With the cases of Coronavirus rising in the country, the union govt had decided to convert Railway coaches into Covid-19 treatment facilities. The govt has announced that 500 coaches will be given to Delhi, which will provide 8000 beds. Before this, almost 5000 coaches are already functioning has isolation centres. It is learnt that coaches will be given to other states also based on the requirement for conversion into COVID-19 hospitals.
It has been decided that only non-AC coaches will be used for conversion to COVID-19 hospitals. According to sources in the Railway ministry, the matter of AC vs non-AC coaches was discussed with the Union Health Ministry and also with NITI Aayog. After the meetings, it was concluded that non-AC coaches are more suitable according to the Coronavirus treatment protocols issued by the health ministry.
According to guidelines, normal AC systems used in hospitals are not suitable for contagious diseases like Coronavirus, as such systems recirculate the air in the room after cooling it, the systems can increase the concentration of the virus in the room. Moreover, these systems also have the risk of circulating the virus outside the ward. Therefore, the guidelines say that the AC systems must be converted into non-circulatory system to avoid increasing the concentration of the virus in the air.
As an additional protection, UVGI (Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation) units can be installed in the Air Conditioning systems, which kill pathogens in the air circulating in the system using ultraviolet light. The recently opened Covid-19 super speciality hospital in Guwahati uses such a system imported from Canada.
Therefore, as there are several issues and requirements for AC systems for Coronavirus treatment facilities, it was decided that it will be in the best interest of the patients to use non-AC coaches. Railway ministry sources also pointed out many hospitals do not have AC wards for Covid-19 and other patients, and there is nothing wrong in non-AC coaches to be used as COVID-19 wards.
If there is any requirement to control the heat at the coaches, rooftop isolation or any other suitable measures will be taken by the Railways, as per the guidelines issued by the health ministry for the conversion of coaches to Covid-19 facilities.
Railway ministry said that if union health ministry feels that AC coaches can be used for patients also then it will be done in the next batch of coaches. But the current coaches being converted can’t be retrofitted as they are using non-AC sleeper coaches for the same.
Railways have already started making arrangements for cooling of coaches. In some places, coaches can be covered with a shed over the roof. There is an option of a paint which can reduce the temperature. There is an option of using insulating materials of 2-3 kinds which can reduce the temperature.
Railways sources informed that they will make sure that patients don’t suffer too much due to heat. Fans are kept in all the coaches. Other methods for cooling coaches like sprinkling of water, certain fans blowing towards the coaches for better air circulation etc. are also being tried. Railways is also crowdsourcing and department sourcing ideas to deal with this issue.
The train coaches will be used for mild/very mild cases only s as per the guidelines of the health ministry. Then coaches can be used after the existing medical facilities are exhausted in the respected areas. After coaches are allocated by the Railways, they will be handed over to the district administration. The state government will attach one map at least one dedicated hospital for each train so that patients can be shifted to the hospital in case of emergency.
Although patients will not be kept in AC coaches, there will be AC coaches for nursing staff and doctors appointed by the State governments. They will be quarantined in the AC coaches.
Maintenance of coaches and charging will be the responsibility of Railways. Railways can also arrange catering services as per the requirement by the State government. Security, signage, CCTV coverage and free Wifi will be provided by the Indian Railways.
For convreting to COVID-19 facilities, Railways is using general sleeper coaches whore life is life is coming to end in the next 2 years. The ministry said that the cost of converting the coaches are not very high, as there is no need of removal and fixing of berths.
Haryana’s Mewat has become a graveyard for Hindus including Dalits who are constantly being targeted by the Muslims in the region. Incidents of rape of Hindu, especially of Dalit girls, kidnapping of brides, forced conversion, assault on Dalits have become common in the villages in Mewat. Recently, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also promised a new conversion law after VHP high-level delegation apprised him about the “anti-national and anti-Hindu activities” in Mewat.
CM Khattar also assured that fast track courts would be made and cases of love jihad, cow smuggling, forced conversions, which are all prevalent in Haryana’s mini Pakistan (Mewat) will be heard in these fast track courts.
The CM’s intervention has come has a breath of fresh air for all those journalists and Hindu organisations who have been in a relentless pursuit to bring the reality of the atrocities committed against the Dalits to the fore, in remote villages of Mewat, Haryana.
OpIndia too had reported about the horrific atrocities being inflicted on the Hindus of Mewat, after a press release related to Justice Pawan Kumar’s 4-member team’s investigation report came to light. In the report, Justice Pawan Kumar remarked that Mewat of Haryana is becoming a graveyard of Dalits.
OpIndia has now got in touch with few journalists who visited Mewat and spoke to many victims. These reporters briefed us with few shocking incidents which they were given an account of, and with their due permission, OpIndia is sharing those details.
Muslims using every vacant plot in Mewat to either build a Mosque, Markaz or Madarsa: News Nation journalist Vikas Chandra
Shocked at the extent of atrocities being meted out at the Hindus by the Muslims of the region, Vikas Chandra, a journalist with News Nation exclaimed that the situation in Kashmir is not half as bad as Haryana’s Mewat.
Vikas Chandra told OpIndia that the horror and fear of Islamists among the Hindu victims is so palpable that to save their children from the atrocities, the Hindu families have started giving Muslim names to the children born in the family. He said that the molestation of girls and women has become pervasive all over Mewat which has caused problems for girls to continue their studies. The Hindu girls do not study beyond classes 5-6 since the Hindus fear abduction of their girls in the hands of the Islamists.
The Muslims are encroaching cremation grounds to drive the Hindus away from Mewat. They hope that if Hindus are not allowed to burn the dead bodies in their crematoriums, they will either adopt Islam or flee.
Vikas Chandra said that according to his investigations, almost 110 villages in Mewat are completely devoid of Hindus now. He also confirmed that Muslims in Mewat are being able to carry out these crimes against Dalits in connivance with the administration and the local police.
Sharing his experience with OpIndia, Vikas said that field reporting in Mewat had not been an easy task for him. He said that many times, the Muslim population became so hostile that they had to run away from there. Sometimes, Vikas along with his team members had to deceive the Muslims by pretending that they were in Mewat to cover the lockdown.
Speaking of the dominance and influence of Muslims in the region, Vikas said that while taking a walk around Mewat, one can see Mosques and Madarsas in every nook and corner of the streets there. The Muslims use every vacant plot in the region to either build a Mosque, Markaz or Madarsa.
Vikas confirmed that almost that even though the number of Hindus in Mewat is reportedly 11 per cent, owing to business class, but if we take the average, then 98 per cent of every village in Mewat has Muslim occupancy.
To apprise us of the extent of atrocities being inflicted on these poor Hindu, Vikas cites an incident which he said he was a witness to. Vikas said that a Hindu’s shop was looted and vandalised in Punhana village merely because he objected to a Muslim man urinating in front of his shop. Expressing disappointment, Vikas said that the atrocities against Dalits are happening in connivance with the administration and local police. Complaints of Dalit victims are not lodged. If somehow they persist with the complaint and file FIRs against the perpetrators, police pressurises the victims, compels them to strike a compromise with the assailants and threatens them of false cases.
Disconcerted with the present situation in Mewat, Vikas said that the situation in Mewat before the year 1992 was completely different. Then Hindus and Muslims actually lived together peacefully. But later Tabligis and Deobandis started brain-washing the Muslims and the situation changed.
Market Jihad in Mewat: Punjab Kesari journalist Dinesh Deswal delves on how Muslims hatching a ploy to eliminate the Hindus
Dinesh Deswal, the district in-charge of Punjab Kesari, Ambala edition, also spoke of the life of people in Mewat prior to 1992. He said that if one studied the voter’s list from 1992 to 2020, there has been a significant fall in the number of Hindus in Mewat.
Dinesh, who lives in Aaldo, a Hindu-majority village in Mewat, says that he has witnessed many such incidents of Hindu atrocities in his nearby villages while he lived in Mewat. He said he has also written about several such incidents.
When we asked him to share any recent incident, Dinesh said that one Hindu family was beaten up and tortured by the Muslims recently after the victim family gave some statement to the media. OpIndia had also tried to get in touch with this Hindu family after acquiring the phone number. However, when we called someone else had picked up the phone. Concerned about the family’s security, OpIndia did not consider it will be wise to ask the person on the phone about the victim family.
Dinesh claimed that the statistics he was providing us with, were all on the basis of government documents. He said that according to the voters’ list if a Muslim dominated village in 1992 had 20 Hindu families living there, the same village in 2020 had only 8-10 or maximum 12 Hindu families remaining there. Likewise, a village which approximately had 300 Muslims families dwelling there in the year 1992, now had more than 1000 Muslim families living there. This meant that while the Muslim dominance in these villages increased exponentially, the presence of Hindus dwindled rapidly.
Speaking of the exodus of Hindus in Mewat, Dinesh said that when the Babri Masjid demolition happened in the year 1992, its impact was felt there too. Until then Hindu’s owned many shops in Mewat. However, after this incident in 1992, the Muslims started boycotting the Hindu markets. After this, whenever Hindus tried to raise their voices against the atrocities, Muslims use to refuse to take goods from the shops of Hindus. Business started getting effected and the Hindus were forced to flee.
Calling it ‘market jihad’, Dinesh said: “Today these people are expanding their markets on a large scale and boycotting the Hindu market”. He said that this was their ploy to eliminate the Hindus from the region.
Muslim boys wear Tilaks and Kalavas to deceive Hindi girls: Sudarshan News journalist Gaurav Mishra
Gaurav Mishra, who has spent a lot of time doing field reporting from Mewat, throws light on the constant threat of abduction, molestation and rape the Hindus women and girls have been living within various villages of Mewat in Haryana. Mishra revealed that abduction, molestation and rape of girls and women have become so rampant all over Mewat that the Hindu girls are forced to discontinue studies after class 5 or 6. This, is also one of the reasons why Hindu families are forced to leave Mewat and settle elsewhere, said Mishra.
He said that most educational institutions are in Muslim dominated areas, Sending the girls there, means throwing them down the gauntlet. They are teased and harassed by Muslim boys and constantly live under the threat of molestation or abduction. Muslim classmates often try to brain-wash the Hindu girls and push them towards love jihad. The Muslims boys often wear Tilaks or Kalavas (a red-yellow thread worn by Hindus) to deceive the Hindu girls. Once they fall prey, they are forced to convert to Islam.
It is pertinent to note here that while in conversation with OpIndia Justice Pawan Kumar had also spoken on how more than 200 cases of forced conversions have allegedly taken place in the region.
Meanwhile, speaking on the horrific conditions under which the Hindus are living in Meerut, Gaurav said that apart from all this, the Hindus in various Muslim dominated villages are devoid of something as basic as water. He said that there is an urban village in Mewat, also known as Shiri, where most of the water connections are with the Muslims. The 50 Hindu families living there have no water connection. They have to travel atleast 1 km to fetch water every day, said a Hindu lady, Gaurav got in touch with. The lady said that fearing harassment, she does not send her daughter to get water, instead she prefers to do it herself.
Gaurav delved that the fear of Islamists amongst the Hindus there is so pervasive that while speaking to him, the Hindus either covered their faces or turned their back towards the camera so that their identities are not revealed.
Gaurav said that it was not easy for him to report from Mewat. The Muslims in the area, several times threatened him with dire consequences if he dared to report the atrocities being meted out at the Hindus by them. He said that when he reached the press conference where the CM was also present, Gaurav started getting threatening messages. He was told that he made a mistake by going there. He delved that he was ultimately not allowed to sit in the press conference. Gaurav had also Tweeted in this regard. He said that CM Khattar met him separately after the press conference and assured that he would look into the matter.
हरियाणा के मुख्यमंत्री मनोहर लाल खट्टर की हिंदू और मुस्लिम पक्षकारों के साथ मुलाकात चल रही है मौके पर पहुंचने पर सुदर्शन न्यूज़ को और मुझे यहाँ पहुँचने के बाद लगातार धमकियां दी जा रही है। मैंने ग़लत कर दिया है ये बोला जा रहा है
— Gaurav Mishra गौरव मिश्रा ?? (@gauravstvnews) June 16, 2020
आज पहली बार मैंने ये महूसस किया पत्रकारिता में अब चाटुकारिता बुरी तरह प्रवेश कर चुकी है। मुझे प्रेस कॉन्फ्रेंस से दूर रखकर मेवात के मुश्लिम विधायकों और वहाँ के पत्रकारों को प्रशासन ख़ुद खुश करने में लगा हुआ था सर। संघर्ष भरी पत्रकारिता जारी रहेगी। https://t.co/evtOYlKqPX
— Gaurav Mishra गौरव मिश्रा ?? (@gauravstvnews) June 16, 2020
OpIndia’s efforts
OpIndia has been in the relentless pursuit to bring the reality of the atrocities committed against the Dalits to the fore, in remote villages of Mewat, Haryana. Regarding this, we have been constantly trying to contact the President of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, President of Haryana Women Commission and Haryana CM Office, but to no avail.
We had also got in touch with Justice Pawan Kumar, who had gone to Mewat himself to investigate the case and bring the reality of the atrocities committed against the Dalits to the fore.
After it was proved beyond doubts that Muslims in Mewat are carrying out these crimes in connivance with the administration and the local police, OpIndia tried to contact Mewat police and confront them on the allegations meted out against the police, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Mewat cited a step-by-step process of action in these cases.
He said, “Whenever a case of Dalit harassment comes to the police, a complaint is filed and action is taken in the matter as per the rules. He said the victim can first approach SHO, in case he is unavailable then he will be directed towards the DSP then the SP.
Before OpIndia could ask further questions to the SP the call got disconnected. Later, when we again tried to contact the SP we could not get through him.
We then spoke to the president of the Joint Hindu Sangharsh Samiti, Mahavir Bhardwaj who too said that the Dalits in Mewat are falling prey to the atrocities by Muslims, who dominate these villages. Fearing brutality, many Hindu families have fled but the Dalits are mostly poor and not capable of going and easily settling elsewhere, therefore they are the ones who are suffering in the hands of the Muslim population in villages of Mewat.
Speaking of the harrowing conditions under which Dalits are having to live in Mewat, Bhardwaj said that minorities in Pakistan must not be facing as many hardships these Dalits and Hindus are facing here in mini-Pakistan (Mewat).
The Upper House of Nepal’s Parliament passed the constitutional amendment backing the New Map Amendment Bill(Coat of Arms) unanimously. All the 57 members of the upper house voted in favor of the bill. The New map amendment bill proposes the inclusion of three Indian territories into Nepal’s updated map.
As per reports, on Sunday, Nepal’s parliament had called for a discussion on the amendment bill that includes the Indian territories. On June 13, Nepal’s lower house of parliament passed the amendment to include a new map including Indian areas of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani in the constitution of the country. The bill was supported by all the 258 lawmakers present there in the house.
As per latest reports, Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has given her approval to the new bill, making it a part of Nepal’s constitution.
#BREAKING: Presidential assent given to the new Nepal Amendment Bill (Coat of Arms) which shows strategically important Indian territories as part of Nepal. (New diplomatic standoff begins between India and Nepal. Oli has committed a big strategic blunder to be in power.) https://t.co/FNMw8tdZPfpic.twitter.com/ibOK2rxxFP
The Ministry of External Affairs responded to the passing of the constitutional amendment bill in Nepal’s Parliament to update the country’s political map including the areas that come under India’s territory. The Ministry said that artificial enlargement of the map is not based on historical facts, hence it is not tenable.
The MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, “This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical facts or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on the outstanding boundary issue.”
Respnding to media questions over today’s development, the MEA has stated that their stand remains the same.
The proposal came after Defence Minister inaugurated link road to Lipulekh
The KP Sharma Oli government in Nepal brought in the proposal to alter their map after the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a link road on May 8 linking the Kailash Mansarovar route in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand to Lipulekh.
The foreign ministry of Nepal had issued a press release voicing their protest against the move, claiming the link road passed through Nepali territory. However, India rejected the claims, saying “the link road lies completely within the territory of India”.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”- Theodore Roosevelt, American President 1901-1909
Rahul Gandhi has again asked a question as to why the soldiers martyred in the cowardly attack by China in the Galwan Valley did not carry weapons (ignoring that the treaty signed by India in 1993 and 1996 prevented that), alluding to either incompetence of soldiers or the intentions of their superiors.
Rahul Gandhi is a readily excitable and curious young man. It is probably because of this very reason that he remains a young man even after spending half a century on this planet. He is not concerned about responsibility and not bothered about the truth, his own or other people’s. When it comes to China, his enthusiasm knows no bound. His interest in China is not new and is not specific to this Government. He has always been very interested in China. While under his leadership Congress has slipped into the category of one of the most hated political party, even replacing the Communists who were so hated even by his great grandfather under whose leadership the party was banned and party workers were even shot at in cold blood in a Chennai prison; he seems to be building Congress which was hitherto called Indian National Congress into some kind of international mafia, with offices in Turkey and such places. We don’t know if Rahul Gandhi is targeting to become the next Caliph through his Turkey office.
Rahul Gandhi was very excited when the Chinese Army was in an eyeball-to-eyeball contact with the Indian Army at Doklam. Thankfully that episode passed off without any loss of life as the Chinese, once they realized that Indian Army under the new Government with much attention and support from the government lacked neither intent nor the courage.
Now, this crisis in Galwan Valley with China has given the old Rahul Gandhi with his new wavy hairstyle a new lease of life as he has presented himself before the people with his supremely cynical and infinitely stupid questions. “Why did the Chinese attack Indian Soldiers?” asks the prince. Valid question, but he must know the answer as well. The Chinese attacked because they are frustrated. They are frustrated that while building all the infrastructure on their side of the Line of Actual Control, they had seen that on Indian side there was scant development as the leadership under UPA was possibly busy working out the cuts and commissions for the first family.
Now suddenly in the last three years, they find bridges being built, railroads to the border posts, airfields being constructed, and roads being built in difficult border terrain. To make things worse even new generation Aircrafts are being procured in three decades even after many roadblocks from Rahul Gandhi and his party. Even the Supreme Court says there is no corruption in the deal and suddenly the Chinese are staring at an India they find a stranger.
I do not know as many things as Rahul Gandhi does. After all, Rahul Gandhi has been to China in 2007 and eventually the whole family was in China in 2008 to sign some kind of MoU with the Chinese Communist Party, terms negotiated with Xi Jinping, who is now the lifetime President of China and some say is under pressure after mishandling of COVID Crisis (assuming it is not a part of biological warfare by the Chinese). Why would an Indian Political party which intends to fight and hopefully, win elections in India want to increase influence in China or say Turkey (Congress opened its office in Turkey days after Turkey took an aggressively Anti-India stand in the UN)?
The news release said that the office will ensure improve bilateral relation between India and Turkey. Since Independence, even the Party in power has been kept out by the Governments of the day out of Foreign relations parlay, but Congress has in a bold step made lobbying for foreign power an open and accepted art. No wonder, Rahul Gandhi wants to know. Wayanad MP has reason to seek information from Narendra Modi Government on what it is planning to do with the Chinese. After all, that could be a part of the lobbying agreement his party had signed with Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping.
No wonder, Rahul is so excited and is asking questions every day. But should we not ask that when Rahul Gandhi is not in power and not head of even the notionally principal opposition party, he wants to know everything, but why he was so silent when he was not only a part of Government, rather was influential enough to be tearing off the ordinances approved by the then Prime Minister. His party has claimed that India has ceded 60 kms of Indian Territory. They must be taking inference from their rule. In 2013, a report submitted by National Security Advisory Board to the PMO claimed that China occupied around 640 Kms by frequent incursions, over the period of few months.
They must have presumed that old ways must be prevailing even now and decided to attack the present government. National security has never been an issue for this man whose nationality has also been under a cloud. He might have in 2013 felt that losing territory must be a part of MoU his party had signed with CCP, as an effort to improve bilateral relation. I do not know what the Constitution says about private political parties getting into formal engagements with foreign parties to better or worsen international relations of India.
Maybe, Rahul had good intentions and he simply was following his great grandfather’s track as far as handing over the territory to foreign adversaries is concerned, in order to win over the foreign press. Didn’t under Nehru India announced in 1954 that it will support China on Tibet even before the negotiations began and waived off payment China was supposed to make towards the handing over of India assets (Telephone, telegraph and such) in Tibet as a goodwill gesture?
Rahul Gandhi has so many questions, but as the citizen of India, I have only one- Do we have to live with such opposition in India? On a day when we have lost Twenty Bravehearts defending our boundaries, do we need this forever-adolescent middle-aged man with shady credentials and wavy-gelled hair to come question if they ceded the territory? I don’t even want to ever ask him about the 680 Kilometers his Government ceded to China and Siachen his Government wanted to cede to China.
I wanted to only ask him if he even understands the meaning of basic human decency. Not that Rahul Gandhi would ever pause to think about what is doing to the morale of India and the Indian army. He and his gang of sycophants will call this buffoonery another one of his arrivals in Indian politics. After all, as Napoleon said- “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.” It is however for us as citizens to decide the kind of politics we want to see in our country.
Amidst the mounting tensions between India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Indian Railways in a significant decision on Thursday decided to terminate the contracts given to Chinese companies in the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).
According to the reports, the Indian Railways has decided to cancel a signalling contract worth Rs 471 crore awarded to a Chinese company named Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication in the year 2016.
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a public sector undertaking corporation run by the Indian Railways, has begun the process to cancel the project contracts awarded to Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Group, citing poor work progress.
The signalling contract, which was awarded on the 417-km long Kanpur-Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) section, is being funded by the World Bank.
Chinese firm did not furnish technical documents, failed to provide engineers
The Indian Railways said the contracts are being cancelled due to “reluctance of the company to furnish technical documents, as per contract agreement, such as logic design of electronic interlocking”. The decision was taken because the Chinese firm had only completed 20 per cent of the work in four years.
The Indian Railway officials said the Chinese company has not been able to provide engineers/authorised personnel at the site which was a serious constraint.
“There is no improvement in progress despite repeated meetings with them at every possible level,” DFCCIL said in its order as it decided to terminate this contract.
The cancellation of the contract given to Chinese firm comes at the backdrop of a face-off between India and China in the Ladakh region in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the aggressive Chinese side.
The Chinese PLA had reportedly held firearms to faces of Indian soldiers, brutally tortured some Indian soldiers to death. The sources to IANS added that the Indian soldiers did not retaliate with guns and followed government directions not to use firearms.
Following the deliberate aggression from China, India is mulling to respond to Beijing, which includes both economic and political measures.
Government advises telcos to stay away from Chinese equipments
Earlier, The Telecom Ministry had asked state-run telecom giants BSNL, MTNL and other subsidiary companies to not buy equipment from Chinese companies.
The Centre may also plan to ask private operators to reduce their dependence on equipment made by China. The decision by the Telecom ministry could play a major role in the 4G up-gradation purchases by BSNL and its subsidiaries.
The official Doctor of IPL Franchise Chennai Super Kings D. Madhu Thottapillil, who had shared a post with derogatory remarks mocking on the martyrdom of soldiers and PM CARES Fund was suspended by the Chennai Super Kings team administration on Wednesday.
Dr Madhu Thottapillil has now issued an apology for his controversial tweet and said that he had tweeted inadvertently and mistakenly and it has nothing to do with his association with any individual or organization.
Apology …. On 16th June, I had put out a tweet, and after I realised that the words used by me was inappropriate and unintended. I deleted the same. But by then there were screenshots of my tweet being circulated and shared in social media. It was never my intention to .1/5 pic.twitter.com/nvC7FjMFGl
Thottapillil in his official statement posted from his twitter handle, said, “On 16 June I had put out a tweet, and after I realized that the words used by me were inappropriate and unintended. I deleted the same. But by then there were screenshots of my tweet being circulated and shared in social media. It was never my intention to belittle the great and herculean efforts taken by our hon’ble Prime Minister and the government of India in taking care of all the citizen’s obligations of this great nation and its army or our brave martyrs.”
He added, “I’ve always respected the efforts of the government in its valiant war on COVID-19 pandemic armed forces and the valor of the armed forces standing and fighting under adverse conditions.”
He apologized for the tweet and added that he regrets the hurt and anguish he caused due to his tweet. He said, “I regret the hurt and the anguish I may have caused too many people who read my tweet and wholeheartedly apologize for the same.”
Mocked the martyrdom of soldiers and PM CARES Fund
On 16 June evening, after the news of the Indian soldiers losing their lives while fighting Chinese forces in Galwan valley, Ladakh broke, Dr Madhu Thottappillil had shared a tweet saking whether the coffins of the martyred soldiers will come with a “PM CARES” sticker on them. Thotapillil was the official team doctor of the Chennai Super Kings team.
Thottappillil made the distasteful comment to make fun of the PM CARES fund which is being utilized to manufacture ventilators and help the patients during the coronavirus pandemic. Following the controversy, Chennai Super Kings had on Wednesday shared that they regretted the tweet which was in poor taste and said that they have disassociated themselves from Thottapillil. The CSK added that they have suspended Thotapillil from his position as the team doctor.
The Chennai Super Kings Management was not aware of the personal tweet of Dr. Madhu Thottappillil. He has been suspended from his position as the Team Doctor.
Chennai Super Kings regrets his tweet which was without the knowledge of the Management and in bad taste.
A violent face-off took place between Indian and Chinese troops on the intervening night of 15th and 16th June which led to casualties on both the sides. While India has confirmed 20 casualties, the Chinese authorities have not given official figures. However, it is believed that the casualties of Chinese troops would be above 40.
It was reported that the Chinese troops had attacked on unarmed Indian soldiers with barbed wire, stones and batons studded with nails. Many of the soldiers had succumbed to the harsh environment following injuries and the fall down the river during the bloody skirmish.
Last week, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, fantasising the idea of posturing his terrorist country as the new global power, had made a ridiculous offer to India saying that he was ready to help and share Pakistan’s successful cash transfer programme for the Modi government to provide relief to Indian citizens, who according to Khan will not survive more than a week without any such assistance.
Taking to Twitter on June 11, the Prime Minister of the terror-state of Pakistan Imran Khan had shared a report by a Pakistani news daily The Express Tribune which had claimed that nearly 84% Indian households suffered a decrease in monthly income since lockdown.
Citing this report, the Prime Minister of Pakistan said that at least ‘34% of households across India would not be able to survive for more than a week without additional assistance’.
Image Source: Imran Khan
The Pakistani PM had offered to help Indians by means of its “successful cash transfer program” through which his government had supposedly transferred Rs 120 billion in nine weeks to over 10 million poor families in a transparent manner to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The assertion of the Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘Niazi’ was that there was no cash assistance or package provided by the Modi government to the poor of the country and he went on to claim that people would not able to survive next one week without any assistance.
The audacious offer by the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, which came at a time when his terrorist country was itself pleading with the international community to rescue itself from the economic onslaught of the Chinese pandemic.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been begging for some sort of aid from the international community ever since Wuhan virus struck his country. He had, in fact, whined about the economic crisis back home, while urging the international community to consider for a debt waiver for his extremely poor country.
Khan reminded of his ‘1-week’ claim made 8 days ago
Imran Khan’s 1-week time has come and gone, but his dreams of India becoming poor have not come true. However, the Pakistani PM has not bothered to delete his tweet. Perhaps he has assumed that just like his ‘standing up for Kashmir’ campaign, that did not last beyond the first week, this propaganda will be forgotten too.
However, Indian Army veteran and TV host Major Gaurav Arya reminded Khan that his ‘1-week’ deadline is already up and he is free to do with the article as he pleases.
Pakistani PM @ImranKhanPTI quoted this https://t.co/ahCrIXYtM5 article dated 10 June and said that 34% of Indian households will not be able to survive for more than a week.#KatoraKhan it is 8 days now. I suggest you take a printout of this article and use it as toilet paper. https://t.co/Z4wMZqldKe
— Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) June 18, 2020
No takers for Pakistan Prime Minister’s fantasy, even among his own people
However, this outlandish proposal by the Prime Minister of a cash-strapped nation, where poverty and deprivations are the general norms, had no takers not only in India but also among Pakistanis, who lambasted him for daydreaming about providing aid to India and advised him to rather focus on Pakistan’s own vulnerabilities.
Perhaps, Imran Khan was not aware of the fact that at a time when his government was busy begging richer economies to write off the debts of Pakistan, the Indian government had launched one of the largest ever cash transfer schemes, which included the deposit of over Rs 30,000 crore into the account of woman Jan Dhan account holders. Moreover, Rs 5,000 crore was deposited into the linked accounts of eight crore poor households with LPG connections provided under the ‘Ujjwala’ scheme.
In addition to that, the Narendra Modi government had also announced a Rs 20 lakh economic revival package to boost the economy that had seen a down sliding due to the coronavirus lockdown.
While the tyranny of Islamic rulers and the atrocities they inflicted upon countless Hindus is often discussed, one aspect of the onslaught of Islamic rule in India is often forgotten. Worse, it is even revered, deified and put forth as the face of the tolerant, forgiving and loving side of Islam. It is Sufism. Sufism is described as the mystic, musical Islamic belief where saints and followers seek closeness with Allah through direct personal experience, so the popular definitions claim.
In India, while the deification of Mughals as tolerant, loving, kind rulers who brought prosperity to India is rampant, Sufism has been portrayed by Bollywood and popular culture as the “cool” version of Islam. Countless Bollywood songs, Ghazals and Shayaris have been made hailing Sufi saints, music, and dance. Most of them immensely popular. From Khwaja Mere Khwaja in Jodha Akbar to Kun Faya Kun in Rockstar, the list goes on. While Sufism itself may have been tolerant at one point, it evolved in a manner most violent and some who held on to Sufi roots were also persecuted by Islamists.
Among the Sufi shrines, the shrine of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan is one of the most popular. The shrine invites devotees, Muslims and Hindus both, from all over the world. While the Ajmer Dargah is an important religious centre for Muslims, and even some Hindus, who visit there to get their wishes fulfilled, the history behind Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti is rather violent, and not very tolerant either.
MA Khan’s book ‘Islamic Jihad, A Legacy of Forced Conversions, Imperialism and Slavery sheds some light upon what the Sufi saints were actually like.
Sufism and orthodox Islam
MA Khan’s book Islamic Jihad
Khan writes that Sufism was not accepted among most Muslims till Imam Ghazzali weaved tenets of Islamic orthodoxy into the body. The sects of Sufism that did not follow the orthodox ways, like the Bishariya Sufis, were brutally persecuted by Islamic rulers.
In India, Firoz Shah Tughlaq has recoded how he had punished the Sufi Shaykh Ruknuddin of Delhi, who had called himself a ‘Mahdi’ (messenger of God). Tughlaq had recorded that the people had torn Ruknuddin and his followers ‘into pieces’ and had ‘broke his bones into fragments’.
Indian Sufism was ‘Ghazzali’s orthodox Sufism
Khan further writes that Sufi leaders had poured into India along with the Turkic invaders and most of them, Nizamuddin Aulia, Aamir Khasrau, Nasiruddin Chiragh, Moinuddin Chishti and Jalaluddin etc, were all known for holding the Ulemas, orthodox Islamic scholars in high esteem. Khan further writes that though Nizamuddin Aulia and Moinuddin Chishti were among the most unorthodox when it came to music and dance, in the matters of Islam and Islamic supremacy, they held the words of the Ulema as sacrosanct.
“What the Ulema seeks to achieve though speech, the Sufis achieve by behaviour,” Nizamuddin Aulia had said. The great Sufi saint Nasiruddin Chiragh had reportedly banned all practices that were deviant from the Sharia.
Sufis, Jihad and ‘infidels’
Khan quotes Prof KA Nizami to describe what the Sufi leader Ghazzali had told in terms of Jihad, the Islamic religious war against Kafirs.
Islamic Jihad by MA Khan
Ghazzali had written that his followers must go on Jihad at least once in a year and should bring down the fortresses of non-Muslims, they should cut down their throats and drown them and burn their holy books. Jihadists may take whatever booty they desire.
Toeing the orthodox line, Nizamuddin Aulia had condemned the Hindus of India to the ‘fires of hell’. He had also written that even if the non-Muslims embrace Islam, the faith will not benefit them, because they had been unbelievers. He had added, “He, (Allah) has created paradise and hell for the believers and the infidels respectively to repay the wicked they (infidels) have done.”
Khwaja Moinuddin and his Hindu hate
Records say that the much revered Khawaja of the Ajmer Dargah had a deep-seated hatred towards Hindus. He was among the very first Sufi saints to arrive in India where Delhi was under the rule of Sultan Iltutmish. Having arrived in Ajmer, Chishti reportedly saw a number of temples near the Anasagar lake and promised that he will have them razed to the ground.
Khan writes further that every day, Khwaja’s followers used to bring a cow and they used to slaughter it near a prominent temple where the local Raja and Hindus used to pray, cook kebabs from the cow’s meat to eat, just to show contempt towards the local Hindus.
MA Khan’s Islamic Jihad
Chishti had come to India to fight Jihad on the side of the Sultan Muhammad Ghauri against the Hindu King Prithviraj Chauhan. Chishti had credited himself for Prithviraj’s capture, writing, “We have seized Pithaura (Prithviraj) and handed him to the army of Islam.”
Moinuddin and forced conversions of Hindus
Khan writes that none of the Sufi saints had come to India with the idea of ‘peace and love’. Instead, they had come as a part of invading armies or had participated in Jihadi wars against Hindu kings, aimed at capturing their kingdoms and wealth and enslavement of their people. While Moinuddin fought for Mohammad Ghauri, Nizamuddin Aulia had fought for Sultan Alauddin.
‘Islamic Jihad’, a book by MA Khan
Khan writes, Moinuddin and Nizamuddin were among the most revered of the Sufi saints. However, instead of adapting a missionary approach towards spreading Islam, they were the spiritual and moral supporters of bloody Jihad waged by Islamic invaders. In Kashmir, it was the Sufis who had inspired the wholesale level destruction of Hindu temples, the slaughter of Hindus and their forced conversions.
Not a single Sufi saint ever objected to the brutal mass slaughter and forced conversion of Hindus
Khan further writes that while Muslim rules were incessantly undertaking bloody wars against Hindus, calling it Jihad, resulting in the slaughter and enslavement of tens of thousands of Hindus, not a single Sufi saint ever objected to this cruel practice. They never asked the Islamic rulers to stop conversions by the sword and said that they can achieve it by peaceful means. Instead, they went on lending the rulers unflinching support, and even actively participated in their wars.
MA Khan’s book
Moinuddin and Ajmer
Khwaja Moinuddin is said to have played an active role in the war by Ghauri against Prithviraj Chauhan. It is also said that he had encouraged forced conversions, slavery and kidnapping of Hindu women.
Popular Twitter user True Indology has shared a snippet from the Translation of Sufi Biography by Siyar Al Aqtab where he has pointed out how Moinuddin had forcibly taken the daughter of the local Hindu king who was ‘gifted’ to him by a follower who had captured the princess after attacking the Hindu king’s fort at night.
Moinuddin Chisti had a follower named Malik khitab.
He abducted daughter of a Hindu Raja and presented her as a gift to Chishti.
Chishti gladly accepted the gift and gave her the name “Bibi Umiya”
The reverence that the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti inspires among his followers is remarkable. Yesterday, journalist Amish Devgan had to apologise on social media after he had mistakenly pronounced ‘Chishti’ instead of Khilji in one of his news debates.
Not just Devgan’s social media timeline was soon filled with hate messages, and even death threats for daring to insult the revered Khwaja, multiple FIRs have now been registered against him by several Muslim individuals and organisations.
Ajmer and the India’s own ‘Rotherham’ scandal
In the early 1990s, a brutal, widespread rape gang had operated in the Ajmer city. Most of the perpetrators were from the families of ‘Khadims’, the families of traditional caretakers of the Ajmer Dargah. Khadims claim to be the direct descendants of the first followers of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty and hold significant influence in the local communities. The police had stalled the case because the local politicians warned action against the accuse would lead to massive communal tension. The targeted rape and prolonged sexual exploitation of Hindu girls had gone on for years and while the case lingered, many victims, most of them minor girls, had committed suicide or chose to remain silent, for the fear of repercussions.
While the perpetrators may or may not have been the followers of Chishti, the institutionalised hatred against infidels and the religious sanction to treat infidel women as slaves and objects to be ‘owned’ comes from the deep-seated orthodox ideas that remain in the core of most political Islamist ideologies. It is not very different from what Alauddin Khilji did against Rajput kingdoms and what ISIS has done to Yazidis.
Conclusion
Islamist appeasement has reached to such levels in India that even the slightest criticism invites condemnation, and even legal, and judicial ramifications. In 2015, Kamalesh Tiwari, a former leader of the Hindu Mahasabha had commented on the sexuality of Prophet Mohammad. Though criticism and condemnation of statements are as democratic as the freedom to make those statements itself, in case of Kamlesh Tiwari, there were massive rallies taken out by thousand of Muslims where they had openly demanded his beheading. Rallies were taken out with placards literally calling for his head and finally in 2019, he was brutally killed (and beheaded) by some radical Islamists in his office.
While Sufism has been successfully popularised as a mystic, musical and ‘cool’ version of Islam, the ideas sold commercially by music maestros and Bollywood, one cannot ignore the other historical details of slavery, brutality and bloodshed that was heaped upon countless of Hindus to erect the monuments of this notion.
Amid the wave of the anti-racism protests followed by the custodial death of African-American citizen George Floyd, where several statues of historical persons perceived as ‘racists’ have been demolished and vandalised by activists, another similar incident has been reported from Amsterdam. Unknown miscreants vandalized the statue of Mahatma Gandhi with graffiti and spray painting in the capital of the Netherlands.
As per reports, the statue of Mahatma Gandhi located at the Churchilllaan in Amsterdam was desecrated by the unknown miscreants with red paint, and just like other similar incidents, the word ‘racist’ was found written on the pedestal of the statue.
Mayor of Amsterdam Alderman Rutger Groot Wassink said the municipality will file a declaration on the matter. The official was quoted by saying by the Ad.nl, “Obviously, we are opposed to any form of vandalism and daubing of these things is completely unacceptable. It is logical that we will file a declaration, the image will be cleaned.”
As per reports, an old man who noticed the daubs on the statue called the municipality. He said, “I have lived here for forty years and I have never experienced this. I have been watching the statue for years.” An employee of the Kunstwach, who takes charge of repairing and maintenance of the statue said the cleaning work can take hours.
Embassy of India in Hague expressed displeasure
On the incident, the official Twitter handle of Embassy of India in Hague tweeted, “We are sad and distressed to know about the vandalization of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Amsterdam. We strongly condemn those responsible for this incident and call upon concerned authorities to take action against culprits responsible.”
We are sad and distressed to know about the vandalization of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Amsterdam. We strongly condemn those responsible for this incident and call upon concerned authorities to take action against culprits responsible.@DrSJaishankar@MEAIndia
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— IndiainNetherlands (@IndinNederlands) June 17, 2020
Statues of Mahatma Gandhi vandalized earlier amid the BLM protests
Amid the #BalckLivesMatter protesters in the US and elsewhere, some unruly elements vandalized the statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. The statue was inaugurated in 2000 in front of the Indian Embassy in Massachusetts Avenue. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had inaugurated the statue in September 2000 in the presence of the then US President Bill Clinton.
After this incident, miscreants desecrated another Mahatma Gandhi statue on Parliament Square, London. The miscreants defaced the statue with scribbling ‘racist’ on its plinth and splattering it with white paint. They also taped placards with anti-racism messages on it.
Dutch Activist wrote ‘killer’ and ‘thief’ on the statue of Piet Hein
It is pertinent to note that since the controversial death of George Floyd in Minneapolis followed by the Worldwide protests, the debate on naming the streets and monuments by the name of those linked with a colonial past is going on.
As per reports, recently dutch activist scribbled ‘killer’ and ‘thief’ on the statue of Piet Hein in Rotterdam and daubed the statue with red paint.
The Dutch newspaper metro reported that these are the expressions that follow the death of George Floyd in the custody of White police officers. Gandhi was a champion of human rights and non-violence but in his twenties when he was in South-Africa, he made regressive remarks against black people.
The statue on Churchilllaan was installed on October 2, 1990, in light of Mahatma Gandhi’s 121st birthday. The design of the statue was made by the sculptor Karel Gomes, who died in 2016. The plans for the statue was given by the Hindu organization Trivedi.
Mahatma Gandhi is depicted walking, featuring robes around the body, slippers on the feet, a book in one hand and a stick in the other.
After the violent clash between the armed forces of India and China at the Galwan Valley near the LAC in Ladakh, which saw the death of more than 50 soldiers from both the sides in a fight without firearms, the Congress party has launched an attack on the Modi government questioning operational decisions made by the armed forces. The party leaders and workers have started asking why the Indian side went to confront the Chinese military without carrying guns.
Today former Congress President Rahul Gandhi also asked the same question, when he asked who and why Indian soldiers sent unarmed to a dangerous a situation, and who was responsible for this decision.
Although it is natural that the general public will not know the details of the India-China border issue, it is a surprise that Rahul Gandhi is surprised about soldiers not carrying arms at the LAC. Because it is agreements signed by governments led and supported by his party that prevents the soldiers from using firearms on the border with China.
Rahul Gandhi headed the party that ruled India for half a decade, he keeps meeting Chinese officials behind the curtains often, and therefore, he should know why Indian soldiers were unarmed.
The reason for the same is a slew of agreements signed between India and China, in an effort to keep the tension at the border under check. Both the nations have signed border agreements in 1993, 1996 and 2005, which defines the activities which are allowed and not allowed along the Line of Actual Control between India and China.
The first agreement signed in September 1993 says that both the sides entered into the agreement based on five principles, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence, and with a view to maintaining peace and tranquillity in areas along the line of actual control in the India-China border areas. The main focus of this agreement was to maintain peace along the LAC and reduce aggression both the sides.
Screenshot from the 1993 India-China border agreement
The second agreement signed in November 1996, defined the detailed protocols to achieve the goals set in the first agreement. And this is that agreement that bars soldiers from both the sides from using firearms on each other. The Article I of the agreement says that “neither side shall use its military capability against the other side. No armed forces deployed by either side in the border areas along the line of actual control.”
The most relevant provision in the context of the current situation is Article VI of the 1996 agreement. Section (1) of Article VI says that neither side can open fire guns or use explosives within two kilometres of the LAC. This means that both sides have agreed to not use weapons within the two kilometres of the LAC on both sides.
Screenshot from the 1996 India-China border agreement
The Article III of the agreement says that both sides will reduce or limit combat tanks, infantry combat vehicles, guns (including howitzers) with 75 mm or bigger calibre, mortars with 120 mm or bigger calibre, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles and any other weapon system mutually agreed upon along the LAC.
A detailed reading of the 1996 agreement shows that it was aimed at avoiding a full scale war erupting between India and China by reducing use of weaponry an aggression at the border. And being one of the most professional armed forces in the world, the Indian security forces were not carrying firearms to respect the agreement signed by the government of India. It may be noted that although the Chinese sides showed barbarism by attacking Indian soldiers using primitive weapons like stones, sticks studded with nails and wrapped with barbed wire, even they technically respected the agreement by not firing shots.
Another agreement between India and China was signed in 2005 when Manmohan Singh led UPA-I govt was in power, and this agreement had reiterated the commitment of both the nations to abide by and implement the 1993 and 1996 agreements.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar also fact-checked Rahul Gandhi by informing that it is a long-standing practice to not use firearms as the agreements signed by India and China. He informed that the soldiers do carry arms while leaving their posts, but they don’t use them as per agreed protocols.
Let us get the facts straight.
All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post. Those at Galwan on 15 June did so. Long-standing practice (as per 1996 & 2005 agreements) not to use firearms during faceoffs. https://t.co/VrAq0LmADp
Rahul Gandhi’s party was in power when the 1993 agreement was signed, and his party was supporting the HD Devegowda government when the detailed 1996 agreement was signed. Moreover, not only Rahul Gandhi keeps meeting Chinese officials secretly, his party actually signed an agreement with the Chinese Communist Party to ‘consult each other on important issues’. During UPA1 in 2008, the Congress party and the Communist Party of China (CPC) had signed a deal in Beijing for exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.
The MoU was signed by the then Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and on the Chinese side, it was signed by none other than Xi Jinping himself, who was then the Chinese vice-president and standing committee member of the CPC’s politburo. The MoU was signed in the presence of his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi should not pretend that he does not know about the agreements between the two countries to ask why the Indian soldiers were unarmed.
At present, Indian soldiers are following the agreements signed between the two sides, and the soldiers should be respected for that, not question their judgement like Rahul Gandhi is suggesting. Given the recent aggression by China, it is possible that Government of India may decide to not follow the disarmament provisions of the agreement. But until such a decision is taken by the union government, the armed forces will act on the established protocols agreed between the sides.
