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‘You are a Dalal and a part of Godi Media’: Protestors confront Rajdeep Sardesai

OpIndia Staff
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‘You are a Dalal and a part of Godi Media’: Protestors confront Rajdeep Sardesai

‘Journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai, who is currently in the dock for attempting to incite violence on the streets by peddling blatant fake news about the death of a rioter in Delhi during the Republic Day tractor rally, had to face a massive embarrassment after protestors confronted him and referred to him as a ‘Dalal’ or a broker and accused him of being a part of the ‘Godi media’.

As seen in a recent undated video going viral on social media, TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai is seen in a heated argument with some farmer protestors, reportedly gathered in Delhi. We cannot confirm the date and time of the video.

Rajdeep Sardesai had to face massive humiliation after the protestors started heckling and abusing him. A video has gone viral on the social media platforms, in which one can see how protestors heckled Rajdeep Sardesai and called him ‘Dalal’.

Ironically, the protestors also accused Rajdeep Sardesai of being part of the ‘Godi media’ network.

The term ‘Godi Media’ is widely used by pro-Congress media persons, left-wing trolls and opposition leaders against journalists and media houses who do not toe the Congress line.

Here is the video where Rajdeep Sardesai was left red-faced by the protestors, who shouted to him saying, “Ye Dalal hai. Ye Godi Media hai(he is a broker, he is Godi media)”.

Heckled by the protestors, Rajdeep Sardesai was seen responding to the crowd saying, “Do not tell me, my face is my mirror. I have no problem…I am a journalist”.

Rajdeep Sardesai taken-off air for spreading fake news?

As per reports, India Today has decided to take Rajdeep Sardesai off the air for two weeks after peddling fake news about a rioter’s death during the tractor rally, as per reports.

Many portals have reported that India Today has taken the step to penalise the senior journalist after he violated the media house’s social media policies several times. The media house is also reportedly cutting his salary for one month.

On January 26, Rajdeep Sardesai had deliberately lied not once but twice about the death of a rioter Navneet Singh. Sardesai had claimed that Navneet Singh, a farmer, had been killed in police firing. Sardesai made the claims both on Twitter and on air. He asserted that Singh has been shot in the head. Despite his blatant lie without any evidence, he even went ahead to garnish it, claiming that the protestors are now angry due to the police’ brutal act (of shooting a protestor on the head), and the protests may now turn violent.

Contrary to the false claims made by Rajdeep Sardesai, the post-mortem report in the case has confirmed that the man died due to the accident he had faced in his tractor. According to the post mortem details, the rioter died during the tractor rally succumbing to the antemortem injuries he received after his tractor turned turtle. CCTV videos of the incidents were also released by the police where it was clearly visible that Singh was crushed under his own tractor when it turned turtle after trying to hit a barricade at high speed.

In the video of the incident, it was seen that Navdeep was rushing towards the barricades at high speed, and the vehicle flipped. He had got buried under the vehicle, and when police officers tried to rescue him, other protesters had allegedly prevented them for rescuing him. The protestor died on the spot after suffering critical injuries.

‘We have no other money’, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy offer their NDTV shares as security in lieu of deposit against SEBI penalty

OpIndia Staff
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‘We have no other money’, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy offer their NDTV shares as security in lieu of deposit against SEBI penalty

After NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy were ordered to pay penalty by Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) for wrongful gains they made in insider trading, they have offered their shares in NDTV as security for the penalty. Roys submitted the offer at the Supreme Court on Thursday, after which the apex court ordered a valuation of the shares. On January 11, SAT had asked them to deposit 50% of the unfair gain amount with SEBI in four weeks, after they had appealed against a SEBI order in the issue.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that the petitioners are offering the shares as they have no other money. He also termed the SEBI order “hopelessly barred by time”, as the transaction has taken place in 2007 while the notice for the same was issued in 2018. When the court asked how much security they are willing to give, the advocate replied, “I can give an undertaking that I will not transfer any portion of my shareholding in NDTV without the permission of the tribunal. I have no other money. I have no other resources. This security, in terms of my shares and their value on the stock exchange, is much more than the amount of money in question, more than 15 crores.”

He also said that it is a matter of 10 days, as the matter is expected to be heard by SAT on February 11. The CJI said that the court understands the problem, but without depositing some security, the SAT will not hear the matter.

When the supreme court asked the value of the shares being offered as security, the advocate of the petitioners said it was more than the entire penalty amount, more than Rs 15 crore. But the court wanted definite figures and not vague estimates. On this, Rohatgi’s instructing counsel, Advocate Fereshte Sethna informed the court that there are around 50 lakh shares which were trading at Rs.37 this morning on the stock exchange, which comes to around Rs 18 crore in total valuation.

Rohatgi also termed NDTV as a “struggling channel”, claiming that the channel is hit very badly.

The bench recorded the submission of advocate Mukul Rohatgi that he has undertaken to submit a statement of the shares along with their value to the court, which the petitioners have agreed to offer as security in lieu of the deposit amount ordered by the Tribunal.

NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife, Radhika Roy had filed an appeal with SAT against a SEBI order passed in November, barring the couple from trading in the securities market for two years, and directing them to return the illegal gain of Rs 16.97 crore they had made from the insider trading more than 12 years ago.

According to an investigation conducted by SEBI, the two had violated the Prohibition of Insider Trading (PIT) Regulations. They are accused of possessing Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) during 2007-2008 relating to discussion on reorganization of New Delhi Television Ltd.

Besides the duo, India’s capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has also found the media network’s CEO Vikramaditya Chandra, senior advisor Ishwari Prasad Bajpai, group CFO Saurav Banerjee guilty of making undue gain from insider trading.

Canadian MPs urge PM Justin Trudeau to officially condemn China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims

OpIndia Staff
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Canadian MPs urge PM Justin Trudeau to officially condemn China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims

Canadian MPs have been demanding that Justin Trudeau led Canadian government takes a formal stand against the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China. On Wednesday, International Day in Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, they stepped up their efforts and urged that independent investigation needs to be carried out.

Canadian MP Garnett Genuis said that Canada must recognise and respond to this genocide. “Independent investigations have already been conducted. There are survivor testimony, satellite imagery and leaked Chinese government data. The evidence is clear. The investigations have been done. The victims have testified. The government should believe them. Why is the Prime Minister still sitting on the fence and refusing to answer question and recognise this genocide,” he said while addressing the House of Commons via video link.

Responding to this, Prime Minister Trudeau said that his government takes the allegations of genocide extremely seriously. He claimed that the Canadian government is “following the right processes to establish our point of view and our official position on this subject.”

In October 2020, the Canadian House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights concluded that genocide existed.“In light of the testimonies it gathered during its hearings in 2018 and 2020, the subcommittee is convinced that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party constitute genocide under the terms of the Genocide Convention,” the report read.

Apparently, this observation ‘provoked’ Beijing. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian and dismissed these observations as ‘baseless’ and ‘full of lies and misinformation’ and claimed it was ignorance and prejudice of Canadians.

Earlier this month, the outgoing Trump administration in the United State of America declared the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in China as ‘genocide’. Condemning mass repression, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of imprisoning, torturing and carrying out forced sterilisation against Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group.

Earlier, the US Department of State had estimated that up to two million Uyghurs as well as members of other Muslim minority community have been detained across intermittent camps in the region. A report by CNN states that camp detainees face food and sleep deprivation and forced injections. Further, some Uyghur women were forced to use birth control and undergo forced sterilisation as a part of deliberate attempt to bring down population of the minority.

China, however, has denied the atrocities and human rights abuse. It claims that these steps are important to curb religious extremism and terrorism in an area which is home to about 11 million Uyghurs.

Video from Punjab: Tractor runs over farm law protestors, kills 2, injures 3 others

OpIndia Staff
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Video from Punjab: Tractor runs over farm law protestors, kills 2, injures 3 others

In a shocking incident, two protesting women died on the spot and three others were seriously injured after a tractor participating in the tractor rally during farmer protests ran over a group of women in Amritsar.

According to the reports, a group of farmers had organized a tractor rally in Vallah in Amritsar, Punjab on Republic Day to protest against the three farm laws passed by the Modi government. As the protesting farmers took out a rally, one of the tractors participating in the protests lost its control and mowed down the women protestors present at the spot.

According to an eye witness, a water tanker ran over a group of women who were on their way to join the sit-in supporting the farmers’ interests after paying obeisance in Gurudwara.

“A group of 50-60 women were going to the protest site near the Attari-Berka bypass in Valla in solidarity with the farmers’ protests when a water tanker ran over them. The villagers captured the driver and called the police to the accident site,” said the eye-witness.

The video of the incident has gone viral on the internet. In the shocking video, it can be seen how the tractor driver ran over the women protestors. He did not stop the tractor even as it trampled down the women protestors, who fought to save their lives.

Tractor driver did not know how to drive, no license too

According to the police, the protestor who ran over the women did not know how to drive a tractor. The driver did not have any license to drive the tractor but participated in protests, the police added.

He added that the protestors were going to join the sit-in being held supporting the farmers’ protests. “A water tanker hit five women as part of a larger group going to join the sit-in in support of farmers’ protests, two of whom died and three got seriously wounded. The villagers nabbed the driver and called the police. We have started the investigation and taken the driver into custody,” said Kumar.

The crowd present at the spot soon nabbed the driver and thrashed him. The police later filed a case and took the driver into their custody. The injured have been admitted to the Guru Ramdas Hospital.

Reportedly, the tractor parade was announced by the farmer’s organizations on 26 January. The Gurudwara near the village had given a call asking the villagers to join the protest march. Many women had also participated in the rally with hundreds of tractor trolleys joined them near the Attari-Verka bypass on Tuesday afternoon.

The driver has been identified as Makkhan Windy, a resident of Sukh Putra Gulzar Singh, who worked as a Raj Mistry.

Rajdeep Sardesai facing heat for peddling lies? Reports claim he is taken ‘off air’ by India Today, faces salary cut

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep Sardesai facing heat for peddling lies? Reports claim he is taken ‘off air’ by India Today, faces salary cut

Controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has been reportedly taken off air temporarily by India Today after he was caught spread news during the tractor rally on Republic Day in Delhi. The media house is also cutting his salary for one month. According to reports, India Today has taken the unprecedented step to penalise the senior journalist violated social media policies of the media house several times.

On January 26, when the riot by the protesting ‘farmers’ was at its peak in Delhi, Rajdeep Sardesai had reported that one farmer was shot dead by Delhi police. He had tweeted, “one person, 45-year-old Navneet killed allegedly in police firing at ITO.” In a bid to pump up emotions, he had added, “Farmers tell me: the ‘sacrifice’ will not go in vain.” He had also tweeted a picture of the deceased’s body covered in the Indian tricolour.

This was blatantly fake news, as the person had died after the tractor he was driving had overturned. His own channel was reporting this fact, along with other media houses. After it was pointed out to him on Twitter, he had deleted the tweet. But it didn’t stop him from spreading the fake news, as when he went live on India Today, he repeated the lie and said that the farmer was shot in the head by police.  He claimed that Navneet Singh was driving the tractor and he was “shot in the head” and suffered a bullet injury that resulted in his death.

Subsequently, video of the incident had appeared which showed that Navneet Singh’s tractor had turned turtle after he tried a stunt on the road. Moreover, it also became known that after accident, the police had tried to rescue him, but the protesting farmers at the spot prevented them from doing so, causing the death of the person.

This had caused a huge backlash against Sardesai on social media, with netizens demanding that India Today should take action against him. Now, if reports are to be believed, it seems the channel has finally decided to not shield the serial fake news peddler anymore, and he has been taken off air for two weeks. According to reports, the channel has also decided cut one month’s salary for the anchor. The media house has cited his fake news on the issue, and the facts that have emerged while taking this action.

Over a year ago, Rajdeep Sardesai had issued an unconditional apology to an IPS officer for spreading fake news in relation to the Sohrabuddin encounter case in 2007. He had done so after IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi had filed a case against him.

Watch: Tractor rally rioters had urinated on the walls of Red Fort on Republic Day

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Tractor rally rioters had urinated on the walls of Red Fort on Republic Day

On Republic Day, violent rioters claiming to be ‘farmers’ had stormed into the Red Fort, assaulted policemen, and vandalized the monument. The rioters who unleashed mayhem on the streets of the national capital and carried out the insurrection against the state by denigrating the national flag have also been caught urinating on the walls of the national monument.

In a shocking act, the rioters who had climbed the Red Fort to hoist alleged Khalistan flag by throwing away the tricolour desecrated the premises by urinating on the monument.

The video of the act has now gone viral on the internet. According to a video tweeted by social media user ‘Befitting Facts’, a group of rioters was seen urinating on the walls of Red Fort.

In the video, it can also be seen how other rioters cheered the culprits to do the vile act. One of the protestors can be heard be asking a fellow rioter to urinate in the ‘mouth of Prime Minister Modi’.

“We will urinate in Modi’s mouth,” a rioter can be heard in the video.

Protesters resort to violence, vandalism, and destruction amidst tractor rally

Thousands of farmers breached barricades and proceeded towards Delhi amid huge police presence as they kicked off their tractor rally on Republic Day. Chaos was unleashed on the streets leading to the national capital as farmers flouted the designated route and marched towards the Parliament and Red Fort.

The participants of the tractor rally also resorted to vandalism as they ran amok on the highways, attacking the trucks and breaking the barricades that were put up by the Delhi police to control their route. The protestors were seen trying to run their tractors over police personnel. In another video, the mob was seen beating and pushing police personnel off a high rise wall in the Red Fort. Hundreds of police personnel have received injuries in the incident.

The upheaval was primarily caused after the protesters who were allowed to hold the “Kisaan Parade” between 12 to 5 PM, started the march much before the allotted time and veered away from the agreed-upon routes. The security personnel had tried in vain to convince the farmers to stick to the plan of holding the tractor parade after the conclusion of the Republic Day parade at Rajpath. But, their requests fell on deaf ears as the protesters ran riot, breaking barricades and vandalising vehicles on their way.

Sexual Assault Vs harassment: Bombay HC Judge who gave ‘skin-to-skin contact’ judgement refuses to charge accused under POCSO

OpIndia Staff
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Sexual Assault Vs harassment: Bombay HC Judge who gave ‘skin-to-skin contact’ judgement refuses to charge accused under POCSO

In yet another controversial ruling, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday held that ‘the act of holding a girl’s hands and opening the zip of pants will not come under the definition of sexual assault’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012.

According to the reports, a single judge bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala ruled that the sexual assault instead comes under the ambit of ‘sexual harassment’ under Section 354-A (1) (i) of the Indian Penal Code.

Hearing a criminal appeal against the conviction and sentence awarded to a 50-year-old man for molesting a five-year-old girl, Justice Ganediwala observed that the case comes under the gambit of ‘sexual harassment’ and not ‘sexual assault’.

“The offense of sexual harassment under Section 354A (1) (i), which deals with physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, is attracted in the case,” the bench said.

Reportedly, the police had registered a case based on the complaint lodged by the victim’s mother, who had alleged that the accused had held her daughter’s hands with his pant zip opened. She had also testified that her daughter informed her that the accused removed his penis from the pant and asked her to come to the bed for sleeping.

The accused was sentenced to five years of imprisonment and Rs 25,000 fine for the charges of ‘aggravated sexual assault’ under section 10 of POCSO Act by a sessions court. He had then appealed in the HC against the lower court verdict.

Act does not fall under the POCSO act, says Bombay HC

Justice Ganediwala, hearing the case, observed that the definition of “sexual assault” under Section 7 of the POCSO says, “Sexual assault – Whoever, with sexual intent touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of the child or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person or any other person, or does any other Act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration is said to commit sexual assault”.

Further, the Court observed that according to the definition of ‘sexual assault’, a ‘physical contact with sexual intent without penetration’ is an essential part of the offence.

Since no actual touching of the private parts of the body happened in the case, the court wondered if the act will come under the ambit of the third part of the definition: “any other Act with sexual intent which involves physical contact without penetration”, as per the report by Live Law.

Groping a minor’s breast without ‘skin contact’ not sexual assault: Bombay High Court

Just a few days back, the Nagpur Bench led by Justice Pushpa Ganediwala had ruled that groping without skin-to-skin contact is not sexual assault. The Nagpur Bench of the Court had said that the act involving a minor would not amount to sexual assault if the accused did not remove the top of the minor or slide his hands under her garment.

In her order Justice Pushpa Ganediwala had ruled, “Evidently, it is not the case of the prosecution that the appellant removed her top and pressed her breast. The punishment provided for offence of ‘sexual assault’ is imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than three years but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine. Considering the stringent nature of punishment provided for the offence, in the opinion of this Court, stricter proof and serious allegations are required.”

“The act of pressing the breast of a child aged 12 years, in the absence of any specific detail as to whether the top was removed or whether he inserted his hand inside her top and pressed her breast, would not fall under the definition of ‘sexual assault’,” Justice Ganediwala observed, before acquitting the accused who was found guilty of assault under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

Following the Bombay HC order to acquit the accused, the Supreme Court stayed the controversial Bombay High Court verdict on Wednesday. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A Bobde took cognisance instantaneously after Attorney General K.K. Venugopal made a special mention in court, saying the High Court decision would set a ‘very dangerous precedent’ and cripple the intention of POCSO to punish sexual offenders.

From hailing Deep Sidhu to breaking Mahatma Gandhi statue: How Khalistanis in California celebrated Republic Day riots

OpIndia Staff
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From hailing Deep Sidhu to breaking Mahatma Gandhi statue: How Khalistanis in California celebrated Republic Day riots

Khalistanis in California, distributed sweets toe celebrate the hoisting of the Nishan Sahib, the holy symbol of the Sikhs, by the rioting mob on the Red Fort on Republic Day.

The video was shared by California Sikh Youth Alliance on Twitter. They also broke the statue of Mahatma Gandhi placed in Davis, California.

Gandhi statue broken by Khalistanis in California

The pro-Khalistan organisation also came out in support of actor-turned-farmer activist Deep Sidhu.

It claimed that Sidhu was getting more popular than the ‘farmer’ leaders and hence are trying to make him a scapegoat.

California Khalistanis hailing Deep Sidhu

In another tweet, the Khalistanis proclaimed that the Sikh warriors will take over the (parliament) in Delhi

Khalistanis’ tweet threatening Sikh warriors will take over Indian Parliament

Earlier this week, Twitter has blocked over 500 accounts for instigating violence on Republic Day in India. Many of these accounts were from Pakistan and many were using the platform to create confusion over the Tractor Rally.

Khalistanis organising tractor rally in California

Prior to this, The CSYA had also organised a ‘tractor rally’ in Sacramento, California in solidarity with protestors in India.

On Republic Day, the protesting ‘farmers’ ran a riot in Delhi after they breached the barricades and entered Delhi ahead of scheduled time. They deliberately tried to run over the Delhi Police in a bid to kill the officials and also attacked them with swords. The rioting mob then reached Red Fort, few kms away from where official Republic Day parade was held, and desecrated the Red Fort. They unfurled the Nishan Sahib flag where the Tricolour would be hoisted on Independence Day.

Multiple FIRs have been lodged and notices issued to ‘farmer’ leaders including Rakesh Tikait and Yogendra Yadav.

David beats Goliath: Retail investors cause hedge funds to lose billions of dollars for trying to short-sell Gamestop stock

OpIndia Staff
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David beats Goliath: Retail investors cause hedge funds to lose billions of dollars for trying to short-sell Gamestop stock

The skyrocketing of the stock price of GameStop, a video game retailer, has been a taking point in Wall Street. The retail investors, fuelled by social media rumours, have taken up the gaming seller’s share price to the top, leaving hedge fund managers and big investors in a bit of a fix.

According to the reports, GameStop surged 50 per cent in extended trade session after Elon Musk took to Twitter to tweet, “Gamestonk!!” and also posted a link to Reddit’s stock trading discussion group, where social media users refer to him as “Papa Musk.”

Apparently, “Stonks” is a tongue-in-cheek term for stocks widely used on social media.

The stock price of ‘Gamestop’ reportedly rose nearly 8,000 per cent over six months. The stock has now become the point of a financial power struggle between a major hedge fund, Melvin Capital, and a group of retail stock traders. The sudden rise in the share price has left hedge funds in a tough position, forcing them to buy GameStop shares to cover their position and driving the price still higher.

What really happened

The Gamestop stock was targeted by a group of retail investors, who are members of a reddit group that targets hedge funds doing short selling. When the share price goes up, those who taking short position in that stock loses money. In short selling, traders make money when the stock price goes down. Here is how it works: the investor borrows the share from a broker, against a small fee, and sells the share in the current market price. Later when the share price goes down, the investor buys the share again, and returns in to the broker. Now since the share was bought at a lesser price then the initial selling price, the difference between the both is the profit made by the investor.

Lets see it with an example, say share ABC is trading at Rs100, and an investment firm believes the price will go down. So it borrows a share from a broker, and sells in the market, getting Rs 100 as the price. But the firm has to return the share to the broker, as it was borrowed. Now later, if the prediction is correct and the price indeed goes down, to say Rs 80, it buys the share at that price, and returns the same to the broker, thereby making a gain of Rs 20.

If the opposite happens, the share price goes, the investor losses money. The investor can wait for it to come down, but it has to keep paying the borrowing fee for the stock. Moreover, a share price can keep going up infinitely, and the investor has to settle its position at some time. Most of the time they chose to buy the share at higher price to return, making a loss, to prevent higher loss if the price rises even more.

This is exactly what happened with the stock. Hedge funds that do short-selling take larges positions in shares hoping to make quick gain. When retail investors noted that such funds have taken short positions on the Gamestop stock, they started an online campaign to buy the share to drive its price, to ‘punish’ the hedge funds. Although initially, the stock price of the company had increased due to organic reason, after the company had added three new directors to its board, including Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen. Investors liked that a person with digital experience was joining the board, and the positive outlook caused the share to rise.

However, investors estimated that the company’s stock will go downwards, as the retail price is expected to remain sluggish in the following year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Citron Research placed a bet against GameStop calling it a “failing mall-based retailer”, and predicted its shares would fall to $20 because it is “pretty much in terminal decline”.

As a result, hedge funds took a short position on the stock, hoping to make money when the price tanks. However, retail investors, organised via Wallstreetbets, a trading subreddit, had other ideas, and they declared war on the short-sellers. Eventually, they were successful in driving the stock price up by large scale coordinated buying, with the share reaching around $350.

This caused panic among the short-sellers, who were forced to buy shares now to cover their position, as their losses continue to rise with the rising share price. This buying by the hedge funds have further caused the share price to increase.

Melvin Capital Management, on of the firms that stood to gain if the share price of Gamestop drops, took a huge loss to close its position in the stock. The company has lost around 30% of the $12.5 billion fund that it manages this year.

The organised effort got another boost after the Musk tweet, who hates short-sellers as they had tried bring Tesla shared down several times in the past. As the shares are used a collateral to raise funds, when a company’s share price goes down, its capability to raise fund is impacted, hampering its financial position.

Game stock price surge after retail investment surges

GameStop’s surged to a 93 per cent jump on Tuesday’s trading session alone. Experts believe that internet activity caused driving up Gamestop’s stock prices as retail investors are putting their money in such new stocks, who are otherwise locked out of lucrative opportunities such as initial public stock offerings by the big hedge fund investors.

Influential Bloomberg columnist Matt Levine said that “GameStop is just a game” and assessing its stock value is pointless as “it has all the prices at once.” Meanwhile, the GameStop boosters on Reddit are celebrating their victory over the Wall Street establishment. They pointed out the misery of the hedge fund managers while highlighting the irony of Wall Street majors getting beaten by a ‘pack of Reddit yahoos’.

The share spikes of the last few days have also questions about potential regulatory clampdowns from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gujarat: Rajpipla Prince Manvendra Sinh Gohil joins the BJP along with large number of transgenders

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Rajpipla Prince Manvendra Sinh Gohil joins the BJP along with large number of transgenders

Around 50 members from transgender community took the membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday in Vadodara along with the Prince of Rajpipla Manvendra Sinh Gohil. Prince Gohil is one of the first royals to have openly come out as gay. Vadodara BJP President Dr. Vijay Shah conferred the party membership the 50 transgenders. They will be included in the Page Committee of the party that interacts with voters at booth levels.

Prince Gohil praised the BJP for working for the transgender community

Acknowledging the work done by the BJP for the transgender community, Prince Gohil said that it was because of this that the transgenders were joining the party. He also highlighted that the Supreme Court decision decriminalising homosexuality was pronounced while the BJP was in power at the Centre. He credited the BJP for the passing of the Transgender Bill in the Parliament. Prince Gohil told that a shelter home was built for transgenders in Vadodara during the BJP government. Taking dig at the Congress party, Prince Gohil said that the transgenders got their rights under the BJP government and not under the rule of the Congress, therefore, they joined the BJP.

Transgenders’ issues would not be addressed unless they became part of the mainstream

Praising Dr. Shah, Prince Gohil said that he always showed enthusiasm in addressing the concerns of the transgender community whenever the community approached him. He even suggested that the party starts a transgender wing.

Gohil, who runs a trust named Lakshya for the LGBTQ community, said that transgenders had the right to fight elections and that political parties should give them tickets. “Our trust for the LGBTQ community-Lakshya-facilitated this membership drive within the community for the BJP. We have realised that unless we become part of the mainstream, the issues facing transgenders will not be recognised or addressed”, he said adding that the community hoped to see some transgender candidates being fielded in the upcoming civil body polls.

Polls for civic bodies of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar will be held on February 21. The counting of the votes will take place on February 23. On February 28, elections for 31 Zila Panchayats, 231 Tehsil Panchayats and 81 Nagarpalikas will be held followed by the counting of votes on March 2.

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