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PM Modi, I am a Charvaka Indian liberal, and this is my wish list

Kushal Mehra
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PM Modi, I am a Charvaka Indian liberal, and this is my wish list

Pranaam Modiji,

I would like to start this open letter by congratulating you and the BJP for a fantastic victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. You have proven all the critics wrong by the results and you deserve all the praise you are receiving right now. As they say in Hindi “sau sunaar ki, ek lohar ki”. That saying fits you exactly right now. You took the verbal jibes, the hate, the nasty remarks for 5 years. But you hit them only once, but it was where it hurts the most i.e. the ballot box. You remained firm in your belief and in the inherent strength of Indian democracy and the results are here for all of us to see.

Sir when I met you in 2014 just before the Lok Sabha elections you told me something that has stayed with me till date. When I had mentioned to you about dedicating my efforts towards your 2014 campaign you stopped me immediately and told me “agar apne aapko kisi bhi cheez ke prati samarpit karna chahte ho to apne desh ke prati samarpit ho jao. Modi nahi desh zaruri hai“. I took your advice very seriously. Since that day I have tried my best to contribute to India and Indian society to the best of my ability. In fact, one of my major modes of contribution has been thanks to your flagship scheme, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.

So what I am about to address in this letter is also in that spirit of desh seva. I am taking your advice forward and would like to address some issues to you. You have received a historical mandate. Mandates like these come once in a lifetime and it would be a shame if we let such a mandate go wasted. So as an avid supporter of yours I would like to share a list of points/demands that I have from you which I feel you could not fulfil in your 1st term:

1. Freedom of Expression

Sir freedom of expression is in grave danger in India. In the last 5 years under your term, we have seen different governments at the state level arresting ordinary people for posts made on social media. Depending on the government in power different people have abused laws like 295A, 153A, 66F etc.

Innocent people making critical observations of the state/central government get bullied by political party supporters by using such laws. Do you think that is fair sir? You have been known to take a joke very well. But unfortunately, that culture does not seem to percolate all that well across the political spectrum including your own party.

Recently in an interview on TV, you had mentioned how our society is used to disagreement, we question our gods too. You gave us the example of how we call the greatest critic of Hinduism Rishi Charvaka. Well, sir, I am a living breathing Charvaka and I can tell you that making fun of religion is not that easy in India. So if you really want our society to have more freedom (which I feel you do) please get rid of these archaic laws.

2. Law and order

Law and order are in an abysmal state, sir. Yes, the opposition did try to peddle the fake narratives of cow lynchings and church attacks. But that does not change the fact that we do have a law and order problem in India.

Sir, an average citizen can get beaten up for stealing a chappal, bicycle, goat or a cow. In a civilised democracy, it is the job of the police and the judiciary to punish the criminal. Sir, the Indian state has failed in this department and we have a huge vacuum in the law and order scenario.

And when there is a vacuum it will be filled by non-state actors. I request you to fix this vacuum in your next 5 years. Please improve the citizen to police ratio and follow up on the recommendations of multiple committees that have recommended police reforms. Our police forces deserve better arms and ammunition; they do not even get proper holidays. The suicide rates in our forces are very high. I hope you take note of these issues and solve them in this term.

3. Economy

As an MSME manufacturer sir I would request you to speed up the economic reforms. Yes, India is a poor nation. Yes, we have to make sure that the financially underprivileged get a helping hand. Every single person will agree with you on that. But, sir, the poor can be helped when businesses prosper, and for businesses to prosper we need to trust the businessmen. We stood by you like a rock through the trials and tribulations of demonetisation and GST. The least we can expect from you as job generators are that you simplify the processes so that we can help you in your dream of eliminating poverty completely from this great nation of ours.

4. Core issues

Sir, the party has mentioned the core issues in each and every manifesto since its inception. But can we expect a tentative date or indication on when at least one of the main core issues like Ram Mandir, UCC, Article 370, 35A will be resolved? If not all can we have at least one of them resolved?

I could go on mentioning issue after issue sir but that is not the point of this letter. My aim is to remind you that these issues are vital and need to be resolved as soon as possible. We are in a very precarious situation, this country has no opposition. Whatever is left carries no credibility in the eyes of the larger masses. In such a scenario I feel that it is my moral duty and responsibility as an Indian to play the role of that opposition. And I carry no delusions of grandeur, I know I am a mere speck in this large pool of humanity. But if I did not write this letter to you I would not be able to forgive myself.

I feel you need criticism more than ever. And sir I feel you have to deliver on these points. And I know you can. I have voted for the BJP all my adult life, but that does not mean I cannot expect things in return from you. I expect my Prime Minister to make sure that when another Ramalingam opposes forceful religious conversions by Muslim preachers, he is not killed. 

As the old saying goes, “with great power comes great responsibility.” So, sir, it is your responsibility to deliver on these points. It is your job as one of independent India’s most powerful and tallest leaders to not only talk the talk but also to walk the walk. We cannot expect the opposition leaders sitting in the parliament to do anything as of now because they sold their souls a long time ago. So as honest citizens we are taking up the mantle of your healthy critics. I hope that you welcome us with open arms as you always have because you are our last great hope.

Regards,
Kushal Mehra

Note: Charvaka (originally known as Lokayata or Brihaspataya) is an ancient atheistic school which embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects the vedas and vedic ritualism. 

Smriti Irani’s emotional farewell to the aide who was killed last night in Amethi, gives her shoulder to the mortal remains

OpIndia Staff
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Smriti Irani’s emotional farewell to the aide who was killed last night in Amethi, gives her shoulder to the mortal remains

BJP leader and Amethi MP Smriti Irani, who won a historic election in Amethi by defeating Congress president Rahul Gandhi, lent a shoulder to the mortal remains of a BJP worker and her close aide who was shot dead yesterday. She was in Amethi today to attend the last rites of the BJP worker.


Surendra Singh was a BJP karyakarta in Amethi and former hear of Baraulia village in Amethi, who had tirelessly worked during the campaigning of Smriti Irani. After the victory, he had also carried out a victory march. Singh was shot dead by unidentified killers at his residence last night. His son said that some Congress supporters were not happy with Surendra Singh’s contribution to BJP’s election campaigning the celebrations he did after the elections, and involvement of such people are suspected in the murder.


Smriti Irani had reached Amethi today to meet the family of Surendra Singh. Several top leaders and ministers in UP government also rushed to Amethi to attend the last rites. Smriti Irani was visibly emotional after seeing the body of Singh. He was said to be close to Irani, and was very active in the election campaigning.

Additional security forces have been deployed in the area to prevent any possible violence over the murder. The police have already detained 7 persons in the case.

Surendra Singh was head of Baraulia village for nearly 20 years, and the village had voted en masse for Smriti Irani. Incidentally, this village was adopted by late Manohar Parrikar, and the village has received lots of development projects. Villagers say that Surendra Singh was instrumental in bringing the projects to the village.

Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress faltered in building a narrative, Modi-Shah worked towards ground reality

Aarti
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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress faltered in building a narrative, Modi-Shah worked towards ground reality

The results of 2019 Lok Sabha elections are unprecedented. It clearly was an election of Narendra Modi against all and that the cult of Narendra Modi will continue to grow. While Congress faltered in building the narrative and understanding the mood of the nation, Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo understood people’s sentiment and worked towards ground realities. Here are key takeaways from 2019 election results:

Congress Party’s faltered Narrative

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and the others tried too hard to brand Narendra Mod as a corrupt man by the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ smear campaign but failed miserably. During his campaigning trail in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi consistently harped on the ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ message. The desperation to brand Narendra Modi as a corrupt leader didn’t go well with people.

While the early trends in 2017 and 2018 were against the incumbent government, the Congress party perceived the result wrong. Riding high on Congress party’s performance in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi’s overconfidence failed him and the narrative to portray Narendra Modi as a dictator, corrupt and a failed leader proved to be out of sync with people’s sentiment.

Unemployment, no safety in the state, unhappy farmers, unhappy small business owners, demonetization, GST and corruption were the key subjects of all Rahul Gandhi’s rallies. While Congress mentioned there were no jobs, it failed to communicate with people how it was going to fix the problems of no jobs.

Rahul Gandhi had quoted different figures on Rafale deal at different places. On one my commutes, the cab driver told me, “it looks like he is trying hard to figure out if there was any corruption in the deal, that’s why he keeps on changing figures.” While Rahul Gandhi insisted that most of Modi’s schemes were a failure the truth is the beneficiaries did go out and vote for him.

In a personal survey that I conducted on Uber cab drivers in Ahmedabad, in my interaction with them, I found 60% of people (sample size 100) received subsidies for a car loan and home loan and LPG. Their discontentment was with the price rise in electricity and fuel. More than 80% cab drivers I interviewed said they felt safe with Narendra Modi at the helm. National interest and safety were of utmost priority for all these people. Jay Patel, a cab driver, “if there’s one leader who can teach Pakistan a lesson it is Narendra Modi. Yes, it is difficult to get a government job but I am able to earn my livelihood and we are able to sail through.”

The cult of Narendra Modi

The potshots by Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party on Narendra Modi only helped Narendra Modi. ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’, ‘Narendra Modi neech aadmi hai’, ‘Narendra Modi anpadh ganwar hai’, coward and the last ‘The Divider in Chief’ label by Time Magazine didn’t echo the sentiment of people.

Security is of the utmost priority for most of the citizens, Congress party left no stone unturned to mock surgical strikes conducted by our defence forces. In a bid to not give credit to Narendra Modi they displayed their own inability to understand the national interest. Narendra Modi, on the other hand, managed to emerge as a strong leader capable of taking a risk and a quick decision which was overall taken positively by people.

Though demonetisation and GST initially troubled small traders but with the tax slabs getting streamlined and online process simplified people decided to move on. BJP’s efforts to connect the North-East with mainland India and provide the necessary infrastructure to the north-east belt, connecting rural India to mainstream banking received more support from people. Narendra Modi in his tenure of five years emerged as a social reformer.

While there are Gandhians, none promoted Swachch Bharat and toilets for all as much as he did. Though leftist mocked ‘Mann Ki Baat’ campaign Modi managed to get his message conveyed to people in the rural belt. He connected with Kids, youth and the old all at a single point with Mann Ki Baat. In five years, he managed to share his journey with people (his ups and downs) through Mann Ki Baat. His consistent efforts to pass ‘Tripple talaq’ bill portrayed BJP as women empowering compared to the liberal stance of Congress party that did everything to stall the bill.

And, the balm to sooth the Middle class

Tax waiver of five lakhs soothed complains of most of the middle-class small traders and employees. GST and demonetisation may have led to some resentment towards Narendra Modi initially but the tax waiver of five lakhs gave youth and traders much-needed confidence in BJP. It conveyed the message that BJP wasn’t trying to toss wet blankets on the aspiration of the middle class.

National Interest

Narendra Modi wasn’t exaggerating at all when he said ‘I will teach the enemies lesson on their home turf’. The surgical strike that destroyed JeM’s training camps were questioned by most of the leftist media folks and it tried to downplay Narendra Modi’s role as a decisive leader who can act when required instead of seeking validation and support from others. People cheered and stood by his side and appreciated what he did.

Narendra Modi’s aggressive campaigning and Amit Shah’s strategic abilities have given BJP the unprecedented victory. The duo knows the mood of the nation and is aware of ground realities better than Congress party that can’t see beyond its commitment to the Gandhi family.

PM Modi wishes ‘abhinandan’ to party workers, Pakistani media thinks he was talking about Wing Commander Abhinandan

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi wishes ‘abhinandan’ to party workers, Pakistani media thinks he was talking about Wing Commander Abhinandan

Two days ago, ARY News, a Pakistan news channel picked up the word ‘abhinandan’ from a speech delivered by PM Modi and came to the conclusion that he was talking about Wing Commander Abhinandan. The video has gone viral on social media after it was posted on Twitter by alert users.


On Saturday evening, after the historic mandate of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Prime Minister had delivered a speech to the newly appointed members at the Parliament Central Hall. During the speech, he used the Hindi word ‘abhinandan’ to congratulate the party workers.

The news channel chose to highlight this word thinking that he was mentioning the Wing Commander Abhinandan. The Anchor had also claimed that after winning the elections PM Modi hasn’t forgotten Wing Commander Abhinandan.


The Wing Commander in an encounter with the intruding Pakistan fighter jets shot down a Pakistan F-16 jet with a missile fired from his MiG-21 Bison. Following which he was forced to eject after his MiG-21 Bison was shot by Pakistan, landing him in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. He was captured by the Pakistan army and was beaten up, choked and tortured in the first 24 hours of captivity. But Pakistan released and handed him to India after that due to mounting international pressure.

Few central government schemes that helped BJP in coming back to power with a greater mandate

OpIndia Staff
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Few central government schemes that helped BJP in coming back to power with a greater mandate

In a historic win, the BJP clinched a total of 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and a total of 353 seats for the BJP led NDA. In a country where traditionally caste and religion play a deciding factor in the elections, the BJP certainly turned up a notch this time with its developmental policies working in its favour.

After results of the election were announced, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was quoted saying, “We observed the people’s sentiments and found that development-oriented policies and their implementation would shatter the caste barriers”.

The BJP came into power in 2014 primarily due to its development goals which the Modi led government promptly delivered in the span of 5 years. It is said that every poor or rural household in the country was touched by at least one welfare scheme of the union government, which helped it to come back to power with an increased mandate. Here are some central government schemes that worked in the party’s favour.

1. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

One of the first initiatives of the Modi government was the promotion of cleanliness and access to clean toilets for all. Open defecation used to be a rampant issue in many rural households across the country, which primarily impacted the lives of women.

According to the official government website, since 2nd October 2014 more than 9 crore toilets have been built achieving an overall 99.17% of access to toilets in rural households till date. 618 districts have been declared open defecation free (ODF) status.

It was also reported in March that in an independent survey conducted by an agency under the World Bank, over 93% of rural households in India now have access to toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Last year the World Bank had also lauded the initiative terming it as world’s biggest sanitation movement.

2. Jan Dhan Yojana

It’s one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world intending to offer financial services to all households across the country. Under this scheme, no-frills basic savings were opened for everyone who didn’t have any bank account. The services include the availability of basic savings bank account, access to need-based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension.

Under this initiative, the official website reports that there have been 35.65 crore beneficiaries so far and a total of 98,414.55 crore rupees balance in the beneficiary accounts.

3. Ujjwala Yojana

This scheme of the Central government was launched to provide free gas cylinders to the poor. This would avoid the need to use firewood, which is a health hazard for people due to the pollution it causes. Currently, the scheme has been implemented in 714 districts, with more than 7.19 crore gas connections.

Last year it was reported that the scheme was 8 months ahead of its schedule. Earlier this month the Congress party posted a propaganda video on Twitter belittling the Ujjwala Yojana, however many users on Twitter were quick to spot the inherent irony of the tweet. The users pointed out how Congress had failed not just in providing subsidised cylinders to the poor but also in raising their incomes for them to afford subsidised cylinders.

4. Ayushman Bharat

Ayushman Bharat Yojana is Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme launched in September 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission of MoHFW. The scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically. The scheme intends to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families or over 50 crore people. Rs 10,000 crore were allocated for the scheme by the Health Ministry, last year.

As reported in January, within just 100 days of the launch of this initiative, over 6,95,310 patients were treated in various empanelled private and public hospitals across India. Around 5.1 lakh claims have been availed of the scheme, for which payment has been released. A few days later, the World Bank lauded this achievement.

5. MUDRA Yojana

The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8 2015, for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.

The scheme is being perceived as an elixir for the MSME sector, accounting for 90% of total number of enterprises and also 90% of non-agriculture employment whose growth had been hindered due to constraints in access to finance. Despite the criticism of the initiative, the MUDRA Yojana has definitely made its impact. Here are some ground level success stories of the scheme.

6. Saubhagya

The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (or Saubhagya) was launched in 2017 to ensure universal household electrification (in both rural and urban areas) by providing last mile connectivity.

In November 2018, the government had announced that a total of 15 states in India have 100% household electrification. A small number of un-electrified households which are still left in States like Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are likely to achieve saturation any time soon. As per the official website presently we have achieved 99.93% electrification.

Angry at not being invited to an iftar party, three Muslim men shoot dead three kids of the host family

OpIndia Staff
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Angry at not being invited to an iftar party, three Muslim men shoot dead three kids of the host family

Sending the city into a shock-wave, a man named Malik along with two others Bilal and Imran, all in their late twenties, allegedly miffed for not being invited for an iftar party, shot three children identified as Abdul (8), Aasma (7) and Aleeba (8) belonging the host family in Bulandshahr, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, reports Times of India.

Bullet-ridden bodies of the children were found floating in the reservoir of a tubewell, in Dhatoori village under Salempur police station, Meerut, on Saturday. The victims were last seen in Faisalabad locality of Bulandshahr on Friday night, 15 km away from where their bodies were recovered.

The SHO of Salempur police station, Avdhesh Awasthi told TOI that “All three have been shot dead. Bullet wounds on the bodies show that they were shot more than once. Bloodstains have been found at various spots near the crime scene.”

Malik is reportedly a distant relative of Hafiz Alam, father of one of the victims, who had organised the iftar party, and not invited Malik for the same. Aleeba’s father Alam confirmed, “Malik is a distant relative but he had nurtured enmity with our family due to property issues. We never thought he will go to this extent.”

The other two relatives who lost their children are Hakim, father of Abdul, and Jamshed, father of Aasma.

Meanwhile, Senior superintendent of police Bulandshahr N Kolanchi, who has constituted a team of four officers to investigate the matter said that he had suspended two policemen, including station house officer (SHO) of Bulandshahr Kotwali, for negligence.

Kolanchi said, “Primary investigation has revealed that Malik was miffed at not being invited to an iftar party hosted by the family. The children went missing at 9:30 pm on Friday. No action was taken by the local thana. So, I have suspended station SHO Dhruv Bhushan Dubey and constable Ashok Kumar with immediate effect.”

However, suspended SHO Dubey, who is yet to be relieved of his charge confirmed, “An FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) has been filed against Malik and the two others. Bilal has been arrested and efforts are on to arrest the remaining two”, said Dubey.

Recently in another incidence, communal tension had erupted in Meerut after a video showing Muslim men beating up shopkeepers went viral.

Scratch a ‘feminist’, find a sexist ‘poet’ who passes off his sexism under the garb of artistic liberty

Nirwa Mehta
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Scratch a ‘feminist’, find a sexist ‘poet’ who passes off his sexism under the garb of artistic liberty

Hindustan Times columnist Mayank Austen Soofi (Austen as a tribute to Author Jane Austen) recently shared an image of a rotten orange on the website Instagram with a seemingly sexist caption.

The still life of a ‘free woman’ with many lovers

For the uninitiated, fruits like oranges are often used as ‘artistic symbol’ for a vagina. This half orange is used to imply how a ‘free woman’ who has had ‘many lovers’ would be like. So, this is how a vagina of a ‘free woman’ who has had ‘many lovers’ would look like.

An orange or a grapefruit, peeled in half like above, is often used as creative euphemism for virginity of a woman. If the ‘hole’ is small, it is used to show how she is a virgin and hence, ‘pure’, while the one with bigger ‘hole’ has had multiple partners. Such images usually go viral on the Internet when men think they need to let women know how to remain ‘pure’ and how to be so that men would love them.

In the above post, Mayank is romanticising and in a bid to come across as a romantic of some sort, Mayank writes how he yearns for a woman who has had many lovers. “Many lovers” depicted by a bruised, rotten orange. It is just disturbing.

A few days later, he uploaded the same image with a different caption.

Mayank, obviously, got called out for his image which is clearly in poor taste. But then there are a lot of things about him that don’t get called out. Example, his ‘white tourist’ perspective on the poor of Delhi. If you read Hindustan Times in Delhi, he writes the column where he displays his poverty porn. He will take picture of an NDMC gardener, write a story about him how he is going to eat 4 rotis and aloo-matar sabzi for lunch and then nap in the park. He would also add how his child is studying in some school and even knows English. Mayank thinks he is bringing a slice of life of Delhi to our homes except there’s a lot of pretence about his columns.

Maybe it is me but I have issues with people who romanticise things like poverty, daily struggle, normal things like being a free woman who has had multiple lovers and people like Arundhati Roy. Yes, Mayank is also an Arundhati Roy fan and likes to describe her as ‘his most beloved Delhiite’. So much that now he has even started resembling her.

Mayank got called out, obviously, but he was not too worried because like any other artist worth his salt, he was also misunderstood, obviously. “This is a most delicious variety of orange found in Sicily, Italy, and it reminds me of the ideal and delicious life of women (and men and everybody else) who work to be free and do all the things they desire in life,” he explains. Hold my orange juice while I go throw up the aloo-matar I had for lunch.

This pretentiousness is not unique to him. Over the years I have come across so many such artists or professors who like to identify themselves as ‘intellectuals’ who like to sign online petitions to legalise marijuana. Some such ‘poets’ and ‘artists‘ were recently called out as sexual predators too during the #MeToo movement which swept India in October last year. Many ‘woke feminists’ who regularly spoke on women empowerment, gender equality and feminism were called out as predators, including one who was accused of sexually harassing a minor. This just goes out to say that just because someone calls himself a ‘liberal artist’, does not mean that he could not turn out to be a sexist person camouflaging his sexism under the guise of ‘poetry’

New Delhi residents live in perpetual fear of the immigrant Muslims in their neighbourhood

OpIndia Staff
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New Delhi residents live in perpetual fear of the immigrant Muslims in their neighbourhood

The Hindu residents of some of the urban villages in New Delhi are living in persistent fear of a possible clash with their butcher’s knife-wielding Muslim neighbours as the incidents of Muslim tenants attacking Hindu residents is steadily on the rise. As per a report in Swarajya Magazine by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, who visited several of these violence-stricken places, there is a pattern to the gruesome killings of Hindus in the country’s capital.


Recently, a businessman Dhruv Raj Tyagi, who owned several houses and shops in the Basai Darapur area of Delhi’s Moti Nagar, was stabbed to death by Jehangir Khan and his son Mohammad Alam. The 51-year old was hacked to death by the father-son duo as the victim went to Jehangir to complain about his son who had molested Tyagi’s daughter. The weapon with which Tyagi was murdered, a butcher’s knife, was provided by Jehangir Khan’s wife and daughter. Tyagi was not only murdered, but his body was mutilated, fingernails were ripped out and teeth were broken.

The locals in the area as quoted by Swati say that there has been a spurt in such incidents after increasing number of immigrant Muslims have started to settle in the area. Muslim immigration from adjoining states started gathering pace a decade ago. Many Muslims from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar came to Delhi in search of employment. Sensing business opportunity, many locals developed colonies with 3-storey houses and 2-3 single rooms on each floor. The colonies are so crammed up and congested that families keep crossing into each other’s space. Working as labourers, these Muslims started living as tenants in these colonies.

Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra claims that the immigrant problem dates back to the Congress era when they actively settled Muslims in various areas of Delhi. “If in West Delhi, it’s Muslims from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and NCR [National capital region], it’s Bangladeshis in Okhla and Bawana [south Delhi and north-west Delhi],” he said.

The gradual change in demography and the increase in crime reflects the fear and perception among the locals. The local residents in several pockets of New Delhi specifically relate the spurt in mob-lynching and cold-blooded murders of Hindus to the overwhelming immigrant Muslim population in the area. Some of the horrifying incidents such as Ankit Saxena murder, Dr Pankaj Narang case and the triple murders in Khyala echo the fear rising among the locals.

A Muslim mob gathered around Dr Pankaj Narang’s house in 2016 and pounded him to death using sticks and rods. Like a concerned father, Dr Narang had only dared to scold two motorcycle-borne youth for brushing past his son who was playing cricket on the road. A scuffle broke out shortly after which a Muslim mob returned baying for Dr Narang’s blood.

In another high-profile incident, Ankit Saxena, who was in a relationship with a Muslim girl, was killed in broad daylight by Akbar Ali, the girl’s father, aided by his wife and his brother-in-law. Akbar Ali slit the throat of Ankit Saxena in the middle of a road in Raghubir Nagar. Residents of the area also confided in Swati that Akbar Ali’s wife was a religious bigot who had pressurised a Muslim woman to convert her Hindu husband to Islam in order to avoid the wrath of ‘dojakh ki aag'(hellfire).

In an incident that happened in January this year, Mohammad Azad killed three members of a neighbouring Hindu family- Veerpal, Sunita and son Aakash. Aakash had confronted Azad for passing obscene remarks about his mother Sunita while she was entering the colony. However, this didn’t sit well with an enraged Azad who brought along with him meat chopper to stab the three members of the family to death.

There emerges a set of pattern in the gruesome killings of Hindus by Muslim tenants. When unarmed Hindu confronts a Muslim neighbour over a trifling issue, the latter gets Muslim mobs to attack the complainant; the increase in immigrant Muslims have exacerbated the crime situation in the crammed colonies of New Delhi; far from being peace advocators, the Muslim women have actively participated and facilitated in the murders of Hindu residents; killers have used a butcher’s knife, a quintessential feature of a Muslim household and the assailants exhibited indication of religious hatred against the victims.

As the Hindu residents have been gripped with the fear of Muslim onslaught, the Delhi-based associations which comprise mainly of Tyagis, Gujjars and Jatavs have called Panchayats of 70 villages from adjoining states to discuss the feasibility of not renting property to Muslims and not employing Muslim labour. Delhi based association of Tyagis have called for Muslim boycott. They claim that they have no problems with the Local Muslim population but with the immigrant ones which are flaring up the tensions in their colonies. However, not all association members are in agreement to prevent from renting their properties to Muslims as for many of them it is their source of income.

Rajdeep Sardesai thinks Narendra Modi should thank Masood Azhar, among others, for BJP’s victory

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep Sardesai thinks Narendra Modi should thank Masood Azhar, among others, for BJP’s victory

Controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai thinks that among others, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should also thank Masood Azhar for contributing to the BJP win.


Rajdeep Sardesai’s snide remark was on a show on The Lallantop, a ‘new age channel’ owned by the India Today group. Sardesai could be heard saying “Amit Shah ko thank you card dena chahiye, Rahul Gandhi ko, Congress party ko, Masood Azhar ko, jis tarah se unhone apni atankwadi gatividiyan ki. Phir ek thank you card hai media ko, Election Commission ko…”

Sardesai said that PM Modi should thank the party president Amit Shah, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party for contributing to his victory. He even said that Modi should thank Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar for his terrorist activities.

He was referring to the Pulwama terror attack which claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans in February this year which was carried out by the Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad. Sardesai is implying that it was because of the terror attack that the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajdeep has for the longest time been a faithful soldier of the Congress party within the media. He lies regularly, demonises Modi and even has a long illustrious career of spreading propaganda. He has paltry respect for other journalists who don’t wish to behave like ruffians like himself (one recalls his punching fiasco at Madison Square Garden) and conduct interviews with dignity when it comes to PM Modi while he himself crawls in front of the Dynasty. 

Clearly, Narendra Modi coming back to power has not really sunk in well for Sardesai.

Jadeja shines in India vs New Zealand warm-up game, creates selection dilemma for team management

Sandeep Singh
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Jadeja shines in India vs New Zealand warm-up game, creates selection dilemma for team management

In their first warm-up game ahead of the Cricket World Cup on Saturday, India lost quite comfortably as New Zealand eased to 6 wickets win with over 12 overs to spare.

After winning the toss and batting first, Indian team could manage only 179 as their top order was blown away by Trent Boult’s swing and middle order falling against Neesham’s medium pace.

One positive feature for the Indian team was the partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and fellow left arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav. They combined for a 62 runs partnership off 57 balls, giving some sort of respectability to the score.

Jadeja’s form was really heartening as he scored a fine half century at better than run a ball. Initially circumspect against the pace bowlers, Jadeja took on the spin duo of Santner and Sodhi to great effect to race to his half century.

Jadeja has always been a useful batsman, with 3 first class triple hundreds as Sunny Gavaskar loves to remind us on commentary, and he can give you 10 overs with the ball pretty much every game. His biggest strength however remains his fielding. Jadeja is arguably the best ever fielder India has ever produced, saving 15-20 runs in the outfield every game, a very safe pair of hands, and someone who can change the course of the match with a direct hit every now and then.

Despite all that, it is difficult to see Jadeja fitting into the first choice XI when the tournament begins.

Jadeja can’t make it to the side as an all-rounder as Hardik Pandya gets the nod ahead of him due to his better hitting abilities. In fact, most of the ODIs Jadeja played recently were due to the fact that Pandya was missing due to injury or Koffee. Squeezing in another all-rounder really weakens the batting line-up as Number 6 is too high in a 50 overs game for both Pandya and Jadeja, more suited to 7 and 8 respectively.

Only other way for Jadeja to make it to the XI is in place of Kuldeep or Chahal, but he lacks the wicket taking abilities of those 2, one of the reasons Jadeja and Ashwin were side-lined for the 2 wrist spinners.

However, if Jadeja can produce another solid performance against Bangladesh in the next warm-up game, it will be difficult for the team management to ignore him. Even if he doesn’t get into the playing XI right at the start of the tournament, his form will give a lot of confidence to them that they have such players on the bench to call upon if needed.

What do you think, should Jadeja be in India’s first choice XI?

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