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Video evidence shows there were live bats in Wuhan lab, DRASTIC exposes Peter Daszak again

OpIndia Staff
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Video evidence shows there were live bats in Wuhan lab, DRASTIC exposes Peter Daszak again

On June 13 (local time), Sky News Australia reported that new evidence has emerged that proves the Wuhan Institute of Virology kept live bats in cases. The new footage shows the inside of the facility where the bats were kept. The video thus disapproves the denial of the World Health Organization investigators who had kept calling the theory of live bats in the lab a “conspiracy”.

Journalist Sharri Markson from the Australian has shared the information.

In May 2017, a 10-minute official Chinese Academy of Sciences video titled “The construction and research team of Wuhan P4 laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences” was released to mark the launch of the new BL4 lab. It discussed the security precautions that had been taken in case accidents happen. It also talked about the clashes with the French government during the construction of the said lab.

What’s in the video

The video featured interviews with the lab’s leading scientists and showed bats being held in a cage inside the lab. In one scene, a scientist was seen feeding a worm to a bat. Notably, the WHO investigation report about the origin of the pandemic did not mention that the bats were being kept inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It stated, “The animal room in the P4 facility can handle a variety of species, including primate work with SARS-CoV-2.”

The video, as suggested by The Australian’s report, states that they faced difficulties behind-the-scene during the construction of the lab. It was initially a joint venture of the French and Chinese governments, but it did not pan out that way. It said, “Our collaboration with France on this project went through more than a decade of intense clashes resulting from our different cultural backgrounds and understandings.”

After the lab was completed, French scientist and officials were removed from the lab that sparked concerns among French intelligence over the type of biological research China may do in such labs. Shi Zhengli, the Bat Lady, was also featured in the video. A bat was seen hanging off her hat. At the same time, the narrator said, “Over more than a decade, Shi Zhengli’s research team has collected more than 15,000 bat samples in China and many countries of Africa, searching for the origins of SARS, as well as isolating and characterising many new viruses.”

The US had raised concerns

In the US government’s investigation of the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, the officials questioned how a naturally occurring virus from bats that are found in the Yunnan Province in southwestern China could possibly travel to Wuhan without leaving any traces. Yunnan is a 20-hour drive away from Wuhan. The revelation that bats were kept in the lab is important as it may fill the missing gap of the origin of the virus and its spread. A possibility arises that a lab employee might have got infected from a diseased bat kept in cages at the lab.

Calls for closing Chinese wet markets

When the pandemic first hit the world, the world leaders had called for the closure of the Chinese wet markets, which was believed to be selling bat meat. Notably, bats were not sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market but were kept at the BL2 and BL3 labs at Wuhan lab. At that time, zoologist Peter Daszak, a member of the WHO investigating team, called the theory a “conspiracy”.

In a tweet in December, he said, “No BATS were sent to Wuhan lab for genetic analysis of viruses collected in the field. That’s not how this science works. We collect bat samples, send them to the lab. “We RELEASE bats where we catch them.”

Daszak’s organisation EcoHealth Alliance had funded coronavirus research in the WIV, as revealed in recent reports.

In another tweet, Dr Daszak said, “This is a widely circulated conspiracy theory. This piece describes work I’m the lead on and labs I’ve collaborated with for 15 years. They DO NOT have live or dead bats in them. There is no evidence anywhere that this happened. It’s an error I hope will be corrected.”

Interestingly, he changed his stand this month and admitted Wuhan lab might have kept bats inside its premises. He also admitted that the WHO team did not ask the Wuhan lab about it. He said, “We didn’t ask them if they had bats. I wouldn’t be surprised if, like many other virology labs, they were trying to set up a bat colony. I know it’s happening in labs here and in other countries.”

The video was discovered by the researchers, identified as DRASTIC, investigating the origin of the pandemic. Jesse, the digital archivist of the group, stumbled upon the video. The coordinator of the group codenamed Billy Bostickson had talked about the evidence that shows bats were kept in Wuhan lab.

Dr Fauci, Peter Daszak and more: The damning involvement of American scientists and bureaucrats in suppressing truth about Covid origins

Jinit Jain
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Dr Fauci, Peter Daszak and more: The damning involvement of American scientists and bureaucrats in suppressing truth about Covid origins

The United States’ leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, has 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.

The cache of emails revealed that several people, including researchers, people in US administration and intelligence, wanted to probe the role of the Chinese lab, but they were overruled by Dr Anthony Fauci and others, who had vested interests in the issue as they themselves were instrumental in US govt funding the study on the virus in the Wuhan lab.

The trove of emails brings under the scanner the role of Dr Fauci and others who are credited for fashioning America’s response to the pandemic. Dr Fauci, who was a lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has become a focal point of criticism after the emails correspondence revealed that he was warned of the possibility of the inorganic nature of the coronavirus in advance, but he did not do enough to address the apprehensions.

Dr Anthony Fauci has been accused of dismissing the lab leak theory during the initial assessment of the coronavirus outbreak and its origins. On 31 January 2020, Kristian Andersen, a leading infectious disease expert, who had been examining the genetic characteristics of the newly emerging SARS-CoV virus, informed the top American infectious disease expert that the virus may be engineered.

“Some of the features (potentially) look engineered,” Andersen said in an email to Dr Anthony Fauci, stating that he and other scientists “all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.”

Despite this explosive claim, Dr Fauci gave short shrift to the lab leak theory and maintained his position that the virus might have evolved from a zoonotic spillover. With the lab-leak theory gaining renewed vigour of late, Dr Fauci has recalibrated his stance on the genesis of the virus, alleging that he is open to the theory that the virus may have inorganic origins.

In a sensational disclosure, it was also revealed that Dr Anthony Fauci had strongly supported experimenting on contagious viruses and believed that manipulating and heightening their infectious potency weighed more than the risk of a laboratory accident sparking a pandemic, a report published in The Australian said.

An investigation carried out by The Weekend Australian has also confirmed Dr Fauci, the director of the Nat­ional Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, failed to alert senior White House officials before lifting the ban on contentious “gain-of-function” research in 2017.

Peter Daszak and his organisation’s role in funding “gain of function” research at WIV

Dr Fauci has also drawn the ire of the critics for bankrolling Peter Daszak, a leading zoologist, whose non-profit was responsible for steering the US funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Daszak’s organisation, EcoHealth Alliance, had received funding of at least $3.4 million in grants from the National Institute of Health(NIH) to study coronaviruses between 2014 to 2019.

In April last year, Dr Fauci had publicly denounced claims regarding the coronavirus lab leak. In an April 2020 email published as a part of the FOIA request by Buzzfeed, Daszak conveyed ‘personal thank you’ to Dr Fauci on behalf of his staff at his organisation for pushing back on the claims that the virus might have originated from a laboratory.

“From my perspective, your comments are brave, and coming from your trusted voice, will help dispel the myths being spun around the virus’s origins,” Daszak wrote to Anthony Fauci.

Apparently, Daszak’s gratitude was in reference to Dr Fauci’s remarks on April 17, 2020, when he responded to a question from a reporter who asked the US top infectious disease expert to address the concerns regarding the Wuhan lab leak theory. Fauci had then said: “There was a study recently…where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences there and the sequences in bats as they evolve…The mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”

Daszak, who has collaborated with Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was also a part of the WHO team that spent time earlier this year to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. Instead, Daszak tried to peddle the worn-out theory that China had been using ever since the pandemic emerged in January 2020. After the completion of the investigation in China, Daszak pushed the hypothesis that the virus jumped to humans through an intermediary host species.

“It is most likely a bat or other wildlife species carrying a progenitor, or closely related virus, infected a farm animal or a person, who then carried it to the Huanan market,” Daszak had said after the WHO team conducted its investigation in Wuhan earlier this year.

After the WHO team initially ruled out the lab leak theory, only to be overruled by the agency chief, critics accused Daszak of having a conflict of interest, something which he vehemently refuses. They have accused Daszak of influencing the WHO team to dismiss the Wuhan Lab leak theory because it could have potentially incriminated him for sponsoring the institute accused of developing a synthetic virus.

In a recently published report by former NYT science editor Nicholas Wade, it was reported that Daszak had not only funded ‘gain of function’ research into coronaviruses in Wuhan, but he had also even boasted in the past about how they have made coronavirus variants in the Wuhan lab that are resistant to existing antibodies and have no vaccines yet.

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says intelligence officials actively abetted the CCP in covering up the origins of COVID-19

In addition to this, the revelations made by the former American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently further add to the murky role of the US officials in helping China to cover up the coronavirus outbreak. Pompeo recently issued a statement, saying that the US intelligence officials did not want the world to know that China was covering up the origins of the coronavirus.

In an interview with Fox News, the former Trump administration official said there were “folks all over the intelligence community” who did not want to link the genesis of COVID-19 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Pompeo also alleged that his team faced bureaucratic hurdles when they attempted to declassify intelligence on the Wuhan lab and share it with the American public during the final year of the Trump administration. He said the bureaucrats were helping the Chinese Communist Party to cover its tracks, which might have resulted in several million losses of life.

In his interview, Pompeo said there were “big fights” over the declassification of intelligence on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, and blamed officials at the National Institutes of Health for the same.

“We worked scrupulously to get the intelligence community to declassify more. [Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe] was a great partner in trying to do that, but there were folks all over the community who just didn’t want to talk about this, who wanted to stay focused on other things,” Pompeo said while speaking on The Ingraham Angle show on Fox News.

Earlier in May 2021, Pompeo had alleged that Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved in engaged in military activity alongside its civilian research amidst the renewed focus on the institute’s involvement in bequeathing the intractable contagion to the world.

“What I can say for sure is this: we know that they were engaged in efforts connected to the People’s Liberation Army inside of that laboratory, so military activity being performed alongside what they claimed was just good old civilian research,” Pompeo said on Fox & Friends Weekend.

US President orders investigation into the origins of the virus amidst debate over lab leak theory

The explosive revelations adding credence to the Wuhan lab leak theory came on the heels of the announcement made by US President Joe Biden last month. Biden had ordered intelligence officials to investigate the origins of coronavirus in earnest and report back in 90 days, suggesting that the administration was taking the lab leak theory seriously.

Biden’s decision had opened a pandora’s box as US officials, scientists, bureaucrats and other officials have now found themselves caught in a bind for allegedly suppressing the truth and glossing over the Wuhan lab leak theory that was raised by many experts earlier last year.

Activist Kishore K Swamy arrested on charges of inciting communal riot for circulating ‘defamatory’ posts against DMK leaders

OpIndia Staff
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Activist Kishore K Swamy arrested on charges of inciting communal riot for circulating ‘defamatory’ posts against DMK leaders

Activist Kishore K Swamy was arrested Monday by the Chennai police over a complaint filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) IT Wing coordinator Ravichandran. Swamy runs the Twitter handle @Sansbarrier and has a following of 73.9K.

The DMK IT Wing coordinator, in his complaint dated June 10, accused the activist of attempting to promote feelings of enmity and hatred between different communities, stoke communal violence and riots by circulating allegedly defamatory comment against former Chief Ministers and DMK senior leaders, CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi and the present Chief Minister MK Stalin.

Based on the complaint, Sankar Nagar Police arrested Swamy from his house in the wee hours of Monday. He was produced before a magistrate at her residence and remanded to judicial custody until June 28. He has been lodged in Chengalpattu sub-jail.

Swamy, a staunch critic of DMK, has been booked under IPC Sections-153(provoking with intent to cause riot), 505(1) (b) (Causing fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) and 505(1)(c) (Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities).

This is the third time Swamy has been arrested. Twice earlier, he was released immediately.

Following the arrest of the activist, Netizens outraged and called out the incumbent CM of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin and other DMK leaders for trying to stifle voices of dissent in the state.

BJP leader also condemned the arrest of Swamy in a series of Tweets. She wrote on Twitter: “I condemn Kishore K Swamy arrest For speaking against DMK leaders. What happened to democracy? When Udhaynidhi Stalin can lie about PM Modi ji, CM Stalin can lie about PM Modi ji, when thirumavalavan can talk bad about Hindu dharma, Brahmins and PM. 

“Entire DMK speaking bad about particular caste Brahmins and now they are against Devendra kula Vellalars, when they call opposition leaders as Dogs, bad smell, & disrespect women, when there is no action/arrest on these people, why only on a commonman. Is law only for common man? 

No one can force anyone to like or follow DMK. We cannot accept dictatorship, when you can talk walk as you wish please expect the same back. Arresting a man for calling a spade a spade is this democracy? DMK threatening and arresting all Hindus,” she said.

Young billionaire Nikhil Kamath’s account closed by Chess.com as he admits cheating in charity game to defeat Vishwanathan Anand

OpIndia Staff
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Young billionaire Nikhil Kamath’s account closed by Chess.com as he admits cheating in charity game to defeat Vishwanathan Anand

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha and Team Beacon, created quite the flutter recently after he apparently defeated Vishwanathan Anand in a game of chess. The result shocked everyone, as Anand is a Chess Grandmaster and Kamath is not known to be very proficient in Chess.

Since then, Nikhil Kamath has issued a statement over the matter. He said, “It is ridiculous that so many are thinking that I really beat Vishy sir in a chess game, that is almost like me waking up and winning a 100mt race with Usain Bolt.”

Statement by Nikhil Kamath

Nikhil Kamath also admitted that he had help from “people analyzing the game, computers and the graciousness of Anand Sir himself to treat the game as a learning experience.” Meanwhile, Chess.com has banned his account for violating its fair-play policy.

Chess.com closes Nikhil Kamath’s account

During the match, Kamath had a 98.9% accuracy rate while Vishwanathan Anand managed 92.7%. The Grandmaster played White while India’s youngest billionaire played Black. Since the victory, Kamath has admitted that he had outside help.

Fans, meanwhile, are mightily displeased with Kamath for what they call ‘cheating’. Some expressed their pleasure with his ban from the platform.

Comments on the game

Fans are also angry because the game was part of a charity fundraiser event. And Kamath chose to cheat even in that. The game was part of efforts to raise funds Covid-19 relief in India.

Pakistan alleges India wants it to deny consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav so India can use it against Pak in ICJ

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan alleges India wants it to deny consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav so India can use it against Pak in ICJ

On Sunday (June 13), Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi sparked controversy by claiming that India wanted Pakistan to not provide consular access to Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav. He alleged that India wanted to leverage the lack of consular access to Jadhav in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

While speaking to the media, Qureshi claimed, “We have taken steps to implement the directive of the International Court of Justice. India wants Pakistan to deny consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav so that it could have grounds to go to the ICJ. The opposition should not show ignorance by making statements in this regard. It should avoid strengthening the Indian point of view.”

Qureshi had also blamed the previous Nawaz Sharif government for ‘mishandling’ of the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. His contentious comments came at the backdrop of the ICJ (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2020 passed by the Pakistani Parliament recently. The law would provide new consular access to the Indian citizen in accordance with the order of the ICJ. After the Bill was approved, the Opposition parties raised slogans of ‘Hang Kulbhushan’, ‘Modi’s friend is a traitor’ in the National Assembly.

In May, the top law officer of Pakistan claimed before the Islamabad High Court that India had rejected the proposal for consular access, citing ‘sovereignty’ issues. The officer alleged that India had said that its sovereignty would be violated if Jadhav stood on trial in a Pakistani court. Qureshi said, “Opposition members will not exhibit a lack of understanding [on the issue] and will be cognisant of Indian’s wicked ways.”

ICJ directed Pakistan to provide consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), headquartered in Hague in the Netherlands, had in July 2019 directed Pakistan to stay Jadhav’s execution and allow him consular access. Based on ICJ’s verdict in a 15-1 decision on July 17, Pakistan had on July 30 sent its first proposal to India but with 2 riders attached. One that Pakistani security personnel would be present during the meeting and second there would be CCTV cameras present in the room.

After the ICJ verdict stayed the execution and allowed India consular access, India had declared that it would push for shifting Jadhav’s case to a civilian court, to ensure he got proper legal representation. After the consular access was finally granted in September 2019, India has stated that Jadhav was under extreme pressure by Pakistan to parrot a false narrative.

Mother of ISIS terrorist hopes that ‘kind-hearted’ PM Modi will pardon and ensure her daughter’s return to India

OpIndia Staff
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Mother of ISIS terrorist hopes that ‘kind-hearted’ PM Modi will pardon and ensure her daughter’s return to India

Days after it was reported that the Modi government was unlikely to allow the return of four ISIS terrorists to India from Afghanistan, the mother of one such woman has expressed hope that PM Modi will pardon her daughter.

Bindu Sampath, the mother of ISIS terrorist Nimisha Fathima said, “I’ve heard that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very kind-hearted person. I have full faith in him.” Bindu lamented that she had not received any communication from the Indian government so far. “But I am very positive because there will be other views also in the government. I am banking on that. I believe in God. I am sure that God will create a situation for her return,” she opined.

The mother of the ISIS terrorist wished to meet PM Modi and submit a memorandum, seeking her daughter’s repatriation to India. Bindu emphasised that she would follow the legal route to bring Nimisha Fathima back. “I have consulted some lawyers of the Supreme Court. They have said there is a legal option,” she added. Bindu lamented that her daughter might fall into the hands of the Taliban once the US forces withdraw from Afghanistan in September 2021.

“Afghanistan will be under the control of militant groups, including the Taliban, when the US troops return from Afghanistan. The government in that country has said it will release those who are imprisoned in connection with IS cases. But the Union government has not responded…It has been a year and a half since I found out that my daughter is in an Afghan prison, but attempts to get her back have not worked,” she said. Bindu informed that she had received no response to the emails written to Home Minister Amit Shah.

Four couples from Kerala had joined Islamic State: NIA

Nimisha Fathima was a Hindu prior to her conversion to Islam. She adopted the name of ‘Fathima Isa’ after her marriage with an ISIS terrorist. She along with 19 others from Kerala flew to Afghanistan in June 2016 to wage a war against the US forces in ISIS-controlled Khorasan Province. She had given birth to a child there. After her terrorist husband was neutralised, she surrendered to the Afghan government in 2019. The other women were identified as Sonia Sebastian alias Ayisha, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, and Raffaela. They had expressed the desire to return back to India.

According to the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017, Sebastian had left India in 2016 to join the ISKP in Afghanistan along with a group of 21 men and women from Kerala. They had crossed over to Afghanistan on foot from Iran. The NIA said Sebastian, from Kasargod in Kerala, left India on May 31, 2016, with her husband, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, from Mumbai airport.

They had said the couple held secret classes supporting IS and jihad during the last part of Ramzan in Padanna and Kasaragod. Sebastian is an engineering graduate. Another IS sympathiser, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, was married to Bestin Vincent, a resident of Palakkad. The couple escaped to Afghanistan in 2016 to live in the IS-controlled territory. Later, the Chrisitan couple converted to Islam after their marriage, and Vincent assumed the identity of Yahya. Vincent was later killed in Afghanistan.

Similarly, Vincent’s brother Bexon and his wife, Nimisha alias Fathima, also converted to Islam and escaped to Afghanistan with them. Raffaela was married to a 37-year-old physician Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil a physician from Kasargod. The couple is believed to have stormed a prison in a terror attack in Eastern Afghanistan’s Jalalabad in August 2020. Around 30 persons were killed in the attack.

UP: Mahfooz, a cleric and others booked for illegally converting Sikh woman and her children, performing circumcision

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Mahfooz, a cleric and others booked for illegally converting Sikh woman and her children, performing circumcision

A Sikh family of four, a Mulsim cleric and a barber from the Shahbad area of Rampur district have been booked under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 for illegally performing the circumcision ceremony of two minor boys below 12 years old on Saturday.

As per reports, a Muslim man named Mahfooz married a Sikh woman from Uttarakhand who had lost her husband (a truck driver) in a road accident last month. She moved with her two minor boys to live with Mahfooz and his family in Shahbad’s Bairua village. The woman’s husband was reportedly a friend of Mahfooz.

Shortly after the wedding, Mahfooz’s family organized a circumcision ceremony for the minor boys without an advance declaration.

As per the UP anti-conversion law, an individual seeking to convert and religious converters (who perform the conversion) need to submit an advance declaration of the proposed religious conversion to the district magistrate. Upon receiving the declaration, the DM conducts a police inquiry into the intention, purpose, and cause of the proposed conversion. However, the said norms were not followed in this case. 

The matter came to light when the villagers and the local members of the Hindu Jagran Manch got a hint of the ceremony and informed the police. Additional SP Sansaar Singh informed that Mahfooz’s parents and the barber have been arrested while the hunt for Mahfooz and his brother-in-law who are absconding, is on.  

ASP Singh in a statement to The Times of India informed, “The FIR in this case has been registered by us as the boys are minors and their conversion was against the law, so we took self-cognizance after coming to know about the incident. We have booked Mahfooz, his parents, his brother-in-law who organized the ceremony, the cleric who conducted the conversion and the barber who performed the circumcision.”

‘Our names were changed after marriage’

Harjinder Kaur, the woman who had married Mahfooz informed that Mahfooz got her and her children from their village after she lost her husband Harkesh to an accident on May 08.

Kau revealed that she and her children were made to convert after marriage and Mahfooz even got their names changed.

Harjinder Kaur was named Gulistaan while her 12-year-old son Rahul and 10-year-old Sumit were named Farman and Anas. “He also conducted a circumcision ceremony of my sons,” Kaur confirmed to the police. 

All the six accused have been booked under IPC section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) along with provisions of the Prohibition of the Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.

Telangana govt under fire for spending crores on luxury cars for bureaucrats in the middle of raging pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana govt under fire for spending crores on luxury cars for bureaucrats in the middle of raging pandemic

Even as Telangana staggers under the economic shadow of the coronavirus-induced downturn, the state government demonstrated a reckless display of profligacy as it splurged Rs 11 crore for buying 32 luxury cars for IAS officers in the state. The decision has drawn flak from opposition parties, given that state is already reeling under a debt of Rs 40,000 crore and a devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

32 Kia Carnival cars were bought by the Telangana government and were handed over to 32 additional collectors after they finished a review meeting with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan on Sunday. A video of the event showed CM K Chandrasekhar Rao inspecting the vehicles and the cars at the CM’s residence in Hyderabad. The 32 Kia Carnival cars are estimated to cost around Rs 25-30 lakhs each.

Earlier, the state government had provided Toyota Innova Crysta vehicles to bureaucrats and Toyota Fortuner SUVs to police for their use.

The state’s finances are in dire straits and yet the KCR government gave its approval for buying a fleet of luxury cars for its IAS officers. This decision has not gone well with the opposition parties and the activists, who have accused the Telangana government of having misplaced priorities even as COVID-19 continues to ravage the state.

Opposition parties slam KCR for extravagant spending on luxury cars amidst mounting debts

The opposition party BJP has decreed the decision of the KCR government and termed it a “criminal splurge of public exchequer” by CM KCR to “appease bureaucrats”.

“This recklessly extravagant use of public money is happening in the midst of the global pandemic while the poor and common people are buckling under the mounting pressure of debts due to COVID hospitalisation. How can Chief Minister Rao justify spending over 11 crores to buy 32 ultra-luxury vehicles?” BJP Spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao questioned the state government.

The BJP leaned on the Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao’s recent statement where he admitted that the state had lost massive revenue because of lockdowns and wanted increased FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) limits to raise more loans. Harish Rao had then asked the centre to increase the borrowing limit of the State from the present three per cent to five per cent under FRBM Act. He reasoned that the expenditure of the state has increased and revenues decreased due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Rao questioned, “How can the government justify this kind of opulence when the revenue is cratering? BJP is asking is that why you are taking loans for?” Rao said the BJP demands an immediate roll-back of the decision.

Even the Congress party was not pleased with the chief minister’s callous decision to spend on luxury cars even as the coronavirus pandemic was exacting an unprecedented economic toll. Calling out the audacity of the state government’s move, Congress’ D Sravan Kumar reportedly said, “As such KCR has pushed the surplus state of Telangana into a debt trap state with a whopping debt of Rs 40,000 crore. They already have government cars in good condition.”

In addition to the opposition parties, even activists have not minced words in criticising the decision taken by the KCR government.

“The state has no more than 650 ambulances under 108 services for four crore citizens i.e. approximately one ambulance for 60,000 citizens. Yet the CM hands out 32 cars of almost Rs 31 lakh each in the name of administration, costing Rs 9.2 crore. A high-end ambulance costs Rs 16 lakh,” said social activist Vijay Gopal.

Uttar Pradesh: Maulvi gets upset with DJ music, refuses to perform nikah ceremony

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Maulvi gets upset with DJ music, refuses to perform nikah ceremony

On Sunday, a Maulvi refused to solemnize a nikah in Bareilly as he got upset with DJ music being played during ceremonies. This led to chaos after which a committee from the nearby mosque was called to the venue. The Maulvi agreed to perform the ceremony only after the bride’s family apologized for their conduct. 

Reportedly there was dance and music in several ceremonies which upset the Maulvi who refused to conduct the marriage. The matter reached the Aala Hazrat’s Dargah post which Nabi, Syed Majid, Zuaib Raza, Kashif- the members of an Islamic organization reached the wedding venue and made the bride’s family and girls who danced to the DJ music apologise. 

Last year, Sajjadanshin Mufti Ahsan Raza Qadri of the Aala Hazrat Dargah had issued an order that no Maulvi will be allowed to solemnize a nikah that has DJ, music or dance. 

DJ music is un-Islamic

We reported early this month that a committee of village clerics and scholars of Raz -e-Muhammad Mustafa of Khempur village at Swar Tehsil in Rampur district, Uttar Pradesh, announced that a Nikah would not be solemnized if the ceremonies include fireworks, DJ, dance and dowry. 

The resolution was adopted during the committee’s meeting. They announced after the Friday prayers to inform the Muslims in the area.

The committee said that DJ dance parties and dowry are un-Islamic. They further added that if any family violated the resolution regarding weddings, the clerics would not perform even funeral prayers for the family in the future.

AIMPLB’s new Nikahnama

In March 2021, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board had released a new Nikahnama for the Muslims in the country that banned series of ceremonies. The 11-point Nikahnama restricted the Muslim community from having ceremonies like Manjha (Haldi ceremony) and other “un-Islamic” traditions like marriage procession, DJ, dancing, fireworks and dowry.

Fatwas against ceremonies

In March this year, it was reported that a fatwa was issued by a senior mufti of the Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat in Bareilly, which said that it was against Shariat for male and females to eat food together at weddings. The fatwa said that organisers should maintain a difference between mahram (close relatives) and non-mahrams. It also noted that DJs, music, dance and fireworks during wedding ceremonies are un-Islamic.

‘Don’t attend weddings without Hijab’

Earlier, it was reported that a Muslim organisation, Tehreekhe Tahfuje Sunniyat, led by Sajjadanshin Mufti Ahsan Raza Qadri, in Bareilly had started a campaign in the city, discouraging Muslims from attending Nikah that is attended by women without full-face coverings like burqa and niqab terming it as unIslamic. It also said that people should boycott weddings where the female guests freely mingle with unknown men. The seminary also asserted that wedding where guests are expected to eat food while standing should be boycotted.

It is notable here that many Islamic fundamentalist leaders and organizations have spoken against music and dance, calling it ‘un-Islamic’. 

Language and history: Why the Indian society lost pride in its own heritage

Guest Author
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Language and history: Why the Indian society lost pride in its own heritage

Have you ever gone to an Italian restaurant and felt proud when you properly pronounced (in the right accent, of course) the Italian name of that pasta you so wanted to have? Or, remember the time when you corrected your friend about how to properly say “Crème Brûlée”?

Why is it that we do not feel the same pride when talking about the various “aasans of Yog”? Why do we instead say “aasanas of Yoga”? Why does one feel the need to anglicize words of Indian origin? Similarly, why do we call the great mountains to our North the anglicized “Himalayas” when the very word is Indic in nature and is a combination of him (snow) and aalay (abode)? Why not say “I would like to visit the Himalay?” (Note: I am not talking about how to write it, but the phonetic of it.)

Why is this pride lacking, not in all, but a significant chunk of the population? There could be multiple reasons and what perhaps is the most important is what we were taught when we were children.

Those who don’t remember history are bound to repeat it. What do all our books teach regarding our culture in schools? (And remember, a school is where learning about history ends for a large part of the population). Interestingly, when we were in school, we are taught disproportionately about the benevolence of those who lotted and plundered our land than those who defended this land. We are taught Aurangzeb was a benevolent leader but not that he raped and tortured Hindus, forcing them to convert.

Judging by what we were taught, one would believe that we were first ruled by Mughals and then the British – and the latter civilized us. Indic culture and history is just a passing reference in those books. How will you admire/appreciate your culture when you’re not even taught about it?

For most adults today, India’s existence started only after independence when it became a nation state. Its civilisational foundation is often lost, because we are taught that we were a disparate bunch of people who were civilised by invaders and then taught how to be a country by the British and politicians like Jawaharlal Nehru. The lack of self confidence is so deep-seated, that one forgets thousands of years of history, that shaped a people, much before the invaders or the Britishers brutally crushed our pride, perhaps, forever.

Further, at some point in your life, we have perhaps all laughed at someone, a friend perhaps, for not being able to speak in English properly. One can only feel saddened by the prevalent stigma in our society regarding one’s knowledge of a language! Contrast this with the Japanese or the Chinese society, but that is a different debate altogether. The Colonial hangover is rather strong, and along with our deracinated view of our own history, the pride we should have felt is buried permanently.

The idea of this article is not to say that:

  1. One needs to avoid English: Please do not do that! It is an important medium that has helped Indians reach the global stage. A common global medium of communication is not such a bad idea after all.
  2. Become pompous about our history and traditions: There is a difference between taking pride in one’s culture and acting pompous about it.

With the hope of invoking some scholarly interest in you, let me leave you with a few thoughts:

  1. Did you know that the “nose job” procedure (Rhinoplasty) which a lot of celebrities undergo, was performed in India before the rest of the world even knew about it? (Read about Sushrut)
  2. The British patent regarding Zinc extraction was heavily plagiarized from the technology employed in the Zinc mines of Rajasthan? That it was approved on a second submission is another story. Zinc was exported to Europe centuries before the people of those lands even knew how to extract it.

Why did I talk about a handful of examples above? To demonstrate the importance of knowledge (of the lack of it thereof). So, this is the conclusion I want to leave you with:

“Lack of knowledge often leads to insecurity and an inferiority complex. And, in the context of this article, that ultimately leads to a lack of pride regarding one’s own culture.”

So, go read about your own history and wear it like a badge of honour!

(The author of this article wants to stay anonymous due to the potential social media backlash that individuals face due to their views that don’t align with the Left’s worldview).

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