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People rally behind Akshay Patra, donate generously after malicious ‘activists’ declared war against the organisation

OpIndia Staff
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People rally behind Akshay Patra, donate generously after malicious ‘activists’ declared war against the organisation

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) is under attack again from motivated activists for its mid-day meals and people have now come out to donate generously to the organisation to counter the malicious propaganda.

Recently, ‘Experts’ wrote an open letter to the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) demanding that they withdraw the compliance certificate that was awarded to the APF after their technical opinion on the matter was sought by the Karnataka government.

About three weeks after the open letter, a report was published on The Hindu by Archana Nathan where the argument was made that children are not eating the food provided by the APF because it was too bland. It also relied on a report by the Karnataka State Food Commission (KSFC) which claimed that children were not eating as much as they should because they did not find it tasty enough.

The campaign against Akshaya Patra was fuelled by anti-Hindu and bigoted ‘activists’ who had in the past, also written articles about how Brahmins obstruct the progress of the country. 

After the motivated and malicious campaign, Professor Anand Ranganathan took to Twitter to urge people to put their money where their mouth is. He said that the only way that the bigoted, Hinduphobic and malicious campaign against Akshaya Patra can be defeated, is if people open up their purse strings and donate to the organisation generously.


Professor Ranganathan also urged people to respond to his tweet with a confirmation after the donation was made.

The response that the Professor was got was overwhelming, to say the least. Several people donated to Akshaya Patra generously and responded with their confirmation receipt.


Among the people who responded, was also Sunil Jain, the managing director of Financial Express.


Several others joined the movement.


Some even said that the controversy helped them become aware of the good work Akshaya Patra was doing.


Others said that donating to Akshaya Patra was how they celebrated their son’s 4th birthday.


And the love just kept pouring in.


The responses included here are just an indication of the overwhelming support that Akshaya Patra received from Hindus after the ‘liberals’ declared war on the organisation. In just over 11 hours, social media users seem to have donated over Rs. 21 lacs to Akshaya Patra.

Earlier, Akshaya Patra had got a shining endorsement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and had also received the Gandhi Peace Prize.

Read also: Here is what connects attack on Akshaya Patra, French NGO against Rafale and demonization of Amarnath Yatra

Akshaya Patra has been under attack from foreign-funded NGOs and a coterie of ‘civil rights’ organizations that have intimate links to ‘Urban Naxals’. We had earlier reported how the demand to terminate Akshaya Patra’s contract has been made by the Right to Food Campaign which represents a very specific section of ‘Civil Society’. This section receives funding from Christian organizations abroad, from George Soros’ Open Society Institute which has a very controversial record and has intimate links to ‘Urban Naxals’ and separatists.

Kolkata Beef Festival cancelled: Organisers claim it was apolitical, Bengalis say deliberate attempt to hurt Hindu sentiments

K Bhattacharjee
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Kolkata Beef Festival cancelled: Organisers claim it was apolitical, Bengalis say deliberate attempt to hurt Hindu sentiments

In the aftermath of the Lok Sabha Elections, we had asserted that the results marked the dawn of religious politics in West Bengal and that going forward, the results will be determined by the extent of religious polarisation among the electorate.

As a sign of the times, a beef festival that was supposed to be organised in Kolkata has now been cancelled after the organizers claimed they received threats from people and they believe they cannot ensure the safety of the attendees. They said, “If any one person is harmed, we would feel personally responsible, and we can not accept that.”

The organisers also said that the event was entirely apolitical. Considering the timing of the event, one finds it hard to believe but in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we ought to believe their version of events. According to Arjun Kar, one of the organizers, as reported by News18, they are “young chaps who just want to enjoy a night of fun and frolic”.

The menu for the ‘Kolkata Beef Festival’, which was eventually changed to ‘Kolkata Beep Festival’ after protests on social media, included some pork dishes as well. As per information received by OpIndia.com from sources, the menu initially did not include pork when the event was first announced, and it was added later on after Hindus registered their disagreement on social media.

While the organisers claim that the event was not politically motivated, it remains a fact that it got political as soon as it was announced. The name angered a great many Hindus and they registered their disagreement on Facebook. In turn, liberals rallied to the organisers’ defence and the matter only escalated further. Therefore, while the organisers may claim that the event was not motivated by politics, it was destined to take a political turn given the circumstances.

Arjun Kar further claimed they started receiving threats mostly from people who are not based in West Bengal. His claims appear to be motivated by his personal biases as an OpIndia.com reporter observed a great many Bengalis angered by the festival as well which they perceived to be an affront to their religious sensibilities.

“I never knew beef was this big a deal, in Kolkata at least,” Kar further stated. Perhaps, it had been the case but certainly no longer. Quite evidently, Bengali Hindus were greatly displeased with the celebration involving beef as well. And as anyone aware of Bengali culture would be aware, consuming beef is frowned upon greatly by the masses. There was also the impression that the very objective of the event, from the very beginning, was to hurt religious sentiments.

A Bengali youth OpIndia.com talked to said, “I personally am a very business minded individual but that was deliberately done to insult the religious sentiments of people. Why a beef ‘festival’ when it is considered as a sacred animal by so many people?”

Another Bengali youth based in Kolkata said, “I come from a Hindu household and fairly liberal as well. As someone from Bengal and resident of Kolkata, I have never raised questions over food preferences of anyone, after all, we are a diverse country. Unfortunately, the way this beef festival was organised showed that it was clearly an aim to insult the growing influence of the right wing in Bengal and at the same time with the malicious intent of insulting Hindu sentiments. This was further proven by the organiser’s comments, actions and views. It’s infuriating to see how far people go to show that they are liberals and vindicate everyone else who speak against them.”

A student, a Bengali again, who wasn’t aware of the nitty-gritty details of the particular incident due to personal commitments, told OpIndia.com that he was averse to ‘festivals’ involving beef as well. “I think the event was of political nature. It appears to me that beef which has sacred religious connotations in India’s cultural history and society was used as a prop for a mass event. It does leave a lot of room for speculations as to its real intention given the nature of the political and cultural situation in Bengal right now.”

OpIndia.com was told by sources that the organisers too made communally charged comments, as did their supporters. We could not independently verify whether the organizers did make such comments as Arjun Kar has apparently deactivated his Facebook profile. However, their supporters did brand those opposing the festival as ‘fascists’ and ‘communal bigots’ and make other insensitive remarks.

It’s a significant change from how things were a few years ago. In 2015, prominent CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya had participated in a beef festival organised in Kolkata in protest against a beef ban in some state. Even then, Left leaders had criticized Bhattacharya’s actions and said it would hurt the sentiments of certain sections of society.

This time around, Bhattacharya was the party candidate from Jadavpur. CPI(M)’s vote-share dropped by 15.04% while the BJP managed to increase its own by 15.15% in the seat which was won by Trinamool with over 47% vote-share.

One thing appears certain, however, that there’s a growing section of Bengalis who are proud of their Hindu identity and do not take kindly to such celebration of the consumption of beef. Liberal Bengalis may disagree and attempt to brand every critic of theirs as an outsider but unfortunately for them, quite evidently, that’s not the case.

Intriguingly, it’s the Bengali youth which appears more vociferous than ever in such matters. Political polarisation has occurred within the youth as well, as is quite evident from the Bengali youth OpIndia.com has talked to. As we have noted earlier, the youth of Bengal campaigned heavily for the success of the BJP in 2019 and slogans such as ‘Mandir Wahi Banayengey’ and ‘Har Ghar Bhagwa Chhayega’ have become extremely popular among the Bengali youth.

Kolkata has largely been considered a liberal hub by the intellectuals of the country. They were too blind to see the undercurrents that were flowing beneath the surface but finally, it appears to have broken into the public consciousness. Without going into the morality of the cancellation of the beef festival through alleged intimidation and threats, it can be safely said that Kolkata is at the heart of the Cultural Revolution that has gripped the country.

International Fact-Checking Network says its Indian signatory Alt News may have potentially violated IFCN Code of Principles

OpIndia Staff
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International Fact-Checking Network says its Indian signatory Alt News may have potentially violated IFCN Code of Principles

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) has said that self‑proclaimed fact‑checking site in India Alt News may have potentially violated a clause of IFCN code. Alt News is a verified signatory of IFCN, which is a global network of organisations dedicated to combatting fake news on mass media and social media.


The clause the Alt News has potentially violated is related to the nonpartisanship policy of the organisation. On June 7th, a Twitter user with the account name @attomeybharti brought to the notice of the IFCN that co-founder of Alt News, Pratik Sinha is openly violating the neutrality clause. In his Twitter bio, Pratik Sinha has mentioned that he is a member of Jan Sangharsh Manch. This is a civil rights organisation founded by Pratik Sinha’s father Mukul Sinha.


It was also pointed out that Jan Sangharsh Manch has organised political events, and it is associated with the political party named the New Socialist Movement. The Manch is also has a known stand against the ruling party in India.


The nonpartisanship policy of IFCN states that its members should not have direct involvement in any political parties and advocacy organisations. It also says that the organisation must not support a candidate in any election, and it should not advocate or take policy positions on any issues which is strictly not related to fact-checking.

Nonpartisanship clause of IFCN code

 

The organisation should also the system it has put in place to prevent its employees from any such direct involvement with political and advocacy organisations. As Jan Sangharsh Manch is an advocacy group with a certain political ideology, it is evident that the co-founder of AltNews himself may be violating the rules of IFCN.

Pratik Sinha’s Twitter bio

The original tweet posted by IFCN didn’t mention Alt News by name, and just mentioned that one of their verified signatories in India is under the scanner. But later they replied to the tweet of @attomeybharti raising the matter with a link to their original tweet, thus confirming that they were talking about AltNews.

It will be interesting to know what step IFCN takes in this regard after their communication with Alt News. It may be noted that they are investigating the so-called fact checker on the matter of nonpartisanship, while the fact is that AltNews itself has been caught spreading fake news a number of times. Just yesterday they had claimed that the 3-year girl brutally killed by two Muslim men in Aligarh was not raped, but a day after their claim, the POCSO was applied in the case, indicating probable sexual assault in the case. They had also lied that girl’s eyes were not gouged out and one arm was not amputated, but the postmortem report clearly states both these assaults did happen with the girl. There is a long list of fake news peddled by this so-called fake news buster.

Enforcement Directorate files case against media baron Raghav Bahl under PMLA for undeclared foreign assets

OpIndia Staff
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Enforcement Directorate files case against media baron Raghav Bahl under PMLA for undeclared foreign assets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a case against media giant and founder of The Quint, Raghav Bahl, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Last month, picking up on the complaint filed by the Income Tax (IT) department against Bahl under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015, the ED had initiated action against him. The law enforcement agency had lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), a police FIR equivalent, based on the complaint.

According to the IT department, Bahl has not disclosed his foreign assets, a property bought in London, UK for 31 lakh pounds. The economic intelligence agency has sought details from the IT department regarding the offense allegedly committed by Bahl.

Bahl was served a Show-Cause notice on May 1, 2019, seeking information about the property and the source of funds for an investment made in that property.

On October 11, 2018, the IT officials had searched The Quint owner’s premises. Sleuths from the department had raided his residence in Noida to search for documents and other pieces of evidence related to the case.

Raj Kumar Modi, in an admission to the tax officials under oath, had alleged Bahl of using his shell company to launder money and evade tax. Modi is the Managing Director of PMC Fincorp, a shell company, which Bahl had invested money in.

Modi has reportedly made a statement to IT officials where he claimed that Bahl’s chartered accountant had given him ₹100 crores in cash “to convert into white”.

According to reports, Raghav Bahl and his wife have invested ₹3.03 crore in the penny stock company PMC Fincorp LTD. In spite of the company not indulging in any trade activity, the price of the shares shot up to ₹848/share in the next two years from the initial price of ₹5.50/share when Bahl had bought them. Bahl had then sold his shares following, which the share prices appear to have crashed again.

However, in a press release, Bahl had denied the allegations levelled against him. He has asserted that every transaction had been fully disclosed and assessed to tax.

In fact, the entire left-leaning media had then come out in support of Bahl, crying political vendetta.

Bahl had claimed the money invested in the property is from the income on, which taxes have been duly paid. He also claimed the information has consistently been disclosed in the Foreign Asset Schedule of the Income Tax Returns of Raghav Bahl, his wife and children.

Study by UNICEF reveals considerable reduction in groundwater and soil contamination due to Swachh Bharat Mission

OpIndia Staff
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Study by UNICEF reveals considerable reduction in groundwater and soil contamination due to Swachh Bharat Mission

A UNICEF study launched on the World Environment Day 2019, has revealed that ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has considerably reduced groundwater contamination in Open Defecation Free (ODF) regions.

The study was based on ground reports from three states, namely, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal. It affirmed that groundwater samples of villages that are not free of open defecation were 11.25 times more likely to have their groundwater sources contaminated with fecal matters compared to the ODF villages.

Moreover, soil contamination was also found to be 1.13 times more likely in non-ODF villages against ODF villages. Similarly, non-ODF villages are 1.48 times more likely to have their food contaminated and 2.68 times more likely to have household drinking water contaminated compared to ODF villages.

Another study launched on the same day by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation confirmed that ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ scheme had mobilized around Rs 23,000 crore for creating awareness on sanitation in rural areas.

These studies, commissioned by UNICEF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, were aimed at assessing the environmental impact and communication footprints of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) respectively.

The representatives of both these organizations had individually lauded Modi government for its willingness to pursue the scheme.

Similarly, the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted between November 2018 and February 2019, covering 92,040 households in 6,136 villages across states and Union Territories of India, had recently declared that over 93% of rural households in India now have access to toilets out of, which about 96.5% of households have used the facility.

PM Modi’s pet scheme since its launch in October 2014 has won accolades for openly talking about a subject that was a taboo until recently.

In October 2018, referring to Prime Minister’s ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan’ the UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore had said, “The Prime Minister invested political time and effort and what it meant was people began picking up that story. They want to do it for Mahatma Gandhi, for their country and they felt pride in it.”

Moreover, this flagship initiative was also lauded by the World Bank last year, which had termed it as the ‘biggest sanitation movement’ in the world.

The World Health Organisation in its report released in August 2018 had praised the mission listing out the progress and impact of the Swachh Bharat Grameen (rural) mission started by PM Modi.

WHO had reportedly analyzed rural health and sanitation data and the health impacts of the Swachh Bharat Grameen mission and concluded this mission had been able to prevent over 3 lakh deaths due to sanitation-related infectious diseases during 2014 and 2018.

Last year, in its assessment of the Indian economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had acknowledged the contribution of Swachh Bharat mission in improving access to sanitation for raising gender equality in India.

Moreover, the Mission had earlier won accolades from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Gates had congratulated Indian government for “shining a light on sanitation,” asserting India must now build on the success of Swachh Bharat Mission by using innovations and technology to improve sewage processing capabilities and generate zero waste.

World Environment Day is observed each year on June 5.

Twitter restores the account of Indian Army’s Chinar Corps after suspending it on Thursday

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter restores the account of Indian Army’s Chinar Corps after suspending it on Thursday

Twitter has restored the Twitter account of Indian Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps, also known as Chinar Corps, on Friday afternoon after massive outrage on the micro-blogging site for its suspension. The Chinar Corps handle with 40,300 followers was suspended by the social networking site on Thursday. Sources in the Army confirmed they would start the process of getting the account verified in order to prevent such suspensions in the future.


There was no clear explanation as to why the account was suspended, however, reports suggest the account was suspended after it was targeted by hundreds of fake handles run by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and ISPR.

According to an official, after the suspension, the Army had contacted Twitter immediately and resolved the situation. The Chinar Corps are responsible for carrying out most of the counter-terrorism operations in the Kashmir Valley and at the Line of Control (LoC).

The Chinar Corps’ Twitter handle is a source of official information about all the operations undertaken in Kashmir and the authorities were surprised with its suspension.

The account stands verified on Twitter now.


In 1947, the Chinar Corps was first to be sent to Kashmir to retaliate the invading Pakistani regulars and tribal raiders. They have been conferred with four Victoria Crosses, four Military Crosses, 13 Param Vir Chakra, 20 Ashok Chakra and numerous other gallantry awards and citations.

In April, Twitter had blocked a popular account TrueIndology after receiving threats from a bureaucrat. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has for a long time faced accusations of discriminating against several right-leaning commentators. Last year Dorsey, in an interview with CNN, had admitted that most of the employees of Twitter have a left-leaning bias.

Festivals and political opportunism of media: ‘The Guardian’ and its anti-Hindu agenda

Rutvi Dattani
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Festivals and political opportunism of media: ‘The Guardian’ and its anti-Hindu agenda

India – the eclectic country we live in, encompasses diversified elements of culture, traditions and rituals, weaving an integrating, all-inclusive fabric. What propels me to question, ‘is the Indian civilisation really safe, heterogeneous or multifarious trapped in the clutches of a few people who wish to de-emphasize, defile the essence of Indianness for the motive being really political?’

An ad circulating on our cell phones before Holi, preaching us secularism, as a gesture of peace and harmony for some, an anti-Hindu gesture for some, with multiple opinions and ambivalent feelings about the ad whooping onto the fest. Let us question, where is the problem? In the Ad? Not really! The problem is in the pattern; the chain of such events. Events that are found disturbing to the existing traditions, that provoke communal sentiments by selectively targeting Hindu festivals (festivals that draw origin from the tales of Hindu Gods and deities)

Surrounding the Hindu festivals, the moot argument attacking it, remains: Diwali causes air pollution, save water on Holi, save animals on Jallikattu, stop fasting on Karwachauth. My write-up doesn’t limit to the conventional arguments of the Right Wing. But advances into how international media outlet ‘The Guardian’, propagates an anti-Hindu agenda which fairly contributes in defaming and stigmatizing everything that is related to Hinduism.

Avoiding meat

Let us first start with what The Guardian has to write about fasting during Ramadan in a recent article: ‘Muslims will be fasting no food no water from sunrise to sunset getting on with life while taking on one of the greatest acts of faith. Love charity and prayer are prioritized, consider it a spiritual detox.’

Which is definitely okay. But what is surprising, is to see their contrasting take on vegan Muslims and vegetarian Hindus.

In an article titled ‘You are what you Eid: Ramadan for vegan’ says ‘Ali, the prophet’s cousin, is said to have stated: “Do not make your stomach a graveyard of animals”, and the caliph Umar warned against the addictive nature of meat’

Let us of course not expect The Guardian’s gospel of Ali or any Hindu priest on giving up meat during Navratri. But this is all they have to comment on Hindus not consuming meat: ‘The idea that we might seek to forgo certain foods for moral improvement seems bizarrely anachronistic’.

The Guardian on Ramzan vs The Guardian on Navratri

After all discriminating towards vegetarian Hindus and biased towards Vegan Muslims, quite suits their agenda of portraying practices in Hinduism as stupid and vacuous but those in Islam as logical, spiritual and commendable.

Modi obsession:

Not to astound, if any and every event in India has a Modi flavour to it. It’s an old habit and obsession of the leftist outlets. So while fasting on Ramadan is spiritual detox, Modi’s fast in Navratri stated by the guardian is:

“In a 2012 blog, Modi called his annual fast an act of self-purification.

Fasts in Indian politics were pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi as a moral weapon against the British empire as well as his compatriots. He also fasted as a means of penance when he felt he or the freedom movement had erred.

The British regarded the high-profile fasts as political blackmail but feared riotous consequences if Gandhi were ever to die during one”

The Guardian on ‘fasts’

Now the propaganda gambit is two way round, either conflate fasting in Navratri with other intuitive political hunger strikes with Modi in it. Or sprinkle Gandhian political perspective of moral war and English arm of political blackmail to a simple act of spirituality.

Here’s how kumbh mela is Modi’s political project: ‘But the Kumbh Mela is indisputably moment of unity for Hindus, and that dovetails nicely with Modi’s political project, and so it can’t hurt to have such a giant iteration of the festival in an election year – especially if his picture is all over it’

The Guardian on Kumbh

Preferential quoting in articles:

In the same article ‘You are what you Eid: Ramadan for vegans’ quotes “I think about that when I consider how a dairy cow is separated from its calf and the mother cries for her baby – just so we humans can take its milk,” says Anita Nayyar.

From an article that reports ban on Tamil Nadu’s popular sport jallikattu in India, quotes “Legally an animal cannot be forced to do something that does not come naturally to it,” said Anjali Sharma

But from a story covering London’s halal (meat) food festival quotes a foodie Imran Kausar who says ‘Halal should be available everywhere. Fine for people not to want it, of course; there should always be a choice. But it should be available for those who want it.”

But the whole notion of halal, Kausar points out, is founded on Islamic ideals of purity and cleanliness, on the promotion of health and wholesomeness, a set of ethical values about food production known as tayyab that should, these days, appeal to all consumers who care about provenance, sustainability, respect for the environment and humane animal husbandry.

The Guardian on Jallikattu, The Guardian on halal food

One article titled ‘The true meaning of halal’ presents the Quranic justification for halal slaughter portraying animal slaughter good and pure. But giving no insights into reasons why is jallikattu practised as a popular sport in Tamil Nadu, of course not expecting them to support any customary practise.

The Guardian on true meaning of halal

The problem isn’t with glorification of halal to me, it is with ‘how animals cannot be forced to do something’ only being preached to Hindus, to malign a specific religion.

Quotations defaming Diwali, Dushera, Janmashtami:

Article titled ‘Hindus for Trump; behind the uneasy alliance with right wing US politics’ quotes an American activist Soundaranjan: “Diwali and Dussehra are both upper-caste holidays that celebrate the death of tribals and the ascent of Aryan culture over Dravidian culture,” said Soundararajan, a Dalit American artist and activist. “In many ways Dalit communities do not celebrate this event – it’s literally about the killing of our people.”

The same article which reports ban on jallikaatu says: In August, revellers flouted restrictions on dahi-handi, a Hindu ritual where children ascend a human pyramid up to 30-feet high, and smash a pot of curd or milk to mark Lord Krishna’s birthday.

The Guardian on ‘Hindus for Trump’

Not an inch of balanced journalism, this international website, dear to the left liberals, can’t get enough of spreading hatred against hindus. Hinduphobia I call it!

Al Qaeda eulogises Zakir Musa, announces Hameed Lelhari as his successor in Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Al Qaeda eulogises Zakir Musa, announces Hameed Lelhari as his successor in Kashmir

On Wednesday Al Qaeda’s Kashmir cell, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) released a video announcing the successor of Zakir Musa as 30-year-old Hameed Lelhari, a native of Pulwama and member of Islamist organization Jamait-Ahl-e-Hadith. Hours after which the Al Qaeda released a video praising Zakir Musa’s martyrdom.


An 11-minute video message titled “He fulfilled his promise” was released by the official media wing of AGH, al-Hurr Media, on the day of Eid al-Fitr in Kashmir. In the video that was widely circulated on WhatsApp groups, the group’s spokesperson Abu Ubaida announced Abdul Hameed Lelhari, who served as Zakir Musa’s deputy emir, as the new emir followed by Ghazi Ibrahim Khalid as the deputy emir of AGH group.

Jammu and Kashmir police have confirmed the news, an officer said, “Lelhari has taken over AGH but he is hardly a top terrorist”. However, the police were reportedly clueless about the deputy’s identity and background.

Along with the video, there was also an audio clip where it could be heard that Zakir Musa was trying to convince a Hizbul Mujahideen militant to join AGH. The video also contained a tribute to the former emir.

As reported by ITCT, AL Qaeda’s official as-Sahab Media group released a promotional video titled “Soldiers of Ghazwa-e-Hind” for an upcoming audio tape of Kashmir just hours after the release of AGH’s video.

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in its 11-minute video eulogized the former emir of AGH Zakir Musa. The AQIS spokesperson, Usama Mahmood, asks the Kashmiri Muslims to embrace Musa’s cause. He even compares Zakir Musa to Osama bin Laden. He also makes a mention of the slain commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani.

The Kashmiri group Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind is supported by the Al Qaeda and is regarded as its branch in Kashmir.

Zakir Musa is the former chief of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind who was killed in May 23 in an encounter in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2017, he had threatened to liberate India from the Hindus. Mainstream media was caught in its effort to whitewash the slain terrorist.

Former Union Minister and Hockey Olympian offers to replace Rahul Gandhi as Congress President, Working Committee declines

OpIndia Staff
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Former Union Minister and Hockey Olympian offers to replace Rahul Gandhi as Congress President, Working Committee declines

Aslam Sher Khan, former Union Minister and Hockey Olympian, has written to Rahul Gandhi expressing his desire to serve the Congress party as its President. In his letter, he has mentioned his achievements as a Hockey player and experience as a politician to lay his claim to the position. The letter was written on the 27th of May.


Aslam Khan had participated in the Munich Olympic in 1972 as a member of the Indian Hockey team, and he was also the part of the team which won the world cup in 1975. He had joined the Congress party and won the 1984 Lok Sabha election from Betul constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

In his letter, Khan says, “I make this decision on the basis of my experience gained during my career as an international hockey player and later as a politician. When playing team sports such `as hockey or football, there are situations when tactical substitutions need to be made to change the dynamics of the game in order to score an equalizing goal.”

He goes on to add, “As a hockey player, I have proven my capability in such situations. When India was trailing 2-1 in the semi-final of the 1975 World Cup, I was given an opportunity to come on as a substitute in the dying moments of the game and used my resolve and self-belief to score an equalizer for the Indian team. As history goes, India won the match and went on to lift the World Cup trophy which is the only one till date.”

Khan said that he offered to serve as Congress party president for 2 years because it was necessary to reconnect the party to nationalism.


Unfortunately, not too many Congress leaders are taking the offer seriously. According to Hindustan Times, the Congress Working Committee unanimously rejected the offer and instead proceeded to pass a resolution to authorise Rahul Gandhi to revamp the organization.

For a while, there appeared to be great drama around the position of the Congress party president. Rahul Gandhi appeared to be throwing a tantrum following his party’s spectacular defeat and had reportedly offered to resign. However, after the drama, all appears to be water under the bridge as the affairs of the party goes on as usual with Rahul Gandhi leading it.

Arvind Kejriwal and the political philosophy behind his lies

Ashish Shukla
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Arvind Kejriwal and the political philosophy behind his lies

Politicians and criminals have one thing in common: Both believe they would never be caught

We now know Arvind Kejriwal announced free ride for women in metro and bus even before he had made proposal either to his cabinet or to Centre or to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). We also know it wouldn’t have any sobering effect on the man. I mean somebody who has made a roaring career out of lies, why fix something which ain’t broken?

Kejriwal and his dozens of lies are known. And boy, did they work? Delhi saw him as a crusader against corruption. He said he had evidence of corruption against Sheila Dikshit, Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley. That he would never be seen in the same frame with the corrupt political classes of the country. That as income-tax commissioner, he was straight as an arrow. That he was against VIP culture of big bungalows and security cover. That he would never take support from the Congress. And once elected, he would have hundreds of schools and buses; free water and electricity etc. The muffler-man, who coughed between his sentences, was the pin-up politician not just on auto-rickshaws.

We later learnt that he was never an income-tax commissioner. That a five-room bungalow and Z security cover were his first candies. Corruption? Well, he apologized to Sheila Dikshit and Arun Jaitley and everyone else in the town. The guy who helped Robert Vadra in his alleged land deals found his way in the AAP land acquisition committee. Another with a 300-crore scam on farmers’ money became a member of the AAP agriculture reform committee and got a Lok Sabha ticket; the activist who stood by the Muslim juvenile brutal rapist who inserted and took the intestines of Nirbhaya out became his party AAP’s face for Bengaluru Lok Sabha seat; from Mamata to Sonia to Lalu Yadav to Chandrababu Naidu, he never missed any photo-op and stood shoulder to shoulder on the podium of the corrupt.

So what do you make of a man who vowed never to seek Congress’ support and then begged for it in 2019 General Polls? Who would swear by the safety of women but would neither utilize the quota of 11,000 buses nor install CCTVs in it? Who sheds copious tears on the poor and the vulnerable but won’t utilize Centre’s fund for Ayushman Bharat and Swachh India campaigns? Who wouldn’t regularize colonies, provide free water and electricity and move on to his next set of lies?

This is the man who once called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “coward and a psychopath.” Who is accused of choosing between Hindu and Muslim crimes. Who blames Centre for all his failures including the Jan Lokpal bill which in reality is pending with his own AAP government; who used Anna Hazare and his crusade against corruption and dumped him at the first opportunity; all those who stood by him—Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Shazia Ilmi, Kumar Vishwas, Kapil Mishra and Alka Lamba—were cast aside either by design or conduct.

All politicians lie. But all lies are not equal. The difference in Kejriwal and others is that he uses them as his political philosophy. He replaces actual facts with alternate facts to manipulate the emotions and feelings of the masses. This is what we call Post-Truth: Oxford English dictionary defines it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion that appeals to emotion and personal belief. “ In short, make-belief prevails over reality.

Most call Arvind Kejriwal an anarchist. I call him a fascist. As philosopher Jason Stanley says: “The key thing is that fascist politics is about identifying enemies, appealing to the in-group and smashing truth and replacing it with power.”

When a politician is caught in his lies, he pays for it either with apology or punishment or both. There is both shame and consequences involved. In Arvind Kejriwal’s case, it’s neither. Hopefully, the cost of it would be known in Delhi elections in six months’ time.

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