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CM Yogi eyes 2022 state elections as BJP sweeps six out of seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh by-polls

OpIndia Staff
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CM Yogi eyes 2022 state elections as BJP sweeps six out of seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh by-polls

BJP has received a resounding victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-elections which were held on seven seats of Naugawan Sadat, Bulandshahr, Tundla, Bangermau, Ghatampur, Deoria and Malhani on November 3. Out of these seven seats, BJP won six seats except Malkhani which the Samajwadi Party managed to win.

Source: Election Commission of India

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave the credit of the stellar performance of the party in not just Uttar Pradesh by-polls but also in elections in other states to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the party performance in these elections was a result of the work done by PM Modi towards the upliftment of the poor, improving country’s reputation internationally and public welfare.

Hailing PM Modi’s leadership CM Yogi said that the BJP candidates lead their opponents by 17,000 to 32,000 votes in the state assembly by-polls which proved that the state government was working well under the leadership of the Prime Minister. He congratulated BJP national president JP Nadda for the party’s performance in the state Assembly by-polls. CM Yogi lauded party’s booth-level workers for their performance and also the Ministers and Assembly members who contributed to the election campaign.

Expressing hope for the 2022 state elections, CM Yogi said that the party’s performance in the Assembly by-polls pointed to the possibility for the party to win 2022 state elections. “In the by-polls, Bharatiya Janata Party repeated its performance of the 2017 state assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This points that BJP will perform well in the upcoming elections also”, said CM Yogi at a press conference.

BJP sweeps Gujarat by-polls

BJP made a clean sweep in Gujarat Assembly by-elections by winning all the 8 seats on which elections were held. Congress had won on these seats in 2017.

Source: Election Commission of India

Bags all the seats in Karnataka by-polls

BJP bagged both the assembly seats of RR Nagar and Sirsa in Karnataka on which elections were held. BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel credited PM Modi’s leadership and party’s development agenda for the victory.

Source: Election Commission of India

Wins Telangana by-polls

BJP’s M Raghunandan Rao won Telangana’s Dubbak Assembly constituency by defeating Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s Solipeta Sujatha by a close margin of 1,079 votes.

Source: Election Commission of India

By-elections were held for State Assembly seats in 11 states of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha and Telangana.

While Arnab Goswami spends his 7th night in jail for a closed case, wife of Firoz Nadiadwala arrested for possessing drugs gets bail by Mumbai court

OpIndia Staff
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While Arnab Goswami spends his 7th night in jail for a closed case, wife of Firoz Nadiadwala arrested for possessing drugs gets bail by Mumbai court

While the Editor-in-chief of India’s biggest media network, Arnab Goswami, continues to spend his 7th night in jail after being assaulted and arrested by Mumbai police on unfounded allegations in a closed 2018 abetment to suicide case, Shabana Saeed, the wife of Bollywood producer Firoz Nadiadwala, who was arrested on November 8 (Sunday) by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for possessing drugs, has been granted bail by a Mumbai court on Tuesday.

According to reports, the bail was granted on a personal bond of Rs 15,000.

As per reports, the Bollywood filmmaker’s residence in the upscale western suburbs of Mumbai was searched by the narcotics team in connection to the case. It is said that Firoz Nadiadwala was not present at the house when it was raided by the NCB. The investigative team had reportedly recovered ‘some amount of drugs’. The officials had summoned the producer’s wife to their office on Sunday for questioning following which she was arrested by the NCB.

Saeed was booked under sections 8c (produce, manufacture, possess, sell, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consume, import or export of any narcotic or psychotropic substance), 20B ( punishment for producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting or using cannabis), 27A (punishment for consumption of drugs).

Arnab Goswami continues to pay the price for his honest journalism

It is concerning how a Bollywood celebrity easily gets bail in a serious crime like the possession of drugs, whereas a senior journalist like Arnab Goswami is forced to remains behind bars for the last 7 days, that too for a case which was closed in April 2019, apparently due to lack of evidence. 

Without any prior notice or documents, a team of 40 armed policemen barge into Arnab Goswami’s house at 6.30 am on November 4, only to assault him and his family members, drag him and arrest him on unfounded allegations in a closed 2018 abetment to suicide case. Since then, Arnab Goswami’s team of lawyers have been running pillar to post, knocking the doors of the Sessions Court to the Supreme Court, but have remained unsuccessful in getting the senior journalist out of jail.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the interim bail plea of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami tomorrow. Arnab had moved Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court dismissed his petition for interim bail in 2018 abetment to suicide case on Monday. The petition has been filed by Arnab’s lawyer today at 10.30 am. Moreover, the Alibaug Sessions court which had yesterday shifted Arnab Goswami’s regular bail plea hearing for today has once again shifted the hearing for the day after tomorrow (Thursday). 

‘We are living in house arrest like conditions for the past 10 days’: OTV MD Jagi Mangat Panda’s father seeks protection from HM Amit Shah

OpIndia Staff
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‘We are living in house arrest like conditions for the past 10 days’: OTV MD Jagi Mangat Panda’s father seeks protection from HM Amit Shah

Randhir Singh, father of OTV MD Jagi Mangat Panda, has issued a video appeal to the Union Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, seeking protection from the excesses of the police officials against his family and employees at the channel’s studio in Sarua, Khordha, under the pretext of carrying an investigation into a land issue.

“The family members and employees are living under house-arrest like conditions for the last 10 days due to unprecedented police aggression. I have never seen police officials behaving like goondas. They had entered premises at 3 am and arrested our site head. We and the villagers are working to provide hundreds of jobs but the government has made this place hell. Police say they have orders from the top. I urge Amit Shah ji to deploy forces and protect us,” Singh said.

In the video, Singh had lamented that the police officials have forced his family members and the employees to live in house-arrest like conditions for the last 10 days and urged the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take cognisance of the matter and deploy central troops for their protection.

Singh also added that his family, along with villagers have been working tirelessly to build and create thousands of jobs in the area but the police have been relentlessly targeting them. “The government has made this place a hell. Every time we approach them, cops say they have orders from the top,” he said.

OTV Sarua site in-charge arrested by the police in the dead of the night

It is pertinent to note here that at the site in-charge at Sarua, Anirudhha Panda, was arrested by a group of policemen at 3 AM on Tuesday. The posse of about 15-20 police officials climbed the boundary walls of the studio and hustled away Panda in the dead of the night without offering any reason.

According to OTV, the team of policemen broke into the room in which Panda was sleeping and treated him like a hardened criminal before hauling him away. He was arrested by the police as he did not respond to the summons sent regarding the written complaint filed against him. Before Panda, 3 other employees working with the OTV were arrested in 20 cases, leaving little doubt amongst many of the state-sponsored harassment against the company employees.

A host of allegations have been levelled against OTV and its affiliate organisations. Odisha Infratech Private Ltd (OIPL), a sister concern of OTV Network is accused of usurping land belonging to some members of SC community in Sarua village in Khurda district.

OTV MD Jagi Mangat Panda alleges political vendetta

Earlier, OTV MD Jagi Mangat Panda, the wife of BJP politician Baijayant Panda, issued an appeal to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to bring an end to the months-long harassment of the media house and its workers on some sudden allegations.

In a press statement released by Panda, she had asked the Odisha government to investigate all the allegations levelled against them but asked him to stop harassing the employees, forcing many to tender their resignations. She has alleged that her organisation’s fearless coverage of allegations of government corruption has invited the wrath of the Patnaik government against the OTV Network.

“All of Odisha is aware that this is only because OTV fearlessly covers allegations of government corruption. But we cover ALL news, which sometimes is in favour of the government and sometimes is against it, and our viewers can vouch for this neutrality,” she added.

Pakistan: Christian mother and her son brutally lynched to death by an Islamist mob over blasphemy

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Christian mother and her son brutally lynched to death by an Islamist mob over blasphemy

A Christian woman named Yasmin and her son Usman Masih were brutally killed by a Muslim mob led by Muhammad Hassan and others in Kathor Kalan village in Gujranwala, Pakistan.

The gruesome lynching of the Christian mother-son duo reportedly took place in the name of blasphemy. According to activist Rahat Austin, Yasmin was shot dead by Mohammad Hassan. His son, severely injured, died minutes later as he desperately clung to his wife’s hands while his two daughters saw their father dying.

The activist further mentions that the crowd gathered at the spot watched the specter of violence unleashed against the Christian family, with none of them coming forward to help them.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s remarks rationalising Samuel Paty’s killing emboldens fundamentalists

The incident which has its roots in blasphemy occurred days after Pakistani Prime Minister issued a clarion call to the Islamic world to unite against ‘growing Islamophobia’ in the aftermath of the merciless beheading of a French teacher, Samuel Paty. He was killed and decapitated for showing the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in his classroom.

Paty’s decapitation had triggered sharp disapproval from French President Emmanuel Macron, who raised concern over the ominous spread of Islamism and emphasised the need to foster an “Islam of enlightenment”. Macron’s sharp rebuke was also accompanied by sweeping measures ordered by the French government to suppress extremism.

Macron’s statement and action instituted by France in the aftermath of the Samuel Paty killing served as fodder for the leaders of the Islamic world, who made a beeline to rationalise the blasphemous murder of the French teacher and lay the blame on the Western world for hurting the religious sensitivities of the Muslims.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and several others issued incendiary statements, with a view to gin up anti-western sentiments and justify violence in the name of blasphemy. Many believe such rationalising remarks from Islamic leaders have served to embolden the fundamentalists in their respective countries to take a more hardened approach to deal with the criticism of Islam.

Plight of minorities in Pakistan and rising cases of violence over blasphemy

As such Pakistan has a poor record of safeguarding its minorities population and blasphemy is used as an instrument to target the minorities. Christian and Hindu minorities in Pakistan live under a constant threat of being persecuted by the Muslim extremists in the country. Girls belonging to the minority communities are routinely abducted, forcibly married and converted into Islam by the Muslim fundamentalists. Non-compliance or resistance have often led to their murder.

Just a few days back, another killing over blasphemy had come to the fore in Pakistan. A bank manager was shot dead by the security guard over a purported blasphemy allegation. Videos of the crowd cheering the security guard for killing the Bank Manager had gone viral on the internet.

In one such viral video shared by Pakistani activist Rahat Austin, Ahmad Nawaz, the security guard who shot a manager of the National Bank of Pakistan branch in Quaidabad tehsil of Khushab, accusing him of blasphemy, is seen leading a fanatic crowd of supporters which greets him and raises slogans in his favour as they walk together on the street. Amidst loud cheers and slogans, one person appears from the crowd and kisses the guard.

Even the Pakistani legal system appears to side with the fundamentalists as far as blasphemy is concerned. In September 2020, a Pakistani court in Lahore convicted a Christian man to death under the controversial ‘blasphemy’ law. The Lahore Session Court sentenced 37-year-old Asif Pervaiz Masih for insulting Islam and sending ‘blasphemous’ texts to a former supervisor at work. Masih was arrested in 2013 for alleged blasphemy.

Recently, in a brutal incident, an elderly man belonging to the minority Islamic sect of Ahmadiyyas, who was facing a trial for ‘blasphemy’, was shot dead in front of the judge in a local court situated in a high-security zone in Pakistan’s Peshawar city.

Tahir Ahmad Naseem, who was arrested on the charges of blasphemy two years ago, died on the spot in the court of Additional Session Judge Shaukatullah Khan after being shot at. The man on trial was facing charges for ‘insulting’ the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

After the incident, shockingly, the Islamists in Pakistan had turned Khalid Khan—the man who shot dead Tahir Ahmed Naseem into a ‘hero’ as people took to social media to hail him as the ‘Lion of Islam’ for killing the ‘blasphemer’.

In a similar case, Aasia Bibi, a 48-year-old mother of four was convicted in 2010 for insulting Islam. She maintained her innocence but spent eight years in solitary confinement. Later she was acquitted by the Pakistan Supreme Court and had to escape to Canada. Salman Taseer, who was the former Punjab governor was also killed by his own guard in 2011 after he sought mercy for Asia Bibi. 

Bihar elections: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM a vote cutter, calls it BJP’s ‘tact’

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar elections: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM a vote cutter, calls it BJP’s ‘tact’

While the NDA is locked in a heated battle in Bihar against the Mahagathbandhan, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), a “vote cutter”. Chowdhury said that the AIMIM was a “tact” of the BJP in Bihar elections. He asked all “secular” parties to beware of Owaisi.

As of now, Owaisi’s party has won one seat and is leading on four seat in Bihar. AIMIN had fielded Akgtarul Iman from Amour assembly constituency, Muhammad Izhar Asfi from Kochadhamam assembly constituency, Shahnawaz Alam from Jokihat assembly constituency, Syed Rknuddin from Baisi assembly constituency and Azhar Nayeemi from Bahadurgunj assembly constituency.

Chowdhury said that Owaisi has been used by the BJP to target the Congress. “We were assured of a victory in Bihar but then some smaller parties cost us. Owaisi’s party has played a role in cutting our votes, Owaisi has been used by the BJP to target us”, said Chowdhury. He added that BJP also used Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to cut down the votes of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).

AIMIM has fielded its candidates on 20 assembly seats in Bihar. Congress had termed Owaisi party as BJP’s B-team before the final phase of voting in Bihar. Congress had questioned as to why AIMIM had fielded its candidates on 20 seats in Bihar while it had contested on 9 seats only in Telangana. It is not just Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who is wary of Owaisi, Mamata Banerjee also appears to be particularly concerned about the AIMIM.

As the NDA was racing ahead of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar earlier in the day, the opposition leaders have started coming up with creative justifications from declaring AIMIM BJP’s B-team to the usual EVM tampering.

Meet Pushpam Priya Choudhary and the Plurals party, which was likely dumped by its own workers in Bihar elections

OpIndia Staff
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Meet Pushpam Priya Choudhary and the Plurals party, which was likely dumped by its own workers in Bihar elections

There are heartbreaking stories in politics and then there are stories that cripple your faith in humanity and leave you in tears on your bed, unable to summon the will to lift yourself up and go on about your life normally. The story of Pushpam Priya Choudhary and the Plurals party, unfortunately, falls in the latter category.

By any measure, Pushpam Priya Choudhary is a highly accomplished woman. According to her website, she completed her masters in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. Subsequently, she pursued Master of Public Administration at The London School of Economics & Political Science.

The Plurals party (Source: official party website)

At LSE, she studied Political Science, Political Philosophy, Public Administration, Economics, Philosophy for Public Policy, Social Policy and Political Communication. She returned to India in 2019 with the sole objective of building a better Bihar. Alas! To be so educated and duped by ordinary men and women of Bihar.

Pushpam Priya Choudhary co-founded the Plurals party with Anupam Suman, a former civil servant who also happens to be a graduate from the LSE and the University of Wales in the United Kingdom. The agenda for the party is the “complete transformation of Bihar”. The party says, “Plurals will strive against the contrived economic, social and political conditions to build a Bihar where every life is unquestionably equally valuable.”

Its website states, “Our mission is to revive the moribund economy of Bihar; to create a new Bihar that produces, innovates and invests to become the most well governed and developed state in the country by 2025 and one of the best liveable places in the world by 2030. Plurals will do so through evidence based policy making that stems from positive and programmatic politics.”

The agenda for the Plurals party includes “Everyone Governs”, “Putting the last first”, “Decentralisation”, “Anti-paternalism” and “Integration of multiple-realities”. By anti-paternalism, the party means that “Government is not the parent of people and thus it has no right to set paternalistic draconian rules.” By ‘integration’, it means, “We all have different realities and therefore different problems. These realities should be integrated by effective policy-making. Bihar is a state of immense potential but ‘one size fit all’ cannot work in Bihar as it is very diverse.”

All of this sounds very fancy, however, what was not fancy was how Pushpam Priya Choudhary reacted to the Bihar election results. Instead of accepting the results in good spirit, she resorted to accusations of EVM tampering. According to her, the BJP stole the votes that were casted for her in the polls.

Pushpam Priya Choudhary claims her votes were stolen

“EVM HACKED IN BIHAR!” She railed in one tweet of hers.

Pushpam Priya Choudhary claims EVMs were hacked

Pushpam Priya Choudhary was remarkably specific in her allegations of EVM tampering. She claimed that BJP rigged the elections and transferred all the votes casted in her favour to the NDA in all booths.

Plurals party founder claims BJP rigged the elections

However, since we know for a fact that EVMs cannot be tampered with and there have been enough occasions in the past when even opposition party leaders have confirmed their integrity apart from Supreme Court upholding the same, we had to believe that there must be a better explanation somewhere for her misguided confidence.

Fortunately for us, Pushpam Priya Choudhary was kind enough to provide evidence for the same herself. It appears that she was hoodwinked by the karyakartas of her own party who knew better than to trust her political competence. She claimed that even in booths where karyakartas of her party voted in front of her, her tally was zero.

Under such circumstances, where the infallibility of EVMs are assured, it is almost guaranteed that Pushpam Priya Choudhary was fooled by her own karyakartas. Of course, it is a bitter pill to swallow for any politician, to be betrayed by one’s own party men, but most times, acceptance of core realities is the best path forward.

Pushpam Priya Choudhary likely got betrayed by her own karyalartas

The Bihar elections 2020 did not work out too well for Pushpam Priya Choudhary but one hopes that she has learnt valuable lessons over the course of the election campaign that would help her in the future. One does hope that she will contest elections in the years to come as well since having a meltdown on social media is no way to end one’s political career, and her participation would continue to put a smile on the faces of citizens across the political spectrum.

The results of the Bihar elections 2020 have not been settled yet. While the NDA appeared to have pulled ahead earlier in the day, the Mahagathbandhan had caught up with them as of the time of writing this report. They are going neck and neck and the NDA has fallen below the majority mark.

The importance of Dubbaka, BJP’s win in the by-elections and how Raghunandan Rao achieved the impossible

S. Sudhir Kumar
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The importance of Dubbaka, BJP’s win in the by-elections and how Raghunandan Rao achieved the impossible

While most people in the country were (obviously) interested in the results of the Bihar elections and probably Madhya Pradesh by-elections too, a very gripping story was building up in the bye-election results of the Dubbaka constituency in Telangana. The tension was increasing with every passing round. While BJP maintained a lead in the early rounds, the TRS picked up in the later rounds (even picking up a slender overall lead at end of round 19) but the BJP bounced back again, eventually winning the seat by – 1100 votes! 

Now, Dubbaka is an interesting Assembly constituency. Dubbaka’s neighbouring constituencies are Gajwel (represented by KCR), Siricilla (represented by KCR’s son, KTR) and Siddipet (represented by KCR’s powerful nephew, T. Harish Rao)! With such powerful neighbours, one would easily assume that the election will be a cakewalk for the TRS party! Congress is anyway a sinking boat. BJP lost deposit in Dubbaka constituency in the 2018 election. T. Harish Rao was made in charge for this election, and yet again people assumed that since Harish Rao doesn’t lose elections, this is a done deal for the party. 

Except that the BJP and people had different plans. BJP’s candidate in Dubbaka (in 2018 and now) is one of the most prominent faces of the party in the state – Raghunandan Rao. He is a spokesperson of the party; is the party’s face on most TV debates; is articulate; is aggressive enough to match the style of TRS; is a lawyer; has been in politics for a long time; is a native of Dubbaka and was with TRS since inception and joined BJP post-2014 because his growth in the party was being stunted by KCR and Harish Rao. Today, Raghunandan Rao is at the centre stage at what can very well be the most defining moment of the state BJP. 

In the 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana, the TRS party, led by KCR, won a whopping 88/119 seats. BJP had won just 1 seat and lost deposits in a whopping 106 seats! KCR was actually hoping to win 100 seats. So, within just 3 months, he had further inducted 12 Congress MLAs (out of 19 total) into the TRS bandwagon – thereby taking TRS’s number to 100! With friendly MIM having 7 seats, you can very well imagine the control KCR had on the Assembly.  

The first rude awakening came to KCR in the form of 2019 LS elections, because 1) His daughter lost her Lok Sabha seat (Nizamabad), and 2)  BJP also won the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat – the home turf of his son KTR! A shock to the dynasty was something no pollster could remotely predict. Both the BJP and Congress won 4 seats each (out of a total of 17), but the BJP wins were also credited to the Modi wave of 2019.  

The BJP still didn’t have a strong voice in the Legislative Assembly. With the numbers you have seen above, you can now very well imagine how the Assembly sessions progress here. There is occasional friendly fire between MIM and TRS leaders; no one cares about what Congress MLAs speak; BJP’s lone MLA T. Raja Singh is no match when it comes to preparing deftly on various policy-related issues or catchy phrases to grab eyeballs/headlines; TRS and KCR get hours and hours of talking time on the basis of their strength in the house and equally large space in the media. 

In addition to continuing to focus on the delivery of many of PM Modi’s flagship schemes, the BJP needed faces and voices that were as aggressive yet articulate as KCR, KTR, Harish Rao etc. They found those faces and voices in leaders like the newly appointed BJP President, Karimnagar MP, Bandi Sanjay Kumar; another MP, D. Arvind (who beat KCR’s daughter) etc. In addition, the party at the national level gave the good position to a few OBC leaders, thereby extending their outreach. Whilst the building up of a new BJP was happening, the sitting TRS MLA of Dubbaka assembly constituency passed away, thereby necessitating a by-election. 

Raghunandan Rao hit the streets well before the party announced his name. His articulation helped him cash in on the rising resentment against KCR. Sensing the mood, TRS deployed their entire party machinery to fight Raghunandan Rao and the BJP. Some analysts even saw this as KCR’s ploy to control his nephew Harish Rao (a loss here would be Harish Rao’s responsibility. Remember – While the son and daughter lost their home turfs in 2019, TRS handsomely won the Medak LS seat for which Harish Rao was the in-charge). 

The new BJP also didn’t back off. They went equally aggressive in their campaigning. The state police raided the houses of Raghunandan Rao’s relatives (I, along with many, had wondered why KCR is resorting to such tactics. It is clear now!), lathi-charged the BJP state President, and KTR even alleged that the BJP is trying to foment communal disturbances (isn’t it cute how everyone falls back to this argument!). Nothing stopped the BJP’s aggressiveness – the cadre and leader alike took up this challenge and put in their sweat to beat the TRS. 

One cannot think of a better MLA than Raghunandan Rao to represent the BJP in the Assembly. His articulation would certainly amp up the debate quotient in the Assembly (today, it’s a one-way street in the Assembly). This is the BJP that the Modi-Shah combination wants to nurture across the country. The 2018 state unit wasn’t up to the mark for this. The new BJP has realised what many other state units are doing and has begun to put in the hard work. Dubbaka victory is undoubtedly one of the greatest first steps towards further growth. The party now has an uphill task ahead to live up to this expectation and emulate this across various areas of the state. Exciting times lie ahead for the state’s political scenarios! 

Goa: College teacher compares women wearing Mangalsutra to chained dogs, FIR registered

OpIndia Staff
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Goa: College teacher compares women wearing Mangalsutra to chained dogs, FIR registered

A woman named Shilpa Singh who works as an Assistant Professor at a law college in Goa has been booked for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus by posting derogatory comments against women wearing Mangalsutra on Facebook. According to reports, an FIR was lodged against Shilpa Singh on the complaint of Rajiv Jha, a resident of Ponda.

On October 31, 2020, Jha had filed a complaint with the cyber cell of Goa police against Shilpa Singh with respect to a Facebook post dated April 21, 2020, in which she had allegedly compared women wearing Mangalsutra to chained dogs while criticising patriarchy and social dogma. In his complaint, Jha had stated that Singh, whos teaches political science at VM Salgaocar College of Law, Panaji, should be booked for “passing derogatory comments on social media mocking Hindu religion, traditions, faith and belief”.

Before that, a complaint was filed by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to VM Salgaocar College of Law on October 9 seeking Singh’s termination stating that she was promoting hateful thoughts against a particular religion during her online lectures. The college refused to act on ABVP’s complaint stating that it did not have the locus standi to raise objections against her teaching. It also refused to issue a termination order against Singh.

Responding to ABVP’s complaint, Singh had told the college that the complaint was an attempt to tarnish her academic credentials. Singh has also filed a complaint with the police after she allegedly received abusive and threatening messages after Jha’s abusive social media post on October 30.

Two FIRs have been registered by police on the basis of complaints filed by Rajiv Jha and Shilpa Singh. “Shilpa Singh has been booked under IPC section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings). Rajiv Jha, a resident of Ponda has been booked under IPC sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke break of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting modesty of woman)”, told SP (North Goa) Utkrisht Prasoon.

“The above noted person having a Facebook profile in the name of Shilpa Surendra Pratap Singh knowingly uploaded a post through the Facebook account in the public domain with deliberate and malicious intention outraged religious feelings of the complainant, thereby insulted religious belief, thus committed offence under section 295 A IPC” , reads the FIR filed against Singh.

Shilpa Singh is Hinduphobic: Rajiv Jha

Rajiv Jha told the Indian Express that he and Singh are not Facebook friends but they have mutual friends. He said that after ABVP’s complaint against Singh, he saw her Facebook post. “I first approached Panaji police on October 28 and a written note asked that she should seek a public apology. Since they (police) didn’t react…we again went with a new complaint the next day (October 29)”, said Jha. “If she has thoughts (on religion), she should keep it to herself, and not publicise on social media. She is a professor; if this is what she writes here, I wonder what she must be teaching her students”, he added.

Jha said that organisations like Rashtriya Hindu Yuva Vahini, its women’s wing, Parshuram Gomantak Sena and Brahmin Parishad are supporting him.

I see myself as an intellectual: Shilpa Singh

Defending her views, Shilpa Singh termed the FIR a conspiracy to defame, humiliate, and break her down. “As education is not merely rote learning, I try my best to impact critical tools necessary for students of political science to understand and analyse the complexities, contradictions and emergent power relations animating the realm of politics in the world. As a teacher, I would not be fulfilling my duty, if I teach them in a sterile manner without enriching my students with real life examples that supplement the theoretical content of their source…I suspect that having failed at intimidating me at my workplace and having failed to humiliate me by getting me sacked, the present day demand for FIR and police action against me on account of my opinion on social media is just another ploy in the course of a conspiracy to defame, humiliate and break me down”, she said.

Calling herself an “intellectual”, Singh posted an apology on Facebook on November 8 regarding her post on Mangalsutra. In her Facebook apology she said that her views were taken out of context. She wrote, ” I wish to express my regret to my fellow women if any of my Facebook posts have hurt and offended them. I am aware that one of my Facebook posts was in the eye of the storm due to my personal views on Mangalsutra and Burqa and it was taken totally out of context”.

Screenshot of her apology on Facebook

She said that she would continue to “fight” and raise her voice against patriarchy and women’s oppression and would continue her fight for women’s equality and freedom.

SC to hear bail plea of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on Wednesday, Sessions Court postpones hearing to Thursday: Details

OpIndia Staff
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SC to hear bail plea of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on Wednesday, Sessions Court postpones hearing to Thursday: Details

The Supreme Court will be hearing the interim bail plea of Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami tomorrow. Arnab had moved Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court dismissed his petition for interim bail in 2018 abetment to suicide case on Monday. The petition has been filed by Arnab’s lawyer today at 10.30 am. The case will come for hearing before a two-judge bench comprising of Justice DY Chandrachud and Indira Bannerjee.

Meanwhile, the Alibaug Sessions court had yesterday shifted Arnab Goswami’s regular bail plea hearing for today. After the Bombay High Court refused to grant interim relief to Arnab Goswami, he had moved the Alibaug Sessions Court for regular bail in the Anvay Naik abetment to suicide case. After subsequent hearing, the sessions court has postponed the hearing for the day after tomorrow. The police have argued that if the sessions court grants police custody, the bail plea becomes infructuous. The sessions court has decided to hear the bail application and the revision petition by the Mumbai police, challenging judicial custody of Arnab Goswami and demanding police custody, day after tomorrow (Thursday).

A division bench of the Bombay HC comprising Justice SS Shinde and MS Karnik on Monday directed the Sessions Court to decide on Arnab Goswami’s bail plea within 4 days of his filing the petition. As the bail plea was moved on Monday, the Alibag Sessions Court shall have to rule on the petition by Friday. 

Mumbai police continues to target Arnab Goswami and Republic TV employees

Amidst all this, Mumbai police’s witch-hunt against Republic TV and its employees continues unabated. The Mumbai police picked up Republic TV’s Assistant VP Ghanshyam today morning. Later he was produced in the Qila court with his head covered in a black cloth. The shocking visuals shared by Republic TV showed a man, presumably Ghanshyam Singh, with his head covered in a black cloth, led by men in plain clothes in the Qila court premises.

Prior to this, there were reports on how, the Mumbai police, in a bid to harass and intimidate the journalist, sent a team of 10 police officers to question him. After physically assaulting and arresting him over unfounded allegations, the Mumbai police reportedly sent a team of 10 police officers to interrogate Arnab Goswami in the Taloja jail on Monday.

Unable to accept her party’s dismal performance, Congress leader fumes on Bihari voters, calls them ‘poor and greedy’

OpIndia Staff
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Unable to accept her party’s dismal performance, Congress leader fumes on Bihari voters, calls them ‘poor and greedy’

Congress leader Archana Dalmia, currently serving as Chairperson of the party’s Grievances Cell, has posted controversial tweets mocking the voters of Bihar for not voting them. In the first tweet, she said that the poor people of Bihar seem to have fallen for the ‘fake promise’ of free Covid vaccine.

Controversial state by Congress leader

She claimed if people did not get 15-lakh as “promised” by PM Narendra Modi, they should at least ask for a free vaccine. In the second tweet, she alleged it seems BJP had successfully lured poor people of Bihar to vote NDA for free Covid vaccine. In the process, she indirectly called the voters of Bihar greedy.

Dalmiya seems to have been having a hard time accepting her party’s abysmal performance in Bihar and as a result, has been blaming the voters in Bihar, stereotyping them as poor and greedy.

Providing vaccine for free is a state matter

When BJP released the manifesto for Bihar elections, they promised free vaccine for every citizen of the state if they come back to power. At that time, the opposition parties claimed that the central government is luring the voters for the free vaccine. They also alleged that NDA wants to give the free vaccine to only one state.

In a fact-check done by OpIndia, we found that the allegations were completely wrong. On 22nd October, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that BJP promises a free Covid vaccine for the people of Bihar if NDA comes back in power. Soon after, several media personalities and leaders alleged that the Centre is providing free vaccine only for Bihar to win the assembly elections.

However, the truth is that under the existing immunisation programme, the Union government makes the vaccines available to states at a nominal rate. Making the vaccines available to the citizens for free is the state’s prerogative. Also, aiding vaccine development is one of the aspects covered under the PMCARES fund.

The ’15 lakh promise’ is another lie that has been repeated ad nauseam by sullen Congress leaders when they fail bring up any credible issue to criticise the BJP government.

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