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The AAP-Congress conundrum: What it means for the parties in Delhi

K Bhattacharjee
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The AAP-Congress conundrum: What it means for the parties in Delhi

The Aam Aadmi Party, for a while now, has been begging the Congress for an alliance. Congress, on the other hand, has been jittery about the entire prospect. Senior leaders in Delhi Congress, like former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, have clearly voiced their concerns against the proposed alliance.

However, there appears to be a significant section of other voices within the party who are pursuing it with the top leadership of the Congress actively.


For the Congress party, in the long run, the alliance would prove to be disastrous although, in the short term, the alliance is likely to accrue some benefits. That the Congress party is even considering the alliance, which would further constrict their national presence, is another evidence of the party’s terminal decline.

As we have said before, regional parties are actively trying to undermine Congress’ national presence. Only recently, Kumaraswamy had said that a senior leader from the JD(S) had joined the BSP with his consent so that the latter could win more seats in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP is not in alliance with the Congress party and SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh have marginalized the Congress in a state which for a long time was a Congress bastion.

The conditions of the alliance between the AAP and Congress aren’t very clear yet and perhaps, will not be until the matter is formalized. The alliance could be limited to Delhi but Kejriwal is known to be cunning and will push for an alliance in Haryana and Punjab as well where the AAP could only gain from the alliance should it happen. For the purpose of simplicity, we would focus on Delhi only in this analysis.

What Could Go Wrong for the Alliance

Quite obviously, the formation of an alliance would lead to the consolidation of anti-BJP votes. Assuming that vote transfer for the candidates would work smoothly, the alliance might even exceed expectations and secure 5 or 6 seats in Delhi. However, there are several contradictions within the alliance itself.

Firstly, the Aam Aadmi Party is a product of the dark days of Corruption under the UPA regime. Therefore, their supporters may not be as excited about the prospect of an alliance with the Congress as their leaders appear to be. While Congress supporters are unlikely to care either way and will likely vote for the alliance without any hesitation, the same can’t be said about AAP supporters. The extent to which the people of Delhi feel betrayed by AAP’s abandonment of all founding principles and allying with the Congress will determine the success of the alliance.

Secondly, the Congress party is clearly a house divided on the issue. An alliance with the AAP will mean that certain Congress leaders will not receive the Lok Sabha ticket which they otherwise could have. Moreover, Sheila Dikshit, one of the most prominent faces of the Congress in Delhi, is clearly not buying whatever AAP is selling. Therefore, there is a very real chance that the Congress will suffer a rebellion if the alliance does go through. And the rebellion could seriously hurt the alliance’s electoral prospects.

Future of the Alliance

In many ways, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are natural allies in the same manner as Shiv Sena and the BJP are natural allies. While the latter pair are united by a single core ideology, Hindutva, the former pair are united by the utter lack of one and solely the pursuit of power. The AAP harboured great national ambitions before it got restricted to Delhi. Ideologically, there is no difference between Congress and AAP. The AAP represents the same brand of minority appeasement and anti-Hindu politics that passes off as secularism in liberal circles. Therefore, an alliance is extremely natural.

That being said, if there’s an alliance between the two parties for the 2020 Assembly Elections, the Congress will definitely increase its tally which isn’t saying much as they don’t have any representatives in the Assembly to begin with. However, chances are extremely high that there will be a rebellion, within the Congress at least, if such an alliance does materialize as Kejriwal is extremely unlikely to relinquish the Chief Minister’s chair.

The overall picture appears to suggest that Congress is likely to suffer in the long run while the AAP is almost certain to gain. But what happens afterwards depends on the results of the 2019 General Elections itself. If the alliance is successful, then the Congress may be very much eager to tie up with AAP for the Assembly elections as well.

The biggest takeaway, however, is the fact that a party that dominated Delhi for such a long time may be restricted to becoming the junior partner in an alliance with a party that was formed to resist them. If that is not indication enough of a party in a state of terminal decline, then nothing else is.

Fact Check: Did 350 people convert to Islam in New Zealand after the Christchurch Mosque attack?

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Did 350 people convert to Islam in New Zealand after the Christchurch Mosque attack?

After the horrific terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand which had left 50 people dead and almost equal number of people injured, one news has become viral on social media in last couple of days. Many people are sharing one news which says that 50 Muslims were killed in New Zealand, and 350 people converted to Islam.

Former MP and journalist Shahid Siddiqui also shared the news, quoting a tweet which contained what looked like an image of a news report on the same.


A video is also being spread on Social Media, which shows few persons accepting Islam in a public event. This video is claimed to be from New Zealand where 350 people converted to Islam after the Christchurch attacks. Several users have published this same video on Youtube making the same claim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6soqIEILsiA

This news is being spread on Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp by many people, so we decided to do a fact check on this news to check the veracity of the claim. First, we did an online search using the words used contained in the purported news report, but we were unable to find any news media or even a credible social media user from New Zealand sharing this news.

Although we found that two websites had reported the news, and both happen to be from India. Naqeeb News and Kashmir Glacier have published the report, although the latter has deleted the report now.

Screenshot of the news item on Naqeeb News

Moreover, the report only says 350 people accepted Islam, it does not give any more detail on the same, like the location where it happened and who organised it, which is unlikely for a media report. It also doesn’t include any detail about the people accepting Islam. Most people who shared the news are from India and Pakistan, which points towards the possibility that the news originated in the sub-continent and not in New Zealand.

Now coming to the video, in our web search, we have that to be an old video which has been used to make the claim about New Zealand. The following video was posted on Youtube 12 years ago in August 2007, which shows 5 Germans converting to Islam. Now that same video has been used to make the claim about 350 people in New Zealand accepting Islam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVAtyMR3TOg

A screenshot of the video has been given below as the video may show an error message of ‘not available’ for some users.

Therefore, the claim that 350 New Zealanders converted to Islam after 50 Muslims were killed by a terrorist is fake and no such incident has happened.

Chandrababu Naidu’s rant: Calls Prashant Kishore a “Bihari dacoit”, accuses Jagan and KCR of targeting TDP men

OpIndia Staff
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Chandrababu Naidu’s rant: Calls Prashant Kishore a “Bihari dacoit”, accuses Jagan and KCR of targeting TDP men

While addressing a rally in Ongole on Monday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) head, Chandrababu Naidu, displayed his insensitivity towards Bihari’s by taking a jibe at Janata Dal (United) leader Prashant Kishor calling him a “Bihari dacoit”.


He also accused Telangana CM and TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) chief, K Chandrashekar Rao of ‘grabbing TDP & Congress MLAs’.

Chandrababu Naidu said that KCR is indulging into criminal politics wherein he is targeting the TDP and Congress MLAs to join the TRS party. Later targeting JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor, accusing him of removing names of over seven lakh voters in Andhra Pradesh, he called him a ‘Bihari dacoit’.

It is notable here that in Andra Pradesh, Prashant Kishore’s Indian Political Action Committee is helping YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy for his election campaign.

Meanwhile, JD(U) national vice president, Prashant Kishor, took to Twitter to give a snappy comeback to the AP CM for showcasing his prejudice against Bihari’s. He taunted Naidu by saying, “An imminent defeat can rattle even the most seasoned politicians. So I’m not surprised with the baseless utterances of N Chandrababu Naidu”.


Meanwhile, unleashing his animosity, Naidu had earlier claimed that the Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSRCP is doing injustice to the state with its deceitful politics and has stolen the data of TDP workers. Advancing his attack on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Naidu had recently alleged that the YSRCP chief is ‘politicising’ the murder of his own uncle, YS Vivekananda Reddy.

Andhra Pradesh CM, Chandrababu Naidu, has also in the past targetted PM Modi with personal demeaning remarks and by displaying derogatory posters mocking the Prime Minister’s humble familial backgrounds in his Delhi’s protest which had faced severe condemnation.

Similarly, ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh on February 10, Naidu had called the Prime Minister’s visit a ‘dark day’ and asked party workers to hold protests during the visit to the state.

Following Naidu’s statements, many anti-Modi posters had emerged across Andhra Pradesh ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state. Some of the posters had slogans of  ‘No More Modi’ ‘Modi Is A Mistake’, ‘Modi Never Again’, among others. Another image portrayed Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu with an arrow ready to shoot toward PM Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and other BJP leaders.

Following this offensive conduct, BJP President, Amit Shah had, on February 12, in a harsh open letter come down heavily on Naidu for not just making personal remarks against the PM but also lacking the courtesy to receive the PM when he visited Andhra Pradesh.

Shah accused Naidu of betraying the people of Andhra Pradesh by supporting Congress, the very same party against which his father-in-law N T Rama Rao had founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and furthered that, “His actions smack of political opportunism.”

Shah said that Naidu, who has duped the people of his state by joining hands with the Congress, does not have the moral right to criticise the Central government.

Enforcement Directorate seeks custodial interrogation of Robert Vadra

OpIndia Staff
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Enforcement Directorate seeks custodial interrogation of Robert Vadra

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its reply to Robert Vadra’s anticipatory bail plea in Delhi’s Patiala House Court said that Vadra is not cooperating with the probe. The ED has asked for his custodial interrogation.


The court has extended his interim protection in the money laundering case till March 25 when the arguments on this will take place.

Read also: Robert Vadra virtually owns a £ 1.9 million flat in London, ED tells the court

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s husband and Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother in law Robert Vadra is being probed in a money laundering case. He had filed an anticipatory bail in the case linked to the 1.9 million GBP London based property.

After BJP leaders added ‘Chowkidar’ to their names, Haryana Min asks Congress supporters to prefix Pappu before their names

OpIndia Staff
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After BJP leaders added ‘Chowkidar’ to their names, Haryana Min asks Congress supporters to prefix Pappu before their names

Days after Prime Minister Modi and other BJP leaders and supporters prefixed ‘Chowkidar’ to their Twitter handles as part of ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar‘ campaign, Haryana Minister Anil Vij advised Congress supporters to add ‘Pappu’ to their names.


“Do you have a problem that we wrote #Chowkidar before our names? You can also write #Pappu before your name, we have no problem” Vij tweeted from his official Twitter account. The word ‘Pappu’, which colloquially means a foolish person, is used to mock Rahul Gandhi, who is rather famous for his gaffes and blunders during speeches.

Read also: After Modi launches #MainBhiChowkidar campaign, Congress shows #TheyArePappu

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been repeatedly lying about the Rafale deal at all his rallies and mocking PM Modi by saying ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai‘, accusing him of corruption. To counter this propaganda, PM Modi had launched the #MainBhiChokidar campaign to remind everyone that their ‘Chowkidar’ (watchman) is standing firm and serving the nation. In the tweet launching his campaign, PM Modi had written that he is not alone. He said that everyone who is fighting corruption and other evils of society is a ‘Chowkidar’. He added that everyone working hard for India’s progress is a ‘Chowkidar’ and urged everyone to take the pledge of being a ‘Chowkidar’.

Following this several BJP minister and leaders, including PM, prefixed Chowkidar before their names on Twitter.

This is not the first time Haryana Minister Anil Vij has stirred up a storm. During West Bengal chaos when Kolkata police had forcefully detained eight CBI officials who had gone to question police commissioner Rajeev Kumar to obtain crucial information regarding the Saradha scam and state government had stopped many BJP leaders from landing in Bengal, Vij had compared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ‘Tadaka’,  a princess-turned-demoness in the epic Ramayana saying she creates problems pertaining to every issue. He had even once compared Congress President Rahul Gandhi to deadly Nipah Virus.

As Jet Airways crisis worsens, Civil Aviation Minister orders emergency meeting on flight safety and grounding of planes

OpIndia Staff
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As Jet Airways crisis worsens, Civil Aviation Minister orders emergency meeting on flight safety and grounding of planes

As the crisis in Jet Airways worsened with more number of flights being cancelled, the civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has asked the secretary of the ministry to look into the matter and submit a report at the earliest. The minister said that the secretary is to hold an emergency meeting on the grounding of flights by Jet Airways, and Advance bookings, Cancellation, Refunds and Safety issues of the airlines. The secretary will also have to get a report on compliance issues from Directorate General of Civil Aviation.


Jet Airways is facing huge financial crisis, which has resulted in it being unable to pay rental for leased aircraft and interest on finances. Due to non-payment of lease rentals, leases have grounded dozens of aircraft operated by the airlines, resulting in the cancellation of flights. According to reports, total number of grounded aircraft has reached around 60, which is approximately half of the fleet size of 119 planes.

Other than non-payment to creditors, the airline is also facing trouble in paying salaries, and they have not paid salaries to their maintenance staff for three months. In a letter written to DGCA yesterday, Jet Aircraft Engineers Welfare Association said that 3 month’s salary is overdue to them, and also said that the flight safety is at risk. The letter said, “it has been arduous for us to meet our financial requirements, result of which have adversely affected the psychological condition of Aircraft Engineers at work and therefore the safety of public transport airplanes being flown by Jet Airways across India and the world is at risk.” The requested the government to step in ask the airline to pay the dues.

Etihad Airways, which owns 24% in Jet, was to infuse capital into the airlines to solves its financial crisis, but the talks are stalled over several disagreements. Etihad has not agreed to a debt resolution plan proposed by lenders of Jet Airways, led by State Bank of India. According to the proposal, the consortium of lenders, will convert its loans into shares and pump in an additional ₹1,000 crore to raise its stake to 29.5%. On the other hand, Etihad was also expected to infuse between ₹1,600 crore and ₹1,900 crore to raise its shareholding to 24.9%.

Another contentious issue is the perpetuity requirement included in the proposal. The proposal seeks to limit promoter shareholding 22%, but Naresh Goyal is asking it to be dropped. Etihad is also not agreeing to proposal to add two nominee directors from promoter group.

Jet Airways has already defaulted in paying loans and it has informed that it will default in making more payments which are due this month. The Airline has a debt of more than 8400 Rs crore, which continues to rise as interest gets added to that.

In such a scenario, maintenance and safety of the planes can be an issue and that’s why the ministry has stepped in. Despite flight cancellations, the airline has continued to offer discounts and accept advance bookings, which may be looked into by the ministry, and may ask the airline to stop them.

Hindus who left the state during erstwhile regimes have returned home under our government: Yogi Adityanath

OpIndia Staff
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Hindus who left the state during erstwhile regimes have returned home under our government: Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, addressed a press conference on Tuesday to list the achievements of his government upon the completion of two years in power. Expressing gratitude towards Prime Minister Modi and party President Amit Shah, he emphasized on improving the law and order situation in the state as his stand-out achievement.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvP9yt-8pu0]

While Yogi held the Congress party responsible for turning Uttar Pradesh into a ‘Bimaru’ state, he accused the SP and BSP of corruption and lawlessness and perpetuating the misery of farmers in the state during their regimes.

Targeting the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Yogi said that during the years of their rule, there was a rampant crime in the state. There was an endless series of corruption as well. He also said that farmers were left under no choice but either to flee or commit suicide under erstwhile regimes. “Gundaraj and Corruption were at their peak,” he said.

Yogi stated further, “In the 24 months of our government, the image of Uttar Pradesh that people had across the country, the taint of corruption and lawlessness that afflicted the state, we have succeeded in ridding the state of that.” People who had fled from places like Kairana due to the prevailing lawlessness after selling their properties at dismal prices have returned to their homes during the tenure of his government, he said.

The Chief Minister also said that as part of his government’s crackdown on criminals, about 8000 have been arrested in encounters with the Police, over 1000 have been injured, 73 have been killed, about 12000 criminals have surrendered before the police and sadly, in the process, over half a dozen law enforcement members lost their lives.

Earlier, in an interview to The Hindu to mark the completion of 2 years of his government, he justified the renaming of cities under his watch. He said, “If Bombay can become Mumbai, Bangalore can become Bengaluru, Madras can become Chennai, and Calcutta can become Kolkata, there is no reason why Allahabad should not become Prayagraj and Faizabad should not become Ayodhya. To re-establish our original identity, we have renamed these places. I am happy that people have welcomed this.”

When prodded that the names of other cities do not have religious connotations, Yogi replied, “That is not the case. Mumbai is from Mumba Devi Mandir. You are from Kerala. How did Trivandrum become Thiruvananthapuram? It is after Bhagwan Vishnu. We are only restoring our heritage.”

Indifference to ‘slow poison’ in Indira Canteens shows how ‘secularism’ is literally killing people

Abhishek Banerjee
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Indifference to ‘slow poison’ in Indira Canteens shows how ‘secularism’ is literally killing people

I am an idiot. Yes, I am.

Of course you know the answer. We all do.

Why is Bishop Franco Mulakkal still a free man? Stupid question.

Why isn’t the E. coli scare in Bengaluru’s Indira Canteens a big national headline? Another stupid question.

In India, almost anything can be ‘secular’. Allegations of rape can be secular. Even disease causing dangerous microbes like E. coli can be secular. And how far is Indian secularism from being a disease causing agent anyway?

Untitled.png
Indira Canteen food unsafe

The finding seems very credible, backed up by lab reports from Ramaiah Hospital in Bengaluru.

Untitled.png
Sample food unsafe for human consumption

As published by Deccan Herald, the Ramaiah Hospital report clearly states that the food sample is *not safe* for human consumption.

This is happening in one of India’s biggest, most important metropolitan cities. Thousands of people could be consuming tainted food on a massive scale.

Imagine if this was unfolding in a BJP ruled state, especially Uttar Pradesh. But it is not, so observe how cosily and comfortably the liberal mainstream media has buried the news.

Say, where are all those liberals who say the ‘national mainstream’ cares only about the Hindi speaking belt and ignores the South? Where are the ‘Dravidistan’ social media warriors?

Here is a perfect situation for you to come out of your holes and prove your worth. Here is a case where the ‘national’ media is ignoring a dangerous health emergency in a southern city. Here is your chance to demand that the nation sit up and pay attention to the fate of Bengaluru.

Except they won’t speak up now. Because they only speak on issues that benefit the ‘Break India’ forces. Their love for ‘Dravidistan’ is limited to trending #GoBackModi on Twitter for absurd reasons. Or manufacturing excuses and lies to cover up the failure of Kerala’s CPM government to provide flood relief.

Because they are partisan hacks and literally nothing more.

Incidentally, Rahul ji was in Bengaluru yesterday. Did he speak on what is happening at the Indira canteens? I don’t think so.

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Indira Canteen a scam?

There have been serious scam allegations surrounding the Indira canteens before. Allegations that the government, which pays Rs 32 per plate to contractors, is getting billed for 400 plates per day at each spot, while tokens given out might not be more than 120-150. I don’t know. I would not be surprised if there is a scam. Anyway, the media let the matter drop (again for obvious reasons).

But the sspectre of tainted food, possibly with E. coli in it, is a whole different matter altogether. Why won’t the national media descend on Bengaluru, pressurizing the state government to get the facts sorted out immediately?

This is truly a metaphor for ‘Indian secularism’. Anything goes… people are even expected to eat E. coli and be happy about it as long as it serves the cause of ‘Indian secularism’.

It’s not like the media does not care about issues surrounding food in Karnataka. The Hindu is hot on the trail of a very significant food related matter:

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No-onion, no-garlic in food is a matter of concern, but E. coli?

Oh no! How will kids survive without onion and garlic?

The secular interest in this matter is very understandable. The contractor here is Akshaya Patra. Not surprisingly, this has attracted a horde of Hinduphobes who are determined to take this away from them.

Pray tell us who we should put in charge of feeding the kids instead? Please tell me it is not Bishop Franco Mulakkal that you have in mind.

No onion and garlic in school midday meals becomes an issue, but E. coli in Indira Canteen meals does not. The wonder that is Indian secularism.

For a while now, Hinduphobes have made a habit of referring to Hindus as “cow p*ss drinkers”. You’ve all seen the jokes on social media. Even after Pulwama, where the terrorist Adil Dar explicitly stated his motive of punishing the “cow p*ss drinkers”, the flood of Hinduphobic jokes did not stop. No liberal thought even for a moment that adopting the same xenophobic tropes as the terrorist was in poor taste.

In the wake of the mess at Indira Canteens, what if somebody started referring to Indian liberals as “E. coli eaters”?

Except, people should never do that. Because that wouldn’t be funny at all. And in very very poor taste. Not to mention ironic.

Because the liberals who deliberately look away from the E. coli scare at Indira canteens would never need to eat the cheap, subsidized food there. You know Lutyens has some sort of foreign food festival going on almost every week. That’s where they eat. They couldn’t care less about the quality of the food eaten by the urban poor in Bengaluru.

Watch: NSA Ajit Doval pays tribute to Pulwama martyrs, says the country has not forgotten it and will never forget it

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: NSA Ajit Doval pays tribute to Pulwama martyrs, says the country has not forgotten it and will never forget it

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval today attended 80th Central Reserve Police Force anniversary in Gurugram today, and also delivered a speech to commemorate the sacrifices and selfless work done by force.


“I am indebted to CRPF for granting me the opportunity to witness the parade here. The command, the leadership, and the participants of this parade all have done a great job.” Doval started his address. He said in 1949 CRPF merely had 2 battalions but now it has 242 battalions currently serving the country, in its different parts.

“CRPF is the only force in India which successfully serves the 32 lakh sq km area of the country,” Doval said. “Be it conducting of elections or maintaining law and order, CRPF provides service in every area” he added.

Doval said that 69 years ago Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel had granted CRPF its flag. He said, CRPF not only brought glory to the flag but also raised it to new heights so that every countryman can be proud of it.


“We lost 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama attack. The nation has not forgotten the sacrifice and it will never forget it” Doval said. He added that the action, the path, the process and the time, is decided by our present leadership, which in itself is capable of doing it. He also added that be it terrorists or thier supporters, no will be spared.

“Whole nation stands with the families of martyrs,” Doval said paying respect to the families of martyrs.

The NSA then reminded of one of the first sacrifices that CRPF made on the day of 21st October 1969. On the day, at  Hot Springs in Ladakh 10 jawans had lost their lives to Chinese aggression. The day is still marked as Police Commemoration Day, nationwide.

“I have been connected with uniform and national security for last 51 years, and I have served in police services like you for around 37 years,” Doval remarked at the event.

He said that CRPF has faced every threat that India faces, be it at the time of communal riots or insurgency in the forest of north-east. He also remarked that during meetings, when it is asked that which force should we should send to ground zero, he always answers that CRPF should be sent, citing its credibility. Doval added that such credibility is earned by hard work and takes a long time.


At the conclusion, Doval said that after the second world war 37 countries collapsed or lost sovereignty. “28 of these countries collapsed because of failure of internal security” He added. He added that CRPF is a force which strengthens internal security of the country and prevents it from weakening.

Rupee continues to strengthen on expectations that Modi is going to form the government again

OpIndia Staff
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Rupee continues to strengthen on expectations that Modi is going to form the government again

The Indian Rupee on Monday strengthened the most as compared to other major Asian currencies. It has hit an eight-and-a-half month high of 68.53 a dollar and has reached almost the same levels as that in the year 2012-13.


As per a report in Business Standard, Ritesh Bhansali, vice-president, Mecklai Financial said, “Rupee is appreciating because of strong portfolio inflow in March. Globally, stock markets are rallying too, and there is a feeling that Modi is going to form the government again after the Pulwama incident. That indicates political stability.”

As on date in March, the portfolio flow in equity has been over $3 billion. In debt also, the flow has been of more than $800 million. In fact, the Reserve bank of India’s proposal to swap $5 billion with banks has also been viewed positively by the markets.

The Rupee gained 0.823 percent against the dollar in intra-day trade on Monday, the steepest gain in the region. Moreover, year-to-date, the rupee has gained a remarkable 1.8 percent.

The month of March has witnessed the most robust Rupee performance since 2nd January 2019. According to reports, it’s the Modi appeal and the prospect of him coming back to power for a second term in the coming general elections which has resulted in an upward trend in the foreign inflows into Indian stock markets.

However, one of the other reason why the Rupee is appreciating against the Dollar is that the RBI has minimised its intervention in the currency markets.

Moreover, because the election results have a direct impact on share market performances in India since the opinion polls have shown increased prospect of NDA coming back to power, the Stock market has also been seeing a continuous upsurge.

Historically, though the India Sensex Stock Market Index reached an all-time high of 38896.63 in August of 2018, March 2019 has seen a continuous upward trend.

Screenshot of the Sensex graph from The Economic Times, showing an upward trend in March 2019

It was earlier reported that as per the latest tracker poll conducted by Times Now and VMR, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity among the electorate jumped seven percent in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

Meanwhile, the surging popularity of Modi led NDA government could also be seen as three opinion polls, published on March 11th, rejecting all previous predictions of a hung parliament, envisioned a clear majority of the NDA in the upcoming general elections.

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