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Read why Tej Bahadur Yadav, the mahagathbandhan candidate against PM Modi, was jailed four times and sacked from BSF

OpIndia Staff
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Read why Tej Bahadur Yadav, the mahagathbandhan candidate against PM Modi, was jailed four times and sacked from BSF

The Samajwadi Party changed its candidate from Varanasi yesterday. The party declared that instead of originally declared Shalini Yadav, the Mahagathbandhan candidate to contest against PM Narendra Modi will be Tej Bahadur Singh, the former BSF jawan who was sacked on disciplinary grounds.

Tej Bahadur Yadav was a constable in 29th battalion of BSF, and he was posted at a camp near the LoC in Jammu in Kashmir, when he grabbed national headlines in January 2017 after he posted few videos on Facebook. Yadav had posted four videos on 8th and 9th January in 2017, where he had complained about the allegedly poor quality of food served in the camp, and accused that officials were selling the supplies provided to the camp by the government.

He had said that the government is providing everything, but those are going to the market instead of used in the camp. In the video, he had shown watery dals and undercooked rotis, saying that sometimes soldiers are forced to sleep on an empty stomach. He had also said that the videos may land him in trouble, as officers have a lot of power.

The videos were picked up by national media and immediately they became viral. This had prompted Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Home Kiren Rijiju to respond, saying the force has been asked to submit a report on allegations made in the video immediately and take appropriate action.


After this, the Prime Minister’s Officer had sought a detail report from the Home Ministry on the allegations made in the videos.

Subsequently, two simultaneous probes were started, one to look into the allegations made by Tej Bahadur Yadav, and another to look into the behaviour of the jawan in making the allegations public by posting the videos on social media.

Yadav was transferred to BSF headquarters in Jammu while a staff court of inquiry (SCoI) was launched into the matter. The Commandant and the second in command of the 29th battalion, where Yadav was posted, were also transferred to Tripura to ensure a fair enquiry into the charges levelled by the jawan. In an initial report, the MHA had said that there was no widespread discontent among the soldiers on food supplies, and there was no shortage of ration at any post.

In the report of staff court of inquiry, Yadav was found guilty of several offences, and he was dismissed from service in April 2017. The report had found that Yadav had made false charges against his officers.

“Yadav has been found guilty on certain charges of indiscipline including uploading the said video in violation of laid down procedures and rules”, BSF officials had informed. The action of dismissal of the jawan was taken under the Border Security Force Act that is applicable to all the personnel serving in the paramilitary force.

Even before he was dismissed in 2017, Yadav had faced punishment on disciplinary grounds earlier, much before Narendra Modi came to power.

On two occasions in March 2009, Yadav had made highly objectionable and abusive language against his seniors when he was asked to remain in high alert during naka duty. He had alleged that his seniors are issuing orders while they are sleeping, and threatened to shoot them with his rifle.

BSF order against Tej Bahadur Yadav
BSF order against Tej Bahadur Yadav

In March 2010, a BSF inquiry had found that Tej Bahadur Yadav had used criminal force and inappropriate language for his superiors. Yadav had pleaded guilty on both the charges and requested for less punishment and pardon. The Court had found him guilty, and he was sentenced to 3 months of rigorous punishment in custody of the force. His promotions were stalled for 3 years, and he didn’t get any salary, allowances during his jail term.

BSF order against Tej Bahadur Yadav
BSF order against Tej Bahadur Yadav

The order sentencing him the 3 months of imprisonment also noted that he had already earned 3 punishments before that, and his general character was assessed as poor. Tej Bahadur was awarded 14 days of rigorous imprisonment in 1996, 7 days in 2003 and 28 days in 2007 on various charges.

While Tej Bahadur Yadav may dismiss the disciplinary charge against him as vendetta now that he is in active electoral politics, he might find it tough to explain his earlier misdemeanours.

Here are the documents on the basis of which Rahul Gandhi has got a notice from MHA regarding his British citizenship

OpIndia Staff
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Here are the documents on the basis of which Rahul Gandhi has got a notice from MHA regarding his British citizenship

In September 2017, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy wrote to Home Minister Rajnath Singh to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as an MP for violating article 9 and 18 of the Constitution of India.

Swamy, in his letter to the Home Minister, had stated that as per the Registrar of Companies, England and Wales, Rahul Gandhi, who is third time MP, is the Director and Secretary of United Kingdom-based company BACKOPS Limited.

Certificate of Incorporation of BACKOPS Limited

The Certificate of Incorporation of BACKOPS Limited from the Registrar of England and Wales. The certificate is registered as on 21st August 2003. These are the details of the company no. 4874597.

Details of Rahul Gandhi as Director of BACKOPS Limited

Congress President Rahul Gandhi gives his England address as the director of BACKOPS Limited.

Details of Rahul Gandhi as Director of BACKOPS
Rahul Gandhi, BACKOPS Director

Rahul Gandhi as first director of BACKOPS Limited

Nationality details of Rahul Gandhi as Director of BACKOPS

In the details about the officers of the company, Rahul Gandhi has given correct birth detail of 19th June 1970, but he has declared his nationality as ‘British’. He has given 51 Southgate Street, Winchester, Hampshire S023 9EH as the address.

Shareholding details of Rahul Gandhi as Director of BACKOPS

Rahul Gandhi holding 65 ordinary shares in BACKOPS Limited as on 21st August 2006.

BACKOPS Limited dissolved

The company was dissolved on February 17, 2009 and also mentions Rahul Gandhi’s nationality as ‘British’.

Article 9 of the Constitution of India bars every Indian citizen from acquiring voluntary acquiring citizenship of 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.

‘Journalist’ lies to draw false equivalence between convicted Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal and Sadhvi Pragya

Shashank Bharadwaj
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‘Journalist’ lies to draw false equivalence between convicted Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal and Sadhvi Pragya

Rana Ayyub, a quintessential troll who masquerades as a journalist and often indulges in Hinduphobia and fake news, has in her new anti-Hindu propaganda, attempted equate convicted Islamic terrorist Yasin Bhatkal and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, who is incidentally still an accused in a case and was a victim of severe brutality and also, of Congress’ attempt to concoct fake ‘Hindu terror’ narrative.

Rana Ayyub has posted an image of Indian Express news reports, where one of the reports concerning Sadhvi Pragya Thakur has been published adjacent to a report on dreaded Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal.

According to Rana Ayyub, a Hinduphobic troll who often masquerades as a journalist, the two reports depicted the ‘story of new India’. She went on to lament that the Indian Express report was on “two alleged terrorists, one with a Muslim name, another a Hindu name” insinuating, that Yasin Bhatkal was treated unfairly because he has a Muslim name or that Sadhvi Pragya is treated with kid gloves because she has a Hindu name.


Based on Ayyub’s theory of equivalence, there exists no difference between a convicted terrorist belonging to Indian Mujahideen and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, who is still an accused and not convicted by any courts for her alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon case. In fact, the court had dropped MCOCA charges against Sadhvi and the NIA had given her a clean chit in the case.

Further expressing her sympathies, Rana Ayyub refers to terrorist Yasin Bhatkal as an ‘alleged terrorist’. However, Yasin Bhatkal is the founder leader of the terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM) and was listed as the NIA’s most wanted terrorist. Yasin Bhatkal is accused of direct involvement in over 10 separate terror attacks in India. He is an accused in 2008 Delhi terror attack, 2010 Varanasi bomb blasts. He is also suspected to have played an active role in the 2006 Mumbai serial train bombings.

The 2013 Hyderabad bombings were planned and executed by Jaish-e-Mohammad backed Indian Mujahideen headed by Yasin Bhatkal alias Mohammed Ahmad Siddibapaa. The Hyderabad blast killed 18 people and injuring nearly 130 innocent people. Yasin Bhatkal was, in 2018, convicted in the Hyderabad twin blasts along with others. 

Yasin Bhatkal was finally captured by the police authorities in 2013, which break the back of the Islamic terrorist group Indian Mujahideen. During initial interrogation, Bhatkal had himself admitted of recruiting young men from Bihar to carry out terrorist attacks across the country, but our so-called liberals like Rana Ayyub gives them a clean chit by calling them an ‘alleged’ terrorist.

Yasin Bhatkal had also admitted his involvement in carrying out the 2011 triple blasts in Mumbai. He admitted to the investigative agency that he was the mastermind behind the blasts. Shockingly, Bhatkal had also admitted that he was satisfied with whatever he has done and had no remorse or regret for carrying out terrorist acts.

On the contrary, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is still an ‘accused’ in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. In 2016, the NIA took over the case and filed a charge sheet in 2016 which exonerated Pragya Singh Thakur and dropped charges under MCOCA against all accused. She is currently under trial for multiple charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act but out on the bail.

It is not surprising to see Rana Ayyub sympathising with the cause of Islamists by whitewashing their crimes but what interesting is their relentless campaign to target a woman who has been allegedly tortured during her trial on the pretext of being part of ‘Hindu terror’ network.

The liberal pro-Islamist ‘journalists’ like Rana Ayyub do not want to leave out a chance to express their ‘Hinduphobia’ and often overlook the huge difference between the status of an accused and a convict while absolving an actual terrorist for all his crimes by calling him as an ‘alleged’ terrorist.

‘I wonder where this arrogance comes from,’ pro-Congress mediaperson hits out at Congress for its leaders’ arrogance

OpIndia Staff
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‘I wonder where this arrogance comes from,’ pro-Congress mediaperson hits out at Congress for its leaders’ arrogance

Pallavi Ghosh, the senior editor of CNN News18, is a known loyalist of the Congress party. On Tuesday, however, even Pallavi ended up being extremely frustrated with the arrogance of her cherished political party and its President, Rahul Gandhi.


The ‘journalist’ said on Twitter that a certain Congress leader behaved extremely rudely with her and told her that journalists were self-obsessed and that they didn’t matter, and then went on to rant about how they only care about Narendra Modi.

When she put in a request for an interview, she was told, “Run and catch them”. Even Pallavi, whose utter servility towards the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar cannot be questioned, was angered by the sheer arrogance of the Congress party.

Pallavi Ghosh is the media person who took the famous interview of Rahul Gandhi where she questioned Rahul Gandhi about ‘Pidi’, Rahul’s dog, at length and has shielded the dynasty on a number of occasions. One wonders if Congress leaders can treat a journalist who has shielded them on numerous occasions so shabbily, what is the respect they truly have for the media.

The Congress party is known to treat journalists with disdain. For instance, the Congress President himself had made ill-advised comments on ANI Editor Smita Prakash after her interview with Prime Minister Modi. Rahul Gandhi called her a ‘pliable journalist’. Senior Congress leader Chidambaram, who is an accused in multiple cases of corruption, too gave a veiled threat to a journalist after she asked him a question related to the cases against him.

Here is why India needs to start fact-checking its election ‘experts’

Abhishek Banerjee
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Here is why India needs to start fact-checking its election ‘experts’

Elections are in full swing and everybody wants to know what is going to happen, especially in Uttar Pradesh. This leads to a great demand for ‘experts’, mostly senior journalists who are supposed to have feedback from the ground and possibly contacts and sources within political parties.

So somebody sent me a link to watch a typical debate over the political situation in Uttar Pradesh. Typical TV debate panel with senior journalists posing as ‘experts’, presenting their analysis and predictions. Tired and/or retired leftists talking about the supposed rural distress and supposed jobs crisis. Data-free. Anecdote and ‘mahaul’ based conclusions. In other words, pretty standard fare.

Take, for example, this snippet that I cut out of the video where ‘senior journalist’ Shesh Narayan Singh explains why BJP is in trouble in UP this time (you can see the full video here).


He claims that his analysis is credible because he had correctly predicted the last time that there is a Modi wave in Uttar Pradesh.

This bothered me. Because I happened to remember Shesh Narayan Singh’s name and his face from 2014 shows. And I remember that he did not seem optimistic at all about BJP’s prospects at the time. So all I did was a Youtube search for his name and for 2014 elections. And guess what?

I found this other snippet of him speaking on Rajya Sabha TV (full video here) in 2014, explaining that there is no wave for Modi! And that nobody is sure if BJP will be able to win even 3 out of the 32 seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

In a delicious bit of irony, both videos I found were from Apr 29: one from Apr 29, 2014 and the other from April 29, 2019. Same man. Exactly five years apart. Claiming the exact opposite of what he said five years ago.

And getting away with it.

This is not about Shesh Narayan Singh in particular. This is not about an individual. I suspect you can find numerous similar examples of ‘senior patrakars’ doing such stuff and getting away with it on a routine basis.

This is about a larger problem of a certain caravan of ‘election astrologers’ : journalists posing as ‘experts’, speaking with little regard for the truth and getting away with it. No competence and no professionalism necessary. And certainly zero accountability.

This would be funny if such analysis by ‘experts’ did not have the potential to influence public opinion. The Election Commission has repeatedly expressed concerns about ‘fake news’ in the election season. Well, nonsensical narratives spread by alleged experts peddling their anecdotes from channel to channel are doing just as much damage, if not more.

Additionally, we should note that sometimes these ‘experts’ make their way to platforms such as Rajya Sabha TV. I do not have information about any specific individuals, but we know that many such ‘experts’ get paid for sharing their ‘expertise’. In case of Rajya Sabha TV, that would be public money. The public has a right to know what makes certain people into election experts and channels such as RSTV and LSTV are duty bound to clarify.

Everybody wants to know the future and nobody actually does. When public curiosity peaks before an election, news channels fill the vacuum with alleged experts and opinion polls. There is a lot of money for a lot of people in this. A veritable industry of bullsh*tters has come up around this. And accountability is practically non-existent.

These are the actual seat predictions for Uttar Pradesh and Punjab by CSDS in Jan 2017, barely more than a month before the election.

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CSDS finds BJP in 2nd place in UP with just 129-139 seats. Miraculously, CSDS also finds SAD+BJP alliance at first place in Punjab and Congress at 2nd place. This is supposed to be from a real agency, one of the most respected in fact. The BJP’s vote share is estimated at just 33%, about 9% short of the correct number of 42%! Most surveys have a 3% margin of error. How does a survey get a voting percentage number wrong by 9%?

The shocking thing seems to be that despite embarrassing failures over and over again, the caravan of election astrologers : experts and pollsters, carries on with their business as if nothing has happened at all. The same faces with the same agendas surface on our TV screens before every election. No ethical standards and no professional consequences for past failures.

We the people have the power to disband this circus. To put these ‘experts’ out of a job. By becoming informed consumers of the news. Ironically, the “news” was supposed to inform people, but that changed a long time ago, didn’t it?

ISIS terrorist from Kasargod module case arrested by NIA, admits to planning Sri Lanka style suicide blasts in Kerala

OpIndia Staff
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ISIS terrorist from Kasargod module case arrested by NIA, admits to planning Sri Lanka style suicide blasts in Kerala

The National Investigation Agency launched a probe against the ISIS module active in Kerala following the Sri Lankan Easter blast. As a part of the probe in connection with the Kasargod IS module case, the NIA arrested a Palakkad native on Monday, who was planning Sri Lanka style suicide attack in Kerala.

The 2016 Kasargod IS module case relates to the criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused persons from Kasaragod district of Kerala and their associates since Ramadan, 2015, with the intention of joining and furthering the objectives of ISIS Daish.

As part of the conspiracy, 14 accused from Kasaragod district had left India or their workplaces in Middle-East Asia between mid-May and early July 2016, before travelling to Afghanistan or Syria, where they joined the ISIS (Daish).

Meanwhile, the arrested terrorist, Riyaz Aboobacker, alias Abu Dujanan 28, of Kollengode, Palakkad, during his interrogation, revealed that he was planning to conduct a suicide bomb blast in Kerala, similar to the Sri Lankan blast.

An official statement by NIA said that the accused admitted of following speeches and videos of Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka for more than a year and had also followed the speeches of Zakir Naik, the radical Islamist preacher against who India has requested the Interpol to issue a red corner notice.

Zahran Hashim is the Islamic extremist who was the mastermind behind the dastardly Sri Lankan Easter Sunday bomb blast which killed more than 250 people leaving more than 500 injured.

He also admitted that he was in contact with absconding terrorist, also accused in the Kasargod IS module case, Abdul Rashid Abdulla alias Abu Isa for a long time online. He had been following his audio clips, including the byte which Abu Isa had circulated on various social media platforms, which instigated others to carry out terror attacks in India.

Aboobacker further disclosed that he has also been chatting online with Abdul Khayoom alias Abu Khalid (the accused in the Valapattanam ISIS case) who was believed to be in Syria.

However, the NIA believed that the group led by Aboobacker was in touch with Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed and Abdul Khayoom, who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.

Aboobacker will be produced before the NIA Court in Kochi on Tuesday.

Prior to this, the NIA arrested three youths in Kerala in connection with the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka. The arrests were made during a raid on an Islamic State (IS) module in Kasaragod, Kerala. Likewise, these arrested youths were also reportedly in contact with terror leader Zahran Hashim and were said to have been inspired by his ideologies.

‘Journalists’ fail to understand the difference between ‘MLA’ and ‘MP’, twist PM Modi’s statement to spread lies

OpIndia Staff
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‘Journalists’ fail to understand the difference between ‘MLA’ and ‘MP’, twist PM Modi’s statement to spread lies

PM Modi during his election rally speech in Serampore, West Bengal had dropped a bombshell, warning Mamata Banerjee that 40 MLA belonging to Trinamool Congress (TMC) were in touch with him. PM Modi while asserting that Lotus will bloom in West Bengal Bengal after May 23, had said that her MLAs will desert her.


The upsurge in the popularity of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in West Bengal seems to have unnerved not only Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) but also some of his baiters, who are now resorting to false propaganda by twisting Prime Minister Modi’s statements.

Kallol Bhattacharjee, a journalist at The Hindu, just like his employers indulged in propaganda by attributing misleading statements to Prime Minister Modi. Kallol Bhattacharjee, who claims to be an author and a journalist, unfortunately, willfully or otherwise, could not understand the difference between MLAs and MPs.


Kallol Bhattacharjee seems to have deliberately misrepresented the facts to take a dig at PM Modi. As it is evident in the video, PM Modi was referring to 40 MLAs of the TMC, while the Hindu ‘journalist’ claimed that PM Modi was referring to the 40 MPs and asked on how was he referring to 40 MPs as TMC has just 33 members in the parliament.

The lie was not just limited to Kallol Bhattacharjee alone. Another self-proclaimed journalist Saba Naqvi, one of the beneficiaries of the Aam Aadmi Party also attempted to twist PM Modi’s statements but only to be schooled by social media users. Naqvi claimed that PM Modi statements meant that he will be needing Trinamool MPs post election results on May 23. While twisting PM Modi’s statements, she hinted that BJP would be seeking an alliance with TMC because BJP would perhaps fall short of a majority.


Salil Tripathi too made some condescending remarks against PM Modi stating that he had skipped Maths classes while pursuing a master degree.


Some of their minions followed these ‘intellectuals’ to target PM Modi for asserting his power in the West Bengal by challenging Mamata Banerjee in her fortress.


Even though the false narrative pushed by the anti-Modi brigade may be trivial in nature but it points towards a much larger agenda of attempts to discredit Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MHA issues notice to Rahul Gandhi, cites British company documents to seek response within 15 days over citizenship

OpIndia Staff
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MHA issues notice to Rahul Gandhi, cites British company documents to seek response within 15 days over citizenship

Home Ministry has reportedly 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, reported Republic TV.

The Home Ministry in its notice has asked Rahul Gandhi to ‘intimate the factual position in the matter to the Ministry within a fortnight of the receipt of the notice’.

Notice sent by MHA to Rahul Gandhi

The notice is based on a representation by BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in which he has brought out that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the United Kingdom in the year 2003. The notice says that Rahul Gandhi was the Director and Secretary of the said company.

The notice also says that in the Company Annual Returns filed on 10th October 2005 and 31st October 2009, Rahul Gandhi had mentioned his nationality as British.

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.

ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears in a new propaganda video, seeks revenge for killing and imprisonment of its ‘fighters’

OpIndia Staff
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ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears in a new propaganda video, seeks revenge for killing and imprisonment of its ‘fighters’

The Islamic terror organisation ISIS has released its latest propaganda film in which their chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi makes an appearance for the first time in as many as five years.

In the video, al-Baghdadi says that the group will seek revenge for the killing and imprisonment of its fighters. While it is unclear when the video was shot, al-Baghdadi refers to Baghouz, the last bastion of ISIS which fell last month after a long battle, in the past tense. He reportedly says that the battle of Baghouz may be over, but there is more yet to come.

Wearing black robe and a beige jacket with an assault rifle next to him, al-Baghdadi could be seen addressing three men, faces of whom have been blurred. Al-Baghdadi also refers to the Sri Lanka bombings from last Sunday which was one of the deadliest terror attacks in Sri Lanka in recent times.

Last time al-Baghdadi appeared in a video was in 2014 when he delivered a sermon at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq. Following Mosul, ISIS took over Syrian city Raqqa and made it its de facto capital.

In the video, al-Baghdadi also talks about the pledges of allegiance from militants in Burkina Faso and Mali. Adding that ‘jihad’ is the only solution to “tyrants”, al-Baghdadi also talks about Sudan and Algeria.

Born in 1971 in Samarra, Iraq, Baghdadi, he has been a specially designated global terrorist and with a bounty of USD 25 million on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world’s most wanted man. Despite rumours of his death surfacing every few months, his whereabouts continue to remain a mystery.

Indian Army spots the elusive, mysterious ‘Yeti footprints’ while on an expedition near Makalu Base Camp

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Army spots the elusive, mysterious ‘Yeti footprints’ while on an expedition near Makalu Base Camp

The Indian Army seems to have spotted the elusive and mysterious ‘Yeti’ footprints in the Himalayas. The Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Indian Army last night posted pictures of the Indian Army’s Mountaineering Expedition Team which spotted 32×15 inches ‘footprints’ close to the Makalu Base Camp on April 9.


The Indian Army further claimed that the elusive ‘snowman’ has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past.

The tweet has garnered reaction of all sort from Twitterati. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether one is serious or joking.


And some times it is really hard to keep the politics out of jokes.


And how can Tintin references be far behind?


In the Nepal folktales, Yeti is an ape-like creature, taller than humans which inhabit the Himalayas, Serbia, Central Asia and East Asia. Owing to the lack of evidence of their existence, Yetis are generally believed to be legends. However, one of the possible explanation could be the Tibetan Blue Bear or the Himalayan Brown Bear (or Himalayan Red Bear) which could have been mistaken for the ‘Yeti’.

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