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Supreme Court trashes Rana Ayyub’s Gujarat book, says it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court trashes Rana Ayyub’s Gujarat book, says it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions

A writ petition seeking fresh investigation into the Haren Pandya case had used controversial journalist Rana Ayyub’s book in support of their case, which the Supreme Court today said that is of no utility. The Supreme Court of India today overturned a Gujarat High Court order which had acquitted the 12 people convicted of murdering former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya in 2003. The apex court restored the judgement of the trial court, which had convicted and sentenced Md Asgar Ali and 11 others.

CBI had appealed against the Gujarat High Court order in the Supreme Court, and a bench of Justice Arun Mishra accepted the appeal. Along with the appeal, the apex court also heads a writ petition filed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation in association with the case. The legal NGO had sought fresh investigation into the murder of Haren Pandya, on the basis that High Court had acquitted the accused persons, and thereby raising doubt on the correctness of investigation which had led to the trial court verdict.

Along with overturning the high court order, the Supreme Court also rejected this writ petition seeking fresh investigation into the case. The judgement of the apex court notes that the petitioners had submitted the book ‘Gujarat Files – Anatomy of a coverup’ written by journalist Rana Ayyub in support of its case. Based upon this book and some other articles published in various newspapers advocates Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan had argued that it is a fit case for further investigation.

From SC order on Haren Pandya

But the Supreme Court found no merit in the evidence submitted by the petitioners. The bench said, “The Book by Rana Ayyub is of no utility. It is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions and has no evidentiary value”. Implying that the arguments made by Rana Ayyub in her book are her opinions, the court said that “The opinion of a person is not in the realm of the evidence.”

Most importantly, the judgement says that there is a likelihood of it being politically motivated, which cannot be ruled out. “The way in which the things have moved in Gujarat post-Godhra incident, such allegations and counter-allegations are not uncommon and had been raised a number of times and have been found to be untenable and afterthought”, the court notes.

Giving the verdict that Rana Ayyub’s book does not have evidentiary value, the court said that no case is made out on the basis of the material placed by petitioners including the Book by Rana Ayyub.

Dismissing the writ petition, the Supreme Court also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the petitioners.


It may be noted that this is not the first time Rana Ayyub’s book on Gujarat was criticised for not being based on facts. Even the anti-BJP propaganda site Tehelka had refused to publish the same story by the journalist. Dismissing allegations that Rana’s story was not published due to political pressure, editor Choudhury had said that it was not published as it did not meet editorial standards of the publication.

Gujarat Lies: A collection Rana Ayyub’s personal vendetta

Nirwa Mehta
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Gujarat Lies: A collection Rana Ayyub’s personal vendetta

The Supreme Court today upheld the conviction of all 12 accused in the Haren Pandya murder case. Former Gujarat Home Minister Pandya was shot dead on 26 March 2003 in Ahmedabad. In the comments, the Supreme Court today threw out journalist Rana Ayyub’s book ‘Gujarat Files’ which was cited by Centre for Public Interest Litigation, the NGO which had filed the PIL challenging conviction of the accused. 

The apex court today observed that Ayyub’s book has no utility. Adding that the book is based upon surmises, conjectures and suppositions and has no evidentary value, the court said, “The opinion of the person is not in the realm of the evidence. There is a likelihood of the same being politically motivated, cannot be ruled out. The way in which the things have moved in Gujarat post-Godhra, such allegations and counter-allegations are not uncommon and had been raised a number of times and have been found to be untenable and afterthought.”

Reading the court’s judgement took me back to May 2016 when I read her book. Following were my observations on the book and the glaring discrepancies in the piece of fiction she had written and was lauded as ‘brave’ attempt across. The same is reproduced below:

Rana Ayyub, a ‘journalist’ most famously associated with Tehelka.com, a ‘news outlet’ most popularly known to use ‘sting operation’ as a mode to collect news, has come out with a book. “Gujarat Files”. It is supposed to be a tell all book on alleged state sponsored political murders and ‘fake encounters’ which are supposed to pin Amit Shah, the then Home Minister of Gujarat and current national president of ruling party, and Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat and currently the Prime Minister.

I finished reading the book, which I paid for from my own hard earned money, and I have come to the conclusion that it is nothing but a sermon of personal hate and vendetta against the people she wants to ‘nail.’

Not only is the book full of grammatical errors and badly narrated, it lacks consistency. At best it should have been filed under a hate speech on her personal blog. She talks how her report sent Amit Shah to jail and hence to find truth about Sohrabuddin encounter case, she would have to assume an identity.

First of all, she should stay away from WebMD. She had self diagnosed that she was suffering from depression (yea, mental health awareness crusaders, please come forward. A ‘journalist’ just used the serious condition loosely to describe her boredom) and the only thing that helped her came out of it was when she took up project Sohrabuddin.

She makes sure that she describes her undercover act in great detail. She wears chunky jewellery, skirts and colourful bandana to show how she is a documentary film maker from the US, making a film on the famous people from Gujarat. She stayed at Nehru Foundation and within first few days her room was ‘searched’.

Incidentally, other than Naresh Kanodia, the SRK of Gujarati cinema, the only people she meets for the ‘documentary’ are top cops and ministers. Interestingly, the transcripts of all these sting operations all talk about 2002 riots. Sohrabuddin wasn’t even involved there. Amit Shah (whom she very proudly sent to jail on basis of her investigative ‘journalism’) was not the Home Minister during post-Godhra Gujarat riots. It was Gordhan Zadaphia. 80% of her book focuses of 2002 riots and how the top cops feel ‘used and thrown’ by the CM and HM (who was not even HM then).

The transcript of her sting was extremely confusing. The only things I understood from her writeup was:

  1. Top cops of Gujarat are easily accessible if you are documentary filmmaker from the US.
  2. You can pass off as documentary filmmaker from the US if you wear denim skirts, chunky jewellery and colourful bandanas. And if you have a firang along, it just adds to the effect.
  3. Top cops of Gujarat don’t find it suspicious when a filmmaker randomly probes about 2002 riots and their involvement or lack of it.
  4. Top cops of Gujarat play the blame game quite nicely.
  5. She mentions how her room at Nehru Foundation (set up by the Sarabhais, which she chose to disclose), where she stayed, was ‘searched’ just a day before G L Singhal, the cop involved in alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, agreed to meet her.
  6. She spotted a car outside where she lived in morning and in evening. But when she asked a friend to pick her up to go to a college festival, the car wasn’t there next day. Basically, Gujarat top cops are easy to fool when you wear a bandana and attend college festivals.
  7. She stayed at a friend’s friend’s bungalow where a cobra was living too, since a year. Surprised she didn’t crack a joke, ‘not sure what was more poisonous, the reptile or me? lol’.
  8. Gujarat top cops are whiny and will talk to anyone and everyone who asks about the riots. No one really questions or doubts why the random bandana clad woman (yea, she mentions the bandanas quite a lot) who has been in the US, and making a film on important people of Gujarat, knows the right questions to ask about the riots and the ‘fake encounters’. Like, seriously. None of these men even doubted her for a second. If that’s true, we clearly need better set of cops.
  9. She liked eating Gujarati thaali at Pakvan (it sucks) and she taught Geeta Saar to Maya Kodnani, former minister who was accused of leading a mob during 2002 riots, while having lunch at her place, which involved aam ras. (Kodnani has since then been acquitted by the Gujarat High Court.)
  10. But what is the point she was trying to make? Just making people read her sting trascript? What am I supposed to do?

Behen, tum aakhir kehna kya chaahti ho? All these sting tapes were not released until now. That is in the ‘book’ she self published. These tapes are not authenticated. She says she will give these tapes to investigative agencies if they ask for them. Why not make them public for everyone to see and hear? Trial by media is one of Tehelka’s strong points anyway!

Hope she gets prize in fiction for the lizard on the cover page book.

After her book was published, Ayyub had accused Tehelka of being under ‘political pressure’ to not publish the ‘sting’, especially after the backlash they received after Bangaru Lakshman sting.

Reacting to this, Shoma Chaudhary, who was then the managing editor of Tehelka tweeted that her transcript was not upto ‘editorial standards’ and hence it was not published.


Ayyub’s fiction didn’t even meet Tehelka’s ‘editorial standards’! No wonder she was livid when Amit Shah, whom she desperately tried to ‘nail’ in her fictional tale became the Home Minister in newly elected Modi government.

Note: The above review was originally written on @medium. It could be read here.

Surat: Muslim protest against ‘mob lynching’ turns violent, mob attacks police, damage vehicles

OpIndia Staff
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Surat: Muslim protest against ‘mob lynching’ turns violent, mob attacks police, damage vehicles

Police today fired tear gas shells in Athwa lines area of Surat city in Gujarat to control a mob of Muslims who tried to take out a rally against the alleged mob-lynching incident of Tabrez Ansari of Jharkhand. Despite being denied the permission by authorities they tried to proceed with the rally.

The mob allegedly went on a rampage and pelted stones at police officers leaving 4-5 officers injured. They also damaged two public buses.

The area had been cordoned off for sometimes and section 144 (prohibits an assembly of more than 4 people in an area) has been imposed. Police said extra police personnel have been deployed in the area where the situation is tense but under control.


Eye-witnesses said the rally from Chowk bazar area as today is Jumma (Friday), a holy and auspicious day for the Muslim community. However, when the rally reached near Vivekanand circle police tried to stop them as it was not authorised. The crowd then became violent and started pelting stones at the police.

Satish Sharma, Commissioner of Police said a group of Muslims had handed over a memorandum on the same issue to the district administration two days ago and after that, another group also sought permission to take out a rally from Chowk Bazar area to the collector office in Athwa-lines.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmY_7dK8kL4]

“But they were denied permission as it was a working day and the matter was not of Gujarat. Despite that they were adamant on taking out the rally, so police had to fire at least 8 tear gas shells to control the mob, which had resorted to stone pelting injuring 3 to 4 police personnel and also damaging vehicles including a bus,’ he added.

In the video of the rally posted on social media, the crowd is seen holding a banner of Versatile Minority Forum, which also says  ‘President: Advocate Babu Pathan’. It may be noted that according to the Twitter profile of advocate Babu Pathan alias Ishtiyaque Pathan, he is the Vice President of Suat City Congress Committee.

An alleged bike thief Tabrez Ansari was caught and beaten up by a mob in Dhatkidih, Jharkhand who then died some days later in police custody. However, protests and politicization over his death have continued across India.

Recently, similar protests over Tabrez Ansari’s death were reported from Meerut and Agra.

After protests in one locality of Meerut was reported on June 30 another locality in Meerut was engulfed in similar protest the next day.

As per reports, hundreds of protesters had gathered on June 30 evening near Faiz-e-Azam college, protesting against the alleged mob lynching of Ansari.

The police had to lathi charge on the crowd to control the situation as the mob started to pelt stone. The police had stated permissions were not sought for the gathering and the protests.

Similarly, the next day in Meerut’s Mawana area, hundreds of people had gathered near the Mosque at Mill road to hear Maulana Nafees Ahmed, who had organized a meeting for the members of Muslim community over the death of Ansari. Several hundred people had gathered near the mosque to hear Maulana’s speech and soon they started altercations with the police, which resorted to lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

Agra too witnessed similar protests. As per reports, on Monday, several Muslim groups took out protests in Agra demanding justice for Ansari. Like in Meerut, the protests had begun after a gathering at the Royal Jama Masjid. The protests were reportedly organized by Indian Muslim Action Committee and Bharatiya Vikas Parishad.

Despite the implementation of section 144 of the CrPC and police presence, one section of Muslim protestors soon turned violent and proceeded towards the city’s Sadar Bhatti and Kashmiri Gate areas where they tried to shut down the local market. Here too, police stated that no prior permission was taken for the gatherings and protests.

Ansari was caught by the locals in the Dhatkidih village in Jharkhand on suspicion of bike theft on 18 June. He was beaten up by them before being arrested by the police. He had died on June 22. An investigation team set up by the government had concluded that Ansari might have died due to stress-induced cardiac arrest. Medical reports had established that no internal injury was found on his body. Therefore, the police had dismissed the allegations of ‘mob-lynching’ as a cause of his death.

P Chidambaram promises to bring the Union Budget in an iPad if Congress comes to power

OpIndia Staff
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P Chidambaram promises to bring the Union Budget in an iPad if Congress comes to power

Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram has promised to bring an iPad for the Union Budget if the party comes back to power. Chidambaram was addressing a press conference where he took a dig at the traditional ‘Bahikhata’ that the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had brought along for the presenting the budget, instead of a briefcase that earlier Finance Minister had carried.


The preference conference of the Congress party was held in response to the Union Budget that was presented today.

The iPad first began its production in 2010. The UPA-2 government had four full years to bring an iPad for presenting the budget. It never did. Perhaps, they were waiting for the Akash tablet that never saw full production.

This morning, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam surprised all by appearing without the usual leather briefcase for the budget session. Instead what she had in her hands was a traditional ‘Bahikhata’, wrapped in red cloth and tied with a gold string. The Indian national emblem shone brightly on it. The idea was to represent the country’s departure from the slavery of western thought.

Prime Minister Modi has hailed 2019 budget as a balanced one. He said, “This budget will lead the country towards prosperity and make every citizen competent. This budget will provide strength to the poor and a better future to the youths of the country”.

Meanwhile, Indrani Mukherjee’s plea to turn approver in the INX Media corruption case involving former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram was accepted by a Delhi CBI court yesterday. Last year, Indrani Mukerjea had made a sensational revelation accusing Chidambaram of trying to use his influence to get Indrani to pay a bribe to Karti to the tune of 1 million dollars.

Hindustan Times whitewashes Kashmiri Genocide, claims Pandits fled Kashmir due to violence between ‘militants’ and Army

OpIndia Staff
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Hindustan Times whitewashes Kashmiri Genocide, claims Pandits fled Kashmir due to violence between ‘militants’ and Army

The mainstream media, for quite some time, has been working extra hard to provide a cover to the most toxic elements of Islamic society. The instinctive reaction has always been to shield the Muslim community from any criticism and whitewash the crimes committed by the extremists in their society.

The Hindustan Times, consistent with the above-mentioned approach of the mainstream media, has claimed in a report that Kashmiri Pandits fled the state and settled in other regions because of violence between “militants” and security forces. It says in its report, “According to state government figures, at least 154,080 people moved out of the Valley in 1990, choosing to settle in safer parts of the country or in Jammu after violence escalated between militants and security forces.”

Kashmiri Pandits did not flee after violence erupted between “militants” and the Army. They were made to flee because Kashmiri Muslims committed genocide on them. The Hindus of Kashmir were raped, murdered and pillaged by their own neighbours. Calls for their genocide were made from Mosques and bloodthirsty mobs went on a rampage wreaking devastation in their wake.

To absolve Kashmiri Muslims of their sins is a cardinal sin mainstream media regularly commits. Even now, they never fail to humanize terrorists and their families. They provide platforms for such people to demonize the Indian Army and create a wave of sympathy to feed the persecution complex of the Muslim community.

Such conduct has become extremely normal for mainstream media. In an earlier article, we had elaborated on how the media appears to serve as the propaganda wing of Islamic extremists. They invent fake hate crimes, suppress actual hate crimes against Hindus, deny Love Jihad and run dubious initiatives to paint Hindus as aggressors and Muslims as perennial victims when the reality is starkly different.

The ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas’ budget: What is stored in it for you

Dhaval Patel
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The ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas’ budget: What is stored in it for you

Yet another historic budget in the NDA’s era. Breaking the age-old tradition of carrying a usual leather briefcase, Nirmala Sitharaman was seen carrying a traditional ‘Bahikhata’ (Wrapped in red cloth and tied with a gold string) with India’s national emblem shining on it. That was the moment of realization that we have finally moved ahead from the slavery of westerners and their customs.

From the past few months, the NDA government is putting ahead the vision of India for being a $5 trillion economy. This budget added more power to this vision. This budget definitely shows the commitment of the Government towards ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vishwas’ theme. This budget has a universal appeal from poor to rich, from small stores to big businesses. From environment protection to promoting Gandhian principles, from rural infrastructure to harnessing India’s space abilities.

Though, there has been a lot of outrage on social media about “Inheritance Tax”. As per some sources Government was about to introduce the new Inheritance Tax in the Budget 2019-20 but nothing goes usual in the NDA Government. No Inheritance Tax has been added. It just came out as a rumour.

Today, India is the fastest growing major economy in the world. From the 11th largest economy in 2013-14 to 6th largest economy in 2019-20 we have taken a big jump. Aiming for a $5 trillion economy is most feasible in such a scenario.

Now, let’s look into the Budget 2019-20 and what’s in it for everyone:

Middle Class:

  • No income tax for less than 5 lakh per annum income.
  • To enhance the ease of tax-payers, PAN and Aadhaar to be made interchangeable. ITR can be filed without PAN by quoting Aadhaar.
  • Enhanced interest deduction up to Rs. 3.5 lakh for purchase of an affordable house.
  • Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme proposed for quick closure of service tax and excise related litigations.
  • Tax benefits for corporate taxpayers.
  • Schemes like Mudra, Ujjwala, Saubhagya etc. to continue and expand their beneficiaries base.
  • Additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans for EVs.
  • It is proposed that several reform measures will be taken up to promote rental housing

MSMEs & Corporates:

  • The lower rate of 25% is applicable to firms with an annual turnover of Rs 400 crore, earlier it was up to 250 crores. This will cover 99.3% of all companies.
  • Measures are being rolled out to ease filing returns and tax compliance. Taxpayers with an annual turnover of less than Rs 5 crores will have to file only quarterly returns now.
    350 crore rupees allocated for 2% interest subvention for all GST-registered MSMEs on fresh or incremental loans.
  • To promote digital payment, now the business establishments with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore will offer a low-cost digital mode of payments to customers and no charges or merchant discount rates shall be imposed on customers as well as merchants.
  • To discourage the practice of making business payments in cash, the Government proposed to levy TDS of 2% on cash withdrawal exceeding Rs 1 crore a year from a bank account.
  • An electronic invoice system is proposed by the Government that will eliminate the need for a separate e-way bill.

Start-Ups:

  • Start-ups and investors who file requisite declarations and documents will not be subjected to tax scrutiny. An e-verification mechanism will be added.
  • Government has proposed a TV program for the start-ups & stand-up India Scheme.

Women Empowerment:

  • An overdraft of 5,000/- INR will be allowed to every verified woman SHG member having a Jan Dhan account.
  • Rs. 1 lakh loan under MUDRA scheme for one woman in every SHG.
  • To further encourage women entrepreneurship, Women SHG Interest Subvention Programme to be expanded to all districts in India

Agriculture, Rural, Labour & Poor Class:

  • 95 crore houses proposed to be provided under PMAY Grameen by 2021.
  • “Four Labour Codes” Government proposing to streamline multiple labour laws.
  • By 2022, 100% Power & LPG connections to every single rural family.
  • Pradhan Mantri Man Dhan Scheme: Pension benefits to 3 crore shop owners with an annual turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore.
  • Jal Jeevan Mission – To ensure Har Ghar Jal by 2024.
  • Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana: The department of fisheries will address critical gaps in the value chain, including production, quality control etc.
  • 100 business incubators to be set up in 2019-20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in Agro-rural industries.
  • Pradhan Mantri Grameen Digital Saksharata Abhiyan – Internet connectivity to all.
  • 100 new clusters to be set up in 2019-20 under SFURTI. It will enable 50,000 artisans to join the economic value chain.
  • Ease of doing business to extend to farmers and they should not face state-level arbitrages

Upgrading Education System:

  • World Class Institutions in 2019-20 – 400 crore Rs. allotted, which is more than 3 times the revised estimates of the previous year.
  • Gyan Initiative has started.
  • Study in India initiative will be started for the exchange of foreign students.
  • Increase efforts to improve the skills of youth in the current trends such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics etc.
  • Focus on Global Education Model.
  • A Gandhipedia is being developed to sensitize youth and society at large on positive Gandhian values

Railway Infrastructure:

  • Investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030.
  • PPP (Public-Private Partnership) for faster, efficient and proper development of railway infrastructure.
  • Special Purpose Vehicles (PSVs) will be encouraged for the suburban railway network development.
  • Development of inland waterways will reduce the pressure on Indian Railways.
    Vision of faster, more punctual and safer trains journey and thus focus on modernisation of the railway infrastructure.
  • Elimination of all manned level crossings in the coming years.

Infrastructure for all:

  • Rs 100 lakh crore for infrastructure development for the next 5 years.
  • To bridge the urban and rural gap – Bharatmala Project to enhance road connectivity, Sagarmala for waterways connectivity & Udaan for air connectivity.
  • “One Nation, One Grid” for power availability to states at affordable rates.
  • We are facing a severe water shortage in many areas. To improve the condition Jal Shakti Mantrayala has been constituted. 1592 critical blocks over 256 districts identified for Jal Shakti Abhiyan.
  • Harnessing the space power: New Space India Limited, a public sector enterprise, has been incorporated to tap the benefits of R&D carried out by ISRO.
  • 25 lakh KM of roads will be upgraded

Few other major decisions by the government:

  • To popularize sports at all levels, National Sports Education Board for development of sportspersons to be set up under Khelo India.
  • The government will develop 17 iconic tourism sites as world-class tourist centres.
  • The government is setting an enhanced target of Rs 1,05,000 crore for disinvestment during FY20.
  • Proposed to SEBI to increase the threshold of public shareholding in listed companies from 25% to 35%.
  • Propose to increase special additional duty and road and infrastructure cess on diesel and petrol by Re 1.
  • 3% Increase in the surcharge for individuals with incomes between 2 to 5 cr. 7% increase in the surcharge for incomes above 5 cr.
  • A new series of coins will be made available for public soon.
  • Import of defence equipment is being exempted from basic customs duty. It is important for modernization of the defence system

Along with all this, the Government highlighted achievements of the NDA in the last 5 years and how they have been successful in making India fastest growing major economy in the world. One of the key success of this government is able to hold the inflation rates in single digits consistently from the last 5 years. Government is able to attract a whopping amount of FDI in the country. Central Govt. Debt as a percentage of GDP has been falling from the last 5 years. India’s sovereign external debt to GDP ratio is amongst the lowest globally at less than 5% now. This shows the Government’s intent to take the country to the new heights and we are pretty much sure that this budget is one more positive step towards the big vision of $5 trillion economy and at the same time maintaining the ideology of “Sabka Sath Sabka Vishwas”.

This article is co-authored with Prasad Karwa.

Madras High Court grants 30-day parole to Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini Sriharan

OpIndia Staff
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Madras High Court grants 30-day parole to Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict Nalini Sriharan

The Madras High Court on Friday granted one month parole to S. Nalini Sriharan who is India’s longest-serving woman prisoner, convicted in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

A division bench of Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice M Nirmal Kumar granted a 30-day ordinary leave to Nalini after she argued her plea in person for seeking the relief to make arrangements for her daughter’s wedding.

The Madras High Court had on June 25 allowed Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict S Nalini to argue her parole case in person and ordered the Vellore Central Prison authorities to produce her on July 5.

However, the relief came in with the condition that Nalini would not give interviews to media, not entertain politicians and observe all other regulations listed under the Tamil Nadu Prison Manual.

The judges directed the Tamil Nadu government to finalise the process for her release within ten days. It also asked the government to bear the expenses for providing escorts to her as she had no means to pay for the facility on account of her incarceration for over 27 years.

Nalini, who is lodged in the Special Prison for Women in Vellore for the last over 27 years, had sought six months leave to make arrangements for her daughter’s wedding. However, State Public Prosecutor A Natarajan submitted that according to rules a grant of leave for a maximum period of 30 days is permissible.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at Sriperumbudur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu in May 1991 and a special court for Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) cases had sentenced Nalini, who was then the only surviving accused present in the assassination, and other convicts to death in January 1998.

The Supreme Court had confirmed the capital punishment in May 1999, however, the punishment was commuted to life sentence by the State government in April 2000.

In an affidavit filed in support of her petition, the convict stated that since April 2000, over 3,700 life convicts were released from various prisons in the State on completion of 10 years of incarceration but she was not accorded the same benefit.

On September 9, 2018, the State Cabinet recommended the release of all seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi case by according them the benefit of a 1994 Government Order, which provides for the release of prisoners after 20 years.

The BJP-led central government did not agree to their release and informed the court that it would set a ‘dangerous precedent’ and have ‘international ramifications’.

The recommendation is still pending with the Governor.

Nalini is one of the seven life convicts in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The other six are V Sriharan alias Murugan, husband of Nalini, AG Perarivalan, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan, Jayakumar, Robert Payas and Ravichandran.

Everything is not fine with Team India

Anant Chetan
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Everything is not fine with Team India

I grew up watching cricket. I would watch all of India’s matches ball by ball. Even though India would be clearly loosing, I would still be optimistic about its win; maybe a batsman becomes the hero by hitting the fastest hundred or a bowler makes a hat-trick.

But it rarely happened with India, although similar things did happen with Australia. I always envied Australians for such a brilliant team. In other words, I grew up watching Australians dominating world cricket and they still continue to do so. And they dominated International Cricket at the time when most of the teams were doing better than what they are doing today.

The ongoing cricket world cup in England shows the deteriorating cricketing standards. I am not talking about rain washing up the complete matches. I am talking about the teams who have been brilliant in the past but have deteriorated over the time and not the teams that joined the test cricket in 21st century like Afghanistan and Bangladesh, which are still in their learning curves.

Half of the teams participating in the tournament are struggling with their internal issues so badly that they have become a mere punching bag for a few teams like Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are the only teams that are performing better than expected.

The South African authorities introduced 54% reservation for the players of color in their national team i.e. a total of six non-white players including two African black players. Reservation and Competition are mutually exclusive i.e. either you could have reservation or you could compete, you can’t do both. Although, this kind of reservation was always there at the domestic level, but in 2016 they introduced it in their national team as well. You could look at the SA’s performance in Champions trophy 2017 and World Cup 2019. If the players were good enough, would they need reservations to play for the national team? I don’t think so. If you are playing with six average players, your team would also be average and is obvious to be at the receiving end.

Sri Lanka who produced players like Sanath Jayasurya, Kumar Sangakara, Mahela Jayawardane, M. Muralidharan, C. Vaas etc. etc. has never been able to fill their shoes. A poor team culture has been cited as the underlying reason by the Sri Lankan cricket board for such a predicament. A culture of privileges and entitlements for the senior players in the dressing room, which India also suffered a decade ago.

Pakistan which had always been a side with the strongest bowling attack has now left with only one consistent bowler in the name of Mohammad Amir. In fact, they are playing with only two reliable players Babar Azam and M. Amir. Pakistan lost to Afghanistan in a warm-up match. Pakistan does not have the necessary ecosystem to sustain good cricket any more. Ever since the Sri Lankan team was attacked in Pakistan ten years ago, there is very little cricket in Pakistan. The condition is so bad that they conduct Pakistan Super League (an IPL like tournament) outside Pakistan. They tried to host PSL final in Karachi last year, the city was put on curfew for two days. Terrorism and entertainment don’t go together. Terrorism is eating up that country from the inside like termite. They rely on two players which is why they are called an unpredictable team.

West Indies have limited themselves to the T20 cricket. They are all in for the entertainment factor, be it the hard-hitting or signature moves of different players. They are in their own fantasy world. When it would be a T20 tournament, they would be the top contender for the trophy. But now, it is not their game. Their ODI ranking is 9 at the moment.

Now coming to the point, I am writing this:

India is a country where cricket is considered as a religion and players as Gods; then what is stopping India to dominate International Cricket when the other countries are already struggling?

The problem is not with the players, it is with the selection criteria. India never goes on in a big tournament with the best of the cricketers available at its disposal. I guess you would agree to the fact that unless the best cricketer is injured he should be in the 15 player squad representing team India in World Cup. Wouldn’t you?

Now, look at our current team. How does Vijay Shankar fit even in the 15 player squad let alone the playing 11? The man debuted in Jan 2019 and has played 8 matches before the world cup, his personal best score was/is 46. What did the selectors see in him to deem him eligible for the big tournament? It is not that World Cup was announced a few weeks ago, the selectors did not have enough time to choose the players. Same goes with Rishabh Pant, he has played 5 one day internationals so far. What happened to the players who debuted after 2015? World Cup is not a tournament to test your new players. Is it?

India’s only bowler who had played more than 60 ODIs and can bowl consistently at 150 kmph is sitting outside; Umesh Yadav. Why is it that all other countries value their fast bowlers but India does not? Not only him, there are other more deserving players not selected for the world cup, for example, Ajinkya Rahane, or Axar Patel just to name a couple. India has three wicket-keepers in its fifteen member squad. Why?

A player’s glamour quotient and his performance in IPL can’t be a benchmark for his selection in the national team in a different game format. There have been a few players who are in the team because of their IPL connections. Wicket to wicket bowling or hard-hitting for a couple of overs might be sufficient for winning a T20 game but is not sufficient to win a 50 overs game.

The other problem with Indian selection has been that they shortlist mediocre players in the name of all rounders. The specialist players are kept out whereas unreliable players are kept in the team, just because they can ball as well as bat. This makes the team strong on paper, however, it collapses like a pack of cards on ground. You must have seen or even better you could observe yourself, whenever the Indian top three batsmen fail, the rest of the team struggles with even a score of 150-200. Same goes with the bowlers, if the two strike bowlers fail, the rest of the bowlers fail to get even a single wicket. India is currently playing with two all-rounders in the team, Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya plus Ravindra Jadeja in reserve. They would not perform when they would be needed the most.

This is not just today’s Indian team. It has been the case forever. India has always supported all rounders against specialists. You could choose the time frame of your liking and you will find a couple of players playing in the team who are/were not reliable and were in the team and more deserving specialist players were benched.

If India has to dominate world cricket, it has to rely on the specialists, be it specialist batsmen or specialist bowlers. If you keep on doing the same thing over and over again you would get the same results over and over again. India has to let go of its all-rounder fetish.

In the ongoing world cup too, if India has to win the cup, it needs to change its playing XI. There should be a full-time seamer in place of Hardik Pandya i.e. a total of three pacers in the team. And there should be one full-time specialist batsmen in place of Vijay Shankar or Rishabh Pant. Two changes! Otherwise, don’t get too optimistic about India’s performance. India’s game against NZ was washed, it actually has played only two games with good teams (Australia and England), and lost one of them. Others teams are not in a good state at all. The other good game would be against England. I hope Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar get fit by the time knockout games begin.

(Anant Chetan blogs at Infinite Sea Of Opportunities)

The fall and fall of Rahul Gandhi

K Bhattacharjee
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The fall and fall of Rahul Gandhi

It’s hard to imagine a single politician other than Rahul Gandhi who has served at the highest echelons of one of the biggest political parties in the world and yet, doesn’t have a single significant victory to his credit. His entire political career is a series of misadventures one after the other with no victories in between. Despite that, the leaders of the party are kneeling at feet begging him to continue as President.

During his time in the Congress as a General Sectrary (2007-13), Vice President (2013-17 and eventually the President (2017-19), the party oversaw the biggest corruptions the country has ever seen while in power. During his tenure as Vice-President, the Congress was reduced to its lowest ever tally in Independent India and as President, he cemented his party’s utter decimation in electoral politics and he himself lost the traditional bastion of the Nehru Parivar to Smriti Irani in Amethi. His political career has been a catastrophe no matter what the standards of measurement are.

That he is unfit to hold public office in any capacity was amply demonstrated when he tore up an ordinance which was passed by Manmohan Singh’s cabinet, a Prime Minister from his own party. He showed complete disregard for the institutions of the country. It became evident, that his entitlement as a scion of the Nehru Parivar clouded his judgment and had made him extremely arrogant.

The scams that Rahul Gandhi’s party oversaw during the UPA represent one of the darkest moments in India history. Vast sections of the population had completely lost faith in the government and India teetered on the brink of anarchy. He, along with his mother, is an accused in a scam himself, the National Herald scam, and currently out on bail. All his close aides, from Chidambaram to Ahmed Patel to Motilal Vohra are either directly accused in scams or linked to one.

Rahul Gandhi’s commitment toward his party, let alone the country, is a matter of never-ending speculation. After every defeat in elections, he was off to some vacation in some foreign land. Death, taxes and Rahul Gandhi’s foreign trips, some things in life never disappoint. That he was never serious about politics was proven beyond all doubts when he was reduced to winking and hugging in the Parliament.

When anti-national slogans were raised in Jawaharlal Nehru University, slogans which declared a vow to wage war against India until its disintegration, Rahul Gandhi was the first politician to reach the institution and lend his support to the slogans. When people from his party questioned the Surgical Strikes and insulted the Army, he took no action against them. In spite of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s numerous transgressions, he suffered no consequences.

Even in his resignation letter, there was the penchant for avoiding responsibility written all over it. While he claims to take responsibility for his actions and step down, he alleged that the BJP had captured all the institutions of the state and that it wasn’t really a free and fair election. How is he taking responsibility for the defeat if he claims that the election was rigged against the Congress party in the first place?

The idea perhaps came from his mentor Sam Pitroda who has spent a lot of time in the USA. Pitroda must have gotten the idea of rigged elections from the Russian collusion delusion the liberal establishment has been peddling against Donald Trump. Rahul Gandhi isn’t famous for his intellect, therefore, there is a good chance that the idea came from elsewhere.

In doing so, he has insulted the people’s mandate and denied an opportunity for the party to conduct some honest introspection. The Congress party has been rejected throughout the country, in 17 states it couldn’t win a single seat. The party’s performance in the South which helped them win more seats than in 2014 was primarily due to regional alliances and the arrogance and suicide committed by the Left. And in Punjab, it was entirely due to Captain Amarinder Singh’s individual calibre.

And this is after ignoring the spate of bloopers he keeps making at regular intervals. No one could argue that his reputation as Pappu is not well earned. From waking up in the morning at night to Potato-Gold converters, he has regularly shown that his clarity of thought is utterly non-existent.

And yet, despite all of this, the senior leaders of the Congress party still want him to carry on as President. Exactly what are Rahul Gandhi’s achievements that if he doesn’t carry on, the party will be worse off? If the fear is that without a Gandhi at the helm, the party will disintegrate, then the Congress party, plain and simple, doesn’t deserve to exist. If a politician as incompetent as Rahul Gandhi is the only person keeping the party together, not even the Gods can save such a party.

The Congress party, for the foreseeable future, will be unable to occupy the corridors of power. And it is a testament to their decline that they are begging the person who oversaw the decline as the party president to carry on regardless of the fact that he doesn’t have a single victory to his credit.

Congress mentally harassed me: Rebel Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor says after cross voting in Rajya Sabha elections

OpIndia Staff
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Congress mentally harassed me: Rebel Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor says after cross voting in Rajya Sabha elections

Rebel Gujarat Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor has said that Congress used to mentally harass him. “I am now free from this torture,” he said after he submitted his resignation to the state assembly speaker.


“I used to be mentally harassed. Because of which my people suffered. Today I am free from that mental harassment. Only time will tell what is stored in next. But one thing I can say that I feel relieved from a huge weight I used to carry. I have come here to work for the people and I will put a logical end to the work I have started,” he said.

When asked who he voted for, Alpesh said Congress observer tried to create a ruckus when he cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections. “You can figure out from that. I have said earlier also that I have voted for national leadership. Since a few months, Congress leaders have been trying to insult and trying to kick me out of the party but even yesterday they had accepted I am a Congress MLA. I was also given a whip. But today instead of voting for Congress, I voted for national leadership,” he said.

Congress MLAs Alpesh and Dhavalsinh Zala both cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections held in Gujarat today. Both have later submitted their resignations to the Assembly speaker.

The bypolls were necessitated after Smriti Irani and Amit Shah vacated their Rajya Sabha seats after they were elected from Amethi and Gandhinagar respectively. BJP has fielded External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Juglalji Thakor while Congress candidates are Chandrika Chudasma and Gaurav Pandya. The counting of votes will begin at 5 pm today.

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