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Here is how PM Narendra Modi took non-NDA ruled states to the cleaners today over their propaganda against vaccine policy

K Bhattacharjee
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Here is how PM Narendra Modi took non-NDA ruled states to the cleaners today over their propaganda against vaccine policy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation today took opposition parties to the cleaners over their propaganda against the vaccine policy. He clearly mentioned that the vaccine policy was changed after demands by states to accord them greater power over procurement and implementation.

Narendra Modi said that numerous voices were raised against the policy such as why were there age groups and why should the central government decide the age limits. He pointed out that some have even questioned why are the old being prioritised for vaccination.

He also pointed out that a section of the country’s media turned it into a campaign. Prime Minister said that after consultations, it was decided why should the central government have an issue if states want greater participation.

He said that it was due to demands by the states that the vaccination policy which was in place since the 16th of January was changed to award states 25% of the responsibility. He said the decision was taken since state governments were so keen to participate in the vaccination drive.

Thus, on the 1st of May, state governments were allotted 25% of the responsibility, that is, state governments could purchase 25% of the vaccines available for their citizens. He said that this way, they could realise for themselves the problems associated with such a huge task.

Narendra Modi said that by the end of two weeks of May, states began admitting that the previous policy was better. And slowly, more and more states began joining the chorus. “Vaccination should be left to the states, those who were advocating for it, their views changed too. The good thing was that states reconsidered their views with time still in hands,” he said.

Therefore, the central government also thought to ensure that citizens of the country do not face any issue and they can be vaccinated smoothly, and consequently, a decision was reached that procurement of vaccines will be centralised and the center will make available the vaccines to the states for free.

The central government will take over the 25% procurement that was made available to the states. Now, the Union Government will procure 75% of the vaccines with 25% still available in the market for private hospitals.

Thus, very effectively, the Prime Minister busted the propaganda against the centralised vaccination policy by non-NDA ruled states. Although he id not mention that the demand was by non-NDA ruled states, it is widely known that it was they who were making the demand.

Narendra Modi also took subtle jibes at the media which campaigned on behalf of the demands made by the opposition. Likewise, he did not mention any names but citizens were well aware which media organisations have an agenda against the Prime Minister.

Most importantly, the message he conveyed was that the centralised vaccine procurement policy was changed because of demands made by non-NDA ruled states. When these parties realised that the task far exceeded their capabilities, they came back pleading to the center to take the job off their hands.

And since the central government did not wish to risk the lives of citizens, the central government was willing to revert back to the initial vaccination procurement policy.

Appeasing the Gandhi family? Read how DD under Jawhar Sircar had removed inconvenient parts of PM candidate Modi’s interview during 2014 elections

Dibakar Dutta
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Appeasing the Gandhi family? Read how DD under Jawhar Sircar had removed inconvenient parts of PM candidate Modi’s interview during 2014 elections

On April 27, 2014, Doordarshan aired a 30-minute long interview with the then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the runup to the Lok Sabha elections. Upon its release, a controversy broke out about how chunks of the 54-minute long interview were edited out by broadcaster Prasar Bharti on the behest of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

At that point in time, Jawhar Sircar was the CEO of Prasar Bharti. Questions were raised about his integrity and the lack of autonomy of India’s largest public broadcasting agency. The interview, featuring former Gujarat CM and BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi was shot on April 26, 2014, and telecast a day later on April 27. It was followed up with a re-telecast of the interview on April 28. When the video was aired, the BJP raised objection as to how a 54-minute long interview was cut short to just 30 minutes.

Interestingly, his comments about Priyanka Gandhi and Congress leader Ahmed Patel drew the ire of the Congress party so much so that those remarks were omitted in the post-production stage. As such, the 30 minutes long ‘edited’ interview was aired bereft of his commentary on the duo. The content of his interview was not contentious, as seen in the ‘unedited version’, which was uploaded on his Youtube channel on May 1, 2014.

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ Narendra Modi)

At about 5:16 mins in the interview, the DD News interviewer Ashok Shrivastav had asked Narendra Modi about personal attacks made against him by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. He had responded, “Any daughter for her brother and mother’s victory will do everything. A daughter is after all a daughter, if she does not work for her mother, whom will she do it for? It is her right to work for her mother, to work for her brother. If she hurls ten more curses, then too a daughter is a daughter and as a daughter, whatever she does, I won’t be angry at her.”

At about 15 minutes into the interview, Ashok Shrivastav asked Narendra Modi about his earlier remarks, referring to Gujarat Congress leader Ahmed Patel as ‘Mia Ahmed.’ He answered, “Ahmedbhai is among the best friends I have in Congress but not now… I had a good friendship with him and would have preferred that it had remained so… but he now runs away from me and doesn’t take my calls.”

Citing sources, the Times of India has reported, ” As a measure of abundant caution it was decided to edit out the part where Modi refused to attack Priyanka Gandhi in response to a question, saying she was like his daughter and not a political rival like her mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi.” Priyanka Gandhi had reportedly taken offence to his remark and said, “My father died for this country more than 20 years ago. I loved him more than anyone in the world. I really don’t appreciate this. Enough is enough.”

Jawar Sircar blamed the then Congress govt for editing the interview

Following a public backlash, the then Prasar Bharti CEO had acknowledged that chunks of the interview were edited out for failing to get a ‘balancing interview’ with rival political leaders despite best attempts by DD News. Jawhar Sircar had blamed the then I & B Minister Manish Tewari for failing to grant ‘operational autonomy’ to the public broadcaster. He had pointed out how not giving in to the government’s demands resulted in transfers, and punitive actions.

Jawhar Sircar had lamented that how their initiative to hire ‘external professionals’ for the post of Director General of Doordarshan and All India Radio had failed under the UPA-II regime. He emphasised that had it been done, Prasar Bharti would not have been questioned over its imparitlity and motives over the airing of a single interview.

“In a way, therefore, MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) lost an opportunity to convince a young minister (Manish Tewari) to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the News Division, which has continued unabated even after PB was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997,” he had said. Sircar justified, “I gave him (DG News) the `strength` to go ahead and telecast the interview, even though there were concerns that a `balancing interview` from the other side could not be procured, despite best attempts of DD News.”

Jawhar Sircar shares photoshopped image of PM Modi

On Monday (June 7),  Jawhar Sircar shared a heavily edited image of Prime Minister Modi to insinuate that he goes out of his way to be polite to ‘his friends’.

Sircar tweeted, “Wish fellow parliamentarians and others in politics also received such courtesy and bonhomie — from their permanently-scowling PM. In a mature democracy, we would know the two-way relationship, favours, transactions. Some day, history will tell us,” with an image of PM Modi bowing down politely to a woman whose face appeared that of Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Group chief Mukesh Ambani.

The image is actually of PM Modi meeting Deepika Mondal, who runs an NGO “Divya Jyoti Cultural Organisation and Welfare Society”. In fact, the above image shared by Sircar has been in circulation since 2015 and has been made viral with claims that the lady in the image is Preeti Adani, wife of Gautam Adani. Sircar then went on to hide the replies to his tweet which fact-checked his fake claims. He has since deleted his tweet.

She did not help when I was getting beaten, was part of kidnapping plan: Mehul Choksi talks about woman who ‘honey trapped’ him

OpIndia Staff
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She did not help when I was getting beaten, was part of kidnapping plan: Mehul Choksi talks about woman who ‘honey trapped’ him

Fugitive Mehul Choksi, the uncle of fugitive Nirav Modi, has filed a complaint to the Antiguan Police Commissioner. In his complaint, Choksi claimed that he was attacked by 8-10 men when he went to a female friend identified as Barbara Jabarica, her alleged girlfriend. Alleging that she was an integral part of the entire scheme to kidnap him, Choksi claimed she did not attempt to help him while he was being beaten up and placed on small watercraft.

He said, “Over the past year, I have come to be on friendly terms with Barbara Jabarica. She used to originally reside opposite my residential complex in Jolly Harbour but later shifted to the Coco Bay Hotel. She was on friendly terms with my staff and we used to meet and interact regularly, often going for walks in the evenings.” Notably, his wife had claimed he was honey-trapped.

The events of May 23

Choksi detailed the events that took place on May 23 that led to the whole drama of his alleged kidnapping and arrest by Dominic Police for illegally entering the island country. He told in his complaint that Jabarica requested him to pick her up from her house. Normally, they used to meet in a public place directly. Her home was located on the road next to the Marina. Agreeing to her request, he reached her place at around 5:15 PM. “She invited me in and indicated that she wanted to finish her wine, saying that we will step out in a few minutes,” he added.

He further said that while he was having a conversation with his female ‘friend’, around 8-10 heavily muscled men appeared from all entrances and brutally beat him. According to his complaint, they used tasers on his hands and face. The high-intensity electric shock caused burns, bruises and immense pain. They also took his wallet, Rolex watch and cell phone.

He claimed, “They placed me on a wheelchair, and I was in an almost comatose state. I was unable to resist when they tied my hands, legs and body to the wheelchair. A gag was placed in my mouth, obstructing my airways, causing me to gasp for air. They continued their onslaught and placed a mask on my head so my vision was also obscured.”

He further added that he was shifted from the watercraft to a much larger boat. When his mask was removed, he realized he was not going to St. John’s Police Station. When he asked where they were taking him, no one gave him a straight answer and ordered him to remain silent if he did not want to face further consequences. “They even threatened me at knifepoint after which I remained silent as it would have been useless to struggle against my captors,” he said.

Indians were on board, claimed Choksi

In his complaint, Choksi claimed that there were two Indians on board along with three persons of Caribbean descent. He was made to speak to a man who identified himself as Narinder Singh, the chief agent in charge of his case. “I was told that I was brought to this location to give an interview to a high ranking “Indian politician”. He also told me that my citizenship would be “fixed” in Dominica and that I would soon be repatriated to India,” he alleged.

The case against Choksi and his alleged abduction

Choksi is one of the accused of the Rs.13,500-crore Punjab National Bank Scam, along with Nirav Modi and several others. He had gone missing from Antigua on May 23 and was soon caught in Dominica. The Dominican Police charged with illegal entry into the country. It has been alleged that he escaped from Antigua and Barbuda to evade extradition to India.

On June 3, he got interim relief from immediate repatriation to India by the Dominican court. The next hearing date has not been fixed yet, and it may take time to complete the court proceedings. A team of four lawyers was hired from London to save him from deportation. His cousin is currently camping in Dominica and reportedly cut a deal with opposition to save him.

UP: Dy CM KP Maurya asks Akhilesh to apologize after his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav takes Covid-19 vaccine

OpIndia Staff
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UP: Dy CM KP Maurya asks Akhilesh to apologize after his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav takes Covid-19 vaccine

After Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav took the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya has demanded an apology from his son Akhilesh Yadav for deliberately creating vaccine hesitancy for months. 

Thanking Mulayam Singh Yadav for taking the vaccine, Maurya in his Tweet said, “Thank you SP patron and former Chief Minister Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav ji for taking the indigenous vaccine. You getting vaccinated is proof that SP’s national president, Mr. Akhilesh ji had spread rumors about the vaccine. Akhilesh ji must apologize for this.”

SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav has been indulging in petty politics over the Covid-19 vaccines to derail the vaccination drive in India right from the beginning of the initiative. Early this year, the SP Chief had remarked that he cannot trust ‘BJP’s vaccine’, and said that he would get vaccinated only when his government will be formed after the next election.

“I am not going to get vaccinated now. How can I trust BJP’s vaccine, when our government will be formed everyone will get free vaccine. We cannot take BJP’s vaccine,” Akhilesh Yadav had said right when India was gearing up to begin the world’s largest vaccination drive.

Bhartiya Janta Party- the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh has now demanded an apology from the SP leader for creating vaccine hesitancy especially after his father got inoculated. 

Akhilesh peddles half-baked news on vaccination drive

While giving sermons to the Union government regarding its vaccination policy, Akhilesh Yadav had also peddled misinformation regarding the country’s vaccination drive.

Sharing an infographic pertaining to Covid-19 vaccinations across the world last month, Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the nation needs to begin a national vaccination drive now, which must be robust, comprehensive, and immediate. “There is no greater priority for a nation than to protect its citizens health,” the Samajwadi Party chief claimed.

Akhilesh Yadav had selectively used data from the vaccination surveys that suits his political narrative which we had reported earlier.

The likes of Akhilesh Yadav have been indulging in regular fear-mongering against Indian-made vaccines to further their political propaganda, thus creating a wave of vaccine hesitancy in the minds of the people.

Vaccination drive in UP

Uttar Pradesh has administered more than 2 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine till Sunday with over 30 lakh beneficiaries inoculated from the 18-44 age group.

As per an Economic Times report, 1,6627,059 people have received the first dose of the vaccine while 36,27,433 have been fully inoculated.

“Till now, we have administered more than two crore (2,02,34,598) doses of vaccine. In view of the huge population of Uttar Pradesh, we have to speed up the vaccination drive,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath informed in a high-level COVID review meeting.

What is ‘Mission Indradhanush’? Read about the mission PM Modi spoke about in his address to the nation

OpIndia Staff
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What is ‘Mission Indradhanush’? Read about the mission PM Modi spoke about in his address to the nation

In his address to the nation today at 5 PM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about a host of steps taken by the government of India to control the COVID-19 pandemic. While announcing that the central government would provide vaccines to the states for free, PM Modi spoke about Mission Indradhanush, under which, India’s vaccine coverage has reached 90% overall.

Mission Indradhanush is a health mission of the government of India, launched by Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda on 25 December 2014. It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against seven vaccine-preventable diseases. To accelerate the process of immunization by covering 5% and more children every year, the Indradhanush mission has been adopted with an aim to achieve the target of full immunization coverage by 2020.

To strengthen and re-energize the programme and achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace, the Government of India launched “Mission Indradhanush” in December 2014.

The goal of Mission Indradhanush

The ultimate goal of Mission Indradhanush is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women. The Government identified 201 high focus districts across 28 states in the country that have the highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children. The Mission Indradhanush aimed to cover all those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated or are partially vaccinated against vaccine-preventable diseases. Prime Minister Modi said today that under Mission Indradhanush, the vaccine coverage has increased to 90%.

The strategy of Mission Indradhanush

The broad strategy, based on evidence and best practices, has included 4 basic elements:

  1. Meticulous planning of campaigns/sessions at all levels: Ensuring revision of micro plans in all blocks and urban areas in each district to ensure availability of sufficient vaccinators and all vaccines during routine immunization sessions. Developing special plans to reach the unreached children in more than 400,000 high-risk settlements such as urban slums, construction sites, brick kilns, nomadic sites and hard-to-reach areas.
  2. Effective communication and social mobilization efforts: Generating awareness and demand for immunization services through need-based communication strategies and social mobilization activities to enhance participation of the community in the routine immunization programme through mass media, mid-media, interpersonal communication (IPC), school and youth networks and corporates.
  3. Intensive training of the health officials and frontline workers: Building the capacity of health officials and workers in routine immunization activities for quality immunization services.
  4. Establish accountability framework through task forces: Enhancing involvement and accountability/ownership of the district administration and health machinery by strengthening the district task forces for immunization in all districts of India and ensuring the use of concurrent session monitoring data to plug the gaps in implementation on a real-time basis.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare established collaboration with other Ministries, ongoing programmes and international partners to promote a coordinated and synergistic approach to improve routine immunization coverage in the country.

The Ministry is being technically supported by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners. Mass media, interpersonal communication, and sturdy mechanisms of monitoring and evaluating the scheme are crucial components of Mission Indradhanush.

Diseases being targeted by Mission Indradhanush

The diseases being targeted are as follows:

  • diphtheria
  • whooping cough
  • tetanus
  • poliomyelitis
  • tuberculosis
  • measles
  • Hepatitis B

In addition to these, vaccines for Japanese encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza type B are also being provided in selected states. In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus. In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunization Programme.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)

According to National Health Portal, To further intensify the immunization programme, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) on October 8, 2017. Through this programme, the Government of India aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP. The focus of the special drive was to improve immunisation coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunisation to more than 90% by December 2018.

The Government said, “Under IMI, four consecutive immunization rounds were conducted for 7 days in 173 districts (121 districts and 17 cities in 16 states and 52 districts in 8 northeastern states) every month between October 2017 and January 2018. Intensified Mission Indradhanush has covered low performing areas in the selected districts (high priority districts) and urban areas. Special attention was given to unserved/low coverage pockets in sub-centre and urban slums with migratory population. The focus was also on the urban settlements and cities identified under National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).”

Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0

Consequently, the Government launched IMI 2.0 to accelerate vaccination coverage of children and pregnant women between December 2019-March 2020. IMI 2.0 focused on 272 districts in 27 states and 672 blocks in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among tribal populations.

The salient features of IMI 2.0 are:

  • Conduction of four rounds of immunization activity over 7 working days excluding the RI days, Sundays and holidays.
  • Enhanced immunization session with flexible timing, mobile session and mobilization by other departments.
  • Enhanced focus on left outs, dropouts, and resistant families and hard to reach areas.
  • Focus on urban, underserved population and tribal areas.
  • Inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination.
  • Enhance political, administrative and financial commitment, through advocacy.
  • IMI 2.0 drive is being conducted in the selected districts and urban cities between Dec 2019 – March 2020

A portal was also created specifically to manage the data relevant to IMI 2.0.

PM Modi slays opposition propaganda on vaccines, makes vaccine procurement centralised and free for all states. Details

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi slays opposition propaganda on vaccines, makes vaccine procurement centralised and free for all states. Details

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to nation on Monday tore into the media and opposition propaganda on vaccination drive conducted in the country. PM Modi in his address also announced that the Centre will procure vaccines from manufacturers and provide it further to states for free. The 25% vaccine procurement by private hospitals in states will continue.

He began his address by offering his condolences to those who have lost their loved ones to the second wave of the pandemic.

The Prime Minister said that significant efforts were made to increase the supply of medical oxygen in the country, the requirements of which had increased to unprecedented levels due to the second wave of the pandemic. He said that medical oxygen and other medicines were brought in from abroad.

Prime Minister Modi has also emphasised the efforts undertaken by the Indian Government to boost vaccination efforts in the country. He highlighted the fact that his government had launched Mission Indradhanush to boost vaccination coverage across the country. He mentioned the fact that earlier, it would take years to import vaccines from abroad.

He also said, “Within 5-6 yrs we have increased our vaccination coverage by 60% to over 90%, meaning we increased vaccination speed. To save children from new diseases, we included new vaccines in our efforts, as we were worried about children and the poor.”

Other countries would complete vaccination by the time vaccination efforts began in India, he said. He also hailed the fact that India now has two made-in-India vaccines.

The Prime Minister said that vaccine manufacturers were aided in their efforts by providing adequate resources.

The Prime Minister also said that the vaccination policy prioritized those most at risk to it. Therefore, health workers were prioritised.

Narendra Modi also pointed out that there was a great campaign to accord greater power to states to vaccinate their citizens. Therefore, the Central Government decided that 25% of the entire supply of vaccines will be available for procurement by the states.

But soon after, the very people who were campaigning for greater power to states for vaccination turned out and said that the Central Government supply the vaccines themselves to states. Narendra Modi said that at least the states had recognised the issue and therefore, heeding to their demands, the vaccination policy will revert to what was practiced before.

In the next two weeks, the policy will shift to the central government procuring 75% of the vaccines and making it available to states. 25% will still be available for private hospitals to purchase. Private hospitals will be able to charge a maximum of Rs. 150 for their services.

Narendra Modi also cautioned against those spreading misinformation regarding vaccines and urged everyone, especially the youth, to spread awareness about vaccines.

From cricketers to singers, here are the celebrities who glorified Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale on Operation Bluestar anniversary

OpIndia Staff
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From cricketers to singers, here are the celebrities who glorified Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale on Operation Bluestar anniversary

Commemorating the 37th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, several celebrities took to social media to hail Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on his death anniversary. 

Indian cricketer Harpreet Brar who has been playing for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League since 2019 shared a quote of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on his Twitter.

The quote read, “I don’t fear for a physical death, but when my conscience dies, that is my real death.”

Founder of Khalsa Aid Ravi Singh has been fanning emotions around Operation Bluestar for a week and paid a special tribute to Bhindranwale on social media. In an Instagram post, Singh wrote, “Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrenwala ji !! Death wasn’t the end, it was the beginning !”

Kanwar Grewal, a popular Punjabi singer and a known Khalistani sympathizer, released a song revering Bhindranwale calling him a ‘saint’. In just four hours of release on Instagram, the song has clocked over 18000 views and over one lakh views on YouTube where the song was released yesterday.

Music artist Lucky Singh Durgapuria also shared a long post hailing Bhindranwale and his sacrifice. 

Poster suggesting “Never forget 1984” featuring the Khalistani flag and Bhindranwale was shared by Punjabi celebrities like Gippy Grewal. 

We had reported earlier how former cricketer Harbhajan Singh glorified Khalistani terrorist hailing him as a ‘martyr’ and offering ‘pranam’ in an Instagram story. The cricketer has since apologised for hailing the terrorist and has claimed that the post was shared by mistake.

Harbhajan Singh glorifies Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (Image source: @netaji_bond/Twitter)

Akal Takht priest and SGPC Chief justify separatist slogans

Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh during his customary address on the anniversary of Operation Bluestar justifying the separatist sloganeering said, “This is a deep wound on Sikhs, which gives pain throughout the year. On its anniversary, we reduce this pain by uttering ‘Khalistan Zindabad’. It can never be forgotten. It will be part of our memory forever.”

Endorsing Jathedar’s views on ‘pro-Khalistani slogans’, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur said, “This is an expression of the Sikh youth’s ‘josh’ (vehemence). As Singh Sahib (Jathedar) stated the youngsters demonstrated their sentiments and healed their pain on the occasion.”

“This ‘josh’ suggests that the Sikh community is alive and acts independently. A community losing ‘josh’ is considered dead. When the youths raise these slogans, they demonstrate that they are competent to fight the enemy. So, we have no objection to it,” she added.

Bengal: TMC leaders threatening people to socially boycott our workers, says BJP

OpIndia Staff
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Bengal: TMC leaders threatening people to socially boycott our workers, says BJP

On Saturday (June 5), BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra took to Twitter to share a pamphlet allegedly issued by the Trinamool Congress, wherein it warned shopkeepers against selling anything to 18 BJP workers. The contentious circular was allegedly issued by TMC’s 176 and 179 booth committees in Mahisda village in Keshpur in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal.

“You cannot sell anything to these listed individuals without the prior permission of the party (Trinamool Congress). This is addressed to the tea sellers to not serve tea to these people… Anyone who tries to sell anything to them without permission of the party will be severely punished,” warned the pamphlet issued under the banner of ‘Mahisda Sarbabharatiya Trinamool Congress.’

The pamphlet, calling for social boycott of 18 BJP workers, listed 18 of them, namely, Dibendu Mondal, Naran Midda, Harisadhan Dolai, Bishu Dolai, Dulal Chakraborty, Somnath Chakraborty, Pachu Maal, Goutam Maal, Haru Maal, Nirupama Chakraborty, China Kabas, Prashanta Chowdhury, Palash Chowdhury, Tapas Bhuiya, Sukumar Nayak, Bhambol Nayak, Shakti Boldya, and Srikanta Dhara.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithataman had also expressed shock after the contentious pamphlet surfaced on social media. “This is shocking. Would urge CM Mamata Official to see that ALL citizens in West Bengal are protected and not ostracised or denied the basics. Otherwise, a true shame,” tweeted Nirmala Sitharaman.

According to Dinesh Kumar, the SP of Paschim Medinipur, the police had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and registered a case against unidentified persons for rumour-mongering under relevant Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections. While condemning attempts at the social boycott of party workers, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “This is nothing new. Our party people across the state are facing various atrocities.” He emphasised how several BJP workers have been rendered homeless in the aftermath of the West Bengal 2021 State Legislative elections.

TMC cries foul, calls pamphlet fake

While speaking on the matter, TMC MLA (Keshpur) Siuli Saha alleged, “This is a pre-planned conspiracy by the BJP. I have asked our party members there to investigate and then lodge a police complaint against the miscreants.” Uttamananda Tripathi, TMC Keshpur block President, claimed, “The poster is not on our party letterhead. We first write the All India Trinamool Congress and then Mahisda. It is clearly fake and BJP is behind it.”

Post-poll violence in West Bengal by TMC

After TMC’s thumping victory in West Bengal, its party workers had unleashed terror on the workers and supporters of BJP and other opposition parties. As per some social media reports, at least ten BJP karyakartas were killed brutally in the apparent victory celebration by the TMC. BJP’s Avijit Sarkar was lynched to death along with his adopted puppies allegedly by the TMC’s bloodthirsty cadre. 

The party offices of the BJP were burnt down to ashes at various locations. After horrifying videos of women being attacked and assaulted by the TMC goons surfaced on social media, the Chairperson of NCW Rekha Sharma reached the state of West Bengal to take stock of the situation and provide relief to the affected. A CRPF unit was sent to BJP’s Purbasthali Uttar candidate Dr. Gobardhan Das’s village after he was trapped inside his home along with his family members including the elderly as TMC hoodlums hurled bombs.

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh apologises for glorifying Khalistan terrorist Bhindranwale on anniversary of Operation Bluestar

OpIndia Staff
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Cricketer Harbhajan Singh apologises for glorifying Khalistan terrorist Bhindranwale on anniversary of Operation Bluestar

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Monday took to Twitter to apologise for glorifying Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale while commemorating 37th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.

Harbhajan Singh’s post

Taking to Twitter, Singh said, that the image he shared was a WhatsApp forward message and he shared it without realising the content in it or the significance of the same. He said that he does not subscribe to the views on the post or support the people whose pictures it carried. “I am a Sikh who will fight for India and not against India,” he said while apologising unconditionally for the same.

He also said that he will never support any antinational group against ‘my people’. “I have given my blood and sweat for this country for 20 years and will never ever support anything that is anti-India,” he said.

Harbhajan Singh’s post glorifying Bhindranwale

On Sunday, Singh shared an image on Instagram which hailed Bhindranwale as a martyr.

Harbhajan SIngh
The post by Harbhajan SIngh

The poster said, “Live with pride, die for the religion.” He paid tribute to the terrorists on the 37th anniversary of Operation Blue Star. It featured Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at the center wearing a blue turban.

He has since then deleted this post.

Operation Bluestar

Between 1 June 1984 and 8th June 1984, in Amritsar’s Golden Temple Indian military carried out an operation to eliminate Khalistani separatist terrorists who were hiding inside the temple complex. It was ordered by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India as a solution to law and order situation in Punjab. Few months later, on 31st October, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards to avenge for the Operation Blue Star. This led to large-scale anti-Sikh riots in India where Congress leaders were accused of leading mobs against Sikhs.

Chinese Instagram-like startup Xiaohongshu faces investigation after veiled reference to Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary

OpIndia Staff
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Chinese Instagram-like startup Xiaohongshu faces investigation after veiled reference to Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary

Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like startup of China, shared a post on June 4, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, and wrote, “Tell me loudly, what is the date today?” The post was taken down quickly, and the company is now facing investigation by a cyber watchdog in Beijing.

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, the Shanghai-based company is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Weibo account vanished

The entire Weibo account of Xiaohongshu was removed from the platform. A message that reads, “The account was unavailable for suspected violations of laws and regulations”, appears if someone tries to access the account.

Internal investigation initiated

As per the reports, the company is conducting an internal investigation with the Cyberspace Administration of China. Some sources quoted by WSJ believe that Xiaohongshu’s post was not related to the events of 1989. The company has been making similar posts in the past to celebrate the coming weekend.

No space for dissenting voices on political matters

China’s government does not allow discussions on social media over politically ‘sensitive’ matters. One of such incidents was the 1989 crackdown by the communist party on the protesters in central Beijing. Reports suggest that over 10,000 protesters were killed by the Chinese government. Over the years, the government has tried to shut down the commemoration of the event.

The event finds no space in textbooks or any form of media. Before the anniversary of the event, the government officials issue warning to the victims’ relatives to keep mum about the event. The online scrutiny around June 4 has increased exponentially in recent years. Social media posts around the event get automatically deleted. The users cannot update the profile pictures on the social media platforms that can be remotely linked to the event.

Notably, several embassies in Beijing, including the UK, posted an image of a burning candle on their Weibo page. It is the most common form of posts to remember the incident of 1989. However, the posts were quickly removed from Weibo. However, similar posts remained live on other social media networks like Twitter.

Hong Kong authorities had banned the annual candlelight vigil on the day on the pretext of Covid-19 social-distancing rules, but thousands of protesters reached the venue with their cellphones flashlights switched on. Several protesters were arrested.

The recent case of Bing search

On June 4, Microsoft Corp. confirmed that the Bing search engine had temporarily blocked the image search results in the US for “tank man”. It is the most iconic image of a solitary, frail old man standing in front of a row of tanks in Tiananmen Square. As per Microsoft’s statement, it was an accidental human error, and the search results were soon restored.

China had blocked apps in the past

Recently, the Chinese government had blocked the audio-social media app Clubhouse after they realized it was being used by Chinese nationals to discuss “sensitive political topics” with the rest of the world. In late 2019, Zoom, a popular video and teleconference service, was blocked by the Chinese authorities. It was unblocked only after Zoom agreed to a secret “rectification plan” with Chinese authorities and provided them access to calls about sensitive subjects and information about the participants in such discussions. Famous social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, etc., search engine Google, and several other websites and apps are blocked in China.

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