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The ‘protests’ that burnt the nation: How American citizen Siddharth Varadarajan’s The Wire collaborated with anti-CAA ‘protesters’

K Bhattacharjee
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The ‘protests’ that burnt the nation: How American citizen Siddharth Varadarajan’s The Wire collaborated with anti-CAA ‘protesters’

The passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in both the Houses of the Parliament unleashed a spree of violence across the whole country. A great deal of propaganda was launched against the government which was intimately laced with anti-India and anti-Hindu sentiments. The protests soon erupted across Universities abroad as well, in an effort to generate diplomatic pressure against India.

One of the initiatives launched abroad to foment unrest in India was the Students Against Hindutva (SAH) which has since rechristened itself Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI). We have published a comprehensive report on the organisation, where we highlighted their intimate links with the Democrat party establishment and their plans for lobbying with the funds they received.

SAHI went to the extent of creating a database which could be used to indoctrinate the citizens of the West against the CAA. Numerous dubious sources of information were listed on its website and the objective was to create an international movement across universities around the world against the act that was passed by the democratically elected parliament of India.

Through this database of theirs, we discovered the role played by one Indian Media Outlet in actively promoting these protests against the Indian State. Unsurprisingly, the founding editor of this particular digital media portal is not even Indian and has a history of peddling false information and indulging in propaganda against Hindutva.

The Azaad India Collective (AIC)

SAHI lists ‘Azaad India Collective’ (AIC) as one of the organisers of the protests against the CAA. Through SAHI, we discovered the website of the AIC where we discovered that AIC had maintained a diligent database of protest material related to the CAA. On their website, AZI maintains an archive of petitions and editorials regarding the CAA and also information regarding protests being carried out across the country.

Through their website, we also came across the Instagram account of the AIC. On their Instagram account, we discovered that they had given a call for people to join these protests as well.

Azzad India Collective calls for people to join the protests against the CAA
Source: Instagram

We also discovered that the AIC had promoted the ‘Holi Against Hindutva’ protests organised by SAHI against the CAA. It is pertinent to note here that the AIC was quite openly collaborating with organisations abroad which sought to pressurise the Indian Government into refusing to implement an Act passed by the Parliament of India. It is as blatant an effort to undermine Indian Democracy as it gets.

Azaad India Collective supported Holi Against Hindutva protests organised by SAHI across Western universities
Source: Instagram

In an effort to investigate the antecedents of the AIC further, we discovered that the collective was founded by two students, Zainab Firdausi and Sparsh Agarwal, of the Ashoka University. According to Hyde Park Herald, a weekly newspaper that serves the residents of Chicago, Illinois, their work for the AIC will be housed at the US Library of Congress’ web archives on India.

Through their Twitter account, we learnt that they had endorsed Bernie Sanders ahead of Super Tuesday in the Democratic Primaries of the US Presidential Elections. While their endorsement was utterly irrelevant and Joe Biden thrashed the Democratic Socialist to become the presumptive nominee for his party, it does show the close bonds that AIC shares with the far-Left in the USA.

Azaad India Collective endorsed Bernie Sanders for President
Tweet by AIC

The most intriguing, however, was the interview Zainab and Sparsh gave to a YouTube channel called The Mesh. In the interview, the two admitted that although they were the face of AIC, there were lots of other individuals who were part of the initiative. Furthermore, they also said that they had attended numerous protests in India against the CAA.

Collaboration Between The Wire and Azaad India Collective

One of the shocking revelations the founders of the AIC made during the interview is that they “collaborated” with The Wire on a particular matter related to the protests. “One of the other important collaborations we did was with the news organisation The Wire. They wanted to create an entire timeline of all the activities that have been taking place from the 12th December, on the day that it was tabled on the Lok Sabha up until the present day,” said Sparsh.

He continued, “The entire research for the timeline for that was done by us, the Azaad India Collective.” In addition to that, he mentioned that there is a host of other ‘Civil Society’ organisations who send them photographs to put up on their website or on instances where they can collaborate with each other.

It is important to understand why the involvement of The Wire with AIC is so problematic. Here we have a media organisation collaborating with an organisation that seeks to undermine a law passed by the democratically elected Parliament of India that has widespread support among the people of India.

Furthermore, the founding editor of The Wire is not even an Indian citizen. He is an American. Thus, we possibly have an American here who seeks to influence the laws of our country by using a media organisation as a propaganda tool to shape public opinion. We cannot even be sure whether Varadarajan is acting of his own accord or under the influence of elements within the US political establishment.

Regardless of whether one is liberal or otherwise, such foreign interference in the internal matters of India ought to be cause for great concern. Thus, with the AIC, we have the founders collaborating with student organisations in the United States to influence Indian laws and thereby, undermine the authority of the Indian Parliament to formulate its own laws. And also, we have The Wire, a media organisation whose founding-editor is an American, collaborating with them on matters related to the protests.

The Antecedents of The Wire

The Wire and its employees have indulged in rabid fear-mongering regarding the CAA. One of its columnists, Sharjeel Imam, went so far as to claim that Muslims should cut off North East India from the rest of the country in order to bring the Indian State to its knees. The Wire columnist is also the mastermind of the Shaheen Bagh protests which culminated with the riots in Delhi during US President Donald Trump’s visit to India. He is currently in prison for his seditious remarks.

The Wire has also been involved in spreading propaganda to whitewash the crimes committed by the radical elements of the Muslim community during the Delhi riots. In the matter of the Rajdhani School incident in Mustafabad, where the said school was used as a base to attack the Hindu community, The Wire whitewashed the incident altogether.

The owner of Rajdhani School has been arrested in connection with the incdient. The charge sheet filed in the matter also documents the manner in which the school was used as a base to attack the Hindu community.

The Wire also spread fake news regarding the investigation into the Delhi Riots. It falsely claimed that Delhi Police was unfairly targeting the Muslim community on the basis of completely farcical information and accused the police of anti-Muslim bias. It was called out for it on social media by Delhi Police.

Siddharth Varadarajan, himself, has spread fake news regarding BJP leaders. An FIR was filed against him recently for spreading fake news about Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Varadarajan has a history of indulging in propaganda that dates as far back to the Gujarat Riots when he tried to bury the reality of the Godhra Massacre.

In addition to all of this, it appears extremely unethical for a media organisation to actively collaborate with protesters. It’s clear now that they are not journalists but anti-government activists who seek to sway public opinion in order to have influence over public policy. The fact that The Wire has an American citizen as its founding-editor adds to the problem further.

Investigation into the Delhi Riots

The investigation into the Delhi Riots has discovered evidence that suggests that there was a deep conspiracy hatched by AAP Councillor in the murder of IB Constable Ankit Sharma. Furthermore, the charge sheet filed in the matter also documents the involvement of JNU ‘scholar’ Umar Khalid and his close aide Khalid Saifi in inciting the riots at Delhi.

The investigation has also revealed the role played by far-left ‘activist’ group Pinjra Tod in the said riots. Two ‘activists’ associated with the group have been arrested in connection with the riots thus far.

The Holi Against Hindutva Initiative

As we have reported earlier, the Holi Against Hindutva initiative was launched by Students Against Hindutva that now calls itself Students Against Hindutva Ideology (SAHI). The group had written a letter, filled with misinformation and falsehood regarding the CAA and NRC, to the United States House of Congress that is currently controlled by the Democrats.

One of the prominent activists associated with the group, Ziad Ahmed, has worked for Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democratic politicians in the past. He also founded a marketing agency that helps clients reach out to youngsters. SAHI also coordinates closely with other organisations associated with the Democratic Party.

Bengaluru shows the way to fight Coronavirus to other Metropolitan Cities

OpIndia Staff
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Bengaluru shows the way to fight Coronavirus to other Metropolitan Cities

On Saturday, Amitabh Kant, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Niti Aayog, took to Twitter to share the success story of Bengaluru in controlling the Coronavirus pandemic. When compared to other metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai, Bengaluru fares well in terms of its high recovery rate, fewer fatalities, low number of cases per million people, and the effectiveness of the BJP Government in Karnataka in tracing the contacts of the Coronavirus patients.

As per data shared by Amitabh Kant, Bengaluru has 47.1 cases per million people whereas Delhi has 25 times more cases (1145.1) per million people. Interestingly, both Chennai (2497.3) and Mumbai (2649.1) have reported almost 50 times more cases than Bengaluru per million people. Moreover, the city of Bengaluru has reported a total of 23 Coronavirus-related deaths as compared to 276 in Chennai, 1,085 in Delhi, and 1,954 in Mumbai. The data reveals that Mumbai has reported an astounding 85 times more deaths than Bengaluru.

Recovery Rate and Deaths per million

When mortality is compared against a scale of 10 lac people, Mumbai tops the list with 95.7 deaths per million of the population. The financial capital of india is followed by Delhi(35.8), Chennai (25.2) and Bengaluru (1.9). The capital of Karnataka, Bengaluru, has also reported the highest recovery rate (51.5%) of Coronavirus patients amongst other metropolitan cities. Chennai has reported 51.4% recovery rate while Mumbai saw 44.8% recovery rate from the deadly virus. Delhi ranks last in the list with a paltry 36.7% recovery rate.

77% cases from Hotspots in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai

The pandemic of Wuhan coronavirus seems to be on a relentless march across India. India’s coronavirus tally breached the 3 lakh mark on Saturday with a daily spike of 11,458 infections while the fatalities count rose to 8,884 with 386 deaths. According to the study published by Professor Shamika Ravi on Twitter, about 77 percent of the new coronavirus cases in the country can be ascribed to the COVID-19 hotspots in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi. She has asserted that the coronavirus cases in the country continue to rise with a growth rate of 3.1 percent which translates to doubling of cases in a span of 23 days.

Nepal Parliament’s lower house passes amendment to include the controversial new map: Here are the details

OpIndia Staff
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Nepal Parliament’s lower house passes amendment to include the controversial new map: Here are the details

Nepal’s lower house of parliament on Saturday passed an 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 and voting.

The move came on the heels of the endorsement extended by Nepal’s House of Representatives on June 10 to have a proposal seeking consideration of the constitution amendment bill for change of country’s map following a long discussion.

Nepal had earlier offered India to have diplomatic discussions to resolve the territorial disputes between the two countries. India, in her defence, claimed that it already cleared her position on the matter and it deeply values its civilisational, cultural and friendly relations with Nepal.

Nepal released map laying claim on Indian territories

Last month, Nepal PM KP Oli, presumably at the behest of China, kicked up a storm when he claimed Nepal’s claim on the Indian regions of Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani. In his speech in parliament, KP Oli made irredentist claims against India by asserting that Nepal would bring back the aforementioned territories at any cost.

Nepal’s newfound belligerence against India partly stems from Beijing, which considers New Delhi as a threat to its global ambitions. Many attribute Nepal’s bellicosity against India to China who is rapidly expanding its footprint in the communist-ruled Kathmandu.

The proposal for the new map came 10 days after the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a link road on the Kailash Mansarovar route in Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, leading 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”.

India claimed that the link road follows the pre-existing road that was used by the pilgrims to visit Kailash Mansarovar. “Under the recent project, the same road has been made more robust for the ease and convenience of the pilgrims,” an official said.

“This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence. It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India,” Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Union Health Ministry releases new Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19, adds two new symptoms that are observed before respiratory issues

OpIndia Staff
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Union Health Ministry releases new Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19, adds two new symptoms that are observed before respiratory issues

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has added two new symptoms of coronavirus in order to identify the contagious disease at an earlier stage. The two new symptoms include Anosmia-loss of smell, and Aguesia- Loss of taste. The MoHFW revealed that the symptoms have been observed before the respiratory issues occur in persons with COVID-19.

Other symptoms of COVID-19 include:

  1. Fever
  2. Cough
  3. Fatigue
  4. Shortness of breath
  5. Expectoration
  6. Myalgia
  7. Rhinorrhea, Sore throat, Diarrhoea

This was mentioned in the Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19 issued by the health ministry today.

The protocol said that older people and immune-suppressed patients, in particular, may present with atypical symptoms such as fatigue, reduced alertness, reduced mobility, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, delirium, and absence of fever. Children might not have reported fever or cough as frequently as adults.

As per data from Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP)/ Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) portal case investigation forms for COVID 19 (n=15,366), the details on the signs and symptoms reported are (as on 11.06.2020), fever (27%), cough (21%), sore throat (10%), breathlessness (8%), Weakness (7%), running nose (3%) and others 24%.

The protocol states that the persons infected by the novel coronavirus are the main source of infection. Direct person-to-person transmission occurs through close contact, mainly through respiratory droplets that are released when the infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. These droplets may also land on surfaces, where the virus remains viable. Infection can also occur if a person touches an infected surface and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.

Most patients with COVID-19 predominantly have a respiratory tract infection associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, in a small proportion of cases, they can progress to a more severe and systemic disease characterized by the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), sepsis and septic shock, multiorgan failure, including acute kidney injury and cardiac injury.

Definitions of COVID-19 cases

The protocol also defines the suspect, probable and confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Suspect cases include:
A. A patient with acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath), AND a history of travel to or residence in a location reporting community transmission of COVID-19 disease during the 14 days prior to symptom onset;
OR
B. A patient with any acute respiratory illness AND having been in contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case in the last 14 days prior to symptom onset;
OR
C. A patient with severe acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath; AND requiring hospitalization) AND in the absence of an alternative diagnosis that fully explains the clinical presentation.

The probable cases will be a suspect case for whom testing for the COVID-19 virus is inconclusive, or a suspect case for whom testing could not be performed for any reason.

While the confirmed case will mean a person with laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection, irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms.

Age of more than 60 years (increasing with age), and underlying non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, chronic lung disease, cerebro-vascular disease, chronic kidney disease, immune-suppression and cancer are listed as the risk factors of the COVID-19.

The health ministry protocol says that Real time or Conventional RT-PCR test is recommended for diagnosis. SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests are not recommended for diagnosis of current infection with COVID-19.

In comparison to the population, the effect of the virus is very low-ICMR Chief

The Chief of Indian Council of Medical Research Dr. Balram Bhargava on Thursday revealed that according to population the effect of the virus in India is very low. He stated that “We had one lab in February and now we have over 850 labs in the country today. A total of 52,13,140 samples have been tested as of date with 1,51,808 samples tested in the past 24 hours. We do have the capacity to test up to 2 lakh cases and will ramp up testing accordingly.”

The ICMR Chief also said at the Centre’s press briefing on COVID-19 situation that India is still not experiencing neither reached the community transmission stage.

Coronavirus situation in India

As per the data of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has experienced 3,08,993 cases till so far with a surge of 11458 cases in the last 24 hours. 154330 people have been recovered from the contagious disease while 8884 people succumbed to the epidemic. Fortunately, as per MoHFW, the recovery rate in India has risen to 49 percent.

Delhi HC takes suo moto cognisance of non-payment of salary to Resident Doctors in MCD hospitals

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi HC takes suo moto cognisance of non-payment of salary to Resident Doctors in MCD hospitals

After taking suo moto cognisance of the matter, the Delhi High Court has issued a directive to North DMC to pay salaries of resident doctors of Kasturba Hospital and Hindu Rao Hospital which have been pending since March 2020.

The directive was issued to the Central government, Delhi government and North Delhi Municipal Corporation and other respondents by a division bench comprising of Justice DN Patel and Prateek Jalan.

The court had taken suo moto cognisance of the news reports published in various media outlets about the non-payment of salaries to the doctors. The reports claimed that more than 300 doctors in two MCD hospitals, Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital, were threatening to resign en masse or go on a mass strike on account of not being paid for the last three months.

The North DMC, in its response, stated that the salaries of the resident doctors i.e Junior Residents, Senior Residents and PG Doctors in MCD hospitals since March 2020 because of lack of funds. According to the information provided by the North DMC, the total liability under the head of the salary of residents of all six North DMC hospitals– Hindu Rao Hospital, Kasturba Hospital, Rajendra Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis Hospital, Maharishi Valmiki in Infections Diseases Hospital, Mrs Girdhar Lal Maternity Hospital and Balak Ram Hospital stands at Rs 8 crore per month.

Furthermore, the North DMC cited financial constraints as a reason for non-payment of salaries to various employees, including Safai Karamcharis; Maalis, Drivers etc.

On the other hand, ASG Sanjay Jain contended that the Delhi government has already paid the payable amount to the North DMC in May. However, he added that the government was willing to release additional funds to the North DMC to be paid for the aforesaid doctors by June 18, 2020.

After Delhi Government’s submission, the court ordered North DMC to utilise the amount provided for the payment of pending salaries for April 2020, directing them to not retain the remunerations unnecessarily.

US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard urges Hindu students to find solace in Bhagavad Gita amidst such testing times

OpIndia Staff
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US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard urges Hindu students to find solace in Bhagavad Gita amidst such testing times

While addressing the Class of 2020 for Hindu students, the 39-year-old US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard had reportedly said that one can find certainty, peace and strength in Bhagavad Gita, amidst the uncertain times. She urged the Hindu students to find solace and strength in Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga as preached by Shri Krishna in the Hindu Holy book.

“As you think about this new chapter in your lives, ask yourself what is my purpose in life? It is a deep question that if you can recognise now that your purpose is to serve God and God’s children, practicing Karma Yoga, then you can lead a truly successful life,” Gabbard was quoted as saying. Her address came at the backdrop of the violent protests that have taken the United States by storm, following the murder of a black man George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25.

Tulsi Gabbard who ran for the post of President, before giving up her election campaign, said that success could not be defined by accomplishments and material benefits but rather by the happiness one derived through service to the society. She was the first Hindu woman to run for the coveted post and had served as an army veteran in Iraq.

The Event

The virtual event was organised for the first time by the Hindu Students Council, the largest Hindu youth organisation in North America founded in 1990, on June 7. The event was held amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, which has infected 2.11 million people in the US and caused 116K fatalities. The event was watched live by thousands of viewers on Facebook and Youtube. Hindu graduates from the US, Canada, UK, India, and Australia took part in the event to commemorate their graduation by celebrating the values taught by Hinduism. The students belonged to several premier universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Princeton, and Stanford.

The event primarily focused on timeless themes from Bhagavad Gita, Hindu prayers, symbolic conferral of degrees, besides recitation of graduation message from the Upanishads. The Grand Marshall of the ceremony was Professor Subhash Kak, an Indian-American computer scientist and recipient of the Padma Shri award in 2019. While reading out the names of the graduating students, he said, “I exhort you – the graduating students – to be the leaders of the new world where education is less of the mind of a vessel to be filled with information (usually forgotten after the semester is over), and more of a flame that is lit as envisioned by our Vedic sages.”

Evangelical Church in Argentina reopens as a bar in protest against lockdown orders imposed on churches

OpIndia Staff
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Evangelical Church in Argentina reopens as a bar in protest against lockdown orders imposed on churches

In a bizarre incident, an evangelical Church in Argentina reopened as a bar to protest against the implementation of the lockdown of religious places despite the gradual opening of other economic activities.

Federico Picchio, army men from San Lorenzon while tagging the governor of Santa Fe wrote on Twitter, “the religious persecution by the government becomes more and more evident. It is time for you to risk it and rebel against the pressure of the government.”

In the pictures he posted it is clearly seen that the bar tables are uniformly placed inside the church and the pastors are dressed as waiters. The pastors were carrying Bible in their trays as a call for the permission for religious services during the lockdown.

Pastor Daniel Cattaneo said, “We are standing here today dressed like this, carrying a tray because it seems this is the only way we can serve the word of God.” The Pastor claimed that he has opened the ‘worship bar’ at the Evangelical Church of Communidad Redentor (Redeemer Community) in San Lorenzo, Santa Fe.

However, the area in which the evangelical church falls has been successful in containing the coronavirus and is gradually opening the offices and bars and other entities. But the churches are barred from allowing more than 10 people at once.

Recently, the bars and restaurants in Santa Fe ave been allowed to open from 7 am to 11 pm with 30 percent capacity and have been told to keep a record of each and every client in case if any of them tested positive later.

Reportedly, Pastor Cattaneo is looking for more alternatives to avoid the ban on religious services. Journalists from Santa Fe tweeted informing about a ‘drive-in worship’ organised by the Redeemer church. Journalist Pablo Gato Gavira took to twitter saying, “This Sunday in San Lorenzo ‘Self-worship’ will be held at Redeemer Church. At 3 pm in the area behind the cemetery, the faithful will gather in their cars to hear the words of Pastor.” This is an arrangement similar to drive-in cinemas which were popular in the past, but instead of movies, the people in the cars will hear the pastor teaching them Christianity.

Cattaneo said, “So, apart from the breaded veal headed for table four, here goes the word of God from the house of the Lord to all nations. We want to exercise our constitutional right to practice our faith.”

Cattaneo further added, “Bars can open, shops can open, why are they discriminating against us?”

Till now 28,764 cases have been recorded so far in Argentina with a surge of 1,391 cases in the last 24 hours. 785 deaths have been reported in the South American country.

Amethi boy puts up ‘house for sale’ board after Muslims attack the family, SP orders probe after local police refused to act

OpIndia Staff
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Amethi boy puts up ‘house for sale’ board after Muslims attack the family, SP orders probe after local police refused to act

A young boy from a Hindu family in the Saidapur village of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh has claimed on Facebook that they are willing to flee the area and shift to a safer locality where Hindus are in majority. Utsav Dwivedi, son of Anil Dwivedi from Amethi, has posted the advertisement of his house for the purpose of selling it and moving to another place. He claimed that his house has been attacked with stones by people from a particular community and people in the area are trying to scare the family.

Courtesy:Jagran

Utsav revealed his fear in the Facebook post. He wrote, “It has been 15 days since the stones have been pelted at my house. They are trying to scare us repeatedly. We want to sell our house to move to a safe place.”

Where it all started

According to Anil Dwivedi, the family came under attack after his other son Utkarsh Dwivedi had prevented Zakir Hussain from feeding the mango leaves to his goat in the garden. In response, Zakir abused him and called more people from his home. After that Shahrukh, Amjad, Afzal, Shabbir came and beat him to bleed. His sister Sitanshu came to rescue him but they also beat her and abused and threatened to kill the entire family.

Anil Dwivedi revealed that his son called him to inform about the incident. He went to the field with his wife where he was lying injured. After that, the father went to the police station and registered an FIR. Utkarsh Dwivedi got a medical check-up done and his father was told to stay at the police station at night while the women and her son were sent back. They came back to the police station along with tea and biscuits the next morning at around 7 am.

Shockingly, at 8 am, Katale, Bale, Doctor Ali Hussain, Mane, Nankau, Razzak, Afzal, Shah rukh, Hajiran wife of Zakir Hussain came to their house armed with sticks and stones to attack. The younger daughter in the family saw this and locked the door from inside.

It is clearly seen in the video that they attacked the house, pelted stones, and hurled abuses. They even threatened to kill the entire family.

According to the Anil Dwivedi, the children in the house called their mother who was sitting in the police station. When she pleaded for help no one responded to her. A constable sitting in uniform said that she’s lying, he said that he called and investigated the case, and nothing had happened there. But after receiving a call from a politician, the police officials nabbed one Afzal and later released him under charges of IPC 151.

Amethi police said that allegations are not proved

After the case came to the notice of the police, Station officer Shyam Sunder from Kotwali threatened the victim to file a case against him instead of acting on his grievance. The Circle officer Piyushkant said that the dispute is very old to act upon it.

The twitter handle on Amethi police also said that the allegations have not been proved.

The Amethi police said that a case was registered earlier by the complainant in which charge sheet had been sent. The twitter handle informed that the allegations made through the tweet have not been confirmed. The police is keeping a watchful eye, they informed.

The Amethi SP informed that orders have been issued to visit the location and probe the matter thoroughly. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty, the officer said.

How The Hindu justified not publishing anything other than the Left agenda and chided a reader in the process

S. Sudhir Kumar
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How The Hindu justified not publishing anything other than the Left agenda and chided a reader in the process

Earlier, The Hindu’s Readers’ editor (RE) chided a reader for correcting the newspaper that Ladakh and J&K are two different entities. The Readers’ editor alluded that this is equivalent to government propaganda and insisted that Ladakh is still part of J&K! 

Now, another reader gets chided for asking him to ensure that The Hindu publishes the opinions from all sides and not restrict itself to “left-leaning commentators”. In doing so, the reader gave two examples – 1) Learn from the New York Times (!) which recently published a controversial article. 2) Look at the coverage of anti-CAA in The Hindu and think why pro-CAA didn’t get enough coverage. 

The RE recounts the whole NYT saga on how they ended up withdrawing the article they had published and used that as a proof to show why opinions from all sides should not be published. He very conveniently skips the anti-CAA coverage in the newspaper. We had shown in an article here, how for the first 25 days after the CAA was passed, The Hindu had published 33 Op-Ed that was anti-CAA and only 1 Op-Ed that was pro-CAA. In addition to Op-Ed pieces, there were myriad articles and pictures trying to downplay the violence and the illogical rants of “intellectuals”. Or even during the coverage of “tukde tukde” gang, it was recorded in detail here how The Hindu always showed only one side of the story. 

And what does the RE respond when a reader points out the blatant biased coverage of the paper? He gives the following gyan:

“No article should be published simply because it espouses an opposite viewpoint. Every article, irrespective of its political or ideological affinity, should pass some crucial editorial tests.”

Please note here that the suggestion by the reader was to not publish anything and everything. There is no dearth of good writers across the aisle. If The Hindu doesn’t want to find the writers who can write much better than their current lot of Op-Ed writers, why should the reader be chided for that? Let’s now take a look at the “editorial tests” that the RE thinks an article should pass? We are told that there are 4 questions that need to be answered.

‘Does the article normalise hate?’

What does “normalise hate” mean? Does publishing fake news on riot accused amount to normalize hate? How should we classify The Hindu’s editorial judgment that the massive verdict that Narendra Modi received in 2019 was merely an “electoral endorsement of Hindutva or Hindu nationalism”? Does classifying violence as “protest” equal normalizing hate?

Many such examples can be pulled out, but I think the point has been made. If The Hindu can so blatantly “normalize hate” then why does the RE think a pro-CAA article will “normalize hate”? 

‘Does it demonise the other?’

I think he means the article should not demonise the other side. An Op-ed analyzing the 2019 verdict tells us that “The Muslims have been told, once more, to remain stranded in their own islands of resentments and grievances.” Does this amount to “demonise the other”? 

You said that “The Delhi police did nothing when a gunman opened fire at anti-CAA protesters on January 30.”. This is in direct contrast to your own report that explained how the Delhi police nabbed the gunman almost immediately! So, in this case, are you demonizing the Delhi police? Do you remember this recent article where you demonized the Kashmir Pandits? Again, I can go on and on with many examples but I believe the point has been made. How is it that the RE cannot see the regular demonization of The Hindu of “the other”? 

‘Does it weaken the institutional mechanism of checks and balances?’

I am wondering how could the RE ask such a question about a newspaper that bungled up the whole Rafale story beyond belief! The same RE who carried out a sham “forensic investigation” to justify the cropping of a document by N.Ram to further his agenda, is now asking us this question?! What institutional checks and balances failed when you published an article in 2017 suggesting “bold economic steps” to be taken, conveniently forgetting that those exact steps were already taken by PM Modi? 

Many such examples can be cited but I think the point is made. Mysteriously, the loaded propaganda pieces day in and day out in The Hindu pass “the institutional mechanism of checks and balances” but The Hindu cannot even find a few articles that espouse the argument of the “other side”? Readers are tired of reading editorials on free speech but the same is not practised in the Op-Ed columns. How can this contradiction elude the Readers’ Editor? How can he not see the irony of publishing lies and half-truths yet claim that all these “pass the mechanism of checks and balances?”

‘Is it based on facts?’

Where so we start countering this question? It also strikes to me that the questions are mostly repetitive in nature. I mean, if it is not based on facts that it should automatically weaken the institutional mechanism of checks and balances. So, I don’t understand this urge to ask the same question by using different words. 

There is no problem if the newspaper chooses to be biased. The problem occurs when the newspaper lectures about free speech and objective journalism and practices the exact opposite of what it preaches. A well-meaning suggestion to include two sides of a story is also shot down citing frivolous reasons without any proofs.

The current RE, A.S. Panneerselvan is the third person to hold this post. The Hindu calls the RE as the Ombudsman. The first RE often discussed readers concerns. The second RE occasionally discussed readers concerns.  The third and the current RE, rarely discusses readers concerns and often ends up taking the side of the newspaper. It is time to ask the question – is the RE an Ombudsman or a Pamphleteer of the newspaper? 

India section on Malala Fund’s website shows a cropped image of Indian map, excludes Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh from Indian territory

OpIndia Staff
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India section on Malala Fund’s website shows a cropped image of Indian map, excludes Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh from Indian territory

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate and a ‘human rights activist’, has now been the subject of yet another controversy. The India section on the official website of Malala Fund, an organisation founded by her that supposedly fights for girls’ education, carries a distorted map of India which conveniently excludes Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, China occupied Kashmir and the State of Arunachal Pradesh from the Indian territory.

While the map of India had been depicted in an uncanny dark green colour, the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been separated with a lighter shade of green. The objective was to mark the territory as disputed. Similarly, the State of Arunachal Pradesh where China lays its claims has also been marked as a disputed territory.

The region of Aksai Chin, now under Chinese occupation, has been marked in grey. Interestingly, the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) has been shown as the territory of Pakistan. Kashmir, an integral part of India, includes both the POK and the China-Occupied Kashmir (COK) region. However, the website of the Malala Fund clearly violates the official rules that prevent distortion of the map of Arunachal Pradesh, besides making it compulsory to show both the occupied Kashmir territories as part of India, as the organisation is working in India.

Map of Jammu and Kashmir with POK and COK (Photo Credits: Indian Defence Review)

Legal consequences of distorting Indian map

In 2016, a new bill under the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill was proposed by the Central Government wherein depiction of Indian map without POK or Arunachal Pradesh could lead to a 7-year jail term along with a penalty of ₹100 crores. Under 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, such websites could be blocked by the Government of India. “No person shall depict, disseminate, publish or distribute any wrong or false topographic information of India including international boundaries through internet platforms or online services or in any electronic or physical form,” noted the provision in the bill.

Malala spreads fake news about Kashmir

Malala Yousafzai, who otherwise remains silent fearing Islamists and Pakistani establishment, earlier tweeted that she was concerned about alleged reports of 4,000 people, including children, arbitrarily arrested and jailed in Kashmir and called on leaders to work towards peace in Kashmir. She claimed that she spoke to three Kashmiri girls, who said to her that the current situation in Kashmir was of ‘complete silence’ and said that all they could hear was the steps of troops outside their windows which was ‘really scary’.According to Malala, one of the three girls missed her exams on August 12. However, August 12 was a notified holiday declared across India on the occasion of Bakr Id or Eid ul-Adha.

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