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Serum Institute halts trials of Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in India after DCGI notice

OpIndia Staff
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Serum Institute halts trials of Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in India after DCGI notice

A day after the Serum Institute of India (SII) was issued a notice by country’s pharma regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the pharma company said it was halting the Oxford coronavirus vaccine trials in the country.

According to the reports, Serum Institute of India has put on hold trials of AstraZeneca’s potential coronavirus vaccine in the country until the British drugmaker restarts the trails. The SII is manufacturing Oxford University’s ‘Covishield vaccine’ in collaboration with UK’s AstraZeneca.

Serum said on Thursday that it was following the DCGI’s directions and added that they would not be able to comment further on the issue.

“We are reviewing the situation and pausing India trials till AstraZeneca restarts the trials. We are following Drug Controller General of India’s (DGCI) instructions and will not be able to comment further on trials,” the Serum institute said.

DGCI issues notice to Serum Institute

Earlier, the DGCI had issued a notice to the Serum institute for not informing them about AstraZeneca halting their clinical trials in other countries and for not submitting casualty analysis of the “reported serious adverse events”.

The regulator asked SII to demonstrate why its clinical trial license should not be suspended until the safety of the vaccine is established. AstraZeneca had paused its clinical trials worldwide after a participant had developed an unexplained illness during the study.

“We are going by DCGI’s direction and so far we’re not told to pause the trials. If DCGI has any safety concerns, we will follow their instructions and abide by the standard protocols,” the Serum institute had said after receiving the notice on Wednesday.

In June, the Pune-based vaccine major had got DCGI nod to conduct Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had raised hopes in the country as it was considered as a possible preventive measure against the Chinese pandemic.

Along with AstraZeneca’s vaccine, trials are also going on for ICMR-Bharat Biotech’s ‘Covaxine‘ and Zydus Cadila’s ‘ZyCoV-D‘ for the country’s first coronavirus vaccine. 

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad points out how judiciary’s independence was compromised by the ‘ecosystem’ decades earlier

OpIndia Staff
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Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad points out how judiciary’s independence was compromised by the ‘ecosystem’ decades earlier

In an article written by Union Minister for Law and Justice and Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad published in the Indian Express, he launched a scathing attack on the recent trend of the opposition of launching vicious attacks on the judiciary in order to undermine its credibility and at the same time resorting to motivated litigation to hamper the issues that are not to their liking. Prasad also remembered the famous seer HH Kesavananda Bharati who recently passed away. His petition had led to the passing of the landmark judgment delivered by a Bench of 13 judges that introduced the doctrine of basic structure. The Doctrine of Basic structure implies that there are certain fundamental of basic features in the Constitution that cannot be altered, even by way of a constitutional amendment.

In his article, Prasad gave a glimpse of the tainted ‘legacy’ of the Congress party which is full of attempts of muzzling the judiciary. Here are the highlights of his piece:

  • After the landmark judgment establishing the Basic Structure Doctrine in the Kesavananda Bharati, Justice Sikri retired the next day but contrary to the convention his successor was not announced before his retirement. For the first time in the history of India after independence, the office of the Chief Justice of India was filled by superseding the deserving judges. The three judges (Justices J M Shelat, K S Hegde and A N Grover) on the Bench who had supported the Basic Structure Doctrine were superseded by the Congress government and Justice A N Ray who had opposed the doctrine was made the Chief Justice of India.
  • Soon after Justice Ray was appointed as the CJI, another Bench was constituted to ‘review’ the decision in the Kesavananda Bharati case. (However, the proceeding was abandoned. No record of that review proceeding is found as there were restrictions on the press reporting of the judgments.)
  • Prasad was a student activist in the movement against corruption and misrule which was led by Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan. After the Allahabad High Court verdict (delivered by Justice Jahgmohan Lal Sinha) which had set aside Indira Gandhi’s election to Lok Sabha, the Emergency was imposed resulting in the arrest of opposition leaders. An amendment was then passed to validate Indira Gandhi’s election retrospectively and was even upheld by the Supreme Court.
  • A large number of arrests were made during the Emergency including arrests of politicians and newspaper editors. Even the High Court judges who had upheld the freedom of the people who were detained, were not confirmed. In the infamous ADM Jabalpur case, wherein the majority of judges had held that individual liberty could be suspended during the Emergency, Justice H R Khanna emerged as the sole dissenting voice upholding individual liberty. However, this cost him the position of the CJI. The Congress government once again superseded Justice Khanna who was the senior-most judge and appointed Justice Beg as the CJI.
  • Prasad mentioned that some of the leaders in the top brass of the BJP including PM Modi, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, late Sushma Swaraj, late Arun Jaitley, current BJP President JP Nadda and himself had suffered while opposing the Emergency.
  • Attacking the Congress party, he said that the people who now run motivated campaigns expressing artificial concern for the independence of the judiciary have an ideological heritage of celebrating the superseding of judges and justifying the atrocities of the Emergency. On the other hand, the top leaders in the present government have a legacy of standing up for freedom of individuals, freedom of media and the independence of the judiciary.
  • Prasad also mentioned how a senior sitting judge of the Supreme Court (Justice P N Bhagwati) had written a congratulatory letter to Indira Gandhi on her coming to power in 1980.
  • The landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case which empowered the Muslim women was nullified by Rajiv Gandhi while PM Modi showed immense commitment by introducing the law against triple talaq after the Supreme Court judgment declaring the practice of triple talaq as unconstitutional.
  • He said that his party and the government is committed to the independence of the judiciary and are proud of the extraordinary legacy of the Supreme Court and the High Courts in pursuit of freedom, empowerment, equity and containment of corruption.
  • Pointing out the challenges to the independence of the judiciary in current times, Prasad explained how Public Interest Litigations (PILs) are filed and social media campaigns are launched to pressurise the judiciary into delivering the judgment of their liking. If the judgment is not as per their liking then a vicious campaign is launched against the judiciary which is an expression of the “my way or the highway” attitude in such people.
  • Comparing the Congress legacy with the rule of the current government, Prasad said that a number of adverse judgments have been delivered by the Supreme Court since the current government came to power including the judgment against the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC), setting aside of President rule in Uttarakhand and ordering a floor test, another similar judgment ordering floor test in Karnataka and a similar intervention in the case of Arunachal Pradesh Assembly.
  • He also listed some of the petitions pending before the Supreme Court against the government’s decision of abrogating Article 370 and passing the Citizenship Amendment Act as well as the frequent directions by the court in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. He said that certain people are disappointed as there are no allegations of corruption against the government these days which was the other way round under the UPA government.
  • He termed the unsuccessful attempts of the Congress Party to impeach the sitting CJI with the help of senior lawyers close Congress party and the subsequent petition after the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha refused to grant sanction of impeachment as the biggest blot o the independence of judiciary in recent times.
  • Prasad concluded by warning the opposition not to try to control the polity and governance through ‘collusive cases’ in the Supreme Court and other courts.

Read Sudarshan TV’s statement as Ministry of I and B allows the broadcast of channel’s programme on ‘UPSC jihad’

OpIndia Staff
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Read Sudarshan TV’s statement as Ministry of I and B allows the broadcast of channel’s programme on ‘UPSC jihad’

The Sudarshan News channel has finally received the nod of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to broadcast their programme named ‘Bindass Bol’ which is based on the so-called “UPSC Jihad” as claimed by the channel.

The Ministry has directed the channel to broadcast the program in adherence to the Programme Code. It was mentioned in the order of the Ministry that if the programme violated any law then the action may be taken against it.

The broadcast of the programme was earlier stayed by an order of the Delhi High Court. The order was passed on the petition of some students of Jamia Millia Islamia University in which it was alleged that the programme could incite hatred against Muslims. The Chief Editor of Sudarshan News, Suresh Chavhanke, had earlier denied that having received the stay order of the High Court. He had also said that the proceedings in the court were conducted ex parte.

Sudarshan TV’s statement

In a statement, the Sudarshan TV has stated that the ministry has refused to ban their special ‘Bindas Bol’ programme and has acknowledged that no programme can be banned before its broadcast. It added that the ministry, citing the cable Act, 1994, stated that the law prohibits stay on a programme before its broadcast.

It said that on the channel’s appeal against the stay order, the court had sought the MIB’s reply within 48 hours.

The channel cited the MIB order as a victory for freedom of speech and stated that certain radical elements fro Jamia Millia have a plan to infiltrate into the nation’s bureaucracy through the UPSC. It also added that the programme will reveal the names of the radical organisations involved, and the countries which are funding their plan. It said that they will also expose how Islamist organisations from all over India are helping the radical elements to achieve its goal.

Sudarshan TV to broadcast programme on Friday, 11 September

Sudarshan News chief Suresh Chavanke has stated that the channel will broadcast their programme on Friday, 11 September at 8 pm.

In the trailer released by the channel relating to the controversial programme, Chavhanke had announced that the programme would be exposing how radical elements have been trying to infiltrate the UPSC. He had termed it as ‘bureaucracy Jihad’.

Contempt of Court proceeding sought against India Today employee Rajdeep Sardesai. Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Contempt of Court proceeding sought against India Today employee Rajdeep Sardesai. Read details

A petition has filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt proceedings against India Today employee Rajdeep Sardesai for his tweets on the suo-motu contempt case against Prashant Bhushan and judiciary.

According to the reports, the plea which sought contempt action against Rajdeep Sardesai for making comments against country’s judiciary stated that Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweets showed that these were “not only a cheap stunt of publicity among people but a deliberate attempt to spread hatred in form of Anti India campaign.”

The petitioner has also sought the consent of Attorney General KK Venugopal for initiating contempt proceedings against Rajdeep Sardesai.

Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court after the apex court had convicted controversial far-left activist Prashant Bhushan for making disrespectful remarks against the Supreme Court.

While it is not yet clear which tweet of his has warranted petition on contempt of court proceedings, here are the few tweets Rajdeep Sardesai had made after Supreme Court had found Prashant Bhushan guilty in the contempt proceedings against him.

In another tweet, Rajdeep Sardesai had criticised the Supreme Court over its ruling on Prashant Bhushan case while claiming that the apex court had time to hear contempt case while habeas corpus petitions of those detained in Kashmir was pending for more than a year.

He had also said that the contempt of court case agains Bhushan was an embarrassment of its own making by the Supreme Court. In one more tweet he had asked the courts on how to do their job.

The Contempt case against Prashant Bhushan

On August 31, the Supreme Court let off convicted senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, held guilty in contempt of court, with a nominal fine of Re 1. However, the court added that if Bhushan fails to pay a fine of Re 1, he will be sentenced to 3 months in jail and suspension of his lawyering for 3 months.

The case pertained to two tweets where Prashant Bhushan had cast aspersions against the Supreme Court and specifically, CJI Bobde.

The court had then granted additional time for Prashant Bhushan to consider providing an unconditional apology for his scurrilous remarks. However, in his vanity of portraying himself as Mahatma Gandhi, Bhushan refused to apologise, claiming to tender an apology would tantamount to “contempt of his conscience.”

Responding to the Supreme Court verdict asking Prashant Bhushan to pay a token fine of Re 1 for his tweets against the judiciary, the senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan issued a protracted statement, admitting to paying the fine but indicated that he would file a review petition against the order.

Sandalwood drug case: Serving and retired senior police officers were in touch with accused, says report

OpIndia Staff
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Sandalwood drug case: Serving and retired senior police officers were in touch with accused, says report

In a shocking disclosure, the Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is investigating the Sandalwood drug scandal, has said that some serving and retired police officers were trying to help the arrested suspects in the Sandalwood drugs scandal, reports Deccan Herald.

According to the report, CCB officials have stated that a retired IPS officer was in contact with Kannada actress Sanjjanaa Galrani until a day before her arrest on Tuesday. The officer said that a serving assistant commissioner had also been “updating” Viren Khanna on the progress of the investigation.

Sanjjanaa Galrani was arrested by the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru police in connection with the Sandalwood drug case. Another accused Viren Khanna, an event organiser who hosted lavish parties attended by celebritiess, foreigners and film actors, has also been arrested in the drugs case. 

Ragini Dwivedi consulted few police officers before arrest, says Deccan Herald report

Ragini Dwivedi, another Kananda actress arrested in the case, was in touch with a few police officers before her arrest, the report has stated. The retired IPS officer was in touch with Ragini, Sanjjanaa and Khanna, the officer added. The serving officer had also allegedly helped the son of a prominent MLA in a criminal case. 

Meanwhile, the CCB has launched their search for a close aide of an opposition party MLA, who had close contacts with Sanjjanaa. The MLA’s aide has escaped after police began an investigation into his whereabouts. The CCB has now summoned his parents to question them about his involvement in the drug case. The MLA’s aide had reportedly attended parties in Sri Lanka under the guise of a business trip. 

Sandalwood drug case

Amidst the raging debate in the country over the issue of narcotic influence in the movie industry, a massive drug scandal was unearthed by the Bengaluru police last week.

In a major crackdown against drug peddlers in the state, the Bengaluru police last week arrested some top actresses in the Kannada film industry over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

The Crime Branch officials in Bengaluru have arrested Kannada actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani in connection with a Sandalwood drug case. Many more actresses, musicians, are under the police scanner for their alleged links to the massive drug racket.

So far, the police have booked more than12 people in connection with the Sandalwood drug mafia case. The police have already arrested actor Ragini Dwivedi, her friend Ravishankar, realtor Rahul Shetty, actress Sanjjanaa Galrani and an event manager, Viren Khanna. All the accused have been booked them under Sections 21, 21C, 27A, 27B, and 29B of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. 

After NCPCR takes cognisance of OpIndia report, kidnapped minor Hindu girl rescued, accused Sabir arrested in Bihar

OpIndia Staff
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After NCPCR takes cognisance of OpIndia report, kidnapped minor Hindu girl rescued, accused Sabir arrested in Bihar

OpIndia had on August 28 reported about a 14-year-old minor girl being kidnapped by one Sabir, a father of four, from Bihar’s Madhubani district. Today Priyank Kunoongo, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has announced on Twitter that the 14-year-old minor girl has been rescued and the culprit has been arrested.

The Child Rights body chief said that Madhubani police who were summoned today had informed the commission about the same.

NCPCR took cognisance of the OpIndia report

It is pertinent to note here, that NCPCR had earlier taken cognisance of the OpIndia report. A day after we reported about the incident, Priyank Kunoongo had informed that the commission has spoken to the Superintendent of Police and have given necessary instructions. ‘The Commission will be constantly monitoring the matter’, Kunoongo had written.

Sabir, allegedly a married man, had kidnapped the minor Hindu girl

On August 28, OpIndia reported about the victim family’s plight. A married man and the father of multiple children, Sabir had kidnapped and his family had boasted about forcefully converting the 14-year-old minor girl from Naharniyan village under Harlakhi police station limits in Madhubani district of Bihar on August 20.

Family of the minor victim threatened

The girl’s brother, while speaking to OpIndia had informed how his sister, who had gone to a nearby field on August 20 morning did not return home. Initially, the victim’s family had refrained from complaining to police, fearing retaliation from the Muslims in the village. On 23 August 2020, the girl’s family had informed the police and complained about the kidnapping of his daughter. In the complaint, the girl’s father had accused Jabbar’s son Sabir alias Bablu of Naharniyan village of abducting his daughter.

The victims’ father said in the complaint that the Sabir’s family had threatened him with dire consequences. They had told him to do whatever he could but nothing could stop them from converting his daughter to Islam.

The Madhubani police had registered an FIR in the case on August 26 and had started investigating the matter, which got expedited after NCPCR got involved.

Twitter sends notice to Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer saying that his tweet violated laws of Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter sends notice to Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer saying that his tweet violated laws of Pakistan

On Thursday, micro-blogging site Twitter sent a notice Jihad Watch Director Robert Spencer after one of his tweets allegedly violated the laws of Pakistan.

Taking to Twitter, Robert Spencer said that Twitter has sent him a notice in connection with a tweet he had posted in April 2018. The notice issued to him by Twitter said that they had received a complaint from Pakistan stating that one of his tweets had violated laws of Pakistan.

The popular micro-blogging site Twitter, in its notice, said that even though they were not initiating action against Robert Spencer, it was their policy to notify their users if they receive a legal request from an authorised entity against any specific tweets.

Below is the tweet that was posted by Robert Spencer on April 19, 2018, in which he had shared cartoons of Prophet Muhammad created by  American cartoonist Bosch Fawstin. The cartoons of Prophet Muhammad may have triggered Islamists from Pakistan, who ended up registering a complaint with Twitter against Spencer’s post.

The director of Jihad Watch Robert Spencer, responding to the notice, slammed the Twitter officials for infringing upon the freedom of speech by sending such notice. Spencer alleged that the ‘leftist clowns’ of Twitter were behaving as if Islamic blasphemy law applied to people outside of Sharia domains.

Questioning the Twitter over its arbitrary notice to him, Spencer asked what laws of Pakistan did he broke that prompted Twitter officials to send a notice to him. He also asked whether Twitter sent him that notice because it cared for alleged Sharia violations.

“In sending out these notices, Twitter is behaving as if Islamic blasphemy law applied to people outside of Sharia domains. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been working for years at the UN to compel Western countries to criminalize criticism of Islam (under the guise of prohibiting “incitement to religious hatred),” said Robert Spencer.

Continuing to question Twitter over its notice, Spencer added, “Twitter is doing the bidding of the OIC with apparent alacrity. No one seems to ask the social media giants why they have decided to internationalize Sharia restrictions on speech rather than US protections on free expression.”

Delhi High Court asks Arnab Goswami to exercise restraint in reporting on Sunanda Pushkar death case, says media cannot run a parallel trial

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi High Court asks Arnab Goswami to exercise restraint in reporting on Sunanda Pushkar death case, says media cannot run a parallel trial

Delhi High Court has directed Republic TV’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami to tone down the rhetoric and exercise restraint in broadcasting program on the Sunanda Pushkar death case. The court said that Goswami should exercise restrain till the court disposes of Shashi Tharoor’s plea seeking an injunction against alleged defamatory broadcasting.

On 9th September, Republic TV ran a show on Sunanda Pushkar case, saying that they are ‘reopening’ the case.

The court has issued a notice to Goswami seeking a reply. Justice Mukta Gupta said that as the case is still under investigation, the media should refrain itself from running a parallel trial. It is not the media’s job to call someone guilty or make unsubstantiated claims, the court remarked.

The court has passed the orders after hearing the plea moved by Shashi Tharoor seeking an interim injunction against Arnab Goswami to restrain him from broadcasting any report related to the death of Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar as the case is pending. Tharoor requested the court to order Goswami not to broadcast any defaming show against him.

2017 orders restrained Goswami from broadcasting shows on Sunanda Pushkar case

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Shashi Tharoor. He said that in the charge sheet filed in the Sunanda Pushkar case, there is no mention of the incident being a murder. However, Goswami claimed in his show that there is no doubt that the death of Sunanda Pushkar was a murder. Sibal pointed out that the court had ordered Goswami in 2017 to observe restrain and not to conduct any media trial. However, Goswami continued to broadcast defamatory content against Shashi Tharoor, Sibal alleged.

While considering previous orders, the court said, “‘when a case under abetment to suicide is made out in the charge-sheet, why are you still saying that murder has been committed. Were you there at the spot, are you an eye-witness? You must understand and respect the sanctity of criminal investigation and the various contours of it. Just because there’s a bite mark, it doesn’t amount to murder. Do you even know what constituted a murder? You need first to understand what murder is before claiming that a murder took place.”

Court observed media cannot run parallel trials

Malvika Trivedi, Arnab Goswami’s counsel, said before the court that there is credible evidence based on the statement of an AIIMS doctor. The court asked the counsel if she knows how evidence is collected and appreciated in a criminal trial. The court further added, “There’s no gagging of the media, but the law also prohibits media trial.”

The court said that the agency authorized to conduct an investigation has already filed a charge sheet in which they have prima facie concluded that the case involved abetment to suicide bit, not murder. The court added, ‘Press has to exercise care and caution while reporting criminal matters under the investigation.” While ordering Goswami to exercise restraint, the court added, “this has to be strictly complied with, otherwise consequences will follow.”

Kejriwal takes on Goa: Spends lakhs in COVID-19 advertising and ‘opinion surveys’ in Goa amid rising coronavirus cases in Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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Kejriwal takes on Goa: Spends lakhs in COVID-19 advertising and ‘opinion surveys’ in Goa amid rising coronavirus cases in Delhi

On Wednesday, the Aam Aadmi Party-led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a campaign “Goans against Corona” to prevent the citizens from getting infected from the Chinese virus even as coronavirus cases continue to soar in Delhi. Delhi recorded over 4,000 positive cases, highest in weeks.

Ads by AAP in Goa newspapers

According to the reports, AAP announced a campaign intending to help coronavirus patients in the state and educate people about the infection.

AAP Goa State Convener Elvis Gomes also launched a missed call campaign and urged the people of Goa to register for the campaign to avail coronavirus information and health tips with regards to the pandemic through WhatsApp.

“I am happy to announce the launch of this campaign, I am sure that the unified effort of Goans will help defeat corona. This is one of the largest activities that AAP Goa will be undertaking and we are very thankful to so many Goemkars who have come forward to support us in this initiative,” said Elvis Gomes.

The AAP criticising the Goa government claimed that Delhi has set an example by effectively handling coronavirus cases. The Delhi CM took all the stakeholders and even the opposition parties into confidence and chalked out a strategy to curb the cases and the situation is going out of control in Goa, Gomes claimed. Delhi currently has almost 24,000 active coronavirus cases and has been steadily growing since past one month. Goa has 4,833 active cases.

The AAP had also begun an exercise of measuring oxygen levels of persons across a few localities in Goa through ‘Oximitra’. The party leaders had claimed that AAP volunteers will be designated as “Oximitras” to check oxygen levels of people of Goa.

These ‘Oximitras’ will be armed with a Pulse Oximeter and will go door to door to check the oxygen saturation level of every Goan, after making sure all precautionary steps are taken, Arvind Kejriwal had claimed in his independence day speech address to party volunteers.

AAP Goa campaign comes amidst raising coronavirus cases in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party campaign in Goa comes at a time when coronavirus cases in Delhi has seen a rise, leading to speculations that the national capital was expecting a second wave of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, September 9, Delhi recorded its highest single-day rise in coronavirus cases since the advent of the pandemic as nearly 4,000 cases were reported from the national capital. The latest tally has taken the total number of cases in the city to 2,01,174 while the toll has mounted to 4,638. In the past 24 hours alone, 20 deaths were recorded.

Delhi, which had seen a considerable turnaround in its coronavirus situation until last month, has now experienced a rebound in the number of cases in September.

Despite the rising number of coronavirus cases in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government rather than focussing on Delhi, has now turned its face towards Goa hoping that they could gain some political mileage in the middle of a pandemic.

Aam Aadmi Party hops on to Punjab amidst rising cases in Delhi

Not just Goa, the Aam Aadmi Party has also been eyeing a re-entry into the politics of Punjab amidst the coronavirus pandemic and had recently indulged in a similar political stunt.

Last week, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had hopped over to Punjab to offer help to fight the rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the state. In a video message, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Aam Aadmi Party workers will go to every village, street and neighbourhood of Punjab to check people’s oxygen levels as state battles against a surge in coronavirus.

Similar to Goa, the Delhi Chief Minister had stated that AAP volunteers would visit every house and check the oxygen levels of people. He had appealed to the people of Punjab to come together and help AAP volunteers in carrying out the drive.

‘Brave’ comedians who crawled in front of Shiv Sena mock Kangana Ranaut for refusing to bow to threats

OpIndia Staff
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‘Brave’ comedians who crawled in front of Shiv Sena mock Kangana Ranaut for refusing to bow to threats

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has been at loggerheads with the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government ever since the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajut in June. Besides ad-hominem attacks, and threats of violence against Ranaut, even the state apparatus has been pushed into taking punitive action against the actor for her remarks that were at odds with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished her property in Mumbai, within just 24 hours of sticking a ‘stop work’ notice, in violation of a HC order that has prohibited such actions till September 30. Not to be deterred, the ‘Manikarnika’ star went on record warning Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the move, stating that soon, his tyranny will come to an end.

While Kangana refuses to buckle under pressure, there is this assortment of ‘brave’ and woke comedians, who have taken to Twitter to mock the actress. Stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua took to Twitter to mock Kangana by saying that she is one of chosen few women who are ‘Azaad’ (free) in the country. Joshua insinuated that Kangana enjoys special privileges in BJP ruled country as opposed to many other women who are otherwise penalised for support contrasting ideologies. The comedian was responding to Bollywood lyricist Hussain Haidry, who has himself indulged in slandering BJP and Hindus many times in the past.

Interestingly, comedian Agrima Joshua like many other woke comedians had earlier rushed to offer a very humble apology to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government after a clip of one of her performances mocking the Shiv Smarak, the memorial dedicated to the legendary Hindu monarch Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahara had gone viral on Twitter.

It is indeed an irony that the ‘woke’ comedian who had bowed and posted an apology within no time after some mere warnings by Shiv Sena workers, has tried to mock Kangana, who has stood resolute on her stand even after threats of violence and demolition of her property by the ruling party.

It’s more appalling how these leftist liberals who constantly pontificate about the need to oppose state power but rush in to mock and denigrate people who do that, just because they don’t share a common political ideology. They who otherwise do not even bat an eyelid when it comes to targetting BJP, constantly claim that the government is fascist and has no respect for freedom of expression, are mocking Kangana for using her freedom of expression.

Kangana Ranaut Vs Maha Vikas Agadhi alliance govt

Since the actor put out a tweet comparing Mumbai with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir becasue of the behaviour of the Mumbai Police, a nefarious attempt has been made by her detractors to project her criticism of the statement as ‘anti-Mumbai’.

A fierce debate was touched off after the ‘Queen’ actress compared India’s financial capital to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir under the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state. Shiv Sena leaders have issued threats of violence against the actress if she comes to Mumbai.

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