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The menace of Grooming Jihad: How neighbours, lawyers, landlords etc come together to report potential cases

OpIndia Staff
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The menace of Grooming Jihad: How neighbours, lawyers, landlords etc come together to report potential cases

As Uttar Pradesh continues to be afflicted by the increasing number of Grooming Jihad cases, the residents of the state have taken upon themselves to report suspected cases with the help of social media networks, in an attempt to nip the menace in the bud.

As per a report published in the Times of India, a strong network of landlords, neighbours, temple managers, marriage registration officers, lawyers and others are involved in reporting on the potential cases of Grooming Jihad relationships fostering in their midst.

Initially, it is those who are close to the couples, such as neighbours and the family relatives, who approach the Hindu groups to save their daughters or acquaintance from falling into potential cases of Grooming Jihad. But on the second level, neighbours, temple managers, lawyers, marriage registration officers, parents and others, who were earlier shy of approaching Hindu organisations, have openly reported the possible grooming jihad cases to them.

“There is seismic change in the outlook of the parents and people who would earlier go against us,” said Chetna Sharma, the national president of Hindu Swabhiman, adding, “things are changing now are concerned parents and neighbours come to them to save their daughters from getting into a wrong relationship”. Sharma told TOI that every year she rescues 15 girls on an average from wrong marriages.

Neighbours, temple managers, family relatives act as informers to nip potential cases of grooming jihad in the bud

Aligarh convenor of Bajrang Dal Gaurav Sharma and former west UP convenor Balraj Dungar echoed similar sentiments about the growing awareness among people with regard to incidents of grooming jihad. They confessed that an array of people, from businessmen to students, to neighbours, act as informers, apprising the Hindu organisations of potential grooming jihad cases blossoming in their vicinity.

“We did not have to prowl streets in search for the Bareily couple,” Dungar said while referring to an interfaith couple from Bareilly whose landlord reported them on Tuesday this week. Dungar informed that even social media websites are used to keep track of the probable cases of grooming jihad. He said that every year his organisation stops at least 20 to 30 potential cases.

The Meerut circle convenor of the Hindu Yuva Vahini informed that his organisations had eyes on temples where Hindu girls would come with Muslim men to get married and temple managers would let them know about the interfaith marriages.

UP government passes ordinance to curb the menace of Grooming Jihad

The Uttar Pradesh government recently enacted a law to curb the rising menace of Muslim men pretending to be Hindu to lure Hindu girls into relationships, a phenomenon known as grooming jihad, also known as love jihad. The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cleared an ordinance against forced conversions, which the Yogi Adityanath government has been mulling ever since the cases of the purported crime had been reported from various parts of the state.

The decision to promulgate an ordinance was taken after a spate of cases of forced conversions of Hindu woman by Muslim men, on the pretext of marriage, had come to the fore. Though, cases of love jihad have been reported from across the length and breadth of the state, Kanpur had emerged as the epicentre of ‘organised love jihad’ cases. There have been several cases of forced conversions of women on the pretext of marriage reported from the city that it has fuelled suspicions about a new model of entrapping Hindu women gaining a foothold in the city.

OpIndia has decided to use the term ‘Grooming Jihad‘ in place of ‘Love Jihad’ for the latter term fails to capture the gravity of the Jihad that is being waged by sections of radical Muslims to target non-Muslim women. Non-Muslim women are being groomed to accept their own subjugation at the hands of Muslim men. They are kidnapped, raped, lured, converted to Islam, punished and brainwashed. There is no ‘Love’ in these crimes against humanity. There is no ambiguity that it is a form of Jihad. We believe that the term ‘Grooming Jihad’ is far more appropriate since it encapsulates within itself all categories of crimes that keep women at the centre of this Jihad.

What is the Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic Association? Meet its president and HDFC Bank’s ‘neighbourhood hero’ Ashok Singh Garcha

K Bhattacharjee
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What is the Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic Association? Meet its president and HDFC Bank’s ‘neighbourhood hero’ Ashok Singh Garcha

There is a certain person on social media who has become a meme on the internet. He goes by the name of Ashok Singh Garcha and claims to be the president of Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic Association (AIAA). His bio on Twitter shows that he preaches “JEWISH/CHRISTIAN/MUSLIM and SIKH UNITY”. He has obviously not been very successful because if he had been, he would have already been summoned to resolve the Palestinian conflict.

Nonetheless, his posturing on social media gives one the impression that he believes a peace between the said communities could break out any moment. But during the presidential tenure of Ashok Singh Garcha at AIAA, such a peace has failed to materialize and Afghan Sikhs have continued to come into Hindu-majority India to escape the hellhole in their native countries. But such a stellar record at failure, matched only by Rahul Gandhi, does not appear to threaten his position as the president of AIAA.

Twitter profile of Ashok Singh Garcha

Amusingly enough, HDFC Bank designated Ashok Singh Garcha as their “neighbourhood hero” from Ludhiana for providing food to underprivileged residents. The award was presented in August 2020. Before we proceed further, it is pertinent to state it outright that claims that Sikhism is “Indo-Abrahamic” is proper nonsense and has no connection with reality whatsoever.

Garcha receives HDFC’s endorsement

We visited the website mentioned in Garcha’s profile in order to learn more about the association. According to the website, “The AIAA (Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic Association) is an inter-faith association of the Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic faiths based upon their shared faith traditions and beliefs.” “The Abrahamics and the Indo-Abrahamics comprise almost 75% of the world’s population and form the single largest global collective of religions with shared root ideologies and practices,” it adds.

The AIAA believes that Sikhism and sects such as Radha Soami, Ravidasia, Kabir Panthi, Satnami, Eksarna Sankardev, Sacha Sauda, Sri Narayan Dharam Paripalan, Namdev, Sai Baba, Sindhi sects etc. are ‘Indo-Abrahamic’ faiths. On his profile, Garcha claims that Sikhism is ‘Indo-Abrahamic’, ‘Deen-Dharmic’, ‘Sanatan-Semetic’.

Harebrained ideas of Ashok Singh Garcha

The AIAA states, “The relationship between the Indic and Indo-Abrahamic religions is well understood and acknowledged. However, the equally close kinship between the Abrahamic and Indo-Abrahamic religions is not so well understood and expounded. The AIAA is incorporated to remove this void of ignorance about the third largest genre of world religions in world theology.”

Ashok Singh Garcha also has some extremely novel ideas such as his theory on the culinary traditions manifested in Kurkure, the snack. According to him, “Kurkure are an Indo-Western snack arising out of the syncretisation of the culinary traditions of India with that of the West.” We cannot be sure whether he is serious or being sarcastic.

Ashok Singh Garcha on Kurkure

It appears that he wishes to portray Sikhism as the “most globally connected” in the world. He has said in the past, “Sikhism is the common link factor between the major religions of the world. The Indo-Abrahamic Sikhs have ideological cosanguinity, common descent, with the Abrahamic as well as Indic religions.” From his tweets, it is quite evident that he wishes to distance Sikhs from Hindus and associated religions such as Buddhism and Jainism and associate Sikhism with Abrahamic faiths instead.

However, Garcha does not have the support of the core constituency he seeks to address: The Sikhs. Sikhs on social media, the extremely few who do interact with him, are quite clearly sick of him and have been spotted calling him a ‘senile fool’. We also discovered that Ashok Singh Garcha was formerly associated with the Congress party. When a user said that he was peddling these weird ideas to further his political career, he did not deny being associated with the party.

Sikhs are not too fond of Ashok Singh Garcha, clearly

We have found some media reports from the past which call Garcha a “senior” Congress leader. In 2009, he had questioned the candidature of party spokesperson Manish Tewari from Ludhiana for the Lok Sabha Elections that year. But later, the then general secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress claimed that Garcha did not even hold preliminary membership of the party. But Garcha claimed that he was a Congressman because he had strong faith in the ideology of Jawaharlal Nehru.

Our ‘investigation’ also revealed that it was not the first time that Garcha has been called a “senile fool”. One would assume that in the Garcha school of thought, success is the ability to go from the first instance of being called ‘”senile fool” to the next without any loss of enthusiasm.

Probably not the first time he was called a senile fool either

Even as he continues to disassociate Sikhism from Hinduism, Garcha goes overboard in trying to build kinship with other religions. There is no evidence to suggest that Jews, Christians or Muslims are enthusiastic about embracing Sikhs in the ‘Abrahamic’ fold. According to him, “The Indo Abrahamic Sikhs are brothers and religious kinsmen of the Abrahamic Jews/Christians/Muslims”.

The many delusions of Ashok Singh Garcha

Ashok Singh Garcha has also floated numerous other problematic nonsense. In May this year, he floated the idea of ‘Delhi Takht 2020’, which is supposed to be a “patriotic, nationalist movement of Indian Sikhs to have Sikhs ruling over the country by 2050 AD”. When asked how he intends to carry it out, he said the plan is for “Sikhs to build a coalition with majority and minority communities to form a govt as per the constitution.”

Garcha’s Delhi Takht Agenda

The objectives of the AIAA, meanwhile, include “To network worldwide with the Abrahamics and make the Indo-Abrahamic emigrants like the Sikhs, Sindhis, Radha Soamis, Ravidasia, Satnami, Shirdi Sai Baba, Eksarna etc feel welcomed and comfortable in Abrahamic countries of Europe, Americas, Australia, Middle East, Africa” and “To network with the Indics and make the Abrahamics (Jew/Christian/Muslim ) feel welcome and at home in India, and vice versa for the Indics (Hindu/ Buddhist/Jain) outside India.”

Some have even claimed that certain individuals with their surname ‘Garcha’ have stopped using their surnames because of the nonsense that the president of AIAA has come up with. Unfortunately, we cannot as of this moment verify the authenticity of these claims.

Well…

Needless to say, hardly anyone takes Garcha seriously, but he does have a section of followers who mainly interact with him for comic relief. He has inevitably ended up becoming a meme on the internet where people use his antics for laughs. Some meme enthusiasts have cast him as a fanfic superhero who has been named ‘Dharmo-Semetic Garchos’.

While misled farmers continue to protest, Delhi’s cab driver, also a farmer from Punjab, explains how new farm laws are in farmers’ interest

OpIndia Staff
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While misled farmers continue to protest, Delhi’s cab driver, also a farmer from Punjab, explains how new farm laws are in farmers’ interest

While many misled farmers protest at the outskirts of the national capital against the Modi government’s new farm laws, Former Karnataka cadre IPS officer K Annamalai has taken to Twitter to share his encounter with a cab driver, who incidentally is also a farmer from Punjab. In a thread of Tweets, the BJP leader narrates his conversation with the taxi driver, where the latter talks about how the new farm laws brought by the Modi government is actually beneficial for the farmers and expresses his vexation over the ongoing protests.

He explains how contrary to the apprehensions, the new agriculture laws are actually in the farmers’ interest.

“I’m a farmer and I completely support these acts. It’s sickening to see protests of this sort”, said the cab driver to the BJP leader.

According to K Annamalai, the driver had shifted to Delhi a few years back as he couldn’t make any living out of agriculture. Now slowly and steadily he is alternating between driving a cab and farming back home, informed the former IPS officer, furthering that the driver is now getting the confidence to return to farming for the first time.

In his next few Tweets, Annamalai pens down the reasons which has helped the can driver regain his confidence in the agricultural sector.

Firstly, the inputs costs on agriculture have gone down, the cab driver told the BJP leader. The cost of fertiliser and seed have drastically decreased. Soil health cards are available. The Government is providing an insurance cover in case the crops fail. Modi Government has been granting Rs 6,00 to all small-term farmers like him, which is being directly transferred to their bank accounts.

Secondly, due to the provisions in the new farm laws, farmers like him would get rid of ‘local uncle’ who acts as the Arhtiya – commision agent. They would have the freedom to sell their produce any where, anytime and to anybody.

The cab driver explained that currently, nobody gets paid at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in his state. This is for two reasons. Firstly, the farmers are having to pay 6 per cent to the mandi which gets deducted from their accounts. The first 3 per cent is for mandi commission and the rest is for local development tax. The current politics, he said, is over this and on the additional 2.5 per cent Arthiya commission extra, lamented the can driver.

The BJP leader said that the cab driver divulged how these Arhtiyas or the commission agents, who are a complex set of system created by the Punjab state, act as facilitators between the mandi and the buying house and exploit farmers by making stringent rules regulating the sale of the farmers’ produce. These Arthiyas are economically very powerful. With the new farm laws in place, these commission agents would suffer the most and that is why they are going all out to protect themselves and their turf, said the driver.

Speaking about the ongoing protests where misinformed farmers continue to protest against Central government’s new farm laws, assuming that the new laws mean that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be abolished, the cab driver opined that centring the protest around MSP would not lead the farmers anywhere.

The driver then went on to explain how under the new laws, the government has increased the scope for the farmers. Under the new farm laws, around 21 agricultural produces have been brought under MSP, whereas, until 2014, only 3 agricultural produce were included. In fact, this govt is widening the MSP net in two ways – bringing more products under MSP and increasing the support price as well, the BJP leader quoted the cab driver as saying.

“In short what the previous governments have done is to insult farming and to make farmers to feel lowly about them selves. Dole Outs will take a back seat and farming for the first time after Indian independence will see youngsters and others taking up willingly, Tweeted K Annamalai.

Congress instigating farmers by peddling blatant lie that MSP will be abolished

It almost becomes imperative to note here that opposition parties, especially the Congress has been consistently misleading the farmers in Punjab by sharing some blatant and outright lies against the new farmer laws. Amongst other things, the Congress has been instigating the farmers that the central government, through its news farm laws, would abolish the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Which is an outright lie as seen by recent procurement of Kharif crops as per MSP.

The farmers have been, in turn, agitating at the outskirts of the national capital against Modi government’s farm laws assuming that the new laws mean that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) would be abolished.

Mandis will remain, MSP will be unaffected: Modi government

The central government has clarified a number of times that they are neither abolishing Mandis not repealing MSPs. Both the claims are lies. In fact, the Congress, in its own 2019 election manifesto, had promised to abolish the APMC Act altogether. However, the Modi government has only amended the APMC Act.

Modi government has not repealed the APMC Act in its entirety. The new laws passed by the current dispensation provides the farmers with an additional avenue to sell their produce besides the state-run Mandis. The provisions in the bills exempt transactions done outside the physical premises of APMC (agricultural produce market committee) Mandis from any “market fee or cess or levy” imposed by state governments.

PM Modi, government ministers and BJP leaders have asserted time and again that MSPs will continue. Rahul Gandhi and Congress, however, have been peddling the same lies again and again.

As the government is neither abolishing Mandis nor taking back the MSPs, the claims about Mandi workers being jobless and MSPs being repealed are thus completely false.

In fact, the Congress is opposing the very same reforms that it has been promising to the farmers over the years.

Iqbal, accused of murder in Delhi anti-Hindu riots, granted bail by HC because 4 other co-accused are already out on bail

OpIndia Staff
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Iqbal, accused of murder in Delhi anti-Hindu riots, granted bail by HC because 4 other co-accused are already out on bail

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court granted bail to Mohammed Iqbal, who has been accused of murder and rioting in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots case. The riots began on February 23 during which violent Muslim mobs went on a rampage in North-East Delhi, attacking Hindu homes and businesses.

As per reports, a Single Bench of Justice Suresh Kumar granted Iqbal bail on a personal and surety bond of ₹15,000. The Delhi High Court observed that four other people, who were accused in the case, had earlier been released.

The Court ruled, “It is not in dispute that 4 accused are already on bail pursuant to order passed by this Court. However, learned ASG is unable to establish that the present petitioner is not similarly situated with other 4 co-accused. In view of the facts recorded above, I am of the view that on parity the petitioner deserves bail,” the Judge ordered.”

The case of Mohammed Iqbal

Mohammed Iqbal was detained by the Delhi Police in connection to the Anti-Hindu Delhi Riots. He was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder) and 395 (dacoity). Iqbal was represented by Advocates Sanjay Hegde, Anas Tanwi, Eeshan Pandey, Chandan Goswami, and Mudit Makhijan.

He was earlier granted bail by a local court on a surety bond of ₹20,000 on June. However, he was not released due to his involvement in another murder case. His family alleged that he was innocent and had gone to the market with his three friends to buy meat when he was apprehended by the police.

They claimed that they were not informed about his detention until the following day. The family members of Mohammed Iqbal also alleged that the Mandoli Jail authorities did not provide a copy of the FIR in the second case, even after the bail order of the local Delhi court.

Drone Prathap, who had crash-landed after OpIndia fact-check, rumoured to be entering the house of Bigg Boss Kannada

OpIndia Staff
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Drone Prathap, who had crash-landed after OpIndia fact-check, rumoured to be entering the house of Bigg Boss Kannada

Karnataka youth Prathap NM, known as Drone Boy or Drone Prathap, whose claim of building 600 drones using e-waste was busted by a comprehensive fact-check by OpIndia, is all set to enter the house of Bigg Boss Kannada, if reports are believed. According reports by Kannada media such as Asianet News and News 18 Kannada, the fake drone scientist is going to participate in the reality TV show aired on Colors Kannada channel.

According to the reports, the 8th edition of Bigg Boss Kannada will start early next year, and the selection process of participants has already started. Although the names of the participants are kept confidential before official disclosure by the channels, rumours on media and social media suggest that actor Anirudh Jakaar, newsreader Heeregowdar, Divya, Tik Tok queen Sonu Gowda, Drone Prathap and Bindu Gowda are set to participate in the show.

Prathap had risen to fame after Kannada media had hailed his ‘inventions’ without bothering to verify his claims. He had claimed to have built drones using electronic waste from broken TVs and Mixer Grinders, had claimed to have won numerous awards in ‘Drone competitions’ Japan and Europe. He had also claimed to have received invitations from over a hundred countries to deliver lectures.

But there was not a single photo or video available of any drone build by him, and the awards that he had claimed to have won do not exist. In the OpIndia fact-check, it was found that Prathap had visited various tech-expos in Japan, Germany etc, had got himself photographed with drones on display at those events, and had circulated them as his own creations. Most of the images had branding of the companies that made the drones, but it didn’t stop him from making false claims. Reportedly, he had also received funding of a large amount from various donors to keep up his ‘research’.

However, after OpIndia had published the fact-check, ‘drone Prathap’ had crash-landed, and all the people who had supported him started distancing themselves from him. Kannada media had also finally started to question him. The final nail in the coffin of his fame was put by Prathap himself, when he had shared a photo from a German expo to give proof of drones built by him in a live TV show. Immediately after that, German drone maker BillzEye Multicoptersysteme had issued a statement saying that it was their drone, and Prathap had nothing to do with its development.

Bigg Boss Kannada 8 is scheduled to start in January after Sankranti. Sudeep is set to return as hosts of the show this time also.

Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh dropped from upcoming movie after he humiliates Hindus during farmer protest: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh dropped from upcoming movie after he humiliates Hindus during farmer protest: Read details

Days after ex-Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh went on a vile rant against Hindus voicing derogatory comments against the community, filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has dropped the former cricketer and actor from his directorial movie The Kashmir Files. Apparently, actor Puneet Issar will be playing the role now.

I cannot tolerate someone talking badly about women: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri

Vivek Agnihotri said in a statement: “I had cast Mr Yograj Singh for my film ‘The Kashmir Files’ for a very prominent role and I had long chats with him. I knew that he has a history but I ignored as I generally do not mix art and artiste. I keep artiste and politics away. When he gave the speech it was shocking, and I cannot tolerate someone talking against women. It is just not about Hindu women or Muslim women but he spoke so badly about women and on top of that he tried to create a hateful divisive narrative.”

Agnihotri added: “I have sent him an official termination letter I don’t care what he replies. I am not a kind of a commercial filmmaker. I make films with a purpose. I make films that expose the truth and I don’t want this person to become part of the truth. Whatever he said, it was hateful and this kind of people just want to create violence.”

Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh humiliates Hindus

Yograj Singh’s termination was a fallout of his abhorrent speech against Hindus at the farmer’s protest. Recently, videos had gone viral where Singh was not only heard humiliating Hindus but also making some extremely repugnant remarks against Hindu women.

While giving a speech at the ongoing farmer protests at the outskirts of Delhi, Singh remarked on Hindu women saying “Inki aurate take-take ke bhaw bikti thi” (their women were sold for two cents). When their women and daughters were abducted by people like Ahmed Shah Durrani and sold off for a paltry sum, it was we Sikhs who saved them. These are the people who have betrayed us. This community has been slaves for thousands of years,” said Yograj Singh.

Our leaders have betrayed us. We voted for them and brought them to power, and they instead stabbed the farmers in the back, in the past, I have seen how these political leaders were auctioned for Rs 5, 10, 15, 20 crores in Delhi,” Singh further said in the viral video.

While attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for being Gujaratis, Yograj Singh said, “I have spent 15 years with Gujaratis in Mumbai. These people would take a u-turn even if they swore on their mothers, sisters, and daughters.” 

Mentioning terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Yograj urged the farmers to raise another Bhindranwale amongst themselves. “Every person here is a ‘Jarnail.’ If you want to save Punjab, ensure that power is in your hands. If the power is in your hand, you will see a new sun rising from the land of Punjab,” he said.

Yograj Singh justifies death threat to PM Modi

Prior to this, we reported how Yograj Singh, while speaking to a local Punjabi news channel Rozana Spokesmen, had justified death threat to PM Modi. He further accused the central government of carrying out ‘atrocities’ worse than those carried out by barbaric invaders like Babur, Aurangzeb and the British.

Meanwhile, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s new upcoming film The Kashmir Files is based on the plight of Kashmiri Pandit refugees following the 1990 Kashmiri Pandit exodus from the valley. Speaking exclusively to OpIndia on his new film, Agnihotri had said that this film will not be a sugarcoated version of the plight of Kashmiri Pandits.

“Bengal, here we come”: Republic Media Network announces the launch of its Bengali news channel

OpIndia Staff
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“Bengal, here we come”: Republic Media Network announces the launch of its Bengali news channel

After having secured the top spot in both English and Hindi news space, Republic TV announced on Friday that it will launch its Bengal-language channel soon. The decision may prove to be a game-changer, ahead of the upcoming West Bengal elections of 2021.

In a tweet, the news channel stated, “We are coming!”. While informing that the news network is keen to hire staff for its new venture, it announced, “Republic TV is looking for competent News Editors. Republic Media Network is also looking for young and smart reporters, who exhibit proficiency in the Bengali language. Must have prior experience working in any Bengali News channel in the State of West Bengal.”

At present, the Republic Media Network runs two TV news channels, the flagship English News channel Republic TV and Hindi News channel R. Bharat. Both the channels top the charts in terms of viewership in both the languages. Its Bengali News Channel will be its first regional language news channels.

It is interesting to note that Arnab Goswami had started his career as a journalist in Kolkata, where he had worked for The Telegraph. As Goswami can speak Bengali, it is expected that he may anchor some show in the Bengali channel also. He has started anchoring in Hindi on R. Bharat, where he has become extremely popular.

Republic media to launch regional channels in next one year, go global in 16 months

In a sensational announcement last month, Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami had said that he has plans to launch Republic channels in every language in the next few months and also announced that he would be launching an international media project soon.

Speaking on Republic TV after his release from Taloja jail, Arnab Goswami said, “In the next 11 to 12 months, we will launch the Republic Network in every state of India. Republic will also launch an international media project in the upcoming 16 to 17 months”.

“If you put me in jail, I will launch a channel from there. You cannot do anything. I am not alone, the country is with me. I will change my name if I do not launch a global media network in the next 16 months,” said Arnab Goswami as he warned Uddhav Thackeray against his vendetta against Republic TV.

Chinese debt trap: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed says China’s banks not giving ‘breathing space’ even in the pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Chinese debt trap: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed says China’s banks not giving ‘breathing space’ even in the pandemic

Even as countries continue to reel from the economic repercussions caused by the coronavirus outbreak, they are plagued with another crisis that is staring them at their face—Chinese debt trap. After China exported coronavirus across the world, crippling economies and public health systems in its wake, Chinese banks have upped the ante in their efforts to claw back the money granted as loans to the foreign countries.

The former president of the Maldives, and current speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed recently took to Twitter, lamenting about the growing pressure that the Chinese banks are exerting on the tiny Island nation to repay its outstanding debt. He said that after battling COVID crisis, Maldives needed “breathing space” but the Chinese banks have refused to offer any concessions for the loans. The Maldives has to repay a debt of $15 million to the Chinese Banks over the course of the next 14 days.

“Over the next 14 days, Maldives Treasury must pay over $15m to Chinese banks. These banks have not, thus far, given any concessions for these loans. These repayments represent over 50% of government income over the next 14 days. After Covid, Maldives needs breathing space,” Nasheed tweeted.

Soon after Mr Nasheed’s party won the elections in 2018, it began looking into the nation’s finances. What they found shocked them beyond belief. The previous government of the Maldives, headed by Mr Yameen, had reportedly borrowed more than the acceptable limit. The GDP of Maldives is around $4.9 billion but it reportedly owed upwards of $2.5 billion to China.

Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party, with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, have been critical of the massive Chinese debt amassed under the previous regime. Nasheed had earlier stated that the Chinese loan was inflated on paper, made to a bigger amount than the actual money paid. He had also claimed that the development projects funded by the Chinese have no clear business plans to suggest how to pay back the loans.

Chinese debt trap led to Sri Lanka handover its Hambantota port to Beijing for the next 99 years

The exorbitantly high outstanding amount that the Maldives owes to China led Mr Nasheed to worry if the country is could face the same fate as Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port. Earlier in 2018, China made Sri Lanka cough up the Hambantota port, miles off the shores of its rival India, and a critical base to monitor the Indo-Pacific trade route.

Similar to the case of the Maldives, the former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had taken enormous loans from China that the succeeding government in Sri Lanka struggled to square accounts with. As a result, after tough negotiations and months of pressure from Beijing, the Sri Lankan government handed over the port and 15,000 acres of the land nearby to China for 99 years.

This is one of stark examples of Beijing’s debt trap, using its economic superiority and influence to extend outsize loans to foreign countries on favourable terms and later playing hardball to recover them, forcing the beneficiaries to give up their sovereignty of their controlled territory.

Maldives had thanked India for financial, medical support

By contrast, India had provided substantial and continuous financial support to the Maldives in its fight against coronavirus. In September 2020, India had extended no-strings-attached financial assistance of $ 250 million to help Maldives tide over the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant, provided under the most favourable terms possible, was in response to the request made by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to overcome the difficult economic situation in the Maldives.

In October 2020, India signed a loan of $400 million loan pact with the Maldives for a mega connectivity project. The announcement was made by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who contended that the project would help showcase India’s expertise in conceptualising and implementing a complex infrastructural project.

India continued to provide generous assistance to the Maldives after the turnaround in its ties following the change in guard in Male. As of October 2020, India’s credit lines and grants to the Maldives stand at a staggering $2 billion (Rs 15,000 crore). According to the signed pact, projects covered under the line of credit extended by New Delhi to Male relate to water and sewerage, island development, a cricket stadium, a port, an airport and a road.

In addition to this, the Maldives had also received 5.5 tonnes of essential medicines from India, which also helped the island nation in evacuating its citizens stranded in Wuhan during the coronavirus lockdown in China. India had also deployed a medical team in the Maldives to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

India also took special effort to help the Maldives financially through a transparent mechanism. The RBI raised Treasury Bonds which were sold to the State Bank of India (SBI), Male, for handover to the Maldives government.

China demands that participants critical of Beijing are banned, EU responds by cancelling China-Europe Trade Forum: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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China demands that participants critical of Beijing are banned, EU responds by cancelling China-Europe Trade Forum: Read details

The People Republic of China, which has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism globally over its increasing expansionist policies, faced yet another embarrassment last month as European organisers cancelled their meet annual EU-Chinese forum meet after Chinese demanded to ban participants critical of Beijing.

According to WSJ report, the fourth edition of the annual China-EU CEO and former Senior Officials Dialogue – a closed-door meeting that includes around 40 chief executives, top officials and academics from Europe and China was scheduled to be held through videoconference this year.

This year, China insisted that the organisers drop speakers who were critical of China. However, the European organizers at BusinessEurope, an umbrella organization for the European Union’s national business lobbies, rejected Chinese demands to exclude certain participants.

The reluctance on both sides to escalate this conflict led to organisers stating that another dialogue should take place again next year.

“We held three very successful editions of this dialogue that takes place every year, alternating in Brussels and Beijing,” said BusinessEurope spokesman Peter Sennekamp adding that ‘regrettably’ this year’s dialogue had to be cancelled.

Decision assumes significance amidst deteriorating ties between China and the rest of the world

The decision to ignore China’s demands comes at a time when Europe is trying to strike between safeguarding business interests and upholding democratic values amidst China’s increasingly aggressive global stance. Europe firm stands assume significance after US and Australia too had taken more forceful stands against China.

Experts believe that the cancellation of the event also gives a fresh sign of Europe’s hardening stance toward Beijing, a shift that became evident last year when the bloc described China as a systemic rival. The EU officials had openly taken an anti-China stand and had blamed China for disinformation during the coronavirus pandemic.

The China Center for International Economic Exchange (CCIEE), which claims to promote international economic research and exchanges under the guidance and supervision of economic planning agency, noted that dialogues with other countries had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A CCIEE official said that the dialogue’s aim was to promote international economic research and trade cooperation but that some participants did not seem to fit the principle or goal of the event. He claimed that some participants last year had violated rules.

China wanted a ban on European critics

Reportedly, China wanted trade forum to exclude two people from this year’s virtual event. One speaker is Reinhard Bütikofer, the European Parliament’s chairman of the EU-China caucus, who has publicly criticized Beijing over Hong Kong and its treatment of the Uighur minority. China had also asked to bar Mikko Huotari, the head of Merics, a German think tank critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is yet to respond to the cancellation of the annual meet. The Chinese officials had attempted to ban German politicians, academics and journalists from past events, however, this is the first time the had targeted a senior European parliamentarian in charge of EU-China relations.

Jörg Wuttke, the head of the EU-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, said he was aware of the cancellation after the EU-China forum refused to give in to Chinese demands to leave out a company representative from one event he was organizing. That event did take place, he added.

In a report published by the Chamber in September, Wuttke criticized China’s “small but highly conspicuous ‘army of wolf warriors’ in the foreign affairs ministry who have escalated Twitter wars with politicians around the world. 

The Chinese diplomats and propagandists have taken on countries for calling out China’s inaction during the coronavirus pandemic. China has launched a diplomatic offensive against Australia after it called for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. China had also threatened France and cancelled a nationwide tour by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra after a tussle with the city’s mayor over Taiwan.

Truth bomb by Rohit Sardana triggers AltNews Islamist apologists, complain to Rahul Kanwal who they think can understand their angst

OpIndia Staff
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Truth bomb by Rohit Sardana triggers AltNews Islamist apologists, complain to Rahul Kanwal who they think can understand their angst

On Wednesday, during a live Q and A session with viewers of Aaj Tak on the issue of anti-farm law agitation, one Shaukat Ali tried to solicit a provocative reaction from journalist Rohit Sardana.

“If you think people participating in farmer protests are Khalistanis, then why does not ‘your leader’ Modi put everyone in jail?”, Ali asked the Aaj Tak journalist. Rohit Sardana clarified that since Prime Minister Modi is an elected representative, therefore he is also the leader of Shaukat Ali, and not just him. “See! Modi is also your leader. If you believe otherwise, then, you are free to leave,” Sardana dropped his first truth bomb on Ali.

He emphasised, “I have never said that farmers are Khalistani separatists. However, if miscreants are unfurling the Khalistani flag under the garb of farmer protests, then should such people not be apprehended?” Rohit Sardana continued, “Or do you want (the State) to give free hand to (Khalistani elements) just like it was done in case of Shaheen Bagh protestors, who raise anti-national slogans?”

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/Aaj Tak)

Islamist apologists at Alt News miffed over the display of political incorrectness

However, the no-nonsense, straightforward answer of journalist Rohit Sardana did not go down well with Islamist apologists working at Alt News. Islamist sympathiser and serial fake news peddler Pratik Sinha decided to play the victim card, on behalf of Shaukat Ali.

While tagging Aaj Tak founder Aroon Purie and News Director Rahul Kanwal, Sinha cried, “What action will be taken against this anchor of your channel who uses your platform to ask a fellow citizen to go to Pakistan, or says things like “tumhare ko choot di thi…desh virodhi nare lagane ki (you were given the freedom to shout anti-national slogans)” because he belongs to the Muslim community?”

While it makes sense for a miffed Pratik Sinha to address his ‘concerns’ to the founder of the news channel, it did not make sense as to why he would tag a fellow journalist aka Rahul Kanwal, with no managerial powers, working at the same organisation. Netizens are left to wonder whether it was because of Kanwal’s past record wherein he tried to downplay the role of Islamists in creating nuisance in society.

Nevertheless, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair too was worried about supposedly ‘normalising hate against minorities’ even though Rohit Sardana had just pointed out the role of Islamist Shaheen Bagh protestors and the Khalistani elements in the anti-farmer agitation.

He opined, “You are giving him your platform to spew venom against minorities and normalising this hate Mr. Aroon Purie. Rohit Sardana is not even hiding his hatred for minorities anymore.”

Khalistani slogans in ‘farmer protests’

The ‘farmer’ protest carried out along the Punjab-Haryana border against the recently passed farm bills had seen participation from pro-Khalistani elements, who not only gloated over the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi but also threatened PM Modi with a similar fate if their demands went unfulfilled.

In one of the videos from the protests, one of the demonstrators could be seen threatening PM Modi with dire consequences if the solution was not reached in the meeting between the farmers and the Centre over the agriculture bills. At several instances, banners of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, one of the fervid proponents of Khalistan, were also held during the protests.

In another video, one of the old demonstrators hailed Pakistani PM Imran Khan while insinuating that PM Modi was the enemy of the protesters. “Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan is our friend. Our enemy is sitting in Delhi,” the man says.

Islamist slogans were earlier raised at Shaheen Bagh

After the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the country has been gripped by riots, violence and arson specifically by the Left and Islamist mobs. A video had surfaced in January from the Shaheen Bagh protest where slogans like “Jinnah Wali Azadi” could be heard.

In the video, the individual on the stage could be heard chanting Azadi slogans. “Hum ladke lenge Azadi. Nehru wali Azadi. Gandhi wali Azadi. Bhagat wali Azadi. Ashfaq wali Azadi. Jinnah wali Azadi. Dilli wali Azadi….”.While one could understand Leftists and Islamists wanting “Nehru wali Azadi” since the cloak of “secularism” that amounted to shameless minority appeasement during the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi, one had to wonder what ‘Jinnah wali Azadi’ means when chanted by the protestors at Shaheen Bagh.

AltNews works as an Islamic propaganda website

In their quest to exonerate perpetrators from the Muslim community, AltNews has employed several methods over the years. Their methods have now almost become predictable and standardised. While subtly peddling Islamic propaganda, AltNews keeps up the veneer of fact-checking to make their propaganda far more palatable to gullible readers, and that, they have the help of the entire ecosystem for their nefarious plans certainly helps move things along.

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