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Delhi Police begins efforts to clear Shaheen Bagh of protesters by consulting religious leaders after Delhi HC order

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Police begins efforts to clear Shaheen Bagh of protesters by consulting religious leaders after Delhi HC order

The Delhi Police has initiated efforts to clear Shaheen Bagh of protesters after the Delhi High Court directed the Police to handle the protests as per their wisdom. The protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act by the Muslims in this area have caused anger among the ordinary citizens of Delhi who have had to endure traffic disruptions caused by the protests.

Now, the Delhi Police has decided to involve the local community leaders in order to persuade the protesters to leave the venue. They will take help from local traders and religious leaders to bring an end to the standoff.


The order of the Delhi Court came after a PIL was filed by advocate Amit Sahni seeking a direction to the Police Commissioner of the national capital to lift restrictions on the Kalindi Kunj-Shaheen Bagh stretch and Okhla underpass. The roads were closed since the 15th of December after the protests began. The petitioner asserted that the restrictions were causing traffic jams and a great wastage of time and fuel.

Read: The Battle from CAA to JNU: Khilafat 2.0, Communist Fantasies, Petty Politics and the conspiracy of Hong Kong style protests

Shaheen Bagh is the same place where slogans of ‘Jinnah wali Azadi‘ was chanted by the protesters, revealing the Radical Islamic nature of these protests. Later, a multi-faith prayer event was held at the same place in order to mask the hatred that festered beneath the surface.

Shashi Tharoor to Kanhaiya Kumar: How these ‘progressive men’ are men first, ‘progressive’ later

Nirwa Mehta
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Shashi Tharoor to Kanhaiya Kumar: How these ‘progressive men’ are men first, ‘progressive’ later

It is peddled as a truth universally acknowledged that men on the ‘left’ are progressive by default. They often like to portray themselves as patron saints of feminism and like to talk about how they’d like to smash patriarchy, especially the Brahmin kinds.

They are the ones who say they believe in ‘consent’ and hence often times women stay quiet on sexual assault by ‘progressive’ men from Left. Sometimes because they can’t wrap their heads around the fact that a ‘progressive’ man just violated them and sometimes because they’d rather let the man get away so as to not damage the ‘bigger cause‘. Men from the Left also have women going out of their way to shield them from allegations of sexual assault.

Men from the Left are often believed to be progressive. They are perceived to be the ones who believe in equal rights for women and these days often like to identify themselves as LGBTQI allies. They will often use pronouns in their Twitter bios to come across as ‘liberals’.

Of the ‘Liberal’ and ‘progressive’ men, two are often hailed these days as ideals and men to look up to. One is Communist Party of India leader Kanhaiya Kumar, with questionable quality PhD, and other is senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.


Kanhaiya Kumar these days is hailed as the next best orator to come out of Bihar after Lalu Prasad Yadav. Kanhaiya is the ‘perfect’ orator.


It is a different thing that Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD didn’t give Kanhaiya a ticket to contest 2019 general elections because he was afraid Kanhaiya may outshine his offsprings who are yet to make any mark in mainstream politics.

Kanhaiya Kumar also often likes to demand ‘azadi’ from patriarchy. Except, last week, in a debate with BJP leader on Rajdeep Sardesai’s show on India Today, Kanhaiya asked the BJP leader whether he has worn chudiyan (bangles). ‘Haath mein chudiyan pehenna‘ is often used by people to refer to people who are not ‘strong enough’ to do work because they have worn bangles (like women).

The feminist youth icon likes to indulge in casual sexism.

Another icon of ‘progressive’ men is Shashi Tharoor. Last night, on a debate, he referred to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as ‘eunuch’ because he wants power without responsibility. Tharoor later apologised and said that he used a line from British politics said by British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who had actually used the term ‘harlot’ (prostitute) in place of ‘eunuchs’.

His transphobic comment comes across as an insult to the trans community. Moreover, one could argue that calling eunuchs as people who have power without responsibility is far from truth since eunuchs in India are quite the opposite and are far too marginalised to be powerful, with or without responsibility. As someone who takes immense pride in his vocabulary, surely Tharoor knew his comments were misogynist and transphobic. He still chose to use the term to refer to a political rival as ‘unmanly’. Because if you’re not a ‘man enough’, you are weak, or as Tharoor put it, someone who likes ‘power without responsibility’.

This just goes out to show that every ‘progressive man’ is man first.

Watch: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav calls Emergency Medical Officer a ‘chhota aadmi’, asks him to get out from hospital ward

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav calls Emergency Medical Officer a ‘chhota aadmi’, asks him to get out from hospital ward

In a video that is going viral on social media, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is seen losing his temper at a senior emergency medical officer at a hospital in Chhibramau town of Kannuaj in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav who was in the hospital on Tuesday to meet the victims of the recent Chhibramau bus accident, in which at least 20 people were killed, is seen asking a government doctor in Kannuaj to “get out” of a hospital room and not interrupt his conversation with patients. Yadav is seen telling the senior doctor, “You can be a member of RSS of BJP ubt you cannot claim to represent the government’s side. You are too small a man, too junior an employee to do that”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ZCf3BeEb0]

The former CM was speaking to the injured and enquiring whether they had received any compensation from the state government. The patient replied in the negative. To this, the on-duty emergency doctor, DS Mishra, intervened and tried to enlighten the Samajwadi party chief that the compensation had actually been paid to the victim in the form of cheques.

At this point, Yadav lashes out at the on-duty officer saying: “Tum sarkar ka paksh nahi le sakte, tum RSS, BJP ke ho sakte ho. Tum bahut chote admi ho…bahar bhaag jao”. (You are a government official. You can’t tell me what they (the patients) are saying. You are a very junior-level official. You are a government man. You can be from the BJP, the RSS. You don’t tell me about the compensation. Leave now. Get out.)

The doctor later told news agency ANI: “I was present there as I was treating patients. One of the patients said he didn’t get the compensation cheque. I tried to clarify that the cheque was given. At this, former CM Akhilesh ji got angry and asked me to leave the room.”

The Chhibramau accident took place on Friday (January 10). The private sleeper bus, run by Vimal Bus Service, was carrying at least 45 people and headed to Rajasthan’s Jaipur from Farrukhabad via Chhibramau.

At least 20 passengers were charred to death and 21 others injured after a bus burst into flames at the GT Road in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj. According to initial ground reports, the passengers were unable to escape when the bus caught fire as it was sleeper bus and passengers were asleep with doors and windows shut.

The Yogi government has announced to provide an ex-gratia of Rs 2 Lakh each to families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to those injured.

Chhapaak: Deepika Padukone starrer film fails to dazzle public, gets disappointing reviews from viewers on IMDb and Google

OpIndia Staff
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Chhapaak: Deepika Padukone starrer film fails to dazzle public, gets disappointing reviews from viewers on IMDb and Google

An overwhelming number of reviewers on IMDb (Internet Movie Database) and Google have accorded Deepika Padukone starrer film Chhapaak with the low ratings, criticising the movie as a “drag”, “below average” and “failing to do justice to the sensitive topic of acid attack victims”.

The overall IMDb score of the Chhapaak movie is 4.6 with 11,144 users so far registered their rating. Most of the users provided the movie with the minimum allowed rating of 1 star out of available 10 stars and panned the movie for being “below-expectation” and Deepika Padukone’s “soul-less” acting.

Chhapaak is a movie based on the real-life story of Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor whose character is played by Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone. Born to a middle-class family, Laxmi aspired to become a singer one day. Naeem Khan, 32, had set his eyes on then 15-year-old Laxmi and accosts her with a marriage proposal. However, even after persistent refusal, Khan continued to stalk and follow Laxmi and eventually attacked her with acid in 2005. The movie includes in details Laxmi’s harrowing story and the formidable struggles she had to endure following the acid attack and get the perpetrators behind the bars.

However, despite being such a sensitive issue with profound social importance, the movie failed miserably in dazzling the viewers, leaving them with a feeling of betrayal that reflected in the torrent of disapproving reviews it garnered.

One of the reviewers called the movie unworthy of the hype and asked others to skip it as the movie, according to the reviewer, was well below the expectations. The reviewer also says that the movie is misleading as it does not depict the actual events accurately.

Another IMDb user bluntly called it “Avoidable” stating that the movie fails in doing justice to the character, plot and the sensitivity of the topic. The user was disappointed with the screenplay of the movie, saying that the makers could have simply made a documentary instead of making a commercial movie.

Criticising the movie as “drag”, one reviewer was genuinely befuddled that a role which could have gotten Deepika an academy award was rendered “soul-less” by her underwhelming performance.

Many reviewers were overtly critical of Deepika’s poor show in the movie. One of the users censured the movie saying that the movie pertains to a serious issue and rather than going in for a commercial film, the makers should have created a documentary projecting the realistic scenario around the condition of acid attacking survivors, which may not necessarily be comforting.

Not just IMDb, the movie has got poor ratings from Google users also. The movie got 2.7 out of 5 points, based on as many as 26623 user ratings. It seems that opinion about the movie is highly polarised, as most ratings for the movie in Google are either 5 or 1, with 1 outnumbering 5 by a substantial margin.

It is important to note that Deepika Padukone had pulled off a PR stunt for her upcoming movie Chhapaak by visiting the Jawaharlal Nehru University following the attack by masked assailants. Despite her desperate attempts to market her movie, she failed to enthuse people into visiting their nearest theatres and watching the movie. The movie’s ebbing box office collections and the withering reviews it is receiving testifies that no amount of PR stunts can salvage a flop product.

Telangana: BJP MLA Raja Singh put under house arrest, says Owaisi’s party behind the attack on Hindus in Bhainsa

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana: BJP MLA Raja Singh put under house arrest, says Owaisi’s party behind the attack on Hindus in Bhainsa

Raja Singh, BJP MLA from Goshamahal, Telangana, was placed under house arrest on Tuesday after he announced his decision to visit the Karyakartas of Hindu Vahini in Bhainsa town, where communal clashes had erupted on Sunday night. Soon after he made the announcement on Monday, a large number of policemen were deployed at his residence to prevent him from undertaking the visit.

The BJP leader, on Tuesday, accused the Police of political partisanship and claimed that the leaders of TRS and AIMIM were permitted to visit the area but not him. “I planned to go Bhainsa on Tuesday but before I could start, a police team placed me under house arrest and posted police picket outside my house to prevent me from stepping out,” he said.

Earlier, he had accused Asaduddin Owaisi’s party of being responsible for the mob violence against Hindus where houses were set on fire and looted.


Eighteen houses were set on fire in the violence that ensued in Bhansia in Telangana. 11 people were injured, of which 10 of them have been treated and discharged. Senior policemen were injured as well. As a consequence of the violence, the Police imposed section 144 of the CrPC in the area and internet has been temporarily suspended in the district as well. Additional policemen from neighbouring districts were deployed to bring the situation under control. Meanwhile, the Police have assured that the guilty will be identified soon and brought to justice.

Fact check: Was Jawaharlal Nehru a volunteer with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

OpIndia Staff
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Fact check: Was Jawaharlal Nehru a volunteer with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Recently, a black and white image of India’s first Prime Minister and Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru, in a uniform, similar to that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has resurfaced and is being circulated on social media. In the picture, which is being widely shared on Twitter, Nehru is seen wearing shorts and a cap, akin to RSS protocol.


This is, not the first time such pictures of Jawarharlal Nehru in an attire similar to that of the RSS has surfaced. Earlier while sharing the picture many on social media have opinioned that the first Prime Minister had then participated in RSS shakhas. In fact, such rumours have been around for a long time now.

In 2018, these pictures had resurfaced on Twitter, ahead of the former President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s valedictory address at the function of Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga (SSV) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at Nagpur.

An image being circulated on social media claiming that Nehru attended RSS shakha

This picture, which was then shared widely was, in fact, of Pandit Nehru attending a session of the Seva Dal in the year 1939 in Naini, Uttar Pradesh and not the RSS. He was seen wearing a white forage cap. However, the uniform of the RSS introduced in 1925 has a black cap and not a white cap. Moreover, a caption in small type in Marathi at the bottom of the image also said: “At Uttar Pradesh’s Naini in 1939.”

Likewise, these black-and-white images linked to then-prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru also did the rounds on Twitter in the year 2013.


However, a May 2016 tweet from Congress puts all the rumours to rest. Nehru is actually wearing uniform of Congress Seva Dal and not the RSS.


Seva Dal is a frontal, grassroots organisation of the Indian National Congress. It was set up in the year 1924 as the Hindustani Seva Dal and the purpose behind its establishment was to counter British rule. In 1931, it became the chief volunteer arm of the Congress. The uniform of the Seva Dal is similar to the former uniform of the RSS.

The RSS, whereas was established in 1925 and since then, despite several changes in the design of the RSS’ uniform, the colour of the Sangh cap has remained unchanged. In fact, all pictures of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat available on the internet are also with a black cap.

This makes it sufficiently clear that Nehru as seen in the viral photo, was not attending an RSS shakha but a session of the Congress Seva Dal.

Fact-Check: Has Wankhede Stadium really banned the colour black during India vs Australia cricket match for fear of protests?

OpIndia Staff
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Fact-Check: Has Wankhede Stadium really banned the colour black during India vs Australia cricket match for fear of protests?

The specialists at propaganda appear to be at it again. The latest bit of fake news is that people wearing black are being prevented from entering the Wankhede Stadium where a match between India and Australia is underway. One isn’t quite sure where it originated from but the fake news was spread by prominent people on social media.

Abhimanyu Sen, a journalist with News18dotcom, the digital platform of CNN News18, claimed that the colour black is being banned at the Wankhede as it is a symbol of protest.


Another individual associated with The Hindu made the same claim on Twitter, accompanied by expletives. According to him, t-shirts, caps and ‘anything’ with the colour black was banned in the stadium.


The bit of fake news eventually found its way to the comedians on the social media platform who did their bit to amply the bit of fake news.


However, it appears to completely false. In videos and photos shared by spectators and media coverage of the cricket match, people can be spotted in the stadium wearing black clothing. People wearing black t-shirts or shirts are visible inside the stadium, contrary to the claims being made that the colour black has been banned for fear of protests. There are other images and videos as well where the colour black can be spotted. On Facebook, there are people in black t-shirts posting selfies from the ground.


Even the cameramen covering the live telecast of the match are wearing black, and the umpires are seen in red shirt and


OpIndia also got in touch with a security official from BCCI at the stadium. He categorically denied all such claims. Furthermore, it is only to be expected that there will not be too much of Black clothing in the stadium anyway as Indian cricketers wear blue jerseys, and lot of spectators come wearing the jersey of the team they are supporting. Given the statement by the security official and images posted on social media combined with the view of the spectators on live television, it appears to be another fresh round of fake news designed to generate more interest in the protests against CAA at a moment when they are losing steam.

 

Deliberately spread fake news, grovel and apologise when caught: Here are 3 instances when Rajdeep Sardesai tendered ‘unconditional apologies’

OpIndia Staff
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Deliberately spread fake news, grovel and apologise when caught: Here are 3 instances when Rajdeep Sardesai tendered ‘unconditional apologies’

In November 2019, controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai had tendered an unconditional apology to an IPS officer for airing a fake news item on Sohrabuddin encounter case in 2007 after which the case against him and his other associates was dismissed by the court.

Rajdeep Sardesai had to apologise to Rajiv Trivedi for a program titled “30 minutes – Sohrabuddin, the inside story”, which was aired on CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18) channel on 13 May 2007. In the program, it was accused that Hyderabad Special Investigation Unit SP Rajiv Trivedi had helped the Gujarat police in nabbing Sohrabuddin. Rajdeep Sardesai had reported that Rajiv Trivedi had provided cars with fake number plates which were used to transport Sohrabuddin to Ahmedabad.

However, this was not the first time that Rajdeep Sardesai had apologised for peddling fake news. Rajdeep had a long and intimate association with apologies. Earlier, Rajdeep had made an apology for spreading falsehoods about BHU VC. Rajdeep had posted tweets alleging that BHU VC had joined PM Modi’s rally at Kashi Vishwanath temple and raising suspicions over the political autonomy of BHU.


Rajdeep was not the only one to weave lies about the BHU VC joining PM Modi’s election rally. Soon, assorted liberals indulged in slandering BHU VC by claiming that he had indeed attended PM Modi’s rally.

Kavita Krishnan had joined in to slam BHU VC stating that the vice chancellor attends political rallies while asking women students of the University to sign affidavit prohibiting them from doing politics.


The Wire, a portal known for flagrantly peddling distortions and lies, too joined the bandwagon in censuring BHU VC based on Rajdeep’s baseless assertion of the vice chancellor participating in PM Modi’s rally. It ran a conjectural story contemplating reasons as to why BHU VC attended PM Modi’s election rally without independently verifying Rajdeep’s unfounded claims.


However, soon after it was manifestly established that BHU VC did not participate in PM Modi’s rally, Rajdeep Sardesai withdrew his tweets and apologised for his mistake. However, this did not sit well with the Legal Rights Observatory Convener Vinay Joshi who in an email to the News Broadcasters Association complained about Rajdeep Sardesai’s inveterate tendency of spreading lies and later issuing an apology when called out for his falsehoods.

Vinay Joshi’s email to NBA
Vinay Joshi’s email to NBA

In the email, Joshi asserted that though Rajdeep had pulled down his tweets after brazenly lying about the BHU vice chancellor and PM Modi, the issue should be ended there as Rajdeep has become “a habitual offender and careful fabricator of mischievous intent”.

In an excruciating details, Joshi laid bare Rajdeep Sardesai’s previous shenanigans where he was found pulling the wool over his viewers by manipulating interviews and abusing his followers on Twitter. Joshi alleged that Rajdeep had distorted Sri Sri Ravishankar’s interview. He also cited how the journalist came to blows with an onlooker at Madison square. In addition, Joshi also highlighted how Rajdeep had been abusive to a Twitter user and later claimed that his account was hacked but did not file any complaint for hacked account.

Vinay Joshi’s email to NBA

While filing a complaint against Rajdeep Sardesai for his lies on BHU VC, Joshi implored the NBA to direct the Headlines Today/India Today group to give out an exemplary punishment to the incorrigible journalist alleging that Rajdeep has “no respect for journalistic morality and editorial standards”. He warned that if any action is not taken against Rajdeep, he would be forced to file an FIR against him under IPC 420 and Section-66A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

The complaint prompted Rajdeep to call Vinay Joshi and apologise for spreading fake news. Rajdeep personally called up Joshi and tendered his apology for mistaking someone else for BHU VC and alleging that the BHU VC had come out in support of PM Modi and participated in his political rally. Transcripts of the call are below:-

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6nHt2hT_-8]

Apologising for his mistake, Rajdeep admitted that it was the case of “mistaken identity” on his part to assume that BHU VC had participated in PM Modi’s rally. Rajdeep ensured Mr Joshi that such mistakes will not be repeated and stated that he has personally apologised to the BHU VC as well as issued an apology on Twitter after withdrawing the tweets. However, Mr Joshi retorted back saying that such errors have been occurring on regular intervals and that once the character is assassinated, it cannot be restored back to its full esteem.

Mortified by Mr Joshi’s sharp criticism, Rajdeep said that he will be very careful on Twitter henceforth and won’t post any tweets on politics altogether. “I will be very careful and I don’t want to tweet on any of these issues,” Sardesai had said.

Puneet Jain’s email to Vinay Joshi

Mr Joshi’s scathing email also drew a response from TV Today network official Puneet Jain who replied to Mr Joshi’s email confirming that the issue stands closed and he no longer chooses to pursue the case in the court of law following Rajdeep’s communique with him.

Earlier, regarding Sri Sri Ravishankar’s manipulated interview by Rajdeep, Mr Joshi had filed a complaint with NBA which elicited another apology from Rajdeep.

Rajdeep’s previous apology in November 2011

Rajdeep had then responded to Vinay Joshi, recognising his mistake and claiming that he had apologised on air as well to Sri Sri in person. In a feeble attempt to placate Joshi, Rajdeep had then stated that his channel has “put in place systems to ensure that pre recorded interviews do not run in live discussions at any stage”.

This has been a typical modus operandi espoused by Rajdeep where in he first blatantly lies to propagate his agenda and when confronted with facts and the prospect of being dragged to the court of law for his mendacity, he meekly apologises and ensures that “such mistakes” won’t be repeated, only to commit mistakes of similar nature in future.

Remarks against Rahul Gandhi: Mumbai University professor sent on ‘leave’ after NSUI protests against his Facebook post against Rahul’s Savarkar comment

OpIndia Staff
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Remarks against Rahul Gandhi: Mumbai University professor sent on ‘leave’ after NSUI protests against his Facebook post against Rahul’s Savarkar comment

A professor at Mumbai University has allegedly been sent on compulsory ‘leave’ for an ‘objectionable’ post on Facebook against the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar, Rahul Gandhi. Yogesh Soman, Director at the Academy of Theater Arts, allegedly made some objectionable remarks in a video, as a consequence of which, the decision was taken by the University.


As per the report on Times Now, the professor had put up a video blog on 14 December on Facebook. Some of the words used in the video were deemed objectionable by the NSUI and some among the university authorities. NSUI had reportedly held protests against the said professor. Yesterday, the university’s fact-finding committee had found him guilty and had asked him to go on leave.

On December 23 NSUI members had gheraoed Mumbai University VC Dr Subhash Pednekar, demanding action against Yogesh Soman. In the 51-second video, Soman is seen telling Rahul Gandhi, “You truly are not Savarkar, you don’t have any qualities of him. The truth is you are not a true Gandhi either…”

As per reports, NSUI had stated that Soman is behaving like a political advocate in the university and can provoke clashes among students.

According to the University, there were other allegations against the professor apart from the said post. The video in question was apparently made in response to the former Congress president’s remarks against Veer Savarkar and shared on social media in December. Rahul Gandhi during a rally in Delhi had said, “My name is not Rahul Savarkar, won’t apologise for the truth”, alluding to Savarkar’s alleged apology to the British seeking an early release from Andaman jail.

The incident involving the professor is the latest instance of the Aghadi government’s crackdown on dissent. Not too long ago, the Shiv Sena had forcibly shaved the head of a man and thrashed him for criticizing Uddhav Thackeray. Instead of condemning the behaviour of the party workers, MLA Aaditya Thackeray went ahead and called the victim a nasty, low-life troll.

Meanwhile, the Congress party has demonstrated similar inclinations in Rajasthan as well. Recently, a man was detained by the Police for allegedly making a ‘derogatory’ comment against Chief Minister Gehlot on social media.

Left-liberal celebration over Satya Nadella’s CAA comment short-lived as he clarifies that nations have right to define immigration policy

OpIndia Staff
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Left-liberal celebration over Satya Nadella’s CAA comment short-lived as he clarifies that nations have right to define immigration policy

Yesterday US-based online media portal Buzzfeed created a quite a sensation in India when it published a report saying that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “harshly criticized the Indian law that discriminates against Muslim immigrants”, referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act.

This was first tweeted by Buzzfeed editor in chief Ben Smith, quoting Nadella as saying “I think what is happening is sad… It’s just bad”, telling that the Indian origin CEO was criticising the CAA.


This tweet immediately gave ammunition to Indian liberals who are opposing the CAA on completely baseless allegations. Several prominent names from the left-liberal ecosystem in India, like historian Ramchandra Guha, journalist Barkha Dutta etc hailed Nadella for his ‘anti-CAA’ comments. Barkha Dutt went a step a further and said that Nadella was talking about NRC also.

Soon after Nadella’s comments were published by Buzzfeed, Microsoft India posted a statement from Nadella, which seeks clarify his position on immigration laws. The statement says that every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and define immigration policy. He added that in democracies, people and governments will debate and define these aspects.


Nadella added, “My hope is for an India where an immigrant can aspire to found a prosperous start-up or lead a multinational corporation benefitting Indian society and the economy at large”.

The statement by Nadella saying that countries have the right to define immigration policy completely contradicts the liberals who were celebrating the Buzzfeed report on his comment. The left-liberals actually advocate an open border policy, saying that all illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship in India. They have even approached the Supreme Court requesting that Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who are a security risk to India, should be sheltered in India. But Satya Nadella disagrees with them and says that there should be an immigration policy and nations should protect their borders.

Read- The Citizenship Amendment Act is constitutional: Here is how the anti-CAA propaganda has no legal basis

Moreover, although Buzzfeed reported that Nedalla had criticised CAA, that is a questionable comment they are making. When some people demanded to know the full statement of Nadella, Smith posted that on Twitter, and it gives a completely different picture. It seems that Buzzfeed misinterpreted the answer given by Nadella and presented in a distorted form. The text of the full answer is given below.

Q: There’s been a lot of pressure on companies like yours around healing with governments, I wonder if you had a view on the citizenship act in India and broadly if you have concerns about working with that government in terms of how they’re using data?

A: To me, in fact I obviously grew up in India and I’m very proud of where I get my heritage, culturally in that place, and I grew up in a city, I always felt it was a great place to grow up, we celebrated [united], we celebrated Christmas, Diwali, all three festivals that are big for us. I think what is happening is sad, primarily as sort of someone who grew up there. I feel, and in fact quite frankly, now being informed shaped by the two amazing American things that I’ve observed which is both, it’s technology reaching me where I was growing up and its immigration policy and even a story like mine being possible in a country like this,

I think it’s just, bad if anything I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India, or becomes the CEO of Infosys, that should be the aspiration, if I had to sort of mirror what happened to me in the US, I hope that’s what happens in India.

I’m not saying that any country doesn’t and should not care about its own national security, borders do exist and they’re real and people will think about it, I mean after all immigration is an issue in this country, it’s an issue in Europe and it’s an issue in India, but the approach that one takes to deal with what is immigration, who are immigrants and minority groups, that sensibility.

That’s where I hope these liberal values that we’ve kind of come to– It’s capitalism, quite frankly, has only thrived because of market forces and liberal values, both acting and I hope India figures it out, the good news at least as I see it is it’s a messy democracy and people are debating it, it’s not something that is hidden, it’s something that is being debated actively but I’m definitely clear on what we stand for and what I stand for.

 

As can be seen in the full reply, although Satya Nadella was asked bout CAA, he seemed to have evaded the question and gave a generic reply about immigration. Nowhere in the answer there is any mention of the recent amendment to the Citizenship Act, which is not a new citizenship law as Buzzfeed is claiming.

Nadella did say, “what is happening is sad”, but it is not sure what was he referring to. It may be the CAA, or it may the tensed situation prevailing in India at present, or the politics being played on it.

Moreover, everything that the Microsoft CEO said about immigrants, actually have no relation with CAA. The amendment does not apply to Indian citizens so people in India can still celebrate Diwali and Christmas together. He talked about a Bangladeshi immigrant coming to India and creating the next unicorn (a term used to mean a startup) in India. The CAA does not prevent any Bangladeshi, or any foreigner, from coming to India and work here. The law actually fast-tracks the process of granting of citizenship to people from six communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, while there is absolutely no change in the law to grant citizenship for others, including Muslims.

Read- Journalists use Nankana Sahib attack to claim CAA does not help persecuted minorities entering India after 2014, here is how they are wrong

Most importantly, the clarification that Microsoft India published later was already present in Nadella’s reply, but the Buzzfeed report chose to completely ignore it. He had said that countries can’t ignore national security, borders do exist, and immigration is an issue everywhere, in the USA, in Europe, in India. He had said that it is important to sensibly approach the issue while dealing with immigration, who are immigrants and minority groups. It is important to note that in the 3 countries for which the CAA is applicable, Muslims are not minority groups, in fact, they are Muslim countries.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Nadella gave a balanced reply to the question, although he advocated for liberal values, he acknowledged the need for national security and immigration policy. But Buzzfeed focused only one part of his answer and ignored the other part. Moreover, even if we assume that he was opposing CAA, the concerns he has raised have nothing to do with CAA, and there is nothing to celebrate in a comment when it is based on a wrong reading of the law.

The CAA does not prevent immigrants from coming to India legally and seek employment or start a business. Indian operations of several multinational companies are headed by persons from outside India, there was never a bar on that, and CAA does not bring any restriction on the same. CAA expedites the process of granting citizenship for some immigrants, while keeping it the same for others, so Nadella should be satisfied with an amendment that helps immigrants, not “harshly criticise” it.

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