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Union Minister Smriti Irani makes a surprise visit to Amethi to assess the Covid-19 situation, visits residence of deceased BJP MLA

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Union Minister Smriti Irani makes a surprise visit to Amethi to assess the Covid-19 situation, visits residence of deceased BJP MLA

On Saturday, Union Minister and Amethi MP Smriti Irani visited Padmanpur Bijauli village in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh to pay respects to BJP MLA Dal Bahadur Kori, who lost his life due to Covid-19.

According to the reports, Union Minister Smriti Irani arrived at the ancestral village of deceased MLA Kori on Saturday and met the family members of the BJP leader, who died on the 6 May at a private hospital in Lucknow.

After placing a wreath on the portrait of the late MLA, Smriti Irani hugged his wife and consoled her. She reassured the family that she stands with them in this hour of grief. Dal Bahadur Kori, who was an MLA from the Salon assembly constituency, died on Thursday night at a hospital in Lucknow. His last rites were performed in the village on Friday.

Smriti Irani also visited the house of former Income Tax Commissioner and BJP leader Brijlal Pasi, who recently succumbed to Covid-19. 

She is on a visit to her Amethi constituency to assess the ground situation of COVID management. On Saturday, Smriti Irani, who is the Lok Sabha member from Amethi, made a surprise visit to her parliamentary constituency to review the coronavirus situation in the district.

Smriti Irani makes a surprise visit to Amethi

Inspecting the preparedness in the constituency, Smriti Irani visited the district Covid control room while directing officials to ensure that patients face no inconvenience and that there is no shortage of oxygen. District Magistrate Arun Kumar and Chief Medical Officer Dr Ashutosh Dubey were present in the control room during the review meeting.

Irani directed the officials to increase the number of beds in the hospitals if needed. On Irani’s initiative, the Utthan Seva Samiti, a non-governmental organisation, handed over five oxygen concentrators to the Chief Minister’s Office.

“COVID-19 is now moving towards villages, and hence there should be comprehensive preparations to tackle the pandemic at the village level. There should be no laxity in this,” the Union Minister for Textiles and Women and Child Development said.

Prashant Kishor to fire 85 percent of his IPAC staff after Bengal election victory, may start a political career in Bihar: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Prashant Kishor to fire 85 percent of his IPAC staff after Bengal election victory, may start a political career in Bihar: Report

After working with Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which emerged victorious in the recently held West Bengal assembly elections, Prashant Kishor is all set to sack more than 85 per cent of the employees working in his organisation – Indian-Political Action Committee (IPAC), reported Sunday Guardian.

According to the reports, Prashant Kishor’s IPAC has decided to fire more than 85% of the almost 900 employees who were part of their campaigning team in the recently held West Bengal assembly elections. The IPAC-led by election strategist Prashant Kishor had devised the election campaigning for the incumbent Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and led to the third successive poll victory for the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

Reportedly, the IPAC team consists of around 879 people, out of which 479 are core team members, while another 400 employees were on a contract. The contract employees have been told that the organisation will not continue to employ more than 150 members. The workers have also been informally communicated that they would receive termination letters by email in the coming days.

On Thursday, IPAC chief Prashant Kishor interacted with his team members and informed them that they should not expect any kind of job or favour from the West Bengal government and advised them to look for other opportunities. It is expected that only the core 100-150 people will be retained to carry out political strategising work that IPAC does.

Most of the employees, who will be sacked, had high hopes that the IPAC would retain them to assist the Mamata Banerjee-led government and provide “consultancy” after being attached with state government agencies. Following the victory of TMC in the West Bengal elections, all the members of IPAC were reportedly given one month’s paid leave. The core team will move to Punjab a month later to assist the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government for the February 2022 polls.

Prashant Kishor to setup IPAC in Bihar, may concentrate on Bihar politics

In another related significant development, IPAC has already started the process of recruiting people for “campaign management” in Bihar. Kishor, who hails from Bihar and has considerable experience of working in Bihar, is aiming to revive the political program in Bihar. Earlier, Kishor had worked with Nitish Kumar and was also appointed as the Vice-President of JDU. The IPAC is looking to employ and train local youths for political roles.

Recently, Prashant Kishor had declared that he would also be quitting IPAC and pursue another career. Prashant Kishor had announced his decision to hand it over to his colleagues and added that he wanted to take some time out and look at an alternate career. However, there was no clarity on his future endeavours.

With Prashant Kishor is eyeing at restructuring his organisation to make a come back in Bihar, it is being said that Kishor is looking to emerge as a credible political option in state politics by using his political experience. He is expected to train human resource and consolidate material resources to fight the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections

Violent clash between Israeli police and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque leaves at least 200 injured

OpIndia Staff
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Violent clash between Israeli police and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque leaves at least 200 injured

Around 250 Palestinians and 17 Israeli police officers are said to be reportedly injured in a violent clash that erupted between the Israeli riot police and Palestinians on Friday at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque.

Stones, bottles and fireworks were hurled at Israeli police officers who fired rubber bullets at the crowds gathered at the Al-Aqsa mosque which is of prime importance for both sects. 

The clash erupted as police officers tried to restore order after reports of “rioting of thousands of worshippers” following the evening prayers were received. 

Al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site which is also revered by the Jews as the location of two biblical-era temples was packed with Muslims who had gone to offer prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Reason for unrest in the region

Tensions in Jerusalem escalated in recent weeks as Palestinians protested the restrictions imposed by Israel on access to access parts of the Old City during the holy month of Ramzan. 

The Palestinians are also vehemently opposing an order by the authorities which has asked several Palestinian families to vacate their homes and make way for Israeli settlers.

The past week was marred by violence with three Palestinians open firing on the Salem base in the occupied West Bank on Friday.

In another fatal incident, a 19-year-old Israeli was killed in a drive-by shooting at the West Bank Tapuah junction bus stop on Sunday. 

On Wednesday, a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by the Israeli troops in an open firing on protesters who were throwing petrol bombs in the West Bank area.

Since then regular clashes have broken out between police and protestors in the east Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. An AFP correspondent informed that around 100 protesters again rallied on Friday night in the neighbourhood, with officers using stun grenades and water cannons to disperse them.

The incidents in Sheikh Jarrah and Damascus Gate, both key entry points to the Old City — left many wounded in confrontations earlier in the week.

Sheikh Jarrah clashes

At the beginning of this year, a district court ruled four Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah legally belong to Jewish families and should be handed over.

The Jewish plaintiffs claimed that their families lost the land during the war that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948 while the Sheikh Jarrah families have provided evidence that their homes were acquired from Jordanian authorities.

Hundreds of Palestinians carried out rallies on Friday in Jordan chanting, “we will die for Sheikh Jarrah.”

Global response

The United States has given a call for “de-escalation” and said the threatened evictions will only worsen the situation in east Jerusalem. The United Nations has also warned that forced evictions could amount to “war crimes”.

As the international observers urged calm, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Vennesland has expressed deep concerns over the clash and asked both parties to uphold the status quo. 

Holding the Israeli government fully responsible for the unrest, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas voiced “full support for our heroes in Aqsa”.

Himanta Biswa Sarma elected as next Chief Minister of Assam after BJP legislative party meeting

OpIndia Staff
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Himanta Biswa Sarma elected as next Chief Minister of Assam after BJP legislative party meeting

A week after winning the assembly elections in Assam, the BJP has finally decided that Himanta Biswa Sarma will be the next chief minister of the state. Himanta Biswa Sarma was elected as the leader of the legislative party after a meeting of the newly elected BJP MLAs in Guwahati today. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP National General Secretary Arun Singh were appointed as observers for the meeting. Senior BJP leaders BL Santhosh and Baijayant Jay Panda were also present in the meeting.

In the meeting attended by all 60 new BJP MLAs, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s name was proposed as the next Chief Minister by outgoing CM Sarbandana Sonowal, and the proposal was supported by state BJP president Ranjit Kumar Dass. After that, all the MLAs present in the meeting supported Sarma as the leader of the legislative party. After the conclusion of the meeting, observer Narendra Singh Tomar announced that Himanta Biswa Sarma was elected as the legislative party leader unanimously, and no other name was proposed by any MLA.

Following the election of the legislative party chief, BJP leaders will meet the Governor later in the day to stake claim for the government. The party has already sought an appointment with the governor at 4 PM today.

BJP has 60 MLAs in the 126 member house, and it has support of AGP and UPPL with 9 and 6 MLAs, bringing the strength of the alliance to 75.

The oath taking ceremony will be held tomorrow at the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati tomorrow. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the ceremony will not be held in the Raj Bhavan, and it will be held at the much larger space at Kalakshetra.

At present the fate of outgoing CM Sarbananda Sonowal is not known, and it is not clear whether he will be a minister in the next government. According to speculations, he may be made a minister the central government. One seat to Rajya Sabha from Assam is already vacant after BPF MP Biswajit Daimari resigned last year to join BJP, and Sonowal may be elected to the upper house from that seat. It may be noted that Sonowal was a union minister in the Modi government before becoming the Assam CM.

Even though the election results were announced on last Sunday, the process to start discussion over the next CM of Assam was delayed as the party said that the top leadership was busy with the post-poll situation in West Bengal where BJP workers are being attacked by TMC workers. It gained momentum on Friday after BJP’s central leadership invited Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma to finalise the chief minister.

Accordingly, Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma travelled to Delhi yesterday morning in a chartered flight along with few party leaders. First Himanta Biswa Sarma met party president JP Nadda at his resident, after that Sarbananda Sonowal had met him. Following that, the party president had talked to both the leaders together. After the meetings, Himanta Biswa Sarma had told reporters that answers to all the questions will be given after the legislative party meeting on Sunday in Guwahati.

Both the leaders had returned to Guwahati in the night. Earlier in the day, Sarbananda Sonowal had met the governor at the Raj Bhawan and tendered his resignation from the post of chief minister.

Even though Sarbananda Sonowal is the incumbent CM, BJP had not projected as the next C during the election campaign. And during the election, Himanta Biswa Sarma was seen as the driving force behind BJP’s campaign, who addressed the largest number of rallies, roadshows etc.

Always known as an able administrator from the times when he was a minister in the previous Congress governments, Sarma’s popularity soared in the outgoing government for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as the Health minister, and the improvement done in roads, bridges and other infrastructure as the PWD minister. He also held the Education, Finance, and Transformation & Development departments, and was the most visible face of the government. He had brought several reforms to the education sector as a minister, and have been presenting balanced budgets focusing both on development and social welfare as a finance minister.

Apart from being praised for his administrative skills, Himanta Biswa Sarma also has made a mark as a clever politician both in Congress and later BJP. As a convenor of NEDA, he brought several regional parties in north-eastern states under the ambit of NDA. Sarma has also successfully convinced several tribal groups in Assam to ally with BJP, which was vital in defeating Congress in both the past two assembly elections, despite the consolidation of anti-BJP Muslim votes in support of Congress and AIUDF.

After serving as minister for three terms in the Tarun Gogoi government, Himanta Biswa Sarma had left Congress and joined BJP on 29th August 2015, months before the assembly elections in the state. Along with that, he had also brought several Congress leaders loyal to him to the BJP, strengthening the party considerably, and it had resulted in BJP winning the elections in alliance with AGP and BPF.

In the assembly elections, Himanta Biswa Sarma had won from Jalukbari constituency by getting 77% votes out of the total votes polled. He had defeated the Congress candidate by over 1 lakh votes, despite campaigning for himself in the constituency only on the last day of the campaigning.

China’s ‘out-of-control’ rocket debris disintegrates over the Indian Ocean, lands near the Maldives

OpIndia Staff
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China’s ‘out-of-control’ rocket debris disintegrates over the Indian Ocean, lands near the Maldives

On May 9, the debris of China’s largest rocket codenamed ‘Long March’ re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It disintegrated over the Indian Ocean. Based on the provided coordinated point of impact by China Central Television (CCTV), a state-sponsored media network, the segments of the rocket now lies west of the Maldives archipelago.

Space-Track, a space monitoring agency that relies on data provided by the US military, also confirmed the fact that the rocket had fallen in the ocean. The agency wrote, “Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down. You can see all relevant information and updates here on Twitter/Facebook, so there is no need to keep visiting the space-track dot org website.”

There were speculations that the rocket may fall on a populated area causing severe damage. However, experts had said a majority of the earth surface is covered with water, the maximum possibility was that the rocket would fall into an ocean. A major chunk of the rocket was destroyed on re-entry into the atmosphere.

AFP cited CCTV and said, “After monitoring and analysis, at 10:24 (0224 GMT) on May 9, 2021, the last-stage wreckage of the Long March 5B Yao-2 launch vehicle has re-entered the atmosphere, and the landing area is at 72.47° east longitude and 2.65° north latitude.”

China’s uncontrolled rocket was a big headache for the world

As per reports, it was a 21-ton part of the rocket that was tumbling towards Earth uncontrollably. The fears surrounding the rocket that it could crash on an inhabited land were not totally unfounded. If the rocket debris had landed over an inhabited area, it would have similar to a small plane crash.

Notably, the rocket which is uncontrollably falling back to Earth is the same space module whose launch was gloated upon by a Chinese Communist Party body to mock India’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Last week, the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, on its official Sina Weibo account, posted photos of the Tianhe module launch and its fuel burn-off with what appeared to be a picture of a cremation ground in India and captioned “China lighting a fire versus India lighting a fire”. The post also included a hashtag denoting the new COVID-19 cases in India, which touched the 4 lakh mark on Saturday last week.

Afghanistan: Three bomb blasts near a girls’ school in Kabul’s Shia neighbourhood leaves 58 dead

OpIndia Staff
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Afghanistan: Three bomb blasts near a girls’ school in Kabul’s Shia neighbourhood leaves 58 dead

On Saturday (May 9) afternoon, multiple blasts took place outside a girl’s school in Kabul in Afghanistan, killing over 58 people and wounding around 150 victims.

As per reports, the terror began with a car bomb explosion outside the premises of Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School, followed by two rocket attacks. While speaking about the matter, the Interior Ministry of Afghanistan said that there were a total of 3 explosions, including a car bomb attack and 2 IED blasts. The incident took place when the students were leaving home from school.

Ibrahim, a teacher at the Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School informed that the majority of the victims of the terror attack were young girls. Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Ayan has expressed fears that the death toll might increase in the terror attack. As of now, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack. Reportedly, the attack took place in the Shia Muslim-dominated area of Dasht-e-Barchi, which was earlier been targetted by radical extremist outfit ISIS.

Afghan President condemns terror attack, blames Taliban

The incident was also condemned by the diplomatic mission in Kabul and the Afghanistan government. On Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the terror attack on the Taliban extremists in Afghanistan. However, the radical Islamist group has instead ‘condemnded’ the attack on civilians in the country. Reportedly, the family members of the victims have pinned the blame on the Afghan government and Western powers.

Family members of victims queue up outside morgues and hospitals

It was found that family members of the deceased were still collecting the dead bodies from the morgue while others have gathered outside the hospital in search of missing victims. One Mohammed Reza Ali, who had been helping the victims’ families remarked, “The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the attack…Why not just kill all of us to put an end to this war?”

Himanta Biswa Sarma favourite to become new Chief Minister of Assam, could take oath on 10th May

OpIndia Staff
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Himanta Biswa Sarma favourite to become new Chief Minister of Assam, could take oath on 10th May

Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma is the frontrunner in the race to be the next Chief Minister of Assam, according to reports in the media. It is believed the outgoing Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal may be brought to Delhi eventually.

The Legislative Party of the BJP in Assam will meet on Sunday to decide the next Chief Minister of the state. According to The Shillong Times, Sarma’s name will be proposed for the position of Chief Minister of Assam.

Himanta Biswa Sarma and Sarbananda Sonowal reached Delhi on Saturday and met Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda and party general secretary BL Santhosh and Nadda’s residence. The duo later reached Guwahati late night on Saturday after the meetings.

In the state assembly poll results declared on May 2, 2021, BJP had won 60 out of 126 seats in Assam while its alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) won nine and six seats respectively.

Sarma, a former Congress leader, joined the BJP in 2015, a year after the general elections. He could take oath as Chief Minister on Monday, 10th May.

Uttar Pradesh: Ghazipur DM relieves two doctors of district hospital from duty for allegedly denying admission and misbehaving with patients

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Ghazipur DM relieves two doctors of district hospital from duty for allegedly denying admission and misbehaving with patients

Along with increasing the medical oxygen availability in the state, Uttar Pradesh state government is also dealing with black marketing which is causing an artificial rise in demand. With the government trying to bridge the demand and supply gap, two doctors of Ghazipur district hospital allegedly refused to admit patients with oxygen levels below the regular mark citing lack of oxygen and also misbehaved with the kins.

In an audio leak that has gone viral on social media, the District Magistrate Mangala Prasad called the hospital upon receiving complaints of misbehavior and refusal to admission. 

The DM in the call can be heard interrogating the doctor on refusal to admit COVID-positive patients. When asked why was the patient not admitted, the doctor informed that the hospital has been facing a shortage of oxygen supply.

To this, the DM slammed the doctor asking why was a demand not made for additional oxygen cylinders and questioned on the shortage. Saying the administration has been counting every single oxygen cylinder being assigned to mitigate the shortage, the hospital should not be facing any shortage. 

The doctor who claimed he just resumed his shift, hustled to check with the emergency ward only to confirm that the hospital in fact is not facing any shortage of medical oxygen supply.

However, Dr. Raghunandan and Dr. Brijesh Rai, both of whom were posted in the emergency ward have been relieved from their duty after regular warnings to not misbehave with the patients and refrain from fear-mongering.

Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh logged over 26,000 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, however, the number of new corona cases is steadily declining in the state. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday informed that despite being the most populous state of the country, the state has fought corona effectively.

“It was predicted that UP will see one lakh positive cases per day from May 5 but as on May 8 we reported 26,000 cases. It means our COVID strategy and management is successful. From April 30 we’re seeing decline in cases and we also started special screening, testing in villages,” he added. 

Pakistan: Minor Hindu girl made to recite Kalma while getting raped, rapist ‘demand custody’ as she can’t return to ‘kafir parents’

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Minor Hindu girl made to recite Kalma while getting raped, rapist ‘demand custody’ as she can’t return to ‘kafir parents’

In yet another case of religious persecution, a minor Pakistani Hindu girl was gang-raped for over 4 days and forcibly converted to Islam.

On Wednesday (May 5), a Pakistani Hindu rights activist Rahat Austin shared the ordeal faced by the victim on Twitter. As per Austin, she was gang-raped constantly over four days by one Muhammad Tanveer and his aides in Goth Ghulam Muhammad in Karachi in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

In a video shared by the rights activist, the accused could be heard demanding the custody of the victim. “She recited Kalma (Islamic oath of allegiance) during rape, she’s Muslim now. She can’t live with infidels (Kuffars). She must be handed over to us,” they demanded. Unfortunately, the victim had to re-live her horror as she was confronted by her perpetrators in the presence of her family members.

Forced conversion of a minor Hindu girl in Sindh

This is not the first time that such a case of religious persecution of minority Hindus by Pakistani Muslims had come to light. Last month, a 13-year-old Hindu girl from Kandhkot area of Sindh was reportedly abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam. A video of the incident, which had gone viral on social media, was shared by Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat on Twitter.

In the video, the minor girl could be seen sitting on the ground with a mob surrounding her and recording the video of the conversion ceremony. According to Inayat, the conversion ceremony was facilitated by notorious cleric Mian Mithoo of the Bharchundi mosque. Reportedly, Mithoo is a hardline cleric and politician and is notorious for systematically carried out kidnappings and forced conversions of poor Hindu girls.

‘Dominance of one religious group cannot prevent religious celebrations of other’, says Madras HC after local Muslims object to Hindu procession

OpIndia Staff
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‘Dominance of one religious group cannot prevent religious celebrations of other’, says Madras HC after local Muslims object to Hindu procession

A petition was filed before the Madras High Court pertaining to the conduct of temple processions through a Muslim-dominated locality at V Kalathur in the district of Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, reported news agency PTI.

Reportedly, some local Muslims in the area have been objecting to the conduct of Hindu processions since 2012. The community had dubbed the Hindu festivals as ‘sins’. The petitioner had therefore approached the police for providing protection during the conduct of rituals and processions. The same was provided by the law ernforcement authorities with restrictions.

When the matter came up for hearing before the Madras High Court, a 2-Judge Bench of N Kirubakarn and P Velmurugan noted that religious intolerance is detrimental to the secular fabric of the country. The Court noted that if such a ‘resistance’ to the conduct of religious festivals is reciprocated by another religious group, it might lead to riots and chaos.

While reading out the affidavit presented by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the Madras High Court observed that objection to temple processions was raised from 2012 onwards. The Judges observed how no such problem existed prior to 2012. The Court pointed out how objections were raised by the Muslim community despite the Court granting permission to the Hindus to carry out temple processions (in accordance with Section 180A of the District Municipalities Act 1920).

Observations made by Madras High Court

The Madras High Court remarked, “Merely because one religious group is dominating in a particular locality, it cannot be a ground to prohibit from celebrating religious festivals or taking processions of other religious groups through those roads…If religious intolerance is going to be allowed, it is not good for a secular country. Intolerance in any form by any religious group has to be curtailed and prohibited.”

“In this case, intolerance of a particular religious group is exhibited by objecting for the festivals which have been conducted for decades together and the procession through the streets and roads of the village are sought to be prohibited, stating that the area is dominated by Muslims and therefore, there cannot be any Hindu festival or procession through the locality,” the court further added.

The Judges reiterated that the dominance of one religious group in a locality cannot be a reason to curtail religious processions of another religious group through the locality. The Court argued that if such a rationale is accepted, then, minority communities would not be able to celebrate their festivals in most parts of India. The Madras High court concluded that similar acts of ‘resistance’ by other religious groups would result in loss of lives, destruction of properties, riots, religious fights and chaos.

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