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Karnataka: I-T raids on close aides of CM Kumaraswamy and his brother Revanna ahead of April 18 elections

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: I-T raids on close aides of CM Kumaraswamy and his brother Revanna ahead of April 18 elections

The Income Tax department has carried out a series of raids on close aides of Janata Dal-Secular leaders in Mandya and Hassan districts of Karnataka ahead of the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

According to reports, on the early hours of Tuesday, the IT officers carried out raids on at least five people known to be close aides of JDS strongman HD Revanna, brother of Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and Minister CS Puttaraju. The IT officials have also conducted raids on the residence of a close relative of the HD Devegowda family in Haradanahalli village.

A team of 15 IT officials has also raided HD Revanna’s close aides Karle Indresh and former MLC Patel Shivaram in the Hassan city. Reportedly, another team has also conducted raids on the saw-mill in Pandavapura, Mandya belonging to a close aide of the minister CS Puttaraju. It is being reported that the raids are being carried out on contractors related to JD(S) leaders over allegations of laundering money.

Raids are also being carried out in Maddur, at the residence, and business premises of Zilla Parishad President and CM Kumaraswamy’s close aide Nagarathna Swamy and that of Zilla Parishad member Timme Swamy.

The IT raid at Hassan and Mandya comes at the backdrop of a recent audio clip that had gone viral, in which two people allegedly belonging to JDS were discussing strategies to win the Mandya Lok Sabha elections. In the audio, one of the JDS leaders was caught saying that JDS was intended to distribute at least Rs.5 lakh per booth, which amounted to an election expense of about Rs.150 crores to secure the victory JDS candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy against actor-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh.

Following these reports, the IT officials seem to have taken precautionary measures against the use of money power in the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier in this month, the IT officials had also carried out similar raids on the close aides of HD Revanna in Hassan and CS Puttaraju in Mandya.

The JDS headed by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is facing an uphill task in both Hassan and Mandya Lok Sabha constituency. Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting from Mandya while HD Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna is contesting against BJP candidate A Manju from Hassan.

Uttar Pradesh: Huge cache of illegal weapons and liquor seized from Bulandshahr

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Huge cache of illegal weapons and liquor seized from Bulandshahr

Ahead of the 2nd phase of Lok Sabha elections, the Uttar Pradesh Police have seized a huge cache of weapons, live cartridges and liquor during regular checking in the Bulandshahr district.


SSP N Kolanchi said, “405 illegal weapons, 739 cartridges, liquor worth Rs 2 crore, Rs 1.5 crore cash have been seized. We will continue checking like this.”

In the wake of ongoing Lok Sabha Election, the Uttar Pradesh police have issued a notice saying, whoever found with illegal weapons with them would go behind the bars.

Bulandshahr will go to polls on April 18 and counting of votes will take place on May 23.

In the wake of the Lok Sabha election, strict actions have been taken to curb illegal weapons, illegal liquor and drug trafficking and criminal elements.

Under the Special Campaign across the State to conduct fear-free and fair Lok Sabha elections after the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct in the past one and a half months, Madhya Pradesh Police also seized 3,483 illegally possessed weapons and 1,300 cartridges including 722 firearms.

Apart from this, in the same period, the police seized 2.14 lakh litres of illegally transported liquor worth Rs 4.91 lakh and drugs worth Rs 6.78. Across the State, police action has been taken against 25,844 persons involved in criminal and anti-social activities and in addition to this, preventive action has also been taken against 32,919 people.

Under the special drive by the police, during the period February 15 to March 31, 2019, under Gwalior, Chambal, Indore, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Balaghat, Sagar, Rewa, Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Shahdol, STF and Rail Zone in the police action 32,919 persons have been booked under preventive action.

‘We will pay back with interest’: Mayawati fumes over EC’s 48-hour ban, calls it a ‘black day’

OpIndia Staff
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‘We will pay back with interest’: Mayawati fumes over EC’s 48-hour ban, calls it a ‘black day’

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has called the Election Commission (EC) order which has barred her from campaigning for 48 hours starting from 6 a.m. tomorrow, as a one-sided decision. She said that there was no allegation of delivering a provocative speech in the April 11 show-cause-notice of the EC and that it only had the allegation of asking for votes in the name of one community.


Addressing a press conference, she alleged that she has been deprived of her fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. She even went on to say that the day will be remembered as a Black day in the history of EC. The BSP supremo blatantly denied having asked for votes in the name of religion despite there being video evidence for it.


In the video, Mayawati was clearly seen asking Muslim voters during a rally in Saharanpur not to split their vote by supporting the Congress Lok Sabha candidate and instead consolidate their vote in the favour of SP-BSP-RLD alliance candidate. She even accused the EC of having an anti-Dalit mindset. Calling the EC order as unconstitutional and cruel, she appealed to voters to turn in larger numbers than expected.

Mayawati has even accused the EC of not taking any action against PM Modi for asking votes in the name of martyrs. She even warned that when she comes back to form the government, she will ‘pay back with interest’.

The Election Commission has also imposed a 72-hour ban on Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath for his ‘Bajrangbali’ remark along with a 48 ban on BJP leader Maneka Gandhi. Senior SP Azam Khan has also been banned from campaigning for 72 hours following his ‘underwear‘ remark against BJP Lok Sabha candidate Jaya Prada.

EC rubbishes media reports of cancelling LS elections in Vellore over alleged use of money to influence voters

OpIndia Staff
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EC rubbishes media reports of cancelling LS elections in Vellore over alleged use of money to influence voters

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday rubbished media reports which claimed that the EC may cancel the Lok Sabha elections in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu over alleged use of money to influence voters. In a statement issued, the EC has clarified that no order has been issued yet to cancel the Lok Sabha elections in Vellore which is scheduled to go on polls on 18th April.

Last month, the Income Tax department and the EC had raided DMK treasurer Durai Murugan’s residence in Vellore and reportedly seized a large amount of unaccounted cash. DMK is the alliance partner of Congress for Tamil Nadu and in their seat-sharing arrangement, the Vellore seat has gone to DMK.

Yesterday, many media outlets had reported that the EC wants the Vellore polls cancelled as the money recovered in the above raids could have been used to influence voters. The Indian Express report had claimed that on Monday the EC has recommended to President Kovind that the elections in Vellore be cancelled. The letter was received by President Kovind’s office on Monday night, the report says. “Rashtrapati Bhavan received the EC’s proposal Monday night. The recommendation, The Indian Express has learnt, will be shared with the Law Ministry for its views on Tuesday. However, cancellation is imminent since the President, in this case, has little choice but to accept the EC’s proposal,” The Indian Express report said.

The Indian Express report was then curated by leftist propaganda websites like The Scroll and The Wire. Many other publications like The Hindustan Times and News18 among others had also carried the report that Vellore Lok Sabha elections may be cancelled.

The EC’s official spokesperson, Sheyphali Saran has clarified that no such order of cancellation of elections has been issued yet.

Update: In an update late last evening, the Election Commission has written to the President of India recommending cancellation of polls in Vellore following the massive cash haul. 

Mommy media and nanny ecosystem try to mediate between warring children, AAP and Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Mommy media and nanny ecosystem try to mediate between warring children, AAP and Congress

The Aam Admi Party and Congress love-hate relationship have been making headlines recently. After a long spell of planted stories and misplaced comments about the alliance between the two parties for Lok Sabha election in Delhi either being finalised or cancelled, recently, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, the two soul-brothers when it comes to drama, took to Twitter to pass on love letters to each other.

While Rahul Gandhi said that he was willing to let AAP contest on 4 out of 7 seats, Rahul alleged that it was Kejriwal who was doing a ‘u-turn’, however, Congress’ doors were still open. To that, Arvind Kejriwal said that AAP was doing no U-turn and that Congress was actually helping BJP by not finalising an alliance.

After this elaborate drama, the Lutyens’ media went into a tizzy. The concern that BJP might benefit from the fight between the two children concerned mommy media to a large extent. The entire nanny ecosystem jumped in to try and pacify the situation between the two warring children.

An exasperated Nikhil Waghle commented, quote tweeting Sanjay Kumar of CSDS, that by not allying with AAP, Congress is trying to help BJP win Delhi.


Nikhil then got into a war of words with a Congress office-bearer. While the Congress office-bearer defended Congress, ‘neutral’ journalist Waghle defended AAP and blamed Congress.


‘Neutral’ journalist Saba Naqvi too took Twitter to give some sound advice to the children, who were airing their dirty laundry in public.


Naqvi tweeted that Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal should sit across the table, shake hands and announce an alliance. She said, “the people of Delhi deserve their best behaviour”.

Ashutosh, who went from being a journalist to an AAP politician to again a journalist recently, took to Twitter to play nanny too. He tweeted to Kejriwal saying that if they want to defeat Modi and Shah, an alliance is imperative.


Neutral and secular commentator Tufail Ahmed too advised the two children, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal to bury the hatchel. He advised Kejriwal to not be greedy and concede to Rahul Gandhi’s reasonable offer instead of benefiting BJP.


Finally, while several other “neutral” commentators and journalists tried to play mommy to the children, Nikhil Waghle pronounced the final verdict.


The final verdict seems to be simple. If BJP returns to power, the nanny ecosystem, or at least a part of it, is ready to blame Congress. Not Rahul Gandhi because the Prince must be protected, of course.

YouTuber reveals how Muslims were allegedly celebrating as historic Notre-Dame Church was destroyed by fire

OpIndia Staff
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YouTuber reveals how Muslims were allegedly celebrating as historic Notre-Dame Church was destroyed by fire

On Monday evening, a fire broke out at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris destroying its tower and severely damaging its roof. The fire began at about 6:30 p.m and it took about nine hours to bring the fire under the control.

The 850-year-old Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is one of the most iconic structures in the city, an acclaimed marvel of Gothic architecture. The fire that ravaged through the structure has completely destroyed its spire, famous windows of stained glass and its roof.

However, most of the main structure and the bell towers have been saved. As per latest reports, efforts are underway to salvage some of the artworks trapped inside. French president Emanuel Marcon has stated that the cathedral will be re-built.

Shockingly, as the historic church was burning, social-media users with Muslim names were found celebrating the catastrophic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday.

A social media user named Damien Rieu has shared a video in which several Muslim named users can be seen responding to a video of the Paris church with a “laughing” face emoji on Facebook.


Paul Joseph Watson, a popular YouTuber has also shared some tweets regarding the shocking celebration from the people belonging to the Muslim community and also how digital news portals like Buzzfeed attempted to manipulate and overlook the shameful celebrations after the historic church gutted by the fire.


Watson had shared a screenshot of reactions to the Notre Dame fire posted on the channel France 24 Arabic. People with Muslim names are seen rejoicing and celebrating the destruction of Notre Dame. One user named Kamil had written, “I dedicate this beautiful and wonderful fire to my family and little brother and we wish the nest fire be in the grill congratulations congratulations hopefully the mass destruction of France the center of evil.”

Another user named Samir Ti had written, “Oh no awesomeness, it is a beautiful fire omg it is the most beautiful fire in the world”.

Some of the names of the social media users who were found to be laughing after fire engulfed the church are Wahid Hadji, Oubbad Jsk, Yusuf Mohammedzai, Hessam Massa, Mohamed Hiadi, Mohamed Bensalem, Alaa Atfeh, Raidh Khaled, Ammar, Sofiane Abdelhakim, Noui Oua, Mohamed Amin, etc.

Robert Spencer, Director of the Jihad Watch, pointed out many Muslims “believe that the ruins and destruction of non-Muslim structures testify to the truth of Islam.” According to Spencer, The Quran “suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah’s punishment of those who rejected his truth.

He further cited Quran 3:137- “Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.”

Karnataka: BJP accuses Congress of running a fake voter ID racket after handheld printer and voter slips found in EC raids

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: BJP accuses Congress of running a fake voter ID racket after handheld printer and voter slips found in EC raids

On Monday, the Bengaluru city police and the Election Commission last night raided a place in Chikpet area and allegedly found handheld printers and voter slips relating to Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency were found.

As soon as the news of the raid became public, the BJP accused Congress of indulging in fake voter ID racket. Taking to Twitter, the BJP alleged that the Karnataka Congress lawmaker Rizwan Arshad, who is also the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha candidate for Congress, of being involved in it.

The BJP alleged that as many as 18 people who were involved in printing the fake voter ID were arrested. The BJP has alleged that Youth Congress National Secretary Ibrahim Khaleelulla was running the racket from room no. 507 of 3rd floor of Prabhat Complex in Chikpet area. The BJP also sought that based on this, the Congress should be disqualified from contesting the elections and Arshad be banned from contesting elections till the investigation is complete.

Meanwhile, Rizwan Arshad has denied all the charges and said that ‘sensing defeat’ the BJP has ‘launched an extraordinary attack’ on him as they don’t want an ordinary boy to succeed. The BBMP Commissioner M Manjunath Prasad has said that while prima facie there is no foul play involved, further investigation is currently on in this regard.

YouTube censors OpIndia video from search results, after deleting and then restoring it with restrictions

OpIndia Staff
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YouTube censors OpIndia video from search results, after deleting and then restoring it with restrictions

Ever since OpIndia published a three-part video series by Niti n Rivaldo on YouTube, they have been facing attacks using YouTube’s review policy. After deleting and restricting the videos, now they have been subjected to censorship from search results on the website. The video series had explained how the discourse around the Kashmir issue is flawed mostly due to the excuses provided by the ‘liberals’.

First, the first video was made age-restricted, which means one has to login to YouTube and confirm being an adult before being able to watch the video. After few days, the third video was deleted from the video sharing site, citing violation of community guidelines as the videos contain few clips of terror attacks. OpIndia had appealed the decision to delete the video, and after reviewing the matter, YouTube decided to restore video, but with age-restriction like the 1st video.

But now it seems YouTube moderators have found another way the prevent people from watching the third video, which particularly focuses on how Media personalities like Barkha Dutt and other members of the intelligentsia whitewash Islamic terrorists regularly thereby giving them intellectual cover for the heinous acts of terror committed by them. Several users have reported that when they search for the videos on YouTube, only the first two videos are returned in search results, with the third video missing.

When we tried to search the videos ourselves, we also encountered the same result. The video is not deleted from YouTube, it is there with the age-restriction. But it does not appear in the search results even when searched using the exact words in its title, “Pulwama | Ep 3 – How media supports Islamic terrorists in Kashmir – by Rivaldo”, or any other combination of words related to the video.

Search result showing that the video has been censored by YouTube

This clearly shows that the video has been censored from YouTube search results, and if one does not know the link to the video, it can’t be watched. It can be noted that the video has been censored from YouTube search results only, and not from Google search results, where it still appears when searched using relevant keywords.

The video has been embedded below:

Technology was on India’s side in Balakot strikes, results would have been even better if Rafale was inducted on time: IAF Chief

OpIndia Staff
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Technology was on India’s side in Balakot strikes, results would have been even better if Rafale was inducted on time: IAF Chief

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa has said that although technology was on India’s side in the Balakot air strike, the result of the operation would have been more favourable to India if Rafale fighter jets were inducted in time.

The chief of Indian Air Force was speaking at a seminar on aerospace power of the future and the impact of technology.

“In the Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launch precision stand of weapons with great accuracy. In the subsequent engagements, we came out better because we upgraded our MiG-21s, Bisons, and Mirage-2000 aircraft,” the Air Chief Marshal said. Making a significant comment, he added that “the results would have been further skewed in our favour had we inducted the Rafale aircraft in time”.

He also said that the induction of Rafale jets and S-400 Triumf air defence missile system will once against shift the technological balance in India’s favour.

Rafale jet

The Indian government has signed a deal with the French government for the purchase of 36 Rafale jets, after the attempt to buy 126 fighter jets had failed. Rafale had emerged as the winner in 2012 in that bid, but a deal could not be signed due to various issues. Therefore, after coming to power, the Modi government had scrapped that deal and signed a new deal to buy 36 jets directly from France to immediately replenish the fast depleting fleet of IAF. But opposition parties led by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and activists are trying hard to derail the deal by making numerous baseless allegations and filling PILs in court against the deal.

India also signed a deal with Russia for purchase of five S-400 air defence systems in October last year. The system is described as one of the best air-defence systems currently made.

The seminar on ‘Aerospace power in the 2040s: Impact of Technology’ was held in New Delhi to pay tributes to war hero Marshal Arjan Singh of Indian Air Force on his birth centenary. Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh was the Air Force chief during the India-Pakistan war in 1965, and he is the only India Air Force officer to be promoted as Marshal, a five-star rank equivalent to Field Marshal of Army.

The seminar was organised by Indian Air Force along with the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), an autonomous defence research and analysis body, and it was hosted at Subroto Park in New Delhi.

Stressing on the importance of technology for the Air Force, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said that among all arms of the military, technology affects them the most. “Land forces mainly fight with men, naval and air force officers operate machines and in the Air Force this technology has to be packed in smaller machines and subject to extreme temperature and pressure conditions,” the IAF chief said. The IAF chief also added that air power is more sensitive to technological change.

The IAF had stressed on the importance of Rafale and S-400 for Indian Air Force earlier also. In September last year, he had said that by providing the Rafales and S-400s, the government is helping the Indian Air Force to counter the shortfalls of reduced numbers.

Bangladeshi actor campaigns for Mamata’s TMC candidate, BJP alleges violation of model code of conduct

OpIndia Staff
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Bangladeshi actor campaigns for Mamata’s TMC candidate, BJP alleges violation of model code of conduct

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led TMC candidate has got a Bangladeshi actor endorsing him for the ongoing general election. Bangladeshi star Ferdous Ahmed was found campaigning for TMC’s Raiganj Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal in North Dinajpur district.


West Bengal shares a porous international border with Bangladesh and illegal infiltration from Bangladesh has been a cause of worry for India’s security. TMC candidate Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal said that Ferdous will campaign along with Tollywood actors Payel Sarkar and Ankush. “Today, Ferdous, along with Tollywood actors Payel Sarkar and Ankush, participated in road shows in Raiganj and Hemtabad. On April 15, he will campaign in Karandighi and Islampur. Today, the response was excellent. We are expecting a good crowd on Monday, as well”, said Agarwal.

Agarwal’s elections agent Musharraf Hussain said, “Ferdous is a famous actor in Bangladesh and we requested him to take part in road shows for the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha election. He agreed.”

BJP has strongly objected to this and alleged that this is the violation of the model code of conduct. West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh said that tomorrow Mamata Banerjee could even invite Pakistan PM Imran Khan to campaign for the TMC. “How can an Indian-registered political party engage a foreign national (Ferdous) for political road shows in West Bengal. I have never heard this before. It seems the party doesn’t have an Indian star for canvassing. Tomorrow, Banerjee will invite Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to campaign for the TMC. We condemn this as a Bangladeshi film star should not be a part of India’s biggest democratic festival”, said Ghosh.

Ghosh alleged that the TMC is trying to lure the Muslim voters which form around 50% of the population in North Dinajpur.  “By engaging a Bangladeshi actor, the ruling party is trying to woo the nearly 50% Muslims voters in North Dinajpur. The Trinamool is scared of us and hence, bringing foreign actors here”, he said.

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