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Israel and Hamas agree to a ‘ceasefire’ after 11 days, Palestinians celebrate

OpIndia Staff
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Israel and Hamas agree to a ‘ceasefire’ after 11 days, Palestinians celebrate

On Friday (May 21), the State of Israel and terrorist outfit Hamas mutually agreed upon a ceasefire along the Gaza strip after 11 days of continuous fighting. As per reports, the ceasefire agreement was mediated by Egypt.

Amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed that his Security Cabinet voted unanimously for a ‘mutual and unconditional’ truce. It, however, said that the time of implementation of the ceasefire was yet to be decided. The ceasefire was proposed by Egypt, which said that the Gaza truce would commence from 2 am on Friday (UK time).

While taking to Twitter, President Joe Biden wrote, “Prime Minister Netanyahu informed me that Israel has agreed to a mutual, unconditional ceasefire. The Egyptians have now informed us that Hamas and the other groups in Gaza have also agreed.”

He further added, “These hostilities have resulted in the tragic deaths of so many civilians, including children. I send my sincere condolences to all the families, Israeli and Palestinian, of those who lost loved ones and my hope for a full recovery for the wounded…I believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. My administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end.”

Several countries such as Qatar, Egypt, United States, and the United Nations have proposed to mediate to bring an end to the ongoing escalation between the two sides. The US has vowed to replenish the Iron Dome interceptors of Israel that helped protect the Jewish State from the barrage of incoming rocket fires from the Gaza strip by Hamas. Both sides have been claiming the ‘ceasefire’ as a victory.

Reaction of Palestinians and Hamas terror outfit

Despite this, the fighting continued between Hamas and Israel in the runup to the proposed truce. Reportedly, sirens cautioned of incoming rocket fire from the Gaza strip to Israel. A 50-year-old man sustained minor injuries when a Hamas rocket dropped on an Israeli factory. In retaliation, Reuters reported that Israel conducted an air strike in Gaza. After the truce came into effect, Palestinians hit the streets in jubilation and yelled, “Allah hu Akbar.”

Some even whistled from their balconies. Several men even fired rifles, burnt firecrackers, jammed the roads, honked the horns of cars, and eaved flags from the window. Mosques claimed over loudspeakers that the truce signified the supposed victory of ‘resistance’ against Israel during the battle of ‘Sword of Jerusalem.’ A Palestinian welding an Ak-47 warned, “Our fingers are on the triggers, and we are ready to fight again, but now we will celebrate with our people.”

Meanwhile, Taher Al-Nono, who serves as the media advisor of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said, “The Palestinian resistance will abide by this agreement as long as the Occupation (Israel) does the same. Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida however added, “With the help of God, we were able to humiliate the enemy, its fragile entity, and its savage army.” He warned of rocket attacks if Israel was to commit ceasefire violations in Gaza. The biggest challenge for Hamas now is to rebuild its influence in the Gaza strip, destroyed by airstrikes by Israel in retaliation to its attacks.

Israel’s stand on the current truce with Hamas

In a statement released by the Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Twitter, he said, “I would like to strengthen the security forces and the IDF, led by the Chief of Staff, who have achieved unprecedented military achievements in the last 11 days in their strength, accuracy and strategic significance in the fight against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.”

Tweet by Israel Defence Minister

He added, “The defense establishment continues its readiness to protect Israeli citizens and the security forces and the IDF are deployed in the field, in all formations, in various sectors, in defense, and in the attack. The reality on the ground will determine the continuation of operations.” Gantz also spoke to US US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He thanked the US administration for its support and said that the Israeli Defense Forces will continue to work with Pentagon and the US government in mutual pursuit of stability in the region.

The Israel-Palestine crisis

The hostilities between the Jewish nation and its nemesis Hamas are at an all-time high, especially after the intense aerial exchanges that started on the evening of May 11 and continued well past midnight. On May 11, Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas unleashed massive airstrikes against Israel, firing hundreds of rockets inside the country.

The country’s air defence system known as the Iron Dome, intercepted the continuous barrage of rockets targeting Tel Aviv and central Israel Tuesday evening. Israel, in response, stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian terror group Hamas inside Gaza Strip. The Israel Defence Forces carried out airstrikes on targets in Gaza in response to continued attacks by Hamas against Israel. The death toll in the Gaza strip has risen to 230 by May 21 while 12 casaulties were reported on the Israeli side. At the same time, 20 high-profile terrorists associated with Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad have been neutralised.

While debunking the anti-Israeli propaganda, Israel Defence Forces remarked, “The fact that there aren’t more casualties in Israel does not mean that Hamas isn’t trying to kill Israeli civilians. It simply means that the IDF is preventing them from doing so at an incredible level. The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System and easily accessible bomb shelters all over Israel have saved thousands of lives.” It concluded, “IDF troops will continue to work 24/7 to defend Israeli civilians at the highest level possible and minimize Gazan casualties wherever possible.”

Congress orders, Twitter follows: A day after letter, tweet with toolkit images marked as ‘manipulated media’. What it means

OpIndia Staff
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Congress orders, Twitter follows: A day after letter, tweet with toolkit images marked as ‘manipulated media’. What it means

A day after the Congress party, which is in dock over the latest toolkit fiasco, wrote a letter to micro-blogging site Twitter asking it to permanently suspend the accounts of BJP leaders for allegedly “spreading misinformation”, the micro-blogging website seems to have followed the diktat as it flagged the ‘toolkit expose’ tweet of BJP leader Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated media’.

On Thursday, the Congress party had shot a letter to Twitter seeking permanent suspension of the accounts of BJP president JP Nadda, Union minister Smriti Irani, and BJP leaders Sambit Patra and BL Santosh for sharing the alleged “forged” document.

In the letter to Twitter, the Congress had said senior functionaries of the BJP were “grossly misusing” Twitter and this has led to “large-scale dissemination of false information and has the potential to cause social unrest in the country”.

As expected, a day after the Congress party’s letter, Twitter has promptly marked Sambit Patra’s tweets exposing Congress’ links to the toolkit as ‘Manipulated Media’. In his tweets, Patra had accused the Congress party of carrying out PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” and “Influencers”.

In its policies section, Twitter said, “We may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated. In addition, you may not share deceptively altered media on Twitter in ways that mislead or deceive people about the media’s authenticity where threats to the physical safety or other serious harm may result.”

However, Twitter acting arbitrarily on the demands of Congress has not revealed on what basis it concluded that the ‘toolkit’ tweet of the BJP leader was manipulative. After flagging the tweet, Twitter has claimed that the tweets have violated its “Synthetic and manipulated media policy”.

Congress toolkit

On Tuesday, two documents were ‘leaked’ on social media which gave point to point notes on how to question and discredit the Modi government on a few key points. The documents were allegedly created by the AICC research development. While Congress had refuted one of the documents as fake, there were some uncanny similarities between the instructions in the toolkit and how the narrative especially around the pandemic was built.

The instructions issued in the Congress toolkit are all-encompassing and extensive to launch a formidable media and social media attack against the Modi government when they are engrossed in defeating the raging pandemic. From maligning the Kumbh Mela as a ‘super spreader’ event to unwarranted attacks against PM Modi for the Central Vista project to collaborating with ‘friendly’ journalists and international media to defame the Modi government, the toolkit had detailed instructions to the Congress leaders and supporters to milk the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and mount an anti-Modi propaganda blitz.

The toolkit expose had created a storm across the country, fuelling massive anger against the Congress party. Several people accused the grand old party of indulging in such cheap politics, especially during a national crisis, to further their political agenda against the Modi government. As accusations against the Congress party grew louder, the party entailed the services of the propaganda website Alt News to give a clean chit for themselves.

However, in a hurry to give clean chit to the Congress party, Alt News not only did a very poor job with its ‘fact-check’, but also ended up exposing the links of the Congress party to the toolkit document.

BBC journalist deceived Princess Diana to secure famous 1995 interview, says inquiry committee: BBC apologises

OpIndia Staff
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BBC journalist deceived Princess Diana to secure famous 1995 interview, says inquiry committee: BBC apologises

The inquiry into the BBC’s sensational interview with Princess Diana in 1995 has found out that the BBC journalist used deceit to secure an interview with the former Princess in which she disclosed intimate details of her failed marriage to Prince Charles.

According to the reports, the British Broadcaster had set up an investigation, headed by former senior Court judge John Dyson, in November last year to look into the allegations from Diana’s brother Charles Spencer. Spencer had accused BBC journalist Martin Bashir of using forged documents and “other deceit” to trick him into introducing Diana to the journalist.

The inquiry by Judge Dyson has found that Bashir, then a small-time reporter, had shown Spencer fake bank statements claiming that Diana was under surveillance by the security services and that two of her staffers are being paid to provide information about her.

“Mr Bashir deceived and induced him to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana,” the report said. Mr Bashir acted inappropriately, and in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the Producers’ Guidelines on straight dealing, the inquiry report said.

Charles Spencer said the BBC reporter linked these events to Diana’s death. “She didn’t know who to trust and in the end when she died, two years later, she was without any form of real protection,” Spencer said.

Diana had revealed about her marriage troubles in the interview

During the “Panorama” interview, telecast in 1995 and watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain, Diana had admitted about an affair and also revealed personal details about her marriage to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.

It was the first time Diana had commented publicly about her doomed marriage. Diana’s remark, “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” – a reference to Charles rekindling his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his second wife, had become a talking point across the world.

Diana and Charles formally divorced in 1996. She died at the age of 36 in a high-speed car crash while being chased by the media in Paris, a year after the sensational BBC interview.

Meanwhile, the BBC made a “full and unconditional apology” to the British Royal family after an independent report found BBC journalist lied to Diana to secure an interview.

BBC Director-General Tim Davie admitted that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect.

“The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew. While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today,” he said.

Royal Family reacts to Inquiry report

The British Royal Family has reacted to the latest findings of the inquiry committee. Princess Diana’s son, Prince William, said the BBC’s failures surrounding Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with his mother “contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation”. He added that the episode should never be broadcast again.

He said Princess Diana was “failed” not just by the “rogue reporter”, but by BBC bosses “who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions”. Prince William said the interview was a “major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others”.

Prince Harry said the ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took his mother’s life.

‘Won’t allow BJP-RSS to organise any event until farm laws not scrapped’: RSS Blood donation camp cancelled in Punjab after ruckus by protestors

OpIndia Staff
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‘Won’t allow BJP-RSS to organise any event until farm laws not scrapped’: RSS Blood donation camp cancelled in Punjab after ruckus by protestors

RSS volunteers have always been at the forefront to help the needy and providing them relief. Going by its practice, on May 20 (Thursday), the RSS and BJP volunteers organised a blood donation camp in the Nurpurbedi village in Punjab’s Roper district. The camp was organised since the area was facing an acute shortage of blood.

However, the camp had to be cancelled after several protesting ‘farmers’ reached the event site and started creating a ruckus.

The farmers reportedly tossed the chairs laid in the camp and chanted slogans against BJP and RSS. They said that they would not allow BJP or RSS to organise any event in the state until the agricultural laws are not scrapped.

Seeing the situation get out of hands, the police was asked to intervene. Additional police forces had to be called in to control the frenzied mob. After a lot of effort, DSP Anandpur Sahib Raminder Singh Kahlon brought the situation under control. Since the situation still remains tense, additional forces have been deployed in the area.

RSS calls off the blood donation camp after farmers create ruckus

The ruckus forced the RSS volunteers to call off the donation camp. As soon as the event was cancelled the farmers cheered and celebrated by placing their flags inside the camp.

The farmers also threatened that they would make sure that in the future, no one in the area is allowed to buy any goods from shops owned by BJP or RSS supporters.

Besides this camp, RSS has planned two similar blood donation camps in Anandpur Sahib on May 22 and Rupnagar on May 23.

For months now, farmers primarily from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the central government’s agricultural laws. During times like this, when the entire country is grappling with the Cobvid-19 scourge, farmers from these states have refused to yield.

Farmers protest sites in Punjab become the new Covid super-spreader

We reported earlier on how the farmers who are returning from the Delhi border post registering their protest against the Farm laws may be acting as the new super-spreaders in Punjab. In fact, Punjab Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa in an interview to News18 accepted that the rise in Covid-19 cases in Punjab is in fact linked to the farmer’s protest.

After ‘farmer protesters’ pelt stones and injure police, BKU leader calls for further violence, asks them to gherao police commissioner office

OpIndia Staff
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After ‘farmer protesters’ pelt stones and injure police, BKU leader calls for further violence, asks them to gherao police commissioner office

On May 16, farmers at Hisar in Haryana got violent and tried to disrupt a Covid-19 facility inauguration event attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. On-ground visuals showed that these protesting ‘farmers’ charged at police personnel present near the event location which resulted in a lathi-charge by police.

As per reports, 20 police officers were said to be injured out of which 5 are women cops. Five vehicles were also reportedly damaged by the farmers in the incident. The farmers also attacked DSP Abhimanyu, leaving him seriously injured. 

Hisar police, in turn, filed cases on farmers for clashing with cops in Hisar. 

BKU leader instigates ‘farmers’ asks them to ‘gherao the police’

Despite knowing that the ‘farmers’ were in the wrong, a BKU leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Thursday tried to instigate them further by urging them to gherao the Hisar police commissioner’s office on May 24, if the state government does not take back the FIRs filed against them.

Directly giving a call to further escalate violence, Gurnam Singh Chaduni said: “We were not been told that a case has been filed against us. We have asked cases to be filed against those police officers who trashed us, farmers, people could have died. If it is a matter of COVID violation, the govt has violated COVID guidelines and police officers should be booked for it”.

He further added: “If the govt does not listen to these demands, on May 24, we have decided to protest against the Hisar police commissioner at Kranti Mann park at 10 AM. People from surrounding 4-5 districts must assemble there,” said Chaduni. The BKU leader has given several instigating calls – such as asking farmers to not allow Haryana CM to hold a Mahapanchayat which led to violence and to gherao Delhi police offices after Republic Day violence.

Interestingly, ‘Gherao’ seems to be Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s favourite modus operandi. In February also he had advised ‘farmers’ to ‘gherao’ Delhi Police personnel if they came to their villages to make arrests. He had virtually asked people to hold policemen hostage while referring to the action taken by the Delhi Police in retaliation to the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day.

How BKU has been using the ‘farmers’ protest for own political gains

It is pertinent to mention here that the months-long ‘farmers’ protest against the central government’s three farm laws was spearheaded by none other than the chief of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait. Rakesh Tikait, who was a forgotten man until the current protests were launched, has only used the farmer’s agitation as a tool to, resurrect his political career, even if, in the process, he had to mastermind farmer tractor rally that led to an insurrection on 26th January, he had no qualms in doing so.

‘Farmers’ pelt stones, attack police personnel in Hisar, Haryana

On May 16 (Sunday), protesting farmers moved from the border areas to Haryana’s COVID-19 care centre in Hisar where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was inaugurating the Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani Hospital which has been temporarily constructed at the OP Jindal Modern School.

As per reports, a huge crowd gathered at the site all of a sudden charging at the security forces which resulted in a clash. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha protesting on the border had also backed the protest. 

This is not the first time that the protesters attacked an event attended by Haryana Chief Minister. They have warned that unless the new farm laws are not scrapped, the protests will not cease. 

Media tries to malign Modi govt ministers fighting COVID institutionally, while shielding Rahul Gandhi and others who have only played politics

OpIndia Staff
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Media tries to malign Modi govt ministers fighting COVID institutionally, while shielding Rahul Gandhi and others who have only played politics

On May 18, Dainik Bhaskar and The Wire, two Congress-friendly media houses, used their platforms to show as if the central government is sitting idle and doing nothing to manage the Covid-19 situation. The idea behind the reports they published was based on the “fact” that ten union ministers did not “help” any individual by amplifying any SOS call that was made on social media. They did a study of their Twitter accounts between May 1 and May 15 to come to the conclusion that they were only praising the government and doing nothing to help in Covid-19 management.

As OpIndia showed how these ministers were busy in institutional-approach-based help rather than individual-approach-based help during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to see how Congress leaders and their friendly media houses’ owners performed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a fact that Congress leaders have nothing to do other than sitting at home and tweeting against the government as they are in opposition! So, we went through some of the most famous MPs accounts, and this is what we found.

Sonia Gandhi

The most beloved Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is not even on social media networks. She could have easily joined the social media platform and use her influence to help individuals. But instead, she decided to sit ideal and write letters to PM and ministers to do what they already had done days ago. On May 20, she suggested providing free education to orphans who lost parents to the Covid-19 pandemic, which came out to be nothing more than a PR gimmick.

She flew out of the country with her son for a medical check-up that could have been done in-country. Anyway, as she is not on Twitter, it is hard to access if she has done anything. After all, according to The Wire and Dainik Bhaskar, Twitter is, in fact, the best way to access how MPs, MLAs, and leaders have performed! This means, no Twitter account, no performance.

Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi is active on Twitter, but between May 1 and May 20, he did not post any tweet amplifying the SOS call for anyone. We also tried to find if he had done anything for his constituency between these days. We checked his Wayanad account (RGWayanadOffice), sadly there was no tweet amplifying any SOS call from that account too.

We also tried his Facebook accounts, but there was not even a single post amplifying any SOS call. We even search for “Rahul Gandhi Wayanad Covid” on Google, but there was not even a single report in the last 20 days that may show that he has done anything for the people of his constituency.

We were not even looking for what he has done for the people of the country as he does not hold any position that makes him answerable. But at least active work in his constituency was expected during the pandemic. If he had done anything, it would have made it to the social media platforms, or some news report would have published. But there was nothing. There were tweets tagging him for help, but there was no response.

Priyanka Gandhi

We checked her Twitter profile between May 1 and May 20. There was not even a single tweet that can be decoded as an SOS call amplification or response. There was no retweet of any SOS call to amplify it so that her 3.6 million followers can see someone who needs help. Here also, we checked her other social media accounts as well. We did find two posts, but those were only promoting the work Congress workers were doing in UP, not herself. There was no amplification of any SOS call on her Facebook account as well.

Priyanka boasting about work done by a few Congress workers

Though she did help Shahid Siddiqui by giving a Remsidivir injection, it was actually originally procured for Rahul Gandhi, who was Covid-19 positive. As it was lying “unused” because Rahul Gandhi didn’t need it, she gave it to Siddiqui. This was the time where people were paying in black for the injection, and she was keeping it at home. That too happened on April 26 and not between May 1 and May 20 which was apparently the criteria set by the Congress-friendly media houses to assess the leaders.

Shahid Siddiqui announcing how Priyanka Gandhi “gave” him her stock of Remsidivier

Siddharth Varadarajan

The head of The Wire, who got the report published after following Dainik Bhaskar’s suite, is active on Twitter. He has hundreds of Tweet from his account since May 1, and there were only two Retweets that can be called as amplifying the SOS call.

Two RTs by Varadarajan amplifying SOS calls. One by Wire employee and other about oxygen shortage.

One was for seeking help for verified accounts of The Wire and Scroll, and the other was regarding the oxygen crisis in Delhi Hospitals. Not even a single tweet or RT for an individual from the general masses to save someone’s life. Does the life of a general citizen of India does not matter in the eyes of the owner of The Wire? Why didn’t he amplified a single tweet in 20 days for the masses, it may be questioned.

Instead of tweeting propaganda reports or bragging for collecting over 16 crores since 2015, he could have helped a few people by RTing them. BTW the tweet about money Wire collected/made is pinned tweet on his profile.

Varadarajan boasting how much money he made since 2015 amidst Covid-19 pandemic

Arvind Sharma

Similarly, Dainik Bhaskar news editor Arvind Sharma has also not done much in terms of amplifying Covid-19 SOS calls. On May 2, he posted a call for Remdesivir injection needed in Rajasthan. Apart from that, he has not tweeted or retweeted any such appeals, while mostly posting news articles from his newspaper.

These examples show that while the media questioned union ministers for not amplifying Covid-19 SOS calls, they didn’t use the same criteria to evaluate opposition leaders, or even themselves. While ministers were helping the victims en-mass using the institutional mechanism they have access to, opposition leaders can surely use their social media accounts with lakhs of followers to help Covid-19 victims. But all they did was attack the Modi govt, and the leftist media do not see any problem in that.

After cancelling Metro Shed project in Aarey, Maharashtra govt keen on monetizing ‘forest land’: Details

OpIndia Staff
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After cancelling Metro Shed project in Aarey, Maharashtra govt keen on monetizing ‘forest land’: Details

Months after arbitrarily cancelling the much-needed Metro project near the Aarey area by claiming it as a ‘forest’ land, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra is keen on monetizing the Aarey Forest land, reports Times of India.

In a government resolution issued on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government appointed a five-member committee headed by Madhav Kale, director of planning and transport of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, to suggest how the government can monetize its land and raise funds for its various projects.

The committee has been asked to prepare a policy for implementing projects on a build-operate-transfer basis on land owned by the department. Aarey Colony is one of the largest land parcels in the state-owned by the dairy development and animal husbandry department.

The resolution stated that if the department develops its dilapidated dairies and hospitals in urban areas on a BOT model, that would not only get upgraded infrastructure free of cost but also can raise funds for other projects. The decision has been taken following a meeting held by Minister Sunil Kedar in February.

The flip-flop decision by the Maharashtra government to utilize forest land at Aarey for commercial purposes comes months after the Uddhav Thackeray-led government had cancelled the much-needed Metro shed project, sanctioned by the previous government, claiming that the project would degrade the forest land inside Aarey. Sena Prince Aaditya Thackeray had himself led the campaign against the Aarey Metro shed project.

However, in a U-turn, the Maharashtra government is now keen on utilising the same forest land to further their interests.

Shiv Sena and its activism over Aarey Forest

The Uddhav Thackeray-led govt, in a vindictive order, had declared the Aarey area where the metro car shed was planed as ‘forest land’ and had shifted the facility to government land in Kanjurmarg. The decision to shift the metro car shed came after several left-wing activists and Sena prince Aaditya Thackeray had expressed their disapproval for the construction of the metro shed at Aarey.

Even though the metro project will substantially improve the environment by removing lakhs of fossil fuel-guzzling vehicles from the roads, the project was opposed due to political reasons. The decision to shift the metro car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg will now increase the project’s cost by at least Rs 4,000 crore, which was estimated by a committee appointed by the current government. Further, the project will also be delayed by several years due to ongoing litigation and the condition of the new site.

U-turn of Shiv Sena on environmental activism

The ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, which often advocates for eco-conservation by cancelling the metro project at Aarey on ‘concerns’ that trees are being cut, earlier took a U-turn by deciding to axe more than 300 trees for the construction of a metro line the elevated Metro-2A corridor between Dahisar and DN Nagar. Shiv Sena, especially under the leadership of Aaditya Thackeray, had been extremely vocal on the issues of environmental conversation, as the young Sena prince had opposed the BJP government’s decision of felling of trees at Aarey Milk colony to construct a Metro shed.

A month after extreme activism by Shiv Sena to impress its coalition parties – Congress and NCP, Sena had exposed its hypocrisy by ordering the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation to chop down 1,000 trees for a Bal Thackeray memorial in Priyadarshini Park. Interestingly, the environmental activists, NGOs and liberals who had hit the streets to protest against the then BJP government in the state for axing the trees at Aarey colony have now suspiciously chosen to remain silent. Perhaps, the activist seems to have come to a conclusion that it is a right step to axe the trees for the metro as the decision has been taken by the secular alliance of Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP.

Kerala professor who spewed venom against Hindus, incited students for rebellion against Modi govt suspended: All you need to know

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala professor who spewed venom against Hindus, incited students for rebellion against Modi govt suspended: All you need to know

The Central University of Kerala on Monday suspended assistant professor Gilbert Sebastian for allegedly inciting students to start a violent rebellion against the Modi government and spewing venom against the RSS and the BJP by referring to them as “proto-fascist organizations”.

According to the reports, Dr Gilbert Sebastian, an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations and Politics at the Central University of Kerala, was caught making hate speech against Hindus, Swastika, Hindutva, RSS, BJP, and other Hindu organizations during his lecture. The audio clip of the online class had created a massive furore across the country.

Following the incident, several student organization had voiced their anger against Sebastian’s hate speech and had demanded his removal. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the RSS, had threatened mass protest if the VC did not take action against the faculty member.

The Central University had also received a complaint from A Vinod Karuvarakundu, a member of the National Monitoring Committee on Education (SCs, STs, Persons with Special Needs and Minority Education) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development in connection with his online class.

As outrage against Sebastian grew louder, Vice-chancellor H Venkateshwarlu had set up a three-member internal committee to look into the allegations of misconduct against the faculty member. The university administration has now suspended Dr Gilbert Sebastian, pending an inquiry.

In the online class held on April 19, Dr Sebastain had made several false claims to target Hindu organizations, especially RSS and the BJP. In fact, OpIndia had got access to the audio of half of his lecture and the slideshows that he allegedly used during the lecture. In his lecture, Sebastian claimed that across the world, ‘Right Wing’ governments were coming into power and called it a “Right-Wing resurgence in the world.”

Right-Wing comes to power because of middle and business class

In his lecture, Sebastian claimed that to come to power, Right Wing uses lucrative promises. He gave the example of the great depression of the 1930s during which Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany came to power. He claimed these Right Wing political parties promised jobs, better income, and infrastructure to come to power. Not only the middle-class but the corporate world also helped them to win the elections.

Screenshot from Sebastian lecture’s slideshow

Sebastian claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party used the same tactics to win the elections in India. He claimed BJP won the elections on the pretext of jobs and infrastructure, but they have done nothing since they came in power.

Sebastian claimed in Kerala and other South Indian states, as people are educated, do not support BJP. Mainly Dalits and the working class do not trust BJP, he added. However, nowadays, some Dalits and the working-class are supporting the party, but that is because of the political appeasement BJP does. According to him, Dalits can be lured to vote for BJP by appeasement.

The fake information on Hindu Holy Symbol Swastika

During his lecture, when Sebastian talked about the Nazi’s Hakenkreuz, he referred to it as Swastika and tried to make it look like that both the symbols are the same. When he mentioned Hakenkreuz as Swastika at the very beginning of the lecture, he asked the students if they know where else this symbol is used. For a few seconds, no one spoke up. He again asked them if they are aware of who uses the symbol. One of the students said that it is used in temples, but he did not take the name of any religion.

Screenshot from Sebastian lecture’s slideshow

Irked by the fact that no one was ready to say anything on the blunt misleading comparison, he again forced the students to speak up. One of the students spoke up, but he was not audible. Then he asked the student to write it in the comment section on Zoom. The student said the Swastika symbol represents Kali or Shakti, whom he referred to as the ‘Black Female Goddess.’

‘RSS is the ‘Brows Shirts’ of India’ – said Sebastian

He further said that, unlike other political formations, fascism uses semi-autonomous civil society groups as militant outfits. For example, the Blackshirts in Italy and the Brown Shirts in Germany. He proceeded and put the RSS & VHP in India in the same category. He also claimed that RSS was inspired by Adolf Hitler and subtly compared the brown shirts of Nazis with RSS’s attire.

Screenshot from Sebastian lecture’s slideshow

‘Hindu parties have militant outfits’

Sebastian said Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) is the mother of all Hindu parties in India. BJP is the political outfit of RSS. He did not stop there and claimed that Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal are militant groups of RSS. He further alleged that the Hindu NRIs sitting abroad send money for VHP and Bajrang Dal to create unrest in the country.

He claimed that BJP is a front of RSS. Many autonomous Hindu bodies in India allegedly do the dirty work for RSS. He added that Congress itself is the main organization. But in RSS, there are a lot of autonomous bodies that work under the main organization.

Screenshot from Sebastian lecture’s slideshow

Then came the most bizarre statement. He claimed that as BJP is only the political front, someday, RSS will announce that there will be no elections in the country and will abolish BJP. “They might do that. I am serious. They might do that,” he said. He claimed that as the autonomous bodies under RSS do the dirty work, they can present themselves with a clean image.

Screenshot from Sebastian lecture’s slideshow

He also blamed Bajrang Dal for the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Sebastian conveniently ignored the fact that the riots in 2002 were not initiated by any Hindu organisation. They happened in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident in which 59 innocent Kar Sewaks were burnt alive by a large Muslim mob.

North Indian Hindus are the root cause of atrocities against women in India

Sebastian claimed that the Hindus living in North India are the root cause of atrocities against women in India. He gave the example of the Nirbhaya case. He said one of the main accused was regular with his daily ‘pooja path.’ In the documentary, India’s daughter, that accused, claimed that the answer to women like Nirbhaya is rape. “But he used to do pooja path. What kind of hypocrisy was that?” he added.

During his lecture, he kept spewing venom against India, BJP, RSS, Hindus, and other Hindu organizations. He spread misinformation about Swastika and Hindus. He tried to paint Hindus as criminals, uneducated, ill-informed, and rioters. As OpIndia only got hold of half of his lecture, it is not known what he had said in the remaining lecture.

Sushant Singh Rajput fans vs Wikipedia: Here is what they want and how founder Jimmy Wales flat out refuses

OpIndia Staff
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Sushant Singh Rajput fans vs Wikipedia: Here is what they want and how founder Jimmy Wales flat out refuses

Crowdsourced online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is not alien to controversies due to its left-leaning bias in editing. In a recent instance in India, the site has offended the fans of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, by refusing to include crucial details about the probe into his death in his Wikipedia article. The controversy reached such a level that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales came forward to defend their decisions on the article.

Several Wikipedia editors are trying to include various materials relating to alleging that Rajput was murdered, but the editors and moderators of the site have refused to include them in the Wiki page, and removed any such reference inserted by any editor. While the cause of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput is still under investigation by the CBI, the Wikipedia article on him says that ‘Rajput died by suicide at his home in Bandra, Mumbai in June 2020’. This prompted social media users to launch a campaign to remove that claim, as the claim is misleading till the CBI concludes its investigation.

An online petition has been launched on Change.org demanding to remove the cause of death as suicide from the article. The petition claims that minutes after his death, the Wikipedia article on Rajput had said that he died of suicide. The petition mentions how doctors in AIIMS also recommended investigation in the case from murder angle. His family suspects murder, and his fans are also claiming that it is a murder, says the petition.

Twitter users also demanded that Wikipedia should edit the article accordingly, using the words ‘Wikipedia Sushant Was Killed’ in their tweets. This prompted Jimmy Wales to reject their demands. He posted a tweet taking a jibe at the online campaign, by saying that Wikipedia is based on reliable sources, not twitter campaigns.

The website has gone to such an extent to deny any reference to the murder angle that it has posted a Q&A section in the talk page of the article, which answers various questions on why they won’t allow edit claiming that the actor was murdered. While most explanations are related to Wikipedia’s policy on relying only so-called reliable sources, it has at least one bizarre explanation.

While editors inserted the height of Sushant Singh Rajput in the page, the site moderators removed that, saying that it is not relevant information. It says height is mentioned only if it is a major factor, such as sports, and claimed that it is not a major factor in case of Sushant’s death.

But that is completely wrong, as one of the major arguments alleging murder is that the distance between the fan and the bed in the room where Sushant was found is dead is less than the height of the actor. It is claimed that he could not have died by suicide at that place as his feet would be touching the bed. Therefore, his height should be mentioned in the article, his fans argue, but it has been rejected by the site.

‘She hijacked the meet to politicise it’: How Mamata Banerjee politicised the COVID meeting with PM and what Suvendu Adhikari said

OpIndia Staff
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‘She hijacked the meet to politicise it’: How Mamata Banerjee politicised the COVID meeting with PM and what Suvendu Adhikari said

Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal launched a scathing counter-attack on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for disparaging the PM’s Covid-19 meet with district magistrates (DM) and field officials of 10 states today.

The BJP leader took to Twitter to slam Banerjee for politicising today’s meeting with PM Modi. In a series of Tweets, he lambasted the CM for choosing to stay away from Covid reviews meetings during all previous occasions and today, hijacking a PM-DM meet only to remark that she was denied a chance to speak.

“5 out of the 7 District Officials who spoke today belonged to non-BJP ruled states of Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Cooperative federalism is the firm commitment of PM @narendramodi unlike CM @MamataOfficial who only believes in confrontational federalism”, Tweeted Adhikari.

The BJP leader expressed his angst saying that despite the Covid situation being miserable in West Bengal, the chief minister wants to play politics. “It is better they get down to work because the great People of West Bengal are watching!”, warned Adhikari in his Tweet.

Mamata Banerjee’s farce over PM Modi’s Covid-19 review meeting

The series of Tweets put out by the BJP leader was in response to Mamata Banerjee’s statements against PM Narendra Modi after she alleged she was not allowed to speak at today’s Covid-19 review meeting.

Earlier in the day, Mamata Banerjee had fumed at the “insult” she had to tolerate during the meeting. She alleged that CMs had been reduced to being puppets during meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers as “casual and super flop” as, she said, none of the chief ministers, including herself, were given a chance to speak.

“If the states were not allowed to speak, then why were they called? All the chief ministers must protest for not being allowed to speak,” the West Bengal CM said.

While WB CM Mamata Banerjee used the opportunity to cast aspersions at PM Narendra Modi, the interesting part here is that this meeting was particularly called to discuss the Covid19 preparedness with field officials from states and districts. Though a few CMs like Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa and WB CM Mamata Banerjee were also present during the virtual meeting, PM Modi primarily addressed the District Magistrates of 54 districts from 10 states with high caseloads of COVID-19 infections.

The officials, who interacted with Modi, were from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

When Mamata Banerjee chose rallies over COVID meets

While Mamata Banerjee created such a hue and cry about not getting the due importance in today’s meeting, she should be probably reminded that over the course of the past 4 months, she has not attended even a single meeting between Chief Ministers and the Prime Minister. She skipped both the meetings, one in March and another in April, and busied herself in campaigning for the elections instead.

After skipping the April meeting, Mamata Banerjee had staged another drama. While Mamata Banerjee didn’t attend the meeting and she was represented by the Chief Secretary, she claimed that she was not invited to the high-level COVID-19 review meeting chaired by PM Modi today, saying that if she was, she would’ve certainly gone.

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