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Rahul Gandhi wins first ever Dr. Chaddha Presidential Award for being a lucky sperm

Amit Kelkar
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Rahul Gandhi wins first ever Dr. Chaddha Presidential Award for being a lucky sperm

In a major boost ahead of general elections, Congress President and next Prime Minister hopeful Rahul Gandhi has won the prestigious and inaugural Dr. Chaddha Presidential Award for being a momentously lucky sperm.

Dr. Chaddha Presidential Award has been inaugurated to honour the achievements of Doctor Baldev Chaddha, whose mission in life was to help India become the biggest producers of high-quality sperms. A Bollywood movie titled Vicky Donor was earlier made to honour the doctor.

Although Dr. Chaddha has worked all his life to identify people who could produce high-quality sperm, this is the first time a sperm – the product – has been identified by him and not the producer.

“A producer is nothing without his product,” Dr Chaddha explained why he agreed to endorse the idea of this award, “If you want farmers of your country to be happy, you’ve to make sure his produce, that is, vegetables and others products are taken care of. Similarly, we need to take care of sperms if we want sperm producers to be happy.”

The award, in coming years, will be given in various categories – strongest sperm, smartest sperm, fearless sperm, and even awards liked the laziest sperm. The first category was chosen for lucky sperm and Rahul Gandhi was found to be the luckiest sperm.

“Bilawal Bhutto and Sagarika Ghose came close to final shortlist but failed to beat Rahul Gandhi,” a panel member informed, further revealing that this was an international award.

The award was received by Kapil Sibal on Rahul Gandhi’s behalf in a function organised at The Wire’s office. Rahul Gandhi couldn’t be present in person to receive the award as he was busy in a meeting with his media advisor Pidi.

Annu Kapoor and Kapil Sibal
Pura desh his sperm hai – Dr. Chaddha said while giving the award.

“Every sperm is lucky by definition as it is one among millions to become an embryo, but Shri Rahul Gandhi is the luckiest. Human civilization has not witnessed anything luckier earlier and India should be proud to have this lucky sperm.” the citation on the award reads.

As soon as the award was received, celebrations broke out in the entire country including at the premises where the award was presented i.e. office of neutral news website The Wire. An employee named Raghu Karnad of The Wire was seen in thick tears.

“These are sperms of happiness,” Raghu said as he wiped his tears.

Congress has decided to celebrate coming 19 June as World Sperm Day. Rahul Gandhi is supposed to be the Prime Minister of the country on 19 June 2019, and he is expected to approve celebration of a day in his honour despite not being comfortable with such show of sycophancy.

“Unlike Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi is very humble. Just like Nehru ji was not comfortable but still allowed his birthday to be celebrated as Children’s Day, Rahul Gandhi is will do the same, my sources say,” neutral commentator Abhisar Sharma said, who further hoped that Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi will award Bharat Ratna to himself and Padma Shri to him.

Tamil Nadu locals accuse 6 Christians including Pastor of forcible conversion, booked for putting Hindu pattai on them

OpIndia Staff
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Tamil Nadu locals accuse 6 Christians including Pastor of forcible conversion, booked for putting Hindu pattai on them

Tamil Nadu police have registered a case against three people for ‘forcefully’ applying the Hindu religious symbol (Pattai) on the foreheads of six Christians who were trying to indulge in forcible conversion by distributing religious pamphlets to residents of Perumselvavilai in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, reported The Times of India.

The accused who were identified as Srinivasan, Rajesh and Suresh and others, have been booked under sections 294(b) (using abusive language), 323 (punishment for rioting), 95(a) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting religion or religious beliefs), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. However, no arrests had been made until Monday.

The incident occurred when it was learnt that few people of the Church, including the pastor, Selvakumar, were distributing religious pamphlets to the residents. Few locals who accused the church personnel of indulging in forcible conversion got into an argument with them and to mark their disapproval, forcibly applied the Hindu religious symbol on the foreheads of these Christians.

Videos of the accused applying the symbols on these six Christians and threatening them to harm those who dared to clean the Pattai were recorded by their accomplices and widely circulated on social media. After all this, the Pastor lodged a complaint with the Vellichanthai police who subsequently registered a case against the trio.

The conversions of Hindus, who are being either lured or forced into adopting Christianity or maybe, it was prevalent but has started grabbing prominence, since more media houses have now started reporting of the same.

In November, last year it was reported how rampant cases of conversion had surfaced in several districts of Uttar Pradesh. Within 3-4 days Chhattispur, Nevada and Bijawal villages of Khanpur area of Ghazipur district have witnessed a conversion of about 30 Hindu families. After the Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Mau district in Purvanchal, the cases of religious conversions in Ghazipur district were constantly going up. Hindus in the region were reportedly being lured by Christian proselytisers for religious conversion.

Last year, a similar case of organised conversion was exposed when Christian preachers were deceptively converting the underprivileged children belonging to weaker sections of the society in Madhya Pradesh by providing them with inducements.

Similarly, in yet another shocking incident it was reported in August 2018, how Jharkhand police had swooped down on 88 Christian missionary-operated non-governmental organizations (NGOs), on grievous charges of misusing foreign funds for forceful religious conversion of tribals and political subversion.

In fact, in an interview with The News Minute on November 8, last year, the National Commission for Women (NCW) acting Chairperson, Rekha Sharma had asserted that forced conversions in the state of Kerala were a reality and that the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had kept his eyes shut to this gruesome reality. Sharma, in her interview, had also claimed that foreign funds are being used to convert girls to a particular faith and asserted that it is an issue that needs to be probed.

Earlier, the NIA too had flagged the brainwashing and conversion of Hindu women in the state by radical Islamist outfits such as the Popular Front of India (PFI). This outfit is allegedly involved in hypnotic counselling of Hindu girls in order to convert them into their religious centres as per NIA investigations.

Women who desecrated Sabarimala alleges assault by mother-in-law on returning home

OpIndia Staff
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Women who desecrated Sabarimala alleges assault by mother-in-law on returning home

Kanakdurga, one of the women who had entered Sabarimala through a Communist conspiracy, was beaten by her mother-in-law when she returned home. As per reports, her family did not support her antics. She has allegedly been receiving threats and has been provided with police protection. She is currently admitted to a hospital.


As per reports, her mother-in-law refused to allow her inside the house. When she forced herself in, it led to a verbal scuffle between the two. Subsequently, she was hit on her head with a wooden plank. The Police then rushed her to the hospital immediately.

Johnson, who had helped Kanakadurga find houses, told TNM, ”Her mother-in-law was against her going to the temple. So when she was back home she didn’t allow her to enter the house and beat her with a wood rod. Kanaka is admitted to a hospital in Perinthalmanna. She was haemorrhaging.” Another friend is reported to have said, “Her mother-in-law is a conservative woman. She was not in favour of Kanakadurga entering Sabarimala temple.”

The mother-in-law is reported to have been upset that Kanakadurga had desecrated the Sabarimala Temple. She was forced to live in hiding due to threats and the massive protests across the state.

The mother-in-law, too, suffered minor injuries in the scuffle and alleged that Kanakadurga injured her by pushing her violently. Sub-Inspector P.S. Manjitlal said a case was registered against the mother-in-law. But she was not arrested as she was also hospitalised for her injury, which is reported to be minor.

There have been massive protests in the state and public sentiment is clearly against the Supreme Court verdict. Communists, however, have displayed an extraordinary streak of fanaticism in their attempts to desecrate the Temple.

UPDATE: A contrasting story has now emerged where Kerala Activist Sandeep Varier has alleged that it was the mother-in-law who was beaten up by Kanakdurga. He alleged that the story of Kanakdurga being beaten with a stick on the head is a false one propagated by Communist leaders. Read the entire story here. 

Kumbh Mela 2019 begins and English Media couldn’t care less

Ashish Shukla
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Kumbh Mela 2019 begins and English Media couldn’t care less

The largest human gathering in human history began in Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj today (January 15, 2019) and our English mainstream media don’t like it.

Times of India does have a front page image but the rest were too worried about Alok Verma and Kanhaiya Kumar to bother about 150 million people visiting Kumbh Mela between January and March 2019.

The Hindu ignored the news altogether giving rise to the speculation that its’ name is as misleading as Rahul Gandhi being a janaudhari. Indian Express and Hindustan Times have a token presence in inside pages, the kind you register when there is a death in the neighbourhood.

None of these English newspapers is enthused even though the human congregation is more than the population of 100 countries combined. It’s more heads than you can count in Germany, UK, France, South Africa or Australia. Give these journos a mombatti gang or 10 fat women hugging trees in South Delhi and it’s a completely different story.

They would give lectures on gender equality till Lord Ayappa regrets being a Brahmachari and calls a press conference to say – I quit. But the sight of millions of men and women taking a holy dip together in the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers to wash away their sins is revolting to them.

The significance of thousands of years of belief and faith in Kumbh by millions of Hindus don’t matter to them. Though the coverage of Pope visiting Ecuador is front page anchor with a picture to boot. The Yadgar-e-Ghalib in Majnu ka Tila is worthy of a special edition.

The biggest and most peaceful gathering of humanity for nearly two months is an awe-inspiring event. Sadhus come down from their caves in the Himalayas, devotees brave cold weather and hardships, poor without money, feeble without strength still turn up at the banks of holy rivers because they believe in Samudra Manthan and their divinity. A thousand years under the calamity of Islam and Christianity, and loot, plunder and rape of a subjugated population couldn’t douse this flame of faith.

Our English newspapers would rather have us, innocent readers, NOT know about it all. I doubt if you know that Akshay Vat (Indestructible Tree) inside the Allahabad Fort has been thrown up to faithful millions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It’s not out of bounds as it was under the Congress regime where you needed to take a special permit for it’s “darshan.”

It might be a myth in the eyes of our English newspapers that sage Markandeya once asked Lord Narayana to prove his divine power. Narayana duly flooded the world for a fleeting moment—only this tree stood erect above the water level. The historical evidence is still not enough for these English pen-pushers.  That Al Biruni mentioned it in 1030 AD.  Mughal Emperor Mohammad Akbar’s contemporary historian Abd Al-Qadir Badauni refers to it. Akshay Vat finds a mention in Tulsidas’ Ramayana. There is historical evidence of this tree being burnt, cut and dug by Mughal Emperors, none more so than by Aurangzeb, but so unfathomable are its roots that it kept springing back to life. That it has made it to UNESCO’s list of “Cultural Heritage o Humanity” still leaves our English mainstream media cold.

These newspapers though would bring out those obscure history books and dubious historians to tell you why Prayagraj ought not to be the name of Allahabad. The Prashant Bhushan’s Book of PILs could leave somebody inspired. Like Ayodhya, 70 years would still not be enough to clear the muddle. You could be given a lesson in history by the redoubtable Shobha De and Twinkle Khanna. A Swara Bhaskar could feel violated. Javed Akhtar and Naseeruddin Shah would be your professors of secularism.

Let not the lack of information be a dampener. The Indian Railways has over 800 special trains to Prayagraj during the event. Air India has announced a few additional flights. UP State Tourism Development Corporation is providing a helicopter service. Have no worries on security, roads, toilets or health services. Over 50,000 security personnels are deployed. Toilet exists over 120,000 in numbers. Over 220 km of roads have been built. Doctors abound in thousands. There are stalls of virtual reality (VR). Over 4000 wi-fi spots. An App which even provides an instant weather forecast.

If you are a Hindu and live in India then I urge you to be in spirit, if not in person, with Kumbh Mela 2019. Fight the virus of blackout by our English MSM. Keep these “asuras” in your sight—their only strength is your ignorance. Be the light to drive away this darkness of India-breaking forces.

Odisha: Senior Congress MLA Naba Das announces he will join BJD, just before Rahul Gandhi’s visit

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha: Senior Congress MLA Naba Das announces he will join BJD, just before Rahul Gandhi’s visit

In what can be a major setback to the Congress party in Odisha, its senior party leader and MLA from Jharsuguda, Naba Kishore Das is all set to join state’s incumbent ruling party Biju Janta Dal. The decision of the MLA has come just before Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state, according to reports.

Naba Das is MLA from Jharsuguda from 2009, defending its seat from BJD candidate and former Assembly speaker Kishore Kumar Mohanty twice. Das had also steered Congress to victory in last Zila Parishad elections in the constituency, whereas the party was routed on the rest of the seats. The defection of the MLA is seen as a major setback for the party, which is fighting for its existence in the state since the year 2000. Speculations regarding the MLA’s defection was high since he had praised BJD supremo and CM Naveen Patnaik’s development efforts in his constituency.

The Jharsuguda MLA declared his decision during a meeting at Samasingha gram panchayat of Kolabira block, where he said that joining BJD is not his own decision but the decision of the people in his constituency. He also added that he will be joining BJD on 24 January, when Naveen Patnaik is coming to his constituency to inaugurate development works. During CM’s visit to the industrially important district, a cancer hospital, a pathology centre and a clean water drinking project and also a railroad bridge, will be inaugurated.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) chief Niranjan Patnaik has slammed CM Naveen Patnaik, for luring his party leaders just ahead of elections.

“Congress doesn’t need to fear any exodus. We want only efficient people at our party. It will have no impact on the party. Political leaders, who leave a party just ahead of elections, lack principle and they are often seen changing parties for mere benefits,” Niranjan Patnaik was quoted.

Congress’ disciplinary committee chief Hemananda Biswal also reiterated that Das’ defection at such a crucial time is unfortunate. Biswal added that the party is bigger than an individual, and it will not leave a long-lasting void, as it will be fulfilled by some other leader.  He also said that with party grabbing three states in the recent assembly elections, “good times are ahead” for Congress.

In December 2015, Naba Das was suspended from the assembly for 7 days on the allegations of watching porn clip on his phone. The speaker had referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee for investigation. The committee gave a clean chit to Das in December 2018, after it found no evidence of the allegation after reviewing CCTV and media footages,

In addition to Das, another MLA Prakash Behera representing Salepur from Congress is also speculated to join BJD ahead of elections. This is not the first time Congress is witnessing such an exodus of its leaders from party to the opposition camp.

In the run-up to 2014 general elections, two Odisha Congress leaders  Anup Sai, legislative party secretary and Bhupinder Singh, Leader of Opposition, had defected and joined the BJD. Similarly, Nayagarh district president of Congress Kumar Hemendra Singh had also joined BJD and had accused that time vice-president of Congress Rahul Gandhi of turning a blind eye towards the party’s grassroots-level workers.

CM Naveen Patnaik has already delivered a blow to aspirations of Congress party of forming a Mahagatbandhan, and now its leaders defecting at such a crucial time is sure to take the party on backfoot. Earlier this month, CM Patnaik had made it clear that it will be maintaining an equidistant position from both Congress and BJP in the next general elections. CM Patnaik, is also expected to join the Telangana CM KC Rao led Federal Front, that is free of both the national parties.

Elections to the Odisha Assembly will take place concurrently with Lok Sabha elections this year.

Bombay High Court directs Maharashtra Govt and Mumbai Police to act against illegal slaughter and sale of meat

OpIndia Staff
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Bombay High Court directs Maharashtra Govt and Mumbai Police to act against illegal slaughter and sale of meat

A Bombay High Court Bench comprising of Justice BP Dharmadhikari and Justice Revati Mohite Dere directed the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police to take action against all complaint received against illegal animal slaughter and sale of such meat in the state. The Bench was disposing of petitions which complained of laxity on part of the police in dealing with complaints regarding the illegal slaughter of animals and sale of meat.

The Bench said that it was imperative that as soon as the authorities receive the complaints of illegal slaughter or violation of rules which regulate the sale and consumption of meat the same must be immediately verified. The authorities must also check whether the alleged offenders have a valid licence for sale and slaughter. They must also ensure that such offences are not repeated in future.

The petitions, filed in 2017, alleged that beef was being sold openly in areas such as Nagpada, Agripada and Dongri. The petitions also claimed that temporary stalls across the city slaughtered animals and sold the meat illegally without licences and necessary permits. One of the petitioners claimed that despite his several complaints to the police, they failed to take action.

The Bench said that the authorities cannot just stop at filing the FIR or invoking legal provisions against the offenders. They also need to take immediate steps to verify the complaints, check for licences and make sure that there are no repeat offenders.

The Bench also instructed the authorities that they must not wait for a complaint to come to them. In case a new shop opens up and starts doing business, the authorities on their own should verify whether such shops are legal and they have necessary licences.

Trinamool Congress MLA threatens to shut Bengal post office if it does not stop delivering Ayushman Bharat letters

OpIndia Staff
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Trinamool Congress MLA threatens to shut Bengal post office if it does not stop delivering Ayushman Bharat letters

Days after West Bengal Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement that her state will withdraw from the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, around 200 Trinamool Congress activists led by MLA and Nadia chief, Gourishankar Dutta threatened to shut the Krishnagar head post office down, unless the delivery of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme letters was stopped immediately.

Mamata Banerjee while withdrawing from the scheme had stated that the Centre had been sending a two page customised letter, highlighting the importance of the Ayushman scheme, to every beneficiary. She fancied that the Prime Minister was “politicising” the health scheme by sending letters about its provisions to every household of the state with his picture. She had also complained that the Ayushman Bharat logo resembles the Lotus of BJP.

However, after leading 200 party activists into the postmaster of Krishnagar post office, Prabodh Bag’s chamber, Dutta warned to stop delivering these letters to avoid severe repercussions, “Are you working as the employee of an extended office of the BJP to deliver (Narendra) Modi’s letters? Stop delivery or it will be construed as you all working as BJP cadres. In that case, we will shut down your office.”

Though Prabodh Bag tried hard to convince the MLA that delivering letters is his job regardless of the identity of the sender, but the TMC mob was in no mood for reasoning.

The letter is sent to the potential beneficiaries of the scheme. It contains the enrollment card and information about the healthcare scheme.

Moreover, guided by her impulse, making every possible effort to denounce Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee had not only alleged that the Centre is using the picture of Modi in Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme for the poor to take full credit for a jointly-funded project, but also claimed that West Bengal’s state health schemes are better than the Ayushman Bharat scheme floated by the Central government.

Meanwhile, furthering the opposition’s single agenda of denouncing Modi, the Chief Minister of West Bengal also mocked the Prime Minister, who is otherwise known for his exemplary oratory skills, for taking help of teleprompters for delivering speeches in English. This completely explains the desperation of not only Mamata Banerjee but all other opposition party leaders, who are willing to go to any lengths in their yearning to replace Narendra Modi.

PM Narendra Modi on September 23, rolled out the world’s largest healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat. Under the scheme, each family can get a cover of up to 5 lakh. 31 states and union territories had joined the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The scheme has been receiving accolades all across the world. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General had also expressed happiness that India’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat scheme had provided free care to almost 7 lakh people in its first 100 days.

Why JNU chargesheet took 3 years: 13 visits to Kashmir, numerous rounds of questioning and undercover ops

OpIndia Staff
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Why JNU chargesheet took 3 years: 13 visits to Kashmir, numerous rounds of questioning and undercover ops

We have earlier reported on the chargesheet filed by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police against Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others on the celebration of terrorist Afzal Guru’s death anniversary at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Shehla Rashid and daughter of CPI leader D Raja also are mentioned in the chargesheet.

The chargesheet states that the JNU event was part of a planned conspiracy. It mentions that Kanhaiya Kumar was leading the pack of students who were sloganeering but it doesn’t state that he was raising anti-India slogans himself. The chargesheet also mentions that as varsity President, Kanhaiya had failed in his duty to stop the event.


As per a Hindustan Times report, the Police said it took them 3 years to file the chargesheet because of multiple visits to different states, numerous sessions of questioning and the necessity of collecting information in a covert manner. The Police are reported to have said that young officers posed as students and entered the campus to gather information about the event on the 9th of February, 2016.

Delhi Police made 13 visits to Jammu and Kashmir. Burhan Wani’s death delayed proceedings by seven to eight months as there was a lack of support from J&K Police in the aftermath of the violence that ensued.

“We formed a team of young police officers who posed as students and spent time in the campus. They also used to go in groups at events in campus and eavesdrop on conversations related to the protests. It helped us in tracing links related to the seven suspects,” a senior officer from Delhi Police told Hindustan Times. “We traced their call details and once their links with the suspects were confirmed, they were called in for questioning. This is how we identified and tracked them.”

The Police said that initially the suspects denied their involvement but when they were confronted with evidence, they confessed to participating in the event. “We gave them a questionnaire to ascertain the sequence of events on February 9. All of them denied their presence. But we confronted them with the evidence after which they admitted,” the officer is reported to have said.

As we had earlier reported, Kanhaiya Kumar has responded to the chargesheet by calling it a case of political vendetta. He questioned the timing of the chargesheet and asserted that the NDA government was merely trying to provide Prime Minister Narendra Modi with talking points before the elections later this year.

The report by Hindustan Times does seem to answer Kanhaiya’s questions regarding the timing of the chargesheet. But it’s unlikely that it will have any takers from the opposition camp.

Chidambaram accuses Modi government of fiscal indiscipline, netizens cannot stop laughing

OpIndia Staff
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Chidambaram accuses Modi government of fiscal indiscipline, netizens cannot stop laughing

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who, along with his wife and son, has been busy seeking protection from arrest from various courts across the country for a number of bribery and tax evasion cases, has accused the Modi government of financial inefficiency.

In a Tweet, Chidambaram, the accused of Aircel-Maxis and INX Media scams, who is also accused of signing the controversial order of 20:80 scheme that benefitted Mehul Choksi, has stated that the Modi government is following a ‘scorched earth’ policy by promising big schemes for which there is no money.


As expected, the stark irony of Chidambaram, whose government had first reaped the benefits of the NDA government’s policies after 2004 and then managed to drive the nation’s economy to one of the worst performing spells in its 10-year-rule, criticising the Modi government’s policies was not lost on Twitter users.


Twitter users reminded the former finance minister of his government’s enduring legacy of NPAs, oil bonds and failure to implement schemes like OROP for the apparent lack of money.

Chidambaram was also reminded of the raids and cases going in against him and his family members.


Some Twitter users did not even bother going into the details of UPA financial mess. They just pointed out to Chidambaram that he should not be worrying about it.


PM Narendra Modi, in one of his addresses in the parliament, had stated that the burden of NPAs the UPA government had left over the country could have paralysed India’s economy. He had stated that between 2008 to 2014 during UPA rule, banks gave Rs 52 lakh crores in loans as compared to 18 lakh crores in the last 60 years.

Similarly, the UPA government where Chidambaram was the finance minister, had passed on a colossal debt of oil bonds to be repaid to oil producing companies to the tunes of Rs 2 lakh crores, of which 70,000 crores was paid as interest. The amount had to be paid off by the Modi government.

Media reported ‘thousands of trees felled ahead of PM Modi’s Odisha visit to make helipad’, turns out, it was a lie

OpIndia Staff
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Media reported ‘thousands of trees felled ahead of PM Modi’s Odisha visit to make helipad’, turns out, it was a lie

Prime Minister Modi is conspiracy’s favourite child, however, this feat cannot be attributed to Modi himself. The Media has often created outlandish stories around the Prime Minister. Stories, that were concocted out of thin air, with no evidence whatsoever. On Sunday, a similar story surfaced where it was alleged by media that hundreds (some said thousands) of trees had been felled to make a temporary helipad for the Prime Minister ahead of his Odisha visit. PM Modi is scheduled to flag off the inaugural run of Khurda-Balangir railway line train before addressing a public meeting today.

PTI reported on January 14th, which was carried by several media houses like The Week and NDTV, that “two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Balangir district, a row erupted on Sunday over the alleged cutting of trees to prepare a temporary helipad for the visit”. PTI reported that Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Balangir, Sameer Satpathy had said that several trees were felled near the Railway Station ground without permission and an enquiry had been ordered.

PTI report said:

“Following the direction of the DFO, a team will visit the site in order to ascertain the number of trees felled in the area,” said Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Babaji Charan Raul. Since the area happens to be under the jurisdiction of the Railways, an official of the East Coast Railways (ECoR) said they are also conducting an inquiry into the matter.

“We are doing our own inquiry on the subject,” Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of ECoR, J.P. Mishra said, adding, preparation of such a helipad is the task of the public works department (PWD) of the state government.

However, one of the earliest reports that have been relied upon by several other media houses came from The Hindu.

On 13th January, The Hindu reported that over a 1,000 trees have been felled to make a temporary helipad for the Prime Minister.

The Hindu report on 13th January 2019

The Hindu had reported that “under the urban plantation programme, saplings were planted on 2.25 hectares controlled by the Indian Railways in 2016. As a vacant land was required for the helipad, authorities had to clear 1.25 hectares”.

The Hindu report was updated on 14th January, presumably to add the latter part where they asserted that “the State forest department had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the tree felling. “The allegation of tree felling is true. No prior permission was sought from us for it,” said Samir Kumar Satpathy, Balangir Divisional Forest Officer”.

It may be recalled that the PTI report quoted above from the 14th also says that an inquiry had been ordered. However, The Hindu had reported that Satpathy had confirmed the tree felling and asserted that over 1000 to 1200 trees have been lost.

The Hindu report was made the basis of reportage for several news outlets.

IndiaTimes, a Times group website also reported the news based on The Hindu.

IndiaTimes report on 14th January 2019, based on The Hindu report

Congress mouthpiece National Herald also depended on The Hindu report and mocked the Prime Minister for these “developments”.

Congress mouthpiece National Herald report based on The Hindu report

The Logical Indian, a left propaganda website also reported based on The Hindu report.

The Logical Indian reported based on The Hindu

Separately, Indian Express independently reported the same on 14th January 2019.

The Indian Express report on 14th January 2019

After the Indian Express report, several propaganda websites ran reports furthering the same lie about several trees being felled.

Scroll.in depended on the Indian Express and furthered the lie.

Scroll report depending on Indian Express

The Quint too depended on Indian Express and furthered the lie.

The Quint report depending on Indian Express

Kalinga, in fact, went a step further and declared that over 3000 trees had been felled to make a temporary helipad for Prime Minister Modi.

However, all of these reports have been proven to be a lie.

Today, Times of India Bhubaneshwar reported that no trees were in fact felled to make the temporary helipad but only small shrubs were cut down. It reported that East Coast Railway spokesperson had asserted that no trees were felled and that a January 7 video prior to helipad making shows there were no big tree on the spot.


It was also reported that leaves and branches of a few trees on Railway land had to be pruned to give full space for helicopter movements and that all concerned authorities were a part of the full discussions. Only a few plants and shrubs were removed.


In fact, initial estimates pointed that not more than 40 shrubs and saplings had been felled.


The Media reports that had relied on PTI, The Hindu and Indian Express have been proven summarily false. The numbers in the media of fully grown, tall trees felled ranged between hundreds to thousands. Kalinga even asserted that more than 3000 trees had been felled. However, the truth has been revealed of only 40 shrubs and saplings being removed. Reports have indicated that the truth is far from what was reported. No trees were felled at all.

What remains to be seen is whether these media houses show the same ethics that was displayed by Business Standard recently when they pulled a report down after our fact-check. Kalinga TV has too pulled their fake news down after the OpIndia Fact-check.

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