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No wrong in media publishing Augusta chargesheet: ED tells court

OpIndia Staff
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No wrong in media publishing Augusta chargesheet: ED tells court

The Enforcement Directorate has informed the Patiala House Court in Delhi that there is nothing wrong in media outlets publishing or broadcasting the contents of the supplementary charge sheet in the AgustaWestland chopper deal case.

The ED has made the submission in response to the allegation made by Christian Michel’s lawyer that the ED is attempting to politicise the case by leaking the contents to the media.

As per reports, the ED has submitted that the charge sheet was a public document submitted in court and there is nothing wrong if someone has accessed it. “It is not that nobody was entitled to get a copy. The cognisance of it has already been taken”, the ED has informed to the court denying the allegation that the agency has leaked the document.

The ED has also sought dismissal of the petition filed by Michel, saying that the media obtaining the contents of the charge sheet has not affected anyone’s rights. Christian Michel’s lawyer had last week requested special judge Arvind Kumar to order an inquiry into the ED ‘leaking’ the charge sheet to the media.

The court has posted the case for further hearing after Michel’s lawyer sought time to respond to the ED’s submission. The court has also directed the court staff to file a report with information regarding the charge sheet, including how many copies were submitted by the agency.

In the charge sheet submitted by the ED on April 4 had several explosive revelations about the case. It had mentioned communications between Michel and the CEO of AgustaWestland and referred to ‘The Italian lady’ whose son was to become the ‘next Prime Minister’ and whose ‘power was growing in the party day by day’.

It has also mentioned the former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had initially objected to the deal and later was left out of the decision-making process. The charge sheet had also mentioned that Michel had attempted to influence some powerful media persons in his attempt to seal the deal. The charge sheet had named Shekhar Gupta, Manu Pubby. It had mentioned payment of Euros 205860.40 to Ashwin Santhanam, the son of jounalist Raju Santhanam and booking of tickets for Ashwin and his family worth Rs 26 lakhs.

The charge sheet had revealed that Christian Michel and Agusta had access to the ministers in the government of India at the highest level. It had stated that Michel, through several middlemen and on behalf of Agusta, had made payments of kickbacks worth millions of Euros to air force officials, journalists, and top Congress politicians, including AP, which the ED stated that stands for Ahmed Patel, as per Michel’s statement.

Mahesh Bhatt’s wife peddles fake news about Junaid being lynched for being a Muslim, urges people to remember this when they vote

OpIndia Staff
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Mahesh Bhatt’s wife peddles fake news about Junaid being lynched for being a Muslim, urges people to remember this when they vote

The first phase of polling for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections have just concluded. With 6 phases to go, several people have come out of the woodworks to campaign for their favourite politicians and political parties. The Left has put all its might to defeat PM Narendra Modi, even if it means spreading fake news. Has-been actress Soni Razdan, wife of Mahesh Bhatt and mother of actress Alia Bhatt took to Twitter today to fear-monger and lie to campaign against PM Modi.

She tweeted a poster that had the face of Junaid Khan. The poster read, “I am Junaid Khan, Muslim boy, age 15. I was killed by a mob on a train for being Muslim. #RememberMeWhenYouVote”.


Peddling the Muslim victimhood card is the favourite ploy of the self-proclaimed “liberals” of India to fear-monger against Narendra Modi. They have long tried to convince people that PM Modi is a divisive figure who is out to get Muslims. Invoking Junaid Khan and claiming that he was lynched for being a Muslim is a part of that narrative.

However, is it true? Was Junaid Khan lynched by a fanatic Hindu mob just because he was a Muslim boy?

The answer is no. No less than the courts of India have held that his death had nothing to do with his religion.

In 2017, an unfortunate crime took place. A young man called Junaid was murdered in a moving train. The unfortunate murder was given an interesting turn by the usual suspects. Many media houses reported how Junaid was killed because of the suspicion that he was ‘carrying beef’. The country’s “liberal” elite had taken to social media and the streets to claim “not in my name” when the beef theory peaked.

However, while the politics of the case peaked and the Muslim victimhood was peddled lock, stock and barrel, on 28th March 2018, the High Court nailed the lies of these elements. The judgement makes it amply clear that the fight started over seats and “caste” slurs. The High Court observation too doesn’t mention beef or religious slurs to be a part of the reason for violence.

The High Court had observed:

Extract of High Court Judgement

The High Court in its judgement observed categorically that, “The incident seems to have taken place over the issue of seat sharing etc. in the train and there is neither any evidence of any preplanning to cause incident deliberately or intentionally or the create disharmony”.

It is essential to note here that nowhere in the FIR as well was the word “beef” mentioned anywhere.

The High Court makes 3 interesting observations in the portion attached above :

  1. The incident seems to have taken place over the issue of seat sharing
  2. There is no evidence of preplanning
  3. There was no intention to create disharmony

This judgement was passed during the bail hearing of one of the accused, Rameshwar Dass.

Despite the facts of the incident being clarified by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in March 2018 itself, the lies surrounding this case and the motivated narrative refuses to die down. The reason for drumming up this incident is extremely simple: Without the Muslim victimhood card, the assorted Leftists and “Liberals” won’t have much to go after Modi for. Since his days as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the ecosystem has hounded Modi and concocted a story of sectarianism around him. Their hate is so acute, that in the process of demonising Modi, they started demonising Hindus.

Even in the Junaid case, Hindus ended up being branded as communal and violent. Some even went on to ask what was the difference between Islamic terror and ISIS and “Hindu terrorists”. It was all a lie.

At the time this High Court order was pronounced, some other prominent lies were busted in the same week. The concocted bogey of “Hindu Terror” by Congress was shattered when on April 16th 2018, all accused were acquitted of all charges by a special NIA court. The saffron terror bogey was demolished. Interestingly, Soni Razdan who is peddling lies today is the wife of Mahesh Bhatt who was present at the launch of a book called “26/11 RSS Ki Saazish”.

There was another lie that had gathered steam at the time that Hindus had filled balloons with their semen and were throwing it at girls. This ridiculous lie was busted when the forensic reports confirmed that the balloons were not filled with semen but perhaps only with shameless Hinduphobia. The latter is my deduction, I must confess.

So, when Soni Razdan says Junaid should be remembered while voting, she is not wrong. Every single citizen of this country should remember how a murder over seats was turned into one over beef and how Hindus were demonised over a lie.

India Today’s MP report card: Congress’ best performing MP doesn’t feature in party’s candidate list

OpIndia Staff
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India Today’s MP report card: Congress’ best performing MP doesn’t feature in party’s candidate list

India Today channel has shared a performance assessment of MPs in the current Lok Sabha. In it, the channel has judged MPs based on their performance over several criteria.

Attendance in the Lok Sabha, the number of private member bills, the amount of money used from the MPLAD funds and questions asked are some of the criteria on which the MPs are being judged.

Based on the criteria, BJP’s Maharajganj MP from Bihar, Janardan Singh Sigriwal was announced as the topper with a phenomenal 96% attendance and a total of 31.5 crores spent from his MPLAD fund. BJP’s Delhi (North West) MP Udit Raj was ranked at No 2.

The ranking list does not include the MPs in Lok Sabha who hold ministerial positions because ministers do not sign the attendance register and do not ask questions.

Congress’ MP from Hingoli, Rajeev Shankarrao Satav was ranked at no 3. He was ranked the best among all opposition MPs with an 81% attendance and 23 private member bills brought in. In the incumbent Lok Sabha, Satav has asked 1118 questions and has spent Rs 19.64 crores from his MPLAD fund.


However, ironically, Rajeev Satav, a long-time Congress loyal and the party’s Gujarat in-charge, does not feature in his party’s candidate list for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In a surprising announcement, Congress had fielded former Shiv Sena leader and Satav’s opponent in the 2014 election, Subhash Wankhade from the Hingoli seat.


Reports say that Satav has backed out of the Lok Sabha elections stating that he would have to concentrate more in Gujarat. He is also an AICC general secretary.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi ranks at a dismal 387 out of 416 candidates. He has only 52% attendance and has not asked a single question. Neither has he brought in any private member bill.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader’s brother manhandles ANI journalist, cameramen

OpIndia Staff
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Shiromani Akali Dal leader’s brother manhandles ANI journalist, cameramen

Harvinder Singh Sarna, brother of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) leader S Paramjit Sarna on Friday allegedly manhandled an ANI journalist over a question on Pakistan High Commissioner.


The journalist had questioned him on the farewell reception he had organised for outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood, tweeted ANI. Harvinder also allegedly roughed up the cameraman who was capturing the incident and hurled abuses at them.

Shiromani Akali Dal Delhi (SADD) leader Sarna is amidst raging controversy for organising a farewell reception for outgoing Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood in New Delhi at a 5-star hotel.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, also former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, commenting on the incident said that “Sarna is an ISI agent who goes to Pakistan daily. An investigation should be initiated against him”.

Sukhbir Singh Badal had earlier too made a similar statement for Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu calling him an ISI agent. Reacting on Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan and the Kartarpur corridor row he had said that “He has gone mental. I think he has close relations with ISI and Pakistan, his call details should be probed”, to which Navjot Singh Sidhu had blasted saying that ‘If Sukhbir Badal has verbal diarrhoea, it is not my fault.’

Mamata Banerjee govt denies permission for Rahul Gandhi’s chopper landing in West Bengal

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee govt denies permission for Rahul Gandhi’s chopper landing in West Bengal

After denying permissions to helicopters carrying senior BJP leaders to land in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government today denied permission to Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s chopper to land in the state. The Congress president is to hold a public meeting in Siliguri on 16th of this month ahead of the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.


Congress has alleged that they had submitted the application for the chopper landing to the concerned officials on the 7th April 2019 seeking permission but so far they have got no response from them. However, the Congress party was today denied the permission to land their chopper directly in Siliguri. The Congress president is not stopped from visiting the place through road routes but direct landing in the Siliguri area has not been allowed. The Siliguri metropolitan police have denied him permission to land in the town without providing any specific reason for their denial.

The Congress, on the other hand, has alleged that though the application was submitted on April 7th, the state government had studiously avoided responding to it until it was too late and then finally denied permission without offering a credible explanation. With the permission of chopper denied, Rahul Gandhi will have to fly down to nearby Bagdogra airport and from there via road to Siliguri.

A few days back, Mamata Banerjee had derided the Congress president saying he is just a kid. However, Congress is not the first victim of Mamata Banerjee’s caprices. Earlier, the BJP was denied permission for flying down a chopper to Malda district where Amit Shah was to hold a rally. The reason that was given then was that there was some construction going on at the airport. But IndiaToday report says they found that the helipad and the runaway at the Malda airport were clean and devoid of any construction materials. Prior to this, Mamata Banerjee had persistently disallowed BJP from carrying out rath yatras in Bengal claiming that they will stoke communal tensions. In February, WB government had denied permission for landing UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s helicopter, preventing him from attending rallies in the state. Due to this, the UP CM had addressed a rally in WB via telephone.

Stalling opposition parties and their leaders from addressing rallies in West Bengal has been archetypal TMC modus-operandi. TMC is also accused of unleashing violence against their ideological rivals. So while Mamata Banerjee raises bogus slogans of ‘Democracy in Danger’, it is for everyone to see who is the real villain behind imperilling the democracy.

Azam Khan pelted stones on Army troops, dug up road to prevent troops from reaching border during 1965 war, claims journalist

OpIndia Staff
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Azam Khan pelted stones on Army troops, dug up road to prevent troops from reaching border during 1965 war, claims journalist

In a shocking revelation, senior journalist and political commentator Pushpendra Kulshreshtha has alleged that senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, Azam Khan was involved in attacking the Army troops leaving for border areas from Rampur cantonment during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Kulshreshtha said this while speaking at an event organised in Amity Law School in Lucknow in February this year.

https://youtu.be/lZ2velRMY_U?t=659

Kulshreshtha who is an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University like Azam Khan, said that during the 1965 Indo-Pak War, troops of Army were leaving from Rampur cantonment to join the forces on the border areas. He added that Azam Khan, who was a college student in Rampur at that time, made a group of around 50 people and attacked the troops leaving for the frontline with stones and dug pits in the roads to hinder the movement of the troops.

He further said that Azam Khan was beaten up because of his involvement in the attack on the Army troops and was admitted to a hospital after his arrest. In the hospital, Azam Khan was ordered by the then IB officer in the area to leave the city, after which he went to Aligarh and got himself admitted in the Aligarh Muslim University. And later he even went on to become a Minister, Kulshreshtha added.

Giving the example of Subash Chandra Bose and Veer Savarkar, Kulshreshtha said that the present generation was not told about these two personalities and that after independence, some portions of history were deliberately brushed under the carpet or distorted to keep people in dark.

Last year a criminal complaint was filed against Azam Khan after he made certain remarks against the Army that suggested that the  Indian soldiers indulged in rapes. He was also accused by former SP leader and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Rampur, Jaya Prada, of planning an acid attack on her.

‘You will not let the country live in peace’, Supreme Court says dismissing plea to perform puja at undisputed sites in Ayodhya

OpIndia Staff
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‘You will not let the country live in peace’, Supreme Court says dismissing plea to perform puja at undisputed sites in Ayodhya

The Supreme Court had today rejected a plea seeking to perform puja at the undisputed parts of the 67.7 acres land in Ayodhya. The apex court also pulled up the petitioner and fined him Rs 5 lakh for filing the petition.


Pandit Amarnath Mishra from Prayagraj had filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging an Allahabad high court verdict. Mishra said, “Like Muslims want to offer Namaz at the disputed site, we Hindus would like to do puja there and this is as per our religious rights enshrined under article 25 and 26 of the Indian constitution.” Earlier, the Allahabad high court had dismissed his plea to do puja at undisputed sites of Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid location and fined Rs 5 lakhs for filing the petition. Challenging this verdict Mishra filed a plea in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court bench including the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was miffed on hearing the petition related to the Ayodhya dispute. CJI Gogoi made an observation saying, “You will not let the country live in peace. Whenever we have to settle the issue, someone has to poke something.” The bench headed by Gogoi rejected the plea and declared that Pandit Mishra will have to pay the penalty of Rs 5 lakhs imposed by the Allahabad High Court for filing such a ‘frivolous’ petition. The Supreme Court had recently ordered mediation to contemplate possible resolutions of the decades-old dispute.

Father of Kathua rape victim left with only Rs. 35,000, ‘anonymous people’ syphoned off lakhs from his account: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Father of Kathua rape victim left with only Rs. 35,000, ‘anonymous people’ syphoned off lakhs from his account: Report

The father of the Kathua rape victim has been duped of the money that was donated to him, India Today has reported. The money has been syphoned off his bank account by anonymous people, the father claims.

“Someone has withdrawn more than Rs 10 lakh from our joint account. We have no information about it. The statement shows consistent withdrawal and we are only left with Rs 35,000 in the account. We were told over Rs 1 crore had been donated from all over the world, but don’t know where it went,” he said.

Over Rs. 10 lakh had been debited within three months but not by the person to whom the account belonged. One Aslam Khan had withdrawn Rs 2 lakh on January 11, 14, 15, and 18. Transactions took place on January 21 and 22 as well according to the passbook and Rs 4 lakh was withdrawn.

According to the report, the Bank where the account was opened claims that the money was withdrawn through signed and dated cheques, so there was little they could do to refuse. “Bank received the cheques with proper dates and impression. The family can block the cheque book, till further notice. Someone within their known circle has had access to all details and ensured bank protocol was followed,” said the branch head of J&K Bank.

The leaders who had flocked to him initially are nowhere to be found. “I do not know where those leaders are? Initially many came and helped. They did not approach me recently,” the father said.

In November last year, it was reported that the family was forced to sell off their livestock to pay expenses of travelling from Kargil to Pathankot, where a trial court is hearing the case. The family of the victim had also demanded details of the funds collected for them during a campaign run by social activists in January. “We have information that lakhs of rupees were collected from different parts of the world by exploiting the incident by some people,” the grandfather of the victim had said, “Those who were in the forefront to ensure justice are now even hesitating to attend our phone calls.”

We had earlier reported that a leaked audio tape had emerged which suggested that the huge sum of funds collected in the name of the victims’ family never actually reached them. In the tape, two people are supposedly heard discussing how “huge funds” were collected in the rape victim’s name, which never made its way to the family.

Leftist JNU activist Shehla Rashid had claimed that funds of over 40 lakhs had been collected from donors. She had later also stated that the lawyers are not charging money and hence a sum of rupees 10 lakhs will be handed over to the rape victim’s family.

Media reports had claimed that though lakhs of rupees were collected in the name of helping the family, the funds never reached them. Reports stated that the JNU student union and many online ‘activists’ who had campaigned for the Kathua victim had never bothered to hand over the funds to the victim’s family. Rashid had denied the allegations and later stated that the money was delayed because the family did not have a joint bank account and PAN. Later, Rashid had denied the media report which quoted the grandfather of the victim and claimed that she had met the family personally and none of them had any complaints.

One of the main activists of the campaign, Talib Hussain, was later arrested on rape charges and was sent to jail. He has since then joined Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP. Shehla Rashid, too, has taken the plunge to join politics with the former IAS officer who called India ‘Rapistan’.

‘Congress brainwashed us to reject offer to be Modi’s proposer in 2014’, says Bismillah Khan’s grandson

OpIndia Staff
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‘Congress brainwashed us to reject offer to be Modi’s proposer in 2014’, says Bismillah Khan’s grandson

Nasir Abbas Bismillah, the grandson of Bharat Ratna Bismillah Khan, has said that the family was brainwashed by the Congress party in 2014 when they refused an invitation from the then Lok Sabha candidate from Varanasi to become a proposer in his nomination form.


To correct that wrong, Nasir has written a letter to Narendra Modi asking to join his nomination process in the current Lok Sabha elections. Nasir writes in the letter that the prime minister is going to contest the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi and he would like to be present when Modi submits his nomination papers. He says it will be a memorable moment for him, as well a message of goodwill.

Talking to media, Nasir said the family regrets that they refused the invitation to become a proposer of Modi during 2014 elections. He said, Modi jee sent a letter to our family offering to be a proposer in nomination, our family had agreed to that, but people from other party brainwashed them. Instead of saying their own version, they presented the version of that party saying we are Congress supporters and we don’t belong to BJP. Congress leaders asked that the family to mention that Bishmillah Khan was also a Congress supporter, and hence the family is refusing the offer of Narendra Modi.

Nasir said, ‘yes I agree that my grandfather supported Congress, because the party had ruled for a long time at that time. After that BJP has also ruled for a considerable period of time, and BJP govt awarded the Bharat Ratna to my grandfather’.

When asked which Congress leader had asked the family to refuse the offer of Modi, he refused to divulge the name, but said that the leader is very close to his family since his childhood.


The grandson of shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan said that now the entire family regrets that they rejected the offer of Narendra Modi in 2014 which was a big mistake, and now the entire family wants to be with the Prime Minister during the nomination process.

Before 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi had requested Bismillah Khan’s son Ustad Zamin Khan to be a proposer on his nomination papers from Varanasi, along with the grandson of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya. The family had rejected the offer, saying that do not want to be associated with any political party. They had replied that “cannot be Modiji’s proposer as neither Bismillah was involved with any political party nor do we wish to. Bismillah used to say that you can talk to me for hours about music but keep me away from politics.”

But now Nasir says that the family was tutored by Congress leader to give such a reply, adding that it is a lie that his grandfather was not associated with politics. He says that his family is associated with music, and they don’t have much knowledge about politics. Therefore, when Congress party leaders asked them to refuse the proposal of Modi, they agreed with do the same without any thought. He said that they have great remorse that they refused a great honour that was being given to the family.

PM Narendra Modi is set to submit his nomination at Varanasi on 26th April. The voting for the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency will take place on May 19th, the last phase of elections.

‘This would have never happened if I had made a movie on Nehru’: Maker of The Tashkent Files on movie critics refusing to review the movie

Nupur J Sharma
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‘This would have never happened if I had made a movie on Nehru’: Maker of The Tashkent Files on movie critics refusing to review the movie

The ‘Liberals’ are a touchy, sensitive bunch. Their dichotomous and slightly deranged personality often overshadows their better judgement and betrays the lofty ideals they claim to espouse. One of those lofty ideals is that of freedom of speech, and the other is artistic freedom. They have long claimed that these freedoms are sacrosanct. However, these ideals are applicable only to those who follow them with their eyes blindfolded and thank them for the opportunity to be their thought slaves. Vivek Agnihotri dared to not conform, and hence, he is, today the prey to be hunted as his movie “The Tashkent Files”, hits the big screen.

‘The Tashkent Files’ is about one of the tallest leaders of the country, Lal Bahadur Shastri and his mysterious disappearance. A mystery that has long haunted the nation and questions that have long been pointed, in silent, dark corners of the collective subconscious at the first family of Indian politics – The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

The movie has been well received by the audience, however, the ‘liberal’ ecosystem is not too happy with it. Raja Sen, a movie critic who writes for the Hindustan Times decided that ‘The Tashkent Files’ was not worth his time and effort. He declared that he would not be reviewing the movie and having said that, proceeded to link an old review of Agnihotri’s previous movie, Buddha In A Traffic Jam, where he had reviewed Agnihotri’s political ideology more than the movie.


Aseem Chhabra, another soldier of the Bollywood confederate responded to the movie’s PR agent and said he does not want to watch the movie at all. Flat out refused.

stalwarts in the industry like Rajeev Masand and Anupama Chopra have refused to review Vivek Agnihotri’s movie. They have, of course, not provided any reason for doing so, but for those who follow politics and the veiled players in the political arena, are well aware of the reasons that may have forced them to betray their profession.

The rigmarole cannot be easy for a filmmaker. OpIndia reached out to Vivek Agnihotri to get a sense of how he sees the events unfolding and what, according to him, could be reasons for the industry victimising him to this extent.

“This would not have happened if I had made a movie about Jawaharlal Nehru”, he said. And perhaps he was right. He was of the firm belief that he was being specifically targeted by the elites of Bollywood because he has been a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said that Bollywood is like an elite boy’s club who disown anyone who doesn’t espouse the same political ideology that they espouse. If someone is a part of the video that slams PM Modi, they are their own, however, if someone is a part of the 900 people who want to support the Prime Minister and his policies, they are immediately shunned from the industry.

He said that it is these very people who cry from the rooftops about political ideologies tarnishing the art world, however, they let their ideology dictate how their view a piece of art like a movie. When Udta Punjab was released, the people on the ‘right’, including Vivek himself and even Ashoke Pandit supported the film and the filmmakers artistic right. However, those very people have today turned around and abandoned his movie and would most gladly see the movie boycotted.

Vivek Agnihotri said that it is these people who politicise the movie industry. He has never asked anyone why they would sing ‘Bismillah’ in a temple and why would they not film a song chanting ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’ in a mosque. It doesn’t matter to him, but for the so-called liberals of the industry, these are the principles that dictate whether or not someone should be allowed to make movies or not.

The Tashkent Files talks about the mysterious death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. Vivek said that in hating him, these “liberals” have started hating Lal Bahadur Shastri himself since he was the symbol of nationalism. A rural leader who couldn’t speak in suave English like Nehru. They hate him and the movie because it symbolises Nationalism.

“Why else would they have a problem with The Tashkent Files”, he asked. “The Madras Cafe was a fantastic movie and it was based on the death of Rajiv Gandhi. The two movies are of the same genre and theme. Why would these people not have a problem with Madras Cafe but have a problem with The Tashkent Files?”.

“If I had made a movie on Jay Prakash Narayan or Indira Gandhi, they would have loved it. They would have called it a work of art with scientific temperament. But If I had made a movie on Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, they would have killed me. They would have done the same thing they are doing today”, he said.

Slamming the ‘freedom of speech’ warriors further, he said that this group of people believe in the idea of freedom of expression and speech only for those who adhere to their whims and fancies. The ones who dare to rebel, dare to conform are shunned and hounded.

With everything that is happening today and the level of hatred that a movie has to to ensure without even being watched, one has to wonder if the “liberal” ecosystem is indeed punishing Vivek Agnihotri for being a Modi supporter and choosing to make a movie on Nationalist Lal Bahadur Shastri instead of focusing on the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty. This is perhaps their dog-whistle to their fellow comrades – we will oppose everyone who supports Modi, even if we don’t sign some letter or return our awards.

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