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Here is what RVS Mani, bureaucrat of Congress era, has to say about Hemant Karkare and his involvement in ‘Saffron terror’ narrative

OpIndia Staff
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Here is what RVS Mani, bureaucrat of Congress era, has to say about Hemant Karkare and his involvement in ‘Saffron terror’ narrative

Sadhvi Pragya, the sannyasin who was jailed, tortured and hounded by the Congress government in order to concoct a fallacious theory of ‘saffron terror’ has formally joined BJP and is all set to contest from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh against Digvijay Singh, who was one of the foremost proponents of the saffron terror theory.

While Sadhvi Pragya’s candidature and her foray into politics ruffled some feathers and the “neutral” commentators came out of the woodworks to rain hate on her, it comes as no surprise that if anyone would be blunt about the Congress dispensation and how they concocted the saffron terror theory and their partners in crime in this misadventure, it would be Sadhvi Pragya.

Sadhvi Pragya blamed Hemant Karkare, the officer who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack of colluding to further the saffron terror narrative and keeping her falsely and illegally imprisoned. She said that when Karkare was told by someone in the investigative agency that Sadhvi should not be held without proof and that her detention is illegal, he said that he will get proof from somewhere, even if he has to create it, to keep her in jail. She also said that Karkare had been killed because she had cursed him.


The outrage on Sadhvi Pragya’s statement from the usual elements in the media was shrill.


However, beyond the “liberal” self-serving outrage, one needs to evaluate what has been alleged against Karkare. For that, we can rely on the account of an insider. RVS Mani is a former bureaucrat who worked as an undersecretary in the Home Ministry during the Congress era. In his book ‘Hindu Terror’, Mani has illustrated and explained the entire collusion and the players who colluded to create the ‘saffron terror’ narrative and how, senior Congress leaders and several others were involved in the conspiracy.

With reference to Hemant Karkare too, RVS Mani makes some startling revelations in his book.

RVS Mani describes his first encounter with Hemant Karkare in his book ‘Hindu Terror’.

RVS Mani talks about his meeting with Hemant Karkare after the 2006 bomb blast at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. He said he was working in Internal Security at the time and he was summoned by the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil. When he was ushered in, he saw Digvijay Singh in Shivraj Patil’s chamber and Hemant Karkare. He writes that Hemant Karkare and Digvijay Singh were interrogating him while Shivraj Patil watched unconcerned. They asked him several questions about the blast and RVS Mani writes that Hemant Karkare and Digvijay Singh were “not too happy with RVS Mani’s information that a ‘particular religious group’ was involved in most of the terror attacks.

He writes that from the conversation in the room, they were not happy that according to intelligence inputs, Muslims were aiding terrorists. He says that there were repeated references to Nanded, Bajrang Dal etc in their conversations.

He further talks about Nanded blast and says that this was the first case in which ‘Hindu terror’ term was first used.

RVS Mani raises several questions on why Digvijay Singh and Hemant Karkare were as close as Singh had claimed.

RVS Mani writes, “It may be interesting to recall that Digvijay Singh had later claimed in a media report that he was in personal touch with the police officer who was in the room of the Union Home Minister along with him at that time and obtained specific information on the Nanded attack. Singh had also declared the personal mobile number of this police officer in the media. This can be verified from media reports”.

He further writes, “What was intriguing, which no one from the media or otherwise at that time asked, was: what was the relationship between a political leader and an Indian Police Service Officer of a neighbouring State cadre? Indeed, having been the Chief Minister of a State, Singh might have known many a police officer from his own State. But to be so friendly with a serving IPS officer of a neighbouring State is something that begs an answer. Without imputing motives to any individual, what was the police officer doing with a politician of a neighbouring State? AIS Conduct Rules expressly proscribe general hobnobbing of All-India Service personnel with political leaders except in the discharge of functions”.

RVS Mani in his book says that it was immediately after this that “Hindu Terror” bogey came into the record where it was claimed that one Sameer Kulkarni of Nanded was allegedly storing explosives in his workshop, which exploded on 20.4.2006.

In another part of the book, RVS Mani says that when Hemant Karkare was ATS chief, the evidence that Ahl-e-Hadith/Hadees were involved in the Malegaon blast was just tossed aside and the narrative was changed completely. Mani says that it was around this time that reports of the involvement of Hindu organisations were sent from Mumbai ATS to the Home Ministry and Sadhvi Pragya was named the prime accused. He says he is not aware whether the motorcycle, which was the prime evidence according to ATS (and was later explained as sold by Sadhvi Pragya) was planted or not but the time taken by the ATS raised questions. He says that during Mumbai blasts, it took the ATS over 5 months to make arrests while in the Malegaon case, the arrest of Lt Col Purohit took only 35 days.

Of course, it was later reported by the Media that NIA had reached the conclusion that the RDX was planted by Maharashtra ATS to frame Col Purohit.

It is indeed a fact that Hemant Karkare martyred in the line of duty while showing exemplary courage during the Mumbai attacks. It is also true that several questions have been raised not just by insider RVS Mani and victim Sadhvi Pragya, but several others about his conduct and collusion in the concoction of the ‘saffron terror’ lie. The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between. But the ‘liberals’ trying to silence the voice of Sadhvi Pragya, who was tortured, jailed and hounded, is certainly not going to get us closer to the truth.

Congress Party has shrunk to a fringe party by siding with Tukde Tukde gang : Union Minister Prakash Javdekar

OpIndia Staff
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Congress Party has shrunk to a fringe party by siding with Tukde Tukde gang : Union Minister Prakash Javdekar

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar attacked the Congress Party by saying that it has shrunk from a mainstream party to a “fringe Party”  which has no chance in future elections by siding with the ‘Tukde Tukde gang’. Javdekar dismissed Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s statement that the democracy and the Constitution are under threat under Modi’s rule and there would be no elections held if Modi came to power, as wrong and baseless.

Countering Gehlot’s remarks, he said that Modi had won the 2014 elections and now the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are being held. He said that elections will take place in 2024, 2029 and so on but Congress has no chance in these elections.

“Congress was the mainstream party and now it has become a fringe party siding with the ‘Tukde-Tukde gang’. Congress is giving a certificate that this is freedom of expression. They give such kind of defense,” said Javdekar.

Javdekar, who is the BJP poll in-charge for Rajasthan, claimed that BJP would get a landslide victory by getting more seats than it won in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and that the NDA would get two-third majority in the elections.

“After two phases of polls, the BJP is very certain of its landslide victory. We will improve our tally of 2014, will cross the 300-mark on our own and NDA will have a two-thirds majority. We are receiving people’s support in all states across the country and the opposition is completely nervous, they are facing imminent defeat and therefore they are reacting the way they are,” said the Minister.

Slamming the opposition patties Javdekar said that they know that they are going to be defeated and therefore they are trying to use the EVMs as an excuse. “They know they are going to be defeated so from today only they are preparing ground and finding some excuses for their defeat. This is what Congress and opposition are all about. We are very confident that people are responding to Modi’s leadership and they want Modi to be PM again,” he said.

Condemning the remarks made by Gehlot on the caste of the President, Javdekar said that President’s name has never been dragged in the elections discussion. He demanded action by the Election Commission (EC) on the casteist remarks made by Gehlot.

“In Rajasthan also, CM Ashok Gehlot is making casteist remarks against the President of the county. The Election Commission must take notice of it because never in the history, the president of India has been brought in the election discussion. It was Congress which brought him and specifying his caste is not only unethical but illegal too,” he added.

Gehlot had said that President Ram Nath Kovind was elected as the President by the BJP to appease his community.

Rape accused former Goa MLA Atanasio Monserrate joins Congress, likely to contest for Parrikar’s vacant assembly seat

OpIndia Staff
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Rape accused former Goa MLA Atanasio Monserrate joins Congress, likely to contest for Parrikar’s vacant assembly seat

On Thursday, former Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate, accused of raping a minor girl joined the Congress party and is all set to be the candidate for the assembly by-elections from the Panaji constituency scheduled on 19 May, reports The New Indian Express.

Reportedly, rape accused Atanasio Monserrate is likely to be fielded from Panaji against prospective Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee Utpal Parrikar, son of late CM Manohar Parrikar.

Monserrate has a habit of changing political parties. He started his political career as a member of the United Goan Democratic Party (UGDP), then switched to the BJP in 2004 and then reverted back to the UGDP in 2007.

Further, he became a member of the Congress but was later thrown out from the party in 2015 for anti-party activities. Since then, he had been with the Goa Forward (GF).

Monserrate is believed to be a prominent leader in the state capital, despite being charge-sheeted in 2018 for allegedly raping a minor girl, and for human trafficking. Authorities have previously also booked him in a case of extortion.

“You can say it’s the return of the prodigal son. The son has learned a lesson roaming everywhere. It’s like a homecoming. I am here to defeat the BJP,” Monserrate said to media persons after joining the Congress.

It is being speculated that with Monserrate’s political hold and his influence, Congress can now hope to win the Panaji assembly seat and also gain an advantage in the two Lok Sabha seats of the state.

West Bengal: BJP’s Hooghly candidate Locket Chatterjee’s house attacked, party blames Trinamool goons

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: BJP’s Hooghly candidate Locket Chatterjee’s house attacked, party blames Trinamool goons

The rented residence at Hooghly, where BJP candidate from the Lok Sabha constituency, Locket Chatterjee was staying was allegedly attacked by goons associated with Trinamool on Friday, the 19th of April. The residence is located near Bandel, Hooghly. The incident occurred at around 11.30 in the morning.


Chatterjee was reportedly present in the house when the attack occurred. The goons gained access to the residence carrying BJP flags and once they were inside, they ran amok. The residence was then vandalized.

OpIndia.com has accessed images that depict the damage that was caused.

Speaking to reporters, Locket Chatterjee said, “I am a woman. To stop me, they have dared to enter my bedroom! My clothes have been strewn all over. I will approach the Police for protection. I will register a complaint with the Police. My medicines, my clothes, utensils, they have vandalized everything.”

Speaking to OpIndia.com, Arindam Munshi, Locket Chatterjee’s associate, said, “For some days, a few bikes could be seen right in front of the residence. We are new here, so we asked the owner of the house if they knew who these people were. They said they didn’t know them and they were not BJP workers. Today, we were having a meeting. Those people entered our house and started vandalizing the entire place. To protect Locket Didi, we took her inside a separate room as the door to her own was open. They vandalized her room as well. She has fortunately not been hurt.”

When asked if they knew who these people were, he said, “They belonged to the TMC. They picked a few BJP flags and managed to enter the place. Because they were carrying BJP flags, even our workers were taken aback for a moment. They could not understand what was happening. Trinamool is scared of Locket Didi’s campaign and thus, they are trying to put a stop to it.”

West Bengal has been under the grip of vicious political violence in this election cycle. Only yesterday, a BJP worker was killed and his body was found hanging on a tree in Purulia district. During phase 1 of the elections, rampant polling malpractice and violence was reported in the state. The same occurred during phase 2 as well.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission appears to be busy sending notices to people for appealing to people to vote for Narendra Modi in their wedding cards and banning movies.

Postmortem report of ND Tiwari’s son deems his death as ‘unnatural’, case registered under section 302 of IPC

OpIndia Staff
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Postmortem report of ND Tiwari’s son deems his death as ‘unnatural’, case registered under section 302 of IPC

Former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister N D Tiwari’s son Rohit Shekhar’s autopsy has revealed death due to smothering following which the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch. A case has been registered under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against the unknown persons. The forensics and crime branch team have reached his residence to carry out an investigation into the case.

On April 16, he was brought dead at Max Hospital in Saket, New Delhi. That day, his mother, Ujjala Tiwari had told the media persons that his death was natural and she had no suspicions. She had added she would later reveal the circumstances of his death.

Rohit had fought a long legal battle to prove that he was N D Tiwari’s biological son. According to Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police, Devesh Shrivastava, Rohit suffered nose bleed which the servants reported to his mother, Ujjala Tiwari, who was already at Max Hospital in Saket undergoing treatment herself. She rushed to her home in an ambulance from the hospital and returned with her son who was brought dead to the hospital.

Fact check: Was Sadhvi Pragya first arrested by BJP govt in a terror case and not Congress as claimed by The Wire?

K Bhattacharjee
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Fact check: Was Sadhvi Pragya first arrested by BJP govt in a terror case and not Congress as claimed by The Wire?

The candidature of Sadhvi Pragya from the BJP in the 2019 General Elections has taken the political scene by storm. The accused in the Malegaon Blasts Case, widely believed to be a victim of the Congress’ efforts to invent Hindu terror, will contest the elections from Bhopal against Digvijay Singh.

As expected, liberals aren’t pleased with the Sadhvi’s entry into politics and have ranted quite a bit since her candidature was announced. And now, Leftist Propaganda outlet The Wire has published an article where it was claimed that Sadhvi Pragya was first arrested in a terror case by a BJP government and not Congress.

In the article, author Kashif has claimed that the Sadhvi was arrested by Madhya Pradesh Police in connection with the murder of another RSS activist, Sunil Joshi, in October 2008.

Author Kashif says in the article, “Sunil Joshi, whose name figured in the Mecca Masjid, Samjhauta and Malegaon blast cases was killed on December 29, 2007, in Dewas. On October 23, 2008, Dewas police arrested Thakur and others in connection with the murder case. However, on March 25, 2009, the police closed the case on the order of Dewas SP and Thakur, along with all other accused, was released.”

The author, quite clearly, appears to have confused dates. On the 23rd of October, 2008, Sadhvi Pragya wasn’t arrested by Dewas Police but by the Anti Terror Squad. It is further claimed that she was released in March 2009. In reality, she had been in Judicial Custody ever since she was arrested in the Malegaon Blasts case and was released on bail only on the 25th of April, 2017. Therefore, the claims that she was first arrested by a BJP government falls flat.

Sadhvi Pragya was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police in the case pertaining to the murder of Sunil Joshi. But that happened in 2011. In fact, the MP Police had already closed the case. It was only in 2010 that the case was reopened after the Rajasthan Police made an arrest that led the trail to Sadhvi Pragya. The case was transferred to the NIA in 2011.

Sadhvi Pragya was later acquitted in the case. “The contradictory evidence by police and NIA in the case raised serious doubts in the whole case,” the First Additional District and Sessions Judge of Dewas Rajiv Madhusudan Apte had said while acquitting her and others accused.

“The court has observed that the analysis of evidence gathered by the police and NIA reveals that in the sensitive and serious cases like murder, both the prosecution agencies carried out an investigation with prejudice,” the defence attorney said quoting the court order.

“They (police and NIA) didn’t conduct investigation seriously and the self-contradictory and weak evidence of the agencies were insufficient to convict the accused and the contradictory pari-materia (a rule of statutory interpretation) makes the prosecution highly suspicious,” he further added.

The Wire is known to peddle propaganda that appears to benefit only a single political party all the time. Its partisanship is such that its journalists defend even the most deplorable of comments from politicians as long as they are in opposition to parties of saffron hue. Thus, it’s only to be expected that it has spread Fake News, once again, about Sadhvi Pragya.

Will Priyanka Chaturvedi sing ‘Rishton ke bhi roop badalte hai’ yet again

OpIndia Staff
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Will Priyanka Chaturvedi sing ‘Rishton ke bhi roop badalte hai’ yet again

A week after the then Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi took a dig on Union Minister Smriti Irani after breaking into an impromptu song parodising Irani’s popular show ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, Chaturvedi has abandoned the sinking ship called Congress to join hands with the Shiv Sena, an NDA ally and a party which is in opposition to her former party Congress.

Chaturvedi today met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and held a joint press conference where he welcomed her into the party. Addressing the media, Chaturvedi said that she knows she would be held accountable for her views she had held when she was a Congress spokesperson, when she did not quite hold back on abuses against the BJP as well as Shiv Sena, but says she thought long before joining the Shiv Sena.

Chaturvedi thanked the Thackerays for welcoming her in the ‘family’. Except, just a few months back she didn’t quite have kind things to talk about ‘the family’ she just joined.


As Chaturvedi herself sang, rishon ke bhi roop badalte hai… (the forms of relationships change). In politics, perhaps, there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends.

PM Modi belongs to a ‘fake’ backward caste, Mulayam’s caste is genuinely backward: Mayawati

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi belongs to a ‘fake’ backward caste, Mulayam’s caste is genuinely backward: Mayawati

In a shocking new low, the self-proclaimed custodian of backward classes, BSP supremo Mayawati has raised apprehensions about PM Modi’s caste origins, saying that he belongs to a fake backward community. Mayawati was in SP chief Mulayam Singh’s constituency Mainpuri to address a joint rally with SP supremo.


While hailing SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for bringing people of all classes under his party, Mayawati asserted that Mulayam Singh by birth truly belongs to the backward community, unlike PM Modi who belongs to a “fake” backward community.


In an attempt to defend her decision to join hands with the arch-rivals Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said that even after the Guesthouse incident the party went ahead to stitch an alliance with SP in UP because it values public interest and for the greater good of the countrymen and the prevailing situation in the country, it deemed it appropriate to take a ‘hard’ decision of aligning with the Samajwadi party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Sensing an imminent defeat at the hands of an aggressive BJP and for fear of being pushed to irrelevance, parties with seemingly opposing ideologies and bitter past, SP and BSP came into an opportunistic alliance to jointly battle out the Modi juggernaut and somehow secure their political existence in the state.

Man who slapped Hardik Patel at a rally in Gujarat explains why he did it

OpIndia Staff
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Man who slapped Hardik Patel at a rally in Gujarat explains why he did it

Earlier today, while Hardik Patel was addressing a ‘Jan Akrosh Rally’, a man walked on the stage and slapped him. Following which, Hardik, too, lost his cool and had to be restrained by people on stage. After the slap, Hardik Patel had alleged that BJP was scared of him and was trying to kill him. However, the story seems to be different from what Hardik would want people to believe.

Tarun Gajjar, the man who slapped Hardik Patel has now come on record to explain why he slapped Patel.

Talking to ANI, Gajjar said “My wife was pregnant when Patidar agitation happened, she was undergoing treatment at a hospital, I had faced problems then, I had decided then, I’ll hit this man. I have to teach him a lesson anyhow”.


He further said, “Then again during his rally in Ahmedabad when I had gone to get medicine for my child, everything was shut down. He shuts down the roads, he shuts down Gujarat whenever he wants to, What is he? Gujarat’s Hitler?”


It is evident that Tarun Gajjar’s motivation to slap Hardik Patel was not political but that of personal hardship that he had faced because of Hardik Patel. The first instance when that happened was during the Patel agitation when Tarun Gajjar’s wife was pregnant and had faced issues when she was getting treatment at a Hospital. He says the second incident was during his Ahmedabad rally when the roads were shut and he had a tough time getting medicines for his daughter.

Taran Gujjar explained that he had a problem with Hardik Patel shutting Gujarat down when “he wants to” while saying that Hardik thinks of himself a “Gujarat’s Hitler”.

Recently, the Supreme Court had rejected his urgent plea hearing to vacate the judgement in the case of rioting. Because his conviction has not been overturned, Hardik Patel will not be able to contest in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Islamist fundamentalists backed by Congress block N Sitharaman’s roadshow in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Islamist fundamentalists backed by Congress block N Sitharaman’s roadshow in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: Report

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in Poonthura, a Muslim dominated suburb of Thiruvananthapuram on April 17 for election campaigning when the communally charged Islamic fundamentalists blocked her roadshow, reported Organiser.

The rally started from Veli at around 8:30 pm and the defence minister joined the rally from Valiyathura. The defence minister took out a roadshow in the coastal town of Thiruvananthapuram to campaign for the NDA candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan fighting from that Lok Sabha constituency. When the rally entered Muslim-dominated Poonthura, a mob of Islamic fanatics obstructed her roadshow and raised anti-BJP slogans.

This led to a confrontation between the Muslim fundamentalists and the BJP workers accompanying N Sitharaman’s roadshow which lasted for more than an hour. The rally which was earlier planned to travel around 40 km until Pozhiyoor was forced to end mid-way due to the soaring tensions in the area. Poonthura is considered as Congress stronghold and Congress’ ally Muslim League and other Islamic fundamentalist organisations enjoy strong heft in the region.

Despite the late-evening commencement of the rally, huge swathes of crowd had gathered to cath a glimpse of the defence minister N Sitharaman, who was travelling on an open jeep. She had been to Poonthura before when the region was hit by the Okchi cyclone. The locals and regional media outlets had applauded her then for her timely intervention and the state government’s failure to kickstart relief measures when the calamity had hit the people.

Congress’ Shashi Tharoor is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram constituency against whom BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan is competing. Tharoor’s campaign had hit roadblocks when a group of local Congress workers refused to cooperate with him.

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