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Prashant Kishor reveals he had almost joined Congress party, says entire leadership responsible for losing 90% elections in 10 years

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Prashant Kishor reveals he had almost joined Congress party, says entire leadership responsible for losing 90% elections in 10 years

Election strategist Prashant Kishor appeared on the cover of the India Today magazine this week, which carried an exclusive interview of him. During the interview, Kishor revealed that when he was working with the Congress party, he was so close its affairs that he had almost joined the party.

Prashant Kishor said that he has been in talks with the Congress leadership for the past two years but, post the Bengal election, it was a much more structured, intensive engagement. He said that he had almost joined the party, but didn’t as he realized that coming together would be counterproductive for both sides due to some issues. However, he didn’t mention the issues that stopped him from joining the Congress party.

He revealed while replying to the claim that he is attacking the party because he was supposed to advise the party on strategy and it didn’t work out. He said that nobody can advise the Gandhis or the Congress leadership on their own. Kishor said that the party asked him and he told them what he thought was right.

Kishor also elaborated on his recent tweet where he had said ‘Congress leadership is not the divine right of an individual’, and explained that the decline of the Congress party is not recent, it is going on for the last three decades. Explaining this, he said that the Congress party has not won a general election after the landslide victory in 1984. Although the party ruled for 15 years after that, they were minority and coalition governments, and the Congress party didn’t have the majority in Lok Sabha.

Explaining further on the decline of the party, he also informed at its peak, the Congress party was number 1 or a close 2 in around 3500 assembly constituencies out of total 4121, and that number is down to 1500-1600 now.

Therefore, the decline in Congress is not a temporary phenomenon. It is not linked to any individual or episode; it is far deeper. He said that the issue is structural and any Congress revival plan must take these factors into account, or they won’t get results.

Prashant Kishor also explained when he was talking about the divine right of an individual, he was not talking about any individual. He said, “My point is simple: as the leader of a political party, if you take credit when it wins, the world over, a democratic party’s policy is that you step aside when you lose and let somebody else take over the leadership.”

He said that not just political parties, but even in any corporate, any entity, or any cricket team, the leadership changes after failures. “If the leader is constantly failing, isn’t it logical to step away and let somebody else do the job?” he asked.

When reminded that Rahul Gandhi had resigned, he said he was not talking about Rahul Gandhi, but the entire Congress leadership under whom the party has lost 90% of the elections it has contested in the last 10 years.

When asked about Mamata Banerjee saying that UPA is dead, Kishor replied that UPA was formed in 2004 to form and run the central government. It was not a political coalition when it is not power. Moreover, the component of the UPA has changed as many parties have left it and some new parties have joined. Therefore, there is a need to relook at the UPA and its formation.

He also denied that he is advising Mamata Banerjee now, and said that he stopped working with the party after the elections as he had announced earlier. He said that 100% command and control of TMC is with Mamata Banerjee.

Prashant Kishor also said that TMC’s so-called expansion into other states is over-hyped, because the states where it is planning to contest elections amount to just four or five Lok Sabha seats. He also added that there is nothing wrong in another opposition party contesting directly against BJP, as Congress strike rate against BJP is very low, only 4%. Congress won most seats when it was direct contests against other parties, not BJP.

As Saudi calls Tablighi Jamaat a gateway to terrorism, here is what ‘Muslim journalists’ Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum had said about them

OpIndia Staff
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As Saudi calls Tablighi Jamaat a gateway to terrorism, here is what ‘Muslim journalists’ Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum had said about them

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs Saudi Affairs recently asked the preachers of the mosques to use Friday sermons towards cautioning its citizens against the Tablighi and Da’wah groups, adding that the Tablighi Jamaat group is a gate to terrorism.

Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullatif Al_Alsheikh had instructed the mosques in Saudi Arabia to reserve the Friday sermon for warning the people against the partisan groups of Tablighi Jamat and Da’wah existing in the country.

Ministry of Islamic Affairs said, “His Excellency the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr.#Abdullatif Al_Alsheikh directed the mosques’ preachers and the mosques that held Friday prayer temporary to allocate the next Friday sermon 5/6/1443 H to warn against (the Tablighi and Da’wah group) which is called (Al Ahbab).”

The Saudi Ministry also asserted that they had instructed mosques to use Friday sermons to declare the misguidance given by Tablighi groups and call them threats to society and one of the gates that lead to terrorism.

It is noteworthy to mention that the crackdown against Tablighi Jamaat came long after the group had already been banned by Saudi Arabia

The instructions issued by the Saudi Ministry came long after the Islamic country had banned Tablighi Jamaat for its extremist tendencies. And even as Saudi, widely hailed as the leader of the Muslim world, clamps down on Tablighi Jamaat, there are some ‘Muslim journalists’ in India, who took up the cudgel for the extremist group after a religious congregation organised by them had turned out to be a coronavirus superspreader during the initial phase of COVID-19 outbreak in India.

Rana Ayyub, Arfa Khanum defend Tablighi Jamaat after they were accused of spreading coronavirus outbreak

Rana Ayyub, a scribe who was hailed as a “Muslim journalist” by Pakistan after she illegally smuggled a foreign journalist in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, felt sorry for Tablighi Jamaat because she thought they had been “demonised”. “Not just the govt, our media including ‘well meaning’ liberals need to hang their heads in shame,” Ayyub tweeted after Tablighi Jamaat was credited for powering the initial bout of COVID-19 in India.

Source: Twitter

At a time when reports of Tablighi Jamaat members molesting and misbehaving with the frontline workers, doctors and nurses started doing the rounds on the internet, another ‘Muslim Journalist’, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who works for the far-left organisation The Wire, and is often accused of shielding Islamists, had tweeted that she could not accept that Tablighi members could harass or molest women.

“I know them as selfless individuals who leave the materialistic world, even their families in service of religion/society. Stop the propaganda now,” Arfa had tweeted. For the left journalist, it was impossible that Tablighi Jamaat members were accused of serious misdemeanours after they were dispatched to quarantine centres after testing positive for COVID-19.

Source: Twitter

And not just Rana and Arfa, but the Islamists who organised anti-CAA ‘protests’ also stood in solidarity with Tablighi Jamaat super-spreaders. Jamia Coordination Committee and ‘Muslim Students of JNU’- a Facebook page once operated by the mastermind of Shaheen Bagh protest, Sharjeel Imam, also defended the Jamaat as it faced the wrath of the authorities for organising a large gathering and providing a breeding ground for the virus to spawn.

There were ample reports published by several news publications that exposed the perverse behaviour exhibited by Tablighi Jamaat members at various quarantine centres. Reports said they spat at the doctors, molested nurses and assaulted ward boys at the quarantine facilities. One report even claimed that some Tablighi Jamaat members even defecated in open in one of the quarantine centres.

Tablighi Jamaat event in Hazrat Nizamuddin and Coronavirus super-spreader

The Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March last year, became a mega-spreader of coronavirus in India, with members hiding from authorities and carrying the infection to almost all states in India. The persons who had attended the event, and their family members and those who came into contact with them tested positive regularly, contributing to the increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country.

‘Unka aukaad hain?’, Tej Pratap calls uncle Sadhu Yadav murderer who slammed Lalu’s family after not getting invitation to Tejashwi’s wedding

OpIndia Staff
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‘Unka aukaad hain?’, Tej Pratap calls uncle Sadhu Yadav murderer who slammed Lalu’s family after not getting invitation to Tejashwi’s wedding

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav slammed his maternal uncle Sadhu Yadav after he made disparaging comments about his younger brother Tejashwi Yadav’s bride Rachel Godinho. Tejashwi Yadav married his long time friend Rachel Godinho (called Rachel Iris by some media reports) in a low-key ‘secret ceremony’ on Thursday at his sister Misa Bharti’s residence in Delhi, where only close family members and a select few were invited. She has become Rajeshwari after the wedding.

While responding to the comments made by Sadhu Yadav, the elder Yadav brother said, “Mama is involved in the Shilpi murder case. He is a murderer. What is the point of levelling allegations against me? Is there any use to getting involved in someone’s personal life? When he (Mama) got his daughter married, did he invite us? Since he was uninvited this time, he is angry about it.”

On being reminded of the harsh words that his maternal uncle used about the new bride, Tej Pratap Yadav slammed, “He has warned that we won’t be able to step foot in Bihar again. Maybe he has forgotten his stature (aukaat). He has forgotten for whom he was born in the State.” The show host informed that his maternal uncle had threatened to lock the headquarters of the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD). “

“Does he have the aukaat to do this? Does he even have the aukaat to stand in front of me? The public and the RJD workers will beat such people with shoes and kick them out. He is Kans (the evil maternal uncle of Lord Krishna) and his ultimate end (Kans vadh) is indispensable,” he responded.

The Background of the controversy

Sadhu Yadav, ex RJD MP and the brother of Rabri Devi, slammed Tejashwi Yadav for marrying not only outside the Yadav caste but also the fold of the Hindu religion. Although Rachel had converted to Hinduism and adopted the name of Rajeshwari Yadav, Sadhu Yadav is not convinced. While slamming the newlywed couple, “Tejashwi has humiliated the Yadav community. All the sisters of Tejashwi are married in the Yadav community but he married a Christian woman and our community does not accept this.”

Sadhu Yadav alleged that Tejashwi wanted the vote of the Yadav community during elections but did not marry a woman from the same community. “Tejashwi wants the vote of Yadavs in election but has married a Christian. He should now go to Chandigarh and Kerala and seek vote of the Christian community. There is nothing left for him in Bihar. If Tejashwi Yadav does not give importance to caste, then why is he demanding a caste-based census in Bihar?” he was heard as saying.

While complaining that the marriage of Tejashwi Yadav had caused him pain, he lamented, “Why did Lalu family hide the marriage of their son? They did not even reveal the name of the bride after marriage. There was definitely something wrong with the wedding which had been kept under wraps. Whenever Bihar is facing some problem, Tejashwi Yadav runs away to Delhi.”

MP Police arrests couple for bribing tribal women to convert to Christianity: Details

OpIndia Staff
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MP Police arrests couple for bribing tribal women to convert to Christianity: Details

Madhya Pradesh police in Barwani district of the state have arrested a couple identified as Anar Singh Jamre (35) and his wife Laxmi Jamre (32) under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act on Friday, according to reports. The police informed about the arrest Anar Singh Jamre, a resident of Nawalpura village on Saturday.

As per reports, the couple was arrested for targeting tribal women and luring them to convert to Christianity. The complaint filed by Prakash Chauhan, a resident of Madil village stated that the couple bribed the tribal women with money, free education, free medicine, employment and other facilities in order to convert them to Christianity. The tribal women were invited to the homes of the couple where the illegal conversion was carried out.

Rajesh Yadav, the in-charge at the Rajpur police station also revealed that the accused were released after the court granted them bail.

Notably, in the amended form of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, provision has been included for punishment for conversion of religion through illegal means such as fraud, inducement. A provision has also been made for the imprisonment of two to 10 years and a Rs 50,000 fine in cases where religious conversion of people belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minors were involved.

Earlier, four persons were detained by the Bhopal police for vandalism and ruckus allegedly at a missionary school in Ganjbasoda town of Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district. It was also alleged that eight students were converted to Christianity at the place. MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra had stated that in places like Ganjbasoda, the investigation was being conducted on PFI (Popular Front of India) and NGOs for using foreign funds for religious conversion.

On 22 October, a case of religious conversion was reported from Bhopal where employees of a charitable trust who were fired from their jobs went on and filed a complaint at the Chola Mandir police station saying that they had been forced to proselytise and distribute copies of the Bible in order to bring non-believers into the folds of Christianity. 

Gujarat: Three Pakistani prisoners create a ruckus, abuse and assault police in JIC Bhuj, demand immediate release

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Three Pakistani prisoners create a ruckus, abuse and assault police in JIC Bhuj, demand immediate release

A complaint has been filed in the B division police station of the district headquarters Bhuj, Gujarat after three Pakistani prisoners lodged at Bhuj’s Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) reportedly created a ruckus, abused and assaulted police officers, demanding that they should be released immediately.

As per a report by Desh Gujarat, the head constable of JIC Kanji Pabubhai Mudhuda filed a complaint against the three accused, namely Mohammad Sharif Nur Mohammad, Mohammad Ishak Jamil Hussain and Nur Hussain Ayyub Khan, at the B division police station in Bhuj.

The trio has been lodged in the prison after being booked under IPC sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 427 (mischief causing damage), 294(b) (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) and 114 (Abettor present when the offence is committed).

According to the complaint, the accused went into the JIC’s office and inquired as to how long they would be detained. They were told that their release order would come from the government after some formalities are carried out at the immigration department. They were assured that they would be released whenever the release orders arrive.

Enraged by the response, the three prisoners stated that they do not want to live there. Following this, they began using abusive language against the police personnel deployed there. This led to altercations between the three Pakistani prisoners and the police deployed at JIC Bhuj. Minutes later, the police tried to calm the trio down, but they were so angry that they broke an earthen pot kept in the office and then started hitting their heads with its broken pieces.

When police officials tried to prevent them from hurting themselves, they again started abusing the officials. Ultimately, they were overpowered and taken to their barracks, where they were first calmed down and then explained the legal status and when they might be able to leave.

Saudi Arabia calls Tablighi Jamaat a gate to terrorism, warns people against affiliation to the already banned group

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia calls Tablighi Jamaat a gate to terrorism, warns people against affiliation to the already banned group

Ministry of Islamic Affairs Saudi Arabia has directed the preachers of the mosques to dedicate the Friday sermon towards warning the Saudi people against the Tablighi and Da’wah groups. Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Abdullatif Al_Alsheikh has given a direction to the Mosques in Saudi Arabia to reserve the Friday sermon for warning the people against the partisan groups of Tablighi Jamat and Da’wah existing in the country.

Ministry of Islamic Affairs said, “His Excellency the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr.#Abdullatif Al_Alsheikh directed the mosques’ preachers and the mosques that held Friday prayer temporary to allocate the next Friday sermon 5/6/1443 H to warn against (the Tablighi and Da’wah group) which is called (Al Ahbab)”

The Islamic Affairs Ministry mentioned the religious partisan groups of Tablighi and Da’wah in the tweet. While Tablighi groups such as the Tablighi Jamaat preach Muslims to return to the pure form of Sunni Islam, Da’wah groups engage in inviting all people including Muslims and non-Muslims and divulging how the worship of Allah (God) is mentioned in the Quran and Islam. 

Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs further stated that the Friday sermon must declare the misguidance given by such Tablighi groups and called them threats to society and one of the gates that lead to terrorism.

It said, “His Excellency also directed that the sermon include the following topics: 1- Declaration of the misguidance, deviation and danger of this group, and that it is one of the gates of terrorism, even if they claim otherwise. 2- Mention their most prominent mistakes.”

Then the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Saudi Arabia went on to declare that affiliation with religious partisan groups of Tablighi and Da’wah is prohibited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Tablighi Jamat already banned in Saudi Arabia

Several media houses in India have claimed that Saudi Arabia has banned Tablighi Jamat with these instructions, but that is not true, because the group is already banned in the country. Now the Saudi government has warned people against having affiliations with this group.

Healthcare and vaccination to be hit as manufacturer of two-thirds of syringes in India shuts down plants on Haryana Pollution Control Board order

OpIndia Staff
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Healthcare and vaccination to be hit as manufacturer of two-thirds of syringes in India shuts down plants on Haryana Pollution Control Board order

While health authorities in the country are leaving no stone unturned to vaccinate the entire adult population against Covid-19, they are now facing an unexpected challenge, a shortage of syringes and needles. This is because, country’s biggest syringe manufacturer Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd has shut down its plants in Faridabad on the orders of the Haryana Pollution Control Board.

Reportedly, Haryana Pollution Control Board has asked 228 units in Faridabad to shut down, and the HMD plants are among them.

HMD makes almost 66% of syringes used in India, and is the largest manufacturer of auto-disable syringes in the world. Therefore, the closure of its plants is set to impact the entire healthcare sector in the country, along with the ongoing vaccination program against Coronavirus. The company has been ordered to shut its plants despite its claims that its use of diesel generators is minimal, as the plants mainly run on grid power and PNG based captive plants.

“We have been asked to shut down our needles and syringes plants in Faridabad along with the factories of several other companies,” HMD Managing Director Rajiv Nath told the media informing the development. He said that the company produces 1.5 crore needles and 80 lakh syringes daily, which has stopped completely.

“As we can’t feed needles beyond two days buffer stock from Monday, other factories fed by the mother unit will be shut and daily 1.2 crore syringes will not be available nationally,” he further said. Nath informed that syringes are already in short supply in India and globally, and the union government has put in export restrictions to ensure domestic availability. He informed that the industries are being asked to shut down voluntarily by the board, to avoid prosecution and sealing of the units, and the company complied with the order.

Rajiv Nath, who is also the Forum Coordinator of the Association of Indian Medical Devices Industry, has already sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, urging that syringes manufacturing facilities be declared as making products of national importance under the National Disaster Management Act, and that they should be exempted from the Pollution Control Board order. The company has also written to the health ministry seeking exemption from the order.

He informed that the power supply from Haryana’s power utility is stable, and most of the company’s captive power plants are run by environmentally friendly piped natural gas, and only some small plants are connected to diesel generators. “The pollution board thought the plants were running on diesel generator sets. We assured them we have not been doing it, but they were not convinced,” Nath said.

Rajiv Nath also posted on Twitter saying that while they were asked to continue operating their plants when the entire country was shut due to the lockdown, now they are asked to shut down when other plants have opened. He also noted that they were asked to stop operations without a rational review of their request and the fact that their factory runs mainly on PNG.

HMD manufactures the well-known Dispovan brand of syringes, and supplies to global health bodies like UNICEF and GAVI. It is also one of the few industries in the world that manufactures single-use auto-disable syringes and needles.

Charges framed against Delhi riots accused Shahrukh Pathan: Read how Ravish Kumar had called him ‘Anurag Mishra’ and The Quint humanised him

OpIndia Staff
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Charges framed against Delhi riots accused Shahrukh Pathan: Read how Ravish Kumar had called him ‘Anurag Mishra’ and The Quint humanised him

Earlier this week, a Delhi court framed charges against the 2020 Delhi riot accused Shahrukh Pathan who had fired bullets at head constable Deepak Dahiya during the Anti-Hindu riots that had convulsed Northeast Delhi last year.

Social media websites were awash with pictures of Shahrukh Pathan brandishing a gun at Delhi Police Head Constable Deepak Dahiya had surfaced on social media during the communal riots last year. He was arrested on March 3, 2020, and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

Terming it not an ordinary case of individuals or groups committing unlawful acts, the court said that “these riots are of such a nature as has not been witnessed since the Sikh Riots of 1984.”

While framing the charges, the court said it was quite conspicuous that Pathan spearheaded a group of rioters, attempted on Dahiya’s life, obstructed and used criminal force on a public servant on February 24, 2020.

The judge charged Pathan under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of duty), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC.

Besides, charges were also framed under sections 353 (assault), 307 (attempt to murder) read with section 149 (member of unlawful assembly guilty of a common offence) of the IPC and various sections of the Arms Act, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

While the Delhi court framed charges against Shahrukh Pathan, it is worth noting how NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar tried to pass him off as one Anurag Mishra and how The Quint tried to whitewash his Islamist inclinations and made a shoddy attempt to humanise him.

Ravish Kumar spreads misinformation about the identity of the Delhi riots accused Shahrukh Pathan

In his show ‘Prime Time’ on 26th February 2020, Ravish Kumar resorted to spreading half-truths and full lies about the horrifying spate of violence that had engulfed the national capital. In pursuance of what appeared as his agenda to tarnish Hindus and portray them as the aggressors of the riots, Kumar identified Mohammad Shahrukh alias Shahrukh Pathan, who fired at Delhi Police personnel on February 24, as one ‘Anurag Mishra’.

For the 26th February show, Ravish claimed that police had not yet arrested him while he was arrested on 25th February itself, good 24 hours before his show premiered. “Police ki haalat yeh hai ki abhi tak giraftar nahin hua hai. Police saaf kehti hai ki Shahrukh hai magar aap social media mein dekhiye Anurag Mishra bataya jaa raha hai. (Situation of the Police is such that they have not yet arrested him. Police says his name is Shahrukh but if you see on social media, he is called Anurag Mishra),” he spoke in his characteristic drawl during the show. Naturally, it was quite a revelation since no one had yet referred to the shooter as “Anurag Mishra” till then.

He then asked Delhi Police to speak out on his identity again. He then played an undated speech of his reporter who appeared to be asking Delhi Police personnel about Shahrukh’s arrest. Slyly, Ravish Kumar then played the videos of BJP leaders Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Pravesh Verma addressing rallies ahead of Delhi elections to cast aspersions that their speeches were responsible for stoking riots a month later.

The Quint humanise Shahrukh, whitewash his Islamist tendencies

In August 2021, 18 months after the 25-year-old Delhi anti-Hindu riots accused Shahrukh Pathan was arrested for brandishing a gun at the police and threatening them, The Quint published a white paper on him watering down his crime and making him appear like a cherubic saint.

The Quint started by describing his menacing march as ‘brazen confidence in his gait’. Then the writer of the ‘Shahrukh Pathan fan page’ romanticised his criminal act. “Unfazed by the policemen in riot gear, he shot bullets in the air while media persons captured his acts in astonishment. The fact that the gym enthusiast, who was also a local, did not wear a mask to hide his identity, made his ‘bravado’ seem peculiar and odd,” the author wrote.

The Quint then went on to explain how his friends described Shahrukh as someone who was into grooming and was interesting in his appearance. He was characterised as someone who was a biryani-lover, liked to put gel in his hair, blow dry them, wear crisp, ironed shirts, good shoes and well, make TikTok videos. The author interviewed Pathan’s mother, who obviously had glowing views about her son. She said her son was innocent and ‘simple-minded’.

Shahrukh’s mother also highlighted counterfactual scenarios in order to water down her son’s criminality. She told his fans at The Quint that she often wonders, “What if she had given him food when he asked? What if the timing was a few minutes before or after namaz?” Because, who knows, the biryani might have stopped him from participating in riots, eh?

LGBTQ activist group tells people ‘not to be scared’ in abusing the deceased CDS Gen Rawat after his death

OpIndia Staff
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LGBTQ activist group tells people ‘not to be scared’ in abusing the deceased CDS Gen Rawat after his death

An LGBTQ activist group ‘Yes, We Exist’ recently took to its Instagram account to ask its followers to “not be scared” for abusing the deceased CDS General Bipin Rawat, who was martyred in an Army chopper crash near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu on December 8, 2021.

“If someone is threatening you with police complaints, or any other form of threats for calling the former Defence Chief homophobic, don’t be scared!!!,” the LGBTQ activist community said in a post on Instagram, adding, “It is not a crime to criticise a living or deceased Defence Chief in India.”

LGBTQ group tells people not to be scared in ridiculing Gen Bipin rawat
Source: Instagram

The group further asserted that colleges and employers cannot fire people for abusing the deceased CDS and it would be illegal if they did so.

“There are several news articles that have called him sexist in the past and criticised him for his other deeds. You are not the only one,” the post said.

Following the army chopper crash which led to the speculations of deaths of Gen Bipin Rawat and a retinue of senior officials accompanying him, a section of perverse individuals started rejoicing on social media and wished death on them even as the nation came together to pray for the survivors. The LGBTQ group, which has recently encouraged its followers to be not scared in abusing CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, it also promoted subtle hate against the former Army Chief by sharing a video in another Insta post, where he said homosexuality and adultery is unacceptable in Army.

During army’s annual press conference in 2019, Rawat, while speaking on LGBT issues said, “In the army these are not acceptable. We will still be dealing with them under various sections of the army act.”

Even on adultery he added, “Gentlemen, the army is conservative…we have not modernised, neither westernised…We can still take action against people but we will not allow this to perpetrate in the army. This cannot be allowed to happen. It is a very serious matter.”

Gen Bipin Rawat, 12 others martyred in army chopper crash

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat died in a helicopter crash on December 8 while he was on his way from Sulur Air Force base in Tamil Nadu to Wellington where he was to deliver a lecture in Defence Staff college. Gen Rawat along with his wife Madhulika Rawat and other senior officials were onboard the aircraft. Gen Rawat was shifted to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to the burn injuries. His wife, too, succumbed to the burns.

The IAF Mi17V5 helicopter had crashed in the Nilgiris near Wellington. Among the 14 passengers, CDS General Bipin Rawat, his wife Mrs Madhulika Rawat, Brigadier LS Lidder, Lt Col H Singh, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitender, LN Vivek, LN Sai Teja, Havildar Satpal, WC PS Chouhan, Sqn Ldr K Singh, JWO Das, JWO Pradeep A had succumbed to fatal injuries. Group Captain Varun Singh (Shaurya Chakra) is the sole survivor of the crash who is critical and is currently struggling for life in Bengaluru.

‘Not proved that movie dialogues incited violence’, Calcutta HC junks FIR filed by TMC against Mithun Chakraborty over Bengal poll speech

OpIndia Staff
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‘Not proved that movie dialogues incited violence’, Calcutta HC junks FIR filed by TMC against Mithun Chakraborty over Bengal poll speech

The Calcutta High Court Thursday, December 9 quashed the FIR registered against superstar and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty by a member of the TMC party over his alleged ‘hate speech’ at BJP’s massive rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata prior to the West Bengal polls.

The court also stayed any further police investigation in the matter.

Justice Kaushik Chandra observed that the “dialogues in question are fundamentally funny, hilarious, and entertaining and cannot be viewed as an expression of hatred.”

“It is futile to try to find the elements of hate speech in them,” the court added while junking the FIR filed against the actor and BJP leader.

“The petitioner did not utter those dialogues to promote the feeling of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic or regional groups or castes or communities, and, therefore, the ingredients of offences under Sections 153A, 504, and 505 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 are absent in this case … Even if the effect of such utterance is judged from the standard of weak and vacillating minds, it cannot be said that there is any proximate nexus between the dialogues uttered by the petitioner and the widespread violence that took place in the State after the Assembly Election,” the court said.

The judgement was passed by the Calcutta HC while hearing a criminal revision petition filed by Mithun Chakraborty for quashing the first information report (FIR) against him.

It may be noted that the complaint against the veteran actor and BJP leader was filed on May 6 by one Mrityunjay Pal, a resident of Kolkata at the behest of the Mamata Banerjee government. 

In his FIR dated May 6, 2021, the complainant claimed that after the State’s assembly elections in 2021, large-scale violence was unleashed due to the petitioner’s provocation. The actor was accused of inciting the BJP workers to commit violence and brutality against TMC members by citing two dialogues from his popular Bengali movies at the public rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.

It may be recalled here that on March 7, 2021, when superstar Mithun Chakraborty joined the BJP at BJP’s Brigade Parade Ground rally in Kolkata he had delivered one of his most famous dialogues, “Maarbo ekhane, laash porbe shoshane (I will hit you here, your corpse will land at the crematorium).” Another dialogue he delivered was, “Ek Chhobole Chhobi (A single sting is enough to kill).”

Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, representing Mithun Chakraborty, stated that the petitioner is a well-known actor whose dialogues are well-known in Bengal and have been used by the actor to entertain audiences on numerous occasions.

‘Film stars attract voters by saying cinematic dialogues. This case is no exception’, Court observed

He maintained that the current case was filed with malafide motives because the petitioner switched from the TMC to the BJP. Jethmalani claimed that the petitioner had no intention of inciting someone to commit a crime, and hence the elements of the charges accused of are not proven.

The State’s Public Prosecutor, Saswata Gopal Mukherjee, contended that free speech and hate speech are two different things. Furthermore, if the above-mentioned movie dialogues are combined with some of the other words said, they come under the category of hate speech, the Public Prosecutor submitted.

However, after hearing the arguments presented by both the petitioner and the respondent, the single-bench court quashed the FIR against the veteran actor saying that, “film stars try to entertain and attract voters by saying cinematic dialogues in political rallies. The case in hand is no exception.”

Supreme Court quashes FIRs against OpIndia Editor-in-chief filed by the Mamata Banerjee Govt

The Calcutta High Courts decision to junk the FIR against superstar and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty was another shocker for Mamata Banerjee who was then trying to soak in the scathing observations made by the SC while quashing all four FIRs filed by the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal against OpIndia Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma, Ajeet Bharti, the then Hindi editor of OpIndia, CEO Rahul Roushan, and Nupur J Sharma’s husband Vaibhav Sharma.

Interestingly, on December 9 itself, Supreme Court had also made the West Bengal government withdraw all 4 FIRs against OpIndia Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma. The Supreme Court not only express concern about the reducing level of tolerance to dissenting views but also said that journalists suffer the consequences of information that is in the public domain.

“In an almost cathartic end to this saga, today, the Supreme Court has ensured that the Bengal government withdraws all 4 FIRs against me with scathing comments against the Bengal government. OpIndia took on the malicious, motivated and drunk-on-power state and emerged victorious. This is a victory for every Dharmic voice who fought for us, stood by us and supported us,” wrote OpIndia Editor-in-chief, as she thanked OpIndia readers, her team, friends, family, Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani and lawyer Ravi Sharma, and, most importantly, the Supreme Court of India for upholding the truth.

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