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AltNews co-founder caught shielding Islamists following the Sri Lanka terror attacks

OpIndia Staff
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AltNews co-founder caught shielding Islamists following the Sri Lanka terror attacks

AltNews co-founder Zubair, who has often displayed Islamist tendencies was yesterday found shielding radical Islamists who may have been responsible for the serial bomb blasts in Sri Lanka. On Easter Sunday, as many as eight bombs blasts, most of which were suicide attacks, rocked Sri Lanka. While the Sri Lankan government has not disclosed names of the suspects who may have been involved in the attacks, an unconfirmed letter warning of the imminent terror attacks was being circulated over social media yesterday.

On April 11, Sri Lanka’s intelligence had reportedly issued a nationwide alert of possible suicide attacks being planned against Catholic Churches and potentially the Indian High Commission in Colombo by an extremist Islamist organization called the National Thowheed Jamath. The same was later on confirmed and shared by Harin Fernando, a Sri Lankan Minister who shared it on his social media.


However, self-proclaimed fact-checker AltNews’ co-founder Zubair was busy spending his Easter Sunday shielding Islamists by labelling the above letter ‘fake’.


One may argue that since the warning letter was not confirmed and not from an official government source, it should not be circulated to create panic. While that is correct, the appropriate response in such case would be to call the letter in circulation as ‘unconfirmed’. By calling it fake, Zubair ended up shielding the Islamists who could have been responsible for the attack.

As of now, multiple reports have also confirmed that a blast in Cinnamon Grand hotel during the brunch yesterday was carried out by one man who had checked in as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed giving a false address. As per reports, he waited in a queue and right before he was served he set off a powerful bomb in a packed restaurant in the hotel.

To prove his point that the ‘letter’ was fake, Zubair showed how Al Jazeera had retracted its story on the letter.


However, Zubair has not yet updated that the same Al Jazeera has now published a new story where Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had prior information on the possibility of the attacks.

With this new information coming to light, one wonders whether AltNews will fact-check their own co-founder for calling ‘unconfirmed’ reports, which were later on confirmed by the country’s prime minister, as ‘fake’.

Clearly, this is not the first time Zubair has been caught sharing misleading information and calling actual news as ‘fake’ based on selective information. Before Karnataka Assembly Elections, Zubair shared a fake image of BJP leader BSY Yeddyurappa in a bid to defame him. He has also peddled a protest march picture from Maharashtra as one in Delhi and was later forced to retract and apologise. Zubair has also confused FDI in single brand retails and multi-brand retails.

However, with what he has done after Sri Lanka blasts, it seems that he has graduated from sharing fake or misleading images and misinformation to shielding radical Islamists as well.

Shekhar Gupta says ‘latest’ CVoter survey predicts BJP getting 220 in 2019 elections, Yashwant Deshmukh calls it fake news

OpIndia Staff
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Shekhar Gupta says ‘latest’ CVoter survey predicts BJP getting 220 in 2019 elections, Yashwant Deshmukh calls it fake news

On 21st April 2019, Shekhar Gupta, the owner of the leftist online portal The Print and the current Editors Guild chief tweeted about how Prime Minister Modi would in all likeliness, per him, not reach the majority mark in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2019. He replugged an old December 2018 interview with Rajesh Jain who he called the brain behind Modi’s 2014 Mission 272. He also stated the pollster CVoter headed by Yashwant Deshmukh, predicts 220 for PM Modi now as opposed to 282 in 2014.


Shekhar Gupta attempted to bring credibility to his analysis by saying that Rajesh Jain had predicted 80-100 seats lesser from BJP than its 2014 number which was 282. He then attempted to solidify that position taken by Rajesh Jain by saying that CVoter had NOW revised its prediction to 220 for BJP against 282 in 2014.

According to the Model Code of Conduct in place, while the election phases are ongoing, pollsters are not supposed to give exit or opinion polls. Which also means that pollsters are not meant to predict how many seats a party may or may not get in the General Elections once the voting starts.

Due to the MCC rules, some eyebrows were raised. While some people questioned Shekhar Gupta, others questioned Yashwant Deshmukh, the head of CVoter.

Soon, Yashwant Deshmukh released a clarification slamming Shekhar Gupta.


Yashwant Deshmukh, putting the record straight said that CVoter has respected the Election Commission embargo and has not released any vote or seat numbers once the election process started.

He said that the numbers quoted by Shekhar Gupta were either from the December 2018 survey of CVoter or someone is trying to give wrong input in CVoter’s name.

Essentially, Yashwant Deskhmukh clarified that Shekhar Gupta saying that CVoter has NOW predicted 220 for PM Modi as opposed to the 282 seat mandate BJP got in 2014 is utterly false.

ABP-CVoter in December had predicted 261 for NDA in 2019 elections and in January, CVoter for Republic had predicted 335 for NDA. It is still a mystery from where the 220 numbers were picked up by the media.

In an election season, the prospects of a party and the number of seats they are likely to win changes every day. Hence, if Shekhar Gupta has peddled December 2018 numbers as current numbers in April 2019 while the polls are still on, it reaks of mischief and a malicious agenda to influence the polls.

Shekhar Gupta, being the chief of Editors Guild and running a platform that has all the resources at its disposal is unlikely to fall for some third party feeding incorrect data to The Print in CVoter’s name, and hence, the explanation that Shekhar Gupta maliciously peddled December 2018 numbers as current predictions or entirely made up the numbers and attributed it to CVoter are more likely explanations.

In fact, the 220 number was peddled by several others as well. The Quint too cited this mysterious poll survey done by CVoter that Yashwant Deshmukh says was never carried out. The Deccan Herald too followed suit among many others.

The Quint article

The Print and Shekhar Gupta himself have been caught several times peddling false information and downright lies. Recently, The Print had spread dangerous lies about Polio vaccines in India. Shekhar Gupta’s platform had also discovered a new low when it gave a Khalistan a platform to air his separatist and dangerous views. In fact, in a desperate attempt to garner eyeballs, had resorted to cheap sexual innuendos asking village women whether they think of PM Modi as a ‘sex symbol’. Shekhar Gupta himself has peddled many lies and most recently, he had managed to even use Wing Commander Abhinandan’s return from Pakistan to deride India with half facts and whole lies.

Odisha: Bombs hurled at BJP Bhubaneswar candidate Jagannath Pradhan’s vehicle, he escapes unhurt

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha: Bombs hurled at BJP Bhubaneswar candidate Jagannath Pradhan’s vehicle, he escapes unhurt

Some goons have hurled a bomb at the vehicle of the BJP Bhubaneswar (Central) assembly candidate Jagannath Pradhan in the state capital. However, Pradhan did not suffer any injuries as he escaped unhurt in the incident but the windows of his car were damaged.

Reportedly, Jagannath Pradhan has accused BJD goons of hurling bombs on his car. “I was returning from campaigning when the miscreants hurled a bomb to my car. I was lucky as the windows were closed,” alleged Pradhan.

Meanwhile, the Odisha Police have started an investigation to verify the allegations made by Pradhan. Bombs were also hurled at the vehicle of BJD candidate and a former mayor of Bhubaneshwar.

A similar incident had happened recently when BJP candidate Jagannath Pradhan was reportedly attacked during party’s rally in Bhubaneswar. Reportedly, Pradhan had accused the Biju Yuva Vahini activists of pelting stones at the BJP rally.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan reacted to the incident and said, “Violence in Odisha is increasing day by day. Today, BJP MLA candidate from Bhubaneswar Central, Jagannath Pradhan was attacked for the third time. A bomb was hurled at his car. We met EC officials and demanded that an investigation should be ordered.”

Incidents of political violence have been reported in Odisha since the announcement of elections in the state. On the eve of the second phase of Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the mutilated body of a BJP worker was found in the Agajhola village in Bhanjanagar, Ganjam. The BJP worker, a 26-year-old man named Santosh Pati was allegedly found dead in a pool of blood.

Similarly, a BJP Mandal president in Khurda town was shot dead earlier this week by unknown assailants near the party office while the MLA candidate had a narrow escape.

In another instance, the nephew of the BJP MLA candidate in the same Bhanjanagar area was attacked by violent miscreants and had sustained critical injuries. Ajit Pradhan, the nephew of BJP MLA candidate Pradyumna Nayak was violently attacked after a public meeting of union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Fact check: Did Prime Minister Modi use an abusive word as claimed by Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Fact check: Did Prime Minister Modi use an abusive word as claimed by Congress

The short answer is no. The long answer is Congress in its desperation has stooped so low that they are not even trying to be believable in coming up with accusations. Today afternoon, Congress IT-cell member Gaurav Pandhi shared a maliciously edited video on Twitter with a portion of Prime Minister Modi’s speech playing on the loop to make it sound like it is an abusive term. He was corrected by many people that what he is claiming is incorrect.


In the above clip, PM Modi says in Gujarati, “Loko em keh chhe bhavishya ma ladaiyo paani thavain chhe. Ala bhai badha koh chho paani ni ladai thavain chhe to pachhi ame atyar thi paani pehla paal kem na bandhiye?” (People are saying that in future the world will fight over water. If people are going to fight over water in future, why don’t we build a dam before such a crisis arise?)

The portion “thavain chhe” which means “will happen (or take place)” if put on loop very fast would sound like an abusive word. Much like playing the word ‘Pandhi’ on loop really, really fast could make it sound like ‘Pidi’.

Pandhi was corrected by many people, including The Quint, which had live-streamed PM Modi’s speech, portion of which was maliciously edited by Pandhi.


He was repeatedly corrected by people.


Altnews founder, too, had corrected Pandhi.


Pandhi still decided to brazen it out.


However, by the time this report is published, AltNews has not done a fact-check on Pandhi’s misinformation.

But by now, other Congress-friendly people and Pidi aspirants also joined in.


However, since these were non-Gujaratis and perhaps could be given the benefit of doubt of not understanding the nuances of colloquial language even if one knows it is willful sharing of misinformation and fake news. But, Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia, who is a Gujarati himself, joining in and giving legitimacy to this falsehood is a new low in this election season.


Gujarat goes to vote for the ongoing general elections on Tuesday, April 23. It is just unfortunate and sad that Gujarat Congress has resorted to such cheap tactics which hold absolutely no water.

NDA candidate from Wayanad Thushar Vellappally seeks review of Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad nomination over foreign passport issue

OpIndia Staff
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NDA candidate from Wayanad Thushar Vellappally seeks review of Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad nomination over foreign passport issue

Congress President Rahul Gandhi seems to have landed in some serious trouble regarding his citizenship. After objections were raised over the discrepancies in the documents submitted by Gandhi while filing his nomination from Amethi, now a complaint has been filed against his nomination from Wayanad.


The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from Wayanad, Thushar Vellappally has written to the Chief Election Commission (CEO) Kerala requesting to review Rahul Gandhi’s nomination from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency. He wrote that Rahul Gandhi is carrying the passport of a foreign country as well and that this was not disclosed by him in his affidavit. “It’s understood that Rahul Gandhi is having passport of a foreign country also. He didn’t disclose this in the nomination filed or in the affidavit”, he wrote.


Vellappally requested the CEO to review the acceptance of Gandhi’s nomination in Wayanad to check for its validity and reject the application.

Thushar Vellappally is the president of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), which is part of NDA. On April 1st, BJP president Amit Shah had announced on Twitter that Vellappally will be NDA candidate from Wayanad.

Following the objections raised by an independent candidate from Amethi, Dhruv Lal, the scrutiny of Gandhi’s nomination papers was postponed to April 22 as Gandhi’s lawyer sought time from the Returning Officer of Amethi to counter the objections.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik alleges that Baijayant Panda had spread rumour about his health, Panda denies

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik alleges that Baijayant Panda had spread rumour about his health, Panda denies

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik opened up about the break off the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Baijayant Panda from the party citing three reasons. Patnaik discussed all the three reasons that, according to him, resulting in strained relations between the two. Panda had joined BJP in March this year almost a year after he had resigned from BJD.

Citing the first instance, Patnaik said that he felt let down when a former Railway Minister laughed at him while he was pursuing the development of railways in Kendrapara, saying that his MP (Panda) was only concerned about the development of railway network to his mining companies. “I was pursuing the development of railways in Kendrapara. It is the only district on the coast which has no rail development. A former railway Minister laughed and said that you are pursuing the development of railway in Kendrapara but your MP (Panda) is only concerned about railway development to his mining companies”, said Patnaik.

He added that the relations between the two further weakened after Panda allegedly spread rumours about Patnaik’s health. After 2014, a number of my friends from Delhi rang up very concerned because they thought I was in bad health. But my health has always been good and I told them so. They told me that this is what Baijayant Panda was spreading. This was a shock”, he said.

The third reason that dealt the final blow to their relationship was Panda’s big political ambitions, as told by the Odisha CM. “He wanted to be Chairman of Parliamentary Finance Committee. Our party did not have sufficient numbers but he thought he would get the support of the BJP. I didn’t think it was a good idea and I didn’t support him because of the financial dealings of his company. I didn’t think this would be a great precedent”, told Patnaik.

Patnaik also raised doubts over the credibility of Panda’s companies. “Their companies have always had a shady reputation”, he said.

Baijayant Panda has denied the allegations that he spread rumours about the health of Naveen Patnaik.


He said that he never spoke about Odisha CM’s health. He asserted that these conspiracy theories are ridiculous, and these have been planted by the coterie on Naveen Patnaik.

Baijayant Panda had resigned from BJD and the post of MP in June last year after he was removed from the post of party’s spokesperson and later suspended from the party. He joined the BJP in March this year and was later appointed the Vice President of the BJP.

Rajinikanth says that he is ready to contest assembly polls Tamil Nadu whenever they are held

OpIndia Staff
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Rajinikanth says that he is ready to contest assembly polls Tamil Nadu whenever they are held

Rajinikanth has said that he would be ready to contest the next Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, whenever that is held. He confirmed that his entry into active politics will happen along with the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

Along with the recent Lok Sabha elections, by-polls of 18 out of the 22 Assembly seats were also conducted. The by-polls of the remaining four seats would be conducted on May 19. AIADMK needs a majority of 117 seats to continue. Presently it has 113 MLAs in the 234 member House. A fresh assembly election may be required if AIADMK loses the majority after the by-polls.

“Ready to face, whenever they are held,” said Rajinikanth in response to the question of whether he would contest if the by-poll results led to an election.

In response to questions regarding the low voter turnout, he said that an overall seventy per cent was a reasonable turnout. However, the turnout in Chennai would have been lower due to the continuous holidays.

The actor had also said that there is definitely a reduction in caste-based violence and that the Election Commission has conducted it well this time. Though, he also said that an increase in the number of polling booths would be beneficial.

Rajinikanth has said that he hasn’t endorsed any party for the Lok Sabha elections. But he had appreciated BJP’s poll promise of setting up a separate body for the river interlinking project.

Reportedly, there was also a social media buzz with fans expressing their support for the superstar’s entry into politics.

In February, Rajinikanth had announced that he would be staying away from the Lok Sabha elections casting doubts on his political career. However, the recent interaction with the media has come as a relief to fans eagerly waiting for him to the plunge into politics.

Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Varanasi if Congress President asks her to

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Gandhi will contest from Varanasi if Congress President asks her to

Amid speculations regarding her candidature in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Priyanka Gandhi has given a cryptic response that she was willing to contest from Varanasi if her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi so wishes.


While interacting with the media minutes before departing from her two-day trip to Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency from where Rahul Gandhi is contesting as a ‘safe seat’, Priyanka hinted that she was willing to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency. She said, “If Congress President asks me to contest, I will be happy to contest (from Varanasi).”

This is the second time in a span of three weeks that Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi hinted that she was willing to contest the ongoing elections.

Earlier, while interacting with party workers in her mother Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Priyanka was asked to contest from Rae Bareli. She had immediately shot back asking why not Varanasi, PM Modi’s constituency.

Brother and the Party President, Rahul Gandhi in an interview to Hindustan, a sister publication of Hindustan Times said, ‘Let’s see. Let there be some suspense for now!’

Previously, Rahul Gandhi had made it clear that the primary goal that he had set for sister Priyanka wasn’t the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but to get the party in fighting shape and win 2022 UP state elections.

In what could be seen as a shrewd move by the party to get its caste equations correct in the state and cut into the Upper Caste vote bank of the BJP the Congress appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh East at the beginning of the year.

However, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra have quite a colourful history which perhaps contributed to her delayed official entry into politics.

In 2016, Priyanka did a campaign for the party in Uttar Pradesh but she wasn’t received as well by the public as well as the party had hoped. In an amusing incidence in October, posters had come up at Sonia Gandhi’s constituency which accused Priyanka of being an emotional blackmailer. In February 2017, she was trolled by people on social media, a fate her brother has often suffered. She was also spotted with ‘neutral activist’ Gurmehar Kaur who has been perceived as someone who was milking her father’s sacrifice.

As Rahul Gandhi hasn’t really been a hit with the masses, the Congress party is certainly pinning their hopes on Priyanka. However, given her history and her husband’s, it’s unclear how far would she take her party in this political battle.

While people are quick to label her a terrorist, Sadhvi Pragya’s allegations of custodial torture are swept under the ‘liberal’ rug

Aditi
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While people are quick to label her a terrorist, Sadhvi Pragya’s allegations of custodial torture are swept under the ‘liberal’ rug

Ever since the BJP fielded Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as its Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal constituency in Madhya Pradesh, several questions are being raised about fielding an “accused” in the Malegaon Blast Case making vicious insinuations about some hidden Hindutva agenda of the party. Overlooking the huge difference between the status of an accused and a convict, she is being deliberately referred by some as a “terrorist”. Interestingly, everyone, including the human rights activists, courts of law as well as media, seems to have turned a blind eye to one crucial aspect of this whole scenario and that is the allegations of brutal custodial torture levelled by Sadhvi Pragya.

Surprisingly, the self-proclaimed feminists and social justice warriors who tirelessly rant about the deteriorating level of tolerance and the so-called sorry state of the minorities India have turned a deaf ear to a woman who has made some serious allegations of custodial torture on the hands of male officers.

Sadhvi Pragya broke down narrating her ordeal as she addressed her party workers for the first time after her candidature was announced. “When they took me into custody illegally, they kept me there for 13 days. On the very first day, without asking any question, they started thrashing me with a belt”, she recalled. With a lump in her throat, she said that she was sharing her painful experience not to play the victim but to make sure that no other woman has to go to through what she had to go through.

She broke down as she relived the humiliating experience while bringing it before the world. “They used at hurl filthy abuses at me while beating me. They would even threaten me to hand me upside down and disrobe me”, she went on trying to stop her tears. She told that she was subjected to narco tests, polygraph tests and brain mapping tests three times. She has claimed she was brutally beaten up by male officers with a broad expeller belt, day and night for 24 days in custody. “My arms and legs were swollen, which were then immersed in salty warm water, and the beatings resumed. In custody, the officers used to hurl filthy abuses at me, and forced me to hear objectionable CDs. They wanted to forcibly extract confession from me in order to implicate senior RSS leaders,” she has alleged.

She has alleged that she was even deprived of sleep as a tactic to weaken her mentally so that she would give up and make the false confession. These details were shared by Sadhvi during her appearance on the show Aap Ki Adalat.

What is rather disheartening and at the same time alarming is that the allegations she is levelling are not even considered just because she is an accused in a case. Why are her allegations not worth looking into?

Suddenly the intellectual strata of the society blinded by its bias are behaving as if custodial torture is completely alien to this country. Custodial torture is an ugly reality of our times which continues to survive because of lack of sufficient measures to deal with it accompanied by selective outrage against it. The Supreme Court in the landmark case of D K Basu v State of West Bengal (1996) while delving into the issue of custodial torture and deaths taking place in police custody observed: In all custodial crimes that is of real concern is not only infliction of body pain but the mental agony which a person undergoes within the four walls of police station or lock-up. Whether it is physical assault or rape in police custody, the extent of trauma a person experiences is beyond the purview of the law.

In a justice delivery system that works with the speed of a snail, the accused, especially those belonging to ordinary backgrounds with no political backing, are cursed to suffer throughout the trial regardless of whether the trial concludes in conviction or acquittal.

‘Liberals’ bully Air Vistara into deleting their tweet honouring decorated war veteran onboard

OpIndia Staff
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‘Liberals’ bully Air Vistara into deleting their tweet honouring decorated war veteran onboard

Two days after Air Vistara tweeted that they were proud to have Major General G D Bakshi (Retd.) onboard their flight, Air Vistara’s Twitter account has now deleted that tweet after ‘liberals’ shamed the airlines and threatened they’d shift their loyalties to a rival airline.

Air Vistara’s tweet now deleted

OpIndia has reached out to Air Vistara for a response but has not heard back from them yet. We shall update the article as soon as we get a response.

Indian domestic airline, Air Vistara, on April 19 posted a picture on their social media account stating they were honoured to have Major General G D Bakshi (Retd.) onboard and thanked him for his service to the nation.

Major General G D Bakshi (Retd.) is a Kargil War hero and was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for commanding a battalion in the Kargil War. He is the younger brother of Captain Raman Bakshi, who was the first martyr in 1965 India-Pakistan War at the young age of 23 years. A year and a half after his elder brother was martyred, Major General Bakshi joined the National Defence Academy in June 1967. He joined Indian Military Academy on November 14, 1971 and was called into action during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. In 1999, he returned to Military Operations Directorate to plan for Operation Vijay during the Kargil War.

General Bakshi has been on the receiving end of hate from so-called liberals because of his nationalistic views. He had been very vocal about not sparing Pakistan, especially after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack. “Pakistan has started the war, we will end it,” he had said.

When the above tweet of Air Vistara went viral, many so-called liberals tried to shame Air Vistara for welcoming Major General G D Bakshi onboard. It seems now that bowing down to their pressure, Air Vistara has deleted the picture.

Update: Air Vistara has released a statement which says that since the recent post which had an image of Major General G D Bakshi (Retd.) and 2 air hostesses had received a lot of abuses directed toward all the parties concerned, they decided to delete the tweet.

They say their decision to delete the image was driven by the objective of deleting such comments.

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