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Punjab: Ghulam Nabi Azad dropped from star campaigner list days after Modi govt conferred Padma Bhushan, Manish Tewari snubbed too

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab: Ghulam Nabi Azad dropped from star campaigner list days after Modi govt conferred Padma Bhushan, Manish Tewari snubbed too

The Congress has dropped its prominent members of G-23, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manish Tewari from the list of star campaigners it issued on February 4 ahead of the Punjab Assembly Elections. This has done anything but indicated the internal rift of the Congress party in India.

The list includes Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and many more Congress leaders from different states but does not include senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lok Sabha MP from the state Manish Tewari.

Azad and Tewari, the members of Congress G-23 had questioned the leadership in Congress and written to Sonia Gandhi seeking an overhaul in view of the frequent failures of the party. In August 2020, the letter had demanded immediate and active leadership and to rearrange the organisational structure of the party.

Ghulam Nabi Azad has recently been conferred with Padma Bhushan by the Modi government. But the party seems to have taken the stand as Azad continues to defy Congress’ stand on several occasions.

Manish Tewari meanwhile has sarcastically censured the Congress’ decision saying that the reasons of his exclusion are no more secret. “I would have been pleasantly surprised if it would have been the other way around. The reasons are also no state secret”, he said.

The core part of concern forms regarding exclusion of Manish Tewari, the Hindu face who has won from the Anandpur Sahib seat. While there are around 40 per cent of Hindus in the state, earlier another Hindu face of the party Sunil Jakhar, was also sidelined for the post of Chief Minister despite having the support of 42 MLAs.

Jakhar had complained that he was not considered during change of guard after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down in September last year, only because he was a Hindu. However, Jakhar sees himself in the list of star campaigners for Punjab polls today.

The 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held on February 20 to elect the 117 members of the 16th Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on March 10.

GoFundMe removes online funding campaign for truckers’ Convoy in Canada, withholds over 9 million dollars

OpIndia Staff
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GoFundMe removes online funding campaign for truckers’ Convoy in Canada, withholds over 9 million dollars

Online fundraising platform GoFundMe has announced that the fundraiser for Canada’s trucker convoy has now been ‘removed’ from the platform over violation of ‘terms of service’. The platform is now withholding the over 9 million dollars donated to the protesting truckers in Canada.

The online fundraising platform had earlier paused the fundraiser and announced that they would be reviewing the nearly $10 million funds raised by Canada’s truckers, who are now protesting against the vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions imposed by the Canadian government.

Earlier, the online funding platform had stated it has suspended the funding and was reviewing the campaign after truckers had raised nearly $10 million in support of the protest.

In a statement posted to the website, GoFundMe said it “supports peaceful protests, and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created.

“We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity,” the statement read.

GoFundMe obeys Canada govt and police orders

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson has stated that the government and the police had asked GoFundMe to stop the campaign and prevent the truckers from receiving the money raised for them.

The online fundraising platform added that to ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, they work with local authorities to ensure they have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground.

“Following a review of relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Term 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been removed from the platform,” the statement read.

The fundraiser, which lists Tamara Lich as an organiser and BJ Dichter as a “team member”, has been removed after raising $10,125,100. It was created to support the truckers that have travelled across Canada to Ottawa to participate in a protest against Covid-19 restrictions.

In fact, GoFundMe had released $1 million earlier after protests showed the plans that the money would be used to cover the cost of fuel for participants peacefully protesting.

GoFundMe said that they would work with organisers to send all remaining funds to “credible and established charities” chosen by the Freedom Convoy 2022 organisers and verified by GoFundMe. The fundraising platform has also put out a notice asking donors to submit a request for a full refund until February 19, 2022.

The protests began on January 29 in the nation’s capital, which later engulfed major cities across the country. The protests took a violent form after some of the protestors were caught urinating on the National War Memorial, one even danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The truckers have now driven their truck all the way to Parliament Hill to protest against the vaccine mandates.

Elon Musk calls GoFundMe ‘professional thieves’

GoFundMe’s act is inviting condemnation and widespread outrage. Billionaire Elon Musk has called them ‘professional thieves’ in a tweet.

The ‘liberal’ government in Canada has been vocally condemning the truckers’ protests and has been vilifying it. PM Trudeau has called the truckers ‘disgusting’. The ruling politicians have termed the truckers protest as ‘ the occupation of Ottawa’.

On February 4, the Public Safety Committee had voted to bring Go FundMe to testify about the fundraising for the truckers on their platform. The Removal of the fundraiser has come on the next day.

Facebook removes page promoting the Freedom Convoy that rejects vaccine mandates in USA

On Wednesday, Facebook has removed a page “Convoy to DC” of truck drivers opposing vaccine rules in the USA. The truckers have slammed this step of Facebook as censorship at its finest. The truck drivers’ “Freedom Convoy” was planned from California to Washington DC. This was being done after being inspired by the Canadian truckers who had recently taken their convoy opposing the vaccine mandates.

The group of protesting truckers had made a Facebook page named “Convoy to DC 2022”. Facebook has removed this page on Wednesday for violating policies around QAnon. In October 2020, Facebook had labelled QAnon a “violence-inducing conspiracy network” and announced group pages and admins tied to QAnon will be removed. 

The Facebook account of Jeremy Johnson, who had created this page, has also been removed. He has now contacted a lawyer to figure out his next move. Reacting to this, Johnson said, “They like to silence people that speak the truth.”

UK: Convicted child sexual abuser of Pakistani origin, ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed sentenced to 5.5 years imprisonment

OpIndia Staff
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UK: Convicted child sexual abuser of Pakistani origin, ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed sentenced to 5.5 years imprisonment

On Friday (February 4), former UK Parliamentarian Lord Nazir Ahmed was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment on charges of child sexual abuse. The Pakistani origin politician was convicted last month for attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 11 in the 1970s.

As per reports, Lord Nazir Ahmed was found guilty of one count of buggery and two counts of attempted rape. While reading out his sentence, Justice Lavender remarked, “Your actions have had profound and lifelong effects on the girl and the boy, who have lived with what you did to them for between 46 and 53 years. Their statements express more eloquently than I ever could how your actions have affected their lives in so many different and damaging ways.”

During the trial, the jury had also found that Ahmed’s brothers Farouq (71) and Tariq (66) had also sexually assaulted the male victim, whom the former Parliamentarian had abused. However, they were deemed unfit to stand trial.

Victim demands UK Parliament to strip child sexual abuser of his ‘Lord’ title

Although the victims have expressed satisfaction over the sentencing, the male victim has called for stripping the former Labour Party leader of his peerage (title of Lord Ahmed of Rotherham). “I’m happy in that he got a lengthy custodial sentence, but not happy he is still called a lord and everything that goes with it. It cannot be right that people are still referring to him honourable Lord Ahmed – he’s a paedophile, there is nothing honourable about that at all.”

It must be mentioned that Lord Nazir Ahmed cannot technically be stripped of his peerage, owing to a legal anomaly and the UK government needs to amend the law to facilitate such a thing. The male victim also read out a personal statement about the impact of the sexual abuse committed by ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed and his 2 brothers.

“I buried the abuse and carried it with me on my own for years and years. I feel shame because of what these men did to me. This is not about revenge, this is about justice,” he remarked. The male victim said that the abuse left him traumatised and he could not show affection to his own children.

The female victim narrated, “An overwhelming feeling of shame remained with me throughout my childhood and early adult years. It was a burden I was made to carry, and it silenced me for many years. It is now time for me to pass that burden to him – the paedophile who I know feels no personal shame.” She added that the 5 years’ sentence would prevent Lord Nazir Ahmed from ‘raping children for a while’.

Lord Nazir Ahmed and his anti-India campaign

Lord Nazir Ahmed, the face of the anti-India campaign and Kashmiri separatists in the UK, was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and later moved to the UK. Nazir has been in the vanguard of a nasty anti-India campaign, giving venomous remarks against India over the Kashmir conflict on numerous occasions. He’s also been a vocal supporter of separatist Khalistani organisations.

During the 69th Republic Day celebrations at the office of the High Commission of India in 2018, Ahmed organised a ‘Black day’ protest in which Pakistani protesters tore Indian flags by hand and shredded them underfoot. Ahmed had also hired five private billboard vans with slogans such as ‘Free Kashmir,’ ‘Free Khalistan,’ ‘Free Assam,’ ‘Free Nagaland,’ and ‘Free Manipur.’

In August 2018, he was one of the key speakers at the contentious ‘Khalistani Referendum 2020’ event in London’s Trafalgar Square. Many Indians, however, gathered to hold a counter-protest and show their open support for India’s sovereignty. During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom in 2018, it was reported that Nazir Ahmed supported an anti-India campaign by Kashmiri and Sikh separatists.

According to reports, some British Sikhs and Kashmiri separatists planned an anti-India campaign in the UK during Prime Minister Modi’s April 2018 visit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Lord Nazir is reported to have funded the protest.

Facebook removes page promoting the Freedom Convoy opposing vaccine rules in the USA over ‘violation of policies’

OpIndia Staff
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Facebook removes page promoting the Freedom Convoy opposing vaccine rules in the USA over ‘violation of policies’

Facebook, on Wednesday, has removed a page ‘Convoy to DC’ of truck drivers opposing vaccine rules in the USA. The truckers have slammed this step of Facebook as censorship at its finest. The truck drivers’ “Freedom Convoy” was planned from California to Washington DC. This was being done after being inspired by the Canadian truckers who had recently taken their convoy opposing the vaccine mandates.

The group of protesting truckers had made a Facebook page named “Convoy to DC 2022”. Facebook has removed this page on Wednesday for violating policies around QAnon. In October 2020, Facebook had labeled QAnon a “violence-inducing conspiracy network” and announced group pages and admins tied to QAnon will be removed. 

According to a report by Fox News, the Facebook account of Jeremy Johnson, who had created this page, has also been removed. He has now contacted a lawyer to figure out his next move. Reacting to this, Johnson said, “They like to silence people that speak the truth.”

Brian Brase who had helped in organizing this protest has said “I was troubled by the alleged censorship without further clarification from Facebook’s parent company Meta. I have to laugh about that. They actually had offered the administrators to remove content and then request to review again. They didn’t even give that option.”

Mike Landis, one of the protesting truckers has said “The protest has been a long time coming and the Americans are fatigued by ongoing government overreach in the form of pandemic-related mandates.” He further told Fox News “The presence of that amount of people that show that they are unhappy with what’s going on is a good way to hopefully get their attention.”

The American truckers want immediate end to vaccine mandates and hence were planning the truck protests. They are currently looking at March 1 as the tentative date for protests.

Lallantop, Live Hindustan and others spread fake news claiming UP cabinet minister’s PRO had shot at Asaduddin Owaisi’s car

OpIndia Staff
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Lallantop, Live Hindustan and others spread fake news claiming UP cabinet minister’s PRO had shot at Asaduddin Owaisi’s car

Liberal media have fallen flat on the face yet again when they presented a cabinet minister’s PRO as the one who had shot at Asaduddin Owaisi’s car. After realizing this blunder, some of the media portals have apologized for the same. Lallantop from the India Today group and Live Hindustan were among the media houses that had published the fake reports.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi was attacked on Thursday while returning from Meerut where he had been for election campaigning. As the news of arresting the alleged culprits emerged, some news portals hurried to reveal the identity of the accused with an eagerness to find the BJP connections they might have. The accused have been identified as Sachin Pandit and Shubham. Sachin Pandit lives in Badalpur area of greater Noida.

Rushing to publish the news on Sachin Pandit and his background and his alleged connections with the top BJP leaders including the Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, some portals went on to publish the photographs of a different person with UP CM Yogi Adityanath, to show that the attacker is close with top BJP leaders. However, the photographs they use features Nitesh Singh Tomar, who happens to be the PRO of Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, the cabinet minister for Panchayat Raj in the Uttar Pradesh government.

Live Hindustan published Nitesh Singh Tomar’s photo as Sachin Pandit.

Nitesh Singh Tomar has tweeted the screenshots of the denigrating news reports published by these websites and has urged the Uttar Pradesh police to take action against the same. He has said “I am Nitesh Singh Tomar, PRO of cabinet minister Shri Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary. A malicious attempt is being made to malign my image by circulating my photo in the name of Sachin Hindu. I condemn those who do this in election times. UP Police, please take action against those who do this.”

With this tweet attached are the screenshots of various news websites including the Lallantop and the Live Hindustan.

Nitesh Singh Tomar was defamed as Sachin Pandit alias Sachin Hindu on the Lallantop website.

After Nitesh Singh Tomar tweeted this and tagged UP police in his tweet, the Lallantop website edited the news report adding an apology in the end. The Lallantop has written in its apology “Sachin Pandit has shared a picture of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his Facebook account. In this, CM Yogi is seen honouring a young man. Some users on social media have shared this picture by calling this young man Sachin Pandit. Whereas the young man seen in that picture is not Sachin Pandit. Even in this news of The Lallantop, the young man who was earlier seen with Yogi was told as Sachin Pandit, for which we are sorry.”

The Lallantop later said that they are sorry.

Reading such misleading news on these websites, journalists came forward to peddle their own anti-BJP agenda. Pankaj Chaturvedi had posted in his tweet “This is Sachin Hindu who shot at Owaisi’s vehicle right in front of the CCTV camera. Are you now getting why the same people have made this picture viral? Polarization is the only way left for them to return to power.”

Journalist Pankaj Chaturvedi who relied on liberal news websites also went on to defame Nitesh Singh Tomar.

However, Pankaj Chaturvedi has later deleted the tweet without any open apology.

As per the Facebook account of actual accused Sachin Hindu, he is also a BJP supporter, however, it is not confirmed whether he is a member of the party or not.

While it is true that Sachin Hindu had posted two photographs of Nitesh Singh Tomar with Yogi Adityanath, the argument that media houses mistook Tomar for Sachin for that reason is doubtful. Because, if the media houses found the photo on Sachin’s Facebook account, they also must have come across Sachin’s actual photos, and Sachin and Nitesh Tomar do not look similar to mistake the one for another. Moreover, photographs of Sachin after his arrest has also been published, and therefore it is not believable that the media houses mistakenly assumed Nitesh Tomar to be Sachin Hindu.

Six CMs changed, but Hari Shankar Tiwari remained in office: The SP leader who was the first mafia don to win polls from jail

अनुपम कुमार सिंह
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Six CMs changed, but Hari Shankar Tiwari remained in office: The SP leader who was the first mafia don to win polls from jail

In Purvanchal politics, there has been one person who has built his influence in the government of every political party and has stayed influential in the area for a long period. Not only that, but he has also promoted several members of his family to positions of power, including MLAs and MPs. Uttar Pradesh ganglord turned politician, and now Samajwadi Party member Hari Shankar Tiwari is the name of the man who moved from crime to politics, and if there was another centre of power in Gorakhpur besides Gorakhnath Math, it was his sprawling mansion, ‘Hata.’ (Tiwari’s house as referred by local people).

Hari Shankar Tiwari dominated UP politics for a long time, other family members also held important positions

Hari Shankar Tiwari competed for and won the Chillupar Assembly Constituency as an independent candidate in the 1985 elections. Following that, he ran for Congress and won in 1989, 1991, and 1993. He won for the fifth time on the ‘All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)’ ticket. In 2002, he won the same constituency for the sixth time in a row on the ticket of the ‘All India Democratic Congress.’ In 2017, he secured a BSP ticket for his son Vinay Shankar Tiwari and made him an MLA from this seat.

Meanwhile, his second son, Bhishma Shankar Tiwari, was elected as an MP from Sant Kabir Nagar on a Samajwadi Party ticket. From 2009 until 2014, he served in the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament. Hari Shankar Tiwari’s repute has been that of a notorious gangster. Tanda, Chillupar is where he was born and raised. He earned the title of being the first gangster to win an election while sitting in jail. He used to be regarded as Uttar Pradesh’s most powerful “Brahmin face”, and had founded the ‘All India Democratic Congress’ with other politicians in 1997.

Whether it was Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav or Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta or Rajnath Singh, or even Mayawati, he served in all of these regimes as a minister. Ganesh Shankar Pandey, his nephew, rose through the ranks of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council to become Chairman.

Let’s go back in time to when Purvanchal was considered an epicentre of gang wars. Hari Shankar Tiwari’s career in politics began in the 1980s. For years, he remained the only constant in the ever-changing UP political landscape. However, in the 2007 and 2012 elections, he was defeated in his stronghold.

Beginning of crime in Purvanchal and gang war between mafia

This was the time in Purvanchal when the task of identifying youths and bringing them into the world of crime began. The more energetic and dynamic the youth was, the more likely he ought to be recruited by a mafia group. Harishankar Tiwari claims that he had no choice but to enter politics when then-Chief Minister Veer Bahadur Singh imprisoned him after filing a fake case against him. He was already a member of the Congress and had worked with Indira Gandhi previously.

In the 1980s, he was charged with 26 different crimes. Murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion, and hindering government activity were among the offences, Tiwari was involved in. However, until today, Tiwari has not been convicted in any of the cases filed against him.

In Purvanchal, the 1980s were a time when tenders were released for a wide range of development projects, and criminals contended for them. Hari Shankar Tiwari gradually began to take over the entire Purvanchal’s contracts.

He made his own rule to rule over every department, from railways, coal supply, and mining to liquor. His clout was such that he established a ‘Robinhood’ image among the masses. Despite allegations after allegations kept re-surfacing against him, Tiwari continued to reach the assembly by winning again and again and becoming a minister.

He is now 85 years old and has not competed since his defeat in 2012. In Gorakhpur’s Jatashankar neighbourhood, he owns a fort-like home. Most decisions in Purvanchal were made by holding a court in his ‘Hata.’

There was a time when it was said that the fortune of whichever political party Tiwari associated with changed. His clout spread from Ghazipur to Varanasi, but Harishankar Tiwari started it all in Gorakhpur. At the time, Gorakhpur was engulfed in caste violence. People still hold them responsible for criminalization in colleges and universities. It was then, the contract killer, active during the 1990s mainly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Sriprakash Shukla was also born.

It is believed that the astute Hari Shankar Tiwari specialized in carrying out criminal activities from behind the scenes rather than taking the initiative from the front. During those days, a new war between Rajputs and Brahmins had also erupted in his region. However, due to his wily intelligence, he remained ingratiated with all political parties. He rose through the ranks of the mafia to become a political ‘Pandit ji’ in Uttar Pradesh.

Prior to his imprisonment in 1985, Tiwari had won an election as an independent candidate and that too by a very large margin. Harishankar Tiwari was still in Jagdambika Pal’s cabinet when the latter became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for a day.

The gang war may have ended and guns have fallen silent in the UP’s badland, yet the gory tales of two warlords Hari Shankar Tiwari and Virendra Pratap Shahi, who fought with each other for over two decades have acquired the status of folklore. Owing to the deadly gang war between the duo, the region earned the sobriquet of ‘Chicago of the East’ and ‘Slice of Sicily’.

The two criminals, Hari Shanker Tiwari and Virendra Pratap Shahi, and their associates, carried out around 50 murders in their quest for supremacy. It is believed that Virendra Shahi had also benefited from the Math’s assistance. In 1997, however, Shahi was assassinated by Sriprakash Shukla. Notably, it was during this period that the Gangster Act was enacted for the very first time to keep both of them in check.

When Yogi Adityanath government went against Tiwari’s empire

The current scenario is such that Tiwari and his family have no specific political clout. However, in December last year, the Tiwari clan had joined the Samajwadi Party, after BSP supremo Mayawati ousted Vinay and Kushal Tiwari on the charges of being involved in anti-party activities. It was believed that the Tiwari family could make its way into the SP camp, as the party saw it as an opportunity to woo Brahmin voters, given that the Tiwari family still has a massive political influence amongst the Brahmin vote bank in Purvanchal.

Despite his influence and political connections, Hari Shankar Tiwari could not survive the crackdown against the mafia that began after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government took control of the reins of Uttar Pradesh. Tiwari’s home was raided by officers from five different police stations. The search was linked to Rs 98 lakh being looted from the cashier of a private firm in Gorakhpur’s Khorabar area on March 13, 2017.

According to reports, one Chhotu Choubey, who was arrested in the case had named some Sonu Pathak. The location of Pathak was found at Hari Shankar Tiwari’s house. It was then, a raid was conducted at his home based on this information.

During the investigation, police had found out that cashier Ajay Pratap was behind the loot. Following this, Ajay Pratap and three others were arrested. Police recovered Rs 31 lakh of the booty. Those arrested reportedly told the police that the remaining Rs 67 lakh was with Chhotu Chaubey. When police started a search for Chhotu, he surrendered in court in an old case.

Interestingly, the Tiwari family had made this raid into a political agenda to target the Yogi Government. Tiwari had even taken to the streets to protest against the action taken by the Yogi Government. Many police officials had to be deployed then due to the huge ruckus created by Tiwari and his loyalists. This, however, could not hold back the Yogi Adityanath administration, who also conducted raids on the premises of Tiwari’s son and BSP MLA Vijay Shankar Tiwari in October 2020.

The raid was conducted in connection with a bank loan fraud amounting to Rs 754.24 crores. The CBI has registered an FIR on a complaint from the Bank of India against two private companies- Gangotri Enterprises, Royal Empire Marketing Limited based at Lucknow and Noida its Directors and unknown others on the allegations of committing misappropriation, cheating and causing loss of Rs. 754.24 crore.

The FIR lodged by the anti-corruption bureau of the CBI Delhi unit also names its Directors- Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Ajeet Pandey, and Reeta Tiwari.

Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused/company at Noida and Lucknow which had also led to the recovery of several incriminating documents.

Uttarakhand Congress files complaint against BJP leader Tajinder Bagga for photoshopping Harish Rawat as AMU founder Syed Ahmed, says it’s a cybercrime

OpIndia Staff
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Uttarakhand Congress files complaint against BJP leader Tajinder Bagga for photoshopping Harish Rawat as AMU founder Syed Ahmed, says it’s a cybercrime

Uttarakhand Congress has filed a complaint against BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga with the Election Commission after he projected former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat and other Congress leaders as Muslim leaders for promising a Muslim university in the state. Days after senior Congress leader Harish Rawat had promised a Muslim university in the state, yesterday the BJP Youth National Secretary had posted a photograph of Rawat edited to look like Syed Ahmed, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University.

Addressing Harish Rawat as Harishuddin, Tajinder Bagga had tweeted on February 3 that no matter how much he tries, an Islamic university will not come up in the Dev Bhoomi. Along with the tweet, he included a morphed image showing Harish Rawat as Syed Ahmed.

He had posted another similar image, where several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, were morphed with the white beard and red cap of Syed Ahmed. He had captioned it with saying ‘team of modern Sir Syed Ahmed of Uttarakhand’.

Uttarakhand Congress has objected to such morphed images of Rawat and other Congress leaders posted by Bagga, and have lodged a complaint with the EC against him.

In the complaint filed yesterday, the Congress party claims that by showing Harish Rawat as the AMU founder, Tajinder Bagga has tarnished the image of Rawat. The party claims that the act of Bagga violates the Model Code of Conduct for the elections, and it is also cybercrime.

Therefore, the party has requested EC to block the Twitter and Facebook accounts of Tajinder Bagga, and also to initiate strict legal action against him.

The Complaint against Bagga by Congress

However, the Delhi BJP leader who is in charge of Uttarakhand BJP Youth has refused to stop slamming the Congress party for promising a Muslim University in the state, and has posted more memes on his Twitter account. After the Congress party lodged the complaint against him, he again posted the meme showing Harish Rawat as Syed Ahmed, saying that he will do it again and again, and will do it 1000 times.

“They can do 1000s of complaint against me, they can send me to jail but till my last breath I will fight against Congress plan of Islamization of Devbhumi”, Bagga tweeted.

He also posted a meme based on a meme template using the Telugu movie Pushpa which has gone viral on social media, showing Rawat promising that he will not stop before constructing a Muslim University.

Not just Bagga, a large number of social media users are using memes to slam the Congress party for promising a Muslim University. Several users have posted memes showing Harish Rawat as Syed Ahmed, and calling Rawat Sir Syed Harishuddin Khan, Chancellor or Vice Chancellor of Uttarakhand Muslim University.

The Congress party also has lodged a complaint with the police for such Facebook posts. In a complaint filed with Kotdwar police station in Garhwal, the party wrote that several users posted a morphed image of Harish Rawat calling him the new Chancellor of Uttarakhand Muslim University, alleging that such posts invoke religious feelings amid to damage the situation amid the elections.

The party had sought action against the social media users for creating memes using Harish Rawat’s photo.

It may be noted that recently, Congress leader Aqeel Ahmed had revealed that Harish Rawat has promised to build a university for Muslim students if Congress comes to power. Ahmed said that he agreed to withdraw his nomination after Rawat had agreed to his demands, which included setting up a Muslim University in the state.

Aqeel Ahmed who belongs to Sahaspur had taken back his nomination for Assembly Elections 2022, only after 12 of his demands were approved by the former CM and senior Congress leader Harish Rawat. Ahmed confirmed that state congress leader Devendra Yadav also supported one of his 12 demands, to open a university for Muslims. “I am ready to support Aryendra Sharma to fight elections from Sahaspur constituency. I have no problem as Harish Rawat ji and Devendra Yadav has agreed to my demands. Rawat ji has promised to construct a university for Muslims students in Uttarakhand. I don’t want anything else”, he said in the video that went viral on social media.

Tek Fog App not found on prominent App and APK stores: IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar clarifies in Parliament

OpIndia Staff
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Tek Fog App not found on prominent App and APK stores: IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar clarifies in Parliament

The government on Friday informed the Parliament that it could not locate the ‘Tek Fog’ application on any of the prominent App and APK stores.

The clarification came weeks after reports published in the media alleged that BJP was using an app called Tek Fog to manipulate trends and automatically social media platforms to spew hate online. 

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “The government has noted the news articles about the alleged app, namely ‘Tek Fog’, that has been used to manipulate the social media platforms”.

The IT Minister said they tried to locate the app on major app stores and APK stores but could not find the app in any online stores. The minister further said that the IT Ministry was unaware of any technical vulnerability that makes social media intermediaries susceptible to manipulation, as reported in the news articles.

“The government is committed to open, safe and trusted, and accountable internet for users,” he added.

Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar said that the government is aware of the risk and danger posed by the growing phenomenon of dissemination of wrong and hateful information through some social media platforms. The IT Ministry does not track and monitor apps or content appearing on social media platforms, the minister added.

The minister also informed that the Centre has taken several steps to address the challenges of user harm and hateful information available on social media intermediaries or platforms.

Tek Fog: The imaginary app with superpowers invented by the Wire to target BJP

The left-wing propaganda portal The Wire had published a report claiming that BJP was using an app to manipulate trends and automatically spew hate online. Relying on an August 2020 tweet and some imaginary ‘source’, The Wire claimed that the party was using one software named Tek Fog, led by BJP leader Devang Dave. Even though Dave completely denied the allegations in an email to Wire, they still published the story.

In the report, Wire claimed that the so-called Tek Fog app allowed BJP to ‘hijack’ the Twitter trends, allowed managing multiple WhatsApp accounts and direct online harassment of anti-BJP journalists. The report claims that the app can bypass all kinds of security features that major social media platforms have.

According to The Wire, Tek Fog has some kind of superpower, which has capabilities that even the NSA of the USA does not have. According to Wire, hacking top apps like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc., is a child’s play using the app, and all security features of those platforms vanish with this magical piece of software.

The portal based the story on a couple of tweets by one Aarthi Sharma, who in August 2020 had claimed on Twitter that she had been working in the IT cell since 2014 and was promised a govt job. After not getting the promised job, she had ‘revealed’ that she was asked to use the ‘secret app’ Tek Fog, which bypasses reCAPTCHA codes and is used to auto-upload text and hashtag trends.

Before publishing the story, the Wire had contacted Devang Dave for his comments, and he had completely denied the allegations. In a mail sent to the portal, he had said that BJP or BJYM never indulged in any such social media manipulation. Saying that the organisation does not need such apps to manipulate things, Dave had said that none in the organisation was even aware of any such app.

The Wire took a u-turn to claim that they could not access the Tek Fog app but was able to find some scripts which allowed them to connect to a secure server hosting the Tek Fog app. The source supposedly provided screenshots of the app to Wire to prove its existence. The report did not include any example of the script or the URL/IP addresses of the ‘secure server’ that hosted the app.

Opposition MPs join LS speaker Om Birla in criticising Mahua Moitra for disrespecting the post of Chair

OpIndia Staff
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Opposition MPs join LS speaker Om Birla in criticising Mahua Moitra for disrespecting the post of Chair

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Friday said that the members should maintain their dignity and abstain from making remarks against the Chair inside and outside the house. Birla was alluding to Mahua Moitra’s boorish behaviour inside the Lok Sabha and her social media post where she criticised the Chair and accused it of taking her valuable time.

“Honourable members, I would like to raise an issue today. Whether inside the house or outside, comments made on the Chair is not good for the dignity of the house. The dignity of the house is sacrosanct and every honourable member respects it. The Chair always tries to be impartial and work impartially, runs the house in accordance with the rules and allots honourable members enough time to speak in the house. I humbly request that members should refrain from making comments about the chair inside or outside the house,” Birla said while referring to Moitra but explicitly naming her.

Birla further added that if there are differences between a member and the Chair, then they can visit his chamber and express their grievances with him. “The dignity of the parliamentary democracy should be protected at all times. I have taken serious cognisance of the events from the past few days. I want to request all members that making remarks against the Chair, especially outside the house and on social media and media is inappropriate and not right. You are the member of the house and you may have a difference with the Chair sometimes, so you can come to my chamber and tell me about that. I will listen to you,” he added.

Birla also expressed his gratitude to the members for attending parliamentary proceedings late into the night during biting winter and asked them to maintain the dignity of the house.

Opposition leaders express solidarity with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, reiterate the need to maintain the dignity of the House

Soon after Birla’s remarks, opposition leaders expressed their solidarity with the Speaker and shared the sentiments expressed by him.

The Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed his support to the Speaker and assured him that his party will cooperate with the Chair.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, TMC MP, said that he wholeheartedly agreed with the Speaker’s sentiments. “We are certain of the opinion that the prestige of the house should always be kept at a level where we should all remain committed to that principles, ideas and philosophy of this house,” said Bandopadhyay.

Arvind Sawant, a member of Lok Sabha from Shiv Sena, also concurred with the Speakers’ sentiments, stating that members of the house ought to respect the Chair. He said members of the house follow the tradition of joining their heads and bowing in front of the Chair while sitting and standing up from their seats and thus, they should not indulge in activities that lower the dignity of the chair and the house. He further added that members should not inconvenience others while leaving the house and should make their exit as imperceptibly as possible.

A Raja of the DMK also asserted that the dignity of the house should be maintained, stating that their party agrees with the concern raised by the honourable Speaker.

Farooq Abdullah, the National Conference MP, exalted the status of the Speaker to the Father of the House. He said the Speaker of the House is the Father of the House and one should always treat the Chair the Speaker represents with utmost dignity and respect.

The remarks were in response to a series of tweets posted by TMC MP Moitra where she alleged that the Chair interrupted her and accused it of taking away her allotted time.

Mahua Moitra lashes out at Speaker, accuses the Chair of cutting short her allotted time in Lok Sabha

“LS Speaker had allotted AT LEAST 13 mins to me when confronted in his chamber, he claimed he was not in chair hence can’t be blamed. When further cornered, he said – It was my greatness that I even allowed you 13 mins in 1st place. Unbelievable,” Moitra tweeted.

Lok Sabha Om Birla condemns Mahua Moitra for her behaviour
Source: Twitter

In a subsequent tweet, she added, “And who is Chair to interrupt me (taking up MY valuable time) to lecture me on whether I should speak with gussa or pyar? None of your business Madam. You can only correct me on rules. You are NOT the moral science teacher for LS.”

Lok Sabha Om Birla condemns Mahua Moitra for her behaviour
Source: Twitter

Earlier, Moitra had alleged that the Speaker, BJP MP from Bihar, Rama Devi, did not allow her to complete her allotted time of 13 minutes. Speaking to the media outside the parliament, a visibly livid Mahua said, “It is a sad day for our democracy and our republic that an elected member who has been allotted 13 minutes by no less than the honourable speaker is cut off and not allowed to finish. That’s why I am having to stand outside and complete my speech.”

“It is any of her business, is it her right to tell me how to give my speech? She asks me to not be angry while giving the speech. Whether I should speak in anger or with love, it is up to me. That is my tenor, that is my tone,” Mahua lashes out at Rama Devi

‘Never discriminated on passports’, EAM S Jaishankar responds straight to DMP MP who asked whether e-passports be issued only in Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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‘Never discriminated on passports’, EAM S Jaishankar responds straight to DMP MP who asked whether e-passports be issued only in Gujarat, Mumbai, Delhi

On Friday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the e-Passports would be secured by the Digital Signature of the issuing country, which will provide data authentication to the other countries, the citizens would to travel to. In his address to the Parliament today, he added that certain digital keys would also verify the e-passports at multiple stages.

In a view to clear the data security issue regarding the e-Passports, he added that the digital signature which will secure the data will be sent to other countries for recognition purposes. “The e-passports will ensure multiple layered security as the data will be on paper like regular passports and also on the verified chips”, he said.

This is after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget announcement affirmed that the government will roll out e-Passports from 2022-23 to enhance the convenience of the citizens. She also had said that the move to introduce E-passport would further enhance security and facilitate smoother international travel.

Jaishankar further stated that this is the right time for India to adopt chip-based passports as many other countries are already using it. Assuring that the government will start issuing chip-based passports in the coming six months, he informed that the letter of intent to procure 4.5 crores of chips and antenna for the process has been signed.

Meanwhile, DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran asked whether the government was planning to issue e-passports only in Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi. Responding straight to the motivated question, Jaishankar added that the government has never discriminated among citizens of different states for passports.

“On passport side we have never discriminated in favor of any state or against any state. I resent that”, he said urging the DMK leader to not make such comments. The External Affairs Minister also stated that the time taken to issue the passports today has drastically improved and that the administrative processes at the airport have also improved.

MEA secretary Sanjay Bhattacharya had previously mentioned about e-Passport in his tweet. He had said that Nashik-based India Security Press was in the process of awarding a contract for the production of ICAO-compliant electronic chip inlays for passport jackets.

According to the reports, e-passports will use radio frequency identification (RFID) and bio-metrics to ascertain the identity of the individuals. The chip embedded e-Passports will help in securing the personal data of the passport holder like name, bio-metric details. In case there is tampering with the chip, the system will detect it and in such a case the passport will not be authenticated.

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