A Rajasthan based interfaith couple had reportedly gone to the collectorate in Ajmer on June 23, to seek protection after they married each other in an Arya Samaj Mandir on June 20. In a dramatic turn of events, the parents of the girl, who belonged to the Muslim community, along with Makrana police officials reached the collectorate in Ajmer and forcefully separated the couple and took the girl away.
The incident came to the fore after the girl reportedly went missing on June 18. The parents claimed that their daughter was a minor, and the Dalit Hindu boy, who worked as a sweeper in Kishangarh municipality in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, had lured her into marriage.
The girl, a resident of Makrana town in Nagaur district in Rajasthan, on the other hand, claimed that she was an adult and that she had married of her own volition. She claimed that her family members are against her marriage and are trying to threaten her husband’s family with violence. She feared that her family members, infuriated by the interfaith marriage, would kill her and her husband.
In what transpired, the couple had taken refuge inside the collectorate in Ajmer on June 23 (Wednesday), fearing a threat to their lives. The girl’s parents came to know about her whereabouts. They reached the collectorate along with Makrana police officials and started creating a ruckus inside the district office. The police and the girl’s family claimed that they had documents that prove that the girl was a minor. They accused the youth of luring the minor girl into marriage.
Rajasthan police dragged the interfaith couple out of the collector’s office and arrested them
The girl, on the other hand, claimed that she was no more a minor and had married the Dalit youth of her own free will.
The argument between the girl and her parents culminated in a full-fledged fight. The girl’s family members, with the help of Makrana police officials, started pulling the girl towards them, while the girl continued to give them a tough fight. She screamed and rebelled and raised objection to go with her parents. The Makrana police, however, managed to overpower the couple. They pulled and dragged them out of the collectorate and arrested them, while the officials inside the collector’s office in Ajmer continued watching the drama.
According to reports, the Muslim girl, after being separated from her husband, was produced before the child welfare committee, which sent her to the Savitri Bai Phule girls hostel in Nagaur. The Dalit youth was arrested and taken on remand for a day.
The child welfare committee will be hearing the case on June 28.
One of the fiercest proponents of stricter social distancing rules, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Friday admitted that he broke the rules himself after images of him kissing an aide were published in a newspaper. Hancock said he “let the people down” after pictures of him kissing his aide Gina Coladangelo—whom he appointed—and was “very sorry”.
“I accept that I breached the social distancing guidance in these circumstances. I have let people down and am very sorry,” Hancock said.
The Downing Street said Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted Mr Hancock’s apology and “considers the matter closed”. When the spokesperson for the Prime Minister was asked if he had full confidence in Mr Hancock, the answer came in affirmative.
However, Labour urged the Prime Minister to sack Mr Hancock, calling his position “untenable”. Labour spokesperson called the Prime Minister “spineless” and assured that the matter is not closed despite the efforts of the government to cover it up.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said, “He set the rules. He admits he broke them. He has to go. If he won’t resign, the PM should sack him.” The chair of the all party parliamentary group on coronavirus, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran accused Mr Hancock of “utter hypocrisy” and questioned Mr Johnson’s response, saying whether or not he accepted the apology was “irrelevant”.
Pictures of Matt Hancock and his aide in a steamy embrace published in a newspaper
Earlier today, the Sun reported that Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo, both of whom are married with children, were having an affair. Hancock and his aide, millionaire lobbyist Gina were caught on a camera in a steamy clinch at his Whitehall office.
The report shared pictures of the two embracing and kissing each other during office hours last month as the mutant strain began raging across Britain. The images, which appear to be from CCTV footage, were taken on May 6 from the Department of Health and Social Care building in London.
At the time when the pictures were reportedly taken, the guidelines directed people to keep their distance from anyone not in their household or support bubble.
The legislation in place at that time also said: “no person may participate in a gathering” that “consists of two or more people… and takes place indoors”. The legislation did have an exception for “work purposes or for the provision of voluntary or charitable services”. However, it is not clear whether embracing a co-worker could be considered as a part of a work meeting.
Investigation ordered over serious breach of security
In the meanwhile, an investigation has been launched to find out how images from an UK govt office were leaked to media. It has been considered a “serious breach of security”, as it shows that someone is spying on the country’s senior ministers. According to reports, The Government Security Group, which is in charge of security at 800 buildings across Whitehall, has been asked to investigate the matter.
Some sections have even called for MI5 to get involved in the matter, as there is possibility that hostile foreign states may be involved in the matter. Government insiders said security cameras are generally not placed in the offices of Secretaries of State, and it raises questions about whether the footage of Hancock was recorded on a pre-existing camera or could even have been filmed by a camera deliberately placed there targeting him.
In an explosive revelation, American officials have confirmed that records of initial COVID-19 cases in Wuhan were purged from a US database at the insistence of Chinese scientists.
According to an article published in the Wall Street Journal, Chinese researchers asked the US National Institute of Health to remove gene sequence of early COVID-19 cases from a crucial scientific database, sparking concerns that the information accessed by scientists studying the origins of the virus may be incomplete.
In March 2020, a team of academics from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the pandemic is reported to have originated, submitted sequences of the virus that causes the disease to a US-based archive. It is reported that the data contained the gene sequence of coronavirus samples collected from Wuhan in January and February 2020.
However, three months later, they were asked to delete the sequence the archive, the US National Institutes of Health said on Wednesday.
In its defence, the NIH said, “Submitting investigators hold right to their data and can request withdrawal of their data.”
A statement issued by the NIH said the scientist who submitted the sequences requested in June 2020 that they be removed because they had been updated and were to be posted to another, unspecified database. The NIH told investigators that scientist wanted to avoid confusion and had therefore asked to delete the older gene sequence.
While the removed information did not prove how COVID-19 first infected humans, but experts believe that the incident further proved that the Chinese have not been entirely transparent in how they dealt with the data about the pandemic.
Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, wrote a paper describing in detail about the removal of information from the NIH database. Bloom claimed in his article that the missing data entail sequences from virus samples collected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in January and February of 2020 from patients hospitalized with or suspected of having Covid-19.
Bloom said while some of the deleted content was still available in a paper online, but many scientists look for gene sequences in authoritative sources such as the NIH database. Bloom claims he has found the deleted data after searching it elsewhere on the internet.
The latest revelation comes at a time when the scientists across the globe have resumed the investigations into the origins of COVID-19 pandemic in earnest. The greater scrutiny of the genesis of the virus and the possibility of it being man-made also took place after US President Joe Biden ordered an inquiry into the origins of the pandemic and sought a report in 90 days.
Dr Fauci, Peter Daszak and American bureaucrats accused of suppressing the truth about COVID-19
The revelation about the gene sequence being deleted by an American organisation also comes at a time when they United States’ leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, found himself in the eye of an ever-intensifying storm, ever since hundreds of his private emails were made public by two US media outlets.
The emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act request shed light on Dr Fauci’s reticence on considering the possibility of a lab leak origin of COVID-19 even as the virus was priming itself to ravage the United States and the rest of the world. Besides Fauci, the role of Peter Daszak, American scientists and bureaucrats in suppressing the truth about the origins of COVID-19 has also come to the fore.
Debanjan Deb, the mastermind of the ‘fake’ vaccine camp in West Bengal’s Kolkata, who posed as an IAS officer to dupe TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty among others, has found to have links with various TMC senior leaders. Several photographs have emerged where Das was seen with several TMC leaders.
In the photographs, Debanjan was seen socialising with the state’s veteran minister Subrata Mukherjee and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Chairman Firhad Hakim. These photos which were found on his Twitter handle, have now gone viral on social media. Reportedly, he introduced himself as the joint commissioner of KMC during his interrogation and even furnished an identity card of an IAS officer.
Debanjan Das with TMC leader and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Chairman Firhad Hakim (source: India Today)
Debanjan Das with TMC senior leader Subrata Mukherjee (source: India Today)
Apart from Hakim and Mukherjee, Dr Shantanu Sen, the IMA President and Avishek Dalmiya, the incumbent president of Cricket Association of Bengal, have also been spotted in some of the photos that Debanjan Deb had uploaded on his social media handle.
Fake officer’s name engraved on library plaque
Besides this, Debanjan Deb’s name is also engraved on a plaque placed below a bust of Rabindranath Tagore at a library in central Kolkata. The bust was inaugurated at the Tripura Sankar Sen Sastri Memorial Library at Taltala in Kolkata on 26th February this year, And Debanjan’s name is mentioned on the plaque used to inaugurate the bust. Reportedly, he sat on the stage along with other guests, and even had delivered a speech on the occasion.
His name appears under the headling ‘Chief Advisor’, and his designation is mentioned as joint secretary of the West Bengal govt. The plaque said that the bust was inaugurated by Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim. Hakim was Urban Development Minister in the earlier TMC govt, while he is the Transport and Housing minister now. The plaque also said that Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, West Bengal minister Tapas Roy, local TMC MLA Nayana Bandopadhyay, and Kolkata’s Deputy Mayor at that time Atin Ghosh were the chief guests at the event.
Debanjan Deb’s name engraved along with other TMC leaders on a plaque placed below a bust of Rabindranath Tagore at a library in central Kolkata
However, Nayana Bandopadhyaya, whose name appears in the plaque, has claimed that she was not even present at the event.
In an apparent bid to disassociate herself from the controversy, the TMC MLA said: “I was surprised to see the name of the person involved in the Kasba Fake Vaccine camp (Debanjan Deb) with my name on the plaque outside the Tripura Shankar Shastri Library. It is very important to know who organized the event and who is the president of the library. I was not present at the event at all. Let’s find out who used my name without permission”. According to reports, the local TMC MLA has lodged an FIR with Taltola Police Station after the matter came to light.
Similarly, Tapas Roy also has claimed that he had not attended any such event.
Ever since the racket has surfaced, some unidentified people have tried to hide Deb’ name by painting over it with black paint.
“If he has photobombed official events, they could not do anything about it”, TMC MLA Lovely Mitra
In addition, Debanjan Das, who is currently under the custody of Kolkata Police, was recently spotted sharing the stage with the newly elected Trinamool MLA from Sonarpur Lovely Moitra.
When approached, Lovely Mitra claimed ignorance about Deb. Moreover, when the TMC brass was questioned about the photographs, they categorically denied knowing the accused. They instead said: “If he has photobombed official events, they could not do anything about it”.
BJP leaders demand enquiry by central agency
Meanwhile, BJP MP Saumitra Khan questioned the presence of accused Debanjan Deb with multiple leaders of the West Bengal ruling party and demanded a probe by the central agencies in the matter.
Saumitra Khan wrote on Twitter: “And why there will be no FIR under the Epidemic Act against Minister Bobby Hakim, MP Shantanu Sen, MLA Atin Ghosh? If any citizen dies, the TMC MLA will have to take the responsibility”.
Targeting the TMC government over the recently surfaced alleged public distribution system (PDS) scam, the corruption in disbursement of cyclone Amphan funds and now the fake vaccine scam, the BJP MP said that there was a need for central agencies to probe the racket.
And why there will be no FIR under the Epidemic Act against Minister Bobby Hakim, MP Shantanu Sen, MLA Atin Ghosh? If any citizen dies, the TMC MLA will have to take the responsibility.(2/2) pic.twitter.com/g5GMO9ny8j
Likewise, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta said in a tweet: “More details of the fake IAS & fake vaccination scandal in Kolkata awaited. Prima facie, it suggests that a picture of @MamataOfficial and display of Trinammol colours secures a blank cheque to do just about anything in W Bengal. This now includes selling coupons for free vaccines.”
More details of the fake IAS & fake vaccination scandal in Kolkata awaited. Prima facie it suggests that a picture of @MamataOfficial & display of Trinammol colours secures a blank cheque to do just about anything in W Bengal. This now includes selling coupons for free vaccines.
On June 23rd, 2021 OpIndia reported how TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty was duped by a man who posed to be an IAS officer and requested her presence at a COVID-19 vaccination camp organised by him at Kasba area in the Southern fringes of Kolkata.
The vaccination drive was reportedly organised in the name of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). About 200 to 250 people were administered with Covishield vaccine, along with Mimi Chakraborty, who also took her first dose of the Covishield vaccine during the camp where she was invited as a chief guest.
Mimi, who herself got vaccinated at the drive, said her suspicions grew after she received no confirmation message of being vaccinated from the CoWin platform. She lodged a police complaint with the Kolkata police and the accused, Debanjan Das was arrested. He was reportedly using a car with a blue beacon and a fake sticker.
“The vaccine certificate should not take 3-4 days. I enquired with others (who took the vaccine at the camp) whether they have got the registration message. They said they did not do any registration or didn’t receive any message. I realised immediately and with the help of the local administration and police, I got him arrested,” Chakraborty said.
In the midst of a rigorous interrogation, Debanjan finally broke down and confessed to his crime. A large number of documents, including fake identity cards, government stamps, requisition forms for collecting vaccines from health buildings were retrieved from him.
On Friday (June 25), a security guard fired at a customer for not wearing a mask and entering a bank during the lunch hour. The incident took place at the Junction Road branch of the Bank of Baroda branch in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh.
As per reports, the accused has been identified as one Keshav Prasad Mishra. A Railway employee and also a customer at the bank, Rajesh Kumar, was allegedly stopped by the security guard for not wearing a mask. In a video that has now surfaced on social media, the victim could be seen lying on the ground in a pool of blood. His wife was seen sitting next to him while the accused was standing nearby with his gun in hand.
While speaking about the matter, Rajesh’s wife Priyanka narrated, “The guard first stopped my husband from entering the bank and asked to wear a mask, after which he wore a mask and as he tried to enter again the guard again stopped him and said that he won’t allow to go inside as it was lunch time.” She added, “My husband tried to enter the bank after a little scuffle on which the guard shot him. I want strict action to be taken against the guard.”
The incident is believed to have taken place at 11:30 am in morning. The woman claimed that the guard had warned to shoot the victim on the chest and also damaged his phone. Reportedly, Rajesh sustained a gunshot wound to his thigh.
In his defense, the security guard claimed, “He did not have a mask. I pointed that out, so he got a mask… but then he started abusing me. We had an argument… there was pushing and shoving, and the firing happened accidentally. Even I am injured, you can see my buttons have come off. My rifle was loaded, the trigger got pressed inadvertently.”
Bareilly: A man was shot at by bank security guard following an argument over the guard asking the former to wear a mask
“The injured who is a railway employee was taken to hospital & he is out of danger. The guard has been taken into custody. Probe underway,” says Bareilly, SSP pic.twitter.com/JnAeXMBaoR
On learning about the incident, a police team comprising of IGP (Bareilly Range) Ramit Sharma, SSP Rohit Singh Sajwan, SP (City) Ravindra Kumar reached the bank. While speaking to ANI, Bareilly SSP Rohit Sajwan said, “The injured who is a railway employee was taken to hospital & he is out of danger. The guard has been taken into custody. Probe underway.” The cops are now trying to ascertain the cause of the confrontation and the eventual firing.
The Noida police on Friday said Hindi Khabar chief and senior journalist Atul Agarwal had fabricated the story of being mugged for “family reasons”. He had claimed that he was assaulted and looted by assailants in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida Extension on the intervening night of May 19 and 20 (Saturday-Sunday).
महिला मित्र के घर खाने पर गये थे वरिष्ठ पत्रकार और उसके बाद पत्नी का फोन आया और रात Oyo होटल में बिताईं। @noidapolice ने पत्रकार के साथ लूटपाट की घटना को झूठ बताया। pic.twitter.com/0VdvV6KVbG
After Atul Agarwal alleged that he was assaulted and looted at gun-point, the Noida police assumed the investigation of the case. In its investigation, Noida police found that the story peddled by Atul Agarwal was concocted and that he was not robbed by assaulters as he had alleged.
The police investigation found that Mr Agarwal had gone for dinner at the house of one of his female friends at around 7 pm on May 19, which was also confirmed by electronic evidence. Agarwal’s female friend confided to the police that he had received a call from his wife, who summoned him to home immediately. Agarwal hastily left his friend’s residence at 10:40 pm to drive back to his residence.
Then at 1:20 am in the night, Atul called up his female friend and informed her that he is roaming on the streets and looking for an OYO room to spend the night. The woman told police Atul did not inform her about any robbery. It was also later proved by electronic evidence that Agarwal paid up for an OYO room through his bank account. The CCTV footage from the facility confirm Agarwal’s presence in the hotel.
“In light of all this evidence, it is proved that there has been no robbery incident with Mr Atul Agarwal and this fake case was spread on social media by him due to his personal family reasons,” the Noida police concluded.
Hindi Khabar chief Atul Agarwal claims he was assaulted and looted at gunpoint in Noida
Earlier this week, journalist Atul Agarwal took to social media to allege that he was mugged and assaulted by a group of assailants in Noida last month. According to the journalist, his life was spared his life after he said assailants that he has a small son to raise.
“The miscreants asked me to withdraw cash from the ATM. I told them that I do not have my ATM card and told them that I could transfer them the money through Paytm. As soon as I said this, the boy behind me started choking and abusing me,” the journalist wrote in his Facebook post.
He also added that the assailants took his phone and also made him unlock it but eventually threw his phone in the backseat after they saw a press sticker on the windscreen of his car and appeared to have recalled him.
“When they took away my phone, I mustered some courage and showed them my card and told them that I am a government-accredited journalist and if they take my phone away they would get tracked in no time. I don’t know what came to her mind, they threw my phone in the backseat and left,” informed Atul Agarwal adding that they threatened him with dire consequences if he spoke about the incident to anyone, and sped off on their bikes.
Be it the Khalistani terrorists, the radical Islamists, the Naxalites or any intelligence agencies of enemy countries, all these secessionists have considered Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to be their biggest enemy. This is because whenever or wherever any kind of anti-national activity has taken place in the country, the RSS Swayamsevaks, unconcerned about their lives, have always stood on the front lines in the fight against terrorism.
In fact, when Punjab was marred with rioting, communal violence and terrorism and the whole province was burning for almost one and a half decades, RSS selflessness in the face of dangers came to the rescue of the people in Punjab. Each and every Swayamsevak fought back with such great valour to save the Sikhs and Hindus that they were soon touted to be one of the biggest enemies by Pakistan backed terrorist groups. The 1989 Moga massacre can be called a repercussion of this sacrifice.
The 1989 Moga Massacre
32 years ago on this day, in what went down in history as one of the bloodiest terror attacks, Khalistani terrorists opened fire at RSS workers who were participating in the daily shakha conducted at Jawahar Lal Nehru Park in Punjab’s Moga district, killing 25 Swayamsevaks and leaving 35 members of RSS injured. A short while later, a powerful bomb, apparently planted by the Khalistani terrorists exploded in the park, which killed a couple and two policemen.
After indiscriminately firing and spraying bullets on everyone, when the Khalistani terrorists attempted to flee, they were confronted by a courageous couple- Om Prakash and Chhinder Kaur. The couple was unarmed, but they fought bravely with the Khalistani terrorists until they shot them dead. A one and a half-year-old child, named Dimple, who was playing near the Nehru Park was also killed in the firing.
Reminiscing what transpired on that deadly day, one eyewitness said that the Khalistani terrorists had asked the RSS Swayamsevaks to take down the Sangh’s flag they hoisted in the Nehru Park during the daily shakha which was being conducted then. The Swayamsevaks apparently refused to bow down to their demands. Enraged by this, the Khalistani separatists started indiscriminately firing at the RSS Swayamsevaks, leaving 25 dead.
Nitin Jain, a young man who witnessed the incident at the age of 10, recalled how the Swayamsevaks, unbothered about their lives ran behind the Khalistanis as they fled. Jain remembered how he too ran behind the terrorists, considering it to be some sort of game. Luckily, some person caught him and sent him home, recalled Nitin Jain.
The Sangh martyrs who lost their lives in the Moga massacre
The Sangh members who died in the dastardly attack were Shri Lekhraj Dhawan, Babu Ram, Bhagwan Das, Shiv Dayal, Madan Goyal, Madan Mohan, Bhagwan Singh, Gajanand, Aman Kumar, Omprakash, Satish Kumar, Keso Ram, Prabhjot Singh, Neeraj, Munish Chauhan. , Jagdish Bhagat, Ved Prakash Puri, Omprakash and Chhinder Kaur (husband and wife), Dimple, Bhagwan Das, Pandit Durga Dutt, Prahlad Rai, Jagtar Rai Singh, Kulwant Singh. Prem Bhushan, Ram Lal Ahuja, Ram Prakash Kansal, Balveer Kohli, Raj Kumar, Sanjeev Single, Dinanath, Hansraj, Gurbaksh Rai Goel, Dr Vijay Single, Amrit Lal Bansal, Krishna Dev Agarwal, Ajay Gupta, Vinod Dhamija, Bhajan Singh, Vidya Bhushan Nageshwar Rao, Pawan Garg, Gagan Beri, Ramprakash, Satpal Singh Kalda, Karamchand and some other volunteers were injured.
The Sangh martyrs who fell prey to Khalistani terrorism
Despite the fatal attack, the families of the Swayamsevaks showed great poise and calm. The RSS Sarkaryavah, HV Seshadri appealed to maintain peace at all cost.
RSS’ role in maintaining Hindu-Sikh unity
The ghastly massacre shocked the nation’s conscience to its very depths, however, it could not shake the resolve of the RSS members, who on the very next day of the incident, i.e., on June 26, 1989, re-established a Shakha at the same spot where they lost their 25 brave Swayamsevaks. That day around 100 odd members attended the Shakha. They sang songs like “Kaun Kahanda Hindu-Sikh Vakh Ne, Ae Bharat Maa Di Sajji-Khabbi Akh Ne”, roughly translated as (who says Hindu and Sikhs are different, they are the two eyes of Bharat Mata).
This gave out a loud and clear message to the terrorists that no matter what they do, they cannot disrupt the Hindu-Sikh unity nor can terrorism running in the name of Sikhism break the unity of the people of Punjab.
The irony of this move cannot be lost, because, twice when Muslim League-led mobs besieged it in 1947, the RSS members were the ones who guarded the revered Sikh Shrine ‘Darbar Sahib’ at Amritsar. During the 1984 anti-Sikh riot, the Sangh came out to safeguard the Sikhs. And on 25 June 1989, these RSS swayamsevaks sacrificed their lives against terrorism in Punjab.
Later, the Nehru Park, where the tragic incident occurred was renamed, Shahidi Park. In fact, when the Shakha was organised on June 26, then the Swayamsevaks; had resolved to make a memorial in the memory of those killed in the park.
The foundation stone of Shahidi Smarak was laid on 9th July by the notable RSS pracharak Murlidhar Dattatray Deoras popularly known as Bhaurao Deoras. The memorial was inaugurated by Rajju Bhaiya on June 24, 1990. A memorial committee was also formed to provide assistance to the victim’s families and maintain the memorial. Every year, the committee pays tributes to the victims of the attack on the first Sunday after June 25.
Condemning the brutal massacre of RSS Swayamsevaks by members of the Sikh separatist group, Khushwant Singh, one of the best-known Indian writers of all times, had said that “RSS helped to protect Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. In spite of this, the Khalistani terrorists executed the brutal 1989 Moga massacre.
Interestingly, the connection between the RSS and the Sikhs has had a historical context. During the partition of India in 1947, RSS saved the lives of a large number of Sikhs and played a major role in protecting the population of Punjab from the onslaught of the Muslim League-led mobs. It also helped move them to safer places.
After the Moga incident too, the RSS gave out an exemplary message of Hindu-Sikh unity by re-establishing its Sakha at that spot, the very next day of the incident. This step was seen as a big blow to Khalistani terrorism in Punjab.
Now, on the 25th of June every year, a lot of people visit Shahidi Park to pay homage to the RSS martyrs.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took to Koo app on Friday to state that Twitter denied him access to his account for almost an hour on the alleged grounds that there was a “violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA”.
His posts made on Indian social media app Koo came after social media giant Twitter blocked the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on the pretext of violating the copyright act of the United States of America.
“Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account,” Ravi Shankar Prasad said on the Koo app.
Friends! Something highly peculiar happened today. Twitter denied access to my account for almost an hour on the alleged ground that there was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the USA and subsequently they allowed me to access the account.(1/7)
Suggesting that Twitter took action against him for asking the micro-blogging site to comply the new IT rules, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “No matter what any platform does they will have to abide by the new IT Rules fully and there shall be no compromise on that.”
“It is apparent that my statements calling out the high-handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers,” the Union minister said.
It is apparent that my statements calling out the high handedness and arbitrary actions of Twitter, particularly sharing the clips of my interviews to TV channels and its powerful impact, have clearly ruffled its feathers.(3/7)
Ravi Shankar Prasad also said that Twitter’s actions were in gross violation of Rule 4(8) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 as they failed to provide him any prior notice before denying him access to his own account.
The Union Minister further said that Twitter’s actions “indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform”.
Twitter’s actions indicate that they are not the harbinger of free speech that they claim to be but are only interested in running their own agenda, with the threat that if you do not tow the line they draw, they will arbitrarily remove you from their platform.(6/7)
Micro-blogging site Twitter is yet again under the scanner for blocking the account of a Union Minister of the Indian government. Though the Twitter account of the Union Minister was visible for public viewing, Twitter did not allow anyone authorised to access this particular account to log in or make any post.
After almost an hour after blocking the Twitter account of the Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Twitter allowed him to access to his account with a warning message saying additional notices against his account may result in the account being locked again and potentially suspended.
Twitter unblocks Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s Twitter account with a stern warning/ Image Source: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Reportedly, the Indian government is unhappy with the brazenness of the social media company, which has been continuously enforcing its own rules while disrespecting Indian laws.
For years now, media organisations, both Indian and international, have diligently peddled propaganda against Hindu festivals and employed novel ways to disabuse Hindus of celebrating their festivals.
Be it the pollution bogey that they routinely pull out to guilt trip Hindus celebrating Diwali or maligning Holi as a festival that promotes molestation of women or cries of milk wastage of the occasion of Maha Shivratri, the media organisations have displayed single-minded zeal to cast a shadow on Hindu festivals and discourage Hindus from celebrating them.
Many media organisations who claim to religiously follow the principle of ‘secularism’ are often found indulging in blatant Hinduphobia and bashing of Hindu festivals while gushing over the festivals of other religions. The modus operandi espoused by such media outlets entails pontificating Hindus about the vices purportedly associated with their festivals and holding the festivals responsible for the perpetuation of those vices.
This was the tone and tenor with which media covered the 2020 festive season. People were made to feel guilty for celebrating festivals with propaganda that it will lead to a spike. Of course, now we know that not only did the spike never come, cases actually went down. pic.twitter.com/0H15XQwb9q
— Sensei Kraken Zero (@YearOfTheKraken) June 23, 2021
However, this procedure is exclusive only for the Hindu festivals while for the non-Hindu festivals, lofty ideals of brotherhood, peace, inclusiveness etc. are highlighted and glaring vices are intentionally swept under the rug.
With the advent of coronavirus outbreak, the media organisations got yet another avenue to mount their propaganda against Hindu festivals and dissuade Hindus from celebrating them.
Last year, just before the start of the festive season in October 2020, a slew of media organisations made a beeline to publish articles based on unfounded assertions to purvey frightening and ominous rumours about festivals sparking the second wave of coronavirus outbreak.
Source: Worldometer
Now we know that, both, daily new cases of Covid-19 and active cases continued to drop throughout the festive season in 2020.
Livemint
Published in October 2020, when the cases were steadily subsiding, an article in Livemint said India’s festive season had spawned fears of renewed coronavirus surge.
Source: Livemint
Deccan Herald
Then there was Deccan Herald, which scare-mongered about a possible spike in the wake of India’s festive season. Of course, the spike which Deccan Herald assiduously talked about, never came. Yet, no apology to vilify India’s festivals was issued.
Source: Deccan Herald
Hindustan Times
Similarly, The Hindustan Times also ran articles, compounding the fear among people who were looking at the festive season to compensate for the losses incurred due to coronavirus-induced lockdown earlier in the year. One article published by the HT wrongly claimed that loss of income and fear of spike in COVID-19 cases mark the arrival of India’s festive season.
Source: Hindustan Times
News 18
A report published in News 18 went so far as to claim that India’s festive season would result in such a tremendous surge in COVID-19 cases that it would surpass the United States in terms of total coronavirus cases. In reality, even after the disastrous second wave of coronavirus, India’s cases are much lower than that of the United States.
Source: News 18
Times of India
An article published in the Times of India appeared to provide an in-depth analysis on “why the festive season poses a big challenge for India now”. Far from posing a challenge to India, the cases dropped dramatically during the said time duration.
Source: Times of India
New Indian Express
The New Indian Express also published an article that said as the festive season is around the corner, the fear of a surge in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka has gone up.
Source: New Indian Express
India Today
India Today also ran a similar story linking the COVID-19 surge to India’s festival season even though there was no scientific basis to do so.
Source: India Today
The Hindu
The Hindu came up with woke terminology to predict a rebound in the COVID-19 outbreak amidst the festive celebrations. It said COVID-19 cases will spike if ‘SMS’ is not followed. SMS here meant Social Distancing, Masks and Sanitisation.
Source: The Hindu
IANS and Congress mouthpiece National Herald
IANS ran a story to make Hindus feel guilty for celebrating the festival of Diwali. It cited misleading figures to allege that there was a 30 per cent rise in the case following Diwali as if the only reason behind the purported spike was the festival. Many other media organisations, including Congress mouthpiece National Herald, reproduced the unadulterated version of the IANS reportage to slander Diwali as a possible reason for the rise in coronavirus cases.
Source: National Herald
ThePrint
A list of media organisations that issued false alarm over the resurgent wave of coronavirus outbreak cannot be complete with the inclusion of Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint. Ahead of the festive season around October 2020, ThePrint published an article issuing early warnings of a massive COVID-19 surge.
Source: ThePrint
The Quint
Another online portal, The Quint, jumped the gun and confidently predicted that the second wave of coronavirus outbreak is guaranteed because of the festive celebrations. Through an article, it suggested what should India do in case the COVID-19 caseloads increase dramatically during the festive season. Of course, this analysis was not required later as the COVID-19 cases continued to sink.
Source: The Quint
The festive season Covid-19 spike prediction failed spectacularly
Even experts got it all wrong when they predicted that the second wave of coronavirus would hit India in winter in the aftermath of the festive season.
Source: Times of India
New York Times
The Western media outlets, always on the prowl to belittle and defame India, jumped the bandwagon to guilt trip Hindus from celebrating their festivals. As the cases in India plummeted, the New York Times published a cautionary article, warning of a resurgent wave of coronavirus sparked by the festive season that never came.
Source: New York Times
Gulf News
Likewise, The Gulf News also partook in spreading rumours and inducing fear among people about the period of festivities about to begin in India around October 2020. An article published on its website said the COVID-19 outbreak in India might intensify on the heels of the festive season and elections.
Source: Gulf News
Associated Press
The Associated Press too forewarned that India’s COVID crisis might deepen following the festive season. Soon thereafter, many western media outlets carried the AP report to amplify groundless fear-mongering regarding the festival celebrations in India leading to a possible COVID-19 surge.
Source: Euro News
CNN
CNN cited “experts” to claim Diwali celebrations would usher in a new wave of coronavirus outbreak in India.
Source: CNN
The deep-seated Hinduphobia among the media organisations
Of course, all the above warnings proved out to be profoundly wrong and incredibly exaggerated. Not only did the second wave of coronavirus did not arrive until April 2021, the cases actually plunged during the country’s festive season. But this did not stop the media organisations from scare-mongering about a possible second wave of coronavirus due to festivals being celebrated in India.
There was no accountability whatsoever for the unsubstantiated claims made by the media organisations. Even after it was fairly evident that festivals played no role in powering another wave of coronavirus outbreak, the media organisations carried on with their business, unruffled by the fact that they had wrongly demonised the festive season and guilt-tripped Hindus into not celebrating their cherished festivals. In fact, after wrongly linking the second wave of coronavirus outbreak with the festive season, the media organisations had the gall of associating Kumbh Mela celebrations with the resurgent COVID-19 outbreak.
The unfounded claims over the 2020 festive season also demonstrates that the media was on the lookout for ways to blame Hindu festivals for Covid-19 surge. Their dreams did not come true in 2020 but when the second wave did arrive, it conveniently coincided with the Kumbh Mela for them and thus gave them the opportunity to fulfill their fantasies.
Normally, media organisations are supposed to issue an apology even for the minutest of errors. But, Hindu bashing and vilifying Hindu festivals have become par for the course for the media organisations that they did not even bother to issue an apology or remove the articles from their websites after it became manifestly clear that the festivals did not spark any subsequent wave of the coronavirus outbreak. These instances signify the Hinduphobic prejudice harboured and institutionalised by the media organisations across the world, including India.
Hours after a report by the Supreme Court-appointed oxygen audit team exposed how the Delhi government exaggerated the claims of oxygen shortage, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tried to trivialise the report’s findings with an emotional appeal.
In a tweet on Friday (June 25) afternoon, Kejriwal claimed, “My mistake is that I fought for the lives of 2 crore people.” He alleged that he was busy arranging for oxygen supply for Coronavirus patients when the other political parties (referring to BJP) were engaged in election campaigning. “I have fought and begged to ensure that people have access to oxygen supply.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Arvind Kejriwal
“People have lost their loved ones due to lack of oxygen supply. Don’t prove them liars. I am feeling bad right now,” the Delhi CM alleged. It must be mentioned that the audit team found that the Delhi government exaggerated the oxygen requirement in the national capital by more than four times during the April 25-May 10 peak period of the Covid-19 second wave. The audit committee also informed the Supreme Court that the supply of excess oxygen to the national capital could have caused supply constraints shortage for at least 12 states who needed it.
Manish Sisodia tries to discredit the veracity of the Supreme Court report, Opindia debunks propaganda
After allegations surfaced against the current political dispensation in Delhi, the State government defended itself by claiming that no such report existed. In a press conference, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia claimed that the Delhi govt had talked to the members of the Supreme Court-appointed audit committee, and they had said that they did not signec or approved any report. He alleged that the report was made in BJP headquarters, and it was being termed as oxygen audit committee report.
OpIndia exposed how the AAP government was lying and the Interim Report was covered by almost all media houses. It was revealed that the Delhi Government was already informed about the interim report of the audit committee three days ago, and a copy of the same was also sent to them. BJP leader Sambit Patra posted a copy of an affidavit filed by the union govt at the Supreme Court, where it was mentioned that the Sub-Committee for Delhi for oxygen audit has submitted an interim report, and a copy of the same had been forwarded to the Delhi govt.
OpIndia had accessed the report, and it could be confirmed that the report existed, contrary to the claims of the Deputy CM. However, as it was only an interim report, it was not been signed by anyone. But the entire report was based on the minutes of several meetings held by the sub-committee with various officials, and those minutes have been included in the report as Appendix A. All those minutes were signed by Dr. Vijaydeep Siddharth, Hospital Administration, AIIMS Delhi.
It also has been revealed that the Principal Secretary (Home) of the Delhi govt, who is a member of the committee, was sent a copy of the report on 4th June itself.
