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As Congress and assorted propagandists fear monger, Tripura set to collect NPR data from May through mobile app

OpIndia Staff
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As Congress and assorted propagandists fear monger, Tripura set to collect NPR data from May through mobile app

On Friday, PK Chakraborty, the director of census operations, said that a team of nearly 11,000 people will be deployed in the North-Eastern state of Tripura for the collection of National Population Register (NPR) data.

There will be a total of 9062 enumerators, 1556 supervisors, 9 principal census officers, and 16 master trainers.

The data collection process will commence from May 16 and continue until June 29. During this phase, housing data will be collected only through mobile apps, assured the Chief secretary of the state Manoj Kumar.

The paper schedule is to be used in hilly areas with poor internet connectivity and later uploaded on the mobile application. The real census will, however, begin next year.

Read: Yogendra Yadav’s ‘five finger’ fearmongering video on NPR-NRC-CAA calling to not give data during census is full of lies

The NPR questionnaire will include details of individuals such as name, age, place of birth, nationality, educational qualifications, parents’ details, phone number, government-issued licenses, permanent residential proof, gender, marital status and so on.

The NPR data was first collected as a part of the 2011 Census between 2010-2011 under the Congress government. It is a database of all “usual residents of India.” The usual residents are defined as people staying in a local area for 6 months or more. They also include people who are willing to stay in that area for the following months or more. The Union Government in December had sanctioned an amount of ₹3,941 crores for the process.

Read: Congress Manifesto for Delhi election: CAA to be challenged in SC; NPR, NRC not to be implemented in current form

Despite the Centre clarifying on multiple occasions that the NPR and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are two distinct exercises, the Congress party and the left-liberal jamaat had left no stone unturned in casting aspersions about the same. The Maha Vikas Aghadi said that it was seeking legal opinion for opting out of NPR.  Several other states have warned against not implementing the NRC, CAA, and NPR at various points in time.

The scare-mongering did not stop at states like Maharashtra asserting that they do not wish to implement a mandatory pratice by the centre. There were dangerous assertions being made by the usual suspects in order to scare people and create discord as far as the NPR is concerned. Recently, ultra-Left-wing propandist Yogendra Yadav had spread fantastical lies about the NPR.

Amidst a littany of dangerous lies, in a video published on February 10, the psephologist turned activist-cum-politician made imaginary links among census, NPR, NRC, CAA and detention centres, and urged people to oppose them.

Read: Uttar Pradesh: Polio vaccination team held hostage, beaten up after locals mistook them for NPR data collection team

In the video, Yogendra Yadav says that in a few months’ time, census enumerators will start visiting houses to collect data. Along with regular census data, they will also ask for details like Aadhaar card number, driving licence details etc. After that, government officials will analyse that data secretly, and put D, which means doubtful, in front of the name of some people. This means they are doubtful citizens, and officials will mark this if people were not able to provide correct details like the birthplace of their parents, Aadhaar card etc, he alleges.

Yogendra Yadav says that after this, people with D with their name will start getting letters from the government, asking to prove their citizenship.

This, while the government had clarified repeatedly that no papers would be asked during the NPR exercise.

The same lies were also peddled by propagandist Arundhati Roy who had said that if the officiials ask for names during the NPR exercise, people should mislead and give false names like ‘Ranga-Billa’.

Faster than Usain Bolt? Kambala man running with buffalos cover 145 meters in just 13.62 seconds

OpIndia Staff
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Faster than Usain Bolt? Kambala man running with buffalos cover 145 meters in just 13.62 seconds

Srinivasa Gowda, 28, a Kambala jockey from Moodabidri near Mangaluru became an overnight sensation as he shattered a three-decades-old record and registered himself as the fastest sprinter in the history of Kambala, the traditional sport of the coastal region by achieving a breathtaking feat of covering a distance of 142.50 meters in just 13.62 seconds.

Kambala is an annual festival celebrated in the southwestern state of Karnataka. The festival includes the traditional buffalo race, a popular and unique sport among the farming community of the state. Enthusiastic farmers and villagers hire jockeys to train their buffaloes for participating in the Kambala festival season which starts in November and lasts till March. The jockeys get a fee of Rs 1-2 lakhs for training the buffaloes and participating in the various Kambala contests. Cash rewards are also given to the jockeys by the owners if their buffaloes win the contest.

Gowda set the new record at a Kambala event held in Aikala village, about 30 Kilometres from Manguluru. In the previously held record, a jockey had covered a distance of 141 metres in 13.25 seconds at Aladangadi near Belthangady and at Bajaguli near Karkala, 133.5 metres was covered in 12.48 seconds by the jockey.

Srinivasa Gowda’s spectacular achievement of covering 142.5 meters in just 13.62 seconds in a slushy field that acts as a deterrence to jockey’s speed was compared with the legendary Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt. In 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships, Bolt set a world record of completing 100-metres race in 9.58 seconds, while 142.5 meters in 13.62 seconds, it was calculated that he covered 100 metres in just 9.55 seconds, which becomes 0.3 seconds faster than Bolt’s record. Although sprinting timings can’t be directly compared this way, this record is being hailed by people with that comparison and they say that Gowda should be trained for the Olympics.

In a first in the history of Kambala, Gowda bagged prizes in all four categories at the event held in Aikala. Gowda won three prizes each in a couple of other Kambala events. According to one of the referees of the Aikala Kambala, Vijay Kumar Kanginamane, Gowda is on a record-breaking spree during the current Kambala season and has won 29 prizes in the 12 Kambalas he had participated in during the ongoing Kambala season.

Gowda, a school drop-out, has a day job as a construction worker during the off-season. He claimed that since his childhood days, he was piqued by watching the buffalo races and started pursuing his passion 5-6 years ago. When asked about his record, Gowda was modest to credit his buffalos for the magnificent achievement. “I love Kambala. The credit of my success should also go to my two buffalos. They ran very well. I chased them,” he said.

Widening rift in Madhya Pradesh congress as Scindia and CM Kamal Nath exchange barbs: Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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Widening rift in Madhya Pradesh congress as Scindia and CM Kamal Nath exchange barbs: Here is what happened

The longstanding infighting within the Madhya Pradesh Congress is now out in the open as senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has now threatened to hit the streets if the Kamal Nath-led government fails to deliver on promises it made during the assembly elections.

Reportedly, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has been sidelined by the party, has now launched a rebellion against Kamal Nath as he warned the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh of agitation against the Congress government, pushing the party into further discomfort.

Addressing a rally at Kudila village near Prithvipur, Scindia said that he will hit the streets if the party’s manifesto is not fulfilled in the state. Scindia made these promises as he expressed solidarity with contract teachers, who are agitating against the state government demanding regularisation.

Read: Forgive us, we could not fulfill Rahul Gandhi’s farm loan waiver promise: Kamal Nath’s minister concedes failure in Madhya Pradesh

‘Our turn will come, I assure you. Even if it does not come, don’t worry I will become your shield and sword…That manifesto is our sacred text. Have patience. If all the promises are not fulfilled, do not think you all are alone. Jyotiraditya Scindia will also hit the streets along with you”, Scindia was quoted as saying.

Scindia’s threats to Chief Minister Kamal Nath comes after Madhya Pradesh Congress government admitted its own failure to deliver the tall promises of farm loan waiver made by their supremo Rahul Gandhi during the Assembly elections campaign in 2018.

Govind Singh, the General Administration Minister in Kamal Nath’s cabinet had even asked people to forgive them for failing to fulfil Rahul Gandhi’s promise of farm loan waivers and apologised for the same.

Read: Jyotiraditya Scindia is supreme, will be first to join if he forms new party: Congress MLA amidst increasing infighting

Ahead of assembly elections, the Congress party, and its former President Rahul Gandhi specifically, had repeatedly promised that farmer loan waivers will be granted to all farmers within 10 days of Congress coming to power.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh CM has hit back at Jyotiraditya Scindia for his remark, saying the election manifesto talked about the work the government will undertake over the period of five years, not months.

“Congress manifesto for Madhya Pradesh is for five years which is not completed yet,” Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Friday.

The rift between Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath and senior Congress leader Scindia had emerged after the latter was overlooked for the post of the Chief Minister. Ever since then, Scindia has been forefront at criticising the Kamal Nath-led MP government, causing embarrassment to the Congress party.

Read: Madhya Pradesh: Congress feud out in the open, Scindia says Kamal Nath should stop outside interference in govt

Scindia had also engaged in a war of words with Kamal Nath over the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress chief. The tussle over the party chief’s post made headlines last year after Scindia openly supported the Modi government’s historic move of ending the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, contrary to the official stand of the Congress party on the matter.

In September last year, Scindia had openly spoken out against Kamal Nath and said that the Chief Minister should stop outside interference within the government.

NDTV’s inherent bias so strong, that even when they apologise and correct themselves, it shines through

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV’s inherent bias so strong, that even when they apologise and correct themselves, it shines through

On Thursday, NDTV ran a discussion on the Supreme Court’s recent order on the clean-up of the criminalisation of politics. In the show anchored by Vishnu Som, NDTV displayed an infographic to depict that BJP as a political party has a higher percentage of lawmakers with a criminal background than other parties. However, that was not true.

In the infographic displayed by NDTV, the channel had compared five political parties, which included BJP, Congress, Janata Dal-United, DMK and Trinamool Congress. Interestingly, out of all the five parties, BJP has the least percentage of MPs with criminal charges (39%) while Janata Dal united has 81% of their MPs with criminal records.

The graph displayed by NDTV, however, displayed the BJP bar with 39% far larger than the JDU bar with 81%.

Read: 39% greater than 81% as long as it can show BJP in bad light and ‘secular parties’ like Congress and JDU as virtuous: Here is how NDTV lied

After being pulled up for their lies, NDTV took to Twitter to issue a clarification. The channel tweeted a different table and apologised for their error.


In the ‘graphic’ that was uploaded by NDTV, one can see that they have tweaked the graph that they displayed on television and converted it into a table instead, that shows in ascending order, the highest number of parliamentarians with criminal backgrounds instead of the percentage.

Even with this correction, NDTV has displayed its subtle bias that was even called out by several on social media.

When NDTV displayed their original graph, it was clear that their focus was the percentage of parliamentarians with a criminal background. If NDTV had to correct itself, the ethical thing to do would be to rectify the same graph that they had displayed on television and re-issue it with an apology.

Read: As Muslim mob pelts stones on Nankana Sahib, NDTV journalist worries about visuals being used for ‘pro-CAA propaganda’

Had they done that and corrected the original graph, the bar for JDU would have been the highest with 81% MPs with criminal records. However, in their clarification, they focussed on the number of MPs, which again put BJP in the highest bracket even though the percentage of MPs with a criminal record for the BJP would be the lowest.

Even psephologist Yashwant Deshmukh called out NDTV for their inherent bias.


Deshmukh said, “If one wishes to undo what was done, then one must correct the SAME graphic and release again. The towers would be a good story to tell”.

Essentially, the NDTV seems to have made up its mind to paint the BJP in a bad light and if the bar graph focussing on percentages did not do the job, they just changed the parameter.

Read: NDTV’s Ravish Kumar says Media should not report on Indo-Pak conflict as it may help BJP in elections, Pakistan uses it to target India

This is, of course, not to say that the fact that BJP has a high number of MPs with a criminal background, even if the percentage is low is not a cause for concern. The media should question every party that fields candidates with a questionable past. However, NDTV first displayed its bias by showing 81% as lesser than 39% and then, when called out, focussed on the number of MPs to ensure that either way, BJP could feature at the top.

Further, it is also pertinent to note that the number of MPs in BJP, regardless of the parameter is bound to be highest since the number of total MPs that BJP has in the parliament far exceeds any other party. However, if an honest analysis of intent is to be done, one would ideally focus on the percentage.

Read: NDTV does it again, twists tweet by Yogi Adityanath’s office on how the State cracked down on anti-CAA rioters: Read details

The other grouse that several people had with NDTV was that they lied big and retracted small, which is to say that they lied on television and rectified themselves (even with their bias) on Twitter instead of their television show. That, however, does not come as a surprise since that seems to be the norm with the mainstream media considering they believe they can lie brazenly and easily get away with it.

NDTV is known to peddle blatant lies. NDTV anchor Sreenivasan Jain has done so on several occasions in the past. He has also edited interviews of his guests in order to favour his preordained narrative. He is also known for his false equivalences and equating online speech with actual violence. There have been numerous occasions when it has spread lies that have undermined national interests. Its reputation of being fake news peddlers is such that it was even mocked in an American show.

My11Circle: New player in the growing world of fantasy sports

OpIndia Staff
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My11Circle: New player in the growing world of fantasy sports

People love playing on their smartphones and handheld devices when they travel. In fact, whether you are travelling by train, bus or car, you will always find some people glued to their devices playing online games. A phenomenon that has now become quite popular in online gaming is fantasy cricket. During reputed sports events like the ICC World Cup or the FIFA World Cup, it becomes even more common. During these times, you can see several people playing online cricket or football on their smartphones or tablets.

Not an isolated event

Online gaming has become more popular than ever, and the massive growth of digital infrastructure is one of the most important reasons for this. One understands this from the fact that the number of fantasy sports operators as well as fantasy app users on the mobile platform has grown rapidly and steadily.

In the 18 years of its existence since being introduced by ESPN in 2001, the user base of all fantasy sports operators combined has increased from around half a million to a whopping 20 million users. However, the Indian Federation of Sports Gaming, a platform of these operators, believes that the growth has been especially rapid in the last two years. This is also corroborated by the fact that among the 60 odd companies operating in this space, 30 have been launched in 2017-18 alone. It is expected that the number of users on these platforms will cross 100 million by 2020. This has the potential to give rise to an ecosystem around it.

Fantasy cricket has witnessed a sharp rise in user base in 2017-2018. The number of platforms offering such cricket leagues has nearly doubled in these years. It is estimated that the user base of such apps has grown from a meagre 2000 to around 40 million in just a few years. While the viewership of IPL has grown by 21% on television and 32% on online streaming apps in 2018, the participants of fantasy cricket online gaming have grown even more.

My11Circle, a fantasy cricket platform, has come into existence only over the last few years but has been billed as one of the most popular online cricketing platforms. The platform has amassed a total user base of around 1.3 crores. Users only need to download the fantasy app to play the game whenever they want.

Deciphering the popularity

So, what exactly is contributing to this incredible growth?

  • Celebrity Endorsement

My11Circle has been endorsed by none other than the ex-Team India captain, Sourav Ganguly. Needless to say, when a towering cricketing personality like him endorses a gaming platform, the idea finds a number of takers. This is one of the reasons that this platform has witnessed such massive growth in a short duration of time. However, this is not the sole reason.

  • Prizes to be won

One of the biggest motivations is the excitement of winning prizes and climbing up the leaderboard. Indeed, the opportunity to win big prize money is an important motivator for about 30% of users. In just a few years, users have grossed prize money amounting to 1.1 crores from My11Circle.

  • Re-investment from previous investments

It must be noted that only about 25-30% of the users have to shell out money to play on these fantasy sports platforms. Most of the money comes in the form of re-investments from previous winnings along with bonuses, as well as promotional offers announced periodically. People, therefore, keep playing since most of them don’t need to directly pay to continue playing.

  • Fun and excitement

For a number of users, the primary motivation is excitement and fun. Since playing these games require knowledge about the game as well as skill, users are excited to play these games when they master them. Moreover, one just needs to download the fantasy app on the mobile in order to enjoy unlimited fun with a game of cricket.

  • It puts the user in the driver’s seat

Users can select their favourite players to make a team of 11 and choose all the critical aspects of the game. This really puts the users in the driver’s seat in fantasy cricket. Since players are modelled after real ones, users can carefully select depending on the performance of individual players in a real game. By doing so, they can accumulate valuable points even before the game starts. So, the user controls everything – right from player selection to shot selection. Users can choose between formats too.

In a country like India where sports like cricket is celebrated with as much excitement as popular festivals, users can rarely abstain from a game that offers so much involvement.

Though the user base of fantasy cricket leagues witnesses a high during cricketing seasons, it also points towards a rising tide of virtual cricket over real cricket. With over 12 billion die-hard cricket fans, India may well be leading the realm of fantasy cricket, which could even surpass real cricket. Fast growing digital infrastructure, fast internet connections, 4G and the advent of 5G, new sports leagues like IPL et al. point towards an increase in the user base of fantasy sports that is showing no signs of stopping.

Coronavirus outbreak: Union Health Secretary says the situation is under control in India, urges states to keep the vigil high

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus outbreak: Union Health Secretary says the situation is under control in India, urges states to keep the vigil high

The Union Health Secretary on Friday declared that India is out of danger of coronavirus epidemic. It was announced after a meeting on preparedness and management on the coronavirus epidemic.

According to an official statement, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan chaired a video conference meeting with the health secretaries of states and the union territories and senior officials from the ministries of shipping, external affairs, civil aviation, and tourism.

India had so far declared three confirmed cases of Coronavirus from the state of Kerala. One of them has already recovered from the disease.

Around 15,991 people across the country have been kept on community surveillance, 497 have been identified as the symptomatic cases and being monitored while 41 are hospitalised.

“The situation is under control in the country and is being monitored regularly by the Prime Minister’s office Union Health Minister and Cabinet Secretary… In addition, a group of ministers is also reviewing the status”, Preeti Sudan said.

During the video conference meeting, states were informed that despite the fact that number of cases has not increased, the vigil still needs to be kept high. They were urged to keep enhancing the awareness among the masses for prevention through personal hygiene and self-reporting in case of travel to China and other identified countries.

The official statement also advised the states to fill the requisite information accurately and in a timely manner on the portal which has been put into place as a special surveillance web tool to monitor the cases on a real-time basis and to help in national-level monitoring.

States such as Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim bordering Nepal are asked to strengthen the disease surveillance.

Union Minister of Health Harshvardhan said that India has extended support to Maldives and Bhutan in testing samples and managing the disease respectively.

Dr. Harshavardhan also said, “India has also agreed to support Afghanistan in sample testing. India is also extending support to china by sending essential items for combating nCoV as per the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a goodwill gesture.”

Besides China and Hong Kong, passengers arriving from Thailand, Singapore are being screened for possible exposure to the respiratory virus at the 21 identified airports.

The Health Ministry has advised people to avoid travelling to China in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. Integrated Disease Surveillance programme is carrying out community-based surveillance of passengers travelling from China, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

Turkish President Erdogan rakes up Kashmir issue in Pakistan parliament, says matter is of equal importance for both Pakistan and Turkey

OpIndia Staff
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Turkish President Erdogan rakes up Kashmir issue in Pakistan parliament, says matter is of equal importance for both Pakistan and Turkey

Despite India’s strong disapproval, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday dredged up the Kashmir issue, asserting that Ankara will back Pakistan as the matter is of paramount importance to both the countries.

“During the Turkish freedom struggle, the people of Pakistan gave us food to eat. We have not forgotten and will never forget this help of Pakistan. The way Kanakkal (coastal region of Turkey) is important to our country, in the same manner, today Kashmir hold significance for us. There is no difference between the two,” Erdogan said.

Addressing a joint session of Pakistan’s Parliament, Erdogan voiced his support to Pakistan on its stand on Kashmir, claiming that the issue of Kashmir cannot be solved through oppression or conflict but through justice and fairness.

“In the last few years, the unilateral action in Kashmir has augmented the sufferings of the inhabitants. No one stands to benefit from taking away the freedom and rights of the Kashmiri people. The problem of Kashmir will not be solved by pressure or conflict. This can be solved only by justice and equality,” Erdogan said. The Turkish President’s remarks came 7 months after the revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A that had given a separate status to Jammu and Kashmir.

In his address, Erdogan compared the ‘struggle of Kashmiris’ with that of his country in World War I against foreign suppression. Drawing a parallel with the battle of Gallipoli which was fought in Turkey between the Allied Powers and the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the loss of two lakh lives on both sides, Erdogan said that there is no difference between Gallipoli and Kashmir.

Erdogan, who is on a two-day visit to Pakistan, also declared Turkey’s support for Pakistan in its efforts to extricate itself from the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), that is scheduled to meet this week in Paris.

Earlier, in UN General Assembly, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had made a strident speech, supporting Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir while exhorting the world to focus on an issue that has not received adequate attention from the international community.

India had sharply reacted to Erdogan’s statement in the UN assembly, expressing “deep regret” over Turkish president’s remarks and categorically asking it to refrain from making statements on India’s “internal matters”. Turkey is among the very few countries that are supporting Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, while most other nations agree with India’s stand in the matter.

Congress Govt in Punjab fails to fulfil its promises to families of Pulwama martyrs, party blames BJP govt at the centre instead

OpIndia Staff
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Congress Govt in Punjab fails to fulfil its promises to families of Pulwama martyrs, party blames BJP govt at the centre instead

The Congress party on the first anniversary of the Pulwama Terror Attack began its day with its former president Rahul Gandhi insinuating through a tweet that it was the NDA Government that had orchestrated the attack. However, the party did not stop there with its petty politics over the martyrdom of the fallen CRPF Jawans.

In a gesture that is symbolic of its desperation, the Congress party used the failure of its own government in Punjab to provide the promised compensation to the families of the soldiers to claim that it was the BJP which had failed to do so. In response to news reports, the CRPF has come forward and clarified the next of kins of the martyrs have been provided compensation for the supreme sacrifice they made.

The CRPF also said that the next of kins of 19 of the martyrs have already been provided residential flats and that the rest are under process. It also mentioned that the next of kins of 17 martyrs have been provided jobs by different state governments.


Incidentally, the news reports that the CRPF is referring to speak of promises left unfulfilled by the Punjab State Government led by Capt. Amrinder Singh of the Congress party. The Hindustan Times had published a report where the next of kins of four martyrs had said that the promises made to them by the Congress government in Punjab have not been fulfilled. Family members of head constable Sukhjinder Singh, head constable Jaimal Singh, constable Maninder Singh, and constable Kulwinder Singh said that certain promises made to them by the Punjab State Government have not been fulfilled by them as of yet.

Times of India also reported that the family of Jaimal Singh is upset that the state government is yet to provide them Rs. 5 lakh of the Rs. 12 lakh financial compensation that was promised. Perhaps by design, the TOI report, like the HT report, does not mention the fact that it is the Congress government in Punjab that has failed to fulfil its promises to the families of the Pulwama martyrs.

“We lost a braveheart in Jaimal. As Jaimal and others had made the supreme sacrifice by laying down their lives for the motherland, we had hoped that the state government would stand by us. But after the memorial service on February 23, 2019, no one ever cared to contact us. The state government has paid only Rs 7 lakh of the promised Rs 12 lakh, with no word about remaining Rs 5 lakh even after a year. Money does not matter as much as a word of sympathy,” Jaimal’s wife Sukhjit told TOI.

Despite the fact that it is the Congress government that has failed to fulfil the promises it made to the martyrs of Pulwama, the Congress party and the anti-BJP crowd are choosing to blame the BJP over the incident.


Some of them have even gone on to claim that no compensation has been provided to the next of kins of the Pulwama martyrs, contrary to all facts, in order to target the Prime Minister.


Others have shared the TOI tweet of the report to blame the BJP for it. It appears that they did not bother to open the link to the report which clearly mentions that it is the Congress party that is to be blamed and not the BJP.


The Congress party has played the worst kind of politics over the martyrdom of the CRPF Jawans ever since the Pulwama attack. Rahul Gandhi even today decided that the best path forward was to play politics over the matter and indulge in insane conspiracy theories. This latest incident, where the Congress party blames the BJP for the failure of its own government to fulfil the promises it made to the families of the martyrs only reveals the new depths the party sinks to with every passing day.

Bihar: Kanhaiya Kumar flees after his convoy attacked with stones, vehicles in the convoy crush bikers protesting against his ‘Jan Gan Yatra’

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Kanhaiya Kumar flees after his convoy attacked with stones, vehicles in the convoy crush bikers protesting against his ‘Jan Gan Yatra’

Former President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is on a month-long ‘Jan-Gan-Man Yatra’ against NRC and CAA in Bihar, once again came under attack today when his convoy was on its way from Buxar to Arrah. The protesters showed black flags and pelted stones at Kumar’s convoy.

Kanhaiya Kumar was travelling in his convoy to Arrah after addressing a rally in Buxar when certain bike riders reportedly pelted stone at his convoy near Bampali village in Gajrajganj on the Arrah-Buxar highway. However, while trying to escape the stone-pelters, some vehicles in Kanhaiya’s convoy allegedly crushed a few bikers and bystanders, thereby enraging the protesters further who doubled down on their attack against Kumar’s convoy. The situation turned so hostile that Kumar had to make a desperate flight to avert the wrath of the enraged mob.

The police reached the location and intervened to pacify the situation. Many of those crushed from Kanhaiya Kumar’s convoy vehicles have sustained injuries. One of the injured has even been admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Read- Research scholar attacks PhD quality of Kanhaiya Kumar, accuses him of publishing paper in ‘predatory journal’

Before facing the stone pelters on the Arrah-Buxar highway, Kanhay Kumar’s rally was also shown black flags in Buxar.

Meanwhile, Kanhaiya Kumar, unapologetic about his convoy injuring the protesters, laid the blame on the protesters for the attack against him. “Those who are attacking us are those who revere Godse. We believe in Gandhi, Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh. We do not believe in violence. The rally will continue,” Kumar said.


This is eighth such attack on Kanhaiya Kumar’s convoy who is on state-wide and a month-long ‘Jan Gan Yatra’ in Bihar against the CAA and NRC. The yatra started on January 30 from Bettiah, Bihar and is expected to end on February 29 in Patna. Earlier, Kanhaiya’s convoy was welcomed with shoes in Katihar while in Jamui, his convoy was greeted with engine oil and eggs.

Conversion to Christianity using exploitation and inducement should be made a punishable offence: RSS General Secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi

OpIndia Staff
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Conversion to Christianity using exploitation and inducement should be made a punishable offence: RSS General Secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has called for a law that criminalizes forced and induced conversions. Speaking in Goa, Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, the national general secretary said that the RSS opposes conversions done by exploiting and inducing the illiterate, poor and backward people. Such practice of conversion to Christianity using exploitation and inducement should be made a punishable offence, he demanded.

While he stressed that there is no restriction on individuals going to Christianity on their own, there is a need to punish mass conversions as well as individual conversions done by exploiting the individual’s economic and educational backwardness. “Forceful conversion or by inducement, we say, should be made a punishable offence. There is no restriction on those who are going to Christianity on their own,” Joshi said.

Joshi also added that there were many such cases across the country where people working under various NGOs have indulged into religious conversions. “There are many cases across the country of those operating under the guise of NGOs. If you want to work in the area of water conservation, then why are you building a church in the village,” he said.

Joshi also remarked that opposition to BJP should not be seen as opposition to Hindus. He also stated that without an understanding and a concept of a Rashtra, people will only view it as a piece of land or a geographical entity.

Joshi also clarified that RSS does not oppose non-Hindus from joining the organisation, but they must believe in the concept of Bharat Mata. “We will not change our ideology or have a special program tailored for them”, he said.

Bhaiyyaji Joshi also said that a Hindu can never be communal because Hindus are not a community. “Those who worship one God, have one manner of worship, and believe in one book are considered a community. Since Hinduism doesn’t fit into this description, Hindus are not a community. Hindus, therefore, cannot be communal,” he explained.

Recently, groups affiliated to the RSS were stopped in conducting marriage ceremonies for tribals in Bengal despite taking permission from the administration. The VHP has alleged the collusion of Christian missionaries and communist leaders in this incident.

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