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More than a dozen farmers commit suicide in Punjab in less than a month, low crop yield and higher loan amounts responsible: Report

OpIndia Staff
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More than a dozen farmers commit suicide in Punjab in less than a month, low crop yield and higher loan amounts responsible: Report

A 40-year-old farmer in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab allegedly committed suicide after consuming a toxic substance because he was disappointed with this season’s low wheat production. Manjit Singh, a farmer, was discovered dead with a suicide note in which he stated that he took this step due to insufficient wheat production this season.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (Garhshankar) Narinder Singh, the unfortunate event happened on Friday evening in Paddi Sura Singh village in Hoshiarpur. Manjit owned a little piece of farmland and had signed a contract for 18 acres, he owed Rs 17 lakh to banks. According to his brother Sarabjit, Manjit is survived by his wife and two boys, and he has requested that the state government compensate them.

According to Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), 14 farmers have committed suicide in Punjab within April, with 11 of them in the Malwa region itself. Many farmers have committed suicide as a result of the stress caused by this season’s low crop yield, according to Shingara Singh Maan, vice president of BKU Ugrahan.

Due to the premature arrival of the heatwave, wheat farmers in Punjab have seen a decline in output and deformed grains. The low wheat crop yield has been a double blow for farmers with cotton yield already suffering this year due to pink bollworm infestation.

Furthermore, the farmer suicides have exacerbated political tensions in the state, with former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu blasting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and reminding it of its pre-election manifesto commitments. Sidhu reminded AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal of his manifesto promise, in which the Delhi CM declared that if his party was elected, no farmer in Punjab would commit suicide after April 1.

Sidhu slammed the AAP convenor on Saturday, urging him to quit lying. In a tweet, Sidhu wrote, “Despite @ArvindKejriwal ji’s guarantee that no farmer will commit suicide in Punjab after AAP assumes power, 7 farmers have committed suicide in Bathinda District alone. This yr crop yield is >30% low, on top of that govt is preparing to arrest 2000 farmers for loan defaults”

It is worth noting that Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had promised that if his party won the Punjab Assembly elections, he would give farmers compensation for crop losses by April 30.

The Punjab government, according to Harjinder Baggi, head of BKU Ugrahan’s Bathinda section, should address the situation to prevent farmers from committing suicide.

Farmers in Punjab borrow more than farmers in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra

According to a study conducted by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in collaboration with the Bharat Krishak Samaj, an average Punjab farmer borrows four times as much as his peers in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and more than five times as much as farmers in Maharashtra.

The analysis focused on the three-state governments’ recent farm loan waivers. It revealed that  Punjab farmers borrowed the most money per farmer category among the three states, and their reliance on non-institutional sources was likewise the highest across all farmer categories.

A marginal farmer in Punjab borrows Rs 3.4 lakh per year, compared to Rs 84,000 and Rs 62,000 in UP and Maharashtra, respectively, according to the report.

Also, the report found that while the government reimbursed farmers’ debts, other departments’ budgets suffered as a result of former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s government’s agricultural loan waiver, which began in 2017. For instance, when most of the waivers were handed out in Punjab in 2018-19, the real spending of numerous other departments was reduced.

The agricultural debt waiver plan in Punjab, interestingly, was discovered to be largely financed by a loan taken out by the Punjab Mandi Board from a private bank. Waiver benefits were transferred via a loan from the Punjab Mandi Board. The Punjab Mandi Board charged an extra 1% cess on wheat and paddy arrivals at the Mandis to repay the debt. These funds were utilised to repay the above-mentioned debt.

Uttar Pradesh: Church priest Albert arrested for raping 11-year-old minor girl after luring her with money

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Church priest Albert arrested for raping 11-year-old minor girl after luring her with money

On Saturday (April 23), a Christian priest was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police in connection to the rape of an 11-year-old girl. The incident took place in Chandinagar area in Baghpat town of Uttar Pradesh.

As per reports, the accused has been identified as one Albert, a 67-year old Church priest from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. The minor victim had gone to the Church on Friday for cycling when she was approached by the priest. The accused then lured the girl to his room by offering to give her some money. When she went to his room accepting the offer, he molested and raped her.

According to the victim, he tore her clothes, and shown her obscene films. After raping the girl, he also tried to intimidate the victim into silence.

He threatened the 11-year-old with dire consequences if she revealed the crime to anyone. However, the victim divulged the matter to her parents on the next day. A police complaint was then filed by the girl’s mother immediately after that.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered under the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. According to the Superintendent of Police Neeraj Jadoun, Albert was arrested on the basis of the police complaint, and a medical test of the victim girl was done. DNA samples of both the accused and the victim has been collected and have been sent for analysis. Police have assured that strict action will be taken in the case.

Pastor booked for raping 17 women, 7 boys inside the church for over four years

Earlier in February this year, a case was registered against a 42-year old pastor for sexually exploiting 17 women in the last four years at Payakaraopeta in the Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

According to the reports, the Christian priest was also involved in forcing women and boys into slave labour, fraud and cheating. The incident surfaced when one of those women escaped from the church and approached the police officials. One of the victims lodged a complaint against the pastor on February 3, 2021.

The pastor, identified as Ambati Anil Kumar alias Prema Das, a native of Krishnalanka in Vijayawada, Krishna district, was earlier working as a TTE in the railways. In 2015, he established a trust named “Prema Swaroopi Ministries”, became Pastor A Anil Kumar and set up a church in a two-storied building.

Who is Ilhan Omar, the controversial US Congresswoman who tried to legitimize Pakistan’s control over occupied Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Who is Ilhan Omar, the controversial US Congresswoman who tried to legitimize Pakistan’s control over occupied Kashmir

Last week, controversial US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar made a highly publicized visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), where she promised to ‘mainstream’ Pakistan’s concerns with India. Ilhan Omar, who champions herself as the face of the ‘anti-Islamophobia’ movement across the world, received a red-carpet welcome in the terror state of Pakistan.

The Somalia-born radical Islamist politician also visited Islamabad to meet the recently deposed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. She even praised former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his position on ‘Islamophobia’. In response, Khan also appreciated Omar’s ‘courageous and principled position on the issues of Islamophobia’. Apparently, Imran Khan had personally invited Ilhan Omar to visit Pakistan.

Later, she also met Pakistan’s President Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry and new Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, where she reportedly discussed the alleged violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the visit by the controversial Muslim lawmaker from Minnesota to illegally occupied areas of Kashmir did not go well with the Indian government. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Omar’s visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and had said that she should practice ‘narrow-minded politics’ at home.

In response, the United States government distanced itself from Ilhan Omar and asserted that Omar’s visit to Pakistan occupied Kashmir was unofficial and personal.

The visit by Ilham Omar to Pakistan, especially the PoK, has given away the suspicion that the US lawmaker is colluding with the deep state of Pakistan to further anti-India propaganda. Ilhan Omar’s meeting with Pakistani politicians to discuss Kashmir and the issues of Islamophobia comes amidst Pakistan’s several attempts to internationalize the issue of Kashmir.

Besides, Ilhan Omar’s visit is also seen as an attempt by the Democrat politician to consolidate her position as the leader of the ‘anti-Islamophobia’ movement, for which she is soliciting the support of Imran Khan, who was one of the first to peddle this rhetoric to further his domestic politics.

Who is Ilhan Omar?

Ilhan Omar, who was elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota on a Democrat ticket, has achieved celebrity status in the Muslim world. Outside the global Muslim brotherhood or the Ummah, Omar is seen as someone running errands for the powerful Islamist lobbies, whose only aim is to push radical Islam in modern societies.

In fact, the origins of Omar, who hails from Somalia, have also been controversial. Omar arrived in the US at the age of 12 in 1995 as a refugee fleeing Somalia’s civil war. She became a citizen five years later, at the age of 17. In November 2016, she won the election to become the first Somali-American in the US Congress.

There are allegations that Omar married her biological brother to bypass the US immigration process. Former President Donald Trump had asked the Justice Department to investigate Ilhan Omar’s marriage to her brother and her subsequent migration to the US illegally.

Ilhan Omar’s history of bias against Hindus, a known anti-India propagandist

A representative of Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, has several times in the past parroted the same lies peddled by the radical Islamists. For years now, Omar has indulged in propagating anti-India narratives, especially targeting the Narendra Modi government, and has sought Biden Administration’s official help to further her propaganda war.

With support from other ‘left-liberal’ circles, both in India and the west, Ilhan Omar has been at the forefront of raking up the issue of Kashmir in the US House of representatives with a pro-Pakistan stand demanding US agencies to intervene in the matter. Omar has also peddled lies about the alleged attacks on minorities, issues of human rights, and freedom of speech in India, claiming that Muslims in the country are facing atrocities at the hands of Hindus.

Last year, in a US House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on South Asia Human Rights, Ilhan Omar had also attacked Indian journalist Aarti Tikoo Singh, who had testified before the US Congres on the Kashmiri Hindu genocide in the valley in the 1990s.

Ilhan Omar’s connections with radical organizations

Allegedly, Omar is a pawn of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar’s rulers. She also has ties with radical Islamic organizations such as Islamic Relief and Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), the sister organization of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a Western branch of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a terror group that is banned in India. HHRD also has ties with Islamic terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan.

Ilhan Omar: A hardline Islamist, an anti-semite

Ilhan Omar is a known antisemite and has expressed steadfast support for the terrorist group Hamas. When the Israel-Palestine crisis broke out in 2021, Ilhan Omar sided with Jihadists to whitewash their crimes against Israel.

In 2019, Omar had courted controversy when she had defended the 9/11 terrorists by referring to them as “some people doing something”. She is also a proponent of the ‘one-nation’ solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, which effectively means refusing to let Israel exist as a country.

Ilhan Omar was also under heavy criticism for her decision to refuse to recognize the genocide of Armenian Christians by Muslim Turks. By rejecting claims of genocide against Armenian Christians, she had claimed that the resolution lacked ‘academic consensus’.

Maharashtra: Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana charged with sedition for planning to chant Hanuman Chalisa, sent to judicial custody

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana charged with sedition for planning to chant Hanuman Chalisa, sent to judicial custody

MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana, who were earlier arrested by Mumbai Police following the Hanuman Chalisa Row, will now be facing 14-day judicial custody under Sedition charges. A Mumbai Court rejected the couple’s instant bail plea and remanded them in 14-day judicial custody where Navneet Rana will be sent to the Byculla women’s jail, while her husband will be sent to the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai.

The Rana duo were produced before Bandra Court on Sunday, after their police arrest on Saturday from their house. Both of them were booked under Sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 135 of the Mumbai Police Act (violation of prohibitory orders of police). Public prosecutor Pradip Gharat said that IPC Section 124-A (sedition) is being attracted in this case as the Rana duo allegedly challenged the government machinery and made remarks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant who submitted a bail application on behalf of Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana said that all the charges against the couple are baseless. Merchant alleged that public prosecutor Gharat has framed sedition charges against the Ranas on instructions from the police department. “Prosecutor Gharat was not able to show even a single word that was uttered allegedly by the Rana couple that shows disaffection towards the state government. The only content of the remand application was that they had prepared to come here for the purpose of chanting Hanuman Chalisa.” Advocate Rizwan, who appeared on behalf of Ranas stated.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant said that the entire case is bogus as section 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) cannot be applied for chanting Hanuman Chalisa. “They have a very strong feeling that they are standing on loose ground. They know of the possibility of release on bail & have thus prepared the 2nd FIR.” Rizwan added.

It is also notable that the couple had withdrawn their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa before Matoshree, and they were actually arrested from their home. The sedition and other charges have been slapped on them only because of their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa, which was not done.

The court has listed the matter for a bail application on April 29, 2022.

As Muslim mobs attack Hindus, The Wire’s jihad apologist shames victims, asks Hindus to behave like virtuous Muslims after the 9/11 terror attack

Pallav
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As Muslim mobs attack Hindus, The Wire’s jihad apologist shames victims, asks Hindus to behave like virtuous Muslims after the 9/11 terror attack

In yet another attempt to depict Indian Muslims as full-time victims, well-known Jihadist apologist Arfa Khanum Sherwani has tried to show Hindus to be the perpetrators of all forms of violence in India. Arfa posted a video on The Wire’s YouTube channel in which she urged that Hindus should come out and apologise for recent incidents of violence during Hindu festivals in India.

In the video, Arfa Khanum asks India’s Hindu majority population to come up and act as pious Muslims acted in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States of America. She has asked Hindus to disassociate themselves from all religious groups and come to the aid of Muslims who, despite pelting stones and firing at police, are victims.

Arfa’s decision to humiliate Hindus while presenting Muslims as victims is hardly unexpected. However, it is crucial to highlight that she has pushed Hindus to apologise for an incident in which Hindus were the losers. Muslims attacked Hindus who were celebrating festivals across the country, as has been widely acknowledged and confirmed. Whether it be Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, or Delhi, it was the Muslim residents who assaulted the Hindus who were busy celebrating their festivals.

Also, notably during the whole video, Arfa has tried to show herself as the flagbearer and brand ambassador of India as that people only reach out to her with complaints regarding India. She has stated that India was previously regarded as a poor but peaceful country and the international community just knew about the jovial attitude of Indians. Well, these points need no elaboration as everyone around is well aware of the self-obsession Arfa has with herself and all her theories are just fiction that she has created in her mind.

Arfa has skilfully sought to pin the whole blame for the violence on Hindus. This is a complete rejection of the rightly-acknowledged reality that Hindus are the true victims of violence! Expressions of Hindu self-assertion are continuously mocked and degraded. When society wants a more open discussion on the Hijab, it is the Hindutva activist who is killed by extremist Islamists. Back then, there was no such campaign by Arfa to encourage Muslims to stand and apologise for Harsha’s death!

As Hindus have been deprived of their right to self-identity, it turns out that they also lose the chance to be victims. At a time when Hindu festivities are being assaulted, Arfa is pleading with Hindus to apologise to the assailants, Muslims.

Arfa Khanum has mentioned 9/11 and the apologies of some Muslims because the terrorists in the assault were Muslims, but she has not asked her ‘peaceful’ community members to condole and apologise for the horrible atrocities inflicted against Kashmiri Hindus.

If she wants Hindus to repent for a crime of which they were victims, why not invite the descendants of the perpetrators of the genocide against Kashmiri Hindus to come out and apologise for what they did to them? And why only Kashmiri Hindus? Muslims should apologise to the whole Hindu population for being tortured and killed like anything by their ancestors, the Mughals.

It will never be forgotten that stones, gun shells, and bottles were fired by Muslim mobs at Hindu processions taken out on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti from Jahangirpuri in Delhi to Khargone in Madhya Pradesh to Kurnool in Andhra. In these situations, the Muslim mob was never a victim; rather, they were the actual perpetrators. Furthermore, the administration pursued legal punishment against the culprits without regard for faith.

Arfa’s request that Hindus apologise to Muslims is just another attempt to further the cause of Muslim victimisation and covertly promote Hinduphobia, which will make Hindus apathetic to their traditions and rituals and reduce them to a majority of number. Also, It should also happen the other way around, with Muslims coming out to embrace and reconcile with the genuine atrocities perpetrated against Hindus, as well as apologising on behalf of their forefathers, whom they fervently defend.

Missionaries in Tamil Nadu now luring school students to follow Christianity for ‘good marks’, new report suggests

OpIndia Staff
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Missionaries in Tamil Nadu now luring school students to follow Christianity for ‘good marks’, new report suggests

A new report from South of Tamil Nadu has come where repeated instances of attempts of religious conversion on school children have been exposed. An investigation by News 18 has thrown light on how innocent children going to school, tuitions are being either lured or targeted for adopting Christian ways of praying which has added to the headache of parents in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The investigation by the news agency comes three months after Lavanya, a 12th-grade student died by suicide after being allegedly pressurised by her missionary school staff to convert to Christianity. The case made havoc in the political circles, after which the Madras High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the probe. The wrath of conversion tactics by missionaries is often paid by Hindus living in Tamil Nadu who often lure them by promises or making monetary lending. However, the independent investigation carried out by News 18 in government aided as well as private schools, and tuition classes has concluded that even children are not being spared from the evangelical business in the southern state.

“You must pray to no other God but Jesus”

A Thirteen-year-old Class 8 student was told during an extra class that if he prays to Jesus, then he may score good marks and perform better than his classmates. Furthermore, he was told, if he fails to do so, he never meet success in his life and this would also lead to deformities in his body. The student’s father, who has now shifted him to another school has said, “School is not a place where we send our children to learn how one religion is better than others. This creates hatred.” The Parent while informed that when outraged parents took the matter to the school authorities, no serious action was taken.

“Hindus are Satans”

“Hindus are Satans. You will only get misery if you do not pray to Jesus. One must use a Bible while praying if they wish to be successful in life,” is what a 14-year-old girl was told during one of her school classes. Her father, when along with other students’ parents raised the matter with the school administration, it was not taken seriously while they were assured that it will not be repeated.

The ‘Moral Science’ classes of Propaganda

The investigation found that it was not only in schools but in tuition classes also where religious preaching was being imparted among children. A Class 3 girl student was asked by her tuition teacher to join her for prayers. According to her, she was forced to join the prayers even after she declined that she won’t be allowed by her parents to do so. “One boy in my tuition was also told that if he needs good marks he must come for prayer,” she says to a news18 correspondent.

Local resistance

According to locals and activists, the incidents of proselytization have increased in the region recently. Theiva Prakash, who runs a school in the Nagarcoil district, talked about the modus operandi of the missionaries who often pose as educationists. According to Prakash, the evangelists offer the school administration to give students lectures on pressing adolescent issues like ‘uses of cell phones’, ‘misuses of technology’ or moral science. “But as we have been told by students, these lectures slowly graduate to become preaching on prayers, the importance of one particular religion and how to pray to God and on how other religions are bad. This is complete brainwashing of a child as young as 8-9 years old,” Prakash says.

Laxmi Manivannan, who has written about conversion issues in Kanyakumari says, “If children are being lured with marks, for adults and those running a house, financial help is used as a trap.” Manivannan notes that according to her studies, 50% of the residents of Kanyakumari and nearby areas are crypto Christians – those practising Christianity in real life but who pose as Hindus on paper for beneficiary schemes of the government. “The demography of Kanyakumari and nearby villages has changed dramatically and quite evidently,’ Umayoru Bhagan, an educationist and retired professor from the city says. “Students can’t be told they will do better academically if they follow one particular religion. Playing with the future of children is criminal,” Bhagan asserts.

While local body groups and independent activists raise such issues before the authorities, the police often fails to take necessary steps to curtail discriminatory conversion practices. Many of the activists have started taking help from Hindu groups and take a concerted effort to provide support to such families who have been lured for conversion. ” We try to bring such people back to their religion and also help them file a complaint with the police if they wish to,” Bhaskar, an activist says.

Social media users slam clothing brand for printing images of Hindu deities on bikinis

OpIndia Staff
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Social media users slam clothing brand for printing images of Hindu deities on bikinis

A clothing brand named ‘Sahara Ray Swim‘ has courted controversy by printing images of Hindu deities on its new collection of swimwear. The brand is owned by Sahara Ray, a young surfer turned Only Fans model.

The brand had released a new line of swimwear called the ‘Aura Collection 2022’. Comprising mostly of thongs and micro string tops, the new collection features images of Hindu deities on top of them. The contentious images have now gone viral on social media.

While sharing images of models flaunting the objectionable swimwear, a Twitter user (@TheTrid_Ent) wrote, “So, now in the name of Aesthetics, they are using Hindu Gods as prints on Bikini Bottoms & Tops. This is Sahara Ray’s swimwear company, Justin’s ex. Is this just for the design or they’ve a motive behind? Or If they are too religious? They should start it with Jesus, isn’t it?”

Another Twitter user pointed out how the West is using Hindu Gods and Goddesses as ‘fashion design’ and ‘aesthetic material’ for their bikini tops and bottoms. “Why don’t they try to put Jesus as their aesthetic design?” she asked.

A user Procasians remarked, “Imagine having your head this far up your ass in 2022? Sad. Going private on Instagram won’t do anything. Hinduism is not a joke or an aesthetic for you to profit off of.” It must be mentioned that Sahara Ray had turned the Instagram handle of her clothing brand ‘private’ in the hopes of avoiding a social media backlash.

Another Twitter user said, “Stop profiting off Hinduism and printing deities on your bikinis. And whenever someone calls you out or asks you to apologise stop blocking them it’s giving clown behaviour”

One Akshansh Tiwari lamented that insulting Hindu deities has now become a fashion.

One Ananya wrote, “Sahara Ray, what the f is this? The disrespect and audacity are frankly shocking. Get my Gods out of your ass crack. You’re an actual disgrace I swear.”

Popular Twitter user, Madhur Singh, informed that the Instagram handle of ‘Sahara Ray Swim’ first blocked users who questioned the objectionable swimwear collection. “Later they turned the comments off and posted yet another set of photos of the same lingerie. Kinda their way of saying we are superior, we’ll do whatever we want,” he had added.

In a tweet, the Hindu IT Cell informed, “We have taken cognisance of this matter. It’s absolutely derogatory and defamatory act against Hindu ideals. We are not going to tolerate this and our team will legally proceed in this matter.”

Screengrab of the tweet by Hindu IT Cell

Past instances of Hinduphobia by companies

This is however not the first time that a brand has resorted to an open display of Hinduphobia. Earlier in May 2019, floor mats and toilet covers, bearing images of sacred Hindu Gods and Goddesses, were being sold on Amazon.

In October 2018, a Non-resident Indian named Ankita Mishra was forced to write to the ‘House of Yes’ nightclub in Bushwick in New York after discovering paintings of Hindu deities on the walls.

“The walls were papered with bejewelled images of Hindu gods like Ganesha, Saraswati, Kali and Shiva. This is the price of silence. The scales will always tip back to favour the status quo, the inherent whiteness of the spaces we enjoy,” she had remarked.

Wall paintings in the VIP bathroom of ‘House of Yes’ nightclub

“Our Hindu holidays and festivals, our grief and history, will only ever be presented as an accessory to American and European conquests — forever owned and forever used as if there are no consequences,” Mishra had added.

BJP led alliance sweeps Guwahati municipal elections by winning 58 out of 60 wards, Congress wins 0 and AAP opens account

OpIndia Staff
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BJP led alliance sweeps Guwahati municipal elections by winning 58 out of 60 wards, Congress wins 0 and AAP opens account

Yet again proving that the BJP led alliance in Assam faces no real opposition, the NDA swept the municipal elections in capital city Guwahati. Votes casted in the elections on 22 April were counted today, and NDA has won 58 out of 60 seats in the elections. Main opposition party Congress scored a duck, as the party could not win a single seat in the urban body.

In the 58 seats NDA won by NDA, BJP has won 52 and its partner AGP (Asom Gana Parishad’ won the rest 6 seats. BJP won 49 seats in today’s counting, as it has already won 3 wards unopposed.

The rest two seats were grabbed by Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). EVMs were used for the first time in the civic body elections. BJP president Bhabesh Kalita announced that mayor and deputy mayor will be elected after 3 days.

Not only Congress didn’t win a single seat, it was also not in the second position in most of the seats. The party remained in third spot in most of the wards, while AAP has emerged as the main opposition party at the Guwahati Municipal Corpiration. AAP was in second position in more than 20 wards, indicating that Congress votes were transferred to AAP.

AAP candidate Masuma Begum won form the ward no 42 in Guwahati, marking a major win for the party which has set up its organisation in the state recently. It is notable that the area covered by ward no 42 is minority dominated.

The other non-NDA candidate to win is the AJP candidate Hukum Chand Ali Bakshi, who won from ward no 1.

BJP leaders alleged that AJP and AAP won the two wards by playing communal politics, as both wards dominated by minorities. They also conceded that the demography of the two wards is not favourable for BJP.

Prime minister Narendra Modi thanked the citizens of Guwahati for their votes to the BJP-AGP alliance. “Thank you Guwahati! The people of this lovely city have given a resounding mandate to BJP  to build on the agenda of development”, he tweeted.

“I bow my head to the people of Guwahati for giving BJP & its allies a historic win in GMC Elections,” tweeted chief minister Himanta Biswa Sharma.

The debacle of the Congress party marks the continued defeats the party is facing. Not just Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the party is also badly losing local body polls, and also could not unite the opposition to win a Rajya Sabha election. Just 2 days ago, Pradesh Congress president Bhupen Borah had claimed that his party will win, and the party was discussing the selection of mayor and deputy mayor. But today, the party didn’t win a single seat.

In the municipal elections held in 80 towns last month, BJP led NDA had won 73 municipal bodies in Assam. In those elections too, Congress didn’t win a single civic body.

Saudi Arabia bans Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. Here’s why

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia bans Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. Here’s why

The much-awaited Marvel Studio movie “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has been banned in Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries over the presence of an LGBTQ+ character.

According to the reports, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the second Doctor Strange film and the latest offering from phase 4 of the Marvel cinematic universe, was all set to release in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on May 5. However, the Saudi Arabian censors did not issue the distribution certificate to the Marvel Studio movie.

The Benedict Cumberbatch-led superhero movie is scheduled to hit theatres in the US on May 6.

The Sam Raimi-directed sequel has a character named “America Chavez”, played by actor Xochitl Gomez. Her character in the film is reportedly gay.

Advanced tickets are no longer available on the websites of cinemas in Saudi Arabia. Tickets are also not yet available in neighboring Gulf countries of Kuwait and Qatar putting a question mark over the film’s release there as well. However, they are available for sale in the United Arab Emirates, suggesting it will be released there.

Earlier, Marvel’s “The Eternals” was also banned in Saudi Arabia for featuring same-gender couple romance and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first gay superhero. Steven Spielberg’s romantic musical West Side Story was also banned across all Gulf countries over the presence of a transgender character

Homosexuality remains illegal in the Islamic countries of the gulf and attracts a strict punishment by law.

Gujarat: Viral video shows dargah constructed in Heritage complex in Surat

Nirwa Mehta
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Gujarat: Viral video shows dargah constructed in Heritage complex in Surat

A viral video shows a dargah inside the Heritage Complex in Surat’s Chowkbazar area.

The video shows that new stones are laid in cement and the person who shot the video alleged that the dargah has come up overnight and that the same did not exist till recently and had been constructed overnight. “Today there has been encroachment here, tomorrow it will be at your place,” the person in the video can be heard saying. The ‘dargah’ is one of Gaiban Shah Walid.

As per sources, when the police were approached for details of the dargah which was looking into ownership of the same. The police said that the ownership records show that the land belongs to three parties. One party is Surat Municipal Corporation, one is government land and one party is a private party. On being probed who the private owner is, Surat Police official said that it is a trust with 5-6 trustees. The police said that they have reached out to city survey for further details on ownership of the land.

One Ghanibhai Desai, Gordhanbhai Chokhawala, Yashwantbhai Shukla, Ishwarlal Desai, Chunibhai Bhatt are trustees which partly owns the land. Essentially, the land of Heritage Complex has three separate owners. Part of it is owned by Surat Municipal Corporation, part is owned by Gujarat government and some part is owned by the trust mentioned above. To find out where the dargah falls under the authorities will need to know ownership of that particular area from city survey.

However, from the above information is seems that the waqf has not yet laid claim on the dargah. While some local media reports claim that the dargah has been there since many years, it cannot be independently verified.

Surat Municipal Corporation body is Waqf property

In November last year, the SMC headquarters Muglisara has been declared waqf property. It was reported that since the building was used by Haj pilgrims in 17th century and since it was donated by a Muslim ruler, citing Sharia, the state waqf board laid claims. Supreme Court’s declaration that ‘once a waqf, always a waqf’ was also relied on.

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