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After Khalistanis, left-wing terror groups extend their support to ‘farmer’ protests

OpIndia Staff
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After Khalistanis, left-wing terror groups extend their support to ‘farmer’ protests

After Khalistani supporters hijacked the ‘farmer’ protests to unleash massive violence on the streets of the national capital, the left-wing terrorists have now extended their support to the so-called ‘farmers’ protest.

According to the reports, the banned CPI (Maoist) has come forward to extend their support to the ongoing ‘farmer’ protest days after rioters disguised as ‘farmers’ carried out large scale violence in Delhi and stormed the Red Fort to desecrate the national flag on Republic Day.

Three different outfits of the Maoists have now issued a joint statement claiming that they are supporting ‘farmers’ and appealed to them to continue the protests outside the national capital to protest against the three farm laws passed by the Modi government.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a terrorist organization that is outlawed in the country, which aims to overthrow the government of India through peoples’ war.

Maoists blame the government for Republic Day riots

Abhay, the spokesperson of the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), claimed that the ‘farmers’ agitation in Delhi and across the country reminds the opposition to the Rowlatt Act of British India. He also claimed that the central government is showing its stubborn attitude towards the plea of farmers.

The outlawed organizations attempted to whitewash rioters’ crimes by claiming that the Republic Day tractor rally that culminated in large scale violence injuring more than 300 policemen as “peaceful”. The left-wing terror outfits held the union government responsible for the Republic Day riots.

Image Source: Ejaz Kaiser @KaiserEjaz

Ranita Hichami, head of Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghathan Dandakaranya and Vijay Markam of Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan also demanded withdrawal of the farms laws claiming that ‘laws would favour the corporate companies’.

Resorting to fearmongering, the Maoists claimed that not just the farmers but around 80 per cent of the country’s population would be affected by the three new agriculture laws.

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. As disorder swept over the city’s borders, protesters were baton-charged and tear-gassed by the policemen on duty.

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.

Prior approval now necessary for government-funded organisations wanting to host online international seminars

OpIndia Staff
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Prior approval now necessary for government-funded organisations wanting to host online international seminars

The central government has passed a new directive, making it mandatory for academicians, professors, scientists and doctors from public-funded universities and institutes to seek prior approval from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for hosting virtual international seminars that are centred around India’s ‘internal matters’. 

Revised guidelines for holding online seminars issued by Ministry of Education

Besides, the names of all participants in such seminars will have to be approved in advance by the government. According to the new directive, an administrative secretary’s approval will be necessary for government officials/scientists/doctors participating in virtual international conferences. 

The circular issued by the Ministry of Education, cites all events related to security of state, border, J&K issues, which are clearly related to India’s internal matters, or sensitive in nature and belonging to political, scientific, technical, commercial or personal fields with provisions of sharing data will need MEA’s permission. 

Revised guidelines for holding online seminars issued by Ministry of Education

The notification also asked the institutes to share link to the online event while seeking approval out after getting approval for the seminars. The guidelines asks organisations to share details by email at [email protected], adding that this also applies to webinars and programmes having foreign funding or sponsorship. 

It is pertinent to note that online seminars and conferences has lately been a propaganda instrument for anti-India forces, who participate in the online programmes with the express purpose of undermining India by peddling lies and falsehoods against the country and the government.

Govt advises against using platforms and apps “hostile to India”

The ministry’s circular, dated January 15, was grounded in an earlier directive issued by the MEA on 25 November 2020. It has also advised institutions against using platforms and applications controlled and owned by countries or organisations inimical to India.

Seeking permission to participate in online seminars akin to applying for conference visas

Traditionally, prior approval has been required by the Home Ministry or MEA for a small set of seminars and international conferences organised in India, particularly those which involve foreign participants coming to the country on conference visa. 

Events that see participation from guests from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China are watched over closely. 

The revised guidelines extend the rules to online seminars and conferences that don’t involve foreigners entering India physically. This is akin to creating a visa system for online participation of people belonging to other countries in seminars and conferences organised on digital platforms. 

Participation of state ministers and govt officials

The new guidelines also provide a provision for state government ministers and government officials, doctors, scientists of the rank of JS and above, who wish to take part in any online international conferences and seminars. For such officials, they need to first seek approval from the MEA for participating in such online events.

‘Liberals’ try to ‘scare’ Yogi govt with US pressure over American citizen Siddharth Varadarajan

Nirwa Mehta
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‘Liberals’ try to ‘scare’ Yogi govt with US pressure over American citizen Siddharth Varadarajan

Within hours after the Rampur administration warned The Wire Editor Siddharth Varadarajan for spreading fake news on the death of the rioter during Tractor Rally violence, ‘liberals’ activated their network and sent out feelers to the higher ups in Yogi government to urge them to desist from taking any action against Varadarajan.

OpIndia has learnt that the UP government officials were ‘warned’ that if action is taken against Varadarajan, the US government may get involved too since he is a US citizen. This, especially when most advisors in the Biden administration are leftists.

No sooner the FIR was registered against Varadarajan for fake news, the usual suspects were out of their burrows to cry foul.

Columnist with Wall Street Journal Sadanand Dhume called India a ‘fast becoming international joke’ for actually taking action against someone spreading fake news.

Conceited journalist Aatish Taseer, whose Pakistani father was killed for opposing blasphemy, tagged US Vice President Kamala Harris, nudging her to not be friends with India.

Last time also, ‘journalists’ who work for foreign media had gone to lengths had raised a storm in international publications when action was initiated against Varadarajan for wrongly attributing a quote to UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

Tunku Varadarajan, Siddharth Varadarajan’s brother, painted a dystopian picture through Wall Street Journal.

Others, too, had rallied behind Varadarajan.

And some more.

Varadarajan, in a bid to whitewash the deeds of Tablighi Jamaat, had wrongly attributed a fake quote to the UP CM. Despite warnings from the state government, Varadarajan neither deleted the false article and nor apologised for the same. The Founder-Editor of The Wire took quotes of an expelled mahant and misattributed them to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to whitewash the Tablighi Jamaat superspreaders.

The Wire and hit jobs against Yogi govt

The Yogi administration has also had enough of the hit jobs carried out by the propaganda website against Yogi Adityanath government. In July last year when the notorious gangster Vikas Dubey was killed during a police encounter, The Wire was spinning a completely different yarn. An article published in The Wire insinuated that Yogi Adityanath was ‘casteist’ because in his ‘encounter raj’, a ‘Brahmin’ gangster would never be encountered and killed.

The Wire’s article on Vikas Dubey

The Wire insinuated that most people encountered in the state have been low rung, petty criminals and that none of the most wanted criminals have ever been encountered in the state.

The Wire then takes their propaganda further.

Article by The Wire on Vikas Dubey

The Wire made very clear insinuations here:

  1. The Yogi Adityanath government had no intention of going after Vikas Dubey
  2. The Yogi Adityanath government went only after Muslims and Dalits
  3. The Yogi Adityanath government went after petty criminals, not the ones who were ‘connected’

The very basis of the article by The Wire article on Dubey was that the Yogi government goes only after Muslims and Dalits. However, if the Yogi government had no intention of nabbing Vikas Dubey, the initial raid itself would not have been set up.

Prior to Yogi government, under Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav’s rule, Vikas Dubey ran amuck with impunity and no coercive action against him. When a raid was conducted to nab Dubey, 8 policemen were brutally murdered by Dubey’s men. A manhunt was launched as a result of which, Dubey was nabbed in Madhya Pradesh. When UP Police was bringing him back to UP, he tried to escape and was shot in an encounter.

Further, there have been umpteen instances when The Wire employees have tried to peddle propaganda that could lead to law and order situations. Remember when The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani advised Muslims protesting against the CAA to appear inclusive ‘as part of strategy‘? This when the Citizenship Amendment Act does not affect Indian Muslims in any way. It only speeds up citizenship process for non-Muslims from three neighbouring Islamic countries who have taken refuge in India because of religious persecution.

Sharjeel Imam, the Shaheen Bagh mastermind, too is a columnist at The Wire. He is currently in jail on sedition charges.

What Yogi govt says

However, any of these ‘soft warnings’ had no effect on the Yogi administration and the police was directed to act accordingly and an FIR was duly filed late on Saturday.

“If the legal requirements need us to arrest, we will arrest him (Siddharth Varadarajan). Yogi govt doesn’t work for Biden but for Indian people. US citizens can go back to their country if they don’t want to follow laws of India,” an official in the CMO told OpIndia, though he said he was not aware of any pressure tactics applied by the ‘liberals’ and activists.

From cheering censorship to ranting against govt action on fake news: Here’s why liberals cannot complain about Twitter accounts being withheld

K Bhattacharjee
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From cheering censorship to ranting against govt action on fake news: Here’s why liberals cannot complain about Twitter accounts being withheld

Around 250 tweets and Twitter accounts were withheld in India after the intervention of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) on Monday. The action was taken after the users trended the #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag and made fake, intimidating and provocative tweets on Saturday.

As expected, there is great outrage among liberals concerning the decision.

The outrage is quite ironic given the outburst of celebrations that were recently observed on social media following the suspension of the social media accounts of former US President Donald Trump. An ordinary person would expect some semblance of objectivity here but that, unfortunately, is nowhere to be found.

Twitter had banned Donald Trump from its platform not because he incited violence as liberals like to claim. He was actually suspended because Twitter assessed that his tweets could be interpreted by his followers as incitement to violence. There is great difference between the two.

Fast forward to the current situation. There were massive riots on Republic Day, the Red Fort was held at siege. And on Saturday, the accounts which were withheld in India trended the hashtag that claimed that the Indian government was planning a ‘farmer genocide’ in the country.

It is fearmongering of the most atrocious kind that could have devastating consequences and lead to violence. How on earth, then, can liberals claim that such accounts should not have been suspended? Regardless of what they may claim, the only reason they oppose the suspension of such accounts is because they agree with their politics.

Let alone Donald Trump, multiple non-left accounts have been suspended in India for airing contrarian points of view. And liberals cheered for the censorship because they disagreed with the politics advocated by such accounts. Prominent non-left Twitter accounts have also been suspended because they implored the police to enforce law and order and crack down on rioting mobs.

And here, liberals want such Twitter accounts to go unpunished despite pushing a dangerous narrative that has the potential to unleash unparalleled violence at the Delhi border. Indian liberals have continuously advocated that fake news should be punished, legally as well as action by Twitter India.

By any metric, the claim that the Modi Government was planning a ‘farmer genocide’ is as much of a fake news as it gets. It is a million times worse than QAnon or the conspiracy theories peddled by Alex Jones. The Infowars founder was deplatformed by social media giants for much less than that. And liberals have continuously cheered for Big Tech censorship.

In the current scenario, the government has decided to act because it has perceived that such provocative tweets by these accounts could lead to major law and order problems in the country. Consequently, they communicated to Twitter that they must be withheld in India.

Thus, quite clearly, Indian liberals appear to be perfectly comfortable with faceless Silicon Valley employees censoring accounts on the internet. However, they have a problem with the democratically elected government of India taking appropriate measures to maintain law and order.

The current situation is not about freedom of expression at all. Even in the United States of America, the First Amendment does not empower citizens to scream fire in a crowded theater. Similarly, claiming that Narendra Modi was planning a ‘farmer genocide’ in the country days after ‘farmer protesters’ stormed the national capital does not fall within the parameters of freedom of speech.

Liberals will attempt to justify just about anything and it is something that we have come to expect from them. An FIR was registered against Rajdeep Sardesai and The Caravan journalists among others for spreading fake news to incite riots. Liberals somehow managed to turn it into a press freedom issue.

Mandeep Punia, a journalist associated with The Caravan, was detained at Singhu Border for misbehaving with the Police. Liberals turned that into a press freedom issue as well. Quite clearly, they appear to labour under the delusion that people who agree with their politics could never do anything wrong and any legal action against them must be because the ‘evil government’ wants to ‘oppress’ them.

Nevertheless, it is quite hilarious indeed to watch people who justified censorship by tech giants and celebrated it suddenly cry oppression when accounts are being withheld, not even suspended, for tweeting dangerous nonsense that could have catastrophic real life consequences.

Palestinian medical personnel to get 5,000 Covid-19 vaccines doses from Israel

OpIndia Staff
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Palestinian medical personnel to get 5,000 Covid-19 vaccines doses from Israel

Israel’s defense ministry has announced that they will send nearly 5,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the Palestinian authority. There are reports that several international governments and organizations had urged the Israeli government to provide Covid-19 vaccination to Palestinians. King Abdullah of Jordan and the United Nations had urged Israel to give vaccines to the 2.8 million Palestinians in the West Bank and two million in Gaza.

Jerusalem Post reported that Israel would start transferring Covid-19 vaccines to the Palestinian Authority on February 1. The vaccines will be sent in four rounds, February 1 to be the first among them.

Vaccines will be used for medical personnel

The World Health Organization had shown concerns over the disparity between Israel and Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. UN and human rights groups had said that Israel is responsible for the well-being of the Palestinians. However, Israel had been told that under interim peace agreements reached in the 1990s, the Palestinians are not responsible. Israel also emphasized the fact that they had not received any request for help from the Palestinians.

The vaccines sent by Israel will be sufficient for the medical personnel among Palestinians. A spokesperson for Defence Minister Benny Gantz said, “I confirm we are going to send 5,000 vaccines to medical teams in the Palestinian Authority,” said a spokesperson for Defence Minister Benny Gantz.” Notably, the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, did not seek help from the Israeli government for the Covid-19 vaccines publicly.

Earlier, the Palestine Liberation Organization had alleged that Israel had caused a shortage of vaccines. PLO had urged the international organizations to hold Israel accountable for the shortage and requested them to provide Palestinian vaccines. The Palestinian Authority also announced that they plan to procure vaccines from Russia’s Sputnik V and three others.

‘He is a habitual offender’: The victim of fake sting operation has his say on the speculated resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai

Jhankar Mohta
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‘He is a habitual offender’: The victim of fake sting operation has his say on the speculated resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai 
He is a habitual offender’: The victim of fake sting operation has his say on the speculated resignation of Rajdeep Sardesai

Much has been said and written about the ‘distinguished journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai and his penchant of lying and spreading fake news. Only recently, he had spread blatant lies on TV and social media while the tractor rally violence was underway on Republic Day.

In one of his Tweets, Sardesai had claimed that a ‘farmer’ was killed after being shot by police during the tractor rally violence. He had suggested that the death of the so-called farmer may stir violence. The police soon shared the CCTV footage which clearly showed that the ‘farmer’ died while performing tractor stunts, taking a speeding tractor to smash police barricades.

Prior to this, the President of India’s office, in a strongly worded letter to the India Today group, had condemned the unsavory controversy surrounding the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose portrait. This controversy was created by non-other than Rajdeep Sardesai on January 23, who along with some other prominent ‘journalists’ had asserted the portrait was of actor Prosenjit and not of Netaji.

After this, India Today has reportedly taken its consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai off the air for two weeks alongside a deduction of a month’s salary for posting misinformed tweets. It was also reported that the senior anchor had quit the channel several hours after being suspended.

Sardesai a “habitual offender”

After reports of him resigning started doing the rounds, OpIndia got in touch with Dr. Ajay Agarwal to get his reaction on the entire fiasco. For the uninitiated Dr. Agarwal is the doctor on whom Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh (former spokesperson of the AAP), and Raghav Bahl (owner of the leftist-propaganda website The Quint) ran a ‘fake sting operation’ in 2006, ruining his life, career, and public image.

Dr. Agarwal did not seem surprised by the news. He opined that Rajdeep Sardesai is a repeat offender when it comes to spreading lies and this was bound to happen sooner or later.

Rajdeep Sardesai and ‘fake sting operation’

We had reported how Rajdeep Sardesai’s tendency to lie and spread fake news had ruined Dr. Ajay Agarwal, currently working at a government hospital in Noida, life. Dr Agarwal has been fighting the battle to regain his life and reputation since 2006. He claims that none of these apologised for ruining his life despite subsequent probes finding him not guilty.

As reproduced by Opindia, while speaking to portal Bhadas4media.com in 2018, Dr. Agarwal had alleged that Jamshed Khan, whom he refers to as a blackmailer, had concocted the fake sting operation and given it to IBN7. He further alleged that the channels IBN7 and CNN-IBN were newly launched and were looking for sensational stories, which is why they continuously aired the program for almost a week in July 2006. He was declared guilty of amputating limbs of healthy people so that they can beg and earn more. He was branded a ‘Shaitan Doctor’ (Devil Doctor) by the news channels. This led to an inquiry against Dr. Agarwal. 

After the fabricated sting operation, Dr. Agarwal’s family had to face massive embarrassment, social boycott, and shame, as people clustered outside his house to protest for days, some even throwing stones.

Finally, after fighting a long legal battle, in 2018, the court issued a warrant against Rajdeep Sardesai and others. The three accused immediately submitted their bail applications after surrendering and the court sanctioned the same.

Govt blocks 250 tweets and Twitter accounts that claimed PM Modi was planning farmer genocide

OpIndia Staff
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Govt blocks 250 tweets and Twitter accounts that claimed PM Modi was planning farmer genocide

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) on Monday has blocked around 250 Tweets/Twitter accounts which were using #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag and making fake, intimidatory and provocative Tweets on Saturday, 30th January 2021.

Sources tell OpIndia that this has been done on the request of Ministry of Home Affairs and law enforcement agencies to prevent any escalation of law and order in view of the on-going farmer agitation.

Twitter trend on 30th January 2021

Incitement to genocide is a grave threat to public order and therefore the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) ordered for blocking of these Twitter accounts and Tweets under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

This includes accounts of actor Sushant Singh and columnist with Congress mouthpiece National Herald Sanjukta Basu.

The Caravan, Sanjukta, Sushant Singh and more: Here’s a list of prominent Twitter accounts that were withheld after the Republic Day riots

OpIndia Staff
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The Caravan, Sanjukta, Sushant Singh and more: Here’s a list of prominent Twitter accounts that were withheld after the Republic Day riots

Twitter India has withheld multiple accounts in the country following the Republic Day riots in response to a legal demand. While the account of the far-left media portal The Caravan was the most prominent to be withheld, there were others who faced the same fate as well.

The Caravan Twitter account withheld
The Caravan Twitter account withheld

Indian actor Sushant Singh, who tweets under the username @Sushant_Says. had his account withheld as well.

One user, with the username @imMAK02, faced a similar fate as well.

The Twitter account of Hansraj Meena, founder of ‘Tribal Army’, was withheld in India too.

One @aartic02 account was withheld as well.

One ‘Salimdotcomrade’ Twitter account was withheld too.

Twitter India also withheld the account of one ‘Tractor2Twitter’.

Sanjukta, an ardent supporter of Rahul Gandhi, had her account withheld in India by Twitter.

Sanjukta's Twitter account withheld
Sanjukta’s Twitter account withheld

Twitter India withheld the account of Kisan Ekta Morcha too.

Kisan Ekta Morcha's Twitter account withheld
Kisan Ekta Morcha’s Twitter account withheld

The decision by Twitter India comes in the aftermath of the Republic Day riots when The Caravan and others had spread fake news regarding the death of a protester. The protester had died in an accident but it was falsely claimed that he died after being shot by the Police.

Union Budget proposes cess on Petrol and Diesel, but will have no impact on overall fuel prices: Read why

OpIndia Staff
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Union Budget proposes cess on Petrol and Diesel, but will have no impact on overall fuel prices: Read why

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced a new Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel in the Union Budget – 2021.

However, the new cess will not impose any additional burden on the consumer overall as the Finance Minister also proposed to reduce Basic Customs Duty on these items.

“I propose an Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on a small number of items. Consequent to the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) on petrol and diesel, Basic excise duty (BED) and Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) rates have been reduced on them so that overall consumer does not bear any additional burden” FM Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

From now on, the unbranded petrol and diesel will attract basic excise duty of Rs 1.4, and Rs 1.8 per litre respectively.

The Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on unbranded petrol and diesel shall be Rs. 11 and Rs. 8 per litre respectively. Similar changes have also been made for branded petrol and diesel, the FM announced.

What is Cess?

Cess is a tax levied or collected by any government for the development or welfare of a particular service or sector. It is levied over and above direct and indirect taxes.

Often, Cess collected for a particular purpose cannot be deviated or used for fulfilling other purposes. It is not a permanent source of revenue for the government, and it can be discontinued when the purpose levying it is fulfilled. The government often uses cess to fulfil a particular development objective.

Cess is different from taxes such as direct taxes and indirect taxes as it is charged above such taxes. While all the taxes collect end up in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), the cess collected may initially go to the CFI, however it has to be used for the designated purpose.

The central government often take the cess route as the proceeds of a cess may or may not be shared with the state government thus increasing its own revenue.

The move to bring additional cess on petrol and diesel by the Modi government is to appropriate more revenue from these new cess as it does not have to share such proceeds with the state governments.

Twitter withholds the accounts of The Caravan, others in response to a legal demand after Republic Day riots: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter withholds the accounts of The Caravan, others in response to a legal demand after Republic Day riots: Details

Twitter India has withheld the account of far-left outlet The Caravan in the country in response to a legal demand. An FIR was registered against the media outlet and its journalists for spreading fake news about the death of a protester on Republic Day.

The Caravan Twitter account withheld in India
The Caravan’s Twitter account withheld in India

The Caravan had spread the fake news claiming that “An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society.” In reality, the protester had died after his tractor overturned.

Spreading fake news at such a sensitive moment that had the potential to incite violence led the police to file FIRs against journalists associated with the media portal. Furthermore, on Saturday night, Mandeep Punia, associated with the media portal was detained by Delhi Police after he misbehaved with them.

Apart from The Caravan, Twitter India has also withheld the account of Kisan Ekta Morcha.

Kisan Ekta Morcha Twitter account withheld in India
Kisan Ekta Morcha’s Twitter account withheld in India

Sanjukta, a huge supporter of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, also had her account withheld in India.

Sanjukta Twitter account has been withheld in India
Sanjukta’s Twitter account has been withheld in India

Protesters had stormed the national capital on Republic Day and held the Red Fort at siege. A Khalistani mob also managed to hoist the Sikh Flag at the Red Fort. It was during such a moment that The Caravan had spread the fake news.

Others had peddled the same fake news and an FIR was registered against them as well.

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