolition move. The officials razed down the compound wall and the toilet with the help of a bulldozer. The devotees then raised slogans against the officials and the police who were deployed on the spot to maintain the law and order situation.

It is alleged that the commercial complex owner who filed the petition in June, used his political contacts in the DMK government led by M K Stalin to push for the demolition of the temple. He felt that the temple was a hindrance to the parking of the vehicles of the customers visiting the complex.

The 200-year-old temple, spread over an area of 4,000 square feet is situated in Coimbatore Corporation’s 7th ward -Goldevins, Duraiswamy Nager, Ramalakshmi Nagar region. The idol which is worshiped inside the temple is said to have formed by itself (swayambhu). Reports mention that people from the surrounding region have been visiting the temple regularly to worship.

K Jayalakshmi, assistant town planning officer, confirmed that the demolition drive was stopped as devotees with tears in their eyes squatted on the temple premises. “It was raining as well”, she added. The aggrieved parties reportedly have approached the High Court now. Reports mention that the officials have decided to wait for the Court’s decision before proceeding with the demolition drive.

Elaborating on the incident, BJP district functionary Senthil Kumar said that the idol of the temple was self-manifested with at least 100 years of history behind it. “Demolishing such an old temple would affect the religious sentiments of thousands of devotees. Members of the temple committee have urged the officials to leave the temple in its present condition. The locals said they are surprised to see the haste shown by the officials to pull down a Hindu temple”, he said.

Kumar also added that the government had not honored the court orders in reclaiming a vast tract of land from Queensland near Chennai. “There are several churches and mosques on the government land or on the water bodies or blocking the waterways. The present DMK govt is keen on demolishing only Hindu temples”, he stated adding that the government has so far razed down nearly 200 temples located in several parts of the state.

One of the residents who protested against the drive stated to the Organiser that the Corporation had served no notice before furthering the demolition drive. “As per agamas, the main idols have to be kept in water and balaalayam has to be done. Without doing such rituals, the demolition was furthered. This move angered the devotees. The officials gave us time till Monday to get stay orders to stop the demotion drive”, she was quoted.

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