An intervention application has been filed in the Supreme Court by Hindu Sena to oppose a writ petition seeking criminal action against the participants of the 3-day Dharma Sansad conclave, which took place between December 17-19 last year.
As per reports, the application has been moved by Sena National President Vishnu Gupta in response to the writ petition by one journalist named Qurban Ali and advocate Anjana Prakash. He had sought directions from the apex Court to register cases against various politicians like AIMIM leader Assaduddin Owaisi, Waris Pathan, Sajid Rashidi, Amanatullah Khan and Tamper Raza.
Gupta highlighted that the writ petition was an attempt to scandalise Hindu spiritual leaders. He pointed out that the event of Dharma Sansad cannot be treated as an attack on other religions. The applicant argued that the contentious speeches made by the participants of the event were in response to the consistent attacks on Hindu culture and civilisation by non-Hindus and did not fall under the purview of ‘hate speech.’
He added that the remarks made during Dharma Sansad cannot be ascertained as ‘hate speech’ without a detailed enquiry by an investigating officer. The intervention application stated, “The Constitution of India provides equal protection to the followers of all faith and religion, in this context reference may be made to Article 19(1)(a) and (b) read with Article-25 of the constitution of India.”
Vishnu Gupta claimed that conducting of Dharma Sansad by Hindus was protected by Articles 19A, 19B and 25 of the Indian Constitution and objections to it amounted to the encroachment of Fundamental Rights of Hindus. It must be mentioned that a Supreme Court Bench comprising of Justices Hima Kohli, Surya Kant and Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had issued notice on January 12 in the writ petition filed by Ali and Prakash.
Police action in the Dharma Sansad case
It may be recalled that a day after speeches of leaders like Yati Narsinghanand and other Hindu leaders went viral, an FIR was filed in Uttarakhand over the speeches that called upon Hindus to collect arms. The speeches were deemed as provocative and social media was rife with Leftists and Islamists claiming that the speeches called for a Muslim genocide.
Ashok Kumar, DGP, said the police had received a complaint and filed an FIR under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) related to the statements made at the recent Dharma Sansad event in Haridwar.
An FIR was filed against Waseem Rizvi (now Jitendra Narayan Tyagi) and several others involved in the event on the basis of a complaint by one Gulbahar Khan. As per the complaint, Rizvi and some other individuals made derogatory remarks against Islamic prophet Mohammad and the followers of Islam. He was arrested for inciting violence on January 13 this year for Haridwar ‘Dharma Sansad’ hate speech case.
Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday cast aspersions on Virat Kohli giving up his captaincy earlier this month. In a conversation with news agency ANI, Akhtar claimed that Kohli did not relinquish his captaincy but was ‘forced to do so’.
#WATCH | Virat Kohli did not relinquish the captaincy himself. He was forced to do so… He is a great cricketer. I think he is going to come out of this: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar in Muscat, Oman pic.twitter.com/jbXU5My2bj
“Chhodi nahin, chhudwai gayi hai… aise hi hai na? (He hasn’t left, he was made to leave, isn’t it so?)” he said. In an interview with Aaj Tak, Akhtar claimed that there is a lobby against Kohli. Many pro-Congress ‘liberals’ have also cast similar aspersions on Kohli’s leaving captaincy.
Has Virat Kohli paid the price for speaking up against hate? Did he jump or was he pushed?
Virat is currently the ‘favourite’ of the ‘liberals’ in India for having spoken up against Diwali firecrackers and many had claimed that he is facing the ‘wrath’ for standing up for Mohammad Shami when he was trolled by Pakistanis after the T20 World Cup loss against Pakistan. It was very obvious that the Pakistanis had peddled the ‘Shami abused for being a Muslim’ narrative and ‘liberals’ amplified it. Along with Kohli, other cricketers had also extended solidarity with Shami. Except, everyone then just assumed that Kohli’s captaincy controversy in past few months is because of his ‘standing up for Shami’.
Akhtar is currently in Muscat, Oman, playing the Legends Cricket League where he is representing Asian Lions. In another media interaction after the first match, Akhtar expressed his desire to punch Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who was representing Indian Maharajas at the tournament.
On Thursday, Kaif kept walking out of the crease to Akhtar during the match which triggered Akhtar. He jokingly said that he’d like to punch Kaif. “Mohammad Kaif was walking towards me again. I just feel like punching him. Because I have told him many times in the past ‘do not walk at me’, But he did that again,” he had said.
The first sentence in the anti-Hindu riots of Delhi in February 2020 was pronounced on January 20, 2022. Dinesh Yadav, who lives in Bhagirathi Vihar of Gokulpuri police station area, has been found guilty by the Karkardooma Court. He has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and also fined Rs 12,000. Dinesh Yadav was convicted by Additional Sessions Judge Virendra Bhat on 6 December 2021. Dinesh Yadav was accused of setting ablaze the house of a 73-year-old Muslim woman and taking away her buffalo and calf.
Opindia team reached Dinesh Yadav’s house
OpIndia team reached Dinesh Yadav’s house to hear his side of the story from the family. The house is near the drain of the Gokulpuri area. Through the narrow lanes, we reached house number 22 in E block – the house of Dinesh Yadav. The landmark of the house is Dhruv Public School. It is a colony of lower-middle-class people. Most of the people here make their living through daily wages or small jobs. The walls of Dinesh Yadav’s house are not plastered. There was a blue coloured gate in front of the house.
Dinesh Yadav’s house.
Pictures of deities on the walls inside the house
Dinesh Yadav’s house is about 35 feet long and 15 feet wide. It has a total of 3 small rooms. There is a room on the terrace for his elder brother Harish Yadav. The walls inside Dinesh Yadav’s house have paintings of Hanuman, Krishna. The family members told that the paintings were made by Dinesh himself. The paint on the wall was seen fraying in many places.
pictures of deities on the walls of the house
There is no separate bathroom for bathing etc. Some plastic buckets were found under the stairs, which were kept filled with water for use.
Interior part of Dinesh Yadav’s house
‘My son is innocent’ says Dinesh Yadav’s mother
Talking to OpIndia, Dinesh’s mother said “My name is Budha. I am from Azamgarh district of UP. I have 2 sons. Both are labourers. There was no case against my sons before this. I have been living in this house in Delhi for 33 years. My kids haven’t gone anywhere. His name is falsely put in the case. The accuser is a widowed Muslim woman and she herself is the witness. Then the police were called and my son was arrested. Police took him away only after abusing and beating him. Posters of auction were pasted on our house.”
Her husband died soon after the son was arrested
Dinesh’s mother further said, “After the arrest of my son, my husband died within a few days. His body had stopped working. Household expenses are left only for the Gods to take care of. My elder son is looking after the court case. As there is no one in the house, I have called my married daughter from her in-laws’ house here. We have no support from anyone. From arrest to punishment, no one came to our door. 4 people are trapped with my son. We don’t know what happened to the rest. Allegations of taking away the buffalo etc are just for the sake of entrapping them.”
The woman who made the allegation already had a fight with the people of her community
Dinesh’s mother said, “The Muslim woman who made the allegation was already having a fight with the Muslim people. Those people had already taken the buffalo away. All of them have accused the Hindus, just to save themselves. News spread in our area that Muslim people are coming here to kill. Then all the people of this colony had gathered. Everyone went there to stop those Muslims so that they should not come here. Nobody even came. My son also went to see the same. My son was told that this is a fight for the community. The people of the colony called it a fight for the community. Some of them ran away and some others stood back. The names of those who stood back were taken into the case. 22 people from my colony were named in this case.”
Policemen were asking for bribe
Budha Devi further added, “We did not take help from any relative. This fight was for the society. The people of this society are not getting up. What can you do now? The behavior of the policemen was very bad. They have done all this by taking bribe from others. 4-5 lakh rupees were being demanded from our family. From where do we poor people give so much money? We could not give money.”
‘As my husband has passed away, I don’t know what to do next’
According to Dinesh’s mother, “Ever since my son has been arrested, I haven’t seen him. When his brother visits him in jail, Dinesh tells him, don’t bring mother here in jail to meet me. Her health is already unwell. 2 to 4 years before death, my husband had stopped working. Relying on our sons, he sat at home. Like our sons, he also used to work as a laborer and he raised our family.”
OpIndia reporter Rahul Pandey talks to Dinesh Yadav’s mother
Dinesh Yadav’s sister Urmila spoke to OpIndia
DinDinesh Yadav’s brother Urmila told us “This was the fight of society. In this fight, he went only to see. Now we are left with only my mother, brother, and me being the daughter in the house. I also have a child. Dinesh had studied till class 8. He used to work as a labourer.”
‘My father was tortured and asked for bribe’
Dinesh’s sister further told “My brother was caught on 3rd June. My father died on 28 June. My father was made to sit in the police station for 4 hours. He was tortured. They kept asking him for money. There were threats to auction my house. We got bullied. The police used to enter and search in my house. There were no women police during the raid. After the riots, my brother’s name was inserted in the case. My brother’s name was not there when the riots happened. The video was made on the third day of the fight. The video was morphed. Dinesh used to do the painting of my house. My mother is suffering from diabetes and blood pressure.”
OpIndia reporter Rahul Pandey talks to Dinesh Yadav’s sister Urmila
Dinesh Yadav’s brother Harish Yadav talks to OpIndia
Harish Yadav said “Dinesh is my younger brother. I work and run the house. I get salary of Rs. 12 thousand. I am married whereas Dinesh was not married yet. The condition of the house is not good. Because of this I am not able to get the walls plastered. Brother is in jail for 2 years.”
Police torture responsible for father’s death
Harish’s father’s name was Jagannath Yadav. Harish said, “My father was continuously tortured in the police station. He was made to sit in the police station for hours and the police demanded money. He was called to the police station 4-5 days a week. We poor people could not raise that much money. The weight of my brother’s charge sheet was increased from 14 to 28 kg. The weight of government papers was so much that carrying them caused me shoulder pain. The woman on whose statement my brother was held guilty, she herself does not consider my brother guilty. However, she did not give it in writing. There was no harm to her. There are 4-5 Muslim families near the drain. It was them who created all this ruckus.”
‘Tahir Hussain is most guilty but he is not punished’
Harish said, “The media used to say that there was a slingshot at Tahir Hussain’s house. But he had money. He is not punished. Charges are framed on my innocent brother whereas he was nowhere involved in the riots. When riots were going on, where were the police? All these are concocted stories of policemen. Did these boys commit so many crimes in 2 days that 20-25 cases were imposed on them? Before this incident, these boys had never been to the police station. Police made them so big of a criminal.”
‘My brother is in Mandawali jail, he says look after the family instead of worrying for me.’
Harish added, “My brother is in jail number 11 of Mandawali. A gang of 4 nearby boys was formed with him. The condition of everyone’s family is not good. All of them are from hard working families, just like us. When my father passed away, I had hired a lawyer. At the same time, my brother used to say in the court that you take care of the family instead of worrying about me. My brother has got a public prosecutor from the court. At present my case is being handled by Shikha Garg. She is doing it for free.”
‘A week ago, the judge had called the brother innocent in the court.’
Harish said, “A week ago, the same judge had said in the court that these boys cannot be punished at the behest of the police. A week ago I read in the newspaper that these boys are innocent. I do not know what happened within a week that my brother was punished. Now all the policemen have become the only ones to do it. Who is going to listen to us?”
‘Will go even in High Court and Supreme Court.’
Harish said, “As far as there is breath, there is hope. He is our brother. We can’t leave him on his fate. Now we will go to the High Court. From there, if necessary, we will also go to the Supreme Court. Our father raised us by working as a laborer. He was killed by the riots and the exploits of the police. Now we were also working as laborers. My brother is made to live a dead life. No leader has visited our house in these 2 years.”
Muslims are united, Hindus are not
Harish added, “If anything happens to a Muslim, everyone gets united for him. But Hindus lack unity. That is why Muslims are dominating us. Because of this our younger brother is in jail today. Not only do I consider my brother innocent, but he is really innocent. My brother is not involved in any riots. Policemen kept coming to our house during the lock down. Our brother was playing in the street. They caught him and took him away. Don’t know what did they show to him and said that this man is none other than you.”
The condition of the accusers is many folds better than us
Harish added “The name of the woman who has accused my brother is Manori. The condition of her house is many times better than ours. The talk of buffalo theft etc. is false. We do not know who did what after that incident. The arrests in the February case took place in June. There were names of many people in it, but many of the names disappeared from the case later. So many cases were imposed on these boys. 22 cases were registered against my brother. Can 23-24 year old boys do 22 cases in 2 days? They were accused of the riots from Shiv Vihar to Mustafabad. Father was going to fight the legal battle of brother after the lock down. Then the policemen asked to wait for 3 months for the chargesheet. My father was mentally disturbed and died on 28 June.”
OpIndia reporter Rahul Pandey in conversation with Dinesh Yadav’s brother Harish Yadav
Neighbors refused to say anything on camera
OpIndia tried to gather information from the neighbors in this whole matter. People in the locality know Dinesh as Michael. The distance between Dinesh Yadav’s house from the main road is about 250 meters. Meanwhile, an attempt was made to get information from some shopkeepers and other residents in this matter. All of them refused to speak anything about this matter in front of the camera.
The road to Dinesh alias Michael’s house (Bhagirathi Vihar), the drain and the school next to the house
This is the actual ground report from the house and family of Dinesh Yadav who was convicted and sentenced the first punishment in the anti-Hindu riots that took place in February 2020 in Delhi.
Ahead of the assembly polls, UP police have busted yet another illegal weapon-making unit in Muzaffarnagar. A cache of illegal weapons has been recovered by police in a surprise raid in Kotwali in Muzaffarnagar district on Friday 21st January 2022. The arms were to be supplied to three states during the upcoming assembly elections. Police have arrested three accused from the spot, while some other members of the gang managed to flee from the spot.
The police also recovered more than 131 completed and semi-finished weapons. Along with this, equipment for making weapons has also been recovered.
Since the imposition of the code of conduct, the Muzaffarnagar police have busted 10 illegal arms manufacturing factories and recovered about 154 illegal weapons in about a month. Out of these, 131 illegal weapons have been recovered by the police from the same factory on Friday. These weapons include guns, rifles, pistols, muskets, quarters, revolvers, and a large number of cartridges.
On Friday, on the information of an informer, the Nagar Kotwali police raided the factory of making illegal weapons. The factory was set up in a garden located in Badkali village of Muzaffarnagar. During the raid, the police arrested three accused named Rajesh Kumar, Sarfaraz, and Shahid, who were making weapons at the spot. The police recovered more than 131 finished and semi-finished weapons as well as a large quantity of weapon-making equipment from the site. Police said that there are more than half a dozen charges against the accused in serious sections like murder, gangster, etc.
Senior superintendent of police Abhishek Yadav said, “Due to upcoming elections in various states including Uttar Pradesh, they were preparing country-made weapons to sell them. A special team, to arrest all rest of the members of this gang, has been formed and police are also tracking their contracts as well”.
Several illegal weapons-making units have been busted by police in recent weeks in various regions in the state including Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, etc. Demand for illegal weapons skyrocket during elections, and therefore such ‘handicraft’ units come up to cater to such demand.
Earlier this month, an illegal arms manufacturing unit was busted in Muzaffarnagar. That unit used to operate from a dilapidated building near a canal bridge under Shahpur police station of Muzaffarnagar district. In this case, police had arrested a person identified as Noor Mohammad. During interrogation, he had revealed that the illegal arms were being manufactured to be used in the approaching assembly elections in the state. In another similar raid, Muzaffarnagar police had seized a cache of weapons and ammunition from the factory in Tandera village under Kakroli police station. It is notable that Muzaffarnagar is undergoing polls in the first phase of the assembly elections.
Pakistan has repeatedly raised concerns about atrocities on Muslims anywhere in the world especially so-called Muslim bashing in India, but Pakistan itself is actively involved in the repression of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region of China. Pakistan never leaves any chance to denounce other nations for the so-called atrocities on Muslims in those nations but here the country itself has joined China in the exploitation of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
By remaining silent on the violations of the human rights of Uyghur Muslims, Pakistan has so far assisted China obviously because of the large investments China has done in Pakistan for building the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. A Canada-based think tank International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS) has reported that China’s economic rise and presence in Pakistan has given Beijing an unprecedented scope to take off ‘Transnational Repression’ which also includes violation of human rights and persecution of Uyghur minorities in the Xinjiang area. Pakistan is now included in the black list of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region(XAR). China has included Pakistan in the list along with 25 other countries.
What does this blacklisting mean?
According to the think tank, anyone who is from or has visited or has family ties or communications in these blacklisted countries will not be trusted and will remain under the radar of XAR authorities. It must be noted that there has been trans-border commerce between Pakistan and Xinjiang region via the Karakoram highway and Pakistani nationals and Uyghurs have forged marriages. So deporting of Uyghur spouses of Pakistani nationals has become a routine practice. Further, any Uyghur who happens to visit Pakistan and come back, or is even suspected to be a terrorist will be neutralized. Such incidences have happened in the last few years.
One such incident happened with Sikandar Hayat and Ghulam Durrani whose wives were Uyghurs. They had to separate from their wives who were detained in XAR by the Chinese authorities while they were visiting there. Hayat’s son too went to XAR to support his mother but couldn’t meet his father for two years. Durrani’s wife has not returned from detention since 2017.
Pakistan has been insensitively involved in the repression of Uyghurs by China. So much so that in another heinous incident, the Pakistani forces deported 14 Uyghur Islamic students whom China suspected of being terrorists. When handed over to the Chinese authorities at the border, Chinese authorities mercilessly killed those students.
Pakistan is following this practice for many years. The frequency has increased in the recent past. Earlier when there was unrest in Urumchi, many Uyghurs tried to China via Pakistan to Turkey. Pakistan caught them midway and deported them. They were approximately 60 Uyghurs. This incident took place in 2014.
Even before that in 2010, five innocent Uyghurs were deported to China from Balochistan. However, these Uyghurs had no connection with any terror groups.
In an update to the Gorakhpur’s minor girl’s rape case, where the father, a former BSF Jawan Bhagwat Nishad had shot dead the accused Dilshad Hussain in the Court, certain reports have emerged revealing that Dilshad Hussain was torturing Nishad and his family after he was released on bail in the case last year.
According to the reports, Dilshad Hussain was constantly harassing the minor girl and her father Bhagwat Nishad by showing provocative photographs of the girl. The entire family, unable to handle the torture by Hussain had decided to commit suicide but later dropped the plan. Instead, Bhagwat Nishad decided to wipe out Hussain instead.
This is after the minor girl, seeing the photographs of her wedding with Dilshad, avowed to stay with him forever. The girl was then sent to Naari Niketan by the family who say they were ashamed to even step out of the house.
Last year, Hussain had abducted the minor girl and a case of kidnapping and rape was registered against him under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on February 17, 2020.
About a month after the abduction on March 12, the cops had nabbed the accused from Hyderabad in Telangana. Hussain was jailed for some time but released on bail a couple of months ago. Reports mention that Former BSF Jawan Bhagwat Nishad had planned to gun down Hussain during the previous Court hearing but could not as Hussain was accompanied by a lot of his close friends.
On January 21, at about 1:15 pm on Friday, Hussain in the Court had asked his lawyer Shankar Sharan Shukla to meet him at the gate. Before Hussain could meet his lawyer, Bhagwat Nishad took out his licensed pistol and shot Hussain on the head. The rape accused died on the spot. The former BSF jawan was immediately apprehended by two security guards and the manager of the car parking lot.
According to Dainik Bhasker, the action by Bhagwat Nishad is being supported by many people who have raised several questions on the legal administration and criticized the judicial system.
On January 20, Thursday, Madhya Pradesh Mahila Congress vice-president Noori Khan was spotted losing her grip and falling in water while performing ‘Jal Satyagrah’ in the middle of four feet of water in the Kshipra river. A major accident was averted after her supporters and the NDRF officials quickly jumped into the river and rescued her. She was later rushed to the Civil hospital. The video of the incident has gone viral on various social media platforms.
The Congress leader herself shared the video of the same incident several times through her Twitter handle. One of her Tweets were captioned in Hindi followed by a folding hands emoji. It read: “BJP alleges I stood in water for 3 hours for acting and this is politics, let’s assume I stood for acting but at least you stand up for Kshipra….”
According to reports, the Congress leader from Ujjain launched a demonstration at 10 am on Thursday for the cleansing of the Kshipra river and alleged corruption in Kshipra river purification programmes. Noori Khan landed herself in four feet of water in the Kshipra river to conduct the ‘Jal Satyagrah’ (water protest). She protested in the water for almost two and a half hours, alleging a Rs 650 crore scam in the state’s river purification schemes.
Image credit: The Free Press Journal
SDM Jagdish Mehra and CSP Pallavi Shukla arrived at the scene after receiving information about Noori Khan’s ‘Jal Satyagraha’. They urged Noori to come out of the water, but she refused. Kamal Kuwal, the water resources department’s executive engineer, also rushed to meet the enraged Noori Khan but in vain.
Amidst all this, Noori suddenly lost her balance and fell into the deep water and began drowning. The party workers present on the spot, along with NDRF officials, jumped into the water and rescued her. She was rushed to the district hospital. Her health condition is said to be stable now.
Image credit: The Free Press Journal
Speaking about the incident, EE Kunwal said that he had tried to explain and give details regarding the purification of the Kshipra river to the Congress leader but she was not satisfied.
Surprisingly, after the accident, the Congress leader went on to blame the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh for her falling. She blamed the administration for failing to provide enough security for her ‘Jal Satyagraha.’ After being released from the hospital, Noori Khan told the media that the administration had mishandled security arrangements at the Satyagrah site. She said that after she was rescued neither an ambulance was available at the spot nor a stretcher was available at the hospital.
Congress leader Noori Khan and her theatrics
Noori Khan is the National Coordinator for Mahila Congress in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress leader had recently hogged the limelight for her Shiv Tandav video. In the video that went viral on social media in December last year, the Noori Khan was seen dancing on the Shiv Tandav Stotram.
What made the video more interesting was its timing. Her performance had interestingly come two hours after she had resigned from all posts of the Congress alleging that the party has been neglecting minorities.
Taking to Twitter, she even shared her resignation letter and levelled a number of allegations against her party. She had alleged that Congress was neglecting as well as adopting a sympathetic attitude towards the minorities. Khan, further accusing the Congress of having an anti-Muslim mindset, had rued that she was being a victim of discrimination. She had gone on to say that Congress considers Muslims undeserving of a seat in the party. She had also added that after working hard and diligently for several years, she was not given responsible positions in the party due to her background.
However, before one could realise it, Noori Khan took back her resignation from Congress state president Kamal Nath.
प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @OfficeOfKNath जी से चर्चा कर मैंने अपनी सारी बात पार्टी के समक्ष रखी है 22 साल में पहली बार मैंने इस्तीफ़े की पेशकश की कही ना कही मेरे अंदर एक पीड़ा थी लेकिन कमलनाथ जी के नेतृत्व में विश्वास रख अपना इस्तीफ़ा वापस ले रही हूँ !@RahulGandhi@MukulWasnikpic.twitter.com/9ApkWs4bN2
Taking to Twitter, Khan had Tweeted in Hindi which translated to: “After discussing my issues with the state president Kamal Nath Ji, I have put my whole point in front of the party. For the first time in 22 years, I have placed my resignation because there was a pain inside me. However, keeping my trust in Kamal Nath Ji, I am now taking back my resignation.
Interestingly, in April 2021, when India was grappling with the second wave of the pandemic and the central as well as state governments were trying their best to tackle the acute oxygen crisis, Noori Khan was seen staging a protest at an oxygen cylinder filling plant in Ujjain. She was arrested on accusation of delaying oxygen supply to other districts and violating Covid laws that barred gatherings of any kind. She was later released on bail. Speaking about the incident CSP Vandana Chouhan had then said: “Noori Khan was spreading misinformation and preventing government employees from doing their duty at the oxygen plant.” She added that her protest delayed oxygen supply.
Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, paid a visit to Kairana and campaigned door-to-door in the constituency. Shah campaigned in Uttar Pradesh for the BJP in the first and second phases of the state assembly elections. A strong majority of BJP supporters were also present during the campaign. The atmosphere was charged with slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Yogi-Modi Zindabad” as soon as Home Minister Shah began the door-to-door program with party activists.
Before the campaign began, Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that he would stay in Western Uttar Pradesh, where he would first conduct a door-to-door campaign for the BJP’s connectivity campaign in Kairana, then meet with Baghpat and Shamli district workers, and finally address a special public meeting in Meerut.
आज पश्चिम उत्तर प्रदेश के प्रवास पर रहूँगा। जहां सबसे पहले कैराना में @BJP4UP के संपर्क अभियान में घर-घर संपर्क करूँगा उसके पश्चात शामली में बागपत और शामली जिले के कार्यकर्ताओं से संवाद करूँगा, फिर मेरठ में विशिष्ट जन बैठक को संबोधित करूँगा। https://t.co/xcZtlYcnLB
On Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah began campaigning for the BJP by going door-to-door in Kairana, Uttar Pradesh. Home Minister Amit Shah sought votes for Mriganka Singh, the daughter of BJP leader Hukum Singh from Kairana. Late Hukum Singh won the Kairana seat several times while contesting on a BJP ticket. The BJP has fielded his daughter this time.
All schemes by Modi ji has been implemented by CM Yogi Adityanath till grassroot level. It’s the very same Kairana from where people were migrating earlier. Today when I’m here they said that CM Yogi improved law & order situation & people who made them migrate, have migrated: HM pic.twitter.com/YsJXEpknKi
“I’ve come to Kairana for the first time after Jan 2014. After 2014, PM Modi took the axle of UP’s development in his hands. In 2017, after BJP govt was formed here, Yogi Adityanath became CM & further sped up the development” ANI quoted Amit Shah saying. “All schemes by Modi ji has been implemented by CM Yogi Adityanath till grassroot level. It’s the very same Kairana from where people were migrating earlier. Today when I’m here they said that CM Yogi improved law & order situation & people who made them migrate, have migrated” he added.
The BJP announced its candidate list for Phases 1 and 2 of the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on Sunday. The forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases: February 10, February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3, and March 7. The ballots will be counted on March 10th.
Ahead of the celebration of 73rd Republic Day, the Defence Ministry has decided to drop the Christian hymn ‘Abide by Me’ to be played at the Beating Retreat Ceremony on January 29. The official list of 26 tunes made public by the military band does not include hymn by Scottish poet Henry Francis Lyte ‘Abide by Me’, the tune of Eventide by William Henry Monk.
According to the reports, the hymn had been played every year during the Beating Retreat Ceremony since 1950 but was dropped in the year 2020. However, it was reinstated in the year 2021 after its exclusion created a huge outcry. The hymn is also said to be MK Gandhi’s favourite and used to be played at the ceremony on January 29, also the eve of Gandhi’s death anniversary.
In the year 2020, in an emphasis to add more Indian tunes to the ceremony, the Indian Defence Ministry had dropped ‘Abide by Me’ and replaced it with ‘Vande Mataram’. “Both ‘Abide by me’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ songs were favourites of MK Gandhi. However, ‘Vande Mataram’ has only been added to the ceremony tunes this year”, the official had said back then.
The Beating Retreat ceremony marks the formal culmination of week-long Republic Day celebrations. The grand ceremony that is held at Raisina Hills sees performances by bands of three wings of the armed forces- Army, Navy and Air Force.
This year the ceremony at Vijay Chowk will be graced by the participation of 44 Buglers, 16 Trumpeters and 75 drummers. It is reported that the Central Armed Police Forces bands will play three tunes, followed by four tunes by the Air Force Band. The Air Force Band will also include a special Ladakoo tune, by Flight Lt L S Rupachandra after which the Navy Band will play four tunes.
In an unusual occurrence, author Taslima Nasreen was declared “dead” by Facebook for the second time in two days, in what appears to be a concerted cyberattack. The social media giant is reported to have allegedly made the error after the author wrote, “I want the news of my death to be published everywhere,” in an enigmatic post.
Her verified Facebook profile initially stated she died on Tuesday (January 18), since she was being “memorialized” at the time. The issue was resolved within hours, allowing the account to be accessed again later that evening. However, on Thursday morning, Taslima Nasreen discovered again that her Facebook account claimed she was dead and her account was memorialised. A visit to her Facebook account showed the message “Remembering Taslima Nasrin. We hope people who love Taslima will find comfort in visiting her profile to remember and celebrate her life.”
Following Facebook’s attempts to turn her account into a memorial page, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen took to her official Twitter account to call attention to the social media giant’s error. She also asked for the issue to be fixed and her account to be restored to her.
“@Meta @fbsecurity @facebookapp @MetaNewsroom @Facebook I am very much alive. But you memorialized my Facebook account. What a sad news! How could you do that? Please give me back my account.” the 59-year-old author tweeted on Tuesday after she was declared dead for the first time. After that, her account was restored by Facebook, but she was again declared dead.
After her Facebook account again showed her dead, she took to Twitter and wrote, “Facebook @Facebook @facebookapp @fbsecurity @Meta again buried me alive today. Jihadis make my fake death certificates, inform fb, fb then memorialises my account. It seems Jihadis exploit fb. I need my account back, & need protection, so that jihadis won’t be able to vanish my fb.” However, now the account has been restored again.
Facebook @Facebook@facebookapp@fbsecurity@Meta again buried me alive today. Jihadis make my fake death certificates, inform fb, fb then memorialises my account. It seems Jihadis exploit fb. I need my account back,& need protection,so that jihadis won’t be able to vanish my fb. pic.twitter.com/BR5gmJZSik
The incident happened after Taslima remarked in a Facebook post on her page, “I want the news of my death to be published everywhere. Let it be known that I donated my body to hospital for scientific research. Let there be some lives saved through organ transplants. Let someone regain vision. Let it be known so that some others become inspired to donate their body too. I have always wanted to live my life meaningfully. I wish my death to be meaningful as well.”
The Facebook post by Taslima Nasreen
Taslima Nasreen was compelled to leave Bangladesh 27 years ago due to threats from Islamist extremists. She has been residing in New Delhi since 2007 when the West Bengal government was pushed by Islamist fundamentalists to push her to leave Kolkata.
Reportedly, several other Bangladeshi personalities also faced the same incident, where their Facebook accounts were memorialised, indicating that a massive cyber attack had targeted Bangladeshi activists.
