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Congress kept Farooq Abdullah’s father in jail for 11 years, we will not do that: HM Amit Shah takes on Opposition on Kashmir situation

OpIndia Staff
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Congress kept Farooq Abdullah’s father in jail for 11 years, we will not do that: HM Amit Shah takes on Opposition on Kashmir situation

A day after HM Amit Shah demolished the Congress’s criticisms during the Citizenship Amendment Bill debate in the Lok Sabha, he took on the Opposition over the Kashmir issue.

“The situation in Kashmir is completely normal”, Home Minister Amit Shah told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and attacked the Congress for its pitch after the abrogation of Article 370 that had predicted bloodshed in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The situation in Kashmir valley is completely normal. I can’t make Congress’ condition normal, because they had predicted bloodshed after the abrogation of Article 370. Nothing of that sort happened… not one bullet was fired,” Amit Shah said, responding to questions on the situation in the Kashmir Valley.


Countering Congress’ motor-mouth Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s claim that the continued detention of political leaders indicates that the situation in Kashmir was far from normal, the Home Minister said a decision on releasing detained political leaders, including the three former chief ministers in Jammu and Kashmir will be taken by the local administration and the central government will not interfere in the matter.

“We don’t want to keep them even a day extra in jail, when administration thinks its right time, political leaders will be released. Farooq Abdullah’s father was kept in jail for 11 years by Congress, we don’t want to follow them, as soon as the UT administration decides, they will be released”, said Amit Shah.


Notably, in the year 1953, Sheikh Abdullah (Farooq Abdullah’s father) who was considered to be a good friend of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was put behind bars by the ruling Congress party, in connection with the infamous ‘Kashmir conspiracy case’. It was alleged that the top Kashmiri leadership under the guidance of Sheikh Abdullah was trying to promote secession.

Abdullah was released in 1964 in what was seen to be a peace deal between the two parties for an agreement on Kashmir. The same year, he visited Pakistan and 11 years later, Abdullah and the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed an accord paving way for him to return to power in his state.

Amit Shah continued to cut down Congress to its size by chiding it for not worrying enough about the people but instead politicking using the Kashmir issue.

“99.5% students sat for exams there, but for Adhir Ranjan ji this is not normalcy, 7 lakh ppl availed OPD services in Srinagar, curfew, sec 144 removed from everywhere. But for Adhir ji the only parameter for normalcy is political activity. What about local body polls which were held?” Amit Shah said.

Amit Shah then reminded Adhir Chowdhury that under the BJP rule, local body elections were conducted in the Jammu and Kashmir and there are now hundreds of public representatives working to avail the government’s welfare schemes to teh poor.


It is notable here that Congress has been crying foul over the abrogation of article 370 and the eastwhile state’s bifurcation even as many of its own leaders had supported the move. Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia, Karan Singh and former CM Deepender Hooda had supported the abrogation of Article 370.

Citizenship Amendment Bill – Myths and lies propagated against it, and the facts

OpIndia Staff
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Citizenship Amendment Bill – Myths and lies propagated against it, and the facts

As the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last night, left-liberal media and opposition parties have gone on an overdrive in spreading propaganda against. Most oppositions against the CAB are based on lies, or poor understanding of the proposed amendment to the citizenship law. Here are some of the baseless complaints made about the CAB and the respective facts.

Citizenship Amendment Bill is against Indian Muslims, they need to get their papers ready to continue living in the country.

One of the worst lies being spread is that Indian Muslims need to worry about the bill. The Citizenship Amendment Bill has nothing to do with Indian citizens, Muslim or otherwise, as it seeks to grant citizenship to religious minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. People belonging to Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikhs, Parsi or Christian communities from these three countries who have come to India before 2014 for religious persecution and already living in India will be able to apply for citizenship after the amendment is passed. No Indian citizen will be asked to produce any document to prove citizenship after the CAB is passed, it is just false propaganda being spread by some people.

Muslims from other countries can’t become Indian citizens after CAB is passed

CAB is a special one-time measure for the religious minorities who have already come to India after facing persecution in the three specified countries. The amendment does not cancel the existing naturalisation laws. Any person from any foreign country seeking to be Indian citizen can apply for the same under the existing laws. There is no bar on Muslims from anywhere in the world to seek Indian citizenship under existing laws, CAB does not prohibit that. They can apply for Indian citizenship under section 6 of the Citizenship Act, which deals with citizenship by naturalization.

Read- From wanting modern day ‘Mahatma’ to fast unto death, to ‘everyone is a piece of shit, ‘Liberals’ lose their mind opposing CAB

Muslims for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can’t apply for citizenship or refuge in India

Although Muslims from these countries have been excluded from the CAB, it does not mean the door is shut forever for becoming Indian citizens. The points made in the above para applies here also, although they are not given blanket relaxation to apply for citizenship under CAB, the usual naturalisation law remains available to them.

Illegal Muslim immigrants living in India will be deported after CAB is passed

CAB gives citizenship to people of six communities from three countries living in India, but it does not deal with the deportation of illegal immigrants. Although it protects Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis or Christians who had entered India illegally from deportation by giving an opportunity to apply for citizenship, it does not say anything about deportation as that is the subject matter of another law, the Foreigners Act, not the Citizenship Act which the bill seeks to amend. The process of deporting anyone entering and living illegally in India is an ongoing process, and the CAB does not change that.

Any Hindu can become Indian citizen after CAB is passed

Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis or Christians from only from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who are already living in India for at least five years can apply for citizenship. It does not give automatic citizenship to Hindus, they must have lived in India for at least five years, and after that, they have to apply for citizenship. It is not particularly biased in favour of Hindus as many are arguing. Six communities from three countries have been given relaxation, for everyone else the normal naturalisation law remains applicable. For example, there are lots of Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus living in camps in Tamil Nadu, but they have not been included in CAB. These Sri Lankans had fled the country during the war with LTTE in 1990s and are living in several camps.

If CAB is about religious persecution, why Shias, Ahmediyyas, Balochs and Rohingyas are not included

All these groups are Muslims, they are not recognised as separate religions anywhere in the world. As Muslims, they are not minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which are either officially Islamic countries or have a very high Muslim majority. Therefore, it is not possible to include Muslims in the bill as it is specifically made for religious minorities in those countries. Still, if any Muslims are being persecuted in these Islamic countries for practising their version of Islam, they can apply for asylum in India. India has already provided asylum to Tibetans, and a large number of people from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda etc.

Read- Citizenship Amendment Bill: A necessity to correct a historical wrong

Moreover, Balochs and Rohingyas are not religious groups, they are ethnic groups. Baloch people are not wanting to migrate to India or any other country, they are demanding an independent nation in the Baloch region. Therefore, it does not make sense to include in CAB. In the case of Rohingyas, although they fled Myanmar after they were allegedly targeted by the military, their situation was not the same what minorities are facing in the three Islamic countries. Rohingyas were targeted in retaliation after they had attacked people from other communities, including Hindus, in Myanmar. Rohingya groups are conducting terror activities in Myanmar for a long time. Many such terrorists entered other countries along with ordinary Rohingyas, and they remain undetected. Therefore, the Rohingya groups remain a security threat to India, and they can’t be given any blanket relaxation for citizenship.

CAB is against the Indian Constitution as the constitution prohibits discrimination in the name of religion

The constitution of India is for citizens of India, and the CAB is a special provision for people who are not citizens of India. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that CAB violates the constitution. Moreover, our constitution and laws already have several discriminatory provisions. We don not have equal law for every citizen, the constitution allows different laws for different religions in several matters. We have Hindu Temples under government control but not Mosques or Churches. We have different laws for schools run by Hindus and non-Hindus. Haj subsidies and salaries for Imams but no such facility for Hindus, the list goes on. As the constitution already allows discrimination among even the citizens, it can’t be said that excluding Muslim citizens from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan violates the Constitution of India.

People in North East are opposing CAB because it is discriminatory

Although it is true that some people in north-eastern states, particularly in Assam, are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill, their reason is completely different from the left-liberals and opposition parties. People in north-east are against giving citizenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh or anywhere, regardless of religion, and that’s why they are opposing it. People in the northeast don’t want any foreigners to be given citizenship, while outside northeast the opposition to the bill is over the exclusion of Muslims. Both the groups are actually on completely opposite stands in their opposition to the bill.

Citizenship Amendment Bill has exposed Indian ‘liberals’ like never before

Abhishek Banerjee
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Citizenship Amendment Bill has exposed Indian ‘liberals’ like never before

Take a close look at this tweet.

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The Wire journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s tweet from December 4, 2019

It is hard to make sense of this at first sight. Is she praising the government or criticizing it? Given her general track record, I think it is safe to assume this tweet was intended as criticism of the Modi government.

Which gives us a terrifying glimpse of how ‘liberals’ really see the world. Seriously? Is she implying that Pakistan is better than Israel?

The State of Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel has defeated entire coalitions of its enemies many times more powerful than they are. Israel is also the only country in the Middle East to have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, dignity and equal rights for women and homosexuals.

Israel has just 5 million people but is a technological superpower. A tiny desert nation with no natural resources, Israel has also pioneered technologies such as drip irrigation and water harvesting, which humanity will need desperately in the years to come.

Read: Bundelkhand to be modelled using Israeli techniques in agriculture

Did you know that Nazi symbols are not actually banned in Israel, despite everything that the Jewish people went through during the holocaust? Such is the absolute commitment that Israel makes to freedom of speech and expression. Suffice to say that Israel’s neighbors would take another thousand years to even understand the principles involved here and why they matter.

Any country in the world would be proud to achieve what Israel has. But for Indian ‘liberals’, Israel is not great. Israel is supposed to be sinister, a sign of evil. And, would you believe it, worse than Pakistan?  

In fact, opponents of the CAB kept bringing up Israel in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

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Asaduddin Owaisi during the Citizenship Amendment Bill debate in Lok Sabha

What they do not realize is that they are not tarnishing the good name of David Ben Gurion. They are only exposing themselves. If history survives, it will not remember Owaisi. But it will surely thank David Ben Gurion for creating the only democracy in the Middle East.

Read: AIMIM chief Owaisi continues his rant: Compares CAB to Nuremberg race laws and Amit Shah to Hitler

What we saw yesterday was a coming together of all sorts of folks: Politicians, intellectuals, journalists, activists. With one single aim. To whitewash history and deny the suffering of Hindus in Islamic states such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Sure, everyone had their own little sub-interest. The Congress refuses to accept how they failed the nation in 1947. The Congress refuses to acknowledge their role at the table with the British and how they had a clear incentive to partition the country on religious lines, getting rid of their big political rival. They want us to believe they just got lucky.

Then, there were the regional parties like Trinamool Congress, which have their fingers in at least two pies. One is a vested interest in votes of people who may be illegal migrants from Bangladesh. The other is a strategy of playing off Bengal against the BJP ruled North East.

Then of course there were intellectuals with their open letters and petitions.

Read: At the stroke of midnight, as Lok Sabha passed Citizenship Amendment Bill, ‘seculars’ can’t keep calm

But to see all these groups come together under one umbrella with the single aim of pushing a radical Islamist agenda is terrifying. How else do you describe people who are trying to deny relief to persecuted Hindus from Pakistan and Bangladesh? Who could possibly dispute that Hindus were the victims of Partition? Who could possibly believe that economic migrants should be treated the same as refugees escaping for their life?

We have had these arguments a million times. No, the Indian Government has no obligation to treat foreign citizens of all backgrounds “equally.” And even domestically, India gives special privileges to religious minorities all the time. The only intellectually honest thing here is to similarly extend special privileges to those among migrants who are minorities in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

It’s not like ‘liberals’ don’t know about this. They just don’t want to treat Hindus as human beings; that’s all.

The liberal ‘idea of India’ is that there should be no India at all. Every generation of Indians “loses” some or the other part of this historic nation of Bharat. Seventy years ago, we lost Pakistan and Bangladesh. Around thirty years ago, when the Kashmiri Hindu genocide happened, we had essentially lost Kashmir. Now, we are approaching a tipping point in the North East, specially Assam.

And Bengal is finally in play. Whatever is left of Bengal, that is.

No, ‘liberals’ don’t care one bit what happened to Hindus of Pakistan or Bangladesh or Kashmir. They don’t care one bit what is happening in Assam. And things that are beginning to happen in Kerala and Western Uttar Pradesh.

They know what they are doing. Each time India loses a part of its body, their aim is to rush with anesthetics and tell us that all is well. That what we lost didn’t matter and was never ours to begin with. Whitewash what happened to the Hindus there. And most importantly, remind us that in whatever part of India we still have left, the Hindus are a majority. As such, they must give special privileges to the minority community!

As demographic change continues, in course of time, another bit of India is lost. Ironically, ‘liberals’ argue that this is even more reason to bend over backwards. Because the loss of another bit of India means that the percentage of Hindus actually increases in whatever portion remains!! In fact, if you ask them, the remaining portion of India is under moral obligation to open the doors and welcome even more demographic change.

Rinse and repeat, until India has shrunk to nothing. And Hindus have nowhere to go.

With the Citizenship Amendment Bill and abrogation of Article 370, the liberals sense a disturbance in the force. A bit of pushback. Hindus demanding a bare minimum piece of land where they can be free.

It is not incidental that the opposition forgot yesterday that Afghanistan shares a border in India. They don’t want to remember PoK. They have happily given it up for lost. The idea of India project is about making us forget. Making us forget that India has been around for thousands of years. Making us forget that Hindus have been around for thousands of years, living on much more territory than Bharat has today. Ultimately, making us forget that we even exist.

CAB in Rajya Sabha: With BJP’s floor management, here is how it might just clear the halfway mark

OpIndia Staff
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CAB in Rajya Sabha: With BJP’s floor management, here is how it might just clear the halfway mark

The Lok Sabha had passed the historic Citizenship Amendment Bill on the night of 9 December.

The bill, which was passed by the 16th Lok Sabha in January 2019, had lapsed as it could not be passed in Rajya Sabha before the 2019 general elections. Now, it was re-tabled at the lower house of the parliament on December 9 and was passed with 311 MPs of Lok Sabha voting in favour of it, while 80, voting against it in the division of votes that took place just after midnight. Now the bill is scheduled to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 11.


The Congress party, which has been opposing the bill, has issued three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs to be present in the House tomorrow. Likewise, issuing a whip, the Bharatiya Janata Party has asked all MPs of the Rajya Sabha to remain present in the House on December 10 and December 11.

However, after getting the numbers in the lower house, the government is all geared up to get the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha also. Due to the Amit Shah’s detailed groundwork and floor management, it is expected that the bill will get the consent of the Upper house as the arithmetic seems to be in favour of the same.

To understand the possibility let us analyse the permutation and combination of numbers in the Upper house:

The UPA-led opposition, supported by the Congress and Trinamool Congress, has a combined strength of less than 100 out of 245. Congress has 46 MPs, but Motilal Vohra is absent due to health issues.

The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 238. So the halfway mark is set at 120.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has 13 members in the Upper House. Likewise, the Samajwadi Party has 9, DMK has 5, both the RJD and the BSP have 4 MPs each. With this, the number rises to 100 provided other smaller parties are also included along with these numbers.

Now, if we look at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA’s numbers in the Upper house, it has 83 MPs of its own, including newly elected MPs Arun Singh and KC Ramamurthy. The Shiromani Akali Dal has 3 MPs while AIADMK has 11 members, both of whom are in favour of the bill. Moreover, JDU’s Nitish Kumar has also decided to support the bill.

Apart from these, 12 other members, which include a few independent MPs and the allies of the North East and other smaller parties, are to be considered on BJP’s side.

Despite the political difference between BJP and Shiv Sena, due to which their alliance fell apart, Uddhav Thackeray’s party has extended their support to the bill. Moreover, few neutral parties have also extended support to the central government. Sena has 3 MPs in Rajya Sabha.

Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has declared support for the bill. So have YSRCP, TDP and BJP’s Bihar ally JDU. BJD has 7 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. YSRCP and TDP have 2 each and JDU has 6. NDA member SAD has 3 MPs too. The 4 nominated MPs are also expected to vote in favour of the bill.

Considering that at least 2 BJP MPs including Anil Baluni are on medical leave and the support of two independent contenders is also missing, still, with the help of regional parties, the BJP may just manage to clear the halfway mark.

The present regime, under the supervision of Home Minister Amit Shah, has been silently laying down the groundwork for the Citizenship Amendment Bill since the beginning of Parliament’s winter session. BJP had edged forward with a similar exercise on the proposal to repeal Article 370 also, which they were successful in.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and his cabinet colleague Dharmendra Pradhan were working to bring AIADMK to their side, they also kept BJD in the loop. Likewise, the party’s general secretary, Bhupendra Yadav was in talks with JDU. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has been talking to smaller parties including YSR and TDP.

The Bill is likely to be moved in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, to cross its final hurdle. If CAB is passed in both houses of Parliament and notified in the Gazette of India, the Citizenship Act, 1955 will stand amended.

This will mean that all Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December 2014 without any valid travel documents such as passport, will not be considered an illegal migrant at all. In fact, such persons will be granted Indian citizenship by proving that they have resided in India for 5 years and additionally for a period of 12 months, right before applying for citizenship by naturalization.

Importantly, it is only applicable to the people from these communities. The move will protect minority refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The Union Cabinet cleared the Bill for Parliament on December 4, 2019, and was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 10. The Bill is to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, Wednesday.

Ministry of External Affairs gives a scathing rebuttal to the USCIRF over its unwarranted threats on Citizenship Amendment Bill

OpIndia Staff
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Ministry of External Affairs gives a scathing rebuttal to the USCIRF over its unwarranted threats on Citizenship Amendment Bill

Ministry of External Affairs today released a statement calling out United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US federal government commission over its statement calling the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) ‘dangerous turn in wrong direction’.


In a statement issued by the MEA, the ministry’s official spokesperson said that the statement made by USCIRF is ‘neither accurate nor warranted’. The statement further read that the CAB provides expedited consideration for Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities already in India from certain contiguous countries. The bill seeks to address the difficulties they are currently facing and to meet the basic human rights.

Read: From Nehru-Liaquat Pact to Rohingyas: Here are the most important takeaways from Amit Shah’s reply on CAB

The MEA clarified that the CAB does not affect the existing avenues available to those all the communities interested in seeking Indian citizenship. “Neither the CAB nor the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process seeks to strip citizenship from any Indian citizen of faith. Suggestions to that effect are motivated and unjustified,” the statement reads.

In a sharp rebuttal, the MEA spokesperson further called out USCIRF and said that given its past records, the position articulated by the same is not a surprise. “It is, however, regrettable that the body has chosen to be guided only its prejudices and biases on a matter on which it clearly has little knowledge and no locus standi”.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan goes on a deranged rant to oppose the passage of CAB in Lok Sabha, invokes ‘bilateral agreements’

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan PM Imran Khan goes on a deranged rant to oppose the passage of CAB in Lok Sabha, invokes ‘bilateral agreements’

The abrogation of Article 370 has had a detrimental effect on the mental faculties of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. After losing his mind and dignity over the invalidation of the special status of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan PM Imran Khan has now gone on to a bizarre rant to condemn the Citizenship Amendment Bill that was passed in the lower house of the Indian parliament yesterday midnight.


Condemning the citizenship legislation that passed with 311 votes in favour of the bill, Pakistan PM Imran Khan posted a tweet asserting that the enactment “violates all norms of international human rights law and bilateral agreements with Pakistan”. He further insinuated that the bill was a part of the “RSS Hindu Rashtra design of expansionism propagated by the fascist Modi government”.

Read: Mother of all ironies: Pakistan PM Imran Khan wants to ‘teach’ Modi government how to treat minorities

One was left to wonder which bilateral agreements with Pakistan was he speaking of since in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370, a fuming Khan had severed ties with India, suspended bilateral trade and close airspace for Indian flights. He also declared that he will call its high commissioner back and expel India’s envoy to Pakistan.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, in order to grant Indian nationality to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, who come to India because of religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan even if they do not possess proper documents.

Read: From wanting modern day ‘Mahatma’ to fast unto death, to ‘everyone is a piece of shit, ‘Liberals’ lose their mind opposing CAB

The gaping contradiction in Khan’s arguments was also highlighted many netizens who took a swipe at the Pakistani Prime Minister’s inadequate understanding of the issue.

Popular BJP leader Kapil Mishra took a dig at Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, asking him to table a similar bill in Pakistan for those who live under constant threat in India.


Political analyst and psephologist Yashwant Deshmukh mocked Imran for the inherent irony of his tweet wondering aloud if the Pakistanis are considering the concept of ‘Akhand Bharat” more seriously than the RSS supporters.


Another Twitter user Sankrant Sanu asserted that Pakistan PM Imran Khan might be himself seeking an asylum in India once the Pakistani army dumps him and therefore he is upset with the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha.


Union Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday tabled the much-debated Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 in the Lok Sabha. After extended deliberation over the provisions of the bill, the legislation was passed around the midnight with 311 MPs voting in favour of the bill while 80 members rejected it.

Imran Khan was not the only one who had a meltdown over the passage of the bill. Assorted liberals had a hard time digesting the fact that the lower house of the Indian Parliament has passed the bill with an overwhelming majority. One scaremonger, Harsh Mander, also known for playing an instrumental rule in instituting the prejudiced hate tracker, claimed that if the bill gets passed and becomes a law, he will declare himself as a Muslim, though through his actions he is already one.

BHU: SVDV students finally vindicated, Dr Firoze Khan resigns, will join Arts faculty to teach Sanskrit

OpIndia Staff
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BHU: SVDV students finally vindicated, Dr Firoze Khan resigns, will join Arts faculty to teach Sanskrit

Dr Firoze Khan, the Muslim assistant professor whose appointment at the Sanskrit Vidya Dharm Vigyan (SVDV) faculty in BHU had created a furore among the students recently, has finally resigned from the Hindu religious faculty and is set to join the Sanskrit language department under the Arts faculty, as per reports.

While the protests over the appointment of Dr Firoze Khan in the SVDV faculty are still on and some student groups are now considering a ‘fast unto death’ over the unethical and allegedly corrupt decision to appoint a non-Hindu to a faculty that teaches Hindu religious scriptures and Dharmic rituals, sources have informed OpIndia that Dr Firoze Khan has resigned from the SVDV faculty late on Monday night.

As per sources, he is set to join soon in the Sanskrit language department under the faculty of Arts.

Read: BHU researcher’s detailed interview: 26 OBC Hindus disqualified to favour Firoze Khan, corruption should be investigated

A formal announcement by the SVDV faculty has been made notifying the students that the concerned assistant professor has resigned and they can now resume their academic activities.

It is notable here that amidst the students protest over his appointment, Khan had appeared for an interview in the Ayurveda department and the Sanskrit language department under the Arts faculty recently. As per reports, Khan had been selected in both departments.

The chief proctor of the BHU had met the protesting students on Monday. There he had informed that it will be up to Khan to join another department if he is selected. He had also stated that the executive committee will see to it that if selected, Dr Khan is provided with the appointment letter as soon as possible. He had requested the protesting students to have patience.

Keeping the anger of students and the ongoing protests in view, the university administration had clarified that the exams scheduled on December 10 have been postponed.

OpIndia has gathered from sources in the campus that Dr Khan was unwilling to join the Ayurveda department and hence he might have preferred the Sanskrit language department under the Arts faculty to join.

As per the latest updates, the SVDV faculty has confirmed to the protesting students that Dr Firoz Khan has resigned from the post of an assistant professor from the faculty. The authorities have requested the protesting students to stop their agitation and resume their academic activities.

Notice from the SVDV faculty confirming Dr Khan’s resignation and asking students to resume academic activities

OpIndia has confirmed from ground sources that the students of the SVDV faculty have now decided to stop protests and resume their academic activities in the faculty.

USCIRF, the commission that recommended denial of US visa to Modi, threats US sanctions against Amit Shah if CAB is passed

OpIndia Staff
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USCIRF, the commission that recommended denial of US visa to Modi, threats US sanctions against Amit Shah if CAB is passed

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US federal government commission has raised concerns over India’s Citizenship Amendment Bill that was passed in the Lok Sabha yesterday. The commission has issued a notice, stating that it will recommend the US government to consider sanctions against the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah and other principal leadership.

It is notable here that the USCIRF is the same body that had recommended the US government not to approve a tourist Visa for PM Narendra Modi after the Gujarat riots when he was the CM of the state.

USCIRF notification against the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in 2008

The USCIRF notification states that The CAB enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion.

Read: Shashi Tharoor cheers for foreign interference, calls resolution on Kashmir in US House of Congress an ‘admirable effort’

“The CAB is a dangerous turn in the wrong direction; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith”, it states.

It also says that in conjunction with the NRC in Assam and the nationwide NRC proposed by Amit Shah, the USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a “religious test for Indian citizenship that would strip citizenship from millions of Muslims”.

However, the USCIRF has slyly forgotten to mention that NRC is directed against illegal immigrants, and not against the genuine Muslim citizens of India.

Read: Explained: How Citizenship Amendment Bill embraces the history of India

Ironically, the USCIRF identifies itself as an “independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze and report on threats to religious freedom abroad.”

Despite being the self-proclaimed watcher of ‘threats to religious freedom abroad’ the USCIRF has failed to acknowledge that India’s CAB aims to help the religiously persecuted minorities in its neighbourhood Muslim-majority nations, where Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and even Christians are facing the worst forms of abuse, harassment and state-sanctioned oppression.

Read: ‘Radical Islamic Terrorism’, ‘Border security’ highlighted in the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ as US President gives Kashmir, Article 370 a miss

It is notable here that several US lawmakers and organisations had also made a lot of noise over India’s move to abrogate Article 370 in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, India had sent a firm message internationally to all nations to refrain from meddling in India’s internal affairs. A resolute India had communicated firmly that it will no longer bow down to such pressure tactics.

“Salam Alaikum Harshuddin Miyan”: Netizens react as ‘activist’ Harsh Mander decides to ‘register’ himself as Muslim if CAB is passed

OpIndia Staff
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“Salam Alaikum Harshuddin Miyan”: Netizens react as ‘activist’ Harsh Mander decides to ‘register’ himself as Muslim if CAB is passed

Controversial journalist Barkha Dutt may have found her answer in ‘activist’ Harsh Mander. As Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was tabled in the Parliament yesterday, Dutt called for a modern day Mahatma to come forward and ‘fast unto death’. ‘Activist’ Harsh Mander has now come as her ‘Mahatma in shining ainak (glasses)’.

Taking to Twitter, Harsh Mander said that as part of his ‘civil disobedience’ he will officially register himself as a Muslim (as against conversion, we wonder how that would work) if the CAB is passed.


Harsh Mander said he would refuse to submit any document with regard to NRC and will “demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim – detention centre & withdrawn citizenship” from government for being a ‘registered’ Muslim. He urged others to join him in his ‘civil disobedience’.

Read: ‘Activist’ Harsh Mander weaves a web of lies to scaremonger about NRC and Foreigners Tribunals in Assam

Following his bizarre activism, twitterati could not control themselves from mocking Mander and his pointless activism.


Some even mistook his activism as real and thought he meant embracing Islam when he meant being a ‘registered’ Muslim (we still wonder what that would mean) and offered him help to convert.


Others were quite encouraging.


While others had amusing, yet legit, questions.


While many were able to see through his agenda.


The Lok Sabha on the intervening night of 9th and 10th December passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill tabled by Home Minister Amit Shah. The same is expected to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, 11th December.

Congress’ new ally Shiv Sena votes for Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ new ally Shiv Sena votes for Citizenship Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha

In an amusing turn of events, newly minted Congress ally Shiv Sena has voted for the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha late last night. Following a day-long debate, the Bill was passed on the intervening night between 9th and 10th December 2019. The debate on the bill went on for the whole day, and the voting took place after midnight, as the Lok Sabha session continued after 12 AM to the next day. 311 MPs of Lok Sabha voted for it, while 80 voted against it in the division of votes that took place just after midnight.

Votes for Citizenship Amendment Bill

All 18 Shiv Sena MPs in the Lok Sabha voted for the Bill. This support to BJP comes days after the party broke its alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra to form government with Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress in the state. Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut said that while the party supports the bill, the ‘burden of accepting refugees’ will have to be calculated. He even invoked Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and said that he always advocated expulsion of illegal immigrants and giving preference to the sons-of-the-soil.

Read: From Nehru-Liaquat Pact to Rohingyas: Here are the most important takeaways from Amit Shah’s reply on CAB

Shiv Sena also said that they supported the CAB in ‘interest of the nation’.


Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant while speaking to NDTV said that the party has supported the CAB in interest of the nation. He further added that the common minimum programme is valid for Maharashtra.

Read: Watch: Home Minister Amit Shah slays Congress and Shiv Sena during the Citizenship Amendment Bill debate in Lok Sabha

The Congress voted against the passage of Bill in Lok Sabha last night.

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