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NASA locates ISRO’s Vikram Lander on moon surface, credits Chennai techie for the discovery

OpIndia Staff
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NASA locates ISRO’s Vikram Lander on moon surface, credits Chennai techie for the discovery

The NASA has located ISRO’s Vikram Lander on the moon surface. NASA’s Moon Mission located Chandrayaan 2’s and has released images of the impact site.


According to NASA, the green dots in the above image indicate confirmed or likely spacecraft debris. The blue dots indicate disturbed soil where small bits of the spacecraft churned up the regolith. The ‘S’ in the above image indicates debris identified by Shanmuga Subramanian.

Read: Did you see the Vikram Lander? Brad Pitt asks about lunar module to American astronaut on the ISS

The above images were taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) camera which shows change in moon’s surface due to impact of Vikram Lander’s hand landing. Chandrayaan 2 was scheduled for a soft landing on the intervening night of 6th and 7th September, 2019 but lost contact minutes before it could land. After the LRO released first images taken on 17th September, 2019 on 26th September, 2019, Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project after positively identifying the debris. Following this, the LRO team confirmed the identification by comparing before and after images. The debris identified by Shanmuga is about 750 mtrs northwest of main crash site.

Shanmuga, who was credited by NASA for finding the Vikram Lander, is a mechanical engineer based in Chennai.


On 17th November, he had tweeted to NASA at possible landing site of Vikram Lander. He had also written to NASA about his discovery.


Read: As ISRO loses contact with Vikram Lander, NDTV journalist arrogantly yells at scientist

Earlier in September, NASA had released images captured by its lunar orbiter of the targeted landing site of Chandrayaan-2’s lander, Vikram. However, at that time NASA was unable to locate Vikram.

Chandrayaan 2

On 7th September, Chandrayaan-2’s landing module had gone silent after Vikram Lander lost connection when it was merely 2 KMs from the landing surface of the moon. While ISRO was able to locate the lunar module in one piece, it had tiled a little because of the hard landing. All efforts to resume the communication has so far been unsuccessful.

Shiv Sena MP’s SUV impounded for running over and killing a spotted deer at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park

OpIndia Staff
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Shiv Sena MP’s SUV impounded for running over and killing a spotted deer at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park

A car belonging to Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Rajendra Gavit collided into a spotted deer at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai on Wednesday, killing it. A case has been registered against the driver of the car and the investigation is underway.

According to the officials of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), the deer was hit by the speeding SUV when it was crossing the road adjacent to the Trimurti station inside SGNP. “At around 6-6:30 pm on Wednesday evening, the car knocked down the spotted deer near the Gandhi tekdi while it was heading towards the main gate. The driver informed us about the accident. When the deer was taken to the SGNP veterinary hospital, it was declared brought dead,” one anonymous source revealed.

The Toyota Fortuner Sigma 4 SUV is registered under the name of Shiv Sena MP Rajendra Gavit. A case has been registered and the vehicle has been seized by the SGNP officials. “We have registered an offence against the SUV’s driver under provisions of the Wildlife Act. The car belongs to MP Rajendra Gavit though he was not in the vehicle at the time of the incident,” The chief conservator of forest and SGNP Director Anwar Ahmed said.

Read: Tiger dies after eating a Sambar Deer, Tamil Media reports how it died after consuming ‘Sambhar Rice’

According to an RTI application filed by a member of the River March Group in 2017, about 8 animals were killed thus far inside SGNP. SGNP Director Anwar Ahmed appealed motorists to abide by the driving laws inside SGNP. An awareness campaign is planned to inform the tourists about the same.

The SGNP visitors have routinely lodged a complaint about rash driving by tourists and notwithstanding endeavours taken up by functionaries, motorists have seldom adhered to the rules.  Speeding a vehicle above 20 km per hour is an offence inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and attracts an on-the-spot fine of Rs 500.

Bizarre: SP youth wing workers give onions on loan by keeping Aadhaar Card and silver jewellery as mortgage in Varanasi

OpIndia Staff
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Bizarre: SP youth wing workers give onions on loan by keeping Aadhaar Card and silver jewellery as mortgage in Varanasi

The SP party youth wing workers in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, have been giving onions on loan by keeping Aadhaar Card and silver jewelry as a mortgage. They said it is their way of protesting against high onion prices.


Speaking about it, a Samajwadi Party worker told news agency ANI, “This is being done to register our protest against the high price of onions. We are giving onions by keeping Aadhaar Card or silver jewelry as a mortgage. At some shops, onions are being kept in lockers as well.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5M46xydDpo]

Calling it a unique way of protesting against the soaring onion prices, the workers of the Samajwadi Party youth wing have adapted a bizarre way of fleecing the illiterate and the poor. Keeping jewelry made out of a poor person’s life time-saving in lieu of something a petty as onions and terming it as a protest to embarrass the ruling government over the unprecedented increase in prices of onions is beyond any normal person’s intellect.

Read- Onion scarcity: A mostly man-made crisis that keeps affecting elections in the country

Talking about this outlandish protest a local SP party worker, Anshul Yadav said: “This is being done to register our protest against the high price of onion. Recently a truck carrying inions worth Rs 26 lakhs was stolen and now people are even keeping onions under lock and key.”

The union government had in its attempt to curb the rising onion prices had to act as a facilitator for onion imports to ease the process and ensure a quick and healthy supply from other countries. Further, in view of the high prices of the essential commodity in the market, the Union Cabinet on November 20 approved the import of 1.2 lakh metric tonnes of onion.

This bizarre protest by the workers of the SP youth wing in Varanasi came after the Congress party workers in Lucknow on Friday sold onions at Rs 40 per kg outside the Assembly to protest against the rising prices of the essential commodity.

Speaking to ANI, Congress leader Shailendra Tiwari said: “The rising price of vegetables has badly affected the people. The government is not willing to listen to the pleas of the common man.”

The Print’s contributing editor Shivam Vij accused of inventing fake quotes and twisting facts to peddle liberal propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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The Print’s contributing editor Shivam Vij accused of inventing fake quotes and twisting facts to peddle liberal propaganda

Shivam Vij, ’eminent’ liberal thinker, has been accused of inventing a quote out of thin air for his report on Shekhar Gupta’s The Print titled ‘Why Kashmiri Pandits may never return to the Valley’. Shivam Vij used a conversation he claims to have had with author Arvind Gigoo in order to peddle his agenda. Vij is a contributing editor at The Print.

Now, the Kashmiri Pandit’s son, Siddhartha Gigoo, has come out on Twitter and accused Shivam Vij of lying, saying that his father never gave any such quote.


Siddhartha said that Shivam Vij has lied in his report, and asked Shekhar Gupta to remove his father’s false quote from the article, and apologise.

Shivam Vij wrote in his report, “Arvind Gigoo is a retired English lecturer from Kashmir, now living in a flat in Jammu with his wife. He moved to Jammu after the exodus in 1991. I asked him why he never thought of returning and living in his home in Srinagar. He explained that his friends were now all in Jammu. It’s the same reason why he doesn’t live with his son in Delhi, the writer Siddhartha Gigoo. When Arvind Gigoo went back to Srinagar after many years, he felt like an outsider, because he didn’t know anyone anymore.”

He continued, “People migrate and die, and so on. The young look at a Pandit speaking in Kashmiri like an oddity from a mythical past. But the most important reason he couldn’t imagine going back to living in Srinagar was comfort. The old house, the old way of living, the old kind of toilets, the dirty old lanes. He was comfortable living in a more modern house in Jammu. He eventually sold the Srinagar house — something many Pandits did.” He then proceeded to add, “So, when we speak of the “return” of Pandits, it is not a physical relocation we need to think of. Pandits cannot return to a Kashmir that is pre-1989, because it does not exist anymore.”

Read: Shivam Vij is the ‘Kachcha Nimbu’ of ThePrint that gets to bat from both sides

The report comes across as a sermon by a preacher at some pulpit. The purpose of the entire article appears to be issuing severe moral condemnations of Sandeep Chakravorty, India’s Consul General in New York, who was involved in controversy recently, and other related individuals. Another person who was the object of Shivam Vij’s moral sermons was Pooja Shali of India Today.

Shivam Vij wrote, “Yet, the word “camps” will be repeated ad nauseam because how else do you claim continuing victimhood? Take for instance this report by Pooja Shali in India Today, which says, “Kashmiri Pandits living in the Jagti refugee camp appreciated PM Modi-led government’s decision to revoke the state’s special status.” The deliberate yet subtle falsehood here is to describe Jagti as a camp and not a ‘township’. You can see here a photo of the entrance to the Jagti apartments. For anyone who doesn’t understand what a camp is, here is a photo of how the Pandits once lived in camps.”

Now, Pooja Shali, too, has come out on Twitter and slammed Shivam Vij for twisting her report to peddle his agenda.


Thus, it appears Shivam Vij’s moral sermon report is based on lies and twisting of facts reported by others. It is not surprising given his past track record. He had earlier written a post on Facebook coaching liberals to engage in casteist politics to combat Hindutva. Shivam Vij’s earlier reports for The Print haven’t been paragons of accuracy as well. One day, he used to report that Narendra Modi losing the 2019 elections was a real possibility and after a few days, he declared that the Modi Wave in Uttar Pradesh was as strong as it was in 2014 and 2017. He had also declared Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav a ‘winner’ even before the elections had begun.

Huffington Post report on Electoral Bonds: Unlimited sensationalism with little to no sense

Kartikeya Tanna
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Huffington Post report on Electoral Bonds: Unlimited sensationalism with little to no sense

What happens when you have a path-breaking decision like the Electoral Bonds by an elected government which is initially met with skepticism from autonomous agencies, when cash as campaign finance is sought to be replaced by funds through the banking route, when its implementation needs initial tweaks not envisaged during conception, when bureaucrats, grappling with interpretation of this measure, make good faith errors?

As a multi-part report in HuffPost India and other outlets would tell you, we have a “scam” whose execution is replete with “illegalities”.

The basics

All political parties need money for campaigning. The big money comes typically from corporate or individual businesses.

Ideally, businesses should donate funds through the banking route (i.e., cheque or bank transfer). However, donors to specific political parties routinely run the risk of being targeted by rival political parties who didn’t get donations from those donors.

What businesses then end up preferring in order to maintain their anonymity is hard cash. The pitfalls of cash, largely unaccounted, need not be explained. Cash is, after all, a bearer note, an instrument of value owned by one who holds it thereby making it difficult to identify the original owner or even changes in ownership from time to time.

No one then really knows which party received what amount of cash, even if the identity of the donors is required to be kept confidential.

A solution – a balance

For the Modi government, this balance came in the form of electoral bonds (EBs). Donors can purchase EBs which will not reflect the identity of the donors. Those EBs can be handed over to political parties of the donor’s choice which can be encashed by those parties in their bank accounts.

Now, while the identity of the owner of these notes remains confidential from political parties and from the public at large, two distinct elements make them significantly different from cash:

Regulated traceability– Section 7(4) of the Electoral Bond Notification permits disclosure of the path of the bonds when demanded by a competent court or upon registration of a criminal case by a law enforcement agency thereby providing a safeguard mechanism in case of illegality or criminality.

Banking route– The funds underlying EBs (except amounts below Rs. 2,000 which can be contributed in cash) travel entirely through the banking route. Section 11 of the Notification enlists the limited banking routes through which payment for the EBs can be done. Moreover, under Section 4 of the Notification, the RBI’s rather stringent KYC norms apply to the buyers of EBs.

I, therefore, prefer to call EBs semi-bearer notes. Cash neither has traceability nor is there a banking route underlying these currency notes once printed.

Additionally, businesses would actually be required to make accounting entries in their books reflecting the purchase of electoral bonds and political parties would need to report on their statements how many donations they received through EBs. Pursuant to Section 80GGB of the Income Tax Act, donors would be able to get tax deductions.

The senseless attempt at sensation by Huffington Post

There are several bizarre surmises in the HuffPost series, some of which are as follows:

  • The report made much of the fact that BJP received 95% of the funding through EBs in the first subscription thereby concluding that this Scheme was brought in just to benefit one party. Is HuffPostsaying that Congress and other political parties went about their campaigning with just 5% of the remaining funding through EBs? Is it HuffPost’s case that BJP’s rivals didn’t use unaccounted cash at all in their campaigning?

The very fact that 95% of the EBs went to BJP shows that, firstly, we actually know under the EB system how much parties received; secondly, the funds went through the banking route (hence, fully tax paid funds) and, thirdly, those EBs have regulated traceability as explained earlier.

  • The report also decries the fact that RBI and Election Commission weren’t on board with this decision. While the EC continues to oppose the electoral bond scheme in the ongoing Supreme Court case (which actually refutes arguments of BJP’s rivals that EC is a puppet of the Modi government), RBI later did offer suggestions to strengthen the purpose of the EB Scheme some of which were implemented by the government. In fact, the Modi government implemented more of RBI’s suggestions in the Electoral Bond scheme than those put forth by its own party BJP as elaborated by the author here.

The fact that Modi government didn’t align completely with the RBI or at all with the EC is portrayed as a virtual crime in the HuffPost series, again to sensationalize. This is neither the first time nor the first government which has taken a path different from the one preferred by these agencies.

  • It also made much of the fact that the PMO asked the Finance Ministry to permit the issuance of bonds outside of the windows originally mentioned in the Notification in order to fund state assembly elections in 2018. HuffPostloosely throws around words such as “illegality”. Why, one wonders, is this problematic? Campaign funding during state/local elections suffers from the same problem of unaccounted illegal cash floating around and dubious funding. Is it the case that regulations are not amenable to change as one starts implementing them and notices aspects which need tweaking?

Indeed, as desirable as it is that such measures be elaborately thought through before implementation, big-impact measures introduced by the Modi government such as demonetization and GST have witnessed constant changes in implementation to suit the needs as felt from time to time. Inconvenient, it may be. How does that make it “illegal” as HuffPostrepeatedly claims? Another classic case of sensation over sense.

  • Also, the HuffPostseries is riddled with a major contradiction. The byline to each part of this expose claims it is an investigation into “how the Modi government brought untraceable funds” into Indian politics. Part four, on the other hand, bears the headline “Electoral Bonds Are Traceable” and goes on to lament the traceability of the bonds.

So, are they untraceable or traceable? And, what exactly is wrong with the EB system? Traceability of EBs or their untraceability? Or, is it simply a case of heads I win, tail you lose? This tweet by the author documents this contradiction.

  • The lament behind the traceability of EBs is that the government of the day could gain access to the confidential information from these agencies which are “caged parrots”. While this is a possibility, there are courts to seek redress to this breach of privacy even if the efficacy of this action may have its own limitations. Regardless, does that mean we go back to the cash-based system where funding goes completely under the radar?

 

  • Part five of the HuffPostseries completely obsesses over the fact that a political party was permitted to encash expired bonds. Reading the story is when you realize that a mountain is made out of something that isn’t even a molehill. Under the Electoral Bond Scheme, EBs had a validity period of 15 days. One political party went to the SBI to encash bonds assuming that the validity period was 15 business days (as opposed to 15 calendar days). As a one-time exception, the Finance Ministry, upon being asked by SBI to offer clarity, permitted encashing of bonds. The SBI was categorically told to inform everyone concerned that, for the future, the words “15 days” in the Notification would mean 15 calendar days. How was that an “illegal” act? In fact, bonds which had expired beyond the 15 business days were not allowed to be encashed. If rules had been tweaked for those bonds, an allegation of illegality could be sustained.

 

  • Part six is entirely focused on the fact that no business made a formal representation to the Central Government to keep their identity confidential when they choose to donate to a political party. This is, again, bizarre due to the fact that such representations aren’t made formally in writing, that too, to a government official. The vengeance and abuse of power exercised by political parties when in power is an open secret.

Read: Investigation: The lies and the nexus of foreign organisations behind vilification of Rafale deal and Electoral Bonds

And, this happens in democracies with a strong rule of law like the U.S. too. Citing illustrations in the U.S. of how both Republican and Democrat parties have abused their power to intimidate those who donated to the other, Bradley A. Smith, former U.S. Federal Election Commission chairman writes in a piece titled In Defense of Political Anonymitythat “disclosure has resulted in government-enabled invasions of privacy—and sometimes outright harassment—and it has added to a political climate in which candidates are judged by their funders rather than their ideas.”

TheHuffPostseries is riddled with many more errors which evidences a rush to arrive at predetermined conclusions. For example, Part one mentions that foreign companies could now route money to Indian political parties. The Scheme is only for Indian individuals and companies as elaborated in this tweet. Indeed, if foreign money does get funnelled in some way, the regulated traceability of EBs can unveil the path. Another example is that the series misrepresents rather simple words of a bureaucrat as noted here. An incorrect provision of the Scheme is referenced without basic fact-checking.

All of this goes to show that the HuffPost series, far from being a real investigative story like stories on the Bofors or 2G scams were, is but a lazy attempt at inventing sensation from a set of documents obtained through RTI applications. The applicable word for such stories is – “clickbait”.

Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam says stopping Arrey metro car shed construction not enough, should be scrapped altogether

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam says stopping Arrey metro car shed construction not enough, should be scrapped altogether

Days after casting apprehensions over an alliance with the Shiv Sena, Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam, was not only seen dancing to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s tunes but was seen going a step beyond to outfox the new Maharashtra Chief Minister’s decision on halting the car shed construction for the Mumbai Metro in Aarey Milk Colony.

In an interview with ANI, Maharashtra Congress leader was heard saying that though he welcomes the Maharashtra government’s decision to halt the car shed construction but was of the opinion that only temporarily halting the project would not help, instead he was in the favour of completely scrapping the project.


He says that the decision to scrap the project is of one and every person in Mumbai. Congress’ foul-mouthed minister said that this movement against the overnight cutting of trees in Aarey was not politically motivated or devised by any particular political party but is unanimously endorsed by the people of Mumbai.

He said that along with all the Mumbaikar’s he to demands that the project of the car shed construction for the Mumbai Metro in Aarey Milk Colony must be completely scrapped.

Interestingly, despite SC’s stay on tree cutting in Aarey and Metro Corporation’s confirmation that they have cut all the trees that needed to be cut and they do not need to cut any more trees in the area, in his first-ever policy decision as the new CM of Maharashtra, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had announced on November 29 that not a single leaf will be cut any more and halted metro car shed construction for the same reason until further notice.

At first, the new CM proposes to halt the construction, then Congress senior leader proposes to completely scrap the project. But surprisingly, in both cases, they have not offered an alternative space for the metro car shed. People here are left to wonder, whether the metro coaches will also be split between Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress as well for parking and maintanence.

On the night of 4th October, the Mumbai Metro Corporation had started the process of cutting 2,185 trees in Aarey colony after the Bombay High Court dismissed all petitions against the same earlier in that day. As per an order issued by the Tree Authority on 13th September, approval for cutting 2,185 trees and transplanting 461 trees was granted to clear the allotted land for the depot of metro trains.

Police had to impose section 144 of the IPC for smooth implementation of the order as protestors had arrived at Aarey Colony to prevent trees from being cut. Out of 2,185 trees marked for felling, 2,141 trees were cut before the stay by SC, while the Metro Corporation had said that they have cut all the trees that needed to be cut and they do not need to cut any more trees in the area.

Rahul Gandhi is back and how: After ‘pichatees’, watch him inventing another number to talk about MSP paid to farmers

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi is back and how: After ‘pichatees’, watch him inventing another number to talk about MSP paid to farmers

The former Congress party president has added yet another gem in his series of hilarious gaffes. This time around, while addressing an election rally in Jharkhand, the Gandhi scion conjured up a new mathematical numeral-‘Dhai Hazaar Panch Sau’.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vNWb-IAV4?start=483]

Talking at the rally, Gandhi said, “Sarkar kisano ka dhaan dhai hazaar panch sau me kharidti hai (The government buys farmers’ produce at Rs 2500 500).” The Wayanad MP was listing the down the MSP price apparently offered to the farmers by the Congress government in the nearby Chhatisgarh state when he coined a never before heard number. Before long, the short clip of Rahul’s gaffe started doing the rounds on the Internet.

“There is only one state which offers the right price to the farmers. It is Chhatisgarh. Before the elections, we had promised that we will raise the MSP to 2500 per quintal. After coming to power we did it. The farmers in Chhatisgarh get Rs 2500 per quintal for their produce. The government provides 2500 500 per quintal to the farmers,” Gandhi said.

It is interesting to note that initially he had said the correct figure, two thousand five hundred, but being himself, he invented the new number just a moment later.

This is not the first time that the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has regaled his audience and listeners with his unintended humour. Last year, Rahul Gandhi invented another numeral-“pichatees” while slamming the BJP government for the rising unemployment figures.


The list of gaffes committed by Rahul Gandhi is endless. During the campaigning for Karnataka polls in 2018, Gandhi stuttered repeatedly while pronouncing the word ‘Visvesvaraya’.

One of the famous goof-ups happened in January 2013 while Rahul was addressing the AICC plenary, shortly after becoming the vice president of the party. Speaking at the plenary, Rahul mixed up day with night saying, “This morning I got up at night, 4 o’clock in the morning I got out into the balcony I thought- you have a big responsibility in front of you and these people are standing behind you, people are standing on your side.”

The list of Rahul Gandhi’s problems with numbers is endless. During the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaigns, the then Congress president had given different numbers about their promised NYAY scheme at different rallies. Although the proposal had promised ₹72,000 per year, Rahul Gandhi had promised ₹72,000 per month in one place, while had promised a whopping ₹72,000 crore per year in another place.

‘I write so I can enter coldest of hearts’: London Bridge terrorist was poster boy for ‘deradicalization’ program he attended

OpIndia Staff
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‘I write so I can enter coldest of hearts’: London Bridge terrorist was poster boy for ‘deradicalization’ program he attended

Usman Khan, the London Bridge Terrorist, was considered a ‘poster boy for deradicalization’ following his release from prison after being convicted on charges of terrorism, it has now been revealed. Learning Together, a Cambridge University programme, worked with Usman Khan in prison and after his release and he was advertised as a success story.

Khan also wrote a ‘Thank You’ note to the organizers after they provided him with a computer that he could use without violating his bail conditions. The programme also shared his note of gratitude alongside a poem that he wrote. The poem goes, “I write so my words become a soothing light, I write so I can enter the coldest of hearts, I write so I can speak to those locked off from the world engulfed in the blinding absence of sight. I write so I can express what I feel is right.”

A poem by Khan contained on Learning Together literature

Although the face of the person is not visible in the image, it is understood to be Khan. In the note of gratitude, Khan wrote, “I typed these reflections on the chromebook I received and I am truly grateful to be able to express myself through it.” “I cannot send enough thanks to the entire Learning Together team and all those who continue to support this wonderful community.”

Usman Khan was banned from entering London but he received special permission to attend the event organized by Learning Together. In a handwritten letter following his 2012 conviction, Usman Khan claimed that he no longer endorsed extremist positions. The letter states, “I would be grateful if you could arrange some kind of course that I can do where I can properly learn Islam and its teachings, and I can prove I don’t carry the extreme views which I might have carried before.”

Source: Mirror UK

And it continues: “I would like to do such a course so I can prove to the authorities, my family and soicity (sic) in general that I don’t carry the views I had before my arrest and also I can prove that at the time I was immature, and now I am much more mature and want to live my life as a good Muslim and also a good citizen of Britain.”

It is also revealed that Jack Merritt, one of the two victims of Khan, worked with him while he was in prison. His family, however, has slammed the Tory government’s plans to review Britain’s judicial sentencing system in the aftermath of the attack. “We know Jack would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary,” they wrote.

Read: Londonistan: Where a ‘Hero’ who fought terrorists was put on ‘terror watch’ and convicted terrorists walk free

It appears that Usman Khan succeeded in convincing those around him that he had indeed been reformed. However, it’s now being suspected that he had planned the attack for a great many years. He was eventually shot dead after he had murdered two and injured several others. It is now known that Usman Khan had previously boasted about his UK benefits while plotting a “Mumbai-style attack”. Khan and the plotters had plans to raise funds to build a terrorist training camp in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. The group also had also planned to carry out a “Mumbai-style attack” on high-profile figures, according to court documents.

However, people who knew him in his younger days don’t appear surprised by the turn of events. Rhys Miller, a former classmate, wrote on Facebook: ‘Look who it is – the guy who walked around school with a picture of Osama bin Laden on the front of his planner and used to sit in the corner of the cafe with 20 of his mates watching videos of the planes going into the Twin Towers.’ He asserted that Khan’s extremism was ‘brushed under the carpet’ and ‘blatant red flags’ were ‘ignored’.

Kerala: Woman who entered Sabarimala last year with communist govt’s help moves SC seeking protection for entry this year

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Woman who entered Sabarimala last year with communist govt’s help moves SC seeking protection for entry this year

Bindu Ammini, who was attacked with chilli spray while waiting near the Ernakulam police commissioner’s office on November 26 seeking police protection to enter the Sabarimala shrine has now moved to the Supreme Court seeking safe passage of all women regardless of age, religion.

She claims that there is no stay of the 2018 SC verdict and the Kerala police are bound to give protection to women (between the age of 10 and 50) who wanted to climb the Sabarimala shrine.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73s4ITM3lck]

It was reported that Bindu Ammini had earlier decided on moving a contempt of court petition in the SC alleging that the Kerala government was not cooperating with women seeking to enter the sanctum sanctorum of Sabarimala, but has instead moved a writ petition now in the apex court.

This writ petition is in the form of public interest litigation (PIL) in which she has sighted the 2018 SC’s Sabarimala judgement and went on to say that this judgement has not been stayed by the top court. She also argued that SC had not referred the issue to a larger bench in its November 14 order.

Last week, Bindu Ammini, while speaking to the media at the Press Club in Kottayam, said that the police or members of the Sangh Parivar, preventing women from the trek amounts to contempt of court.

She slammed the Kerala government for not giving police protection and dodging their responsibilities under the pretext that there was a lack of clarity in the Supreme Court’s latest judgment.

The apex court on November 14 referred the Sabarimala issue to a larger seven-member bench but did not impose a stay on its September 2018 verdict.

“There is no lack of clarity in the recent ruling. Those who have lack of clarity should seek clarity. Instead, the government is trying to escape from their responsibility. All political parties are trying to make political mileage out of the Sabarimala issue, eyeing on their respective vote banks. The Left has fallen for the trap prepared by the Sangh Parivar. And the Sangh Parivar is trying to create riots using people who have no sense of history,” she had said.

Bindu and another woman named Kanakadurga were sneaked into the Sabarimala shrine last year by the communist government to forcibly break the traditions of the temple. Both of them were reportedly CPM workers and they were accompanied by policemen dressed in plain clothes inside the shrine.

Read: Four policemen dressed in plain clothes accompanied two women to Sabarimala on Jan 2: Police to Court

The devotees at Sabarimala had later alleged that the women were sneaked in via the VIP entrance early in the morning on January 2 last year.

The HC appointed monitoring committee had slammed the Kerala police and Patthanamittha administration for taking unauthorised steps to facilitate the entry of the two CPIM activists Bindu and Kanakadurga causing huge embarrassment for the Pinarayi Vijayan led Kerala government.

The Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government had faced severe protests and outrage by Hindus for its use of force to blatantly disregard the traditions and sentiments of a community and go out of its way to escort activists and atheists inside the temple.

The Kerala government’s excesses were slammed by the High Court. The Sabarimala excesses had also made the CPM face a massive electoral rout in the 2019 general elections.

This year, the Kerala government has been on a cautionary mode. They have made it clear that the SC’s decision to take on the review petitions for the September 2018 order and its statements on the regard have de facto stayed the earlier order and they will not provide state protection to women within the restricted age-group who are seeking entry into the shrine.

The efforts of non-Hindus, activists and atheists to forcibly enter a Hindu religious shrine under the garb of democratic rights and disregarding the faith and traditions of the devotees have been criticised widely by Hindus around the world.

It is notable here that the Sabarimala temple is the seat of Lord Ayyappa who is worshipped there in his ‘Naishtika Brahmachari’ form. Hence, only the devotees who had observed a rigorous 41-day penance and are carrying the ‘Irumudi’ are traditionally allowed into the shrine. Women of menstruating age are barred.

NCP MLA asks Uddhav Thackeray to release Bhima Koregaon accused, who once compared Balasaheb Thackeray to Hitler

OpIndia Staff
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NCP MLA asks Uddhav Thackeray to release Bhima Koregaon accused, who once compared Balasaheb Thackeray to Hitler

Soon after the newly selected chief minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray declared that all the cases on the Aarey metro car shed protestors will be withdrawn, an NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad had exhorted the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government to drop the charges slapped against Sudhir Dhawale, a prime accused in the Bhima Koregaon case.


Dhawale, a known Naxal sympathiser, was among ten activists arrested in 2018 as part of the inquiry into the caste violence at Bhima Koregaon on January 1 of the same year. They were accused of masterminding the violence and of having links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

It is noteworthy to mention that the accused Sudhir Dhawale, whom the NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad wants to be exculpated by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, wrote a book likening the CM’s father Balasaheb Thackeray to German chancellor Adolf Hitler and called him a “fascist slave of capitalists”. In the book, Dhawale claimed that Balasaheb Thackeray held a dim view of democracy and espoused fascist ideology, like the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.


“Balasaheb’s admiration for Adolf Hitler was not hidden. Therefore, when the former PM Indira Gandhi called upon the Emergency in the country, Balasaheb had openly extended his support to her. This tiger was afraid of being incarcerated during that time. Just like Hitler’s rule was characterised by his sudden caprices, similarly, Balasaheb’s capricious behaviour was no less. Scores of innocent people died because of Balasaheb Thackeray’s whims and fancies. On one hand, his Shiv Seniks dig up cricket pitches to oppose matches between India and Pakistan, on the other hand, he invited Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad to his house,” Dhawale said in the book.

Read: Shiv Sena agrees to uphold ‘secular values’, work for ‘minorities’ in Maharashtra: Read details of Common Minimum Program

Furthermore, describing Balasaheb Thackeray as “Brahminical Fascist Don”, Dhawale alleged in the book that in order to once again establish the supremacy of Hindutva, Balasaheb presided over the killings of innocent Dalits across various parts of Maharashtra. “In 1974 Worli riots, across Marathwada, Dalit women were raped, mass killings ordered, their houses were ransacked. Only after these incidents, Shiv Sena’s hegemony was established in the region,” Dhawale wrote.

The request from the NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad comes at a time when the Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray, the son of late Balasaheb Thackeray has been appointed as the Maharashtra Chief Minister with the support of Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian National Congress and has received widespread criticism for allying with the very parties who stand against Hindus and had demonised not only Shiv Sena but also Bal Thackeray in the past.

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