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“IT rules framed to address abuse of social media platforms”: Permanent Mission of India to UN responds to Human Rights Council’s concerns

OpIndia Staff
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“IT rules framed to address abuse of social media platforms”: Permanent Mission of India to UN responds to Human Rights Council’s concerns

The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva has responded to the concerns raised by the Special Procedures Branch of the Human Rights Council on the Information Technology Rules enacted by the Indian government.

In a move to empower ordinary users of social media and offer redressal to the victims of social media abuse, the Government of India had framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (‘new IT Rules’) and notified the same on 25 February 2021.

However, multiple concerns were raised by the Special Procedures Branch of the Human Rights Council including the potential implications for freedom of expression under the new IT Rules. To this, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva has issued a statement clarifying the misplaced concerns of the council.

In a press release issued by the Ministry of Electronics & IT, the government stated, “The Permanent Mission of India would also like to inform that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting undertook broad consultations in 2018 with various stakeholders, including individuals, civil society, industry association and organizations and invited public comments to prepare the draft Rules. Thereafter an inter-ministerial meeting had discussed in detail the comments received in detail and, accordingly, the Rules were finalized.”

The statement added, “The Permanent Mission of India would also like to highlight that India’s democratic credentials are well recognized. The right to freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. The independent judiciary and a robust media are part of India’s democratic structure.”

The press release says that “The enactment of new IT Rules had become necessary due to widespread concerns about issues relating to increased instances of abuse of social media and digital platforms, including inducement for recruitment of terrorists, circulation of obscene content, spread of disharmony, financial frauds, incitement of violence, public order etc.”

It also mentioned that the Supreme Court of India had also directed the Indian government to frame necessary guidelines to eliminate child pornography and related contents in online platforms and other applications. The Court had said that it was imperative to frame proper regime to find out the persons, institutions, and bodies who were the originators of such content messages. Due to this, it has become necessary to seek such information from the intermediaries.

The Indian Parliament had repeatedly asked the government of India to strengthen the legal framework and make the social media platforms accountable under the Indian laws. In sync with the demand, an inter-ministerial meeting had discussed in detail the comments received in detail and, finalized the Rules accordingly. 

The new IT Rules were notified on February 25, and the significant intermediaries were given a three-month period to comply. The Rules came into effect from 26 May 2021. 

Twitter resists complying with the new IT rules 

While most social media platforms have complied with the new IT rules, Twitter continues to resist the new guidelines brought in by the government of India. 

Owing to the growing tussle between the government of India and Twitter, the Indian officials of the microblogging site were questioned by the Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology on various issues.

However, Twitter officials responded to the panel saying that its own policies were more important than the laws of India. The committee, on the other hand, made it clear that the laws of the land are supreme, and the company will have to follow them.

Twitter has consistently refused to comply with the IT rules, and due to its failure to appoint statutory officers according to the rules, it has already lost the intermediary status in India. This means, it has lost the safe harbour given to social media companies, which shields them from any liability arising out of content published on their platforms.

BLM, Capitol Hill riots, Alexei Navalny and cyber attacks: How Putin busted US propaganda and exposed western imperialism through NGOs

K Bhattacharjee
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BLM, Capitol Hill riots, Alexei Navalny and cyber attacks: How Putin busted US propaganda and exposed western imperialism through NGOs

Russian president Vladimir Putin recently participated in a summit with his American counterpart Joe Biden on the 16th of June at Geneva. The summit was regular for the most part without any discernible benefit to either side on the face of it.

The summit did present Joe Biden with an opportunity to score political points with his domestic audience since Russia has become a major flashpoint in American politics. It was obvious to most that Democrats had invented the Russian collusion hoax theory to undermine then president Donald Trump.

But in doing so, they also condemned any chances of improvement in ties between the two countries. In many ways, one of the objectives of the latest summit was to bridge the gap between Russia and United States on key issues while for the American president, it was political necessity to take into account the domestic situation in USA as well.

Nevertheless, the western media, which serves as the propaganda wing of western nation states, engaged in partisan politics as well and attempted to cast Vladimir Putin as the ‘Big Bad Guy’ during their interactions with him.

But the Russian president handled them in a very sophisticated manner and on numerous occasions, leading up to the summit and in the press conference after it, eloquently exposed American duplicity.

Here, we shall take a look at the specific issues and instances where Putin rebutted American propaganda and other instances where he deviated from the narrative embraced by the American elite.

‘Predictability and Stability’

In the days leading up to the summit, Vladimir Putin gave an interview to NBC’s Kier Simmons. During the interview, the host subtly implied that while Joe Biden wanted predictability and stability in the world, his Russian counterpart wanted chaos and anarchy.

Simmons asked Putin, “President Biden wants predictability and stability. Is that what you want?” In response, the Russian president replied that predictability and stability are the most important values in international affairs.

It was then that he exposed USA’s double standard with respect to the matter. He said, “What kind of stability and predictability could there be there if we remember the 2011 events in Libya where the country was essentially taken apart, broken down?”

He added, “What kind of stability and predictability were there? There has been talk of a continued presence of troops in Afghanistan. And then all of a sudden, boom! The troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan. What, is this predictability and the stability again?”

Putin also took a jibe at the USA for attempting to overthrow the Assad Government in Syria. He said, “I’ve asked my U.S. counterparts, “You want Assad to leave? Who will replace him? What will happen when somebody— he’s replaced with somebody?” The answer is odd. The answer is, “I don’t know.” Well, if you don’t know what will happen next, why change what there is? It could be a second Libya or another Afghanistan. Do we want this? No.”

The Russian president also mocked BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg when the latter accused Russia of creating instability. Rosenberg asked during the post-talk press conference, “Joe Biden calls for a stable and predictable relationship with Russia, however, the west believes that unpredictability is a trait of the Russian policy. Are you ready to forego instability to improve the relationship with the west?”

Putin shot back, “Well if the west believes this then it doesn’t mean that this is the objective truth.” He added, “You said that the west believes that Russian policy is unpredictable, well let me reciprocate. The US withdrawal from the ADM Treaty in 2002 was unpredictable. Why would they do that and undermine the basis of strategic stability?”

He continued, “The INF treaty withdrawal in 2019, is that what you call stability? The Open Skies Agreement withdrawal, is that what you call stability?” For good measure, he added that there was nothing stable about orchestrating a coup in Ukraine either.

Political protests: Alexei Navalny, Capitol Hill riots and the Black Lives Matter movement

Vladimir Putin made it pretty clear during the interview with Kier Simmons and the press conference that he is not fond of the Black Lives Matter movement. He told Simmons when prodded on the matter, “I think that, of course, this movement was used by one of the political forces domestically in the course of election campaigns. But there are some grounds for it.”

He added, “But no matter how noble the goals that somebody is driven by, if it reaches certain extremes, if it spills over into — if it acquires elements of extremism— we can not approve this. We can not welcome it. So our attitude to this is very simple. We support African Americans’ fight for their rights, but we are against any types and kinds of extremism, which unfortunately sometimes, regrettably, we witness currently these days.”

An American reporter asked Putin what he was “so afraid of” that Russia has outlawed Alexei Navalny’s organisation and prevents people who support him from running for office. Putin responded, “The organization in question, publicly, has called for riots and public disorder. It has openly instructed people in how to make Molotov cocktails so to use them against law enforcement. It called for the participation of underaged persons in riots.”

He stated further, “America has just recently went through a grievous chain of events after a certain African-American individual was killed and an entire movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, appeared. I’m not going to go into details, I will spare you of them. But we’ve seen programs, we have seen looting and violations and riots. We sympathize with the Americans but we do not want for the same thing to happen on Russian soil, and we’ll do anything possible to prevent this.”

The reporter went on to say, “If all of your political opponents are dead in prison, poisoned, doesn’t that send a message that you do not want a fair political fight?” Putin responded, “All right. About my opponents being jailed or imprisoned. People went into US Congress with political demands. 400 people now facing criminal charges. They are facing prison terms of up to 20, maybe 25 years. They are called homegrown terrorists. They are being accused of many other things. 70 people were arrested right there on the spot, 30 of them are still arrested. On what grounds? Not quite clear.”

He also brought up the killing of Ashli Babbitt. He said, “One of the participants, a woman, was shot dead on the spot. She was not threatening with anything. Why am I bringing this up? Many people are facing the same things as we do. And I am stressing this. We are sympathizing with the United States, but we do not want the same thing repeating here.”

During the interview with Simmons, he was asked, “Did you order Alexei Navalny’s assassination?” Putin responded, “Of course not. We don’t have this kind of habit, of assassinating anybody. That’s one. Number two is I want to ask you: Did you order the assassination of the woman who walked into the Congress and who was shot and killed by a policeman? Do you know that 450 individuals were arrested after entering the Congress? And they didn’t go there to steal a laptop. They came with political demands.”

He added, “450 people have been detained. They’re facing— they’re looking— they’re— they’re looking at jail time, between 15 and 25 years. And they came to the Congress with political demands. Isn’t that persecution for political opinions? Some have been accused of plotting to topple— to take over-government power. Some are accused of robbery. They didn’t go there to rob.”

Finally, he said, “If somebody is actually using political activities as a shield to deal with their issues, including— achieve their commercial— goals, then it’s something that they have to be held responsible for.”

Cyber Security

During the press conference, a reporter asked Vladimir Putin if he committed to “ceasing” cyber attacks on the United States. Putin said, “US sources, I don’t want to make a mistake here as to the name of this organization, but the US sources claim that the majority of cyber attacks are made from the US territory. The second one is Canada, then two Latin American states, and then the UK. As for Russia, it is not listed in this ranking of countries that see the most significant number of cyber attacks from their territory. That’s one thing.”

Putin then mentioned that Russia had received 10 requests regarding attacks on US infrastructure in 2020 and two this year. Conversely, Russia had sent 45 requests to US authorities last year and 35 this year. While Russia responded to every request by US authorities, they have themselves not received any answers from their American counterparts.

Kier Simmons also relied on claims by US agencies as gospel truth to allege that Russia had indeed engaged in cyber attacks against USA. To that, Putin said, “Dear Keir, you have said that there is a weight of evidence of cyber attacks by Russia. And then you went on to list those— official U.S. agencies that have stated as much. Is that what you did?”

When Simmons then backtracked and claimed that he was only “conveying information” regarding who said what, the Russian president replied, “Right. Right. You are conveying information to me as to who said that. But where is evidence that this was indeed done? I will tell you that this person has said that, that person has said this. But where is the evidence? Where is proof? When there are charges without evidence, I can tell you, you can take your complaint to the International League of Sexual Reform.”

He added further, “It’s becoming farcical, like an ongoing farcical thing, never-ending farcical thing. You said “plenty of evidence,” but you haven’t cited any proof.”

Western imperialism through NGOs

The most significant statement, however, was the manner in which Vladimir Putin exposed western imperialism in the garb of ‘civil society’ and NGOs. As was to be expected, there were numerous questions about Alexei Navalny during the press conference.

He said, “The United States declared Russia as its enemy and adversary, and the Congress made it back in 2017. The US legislation have provisions that the United States should support the order and rule of democratic order in our country and support democratic organizations. And it is all contained in your legislation.”

He emphatically stated, “Let us ask a question. If Russia is an enemy, then what kind of organizations would be supported by the United States in Russia? I believe these are not organizations that make Russia stronger, but those who deter Russia, and that is the goal of the United States that they made public. These are organizations and people that help implement the US policy on the Russian track.”

Putin further went on to add, “The United States has a law that spells out that the United States will support specific candidates and organizations in Russia. At the same time, the Russian Federation was labeled as an adversary. They went on the record and said publicly that they will stymie the development of Russia. It begs the question, what kind of organizations the United States and the West will be supporting and pay them if we are an adversary?”

It is an undeniable reality that western countries promote ‘civil society’ organisations and NGOs abroad in order to further their interests in those countries. It is very obvious in India where foreign-funded activists and NGOs file petitions in Courts to stop infrastructure projects and interfere in the domestic politics of the country.

During the UPA regime, the extra-constitutional National Advisory Council (NAC) that used to report to Sonia Gandhi was filled with such west funded activists. Since the NDA Government came to power, the Indian Government has cracked down on such foreign funded NGOs which has attracted grave criticism from their western masters.

Western organisations such as Oxfam even urged the Congress party to form an ‘alliance’ with civil society groups, which can only be interpreted as a direct interference in the domestic affairs of India. But it is not just in India that bears the brunt of American imperialism. In other countries as well, western countries, especially USA, uses NGOs to further their imperialist intentions.

Women face abuse, threats from Islamists and an FIR for dancing in front of Shahdara Sharief Dargah in Jammu, forced to issue apology

OpIndia Staff
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Women face abuse, threats from Islamists and an FIR for dancing in front of Shahdara Sharief Dargah in Jammu, forced to issue apology

A video recently went viral on social media platforms in which four women were seen dancing happily in front of Shahdara Sharief Dargah, Rajouri, Jammu. As the video appeared on social media, the extremists and fundamentalists started to abuse, threaten and send hate messages to the women seen in the video. The women got scared and came forward to apologize after an FIR was registered against them for the dancing act.

In the apology video, they said, “We went to Shahdara Sharief and made a video there. We apologize for this video. First, I apologize to Allah. Then I apologize to the elders. Then I apologize to all my brothers and sisters of Jammu and Kashmir. If we hurt someone, we apologize. Allah wants us to be forgiven. Please forgive us for the video. We did not mean to hurt anyone.”

They further added, “Our child had fallen from the second floor. We had prayed that if our child survives, we will come to the Dargah. It was our mistake to make the video. We regret the mistake. Please forgive us.”

Notably, a lot of videos have surfaced on YouTube where people are expressing their displeasure against women. For example, a channel named Mendhar News Diary showed a byte from Nazim Khatna who said, “The incident is of Shahdara Sharief Dargah, Rajouri. In the video, four ignorant women danced in front of Dargah.”

He further added that they had put humanity to shame by dancing in this way. The YouTuber said that not only Muslims but people from other religions are also suffering because of the video. He said that the administration had lodged an FIR against the girls in just 20 minutes after learning about the video. He demanded strict action against the women with at least two years of prison so that no one repeats the mistake.

Women are facing a lot of abuses across social media platforms. A Twitter user Neeraj Bloria while sharing hate comments these women face, wrote, “FIR lodged against four women in Rajouri for making a 30 seconds dance video inside the dargah premises. N this is how the public responded to them. For a society which celebrates the killing of animals inside religious premises, this is peculiar.”

In the comments’ collage shared by Neeraj, it was visible how much hate these women were facing. One comment said, “women should not be allowed at Dargah without Pardah.” Another user said, “Paint their faces black and make them walk in the market. SO that rest of women will know the consequences.”

Remembering the uproar when the Hindu community objected over a kissing scene in Temple, a Twitter user The Intrepid wrote, “They can’t bear dance in front of the dargah, but they want us to tolerate kissing scene in Mandir.”

A transgender was arrested for singing in a mosque

A few days back, 24-year-old Transgender Nanu Vishwas was arrested for making a video in the mosque and sharing it on social media. The fundamentalists did not even notice that the song on which Nanu danced was ‘Shukran Allah’ from the 2009 film ‘Kurbaan’ that featured Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. The song was shot in Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and had scenes from inside the Dargah.

Tamil Nadu: Hindu activists arrested for protesting against illegal construction of church in Kanyakumari

OpIndia Staff
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Tamil Nadu: Hindu activists arrested for protesting against illegal construction of church in Kanyakumari

Several Hindu activists, including BJP workers, protested outside the Kanyakumari administration on Saturday, demanding the removal of an unauthorised church that had come up recently near the Mathur Aqueduct in Kalkulam Taluk of Kanyakumari district, reports Commune Mag.

According to the reports, more than 300 Hindu activists, joined by RSS, members of Hindu Munnani, and a few local villagers, staged roadblocks at around 50 places in the district demanding the removal of the illegal church. Nagercoil BJP MLA MR Gandhi and BJP Kanyakumari District President Dharmaraj also participated in the protests on Saturday.

The locals alleged that the church has been built illegally without permission. As per the Venugopal Commission report, the Hindu activists said no Church could be built even on private land or public land after the Mandaikadu communal riots. They alleged that Christian missionaries clandestinely took over a building on rent and erected a “cross” later.

“Sometimes, they build a structure without permission and function without electricity connection for years. Later, they use their influence and regularize the Church. There are hundreds of Churches in the district like this,” he said.

As the protest intensified, the Tamil Nadu police arrested the Hindu leaders, including the BJP MLA and several prominent activists. The arrested leaders were later released in the evening.

Following their release, BJP MLA MR Gandhi along with BJP District President Dharmaraj, RSS leader Rajendran, Misa Soman from Hindu Munnani and other Hindu activists held a consultation with the sub-collector. The sub-collector said that permission was not granted to build a new church. The administration and the Hindu leaders reached an interim arrangement, according to which, the building would be covered by tarpaulin.

Ganga Dussehra – The day River Ganga descended upon the Earth

OpIndia Staff
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Ganga Dussehra – The day River Ganga descended upon the Earth

On June 20, Hindus are celebrating Ganga Dussehra, the day to mark the origin of the sacred river Ganga. It is believed that on this day, i.e. Dashmi (10th day) of the month of Jyeshtha (according to Hindu Calendar), sacred river Ganga came down to Earth and free ancestors of Bhagiratha from a curse. The festival is observed for a period of 10 days.

Stories that narrate how the Ganga came to Earth

According to the historical stories, the river Ganga was born during Bhagwan Vishnu’s Vamana Avatar. After Vamana pushed King Bali to the Patala Lok, Bhagwan Brahma washed Vishnu’s feet and collected the water in his Kamandala. That water took the form of Ganga, a young playful little girl.

Once, Rishi Durvasa, who was known for his aggressive mood, was taking a bath in a river and his clothes flew away due to breeze. Ganga, who was playing close to the river, saw the incident and burst into uncontrolled laughter. Rishi Durvassa got angry and cursed her that she will spend time on Earth as a river. When the time came, Ganga took the form of the river and resided in Bhagwan Brahma’s Kamandal in heaven.

Once King Sagar, ancestor of King Bhagiratha, performed Ashwamedha Yagna to make him powerful. Indra, the King of Gods, was afraid that if King Sagar become powerful, he may try to take his position. He stole Yagna’s horses and tied them outside Rishi Kapila’s Ashram. Sagar’s sons went looking for the horses and found them outside Ashram. Assuming Rishi stole the horses, they set the horses free, but noises disturbed meditating Rishi. When he realized he was being accused of stealing, he got furious and cursed them to be burnt down to ashes.

As the rituals of death could not be completed, all 60,000 sons who were burnt down to ashes due to curse wandered as ghosts. One remaining brother, Anshuman, begged the Rishi for a solution who asked him to pray to Bhagwan Brahma and bring Ganga to Earth to purify the souls.

After several generations, Bhagiratha, descendent of Sagar, finally managed to please Brahma, who granted him his wish to send River Ganga to Earth. To control the powerful river, Bhagiratha prayed to Bhagwan Shiva to accept Ganga in his locks and release her slowly towards Earth.

Ganga Dussehra, the celebrations

Ganga flows from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The festival is celebrated on the banks of Rishikesh, Garhmukteshwar, Haridwar, Prayagraj and Varanasi. Ganga Aarti on this day attracts thousands of devotees from around the world. People gather at the banks of Ganga and take holy dip to purify their body and soul. In Mathura and Vrindaban temples, this day is celebrated among the devotees with enthusiasm. It is believed that donating something on this day brings happiness and prosperity to the family of the devotees.

Water levels in Ganga rise from Ganga Dussehra onward

In many parts along the river Ganga in UP and Bihar, the water levels in the river start swelling from Ganga Dussehra onward. One reason could be the festival usually coincides with the pre-monsoon and onset of monsoon in some parts, because of which the water levels rise.

Ganga Dussehra during Covid-19

This year, due to Covid-19 norms and lockdown in several regions, the celebrations will not be held on a large scale.

American businessman tries to mock China with a t-shirt, ends up showing Indian territory as Chinese instead

OpIndia Staff
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American businessman tries to mock China with a t-shirt, ends up showing Indian territory as Chinese instead

American hedge fund manager Kyle Bass announced on Sunday that he had made new t-shirts for the Chinese Ambassador and the Chinese Embassy in the United States. In the t-shirt, China was marked as ‘West Taiwan’.

The ‘West Taiwan’ t-shirt did manage to attract the attention of Hu Xijin, the Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times, who had been tagged in Bass’ tweet. He made a weak attempt at a joke, dubbing the USA ‘East Taiwan’.

The t-shirt, however, did find quite a few other takers.

However, in his enthusiasm to mock China, Kyle Bass ended up showing Indian territory as part of China. The t-shirt shows Ladakh as part of ‘West Taiwan’ and includes Tibet in the same as well.

The t-shirt earned the businessman a lot of criticism as well. Someone called him an ‘attention seeking drama queen’.

Another account, apparently Chinese, said it was ‘humiliating’ which made him/her suffer ‘second hand embarrassment’.

While mocking China is indeed commendable, it is perhaps better to do a little research before engaging in such antics. Otherwise, a person runs the risk of committing goof-ups, as the person did by including Indian territory in China, thus, appearing to bolster Chinese claims.

China has long claimed that Taiwan is a part of itself and has prevented other countries from recognizing the latter as a separate country. The Chinese Communist Party is quite touchy about the matter and reacts quite disproportionately whenever someone calls Taiwan a country.

Top Chinese counterintelligence officer defected to USA, may have given info on Wuhan Lab to Biden admin

OpIndia Staff
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Top Chinese counterintelligence officer defected to USA, may have given info on Wuhan Lab to Biden admin

Amidst the growing scrutiny over the possibility of leakage of Coronavirus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, reports have now emerged about the defection of a top Chinese official to the United States.

In February this year, China’s top counter-intelligence official Dong Jingwei reportedly flew to the US from Hong Kong with his daughter. The development was confirmed by a former top Chinese Ministry official named Dr. Han Lianchao, who had defected to the States after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. A pro-democracy activist in the US, Dr. Han said that the defection of Dong was discussed by top Chinese and US officials during a meeting in Alaska in May.

According to him, the request to send Dong Jingwei back was turned down by State Secretary Anthony Blinken. Interestingly, the top law enforcement of China i.e. Central Political Legal Affairs Commission had posted on social media about Dong Jingwei’s supposed warning to ‘anti-China’ forces. It alleged that Dong had directed spies to look out for ‘insiders’ who ‘bankroll’ their actions behind the scenes.

Reportedly, the lab leak theory for Covid-19 was taken seriously by the Biden administration after Dong Jingwei defected to USA. It is believed that Dong may have handed over evidence on the Wuhan lab leak theory to the USA, which prompted the U-turn by President Joe Biden as he ordered a probe on the matter. Originally, the influential left-win media and the Democrats had dismissed the possibility that the virus may have originated in the lab, terming it as a conspiracy theory by Donald Trump.

Dong Jingwei was the vice minister of State security and the alleged defection has made him the most influential Chinese official to do so. It is believed that the defection of Dong Jingwei and the information shared about the Wuhan Institute of Virology had prompted the incumbent US President to change his stance on the origins of the Wuhan Coronavirus.

US govt keen on encouraging defections of Chinese officials

While speaking about the matter, a former US government official remarked, “If you offer $5 million (€4.2m) and citizenship there will be plenty of people wanting to defect. We’ve been sitting on our asses for a year and a half looking for needles in haystacks. We need human intelligence. We need to hear from Chinese people who were direct witnesses. Then you’re off to the races. We have a lot of reason to be suspicious that it was a lab leak. We should be treating this like a potential crime scene.”

He further added, “I’ve never seen a bigger whitewash. China’s approach has been systematic cover-up and denial. If this had started in a lab in Oxford you can bet the UK government would be responsive to us. People get executed for (messing up) in China. So it is possible the Wuhan people covered it up from their own government.” The official had worked on the Wuhan lab leak hypotheses under the Donald Trump administration.

Jingwei’s defection is a rumour, claims experts

However, several other US officials have expressed skepticism over reports of Dong Jingwei’s defection. According to former CIA expert Nicholas Eftimiades, the alleged defection is a ‘rumour’. He claimed that reports of defection of Chinese officials surface all the time (as part of information warfare) and that it may not be correct. Senior Intelligence Analyst (Soufan Group) Molliw Saltskog emphasised that unconfirmed reports of defection surface regularly.

However, on June 4, pro-Trump website Red State had reported about an unnamed defector from China and that the Defense Intelligence Agency had received inputs about China concealing the research on biological warfare in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The site had questioned the integrity of Dr. Anthony Fauci and said that the defector’s information has put him under the spotlight.

How Muslims made Periyar bend a knee, while he continued to abuse Hindus despite protests

Suren
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How Muslims made Periyar bend a knee, while he continued to abuse Hindus despite protests

A striking aspect of the Dravidian brand of rationalism is how it attacks only Hindu beliefs and icons and is very careful to never critique the beliefs and practices of any other religion. Let us peer back in history and see if it was always so.

Dravidian publications and rationalist critique

In Kuti Arasu, EV Ramasamy’s journal, an essay titled – “Why Purdah must be abolished” – was published on 14-10-1928. On 4-11-1929, M S Hussain Saheb, writing for Kuti Arasu, wrote in an essay titled “The Injustice of Purdah” – 

“Men and women must be allowed to see each other freely and intermingle, so that they may wed based on mutual attraction and understanding. Can a man have any greater pleasure than a wife of his heart’s desire? Why must we hide our women behind a visual prison in the name of religion?”

In 3-3-1929, Kuti Arasu published another essay – “Islam and the Self-Respect Movement”, in which they decried the clergy as “Pauranika liars” who would cheat young Muslims and mislead them away from the path of rationalism and making enlightened choices for themselves.

On Jun 17, 1932, a Self-Respect Conference was held in Mannargudi under the chairship of Smt Kunjitham, a young graduate and wife of “Kuthoosi” Gurusami, EV Ramasamy”s confidante. In this, Smt Kunjitham spoke – 

“The Congress under Mr Gandhi wants to keep Hindu, Muslim and Christian faiths as they are and seek unity among all Indians. However, we wish to destroy all such religious faiths as we believe only freedom from such faith can lead to social unity.“

The backlash

P. Kalifullah, a Muslim League leader and sometime collaborator of the Justice Party leadership, openly said that if the Self-Respect Movement had to gain any support among Muslims of South India, they should give up on the habit of applying their principles of atheism to Islam. The Dar-ul-Islam, a Tamil publication wrote against the idea of Dravidian race politics and cautioned “The Tirukkural may be another Holy Book and Tiruvalluvar another Prophet in a Dravida Nadu“. In Aiyampettai, a small town in Thanjavur District, the local jamaat excommunicated all Muslim members of the Self-Respect Movement.

The climbdown

By November 1935, EV Ramasamy wrote – 

“If, to shun the religion that imposes untouchability on them,  Ambedkar and his followers turn to Islam for succour rather than to atheism, we would not have any objections to it.“

Ramanathapuram Baghdad Sahib writing in “Madras Mail” in January 1939 – 

“Periyar is a Muslim inside. His plan is to outwardly stay in the Hindu faith and send the Depressed Classes over to Islam“. There was no objection from any quarters to this claim.

In the Kuti Arasu editorial of April 17, 1947, EV Ramasamy wrote – 

“In a Dravidian Government, Muslims and Christians shall be regarded as groups friendly to the Dravidians. Muslims, being Dravidians, must have equal rights over the Tamil Land. Except for the small matter of religion, there is no means by which one can divide the Islamic and non-Islamic Dravidians“.

The capitulation

Writing in Viduthalai on July 15, 1947, EV Ramasamy –

“There is so much in common with the original Dravidian religion and Islam. The Arab word for Dravidian religion is Islam. When the Aryan faith was sought to be forced on our people, the Prophet Muhammed revived our people”s original faith by means of Islam“.

Addressing the Trichy Employees Association in March 1947, he said – 

“Before Islam, Christianity, Shiva, Rama or Krishna, we Dravidians had our own pristine religion. Do not think Islam is an invention of the Prophet or that the Sahibs (Urdu speaking Muslims of Madras Presidency), Rowthers, Marakkaiyars or Mappillas are the sole Muslims of this land”.

As we can see, the slightest resistance from the Indian Muslim population was sufficient to make the Dravidian movement capitulate, while the campaign of abuse and calumny against Hinduism has gone on for decades, inspite of wide spread protests.

(Translated from Dravida Mayai: Oru Paarvai (The Dravidian Delusion: A View) Part II  by Shri Subbu)

Indian Consulate in Toronto writes to Canada govt over anti-India curriculum being taught at schools, warns it will harm bilateral relations

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Consulate in Toronto writes to Canada govt over anti-India curriculum being taught at schools, warns it will harm bilateral relations

The Consulate General of India in Toronto has written a scathing letter to the Government of Ontario expressing its anguish over Canadian schools teaching hateful anti-India curriculum to their students and warned that such polarising narrative against Indians could harm peaceful relations between India and Canada.

In a strongly worded letter dated March 11, the Consulate General of India, representing the Indian government and Indian interests in Canada, said that they were approached by several Canadians of Indian heritage and Indian nationals who have children studying in various schools in Ontario recently. The parents raised serious concerns that some schools are using biased and factually incorrect study material as part of their academic curriculum, the letter of Consulate General said.

The Consulate General of India said that fall elementary and high schools in Peel, Toronto and York region are pushing study material that is based on disinformation and may possibly create hatred against India, Indian nationals and people with Indian heritage. The Indian government accused the Ontario schools of propagating misinformation about the recent farm protests through its school curriculum and added that such attempts could disrupt peaceful relations between Indian communities in Ontario. 

“The Consulate General would further like to state that it considers this incident to be extremely serious and views it as a conspiracy to sabotage the goodwill and warm, friendly relations between India and Canada by inimical entities to further their own nefarious agenda,” the letter says.

Letter written by the Indian Consul General in Toronto to Canadian authorities

The Consulate General also conveyed that it has been informed by the parents that their children have been deeply disturbed and have also been subject to bullying and verbal harassment by students of other ethnicities in the school.

“The trauma of being subjected to false and hateful content about the country of their origin, coupled with harassment by their peers, has negatively impacted their mental health and well-being,” the letter accessed by OpIndia said.

Further, the Consulate General has been informed that such material is employed for education in these classes makes false and factually incorrect claims about some current developments in India and seeks to misrepresent these developments to impressionable minds with the ulterior intent of creating hatred, generating animosity and polarizing the Indian heritage communities along sectarian lines.

The consulate urged Ontario’s Office of International Relations and Protocol to alert the Canadian authorities to investigate what’s being taught and “to sensitize” the school boards so they immediately remove such hateful and factually incorrect material from their curriculum so as to spare the children being exposed to it, the mental trauma of its toxic, harmful influence.

Warning the Canadian authorities, the Consulate General said it views such controversies as extremely serious and added that such efforts by a section are a conspiracy to sabotage the goodwill and warm friendly relations between India and Canada.

“The Consulate General would like to convey that given the seriousness of this issue which can potentially poison the bilateral relations between India and Ontario, threaten the security of Indian nationals in Ontario and disrupt the peaceful relations between various communities with Indian heritage,” the letter further added.

Polarising content against Indian state being pushed through curriculum, says a parent

Meanwhile, CBS has obtained the “polarizing” lessons that have stirred up hatred toward Indians and bullying against students. The lesson asked students to consider why farmers in India are protesting, what protesting means, and explain the situation from different perspectives.

The lessons taught at Ontario schools also asked the students why the Indian government is trying to silence protesters. Strangely, it includes a letter from a Canadian Sikh student saying, “the Indian government passed three farm bills undemocratically for the benefit of private corporations.”

Ritesh Malick, a parent in Vaughan, Ontario, said he was aghast when his daughter in Grade 6 was taught about the protests in “a very biased way” that sided with farmers. Malick said his daughter was offended by the other students and the teacher speaking negatively about the country her family is from.

“My daughter said she didn’t want to go to school,” he said, adding that such a frenzy environment and conversations in schools have led to bullying and fights among kids. 

Malick also has started an online petition, “NO To Hateful, Biased, Objectionable, InAppropriate, Propaganda Content at Schools,” which has close to 3,000 signatures. A group of Indian-origin parents, including from other communities, have reached out to the consulate urging it to intervene.

“What does Canada have to do with it?” Malick said. “Why should there be a rift in Canadian communities, and why should there be a rift in Canadian classrooms? We should concentrate on Canadian issues.”

Following the intervention of the Indian Consulate General in Toronto, Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce met with concerned parents in June to reaffirm its commitment to human rights and assure that all students feel respected. The ministry spokesperson said they expect “impartiality and sensitivity when raising world events — we insist kids make their own conclusions, in the bias-free environment”.

Teacher defends anti-India curriculum, says she has responsibility to speak about “oppression”

Reportedly, a high school teacher from Brampton identified Simmi Jaswal initiated such discussions about the farmer protests in her geography and social justice courses this school year.

Jaswal, a Sikh teacher, also has family members in India participating in the protests against the farm reforms since last November. Jaswal claimed that she feels responsible to “unpack the politics” surrounding the events with her students, as they are already aware of the protests through social media. Apparently, Jaiswal bases her lessons on media reports.

“This is not just a distant connection. It’s about our students’ lived experiences,” Jaswal said. “It does ease some of their pain and anxiety a little bit to be acknowledged, to feel seen and to have it discussed,” the Sikh teacher added.

Speaking to CBS Canada, Jaswal said that she keeps it very frank to her students as she feel that they were looking protests as a form of oppression. “My preference is to centre on marginalized voices and identities. But if you feel like you’re not hearing a particular side, then we have that conversation,” she contended.

According to Jaiswal, the “oppressor” is not the Indian people, which includes Hindu, Muslims and Sikhs along with many other religious minorities, but rather the state. 

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