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‘Critics are not trolls, milord’: ‘Faceless and nameless’ troll writes open letter to Chief Justice of India

Dear Chief Justice of India,

On behalf of all faceless nameless social media trolls, I am writing this letter. Before I start ranting, please let me explain what trolls mean and why they choose to remain faceless and nameless. Trolls are the ones who criticise powerful people, politicians, law makers, bureaucrats, journalist celebrities, intellectuals, civil society, businessmen, Judiciary and Courts too.

So, you must be thinking why are we called trolls not critics? Because we criticise people who don’t like to be criticised. For example, elite journalists, if we question them, they will see it as an attack on journalism, they themselves want power to question everyone but they don’t like to be questioned back because they are sitting on their self-assumed pedestal of being the 4th pillar of Democracy. So they started calling us troll and once they started naming social media critics as troll, all others joined them in calling us troll. We kind of like this name so we are happily accepting it.

Why do we choose to be nameless and faceless? Nothing is hidden from you milord, you are very well aware how powerful people react when you take them to the place they are not comfortable in and expose them. They can go after our jobs, our family and sometime, send goons to beat us up. And there is also a benefit of being nameless and faceless that powerful people will have to reply on topic only and they can’t use religion, caste or race to divert the topic.

Who are abusive trolls? Trolls mostly use humour, sarcasm, satire or meme to criticise but it is backed with facts not abuses. Anyone, including me, using abuses is giving bad name to trolls and must avoid it and it also makes it easy for powerful people to take action. Not only trolls but anyone who is abusing should be dealt with laws, be it a Rajya Sabha MP calling an actress ‘haramkhor’ or an actor abusing journalist. But such abusive ‘trolls’ are few in number.

Milord, coming to the point, recently you asked central agencies to take action against trolls who are questioning judges on social media. Had this statement come from any politician or journalist, we would have seen as badge of honour but this statement coming from lordship has hurt us badly. We look upon you as our chief defender of freedom of expression. To paraphrase Justice Gautam Patel, ‘there is no such things as too much dissent’. Justice Chandrachud advices us to ‘stand up and be dissenters’. And while protecting rights of dissenters, Delhi Court said ‘if you don’t agree with the author, don’t read the book’. There are thousands of instances when Judiciary stood up for dissenters and freedom of expression.

As I had mentioned earlier, we are called trolls by people who don’t like to be criticised, with due respect to your chair, judiciary has joined that league when you asked central agencies to take action against social media trolls. We are taught that everyone has right to criticise anyone and no one is above law, even the law makers and law implementer. It should not be a crime to criticise any court order or any judge at his/her personal capacity. People should be bound to follow court order no matter if they like it or not, but criticising that order should not be crime.

Coming to attack on the judiciary, It’s not trolls who are hurting judiciary, its news publishers and media who portray court order as per their wish. They can turn a court order towards any direction as per their need. They use oral remarks of judges as headlines of article, which might be completely different from the order of that case. Nothing is harming judiciary more than fake news. And I am really sorry to say this but courts always protect those fake news peddlers in the name of freedom of press and dissent. Instead of going after trolls, milords should have asked law makers to frame laws against fake news peddlers. I am not against freedom of press, but freedom comes with a price and here that price is one and only TRUTH. Freedom of press must not be confused with freedom to lie.

Milord, I am too young to tell this, but in my opinion, serving judges should refrain for putting their opinion and off-the-cuff remarks, as suggested by supreme court. Once a judge has an opinion, his/her chances of being unbiased gets reduced and it can also influence the decision. Judges are supposed to be unbiased and no opinion is unbiased.

Concluding this letter with an expectation that courts will protect freedom of expression of trolls who are already targeted by many powerful chairs. And in future, if anyone will attack on freedom of expression of trolls, courts will take Suo moto to defend trolls and idea of India.

If you find this letter offensive, please accept my apologies. I am now off to the nearest communal mandir to pray that I get away with just one rupee fine like Prashant Bhushan, who attacked the judiciary far more uncharitably than any of us trolls do.

Yours obediently,
Nameless, faceless but not shameless troll.

Wikipedia continues to rewrite history, this time prepares to delete page on mass killings under communist regimes: Here are the reasons they gave

The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, which was started with the noble intention of becoming the crowd-sourced resource of knowledge for all for free, had become a left-wing propaganda tool long ago. The selected leftist moderators now control information on the website, continuously pushing left-wing propaganda, blocking conservating voices, and in effect rewriting history. In the latest such instance, the website is all set to delete a Wiki page on mass murders under communist regimes in various countries in the world.

A deletion note has been added to the page titled “Mass killings under communist regimes”, which informs that the over 12,000-word page is under consideration for deletion. The Wikipedia moderators claim that the neutrality of this article is disputed, and verifiability of the claims made in this article is also disputed.

The article lists several instances of genocides by communists, including the Red Terror in Russia by the Bolsheviks at the start of the Russian Civil War, mass murders by Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot using various policies, and other similar well-known instances in communist regimes in East Germany, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ethiopia etc.

The extensive article also lists various terminology used with mass killings, and discusses whether deaths caused by famines under communist rules can be labelled as mass murder, apart from listing various historical events and estimates of casualties.

However, the left-leaning editors and moderators are now not happy with such a specific article on mass murders by communist regimes, and have decided to delete it. They claim that ‘Mass killings under communist regimes’ is not a legitimate subject for an encyclopaedic article, and it is a synthesis. Many of them also claim that deaths due to famine in communist regimes can’t be called mass murders, even though the famines were caused by the policies of the communist rulers. They claim that the relation between mass murders and the communist regimes where they happened is synthesised.

They claim the article violates Wikipedia policy as it is a synthesis of published material, and it is not a neutral point of view.

Those who are advocating for its deletion further claim that the incidents of mass murders mentioned in the article are separate, not linked to each other, and hence they can’t be clubbed together, while agreeing that these murders did take place under communist rules. Some of them argue it is just a compilation of other articles, and hence it does not have encyclopedic value.

It is notable that none of those who are asking to delete the article deny the incidents narrated in it. They are just saying that it does not deserve a separate article, or that some of the incidents can’t be called mass murders and can’t be linked to communism.

However, a large number of Wikipedia users and editors are fighting to keep the article. A cursory glance at the delete discussion shows that the majority of those who have participated in the discussion want to keep the article. They argue that all the incidents mentioned in the article happened in history, which can’t be denied. They have argued that facts cannot be erased because the current ideology of someone makes it inconvenient.

Some of the supporters of the article has suggested a middle ground, saying the article can be merged with the Crimes against humanity under communist regimes page, as both deal with similar historical events.

Even though the majority of the people want the article to be kept, that may not happen, as Wikipedia does not work on a majority voting basis. The website works on the basis of whims of a few editors and moderators with authority to remove articles, almost all of whom are leftists. The deletion discussion page helpfully informs that the discussion is not a majority vote, but instead a discussion among Wikipedia contributors. It says that the decision will be taken on the basis of the merits of the arguments, not by counting votes.

It is important to note that the article has been nominated for deletion for the fourth time, which makes it clear that it is under regular attack from communists online. Many contributors have commented that this shows that heavily indoctrinated people desperately want to get rid of this specific page, and there is ideological motivation behind it. But given the leftist bias of Wikipedia, it is very much possible that the article will be deleted, despite opposition by the majority of contributors.

The leftist bias of Wikipedia has been revealed by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, who has said that Nobody should trust Wikipedia as the information in it is biased. He said that the site is no longer trustworthy as it does allow content that does not fit the agenda of leftists, and therefore people can’t get a complete view on the topics.

Larry Sanger had left Wikipedia over differences with co-founder Jimmy Wales over how to run the website, and has since become a staunch critic of it for its left-leaning bias. He had also said that Wikipedia has become a huge moral hazard, saying that it has turned into a ‘monocultural establishment organ of propaganda’. He had also talked in detail on the issue in an interview with OpIndia.

It is notable that Wikipedia has launched a crusade against OpIndia, after OpIndia started exposing the bias of the website. First, the wiki page of OpIndia was deleted, saying the portal is worthy enough to have a page on Wikipedia. After that, a Hinduphobic editor created a page on OpIndia with extremely negative language, claiming it to fake news peddler. All efforts to get the page corrected have gone in vein as the leftist-Islamist moderators revert such changes, and threaten people of block from the site for making such changes.

BJP sweeps Tripura civic polls with a 98% strike rate, clean sweep in 11 civic bodies: Read details

On Sunday (November 28), the ruling BJP swept the elections in the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and 13 other municipal bodies in the State of Tripura.

As per reports, the BJP registered a clean sweep in 11 civic bodies including Khowai (8 seats), Kumurghat (15 seats), Amarpur (13 seats), Dharmanagar (24 seats), Teliamura (15 seats), Jirania (11 seats), Melaghar (13 seats), Sonamura (13 seats), Belonia (17 seats), Sabroom (9 seats) and AMC (51 seats).

Tripura civic body election results (only for contested seats)

In the Ambassa urban body, the Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Pradyot Kishore-led TIPRA Motha managed to clinch a seat each. The remaining 12 seats were won by the ruling BJP with a strike rate of 80%. In Panisagar and Kailashahar, the CPI (M) won one seat each in the two civic bodies. The ruling BJP had won 112 seats uncontested as no party had fielded their candidates.

A total of 785 candidates filed their nomination papers for 222 wards. The BJP won a total of 217 seats while the CPI (M) contended themselves with 3 seats, followed by TMC and TIPRA Motha (each bagging just 1 seat). In total, BJP won 329 out of the 334 seats in the elections.

No untoward incident of violence or chaos was reported. Security personnel from Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), Tripura Police and Tripura State Rifles (TSR) were stationed outside counting centres to prevent any law and order situation.

In a tweet, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari congratulated Chief Minister Biplab Deb for a landslide victory in Agartala Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies. “We are grateful to the people of Tripura for wiping out the corrupt & fascist Tolamool party of Bengal,” he wrote.

ED summons Amazon India head to probe alleged irregularities in Amazon – Future Coupons deal

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned the top management of Amazon Inc. and Future Coupons Pvt Ltd. (FCPL) for questioning and verification of documents in connection with their August 2019 deal. The ED has summoned Amazon’s India head, Amit Agarwal, besides promoters of the Future Group to turn up next week at the New Delhi headquarters of ED.

Amazon is taking legal consultation about the summon issued by the ED, adding that the company will respond within the given time frame. “We are in receipt of summons issued by the ED in connection with the Future Group. As we have just received the summons, we are examining it and will respond within the given time frame,” Amazon India said in a statement.

In 2019, Amazon had invested Rs 1,431 Crore to purchase a 49% stake in Kishore Biyani led FCPL. The ED is investigating whether Amazon had violated Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and complied with other regulations. FCPL owns a 9.82% stake in Future Retail Ltd, the promoter entity that runs a chain of retail stores namely Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, and Easyday. Therefore, by acquiring the 49% stake in FCPL, Amazon had gained control of 4.81% in Future Retail, which also granted it veto power in the company.

Amazon is using this stake in Future group to block the proposed acquisition of Future group by Reliance group, and is engaged in a bitter legal war over the issue. Amazon founded by Jeff Bezos has been opposing the proposed Rs 24,700 sale of assets of Future Retail to Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Ltd, alleging breach of control. Amazon contested and prevented the deal stating that according to the August 2019 deal, Future Group can’t finalize any deal with Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd which is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.

The Independent directors of the Future group have alleged that Amazon violated FEMA regulations in the FCPL deal, and has asked the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to revoke the approval given to the deal. The directors have accused the American online retail giant of misleading authorities to obtain approvals for the purchase of stake at the FCPL. They alleged that Amazon had concealed information and misrepresented facts while seeking approval for the investment from CCI. Taking cognizance of the complaint, the CCI issued a show-cause notice to Amazon after examining documents.

Citing internal communications of Amazon, the directors also alleged that Amazon had originally planned to buy stakes in Future Retail directly, but after the govt banned FDI in retail, it had cancelled the initiative. It then took an alternate route, and purchased the 49% stake at Future Coupons Pvt Ltd, which had 9.82 % stake in Future Retail, thereby gaining control over the Indian retail giant bypassing the ban on foreign ownership of Indian retail companies.

When Amazon approached Delhi High Court against the acquisition of Future Retail by the Reliance Group, the court had made certain observations against Amazon. The court had observed that through the conflation of three agreements, Amazon had attempted to gain control over the entity without the permission of the government.

While the Delhi High Court had already made observations, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also shot a letter to Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). CAIT accused major e-commerce players like Flipkart and Amazon of violating FEMA and FDI rules. DPIIT which comes under the Ministry of Commerce forwarded the representation of CAIT to ED and asked to look into the matter.

Janghia Challenge: Watch this Pakistani man jump right into an underwear held by his friends, evokes hilarious reactions

A video has gone viral on social media where a Pakistani man could be seen performing what appears to be a rather extraordinary stunt, a stunt that can only be described as the ‘Janghia Challenge’. Two individuals, presumably friends of the main man in action, held an underwear open. The man, draped in the flag of Pakistan flag, ran in from quite a distance and jumped straight into the underwear held wide open for him almost perfectly.

The TikTok video was shared on Twitter by an individual who appeared to sarcastically comment on the abundance of talent in Pakistan. Others, however, found the video hilarious and the video received widespread mockery.

Some suggested in jest that the ‘Janghia Challenge’ should be an Olympic sport.

One person said that if the Greeks had done it, it would have been an Olympic sport.

Some have dubbed him Pakistan’s Super Hero. Some call him ‘Chaddi Man’, while others have named him ‘Captain Pakistan’.

Some want Bollywood stars to try the ‘Janghia Challenge’. Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff are two names that have come forward thus far.

One author opined that based on the current mindset of Pakistan, the man should be declared the Prime Minister of the country.

On our part, we would like to humbly state that these stunts are performed by professionals under expert supervision. Please, do not try this at home.

Congress vs Congress: Manish Tewari and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lock horns over the former’s comments about 26/11

On Sunday (November 28), ex-Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari hit back at fellow Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after the latter questioned his criticism of the UPA government over the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Tewari in his book ’10 Flashpoints; 20 years’, which is set to release on December 1, had talked about Congress-led UPA govt’s inaction in wake of the Mumbai terror attacks on 26 November 2008. When his comments drew the ire of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Tewari pointed out how he was equally critical of the Modi government’s policy on Chinese aggression. He had shared screenshots of his tweets directed at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

“I would urge you to read my book if you seriously think surgical strikes or Balakot bombings have brought about any substantiative change in behaviour of Pakistan,” Tewari had earlier tweeted to Rajnath Singh. Citing his criticism of the BJP, he told Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as to how he had addressed his concerns. “The continued incursions by China and the response of NDA/BJP government to them do form a substantial part of my book,” Manish Tewari defended his loyalty for the grand-old party.

Screengran of the tweet by Manish Tewari

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury pulls up Manish Tewari for questioning UPA govt

While speaking to Press Trust of India (PTI), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had remarked, “Tewari is a man of letters and he could have written a book on the contribution of the Congress party to the nation. But raising it (26/11 terror attacks) now is strange. He did not raise the issue even after being a part and parcel of the UPA government.”

“He should have raised the issue when he was a minister in the UPA government. It is strange that Manish Tewari has woken up now on 26/11 attacks. He should, instead, focus his criticism on China and what it is doing in the Indian territory,” Chowdhury added. The Congress leader pointed out that Tewari did not specify as to what should have been the course of action of the UPA, post 26/11 attacks.

“Sometimes, a book with controversies sells more. Today, when a controversy is raised, the book will be sold more and the BJP will become the salesman,” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury recommended Manish Tewari to focus on Modi government’s policy on Chinese aggression.

Tewari slammed Manmohan Singh led UPA govt in his book

The former Information and Broadcasting Minister, in his book ‘10 Flashpoints; 20 Years,’ had accused Congress-led UPA government dithered in responding to Pakistan-sponsored 2008 Mumbai terror attack. He had said that the then UPA government, headed by Manmohan Singh, did not act strongly against Pakistan. Tewari emphasised that such a restraint against Islamabad was perceived as a symbol of weakness.

“For a state that has no compunctions in brutally slaughtering hundreds of innocent people, restraint is not a sign of strength; it is perceived as a symbol of weakness…There comes a time when actions must speak louder than words. 26/11 was one such time when it just should have been done. It, therefore, is my considered opinion that India should have actioned a kinetic response in the days following India’s 9/11,” he wrote in his upcoming book.

‘You are on our hit list’: Kashmiri Pandit journalist receives another threat from ISIS Kashmir, second time in a week

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Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul has received another threat from a group that calls itself ‘ISIS Kashmir. Less than a week ago, Kaul and BJP MP Gautam Gambhir had received death threats from the outfit.

On Sunday, Aditya Raj Kaul said on Twitter, “At midnight I received a fresh email from ‘ISIS Kashmir’ email account taking responsibility for Pathankot blast outside the Indian Army camp and again issuing threat against me.”

Screenshot shared by Aditya Raj Kaul on Twitter

Apart from claiming responsibility for the Pathankot blast, the group also claimed that they will attack politicians and journalists in Kashmir. The ‘Pathankot blast’ referred to in the email presumably refers to the hand-grenade blast near the Army cantonment. No casualty was reported in that incident. In another mail, the group also threatened Kaul that he could not “hide” in Delhi for long.

Screenshot shared by Aditya Raj Kaul on Twitter

Kaul rued the fact that an FIR has not been lodged in the matter despite his complaint. He said, “Sadly because I am not a Member of Parliament or a politician, this threat doesn’t get the same attention as Gautam Gambhir. Police is yet to file FIR in my case even after 5 days of cowardly threats. Not sure if they are waiting for me to get attacked.”

Earlier, Kaul had received death threats from the same group. The group had threatened to behead him, following which he had alerted the Uttar Pradesh Police and the Special Cell of the Delhi Police. Former cricketer and now Member of Parliament from the BJP, Gautam Gambhir, too, had received threats against himself and his family. Security was increased outside his residence following the threat.

Radical Islam apologist denies genocide of Kashmiri Pandits, claims there was no ethnic cleansing

In yet another attempt to whitewash the atrocities against Kashmiri Pandits, CJ Werleman, radical Islamist apologist and ‘independent’ journalist, re-shared his 2019 article in a tweet on November 27. In the tweet, he denied the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley and said, “There was no ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir! Even the Indian govt acknowledges that, saying only a sum total of 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed during a 15 year period spanning 1989 to 2004. Compared with 100,000 Muslims killed in this same time.”

CJ Welerman spread fake news on Twitter alleging Kashmiri pandit genocide never happened. Source: Twitter

Werleman conveniently ignored the fact that there were announcements from the mosques threatening Hindus (Kashmiri Pandits) to leave the valley. As a result, thousands of Hindus left the valley overnight, fearing for their lives, and those who could not leave were brutally murdered by the Islamists. Werleman was quoting a tweet by Asha Jadeja Motwani, who shared the information of the upcoming film by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri titled “The Kashmir Files”. In her tweet, Asha had written, “Decades after the invasion of Maharaja Hari Singh’s Kashmir on Oct  1, 1947, by Pakistan, has someone spoken about the “ethnic cleansing” of Hindus in Kashmir.”

What does Werleman’s article claim?

Published in 2019 on estranewsfeed.com titled “The Myth of Hindu Genocide in Kashmir Continues to Stalk Muslims”, Werleman had claimed in his article that Hindu genocide never happened in Kashmir. He pushed the propaganda against the Indian Army, stating, “Indian military has raped, tortured, murdered, and forcibly disappeared tens of thousands of Muslims in Kashmir in the past three decades alone.”

Werleman further claimed that RSS-BJP workers spread “fake” information about the Kashmiri Pandits’ exodus and genocide on social media platforms. He added, “In short, Kashmir’s Muslims did not carry out genocide against the Hindu minority. All in all, a sum total of 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed during a 15 year period spanning 1989 to 2004, according to an investigation carried out by the Indian government’s Ministry of Home Affairs in 2005.” According to him, the killing of 219 Hindus on record was a negligible number and should not be a reason to target Islamists who carried out the attack on Hindus in the valley.

He alleged that those Kashmiri Pandits who were killed in the valley were ‘spies’ working for the Indian Army. He said, “Violence against Kashmiri Pandits in 1989–90 took place within the context of a sustained rebellion against Indian rule in Kashmir, with Islamic militants selectively assassinating spies and Indian military collaborators,” and that led to the fear in Kashmiri Hindus.

The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

On January 19, 1990, mosques in Kashmir issued a warning to Kashmiri Pandits while terming them as Kafirs. They had three options, leave Kashmir, convert to Islam or be killed. It has been over 30 years, but the pain, agony and tears of tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits still echo the valley. As per records, around 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed at the hands of Islamists. While some studies suggest around 100,000 Kashmiri Pandits left the valley during the 1990s, the number may be as high as 300,000, according to a survey by the Hindu American Foundation.

During that period, not only Hindus were forced out of Kashmir, but temples were destroyed, houses were burnt to ruins, and millions became homeless. The repeated whitewashing of the atrocities against the Hindus by the likes of Werleman has created a perception that Muslims and not Hindus were the victims. In reality, even after the abrogation of Article 370 and continuous efforts of the Government of India to resettle the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, only a handful of families have been relocated.

Since October 2021, several Hindus have been murdered by the Islamists in the valley that implanted fear among the Hindus that the valley was going back to the days of the 1990s. As per reports, in the first week of October itself, around 1,400 Hindus left the valley after the murders of Hindus by terrorists.

Welerman – A habitual fake-news peddler

So-called journalist CJ Welerman has repeatedly been attacking the Government of India and spreading misinformation and fake news on social media platforms. Recently, he called for boycotting Indian products allegedly to “save Indian Muslims”. In a tweet, he wrote, “Save Muslims in India and Kashmir: Boycott Indian products.”

Earlier on October 21, he had tweeted a video of Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the Hindu activist group Shri Rama Sene, to allege that he called for violence against Muslims and the demolition of a mosque in Karnataka. “Leader of Hindutva group Sri Ram Sena calls for violence against Muslims and the demolition of Jumma Mosque in Karnataka,” he had said in the tweet.

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova had echoed his voice and spread the fake news. OpIndia had earlier reported how left-liberal news websites had falsely claimed that Pramod Muthalik called for a “Babri-like” demolition of the Jamia Masjid in Gadag in Karnataka. However, in reality, he had made no such claims.

Werleman is a habitual fake news peddler who spends time spewing anti-India venom while inventing incidents out of thin air. Earlier in September, he had called for ‘regime decapitation‘ strikes against India.

“Govt cannot be the owner of temples”: VHP urges centre to free Hindu Temples from govt control, starts discussions to evolve alternate control structure

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The Hindu organization Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) has written to the Centre and sought the enactment of a law to free Hindu temples and religious institutions from government control. VHP has also appealed to the centre to pass anti-conversion law. A press release issued by the organisation on November 27 said that Vishwa Hindu Parishad has taken an initiative to free Hindu temples and religious institutions from the Government’s Control, on this endeavour, VHP Central Leadership is meeting seers and saints of Hindu Dharma to seek their guidance to evolve an alternate control structure, where the temples will be administered by the Hindu samaj.

VHP has said that as part of the guidance seeking program, a team consisting of the central working president Alok Kumar, joint general secretary Sthanumalayan and organising secretary from South India P M Nagarajan with VHP workers from Tamil Nadu would seek guidance and blessings from the Hindu saints and sadhus in the pursuit of their attempt to solve the long-standing issue.

In July 2021, VHP had passed a resolution to Enact Central Law to free Hindu temples and religious institutions from Governments Control. The press release said, “The Board of Trustees of Vishva Hindu Parishad is of definite view that the Hindu temples and religious institutions should be freed from the Govt control. The Temples in Bharat have been the nuclei of social, religious, and cultural activities of the. Hindu society and the secret of the enduring nature of Hindu Nation and immortality of Mrityunjay Bharat Hindu devotees visit temples to internalise the sanctity and serenity of the place and contribute their offerings so that the educational institutions, health services, festivals, religious and social projects/activities run by the temples could be run in an apt manner. Therefore, besides conducting the daily sacraments and related activities, the temples have remained in vanguard supporting the society in times of crisis and emergency.”

It further added, “the irony is that the state governments get their hands on many such rich temples of the country and spend the contributions of devotees illogically and arbitrarily. Even the money of temples is appeasingly used to serve the non-Hindu causes. The Hindu religious institutions have been controlled by Governments since the British times. For this purpose, Madras Hindu Religious Endowments Act. 1926 was enacted. As a consequence of this law. the management and administration of our religious institutions was taken over by the British Government. Our temples are still being acquired under the cover of this black law, whereas in the Chidambaram Natraj Temple case, the Madras High Court has clearly said that the governments should free the Hindu temples from government control.”

VHP has said that now the time has come for a comprehensive discussion regarding the management of Hindu temples and other religious institutions. The organisation said that transparency and accountability should be ensured in the new framework of temple management. “While deciding on the new frameworks, temple traditions, hereditary arrangements, the role of Archaks and sections dependent on the temples’ income and participation of devotees will have to be taken into account,” the press release said.

The VHP further said that the government cannot be the owner of the temples. The governments and the courts of law can have some minimal necessary role, when required. What and how much would be that role, must be considered by all stakeholders, the press release issued by VHP added.

The organisation also added that given the diversity of the Hindu society, there can be no uniform framework in the management of all temples. It said that different approaches must be explored keeping in mind different traditions, customs, and ways of worship. It is now urgent to take necessary steps in this regard at a fast pace.

“Vishva Hindu Parishad appeals to the Central Government to make a central law to handover Hindu Temples and religious institutions to the Hindu society, so that saints and devotees could refurbish and do up their religious and administrative systems and their traditions oriented towards ensuring the spirituo-socio-cultural dynamism of Mrityunjayi Bharat,” the press release demanded.

VHP’s International Working President Alok Kumar said, “Hindu devotees visit temples to internalise the sanctity and serenity of the place and contribute their offerings so that the educational institutions, health services, festivals, religious and social projects/activities offered by the temples can run in an apt manner. However, the irony is how state governments get their hands on many such rich temples of the country and spend the contributions of devotees illogically and arbitrarily.”

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad also called upon The Tamil Nadu government to drop the plans to monetize the Temple ornaments by melting the ornaments into gold bars, which were donated by millions of devotees to the temples over the years. It said that the devotees have donated to the temple for a specific reason and belief, and VHP states that Government do not have any rights to melt the ornaments into gold bars and deposit them in the banks as it is a matter of faith and belief. VHP also asked the Tamil Nadu govt to enact an anti-conversion law.

Bengaluru show of Munawar Faruqui cancelled, hints at quitting comedy for the second time

‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui on Sunday took to Twitter to say that this was his time as comedian and thanked the audience and hinted that this may be the end of his ‘comedy’ career.

Faruqui, in a statement, said that today his show in Bengaluru was cancelled after having sold over 600 tickets over allegations of threats of violence. He claimed it was unfair that he was put in jail for a joke he did not crack and that his show was cancelled when there was nothing problematic in it. He added that in past two months, 12 of his shows were cancelled due to threats to venue and audience.

He then said that this is perhaps the end and thanked his audience and his goodbye.

In February 2021, too, he had given hint to quit comedy after his arrest over a joke that was allegedly offensive.

However, back then he had then mocked those who had threatened disruption and went on to continuing doing ‘comedy shows’.

On Saturday (November 27), the Ashoknagar police station in Bengaluru had asked the organisers to cancel the comedy show of Munawar Faruqui in light of the criminal cases registered against the comedian in other States of the country, reported The Times of India. Faruqui was scheduled to perform his ‘Dongri to Nowhere-Comedy Special’ at the Good Shepherd Auditorium in Bengaluru on Sunday (November 28).

In a letter written by the Inspector (Ashoknagar Police) to Vishesh Dhuria of Curtain Call events, he said, “It is learned that Munawar Faruqui is a controversial figure for his controversial statements on other religions and gods. Many states have banned his comedy shows. It is learned that a case has been registered against him in the Tukoganj police station, Indore of Madhya Pradesh (Mainly under IPC 295A- Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).”

“Similar cases have been registered against him in many states. There is credible information that several organisations are opposing this stand-up comedy show performed by Faruqui. This could create chaos and could disturb public peace and harmony which may further lead to law and order problems. Therefore, it is suggested that you should cancel Faruqui’s comedy show,” the letter concluded. According to a senior police official, no permission had been granted for Munawar Faruqi’s show and that action would be taken if the organisers did not comply with the police directive.

Chandigarh show of Munawar Faruqi cancelled after VHP intervened

The Chandigarh unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had earlier called for the cancellation of Faruqui’s show, which was scheduled to be held at the Jungle Bar on Saturday (November 27).

While speaking to OpIndia, Suresh Rana of VHP had confirmed that the show was cancelled by the organisers.

Opposition to comedy tour and aftermath

Earlier, the organisers had cancelled Faruqui’s show in Panaji in Goa, following the opposition of the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti. The comedian was set to perform at a mall in Panaji on November 15. But, the organisers ‘LVF Comedy’ pulled the plug on the show citing the law and order problem. The decision was taken following a meeting at the Panjaji police station. The Hindu Jagriti Samiti had urged the State to not allow Faruqui to perform in Panaji, owing to his past record of making ‘vulgar jokes about Hindu Gods.’

Faruqui was scheduled to perform on November 14 in Raipur In Chattisgarh. However, his shows were cancelled following the opposition of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. VHP leader Santosh Chaudhary had informed that the two groups had submitted a written application to Raipur Collector and Superintendent of Police in this matter. Similarly, his shows in  Gujarat and Mumbai were also cancelled. However, on November 20, he performed his 1 hour and 30-minute long ‘Dongri to Nowhere’ comedy special in the city of Kolkata. This happened to be the only show that was not cancelled by the organisers.

Following backlash from all corners, the ticket sales on ‘Book my show’ for his comedy special was halted.