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Media finally asks Rahul Gandhi to explain his ’30k cr to Ambani’ lie, he says ‘Chidambaram has calculations’

OpIndia Staff
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Media finally asks Rahul Gandhi to explain his ’30k cr to Ambani’ lie, he says ‘Chidambaram has calculations’

Mainstream media has finally woken up and questioned Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Modi gave Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani’ lie. Rahul Gandhi, in his interview to Indian Express, was cornered on the specific figure he keeps on throwing around to allege that Prime Minister Modi gave away Rs 30,000 crore in the Rafale deal.

The Indian Expressed asked Rahul Gandhi that he keeps mentioning Rs 30,000 crore figure, whereas the total amount of the deal as per records is around Rs 60,000 crore. Rahul Gandhi cuts off the interview mid-question and says that there is enough documentation available to show that the benefit to Anil Ambani through the offset contract and other Rafale proceedings will come to Rs 30,000 crore.

The interviewers at Indian Express then question Rahul Gandhi that the offsets don’t quite add up to Rs 30,000 crore. Rahul Gandhi then shifted goal post and said how it is more about the procedure followed under which Anil Ambani got the deal.

Rahul Gandhi then lies, again. He says, “What is prima facie very clear, is that Mr Anil Ambani has no locus standi in making aircraft, is Rs 45,000 crore in debt and barely managed to stay out of jail. On the other hand, HAL has the experience in making aircraft and it’s been doing it for 70 years.” (relevant portion highlighted.)

The truth is, the 36 Rafales will not be made in India, so it’s a no-brainer that Reliance will not be making that. But the interesting point is, they are not even making parts for it. Yes, at present Dassault Reliance Aerospace is not even making parts for Rafale like HAL and some Indian companies will be doing, forget the whole plane. The company is making parts for the Falcon 2000 civil jet plane that is manufactured by Dassault Aviation. This company is now part of the global supply chain network of Dassault, and they have already started manufacturing parts and sending them to assembly plants. Dassault will be investing around € 100 million in the joint venture with Reliance as part of offset obligations related to the Rafale deal, which is less than 3% of the total offset obligation. Reliance is not getting US$20 billion or even US$4 billion as Rahul Gandhi seems to believe, the current investment is less than USD$ 120 million. Meanwhile, Snecma HAL Aerospace Ltd, a joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Snecma (Safran) of France, will make parts for Rafale jet’s Snecma M88 engine.

When the interviewer further probed Congress President Rahul Gandhi that the 30,000 figure is still not explained by Congress, Rahul Gandhi hits the ball out of the ground by saying how he does not really have the details, but if Indian Express wants to know where Congress got the figure, he could put them in touch with Randeep Surjewala and P Chidambaram, who is himself accused in various corruption scams, who could share the details with them.

Rahul Gandhi tells the interviewer to ask Randeep Surjewala and Chidambaram for details of the 30,000 crore figure

Go home, everybody. Rahul Gandhi has just accepted that he has no clue how the figure 30,000 crore he has been throwing around casually, accusing the Prime Minister despite clarifications from the French government as well as Dassault, has come from.

Wonder if the ‘debate’ he demands with the PM on Rafale, will be an open-book test with Randeep Surjewala and P Chidambaram passing him notes since Rahul Gandhi does not really know the calculations.

Terrorists kill a BJP leader in Kashmir the day Mehbooba Mufti appeals to terrorists to not carry out terror attacks during Ramzan

OpIndia Staff
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Terrorists kill a BJP leader in Kashmir the day Mehbooba Mufti appeals to terrorists to not carry out terror attacks during Ramzan

Terrorists killed Gul Mohammad Mir, BJP district Vice President on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowgam in South Kashmir. He was shot dead by terrorists at his home in Nowgam village. He sustained serious bullet injuries in the chest and abdomen and was declared brought dead to the hospital.

Mir had unsuccessfully contested the state assembly elections on the BJP ticket in 2008 and 2014 both. Terming the killing barbaric, BJP state spokesperson Atlaf Thakur said that despite threats from militants, Mir’s security was withdrawn by the government.

The terrorists’ attack on Mir came on a day former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti made a problematic appeal to the terrorists not to carry out any terror attacks ‘in the month ot Ramzan’.


Mufti appealed to the terrorists to not carry out terror attacks during Ramzan. She also appealed to the government to not carry out search operations and crackdowns during the holy month of Ramzan ‘so that people of Jammu and Kashmir at least spend one month in relief’. Ramzan is likely to begin from 5th or 6th May, depending upon sighting the crescent of the moon.

Mufti’s statement drew a lot of flak on the social media where people condemned the implications of her appeal of ‘no terror attacks during Ramzan’.


In 2017, just a few days after Ramzan, terrorists had carried out an attack on the Hindu pilgrims returning from the Amarnath Yatra leaving as many as seven pilgrims dead.

Meanwhile, Pulwama and Shopian districts in Kashmir will go for polls on Monday, May 6, in the fifth phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections. Due to security reasons, the polls in Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency which is composed of 16 assembly segments, is being held in 3 phases.

The man who slapped Arvind Kejriwal has identified himself as an AAP supporter: Report

OpIndia Staff
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The man who slapped Arvind Kejriwal has identified himself as an AAP supporter: Report

Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal was assaulted again today by a person in Delhi’s Moti Nagar area during his election roadshow for the Lok Sabha 2019 elections.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man wearing a crimson coloured shirt while he was waving to the people gathered to see his roadshow in Delhi. The attacker lunged at the Delhi CM and delivered a resounding slap to him in the Moti Nagar of New Delhi as the AAP supremo was passing through the area in his roadshow.

DCP (West) Monica Bhardwaj has said that the assaulter has been identified as Suresh and he deals in spare parts in Kailash Park area.

It has now emerged that the man who assaulted Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that he is an AAP supporter. According to an India Today report, Suresh, the man who assaulted Kejriwal is in police custody and is being interrogated. During interrogation, Suresh has revealed that he is an AAP supporter.

Suresh has been taken to Moti Nagar police station and he, who slapped Arvind Kejriwal, told the police during interrogation that he is an AAP supporter.

This is not the first time that AAP chief has been assaulted in public. He has been assaulted in public several times in the past. The assaults on AAP chief particularly aggravates around election campaigning. In 2014 too, Kejriwal was attacked several times when he was campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

A few months ago, Kejriwal was attacked with chilli powder. However, the lawyer of the accused person had stated that the attack was orchestrated by AAP leaders. Recently, rumour had surfaced on social media that Arvind Kejriwal has been beaten up by his own MLAs in his residence.

Lt Gen DS Hooda claims that surgical strikes did take place during Congress regime, however, he had a different take earlier

OpIndia Staff
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Lt Gen DS Hooda claims that surgical strikes did take place during Congress regime, however, he had a different take earlier

The Congress party recently claimed that the Congress government, too, had conducted surgical strikes during its regime. It had attracted much mockery including comments by the Prime Minister who said that the Congress conducted surgical strikes that no one, the terrorists, the Army or the India people, had any clue about.

Former COAS General V.K. Singh, earlier today, chastised the Congress party today. Accusing them of lying, he demanded to know exactly which surgical strikes were they attributed to his tenure as COAS. General Bikram Singh, who was COAS between 2012-14, too, said in 2016 that such strikes had not happened earlier.

Lt. General (R) D.S. Hooda, who headed the Surgical Strikes and has been associated with the Congress party in recent times, has, however, claimed that cross border operations were carried out during the UPA regime. Lt Gen Hooda had recently joined hands with the Congress party to lead Rahul Gandhi’s ‘task force’ on ‘national security’.


His statement today appears inconsistent with statements he had made during his interview with Arnab Goswami in 2017. He has specifically stated then that the Surgical Strikes weren’t normal cross border operations. “We need to do go ahead and do something … we need to do something larger than normal operation,” he had said then.


He had told Arnab about the Surgical Strikes, “In this case, we were looking at going a little deeper, we were looking at a much more comprehensive operation.” He added, “We were not going a hundred meters, hitting some forward posts, hitting some patrols of the Pak Army and come back. We had to go in and look at terrorist camps and terrorist camps were much deeper. Most of the actions that used to take place were military to military operations which were carried out at the Line of Control. But to go in and hit specifically terrorist camps and launch pads which are much deeper inside, for that detailed planning is required.”


Thus, from the Army Man’s own statements, it appears that although military operation did occur during the Congress regime, the Surgical Strikes were on an entirely different plane altogether that required much deeper planning, was much more comprehensive and the Armed Forces had to go much deeper into Pakistani occupied territory to achieve the desired goals.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal slapped in public during roadshow, again

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal slapped in public during roadshow, again

Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was assaulted again today by a person in Delhi’s Moti Nagar area during his election roadshow for the Lok Sabha 2019 elections.


As can be seen in the videos, the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was slapped by a man wearing a crimson coloured shirt while he was waving to the people gathered to see his roadshow in Delhi. The attacker lunged at the Delhi CM and delivered a resounding slap to him in the Moti Nagar of New Delhi as the AAP supremo was passing through the area in his roadshow.

DCP (West) Monica Bhardwaj has said that the assaulter has been identified as Suresh and he deals in spare parts in Kailash Park area.

The incident comes after a video of AAP’s MP candidate Atishi Marlena went viral on social media where she is seen stating that the people should beat up useless politicians. After the AAP chief was slapped today, Twitter is full of reactions where people are asking whether some voter in Delhi has taken the AAP Lok Sabha candidate very seriously.


This is not the first time that AAP chief has been assaulted in public. He has been assaulted in public several times in the past. The assaults on AAP chief particularly aggravates around election campaigning. In 2014 too, Kejriwal was attacked several times when he was campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.

A few months ago, Kejriwal was attacked with chilli powder. However, the lawyer of the accused person had stated that the attack was orchestrated by AAP leaders. Recently, rumour had surfaced on social media that Arvind Kejriwal has been beaten up by his own MLAs in his residence.

West Bengal: Singur farmers express regret over their ‘mistake’ of forcing Tata out, feel used by political parties

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Singur farmers express regret over their ‘mistake’ of forcing Tata out, feel used by political parties

Years after the Tata Manufacturing plant was shifted out of West Bengal’s Singur to Gujarat’s Sanand, the farmers involved in the agitation against the Tata behemoth have expressed their regret for the agitation that led to the expulsion. Though they got their lands back, the farmers feel cheated as the land is uncultivable and the town doesn’t have enough jobs for them says a report in DNA.

According to the farmers who took a march to Kolkata last year to demand setting up of industries in the region, they were used by political parties in the agitation that culminated into Tata leaving Singur district for their Nano car production. They asserted that if they get a chance to atone for their “mistake”, they would eagerly give away their land for setting up industries in Singur.

In 2006-2007, the Left Front government was facing a severe headwind from the anti-land acquisition movement against the government, resulting in the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC’s victory in the elections. Singur was at the centre of attention as the farmers in the region protested against the establishment of Nano Car production facility in their district.

However, today the disenchanted farmers, having realised that they had been used as cannon fodder by the politicians have expressed remorse over their decision to agitate against the Tata conglomerate. One of the farmers, Ashok Maity said, “We got nothing out of the agitation. We were used and later dumped to fend for ourselves by the political parties to serve their own purposes. No industries came up in the region, nor the land which was returned to us in 2016 is cultivable. We are living in extreme poverty.”

The farmers in the region had to fight a long and enervating legal battle to get hold of their land. Ashok and his brother got 60 kottah of land. However, the land they got was converted into concrete or covered with wreckage. The agricultural experts believe that with the concrete pillars and slabs on the ground, at least 7-8 inches of topsoil will have to be removed to make it arable again. It is a costly measure and the farmers are not in the position to bear the expenses. Without this procedure, it might take 10 more years for the land to turn tillable.

Many farmers in the district echo Maity’s sentiments. They claim that they were influenced by the political hysteria around the anti-land acquisition movement and got duped by it. They believe if they had provided their land for the industries, Singur would have turned into a teeming industrial town, creating and offering jobs to many and their children wouldn’t have to forage other states in search of jobs.

Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Kisan Sabha leader Amal Haldar claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) exploited a division of the farmers for their political ascendancy, thereby causing a monumental loss to the state. Farmers were categorised into classes-“willing” and “unwilling”. Haldar said, ” “Only a handful of farmers were not relenting to give their land and for the remaining, who couldn’t give their land, it was mainly due to lack of proper paperwork and family disputes. The TMC party ill-advised this group for its political benefit and the state lost a golden opportunity.”

After the Supreme Court, the farmers got the land in 2016. However, they quickly realised that the land was not cultivable without spending a fortune on it to make it arable. The lack of employment opportunities in the district forced many farmers to escape to the nearby cities, in search of jobs. Sensing the fury among the farmers, now the political parties have promised of industrialising the district if voted to power in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Defending his party, the local TMC MLA Becharam Manna, who was one of the notable faces of the 2006 protests, asserted that his party has done a lot and has been committed for the betterment of the farmers. The BJP candidate from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee has alleged the TMC of exploiting the farmers for their political gains. He has ensured that if he is elected to power, he will bring the industries in the region. The incumbent TMC MP Ratna De Nag said measures will be taken at the earliest to make the land cultivable.

Easter Sunday suicide bombers visited Kerala, Kashmir and Bengaluru: Sri Lanka’s army chief

OpIndia Staff
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Easter Sunday suicide bombers visited Kerala, Kashmir and Bengaluru: Sri Lanka’s army chief

In an interview with BBC published on Friday, Sri Lanka’s Army chief Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake has stated that the suicide bombers of the April 21 Easter Sunday bombings had visited Kashmir, Kerala and Bangalore, possibly for training.

Every since Easter Sunday attacks, Indian agencies have been trying to ascertain an Indian connection with the bombings. The statement by the Army chief is the first official confirmation of the terrorists having travelled to India.

“They had gone to India, travelling to Bangalore, Kashmir and Kerala state, (according to) information available with us,” Senanayake said.

When enquired about the purpose of the visits, Senanayake said that they would have visited for the purpose of training or establishing links with other foreign groups.

On being probed further on why Sri Lanka was targeted, the Army chief stated that people of the country had been enjoying peace for 10 years and have forgotten the 26-year war that the country had to face. He said that the country had too much freedom and that they have neglected security issues.

It is notable here that the Sri Lankan government had admitted earlier that there had been major lapses in security and intelligence that eventually led to the attacks. As per reports, Indian intelligence agencies had warned the Sri Lankan authorities about possible attacks on 4, 10, 16, 20 April and for the last time just two hours before the Easter bombings. The last warning had even included the names of the three churches that were under threat.

“We had some information and intelligence-sharing, situations and military intelligence on a different direction and the others were different and there was a gap that everybody could see today,” said the Army chief in response to the query on the intelligence failure of the Sri Lankan security forces. The NIA had warned the Sri Lankan agencies in advance on the basis of raids on ISIS modules in India.

ISIS had claimed responsibility for the blasts. The sons of one of the richest and politically well-connected man were found to be two of the suicide bombers. The family is under interrogation after the wife of one of the bombers triggered another suicide blast to kill policemen in their Colombo dwelling.

However, a senior Indian official at the home ministry reportedly said, “Sri Lanka hasn’t shared any such information with us. Importantly, Sri Lankan security agencies themselves have ruled this out after the investigation.” As of now, Indian agencies haven’t announced any Kashmir link with the bombings in Sri Lanka.

Indian officials believe that at least two suicide bombers had travelled to India in 2017. The preacher Maulvi Zahran Bin Hashim, the leader of Sri Lanka National Towheed Jama’at (NTJ), who is responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks had visited India before. It is notable here that the NTJ has an Indian arm operational in Tamil Nadu.

UN agency praises India for achieving minimal loss of life during Cyclone Fani

OpIndia Staff
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UN agency praises India for achieving minimal loss of life during Cyclone Fani

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (ODRR) has praised India for achieving a minimal loss of life from Cyclone Fani. The global organization credited the Indian Meteorological Department for this feat on Friday.

“They seem to have done a very good job in terms of minimizing the possibility for loss of life. The almost pinpoint accuracy of the warnings, the early warnings from the IMD, allows them to conduct a very well targeted evacuation plan which resulted in 1.1 million people mainly moving to about 900 cyclone shelters,” said Denis McClean, a spokesperson for the ODRR said at a UN news briefing in Geneva.

Cyclone Fani, an extremely severe cyclonic storm hit Odisha on the East coast on Friday at an alarming wind speed of 175-kmph (maximum). Fani is considered as the strongest storm in about 20 years. The destructive storm has claimed 10 lives when reports last came in today.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG), Mami Mizutori said that India’s policy of zero casualties is a major contribution to the Sendai Framework. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is a 15-year voluntary, non-binding agreement. According to this framework, the state has a primary role in mitigating disaster while the responsibilities are to be shared among other stakeholders.

In the wake of the disastrous storm, UNICEF had raised concerns about the children in the cyclone-prone areas. It had expressed its worry on climate change the devastation would cause them. While India has been hit by Cyclone Fani, Mozambique was hit by back-to-back cyclones in March and April causing serious damage to the lives of the children in the country.

“Children will bear the brunt of these disasters. In the short term, the most vulnerable children are at the risk of drowning and landslides, deadly diseases including cholera and malaria, malnutrition from reduced agricultural production, and psychological trauma all of which are compounded when health centers and schools are impacted,” UNICEF Senior Adviser on Climate Change, Gautam Narasimhan said.

Narasimhan asserted that in the long term, cycles of poverty would continue to hinder the capacity of communities to adapt and mitigate natural disasters. Cyclone Fani will move to the north-northwest parts and is expected to hit Bangladesh where coastal flooding is expected to cause damage.

Earlier we had reported how Cyclone Fani is expected to escalate into an extremely severe storm and would move towards the north-west in India’s eastern coast until May 1. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha have been warned to brace for extreme weather conditions including strong winds, heavy rainfall, and rough seas.

Mamata Banerjee climbs out of her car to confront people chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, claims abuses were hurled at her

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee climbs out of her car to confront people chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, claims abuses were hurled at her

A video has gone viral on social media where Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, could be seen getting down from her vehicle after hearing chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and confronting the people who shouted the slogan as her vehicle was passing by.


The video was shared on Twitter by Saahil Murli Menghani, anchor and senior correspondent at CNN News18. The events occurred at Chandrakona, West Midnapore.

Mamata got down from her vehicle, quite visibly displeased with the slogans, and yelled “Where are you running away? Where are you running?” The people who raised the slogan, apparently, did not expect her to and made a run for it considering the political climate of the state at the moment. They could not be seen in the video but the chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ were quite audible and it was raised by more than one person.

At the very end of the 23-second clip, she could be heard saying “Gaala-Gaali dichhey”, that is, she appears to claim that abuses were being hurled at her. From the video, its seems that people were only raising chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Thus, it begs the question, is ‘Jai Shri Ram’ an abuse according to Mamata Banerjee?

The West Bengal CM, who has been described as a ‘street fighter‘ by people like Shekhar Gupta, has been trying hard to shed her anti-Hindu image amidst rising polarization in the state. She has been chanting Mantras during rallies, made donations of Rs. 28 crores to Durga Puja committees last year and has been struggling hard to play the ‘Soft Hindutva’ card. However, she still appears to get irked when she hears the name of Shri Rama. It is unlikely to go down well with Hindus in the state.

The video aptly demonstrates the saffron surge in West Bengal. Narendra Modi’s rallies have been attracting huge crowds in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to increase its seat tally by a significant margin. Political violence has been rampant in the state, so has been rigging. Therefore, it remains to be seen the extent to which this fervour translates into votes.

Fact Check: Former Congress minister lies about the railways tariff hike under 5 years of the Modi government

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Former Congress minister lies about the railways tariff hike under 5 years of the Modi government

In keeping up with their party president Rahul Gandhi’s tradition of blatantly lying, Senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai took to Twitter to spread lies about the increase in tariff fares of the Indian Railways. Sahai asserted that there has been a 60 per cent price hike in the Railway fares under the Modi government.


Sahai has said in his tweet that the cost of railway journey in India since BJP came to power has steadily increased. Alleging 60 per cent tariff hike, Sahai also made an outlandish claim that the government is conspiring to sell away the land held by railways.

However, the change in the Railway tariff rates over the last 5 years suggest something else. The Modi government had hiked the Railway fares just once in the last 5 years. During its first year at the centre, the Modi government had raised the ticket prices by 10% in all classes, excluding the Fuel Adjustment Component(FAC) which was pegged at about 4.2%.

Increase/Decrease in Railways fare over the years, courtesy: Ministry of Railways

From the above chart, the cumulative increase in the Railways fare has been 14.2%. Since 2014-2015 Railways Budget, there has been no increase in the tariffs of the Railways across all the classes except the inclusion of Dynamic Flexi-fare pricing in Premium Trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. In fact, the Railways scrapped the Dynamic pricing altogether in 2018 and for the first time, graded discounts up to 50% were being offered on select trains by the Railways.

Even in the interim budget 2019, there had been no hike in the passenger fare and the freight charges. The national transporter also saw the highest ever capital expenditure allocation of Rs 1.58 lakh crores in the last budget.

The Railways under the Modi government has been witnessing progress by leaps and bounds with special emphasis given to the safety of the passengers and the cleanliness of the trains and stations. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced in the interim budget 2019 that Railways had been able to achieve its target of eliminating all unmanned crossings. He also launched a massive campaign of beautification of Railway stations as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission to improve the visual appeal of the Stations across the country and provide first-class facilities to the travellers.

Railways have also digitally enabled 1500 Railway stations across the country, providing Free WiFi services to the passengers. In fact, the Ministry of Railways provided Free WiFi to 500 stations in just 7 days. The Government is currently mulling over enhancing the passenger experience by providing Free WiFi facilities on Trains.

The work for the ambitious project of Bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is underway. Under the Modi government, the country has also manufactured its first semi-indigenous semi-fast train and plans for launching 100 more such trains are in the offing.

So while the Railways have seen unprecedented growth under the Modi government with fare hike of just 14.2% in the last 5 years, it has certainly perturbed the Congress leaders who are now resorting to purveying fake news about the tariff hike in order to discredit the growth achieved under the current government and incite the non-existent resentment among the voters.

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