Music composer and Aam Aadmi Party supporter Vishal Dadlani and Robert Vadra’s relative Tehseen Poonawalla have been fined Rs 10 lakh each for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of the Jain community by their tweets on Jain monk Tarun Sagar.
In August 2016, Dadlani had tweeted his displeasure at the ‘colossal idiocy’ of ‘some naked monk’ addressing the Haryana assembly.
People actually trying to defend the colossal idiocy of some naked monk, addressing Haryana assembly, telling women how to live! UNREAL! (2)
His tweets did not go down well with the Jain community and to damage control, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain had to tweet apologies on behalf of Dadlani.
Tarun Sagar ji Maharaj is a very reverred saint, not just for jains but everyone. Those showing disrespect is unfortunate and shud stop
Congress supporter and Robert Vadra’s relative Tehseen Poonawalla had also made offensive remarks on the Jain monk.
Tehseen Poonawalla’s tweet, now deleted (image: newsloose.com)
Tarun Sagar was a Jain monk of the Digambar community and these monks do not wear clothes. He had addressed the Haryana Assembly when the duo made these offensive remarks.
The duo was booked by the Haryana Police in August 2016 and a case was registered “for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings and other offences” under Sections 295-A, 153-A and 509 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) at Ambala Cantonment police station.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, quashed the FIR on condition that both will first pay up Rs 10 lakh as fine. The High Court said that the fine was imposed to send a message that no one can mock the heads of religious sects.
The Election Commission has issued a notification saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t violate the model code of conduct in his speech in Wardha in Maharashtra.
PM Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally in Wardha on April 1, said Congress was scared to field its leaders from majority dominated constituencies. He had made the remark in reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad in Kerala, as a second seat apart from Amethi.
“The Congress insulted Hindus and the people of the country have decided to punish the party in the election. Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by the majority population. That is why they are forced to take refuge in places where the majority is a minority,” PM Narendra had said at the rally.
Following this, a delegation of Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Randeep Surjewala had filed a complaint with the EC, alleging that PM Modi’s speech was “hateful and divisive”. “The prime minister through his speech tried to spread hate for electoral gains which is a serious violation of the Representation of People Act,” the Congress leaders had alleged.
After going through the transcript of the speech and report from the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra, the Election Commission has decided that the speech didn’t violate election laws. “The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with provisions of Model Code of Conduct, R P Act, and Maharashtra CEO’s report. Accordingly, EC is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation has been noticed,” the poll panel said.
With Trinamool Congress’ hooliganism at its peak in West Bengal, two more BJP workers became victim to their savagery in the Siliguri district on Monday night.
Uttam Mondal, New Colony booth unit president of BJP, and his brother Gautam Mondal were attacked at their shop in the city’s Matigara area by ‘TMC goons’. Their shop was also vandalised. The two have sustained injuries in the onslaught.
Uttam recollected, “On Monday night, local goons came and vandalised my shop. They came to my house and fired in the air and threatened me and my brother,” adding, “Since we support the BJP, they attacked us. We are not at all afraid of them. Even though the election is over, we do not understand why they committed such an act. We will gherao the police station today,” he said. Later bullets were found at the spot the incident happened.
Police at Matigara police station have filed an FIR against the TMC goons who attacked the leaders. Due to the prevailing tension in the area, police have been heavily deployed to ensure no untoward incident occurs in that area.
Local TMC leader Ardhendu Biswas has, however, denied the involvement of his party workers in the attack on Mondal brothers.
This election season has witnessed several incidents of violence under Mamata’s regime in the state. Elections in West Bengal are often greeted with violent skirmishes and clashes between competing parties.
Recently, as the fourth phase of election concluded in the state, sporadic instances of violence have been reported throughout the state just like the first three phases of elections. Rampant rigging had been reported from West Bengal with TMC leaders accompanying voters in the voting booths. Massive violence was also reported from Asansol, where BJP MP candidate Babul Supriyo’s car was vandalised and BJP workers attacked.
Similar threats, intimidations, bomb attacks, proxy voting had also been recorded in some of the Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal during the third phase of Lok Sabha elections. Several incidents of violence were also reported in West Bengal during the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections which concluded on April 11.
Moreover, there have been multitudes of reports of TMC goons perpetrating violence against their political adversaries in the past. Few days after the first phase of elections concluded, a BJP worker’ body was found hanging on a tree in West Bengal’s Purulia.
This is the third such incident in West Bengal’s Purulia district. Prior to this, two BJP workers, Trilochan Mahto and Dulal Kumar had also gone missing from the same Balrampur area last year and were found murdered later. While Mahato’s body was hanging from a tree, that of Kumar was hanging from a high tension electric pole.
Similarly, Patanu Mondol, brother of a Gram Panchayat member from the BJP in West Bengal, Utpal Mondol, was murdered at Malda. Mondol was allegedly shot dead by miscreants from Trinamool after barging into his home.
However, these are only a few of the many incidents of violence and hooliganism which West Bengal has been a witness to in so many years of Mamata’s governance. With Mamata Banerjee at the helm of affairs in West Bengal, TMC goons are empowered to run amok carrying out their depraved activities with impunity. It is widely believed that TMC goons are protected and sheltered by TMC leadership which further emboldens them to execute their nefarious activities.
Rahul Gandhi’s nationality gets curiouser and curiouser. After the Home Ministry sent a notice asking for clarifications on the basis of the British company documents where the Congress President has declared his nationality as ‘British’, Congress released a document to prove that in a British company where Rahul Gandhi was listed as a director, he had declared himself as an Indian national. Congress-friendly journalist Pallavi Ghosh was among those who shared the document.
OpIndia tried to dig more into this and here is what we found.
To begin with, while the MHA based the notice on the company BACKOPS Limited, it is curious that Congress should choose a document of another UK based company ‘Bristol Legal Services Limited’ where Rahul Gandhi was a director as a counter. Instead of putting the doubts to rest, it has opened a whole new can of worms.
We looked up ‘Bristol Legal Services Limited’ on companieshouse.gov.uk the online database of Registrar of Companies of the United Kingdom.
Company overview of Bristol Legal Services Limited‘Thomas Paul Russell’ is officer-in-charge of Bristol Legal Services Limited
On CompaniesHouse, we tried to find the 21 August 2003 resolution which Pallavi Ghosh had posted. The Annual Return filed on 26 April 2003 (date prior to the date mentioned in the document shared by Ghosh), does not mention Rahul Gandhi as a director.
Return details on April 2003
We then looked up the company ‘Bristol Legal Services Limited’ on nexok.co.uk, an online database of companies and directors for the UK. Surprisingly, it directed us to ‘BACKOPS Limited’.
Bristol Legal Services Limited made ‘company secretary’ for a day before Rahul Gandhi was made one.
One name that stands out in the document Ghosh shared was of one Ulrik McKnight, another director of Bristol Legal Services Limited. McKnight name did not appear as a director when we looked for in the company profile of Bristol Legal Services Limited (just like Rahul Gandhi’s name did not appear). However, when we searched for his name, two Ulrik McKnights appeared.
Ulrik McKnight details on Companies House
Both are American citizens, both are born in 1974, both have the same middle name. Except, one is born in August and one in October. Since the document Pallavi had shared mentioned birthdate of Ulrik McKnight as 19th August, 1974, we went with the first option.
Ulrik McKnight born in August 1974
The company details of Ulrik do not mention Bristol Legal Services Limited. Also, his nationality is Swedish.
Ulrik McKnight, who was born on October 1974
Ulrik McKnight born in October 1974, too, did not hold directorship of Bristol Legal Services Limited. So, who exactly is this mysterious Ulrik McKnight whose details are also missing from the details of Bristol Legal Services Limited like that of Rahul Gandhi?
Ulrik McKnight is journalist and NYT columnist Sonia Faleiro’s husband. And who is Sonia Faleiro? She is the daughter of Eduardo Faleiro, who has been a Congress politician all his life, and has even been a Union Minister for 5 years. Nothing illegal here, but now we know how Rahul Gandhi might have met Ulrik McKnight.
Twitter user ‘WrongDoc’ pointed out one more discrepancy. There is one mysterious ‘Brian Lovegrove’ who appears as a company secretary for a day. While Companies House does not throw many results, companycheck.co.uk and duedil.com (another companies data aggregator websites) list him as a company secretary for one day.
Companycheck.co.uk data on BACKOPS Limited
Brian Lovegrove has retired as a director from as many as 1,056 companies and has active directorship in as many as 21 companies as of now.
Moving on, we look at the address Bristol Legal Services Limited is registered at. 6 Lower Park Row, Bristol BS1 5BJ is the address which is also the address for correspondence for ‘Thomas Paul Russell’. It is also the address of one company called ‘Bourse Company Services’ which helps individuals in registering companies. The company shares its address with over 70 other companies. Hardly anything is available on who Thomas Paul Russell is. Brian Lovegrove mentioned above also has his address set up as 6, Lower Park Row, Bristol.
Coming back to Rahul Gandhi’s address found in the document Pallavi Ghosh shared. 2, Frognal Way, London, UK NW3 6XE. At least five companies are registered at 2, Frognal Way, London at the address Rahul Gandhi has given as ‘proof’ of his Indian nationality.
According to companieshousedata.co.uk, Amgi Limited, Oligopoly Enterprises Limited and Tapnow Limited are registered at 2 Frognal Way. As per endole.co.uk, Hoxton Securities Limited and Deltaxy Ltd. are also registered at the same address. 2, Frognal Way, London is also the address of Asia TV Limited, a company incorporated by Amitabh Bachchan’s brother, Ajitabh Bachchan.
Ajitabh Bachchan at 2, Frognal Way
And surprise, surprise, 2 Frognal Way, London is also the address Rahul Gandhi has given for BACKOPS Limited registration.
Details of Rahul Gandhi as Director of BACKOPS
Rahul Gandhi himself has not been consistent in declaring his nationality. While in the above letter, he is ‘British’, in the letter shared by Congress through the friendly media, he is ‘Indian’. And again there is a 2004 document where his nationality is first typed as ‘British’ but it is corrected manually to “Indian”.
Rahul Gandhi’s nationality manually changed to ‘Indian’ from ‘British’ (image: IndianExpress)
Amidst all this, Congress’ ‘clarification’ has only opened a pandora box of discrepancies. These documents raise more questions than they answer. Congress and Rahul Gandhi both must come clean on the following points:
What is Rahul Gandhi’s nationality?
If it is Indian, why do these documents identify him as a British national?
What is BACKOPS Limited? What was your role in the company? How is BACKOPS Limited and Bristol Legal Services Limited related?
Why is the address in your filing with the companies registrar in the UK same as of so many other companies?
Article 9 of the Constitution of India bars every Indian citizen from acquiring voluntary acquiring citizenship of a foreign state. Article 19 of the Constitution of India also bars Indian citizen from accepting foreign titles.
Earlier today it was reported that the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi over the citizenship controversy that erupted a few weeks ago. The Home Ministry has cited documents of the British company BACKOPS where Rahul Gandhi filed returns are a British citizen and sought a response from him within 10 days.
The matter of citizenship had also arisen when representation was made to the Election Commission about Rahul Gandhi’s election affidavit from Amethi. That complaint was however disposed off saying that this is the domain of the Home Ministry and not of the Election Commission.
Speaking about former Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Late Hemant Karkare, the outgoing speaker of Lok Sabha and Member of Parliament from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan said that Karkare became a martyr because he died in the line of duty but he should be called out if his role as a police officer was not correct, as reported by Indian Express.
“There are two aspects to Hemant Karkare. He became a martyr because he died in the line of duty, but if his role as a police officer was not correct, we will say it was not correct,’’ she said.
She added that though she did not have any proof to back it, she had heard that senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh was a friend of Karkare. She also alleged that when Digvijay Singh was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, he used to level accusations on the RSS of making bombs and being a terror outfit. Mahajan said that the Maharashtra ATS had made arrests from her constituency Indore at the behest of Singh.
Mahajan cited the example of Dilip Patidar who had disappeared in police custody and never returned after he was picked up by Maharashtra ATS for questioning from Indore in November 2008 and said that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was not the only one to be subjected to custodial torture. Alleging that Patidar was killed in police custody, Mahajan said that the issue of his disappearance was raised in Parliament as well as in courts. “These are the facts, someone should give the answers,” she added.
Responding to the allegations made by Mahajan against Digvijay Singh, he took to Twitter and said he was honoured to be associated with Ashok Chakra awardee Hemant Karkare and that he has always supported people who talk about national interest, national unity, and integrity.
सुमित्रा ताई, मुझे गर्व है कि अशोक चक्र विजेता शहीद हेमंत करकरे के साथ आप मुझे जोड़ती हैं।आपके साथी उनका अपमान भले ही करें, मुझे गर्व है कि मैं सदैव देशहित, राष्ट्रीय एकता और अखंडता की बात करने वालों के साथ रहा हूँ। https://t.co/6vD0i0UZF2
He also said that he has always been against those creating religious disharmony. Singh added that he was proud that he recommended banning both Bajrang Dal and SIMI.
सुमित्रा ताई, मैं धार्मिक उन्माद फैलाने वालों के हमेशा ख़िलाफ़ रहा हूँ। मुझे गर्व है कि मुख्यमंत्री रहते हुए मुझमें सिमी और बजरंग दल दोनों को बैन करने की सिफ़ारिश करने का साहस था। मेरे लिए देश सर्वोपरि है, ओछी राजनीति नहीं ।
Digvijay Singh is the Congress candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who is contesting on BJP ticket. Sadhvi, after her candidature was announced from Bhopal had levelled the allegations of extreme custodial torture on Late Hemant Karkare.
It may be noted the Digvijay Singh is one of the prominent proponents of the Hindu Terror theory. He had even blamed RSS for the Mumbai terror attacks.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi last night accused PM Modi of ‘burning files’ after a fire broke out in Delhi’s Shastri Bhavan building. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was quick to use the unfortunate incident to peddle his political propaganda of making unsubstantiated claims against PM Modi.
Modi ji burning files is not going to save you. Your day of judgement is coming. https://t.co/eqFvTJfDgY
Shastri Bhavan houses many ministries such as Ministries of Law, Information and Broadcasting, Corporate Affairs, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, and Human Resources Development. However, the fire department has refuted such claims of ‘burning files’ and said that the fire actually broke out on the sixth floor where only waste material, old furniture and discarded computers were kept.
Seven fire tenders rushed to spot to douse the flames. Rahul Gandhi insinuated that PM Modi got the Shastri Bhawan burnt down with the aim of getting the important government files destroyed.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi wasn’t the only one to float such conspiracy. His band of loyal courtiers also weighed in in fanning the theory.
There were no government records in the waste material of cooler and electrical wires.
R Meena, fire official on fire at Delhi’s Shastri Bhawan: The fire broke out at the top floor in the waste material of cooler and electrical wires. The reason behind the fire has not been ascertained. At least 5-6 fire tenders were at the spot. pic.twitter.com/bWAltLpurc
Lately, Rahul Gandhi and his supporters have repeatedly trotted out a slew of unverified claims to portray the Modi government as corrupt. They have been trying really hard to discredit PM Modi by levelling sensational allegations against him and trying to cast a dent in his popularity among public perception.
However, the courts have not been generous in helping Rahul Gandhi to perpetuate his unfounded lies. Today, Supreme Court pulled up Rahul Gandhi for falsely attributing ‘Chowkidar Chor hai’ jibe to Supreme Court after which his advocate AM Singhvi tendered an apology to the Court. Gandhi has also been nailed for his unabated lies on the Rafale deal.
Clearly, with just 3 phases of Lok Sabha elections remaining, a certain panic has set in the Congress president which is compelling him to go overboard in his accusations against the Modi government. It seems like Rahul Gandhi has already foreseen the outcome of the Lok Sabha assembly polls.
A new video of TMC’s Asansol candidate Moon Moon Sen has surfaced in social media wherein she is threatening a journalist for mentioning Babul Supriyo. Supriyo is the Union Minister and BJP candidate for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections from Asansol.
In a shocking video, Sen is seen verbally abusing and threatening to break the camera of ABP News journalist for asking about Supriyo. She was also insensitive in her remarks about victims of poll violence. She said that the journalist should capture photographs of people dying due to violence in West Bengal instead.
“Do not take his name else you have no idea what I will do with the camera. People are dying, go take photographs of them,” Sen remarked angrily.
Sen had embroiled herself in a massive controversy just yesterday for advertising her insensitivity and arrogance. She had responded ignorantly to a question by casually saying she was unaware of the violence as her bed tea was delivered late and so she woke up late. West Bengal is among the three states where the elections are spread over all seven phases, wide-scale violence and rigging have been observed in four phases that have concluded so far.
She had also targetted Ajit Anjum, a journalist with TV9 Bharatvarsh for seeking answers on vandalism caused by TMC workers during the elections in her home state West Bengal. Sen took the allegations personally and lost her cool. That’s when she started threatening the TV anchor and said she would file a defamation case against the channel and sue the anchor.
She skipped the interview midway and started abusing the reporter present on the spot. She was also heard accusing the TV anchor of being a BJP supporter. She did not end at that and continued her onslaught by passing a derogatory comment “let him lick BJP ass.”
TMC is notorious for its poll violence. We had reported a few days ago about how the party cadre had indulged in polling malpractices. BJP has alleged that their agents were threatened the previous night and their homes were attacked. A BJP camp office was attacked as well.
Hearing a petition filed by Congress MP Sushmita Dev against the alleged violation of Model Code of Conduct by PM Modi and Amit Shah, the apex court directed the Election Commission to take appropriate action that it deems fit. The plea against alleged poll code violation and EC’s supposed inaction was filed yesterday in the Supreme Court by the Congress legislator.
Congress MP, Sushmita Dev, has filed a petition before the Supreme Court, seeking urgent and necessary directions to the Election Commission to take a decision on the complaints filed against PM Modi & BJP President Amit Shah over alleged violations of electoral laws (File pic) pic.twitter.com/z9bRKmevjq
The bench comprising of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph heard the plea filed by Congress legislator and issued a notice to the Election commission. In the notice, the Court mentioned that the poll panel will have full liberty to pass any appropriate orders that it deems fit. The Court has also listed the hearing of the matter on Thursday.
Representing the petitioner Dev, counsel Sunil Fernandes requested the Court to instruct the Election Commission to expeditiously take action against the MCC violators. According to advocate Fernandes, the poll panel has been slow to act on multiple complaints of ‘frequent and habitual’ MCC violations by Modi and Shah. The petitioner in her plea has contended multiple violations of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 and the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 by Modi and Shah. She has alleged that the Election Commission hasn’t responded to her grievances.
Asserting that the Election Commission’s lack of action and selective censure when it comes to complaints filed against PM Modi and Amit Shah, the petitioner insinuated that such behaviour by the poll panel betrays its tacit endorsement of Modi’s and Shah’s conduct, in effect giving them a clean chit despite alleged MCC violations. The petitioner mentioned in her plea that the Election Commission has two sets of rules-one applies to the PM and the BJP President while the other governs all the other candidates contesting the elections.
The Gandhi family has been showing signs of immense frustration as the 2019 Lok Sabha election progresses. With out-on-bailRahul Gandhi being forced to apologise by the Supreme Court for attributing the ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ slogan to the SC and its judgement on Rafale, the Congress campaign has just as well come to a halt.
Even with the Supreme Court bringing Congress down to its knees, the arrogance of the Congress party has not been diminished. A video surfaced on Social Media where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who chickened out of battling PM Modi in Varanasi, was seen watching in amusement as little kids, coached by Congress workers, were abusing Prime Minister Modi.
The kids, who were seemingly coached by Congress functionaries chanted ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ as Priyanka Gandhi watched on in amusement.
It is rather shocking that while parents at home generally teach children basics of respect for the highest chair of the country, Congress has stopped to the level of using children for their own unsubstantiated lies and propaganda. The Rafale got a clean chit in the highest court of the country and Rahul Gandhi today was forced to apologise to the Supreme Court because he lied about the SC endorsing the ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ sentiment. Essentially, Rahul Gandhi has had to admit that the Court never mentioned any wrongdoing by the Modi government in the Rafale deal at all. Yet, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is seen using little children to further the Gandhi family agenda. Interestingly, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra watches children chant ‘chowkidaar chor hai’, her husband, Robert Vadra and her brother, Rahul Gandhi are both out-on-bail on charges of corruption.
Further in the video, one can see the children abuse further. The kinds in unison chant, ‘neem ka patta kadvah hai, Narendra Modi bha**wa hai”. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra smiles sheepishly and reluctantly, as a token gesture tells the children that this is a bad slogan and they should focus on the good slogans. After this, the kids go back to chanting ‘chowkidaar chor hai’ and ‘Rahul Gandhi zindabad’.
The kids are wearing Congress caps and one can, in the video, see people who seem like Congress functionaries with cameras clicking photos and videos of the interaction. It is unfathomable that the children reached that spot on their own, thought of these abusive slogans on their own and chanted the same to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in unison. Obviously, the Congress party got those children there and hence, Congress must own the blame for these slogans as well.
From the courtiers and dynasts of Jawaharlal Nehru who concocted an elaborate lie around the myth of ‘Children’s day’ to glorify Nehru, to Congress workers now who teach little children to abuse Modi just to score political points with the dynasty, while Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stood there, watching the children repeat the lies ad nauseum, Congress seems to have a way of exploiting children to please their dynastic masters.
Ministry of Commerce of Industry has released data on eight core industries as on March 2019. The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 145.0 in March, 2019, which was 4.7% higher as compared to the index of March, 2018. Its cumulative growth during April to March, 2018-19 was 4.3%.
In the eight sectors, only crude oil production declined, all other seven sectors saw positive growth in March 2019.
Coal production (weight: 10.33%) increased by 9.1% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 7.3% during April to March, 2018-19over corresponding period of the previous year.
Crude Oil production (weight: 8.98%) declined by 6.2% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index declined by 4.1% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
The Natural Gas production (weight: 6.88%) increased by 1.4% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 0.8% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Petroleum Refinery production (weight: 28.04%) increased by 4.3% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 3.1% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Fertilizers production (weight: 2.63%) increased by 4.3% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 0.3% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Steel production (weight: 17.92%) increased by 6.7% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 4.7% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Cement production (weight: 5.37%) increased by 15.7% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by 13.3% during April to March, 2018-19 over the corresponding period of previous year.
Electricity generation (weight: 19.85%) increased by 1.4% in March, 2019 over March, 2018. Its cumulative index increased by5.1% during April to March, 2018-19over the corresponding period of previous year.
