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Srinagar: Two Lashkar terrorists killed by police, one was involved in murder of a policeman in Anantnag

OpIndia Staff
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Srinagar: Two Lashkar terrorists killed by police, one was involved in murder of a policeman in Anantnag

The Srinagar Police on Saturday killed two terrorists of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba in an encounter in the Zakura locality of the city. One of the terrorists killed has been identified as Ikhlaq Hajam who was primarily involved in attacks at Anantnag on January 29.

The Police affirmed head constable Ali Mohammad Ganie was killed by Hajam and his group in Hassanpora in Anantnag earlier. According to the Police, security forces launched a cordon and search operation during the night after being tipped off on specific inputs about the presence of militants in the Zakura locality of the city.

As the forces were conducting searches in the area, the hiding terrorists fired upon them. The forces retaliated and an encounter broke out. Several reports have quoted Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar who confirmed that the Islamic terrorists belonged to The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow of the LeT.

The visuals of the site display a lot of bullets being fired at the door and walls of the property in Zakura locality, the terrorists were hiding in. The police meanwhile is said to have recovered two pistols from the site of the encounter.

Jains express anger over ‘secretly enjoy kathi kabab’ comment by TMC MP Mahua Moitra in Lok Sabha, demand apology

OpIndia Staff
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Jains express anger over ‘secretly enjoy kathi kabab’ comment by TMC MP Mahua Moitra in Lok Sabha, demand apology

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra has yet again courted controversy for insinuating that Jains eat non-vegetarian food secretly on the streets of Ahmedabad. She made the contentious remarks during her speech on Thursday (February 3) in the Lok Sabha.

Moitra had accused the Modi government of curbing individual liberties. “You fear a future India which is comfortable in its own skin and conflicting realities. So you fear a future India where a Jain boy can hide from home and enjoy a Kathi Kabab on a street cart in Ahmedabad. So, you forbid non-vegetarian street food in Gujarat municipalities,” she said.

Jains slam Mahua Moitra for hurting religious sentiments

Although the TMC MP hoped to score political brownies by pitching hypothetical stories about the government curbing individual freedom, the Jain community felt attacked at the deliberate targeting by Mahua Moitra. They took to social media to raise their objection against the speech made by the Parliamentarian.

Twitter user Ankit Jain demanded an apology from Moitra for having insulted the ethos of Jains.

Another user, Maggi wrote, “Being a Jain & a strict vegetarian (don’t even eat potato) I am hurt by her outrageous comment for Jains.”

One Parag Jain pointed out, “I am a Jain, TMC Leader Mahua Moitra has hurt my religious sentiments…Do not drag Jains into your petty classless politics. This is insult of the ethos of Jains. I demand apology from Mahua Moitra on behalf of every Jain of India….. Jainam jayati sashanam #shame”

“#ApologizeMoitra. No Jain would want to eat non-veg. Mahua Moitra please don’t insult a community for your political benefits,” emphasised one Tanvi Jain.

Another member of the Jain community demanded an apology from the TMC MP. “I strongly condemn Mahua Moitra for denigrating the Jain community who practices ahimsa & have compassion for each soul. Mahua has hurted our religious sentiments,” wrote one Saurabh Jain.

“She should know that vegetarianism is second nature of Jains, it’s an unremovable part of our DNA. It’s an insulting accusation without truth. Either she apologizes or gets sued,” tweeted Nisha Jain.

Nonviolence is one of the most important principles of Jainism and they practice vegetarianism. So much that they abstain from consuming root vegetables like potato, onion and garlic as uprooting them would harm the organisms in the soil. A section of Jains even observe mourning on Bakri Eid since Muslims slaughter goats on their festival and Jains are pained by the slaughter of innocent animal.

To insinuate that the Jains in Ahmedabad enjoy non-vegetarian food ‘secretly’ has hurt their religious sentiments.

TMC MP had made Hinduphobic remarks in the past

Mahua Moitra is not new to controversies. She has earlier made Hinduphobic jibes of ‘Gaumutra’ to insult the Hindu community. Ahead of her Lok Sabha speech on February 3, TMC MP Mahua Moitra took to Twitter to make the ‘Gaumutra’ jibe at the Modi government.

Tagging the wrong handle to address the BJP, Mahua Moitra tweeted: “Am speaking this evening in Lok Sabha on President’s Address. Just wanted to give early heads up to @BJP to get heckler team ready & read up on imaginary points of order. Drink some gaumutra shots too.” Last year, she created a new controversy by calling India the ‘Susu Potty Republic’. Then too, she had used the cow urine jibe to attack the central government.

The Kashmir Walla editor Fahad Shah arrested for promoting anti-national content on Facebook, glorifying terrorist activities

OpIndia Staff
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The Kashmir Walla editor Fahad Shah arrested for promoting anti-national content on Facebook, glorifying terrorist activities

The Jammu & Kashmir Police stated that Fahad Shah, editor of the prominent Srinagar-based news portal The Kashmir Walla, was detained on Friday for anti-national activities and sharing provocative content on the social media platform Facebook.

According to Jammu & Kashmir Police, he was arrested on Friday for social media posts that allegedly glorified terrorist activities and caused a “dent to the image of law enforcing agencies besides causing ill-will and disaffection against the country”.

According to a statement released by the Pulwama district police, “some Facebook users and portals have been uploading anti-national content, including photographs, videos, and posts with criminal intention to create fear among the public and the content so uploaded can provoke the public to disturb law & order”.

The cops had already summoned Fahad three times over the magazine’s content. On January 31, he was called by the Pulwama police and released after interrogation.

On February 1, Shah was summoned by the police for interrogation. He was summoned to the Pulwama police station on February 4 to record his statement, after which the police released a statement confirming his detention. Shah was detained and placed in police custody, according to the police, during the course of the inquiry into the case under FIR No. 19/2022.

Fahad is the editor-in-chief of ‘The Kashmir Walla,’ an online news portal. The digital journal debuted in 2011. It claims to cover news and other socio-cultural concerns in J&K. The Kashmir Walla gained has been vocally opposing the Centre’s decision to withdraw J&K’s special status on August 5, 2019.

Last month, Sajad Gul, a trainee reporter with The Kashmir Walla, was also held for allegedly “provoking the people against the government and spreading animosity” through his tweets. Since then, Gul has been arrested under the Public Safety Act’s provisions.

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.

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