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Gujarat: Two more arrested in the Bharuch forced religious conversion case, so far 16 arrested in the organised racket converting tribals to Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Two more arrested in the Bharuch forced religious conversion case, so far 16 arrested in the organised racket converting tribals to Islam

In a significant development in the Bharuch forced conversion case, in which people from the tribal communities were converted to Islam, two more culprits have been arrested in Gujarat. The total number of arrested accused in this case has now risen to 16. Earlier, the Gujarat police had arrested 14 people involved in this conversion racket that operated in the Kakariya village of Amod Taluka of Bharuch district. The arrests were made by the Special Operation Group (SOG) of the Gujarat police.

According to a report by Desh Gujarat, the two arrested are identified as Sarfaraz alias Javid Khuji alias Javid Mufti Salim Hasan Yusuf Ibrahim Patel (a resident of Achhod) and Ramiz Raja alias Owais Abdugani Abdulrahim Khanji (a resident of Nadiad in Kheda district). The two played a crucial role in arranging the incentives for the people to be converted into Islam. Both of them were responsible for managing hand carts, food, clothes, and medicines for the ‘targets’. They also ensured that the financially challenged people of the Kakariya village get employment and thus can be converted in exchange. They also made money promises to the target people from the tribal communities.

The Bharuch conversion case

In 2018, one Pravin Vasava of Amod, Bharuch got converted to Islam. Vasava belonged to the Vasava Hindu tribal community. He converted to Islam and went by the name Salman Patel. As per notarised documents filed in Surat in 2018, he had stated that he was in touch with people from the Muslim community for a year and was convinced Islam is the religion of peace and true religion. He claimed he wanted to convert to Islam and none of his relatives had any objection to the same. He had claimed he was not lured into embracing Islam and he did it of his own free will.

Later, he filed a complaint alleging that he was forcibly converted to Islam. The complaint led to the discovery of the racket of mass conversions that operated in the Bharuch district of Gujarat. The tribal families in the Amod Taluka of the district were being taught that Hinduism is not a religion and Islam is the only true religion. The people were being lured and trapped by the Muslims who were in fact themselves recent converts from Hinduism to Islam.

Poor people from the tribal communities were promised good employment by those operating the conversion racket. Along with all the tall promises, the racket handlers also promised that they will take care of all the formalities and documentation and change the names on all the identity proofs after conversion.

The affidavits were made in Surat. Food grains, help in business, employment, marriages, second marriages, well-built houses, and money were the baits promised by the racket operators to the poor tribals. One of the accused Fefdawala Haji Abdullah originally hails from the Nabipur village in Bharuch but currently lives in London. He used to fund the conversion racket. A video from a few years back shows him boasting about the conversion of Hindus to Islam.

Police lodged a complaint against nine persons under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2021 Act, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The accused have been identified as Shabbir Bakerywala, Samad Bakerywala, Abdul Aziz Patel, Yusuf Patel, Ayyub Patel, Ibrahim Patel, Fefdawala Haji Abdullah, Hasan Tisli, and Ismail Achhodwala. All the accused are local residents barring Fefdawala Haji Abdullah who lives in London. Around 150 people of 37 families in the Bharuch district were converted by this racket.

It is believed that the mass conversion in Bharuch has links with the mass religious conversion racket in Uttar Pradesh. Two maulvis were arrested in June 2021 by the Anti-Terrorism Squad, Uttar Pradesh where they were accused of converting at least 1,000 people to Islam.

The accused were later identified as Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi and Mohammad Umar Gautam and were residents of Jamia Nagar in South Delhi. The two accused, who ran an organization named Islamic Dawah Centre(IDC), along with their other associates, were charged for mass conversion of people into Islam through inducements such as marriage, job and money, and mental pressure.

So far 14 arrests were done in the Bharuch mass conversion case. The Gujarat police have now arrested 2 more accused, taking the total count of arrests in this case to 16.

Punjab: Four PWD engineers suspended after video showed construction of a road during heavy rain

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Four PWD engineers suspended after video showed construction of a road during heavy rain

Four officers of the PWD department in Punjab has been suspended by the state govt after a video appeared showing construction of a road in heavy rain. The Bizarre video went viral on social media platforms in which a man from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, could be heard calling out Punjab’s Public Works Department engineers for recarpeting a road amid heavy rains. Despite him asking them repeatedly to stop working, no one paid heed and continued to work. The person who took the video was an Aam Aadmi Party worker who had said that he would forward the video to CM Helpline.

The video was shot at the road connecting Nangal Khiladiya and Sherpur Village of Mahilpur block of the Chabbewal constituency. Gurvinder Singh, the person who shot the video, could be heard asking the workers not to build the road in rain. He was bluntly ignored by the workers as well as the officer-in-charge present there, and the work continued.

A one-minute 20 seconds long clip was shared by News Agency ANI. Gurvinder said in the video that he would take the name, number, and address of the contractor. He asked a worker if the road would hold as it was being constructed amidst heavy rains. When the worker did not reply, he turned towards the road roller driver and said, “Have some shame, Sardar Ji. You are wasting the hard-earned money of the public. This is Aggarwal Construction Company from Hoshiarpur.”

He further said, “The person-in-charge said they had a truck of material ready to be used. They had to use it. But while using the truck full of material, they have wasted a lot of government’s money.”

As per the suspension letter shared by The Tribune, four engineers were suspended by Public Works Department. The order said, “A video is going viral on Social Media in which it has been shown that a road in District Hoshiarpur is being constructed during rain.” The four engineers who got suspended were Sub Divisional Engineer Tarsem Singh, Junior Engineer Vipan Kumar, Junior Engineer Parveen Kumar, and Junior Engineer Jasbir Singh.

It is notable that water is considered an enemy of asphalt, the material used for making roads. Water slowly breaks down asphalt, creating potholes, which then continues to to expand. Building such a road during rain means that the asphalt will not create any bonding, and will be washed away by the water.

Madhya Pradesh High Court stays construction of Adi Shankaracharya statue at Omkareshwar

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh High Court stays construction of Adi Shankaracharya statue at Omkareshwar

On July 9, the Madhya Pradesh High Court stayed the construction of the Adi Shankaracharya statue that is to be built on Mandhata Parvat hill facing the river Narmada at Omkareshwar in Khandwa district. Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan had approved the 108-feet high statue.

The stay came during a petition hearing filed by Lokhit Abhiyan Samiti, an Indore-based NGO. The organization opposed the construction on the grounds of cutting up trees, digging up the mountain, and neglecting local public faith. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice Vishal Mishra of MP High Court stayed the construction and sought a response from the BJP-led state government.

The petitioner argued that the statue named the ‘Statue of Oneness,’ would damage the natural beauty of the area. The court has also summoned the Collector of Khandwa district, DFO, Revenue officer, and representative of the State Archeological Department.

A museum dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya and an International Advaita Vendanta Sansthan is also scheduled to be built along with the statue. The cost of the project is Rs 2,141 crores. It is being constructed under the supervision of the Culture and Tourism Department, Madhya Pradesh.

The court has now ordered that till the next hearing, no construction work should take place at the site. The statue, being built at the cost of 2000 Crores, was scheduled to be finished in 2023.

Amid the Kaali poster row, PM Narendra Modi says India is fortunate to have unlimited blessings from goddess Kali

OpIndia Staff
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Amid the Kaali poster row, PM Narendra Modi says India is fortunate to have unlimited blessings from goddess Kali

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a crucial comment while speaking at a function to commemorate Swami Atmasthananda’s centennial in the midst of the ongoing controversy over the poster for the documentary Kaali. Narendra Modi asserted that India is blessed by Goddess Kali and that she is the centre of all of India’s devotion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa was a saint who is said to have actually met the Goddess Kali and he had dedicated his whole life at the lotus feet of the Goddess Kali. He used to say that this whole universe, all that is static and dynamic, everything is occupied by the consciousness of Maa Kali. We see this consciousness in Bengal during Kali Puja. We can see the same in the faith of the people of Bengal and the whole of India. And when the faith is so holy and pure then Shakti shows us the way to be followed. India is fortunate to get unlimited blessings from the goddess Kali. With this ascetic energy, India is marching ahead with a resolution for the welfare of the whole world.”

It is notable that recently there has been a controversy because of the poster of a film titled ‘Kaali’. In the poster, Hindu Goddess Kali is shown smoking a cigarette and holding the LGBTQ+ community’s rainbow flag in hand.

Many cases were registered against the director Leena Manimekalai for hurting religious sentiments. The controversy grew yet bigger when the Trinamool Congress Party’s MP Mahua Moitra made insulting remarks about the Goddess Kali while answering a question about the controversy around the film’s poster.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks reverentially about Maa Kaali being the center of devotion, not just for Bengal but the whole of India. On the other hand, a TMC MP insults Maa Kaali and Mamata Banerjee instead of acting against her and defends her obnoxious portrayal of Maa Kaali.”

Some days ago, director Leena Manimekalai shared the poster of her film Kali. The poster initiated a controversy as it directly hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. The controversy grew more as the director shared another picture on social media in which Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati were shown smoking. However, this picture was not related to her film. Many cases are filed against her in different states. There was also a demand to block her Twitter handle. The Bhopal police crime branch issued a lookout circular against her.

Goa Congress MLAs meet in a hotel in Margao amidst rumours of an impending split in the party

OpIndia Staff
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Goa Congress MLAs meet in a hotel in Margao amidst rumours of an impending split in the party

Sources claim that 7 to 10 Congress MLAs have gathered at a hotel in Margao in the state of Goa and vowed to remain united amid concerns of another split in the Goa Congress. There are now 11 Congress-affiliated MLAs in the Goa legislature, and it has been reported that some of them may switch to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Since BJP national general secretary and state in-charge C T Ravi said in May that the BJP, which has 20 MLAs and formed the government with the assistance of five others, will have 30 MLAs by the end of the year, there have been talks that certain Congress MLAs are considering joining the BJP.

The Congress has denied that there is a schism inside the party, with Goa unit president Amit Patkar asserting that the BJP, which is in power, created these rumours ahead of the assembly’s two-week Budget Session. On Saturday, Congress leaders, including Dinesh Gundu Rao, the head of the Goa desk, called the claim “totally a rumour.” Additionally, they said that the gathering of the party’s MLAs on Saturday at the hotel had nothing to do with the rumour and was instead planned in advance ahead of the Assembly’s monsoon session, which begins on Monday.

Congress MLA Aleixo Sequeira, while speaking to news agency ANI said, “Seven MLAs are there (at the meeting). I was not called by high command, only here for a courtesy meeting. Rumours (about MLAs leaving for BJP) are all over, what is to be done. I can vouch for myself, can’t say for anyone else.”

The meeting on Saturday reportedly wasn’t attended by Digambar Kamat, the party’s candidate for the position of chief minister in the elections earlier this year. According to some reports, Mr Michael Lobo, who switched sides from the BJP to the Congress just before the elections, is in touch with the BJP.

In Goa’s 40-member house, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the BJP, has the support of 25 MLAs, while the Congress has 11 MLAs.

Aaditya Thackeray says Mumbai Metro’s Aarey car shed not needed as cars undergo maintenance once in 3-4 months: Here is how it is a lie

OpIndia Staff
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Aaditya Thackeray says Mumbai Metro’s Aarey car shed not needed as cars undergo maintenance once in 3-4 months: Here is how it is a lie

After the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance govt had come to power in 2019, the first decision the govt took was to cancel the metro car shed project at Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai for the Mumbai Metro’s line 3. Therefore, it was fitting that when the Eknath Shinde became the CM with support of BJP, the first decision his govt took was to restore the much important project at the original location of Aarey colony.

However, the out of power Uddhav Thackeray section of Shiv Sena has against started to protest against the project, alleging harm to the environment. The former CM’s son Aaditya Thackeray has taken the lead in the protests this time, which has been joined by Bollywood stars who travel in fuel guzzling SUVs and work in much bigger Film City in the same Aarey colony.

Today Aaditya Thackeray dialled up his propaganda against the metro project by resorting to lies, by claiming that the metro car shed is not even needed to run the metro network. Joining yet another protest at Aarey, the former minister said that cars go for maintenance once in 3-4 months, therefore it is not a required part of Mumbai metro.

According to ANI, the Shiv Sena leader said, “Cars go for maintenance once every 3-4 months, not every night.” He also said that the protest against the metro project “is a fight for Mumbai, fight for life”. He also said that his govt had proposed to turn the construction of the car shed at Aarey to a veterinary hospital.

However, the claim that that metro cars go for maintenance once every 3-4 months, not every night is a blatant lie, and Aaditya Thackeray is deliberately using falsehood to spread propaganda against the vital infrastructure project.

First, it must be made clear that the ‘car’ in ‘car shed’ does not mean four-wheeled motor vehicles, they actually mean the coached of the metro trains. Generally, the word coach is used for trains of Indian Railways, but for some reason, the word car has been used for metro rail systems in India.

The metro car sheds are not some automobile garages that people visit when then vehicles break down or for periodic maintenance, as Aaditya Thackeray is claiming. The car shed is home of the metro trains when they are not working. Which means, they are parking spaces for the trainsets in the night, apart from the location of regular and periodic maintenances and overhauls.

While explaining the need for the car shed at Aarey, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation had published a FAQ, which shows how vital a car shed is for a metro system. The MMRC website says, “Car Depot is mandatory & essential facility for smooth operation of any Metro system where all Metro trains will rest during non-working hours. It is in the Car Depot that the trains can be washed, cleaned, repaired and maintained. It is the starting point for train operation every day. A Car Depot serves Metro trains akin to a “home” for any human being.”

MMRC specifically says that car shed or depot is mandatory and essential facility, not a facility used once in three-four months.

Metro rakes are not parked at station at the night after the metro services are over for the day, and that’s why a car shed is essential to park them. And they are not just parked for the night there, they also undergo various types of cleaning and maintenances as per norms.

A report on Operations and Maintenance Systems by the Ministry of Urban Affairs cites the maintenance schedule of Delhi Metro, and it shows that it is a daily affair, not once in 3-4 months as claimed by Aaditya Thackeray.

According to this scheduled, a check of the train rakes is done every day, and the interior and exterior of the trains are also cleaned every day, along with washing of the windows. Apart from this, various levels of checks are done every 15 days, 45 days, 90 days, 180 days, 360 days, 720 days, while various levels of overhauls are done at every 3.5 years, 7 years, 10.5 years and 15 years.

Apart from the daily cleaning, the metro trainsets also undergo light cleaning, heavy cleaning on weekly and monthly basis.

Maintenance schedule of Delhi Metro

While all trains are cleaned every day, other activities are done weekly, monthly, or longer intervals. And as they are major cleaning or maintenance activities, and require dedicated bays, only a limited number of trainsets are taken up for this works every day. Therefore, every day there will be trainsets scheduled for major maintenance or overhauls, and the car shed remain busy on all days of the year.

Therefore, from the Delhi metro maintenance schedule it is clear that all the trains are cleaned every day, and while other maintenance activities have longer intervals, as the trains are taken up for such activities on a rotation basis, every day there will be few trainsets requiring such periodic maintenance.

It is completely wrong to say that metro cars will go for maintenance only once in 3-4 months. In fact, they need the shed to rest on every single night, and also need it for daily and other regular activities.

It is shocking that Aaditya Thackeray is making such false claims that car shed is not essential since it is needed only once in 3-4 months. If that was the case, the line 3 of Mumbai Metro should have been completed when his govt was in power.

Aaditya Thackeray was a senior minister in the MVA govt, and his govt was trying hard to set up the car shed at Kanjurmarg. They could not do that because the land they wanted to use for the project is under litigation. If a car shed is not needed, there was no need for trying for an alternate site.

And if they had proposed to build a veterinary hospital at the Aarey site, they could have started work on it. But the fact that it was never done shows that they also knew that eventually the project will return to Aarey only.

The Mumbai Metro have already made it clear that a car shed is ‘mandatory and essential’ to run metro services, and various authorities and courts upto the Supreme Court of India have decided that the Aarey Milk Colony site is the best site for the project. But still the celebrity activists and Shiv Sena is opposing the project only for political purpose.

It is notable that the trees that needed to be cut for the car shed at Aarey has already been cut, and no more trees are needed to be cut. Moreover, against around 2150 trees that have been cut, around 24000 trees were already planted.

Why can’t PM Modi’s critics stop wishing for India to burn?

Abhishek Banerjee
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Why can’t PM Modi’s critics stop wishing for India to burn?

“What is left for a virus to kill in a morally corrupt nation?” she muttered on Twitter in March 2020. At the time, the pandemic was only beginning. The terrible news from China could no longer be suppressed. The devastation in Europe was unfolding. There was no denying this any more. We have heard about the world wars. We have watched sci-fi movies about the end of the world. Now something terrible was about to happen to humanity during our lifetimes. For real.

America was already in the grip of the virus. India trembled. Soon it would be our turn.

What did you think about at that time? Perhaps you thought about your family and your livelihood. If you have faith, you might have turned to god. You might have reflected on our place in the universe. Or the meaning of life, family, community, nation and all of humanity. Were we going to be wiped out?

But not everyone felt this kind of anguish that makes us think about our existence. Rather they spoke as if uttering a curse on India. What is there for the virus to kill in a morally corrupt nation, they asked.

In their eyes, India had committed a sin by voting out their patrons. By doing so, the nation had become “morally corrupt.” And for this sin, India must pay. India must burn.

As our neighbor Sri Lanka collapses, as their prime minister flees and protesters take over the presidential palace, our liberals watch hungrily. Why is India not facing such a situation? You can feel it in their tweets. They crave the total destruction of India. The “morally corrupt nation” must pay.

This is a relatively new sense, something that has been around only since 2019. Why 2019? Because until then, they were willing to believe that 2014 was an exception. That the Congress would soon come back to power. Their privileges would be restored. In 2019, they were willing to burn India down to bring the Congress back to power. Now they realize that it is no longer really possible. Now they just want India to burn.

So each morning they wake up and wish for something bad to happen to India. War, pandemic, terrorist attack, assassination, anything. Whenever they can, they try to stop something somewhere in India. It could simply be a metro line in Mumbai. It must be stopped. Nothing is too small that it can be ignored. Is there a way to reopen Khalistani wounds and make India bleed again? They will go for it. Nothing is too big that they will worry about touching it. Anything to make the “morally corrupt” nation pay.

Did a mob storm the Red Fort in Delhi and plant their own flag? Yeah, that was a great day for them. A way to show the morally corrupt nation its place. Is there another foreign newspaper that called India “fascist” today? They live for these moments such as these. It does not heal their wounds, but it gives them short sighs of relief.

Is the President of the United States visiting India? What if there were huge columns of smoke rising from the Indian capital that day? Would it make India cower with shame before the whole world? Yes, it would. The thought of that makes them happy.

And when the pandemic came, it gladdened their hearts like never before. Like ghouls, they danced around our crematoriums. They flew drones to get a better look at our burning flesh, to strip it off one last bit of dignity that they could seize and sell to the West for money.

The vaccines made them angry. No, India couldn’t possibly manufacture and administer so many vaccines, they said. Every time India set a new vaccination record, they screamed like their hearts had been torn out. How many dead, they asked endlessly? It can’t be just 4 lakh. That is not nearly enough to satisfy their thirst for revenge on the “morally corrupt” nation. They wanted to hear 4 million, if possible 4 crore or even 40 crore.

They knew the vaccines would catch up sooner or later. But first they wanted India to stand with hat in hand, begging the West for vaccines. Go to China and beg, some of them said. Their desire to see India humiliated was insatiable.

But India held. We did not go under. And it drives them crazy. They cheer each other up with promises that the final destruction of India is not far away now. Each morning you can find them on social media, coiled like serpents around some random talking point, and hissing. Hunger index, happiness index, press freedom index, anything to assure them that it is all over for India. It is called confirmation bias. Then there are the reports from “think tanks.” A report from a European country that calls India “authoritarian” can sustain a liberal for an entire week.

They pester visiting foreign diplomats with questions: tell us something India did wrong. Tell us why you hate India. Give us something we can put in a headline. But no matter what they get, whether big or small, from America or from Turkey, they are always burning on the inside.

When they have a half an opportunity to humiliate India, they pounce on it with unholy relish. Did India have to say no to wheat exports after making an earlier pronouncement about feeding the world? Such U-turns are not uncommon in an uncertain world, ravaged by war and pandemic, where America is scrambling to get food for their babies. But still, India having to blush just a little on this issue made them squeal madly with delight.

Is there war in Ukraine? Look, India is neutral. That means they must be standing with the aggressor. India is fascist, and “morally corrupt.” We told you so, they say to their friends around the world.

But because the real India refuses to go under, the reality frustrates and unnerves them. That is where the wild fantasies come in. Political instability in Britain? Prime Minister ousted by his own ministers? Modi will meet the same fate one day, they say. Or he won’t, because India is under fascist rule. Did protesters in Sri Lanka take over the presidential palace and burn down the prime minister’s house? Modi will meet the same fate one day. Or he wont, because India is “morally corrupt.”

Like conspiracy theories, the wild fantasies can live on very little, or nothing at all. Did Biden just dodge a hug from Modi in that frame? That should be enough to sustain the ecosystem for a day. Oh no, Biden just walked up to PM Modi from behind, sought him out and exchanged greetings. Never mind. Did you see that capture where PM Modi seems to be bending before some Sultan? Told you the Arabs are going to deny oil to India, and finally crush our country. Yeah, the same Sultan who came to confer his country’s highest civilian honor on our prime minister.

There is a difference between hating the prime minister and wishing for evil on the country. If you want to understand this difference, check with BJP supporters when their favorite party was in opposition for decades. Go find out how many of them raised slogans of “Hows the Jaish” after a terrorist attack on our soldiers. Indeed, in all the decades of India being under ruinous Nehruvian socialist rule, it is the BJP supporters who often foolishly spoke of a coming dawn that would make India a superpower. The BJP supporters always dreamed of great things for India, not ruin.

There are many states in India where BJP is in the opposition. But you won’t see a BJP supporter standing with a Maoist, or a jihadi terrorist, just to spite the government. Not now, not before, not ever. Eight years have passed since Modi came to power. Not everything has gone right, nor could it have. But despite war and pandemic, India has made it to the position of 5th largest economy in 2022. With a little bit of luck, we will go past even Germany by 2024. A bit of luck I said, which every liberal in this country wishes we never have.

Liberalism in this country is not dead. Because, after two back to back defeats, liberalism in India has become the ideology of the “un-dead.” Its followers prowl the streets and the airwaves, looking for shreds of human misery to feast on. Whatever they eat, whether it is too much or too little, only makes them more hungry. The fire in their heart never dies down. It burns brighter each day that this “morally corrupt” nation is still alive.

Breaking: Jaipur-Secunderabad Express stopped at Itarsi station after reports of a bomb in the train, police on the spot

OpIndia Staff
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Breaking: Jaipur-Secunderabad Express stopped at Itarsi station after reports of a bomb in the train, police on the spot

Jaipur-Secunderabad Express 19713 has been halted at the Itarsi station in Madhya Pradesh after police got the information that there is a bomb suspected to be on the train. All the passengers traveling in coach B-3 and B-4 were asked to get off the train with their luggage as police started searching the train for the explosives.

As per reports, a letter was found on the train which mentioned that there is a bomb on the train. Once the train halted at the Itarsi junction, railway police started searching for the bomb and asked all the passengers to deboard the train.

So far, police haven’t been able to find any explosives on the train. However, the search is going on with the assistance of the canine unit of the police to sniff out the explosives.

Meanwhile, several confused passengers shared their experience online wondering what is going on and why they have been asked to get down from the train.

Local SP Gurkaran Singh has reached the spot to oversee the operation. A bomb disposal squad has also been called in as the search for explosives continues

‘We will keep men out of women’s sports’ – Trump calls for removing ‘trans’ athletes from women’s sports

OpIndia Staff
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‘We will keep men out of women’s sports’ – Trump calls for removing ‘trans’ athletes from women’s sports

On July 9, former President of the United States of America (USA) Donald Trump once again pushed for keeping biological men out of women’s sports. Trump was speaking at Anchorage in Alaska to support Governor Mike Dunleavy, Kelly Tshibaka, candidate for US senate, and Sarah Palin, candidate for US Congress from Alaska. During his address to the people present at the rally, he said, “We would also keep men out of women’s sports.”

Donald Trump highlighted a swimming event where a “person with a man’s body” competed and won the women’s competition comfortably. He also joked how the female athlete competing in the same competition got injured when the ‘contestant with male body’ swam by her. He also talked about weightlifting where a similar thing happened, and a contestant with a ‘male body’ broke records in a women’s competition.

Trump added, “It is actually demeaning to women, and it should not be allowed. People do not like to talk about it. People think it is politically incorrect, I don’t. Somebody has to do it.”

This is not the first time Trump has been critical of the woke agenda. On June 26, he had said during a rally in Mendon, Illinois, “We will get critical race theory out of our schools, out of our military, and out of every part of our federal, state, and local governments. They say it is politically incorrect but let’s say it anyway. We will also keep men out of women’s sports. Is that okay?”

In February 2022, during his Texas Rally, he promised to keep men out of women’s sports if he got reelected. Calling it ridiculous, he said, “We will ban men from participating in women’s sports.”

FINA banned transgender athletes from competing in women’s competitions

Recently, on June 19, Swimming’s world governing body, FINA, banned transgender athletes from competing in elite women’s competitions and formed a working group to establish an open category for them.

The decision was made during a general congress meeting after members of the body heard a report from a transgender task force.

Reports suggest that according to the new eligibility policy of FINA, male-to-female transgender athletes would be allowed to compete only if “they can establish to FINA’s comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later”.

Female athletes felt uncomfortable sharing locker room with ‘biologically male’ trans athlete

Earlier, in January 2022, it was reported that the female swimmers of the University of Pennsylvania slammed the school for allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to swim against women swimmers. The teammates had also complained that they felt uncomfortable sharing the locker room space with Lia. The female swimmers were forced to share the changing room, and locker room with 22-year-old Lia Thomas, who is biologically a male.

18 camels smuggled to Karnataka for slaughtering on Eid al-Adha rescued and sent back to Rajasthan

OpIndia Staff
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18 camels smuggled to Karnataka for slaughtering on Eid al-Adha rescued and sent back to Rajasthan

As many as 18 camels were rescued from the Karnataka-Tamilnadu border area on 1st July 2022. The camels were illegally brought for slaughtering on Eid al-Adha or Bakr Eid which is being celebrated today. The animals were rescued near Hosur of Karnataka and sent back to Rajasthan by the local animal activists.

It is notable that camel slaughtering is banned in Karnataka state. In spite of this, the illegal transportation of the desert ride continues through some animal mafia by crossing different check posts. Out of many camels brought in Karnataka for slaughtering on Bakr Eid, the animal activists saved 18 and returned them to Rajasthan after keeping them in a shelter home for a brief period of 10 days.

The Tamil Nadu government was recently ordered to make sure that cows, camels, and other animals are not transported or slaughtered in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. These orders were given by Justices CJ Munishwar Nath Bhandari and M Mala of the Madras High Court.

According to a report by The New Indian Express, inputs were taken from the local animal activists, and Animal Husbandry commissioner A Gnanasekaran. Based on these inputs and the court order, the Tamilnadu government sent a letter to the Superintendent of Police Krishnagiri District saying that hundreds of camels have entered Karnataka, and over two dozen are stocked in Hosur close to Bengaluru and asked them to check.

An animal activist Sunil Dugar from Prani Daya Sangha said, “Camels are banned from slaughtering and also from transport outside of their habitats. The mafia operating in the area entered Maharashtra and then slipped into Belagavi. From there, the animals were brought to Tumakuru and reached Attibele on the outskirts of Bengaluru. It was then brought to Hosur to avoid getting caught and was supposed to be brought back to Bengaluru on Bakrid for slaughtering.”

He further said, “The officials at every check post have failed to crack down on illegal animal transport. When we informed some senior officials in Tamil Nadu, they said that these animals might have been brought for joy rides or for grazing. The animals were rescued 10 days ago and after a few days of sheltering, they were transported back to their original habitat. The police had to be informed that transportation of such animals is a crime”

Meanwhile, two accused who were operating this illegal network are absconding and a case is filed in Tamil Nadu.

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