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‘You are supposed to inform people’: Rajyavardhan Rathore slices through Shekhar Gupta led The Print’s misleading article

OpIndia Staff
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‘You are supposed to inform people’: Rajyavardhan Rathore slices through Shekhar Gupta led The Print’s misleading article

Shekhar Gupta led The Print has been known to spread several lies since its inception. This time they have decided to spread fake news about the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. In their latest article, The Print has essentially reported that the Ministry is planning to hire private agencies to “snoop” on various outlets so as to “firm up” BJP’s 2019 campaign.

The Print article said that PIB (Press Information Bureau) floated a tender last month “inviting proposals from external agencies for “media aggregation, analysis and feedback services” with regard to print, electronic, online and social media”.

The article said that the PIB tender came days after the BECIL tender which invited private agencies to prepare a sentiment analysis report. The Print attributed their propaganda to sources saying that “Sources said the I&B Ministry and the PIB floating similar tenders indicates a lack of coordination between the agencies and may lead to the duplicity of work, efforts and finances”.

The article also said that the agency will be expected to give a file on press clippings every day, especially of negative news focussing on the Prime Minister’s Office. It will also be expected to make a report on the sentiment on Social Media. The Print termed it “keeping tabs”.

Rajyavardhan Rathore, the MoS of Information and Broadcasting Ministry today posted a video on Twitter slamming the report published by Shekhar Gupta’s The Print.


Addressing Shekhar Gupta, Rathore says that his The Print has published a story focusing on the I&B Ministry ‘snooping’ on people with the 2019 elections in mind. Firstly, Rathore said wondered how The Print’s article appeared as “Breaking News” on its portal considering it was a public tender that was floated by the I&B Ministy and such public tenders are public knowledge.

Then he futher busted The Print’s propaganda by asking how collecting public information can be termed as “snooping”. He said whether Shekhar Gupta likes it or not, the government will continue to do its work.

MoS Rajyavarshan Rathore said that it is the job of the government to understand whether their policies are working or not and what people think of the government. He said this tender is to collect information which is available publicly so that the government listens to the people’s voice.

He also said that this is a re-tender because the earlier contract expired. He asked Shekhar Gupta that if the government was doing the same thing earlier when it was not preparing for the elections, then how come now, when it is on a re-tender, the government is purported to be using ‘government funds’ to prepare for elections.

He said the addition of ‘Social Media’ is the only aspect which is new in this tender from the last time. He said considering the importance of social media, it is imperitive that the government has ears on SM too, to understand public sentiment. “Snooping is being privy to private information, all this information is on public domain”, he said.

Rathore also took a dig at Shekhar Gupta by saying that if the government doesn’t listen, people like him complaint about it and when it does, they say the government is “snooping”.

He ended his video by saying, “you are supposed to inform public, this article was misleading, you should take care of this. All the best”.

Till the time this article was published, Shekhar Gupta had not responded to Rajyavardhan Singh’s video and neither had The Print.

Another twisted tactic after the ‘audio tape’ fiasco: Congress claims Parrikar’s life in danger because of the ‘Rafale files’

OpIndia Staff
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Another twisted tactic after the ‘audio tape’ fiasco: Congress claims Parrikar’s life in danger because of the ‘Rafale files’

On January 2, Congress party shared an alleged tape between Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and unknown journalist and claimed that Manohar Parikkar is blackmailing Centre government, on Rafael issue. However, the tape was rubbished both by Minister Rane and CM Parrikar. Even, Congress party president Rahul Gandhi did not authenticate the tape in parliament.

Now, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has written to President Kovind, requesting ‘enhanced’ security for the ailing CM Parikar. In the letter, GPCC has said that there can be attempts on CM’s life, in order to obtain the files related to Rafael deal that is allegedly in his possession. It also adds that there are certain elements which don’t want to bring the files into the public domain so as not to expose the corruption.


”Congress party apprehends that attempts on the life of Goa CM may be made to obtain the files from those who want actual truth of Rafale jet deal” The letter states.

In the doctored tape, Congress had portrayed that a voice, which they insisted was Goa minister Rane’s is saying the ailing CM has the ‘Rafale files’ in his bedroom and he has been ‘holding’ them ‘the central government’ to ransom all this time.

However, with the fresh conspiracy theory that there might be a threat to the Goa CM’s life, Congress seems to have negated its own claim because if the Goa CM has been ‘holding the government to ransom’ all this while, how can his life be in danger now, all of a sudden?

Also, they expect the masses to believe that a government to government contract between two powerful nations has some ‘dirty secrets’ in some hypothetical ‘files’, which a former defence minister, who himself was involved in negotiations and finalising of the said deal, has been ‘hiding in his bedroom’ since 22 months. Clearly, the Congress leader who came up with the idea needs to upgrade the level of movies he/she is watching currently.

After the supreme court’s dismissal of the petitions against Rafale deal stating there has been no corruption with FM Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman demolishing the repeated rants of Congress, it now seems the party in its desperation to cry scandal over non-issues, has now resorted to cheap conspiracy theories.

Goa CM Manohar Parrikar is suffering from pancreatic cancer and has continued working amidst his treatment. The Congress so far has been carrying out an utterly shameful and horribly insensitive attack regarding the CM’s ailment. Recently, Congress leader Jaipal Reddy had commented that Parrikar is ‘sticking to his chair like a leech.’

Before that, state Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu had demanded that the BJP should either ‘show’ Parrikar is alive or they should conduct his ‘Shradh’ (death rituals).

The Goa government had earlier clarified that the CM is working efficiently and there are no files pending at the CM’s office. Despite the fact, the sheer insensitivity of Congress leadership in constantly attacking an ailing man fighting cancer and inventing cheap theories to further malign him is one of the worst examples of evil politics Congress has played in its tainted history.

ED moves court for open-ended non-bailable warrant against Robert Vadra’s executive assistant in money laundering case

OpIndia Staff
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ED moves court for open-ended non-bailable warrant against Robert Vadra’s executive assistant in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has requested the Court for the issuance of an open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Manoj Arora in a money laundering case. Arora is believed to be a close aide and executive assistant of Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law, Robert Vadra.

Unlike other warrants, an open-ended NBW does not carry a time limit for its execution. The Court was informed that Arora had failed to appear for questioning despite several summonses.

The agency claimed that Arora is a key person in the case. The agency asserted that he is aware of overseas undeclared assets of Vadra and was instrumental in arranging funds for such properties.

“Vadra was beneficially controlling the property at 12, Bryanston Square, London, UK, which was valued at 1.9 million pounds, and not only executing renovation work of this property but also arranging funds for the same,” the agency stated in its application.

The agency further claimed that the property was purchased by Sanjay Bhandari and sold in 2010 at the same price despite incurring additional expenses for renovation. It remarked, “This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the property but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property.”

The ED believes that Arora might have fled the country. Therefore, to issue a Red Notice through the Interpol, an open-ended NBW is required.
As we have reported earlier, ED had issued a Look Out Circular against Arora who serves Robert Vadra as Executive Assistant. On December 8, The ED had questioned Manoj Arora along with several other persons connected to the case, which included Congress worker and another close aide of Robert Vadra, Jagdish Sharma. ED had raided several places connected to Vadra as part of the investigations. Few other employees working for Vadra were also questioned by ED.
The case against Sanjay Bhandari goes back to 2016 when during a raid by Income Tax department, confidential defence ministry documents were found in his possession. He had several documents related to meetings and decisions of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). During the further probe, email exchanges between Bhandari and Vadra were recovered.
One mail trail recovered from Bhandari’s computer was an exchange between Sanjay Bhandari, Robert Vadra and Manoj Arora. The mail conversations were regarding payments and renovations of the London house. According to official records, a UAE based company had bought the property for around ₹19 crore.

Facts, No fiction: Moving towards education vouchers for India’s public schooling system

Karan
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Facts, No fiction: Moving towards education vouchers for India’s public schooling system

The current public schooling system in India constitutes of government schools providing the students with education at highly subsidised rates. Nobody denies the importance of affordable education. In fact, it is desired that education is made affordable as it plays a critical role in ensuring a skilled workforce that yields rich dividends in the form of greater productivity for any nation. The critical role of education not only makes it desirable for education to be affordable but also requires a decent quality of the education being provided to students.

Our current public schooling system has become a dumping ground for public resources. It is inherently present with systemic inefficiencies that are resulting in deteriorating standards of education. Since the most amount of people that attend these schools come from the poor sections of the society, by providing them substandard education we are condemning most of them to poverty for the remainder of their lives. There is an urgent need to take measures that ensure that there is a reduction in the dropout rates post 8th grade and the overall quality of education being provided to these kids is improved significantly.

A way to achieve this could be a shift to a Targeted Education Voucher Scheme for the poor in India. A voucher system is a system whereby the government provides vouchers to the eligible population and the vouchers can be redeemed by the beneficiaries towards paying their tuition fees. That is, the system shifts the distribution of the subsidy from a production subsidy to a consumption subsidy. The idea of a voucher system was first proposed by Milton Friedman for the primary and secondary public education institutions in the USA (Friedman, 1955).

The biggest advantage of this shift would be that subsidy would be provided only upon consumption of the good that is, going to school and thus, it will incentivize students to attend their respective school and will be instrumental in bringing down the current high drop-out rates in India currently observed during the transition from primary to secondary education.

A voucher system makes it possible for the poor students to finance private schooling education by redeeming the vouchers. This means that the system makes it possible for the poor students to choose a school of their choice, be it private or public or any other type of a school giving him some form of control or freedom to choose the provider of the education service. That is, in effect, it gives much greater choice to parents and students to pick the right school than what was available before. This will also have significant effects on the overall integration of society, as classrooms would become more culturally diverse and the students will become more culturally sensitive. When the value of the voucher is enough to generate a surplus over and above the costs of any entrepreneur, such a system would result in increasing competition between schools to attract students. This increasing competition would result in better services and a reduction in the costs of private schooling and this will benefit the parents, the students and even the schools.

A project based on the targeted education voucher system was undertaken by The Centre for Civil Society in Delhi. The experiment being India’s first was launched on 28th March 2007 and after the end of the first year, an independent assessment for the same was planned. They reviewed the experiment and presented the key findings in their Delhi Voucher Project First Assessment Report. As mentioned in their report, the study found that 63.1% of the voucher beneficiaries exercised freedom of choice and thus switched to private schools and more than 90% of parents of the students who switched to private schools (due to vouchers) were happy with the progress their children made, their teachers and standards of discipline in these schools.

The report adds “A high majority (94 percent) of the voucher parents mentioned that their children were happy with their present school. 61 percent of the voucher parents felt that their children had also become more regular with school work. More than 50 percent of the voucher parents noticed that their children had become more disciplined and studied more in their new school”.

It further stresses that availability of choice has a significant impact on children as almost ninety percent of voucher students and those attending the private schools perceived that being educated in their current school would provide them with opportunities for better life and future. This is in stark contrast with those who attended a government school where the figure stood at 61%. When we look at performance, the voucher students performed better than those studying in government schools in English, Mathematics and Hindi in all grades. In fact, their performance was at par with the performance of general students in private schools.

To conclude, the absence of competition among these publicly owned schools brings in inefficacies in the system- there is perennial lack of teachers and facilities, high student-teacher ratio, inability to provide basic facilities like washrooms, playground etc., and less number of such schools per district has led to a high dropout rate among the students. More than half of the students who enrol at primary level dropout by class 8th. These inefficiencies also lead to poor understanding levels in students; India ranks second last in the PISA test only beating Kyrgyzstan amongst 73 countries that took part in the test. School Vouchers are hence suggested as a viable alternative which could enhance school choice among parents. Evidence from The Delhi Voucher Project also strengthens the case for a shift from the current system to a voucher-based one where “funds follow the students rather than the schools.

The article is from a detailed paper that looks into the possibility of a targeted education voucher program for India. The paper can be accessed by clicking here

Amethi Congress chief questions Smriti Irani over Rahul Gandhi’s inefficiencies

OpIndia Staff
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Amethi Congress chief questions Smriti Irani over Rahul Gandhi’s inefficiencies

Union minister Smriti Irani’s visit to Amethi has visibly rattled the local Congress functionaries in the town. The rousing welcome that Smriti Irani received in Amethi seems to have caused some hand-wringing among the Congress leaders. Just a day after Irani’s visit to Amethi where she inaugurated the district’s first government CT Scan Center, Congress district chief of Amethi, Yogendra Mishra has penned down an open letter ridiculing Smriti Irani.

In the letter, the Congress district chief Mishra strangely inquires about the paucity of doctors in the district, almost pinning the blame on Irani for the scarcity. However, he would do well to realise that his party’s President Rahul Gandhi is an MP from Amethi, and not Irani and it was his own party, the Congress that was in power in the country from 2004 to 2014. The fact that Congress district chief Mishra expects Irani to address Amethi’s grievances speaks volumes of how dismissive Rahul Gandhi has been towards Amethi and how Smriti Irani’s relentless work has kindled hopes among the locals from her including the opposition in the disregarded town.

Moving along, Mishra also pointed towards Irani’s silence when migrant workers from UP and Bihar were getting flogged in BJP ruled Gujarat. However, he once again shot himself in the foot. The violence against North Indians in Gujarat was incited by Congress leader Alpesh Thakor, who enjoys Rahul Gandhi’s patronage. If Mishra is really concerned about the abject state of UPites in Gujarat, he should, perhaps, ask why Alpesh Thakor was given a clean chit by Gujarat Congress despite the evidence suggesting the opposite.

Thirdly, Mishra also questioned about Smriti Irani’s religion on the latter’s disapproval of ‘Janeu-Dhari’ Rahul Gandhi’s Hindu credentials. Irani questioned Rahul’s Hindu credentials after the Congress President had declared that ‘Ram Mandir’ is a non-issue for him and Congress. Mishra, however, should come clean on his party’s stand vis-a-vis Lord Ram. Congress had in the past raised questions on the existence of Lord Ram. Congress’ spokespersons routinely mock Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata and contest their validity. If this is not enough, there are umpteen instances of anti-Hindu tendencies professed by Congress and its leaders.

So, instead of targeting Smriti Irani, who is tirelessly working for the welfare of the people in  Amethi, Congress district chief of Amethi, Yogendra Mishra and other Congress leaders should introspect the glaring duplicity in their party’s attitude and perhaps raise their grievances to the three-time Member of Parliament from Amethi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

If opposing Modi means supporting Amnesty International, Naxals and Terrorists, I am a ‘Bhakt’

K Bhattacharjee
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If opposing Modi means supporting Amnesty International, Naxals and Terrorists, I am a ‘Bhakt’

Dear Naseeruddin Shah,

I don’t watch many movies but I have watched a couple of yours and from what I can tell, you are indeed a good actor. And as an actor, I imagine you are well aware of the importance of a script in a movie. Although Bollywood movies tend to succeed at the Box Office on the basis of star power alone, the script is nonetheless very important.

In recent times, movies such as Thugs of Hindostan and Zero have bombed spectacularly at the Box Office despite boasting of stars such as Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Because the script was awful. Similarly, your latest performance as an actor in a video by Amnesty International is unlikely to be received well by the public because the script was absolutely horrendous.

Consider the circumstances in which your video was made. An international organization which is currently under investigation for violation of FCRA laws ropes in an actor who has just made extremely controversial statements regarding the current state of affairs. The organization, Amnesty International, has a dubious record as it is. It hoped that it could rescue itself using your star power. But as Thugs and Zero proved, mere star power is just not enough.

Let’s analyse the script of your video for Amnesty. In pristine Urdu, you are indulging in blatant fear-mongering. The dialogues reek of melodrama. The tone and tenor of the video indicate that you wanted to come across as honest and authentic. But your mannerisms only communicated to your audience that all your words were little more than sophisticated propaganda.

The picture of India you paint in the video is extremely apocalyptic and simply does not exist. I mean after watching your video, for a moment I thought we had concentration camps in the country like China where minorities are being held captive. Two minutes later, of course, I felt stupid.

You say, “In the name of religion, walls of hate are being erected. Innocents are being killed. The country is awash with a horrific hatred and cruelty.” I can agree with these sentiments as Islamic fundamentalism and violence are on the rise in the country but something tells me that is not what you’re referring to in the video. It does appear dishonest on your part.

You then say that the people who are fighting against such injustice are being silenced by the government. Are you serious, Mr Shah? You do know that an activist associated with the same organization in whose video you are featuring in called for violence against Brahmins? This is how they are fighting injustice? By calling for violence against Brahmins?

You say in the video, “Had we dreamt of a country where there is no space for dissent? Where only the rich and powerful people are heard and where the poorest and most vulnerable are forever oppressed? Where there once was law, there is now only darkness.” Seriously, Mr Shah, your video had more melodrama than 10 years of Kyuki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. And about the darkness apart, the Narendra Modi government will soon complete the electrification of 100% households in the country. So, darkness in the country has definitely reduced.

But seriously, people like you are rich and powerful and when you speak, you have the entire mainstream media discussing your opinions for hours. And when ordinary people criticize your opinions, you call them trolls and demonize them. Some of you even try to get them fired from their jobs. So, please, get off your high-horse. You are part of the rich and powerful elite who try to silence people into submission.

And please, do not for a second believe that the poor and marginalized are looking up to Bollywood actors to speak up on their behalf. You are suffering from a delusion of grandeur. We are living in a democracy, the people make their voices heard through the ballot. When they wish their political concerns to be addressed, they approach local politicians. That is how democracy works.

I have been observing civil societies for quite a while. And one thing I have learnt is, you people do not represent anyone apart from yourself. You don’t speak for anyone else. You have your own agenda and you disguise your real agenda by hiding it beneath a cloak of virtuous slogans. An elected representative in a Gram Panchayat speaks for more oppressed and marginalized people than you lot.

The Amnesty, naturally, has a grudge against the Narendra Modi government. And you have made it abundantly clear that you are not fond of him either. They had an agenda and you had very strong political opinions that aligned with theirs. Thus, the organization hired a Bollywood star to further their propaganda in what appears to be a symbiotic relationship. It’s not the first time movie stars have been hired by political players to further their agenda. But the thing is, Mr Shah, people have are smart and see through it.

In all probability, you do not actually endorse the message of the video. You are an actor, you are paid to act. Perhaps Amnesty International offered you enough compensation to make the deal worth it. Bollywood stars are known to even serve food at the marriages of billionaires. Their connections with the underworld are quite well known as well. So you could well have featured in the video only because you were hired and not due to your personal conviction, that is entirely possible.

But given your earlier statements and your conduct, I am pretty convinced that you appeared in the video due to your own personal conviction. Because I, along with the rest of India, have been witness to the insanity people are capable of in their hatred of Narendra Modi. We have seen politicians support Pakistan’s narrative due to it, I have seen politicians try to sow seeds of communal divisions in their bid to oppose Narendra Modi, we have even seen people whitewash the crimes of terrorists and cast aspersions on the integrity of our security agencies merely due to political affiliations. You are just an actor.

Let me tell you the message that you have endorsed through the video. You have supported individuals who belong to organizations who have intimate links with ‘Urban Naxals’. You have whitewashed the crimes they are accused of as mere ‘dissent’. Mr Shah, inciting violence, fueling caste war and plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister of the country is not mere ‘dissent’. Any person with the IQ of a two-year-old baboon understands this. But you are an actor, so I guess you could be forgiven for not understanding it.

What you cannot be forgiven for is associating yourself with an organization that does not have India’s best interests at heart. What you cannot be forgiven for is joining forces with an organization that is alleged to have broken the laws of the country. What you cannot be forgiven for is assisting them in their attempts to cover up their alleged crimes. You are propagating the worst kind of fear-mongering to help alleged criminals escape the consequences of their actions. That is something that you cannot be forgiven for.

Your conduct in the past leaves little doubt about your political inclinations. You were one of the ’eminent’ people who signed Yakub Memon’s mercy petition, the same person who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. Relax, I am not calling you an ‘anti-national’, I am merely informing people of your history in the public sphere.

I know how people from your camp will react to the words I have penned in my letter to you. I will be called a bigot, a troll, a hatemonger. You see, Mr Shah merely because of my political opinions, people from your camp will not hesitate to demonize me even though I am just an ordinary citizen who tries to lead an honest life.

I will be accused of being a ‘Bhakt’ and people like you will blame me and others like me for ‘rising intolerance’. But guess what? I am not the one helping alleged criminals whitewash their crimes. I am not the one whitewashing the alleged crimes of ‘Urban Naxals’ as mere dissent. I did not even sign the mercy petition of a dreaded terrorist. If all of this makes me a ‘Bhakt’, then yes, I am one. Not of Narendra Modi although I do support him but of my nation and the Gods of my ancestors.

Sabarimala: BJP MP’s house, RSS office in Kannur attacked, allegedly by CPIM goons

OpIndia Staff
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Sabarimala: BJP MP’s house, RSS office in Kannur attacked, allegedly by CPIM goons

A country-made bomb was hurled at BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP V Muraleedharan’s ancestral house at Vadiyil Peedikia near Thalassery and an RSS office in Kannur was set ablaze by unknown assailants. The two incidents took place on the morning of 5 January and are reportedly executed by ruling government’s CPI(M) workers.

Yesterday, the house of an elderly RSS Sanghsanchalak too was also ransacked allegedly by CPIM goons.


According to reports, the attack at MP’s house and RSS headquarters, came after unidentified assailants attacked the houses of CPI(M) MLA A.N. Shamseer and the party’s former Kannur district secretary, P. Sasi.

MV V Muralidharan’s sister, brother-in-law and their daughter were reportedly present in the house when it was attacked. However, no one has been injured during the attacks, MP V Muraleedharan told media. The MP earlier had labelled the women activists, who entered the temple, as Maoists, and had alleged that they were backed by the communist government of Kerela.

“Yesterday two women entered Sabarimala Temple. They were not devotees. They were Maoists, Naxals. CPM with selected policemen prepared an action plan and then saw to it that the women go inside the temple.” the MP was quoted by media reports.

Kerela is currently witnessing massive protests and clashes after the communist government in Kerala secretly escorted their women activists belonging to the restricted age group inside the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Ayyapa at Sabarimala temple. This has led to arrests of around 1700 people throughout the state, for allegedly instigating violence.

Earlier this month, CPI(M) workers had pelted stones at the members of the Sabarimala Karma Samithi from the rooftop of the party office building. Chandran Unnithaan, a  55-year-old resident of Koorambala was grievously injured in the stone pelting and subsequently succumbed to it.

Vijay Mallya declared fugitive economic offender, properties can now be confiscated

OpIndia Staff
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Vijay Mallya declared fugitive economic offender, properties can now be confiscated

A special PMLA court in Mumbai has today declared liquor tycoon and former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallya as a fugitive economic offender. As per reports, his properties can now be confiscated by the Government of India.


As per reports, the PMLA court has also refused Mallya’s petition to stay the order so he can get some time for an appeal.

The petition to declare Mallya a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 was submitted by the Enforcement Directorate last month.

As per reports, today’s court order also mentions that the court will decide on the list of assets to be confiscated on a later date.

This is the second major blow to the billionaire liquor tycoon after a court in the UK ordered his extradition to India last month. Mallya had left India in March last month and is wanted by Indian authorities for defaulting on loans taken from a consortium of Indian banks to the tunes of 9000 crores.

After the middleman in the AgustaWestland case, Christian Michel was extradited to India from UAE last month, Mallya had also offered that he is willing to pay back the entire principal amount of the loan.

Mallya is wanted by the CBI and the ED for cases of loan default and money laundering. Mallya has been maintaining that he is ‘willing to pay the money’ but also has been insisting that he is not a defaulter.

Mallya had earlier even claimed that he did not ‘flee’ the country in 2016 but went abroad to ‘attend a meeting’. The Enforcement Directorate rubbished that claim and stated that nobody goes to attend a meeting with 300 bags and cargo in tow.

Attention Faye D’ Souza: For a lesser ‘communal’ tweet, a star chef was sacked in Dubai

Ashish Shukla
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Attention Faye D’ Souza: For a lesser ‘communal’ tweet, a star chef was sacked in Dubai

This is a piece about a cartoon and an anchor. Both are interchangeable: a cartoon could be an anchor; an anchor could be a cartoon. Both could invite ridicule and stay unrepentant.

On Friday (January 4, 2019) Times of India published a cartoon (see picture above). It mocked Hindus for stopping menstruating women from entering the Sabarimala temple. A priest is seen invoking Gods to “do away” with “menstruating unclean women.” Gods ask “With retrospective effect?” The priest says “yes.”  Next, “poof” the priest is smoked out of existence (since all of us come from a woman’s womb).


We would come to this misinformation on “Sabarimala and menstruating women” in a bit. First, I would like you to look at the picture again. “Teeheeheee” is “Ha Ha” in the dictionary. It means uncontrollable joy. Utter joy, as Faye D’ Souza, must have seen, at the “stupidity” of Hindus who are fighting for their right worship as they believe in one shrine of Sabarimala. That Faye is a Christian, it carried communal tones. Times of India might have been the original “communal” instigator but Faye was no less in her contempt for Hindus. She is lucky she is in India where Hindu majority are tolerant beyond belief. A Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar was sacked by his hotel employers in Dubai for his “anti-Islamic tweet” recently. JW Marriott sacked Kochhar on fear of hurting “local” sentiments—and their profits–in the Islamic state. Kochhar’s tweet–admonishing actress Priyanka Chopra for ignoring Islamic excesses in India—was honey compared to Faye D’ Souza’s poison-dipped tweet.

Anyway, what caught my eye was a surgical tweet by the editor of OpIndia, Nupur J. Sharma: “Don’t think people who believe in virgin birth should be talking about menstruating women. No?” (image below)

Some scholarly tweets were no less devastating. A tweet handle (see image below) quoted The Bible (The Book of Leviticus: 15: 19-30) to show what Christianity thought of menstruating women.

Another tweet quoted The Book of Ezekiel 36: 17 (Hebrew Bible), to stress the point of how Christianity viewed menstruating women (see image below).

I checked up on Islam. This is what it says on menstruating women doing prayers: “It is haraam for a menstruating woman to pay both obligatory and naafil prayers, and they are not valid if she does them. She does not have to do a particular prayer unless she was pure or became pure with enough time to perform a complete rak’ah, in which case she has to do the prayer, whether it is at the beginning of the time for it or at the end.”

Another one:

“In al-Saheehayn it is also narrated from Umm ‘Atiyyah that she heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “Let the girls who have attained puberty, women in seclusion and menstruating women go out – i.e., to the Eid prayer – and witness good and the gathering of the believers. But let the menstruating women avoid the prayer place.”

The instances above are not meant to say that menstruating women are unclean. It’s that most religious texts have a similar opinion on them. It now brings me to the “Sabarimala and menstruating women” bit and the “misinformation” propaganda on it.

The Sabarimala deity Ayyappa has other temples at Kulathupuzha, Aryankavu, Achankovil where he exists as a child, as a married person with a wife and as an ascetic. There are no restrictions on the entry of women in these temples. In Sabarimala, Ayyapa is present in the form of Naishtika Brahmachari (celibacy). According to the rule of Naishtika Brahmacharya, its practitioners besides celibacy are also required to maintain absolute restraint over all their senses—including non-contact with women, especially of reproductive age.

One of the beauties of Hinduism is that it allows everybody to follow whatever route or faith they believe it. The truth is one but the routes are limitless. It has millions of Gods because a devotee could choose his own way for “moksha.’ Hinduism thus accords a similar space and respect to Islam and Christianity.

To hold Hinduism as practising gender inequality is rotten propaganda. All rituals must be done with your wife beside you. Mahakali, Mahalaxmi, Maheshwari are all manifestations of how Hindus treat its women. All its gods are shown together with their wives—Sita-Ram, Shankar-Parvati etc. Why, it’s even Mother India (Bharat Maa) when Hindus mention their motherland. “Vandematram” is another one proof.

It’s been nearly 48 hours. Neither Faye D’ Souza has issued an apology or deleted her tweet. Times of India too hasn’t shown remorse on the offensive cartoon. This impudence flourishes because majority Hindus of this country are liberal to a fault.

Rajasthan: Congress MLA declares he will not work for Dalit villagers as they did not vote for him

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Congress MLA declares he will not work for Dalit villagers as they did not vote for him

A video has gone viral on social media, in which a Congress MLA from Rajasthan Johri Lal Meena is seen reprimanding Dalit voters of his constituency, for not voting for him during assembly elections. Johri Lal Meena is an MLA from Alwar’s Rajgarh-Lakshamngad constituency and was addressing residents of Barela village.


”If a buffalo doesn’t give milk, no one feeds it. Similarly, if a son doesn’t work, then why should a father take care of him?” Meena is seen saying in the video. He also cited poll results of booth number 204 and 205 and said that from their booth he got fewer votes than BSP’s Banna Ram and BJP’s Vijay Madi.

”I am taking this poll results to every village I am going. Rajputs did not vote for us, that is fine, as Congress indeed snatched their rights. But the SC/ST people have received many favours from the party, why haven’t they voted then?” the MLA reportedly added. He then said that how can they expect work from him when they have voted in favour of BSP,  and added they should be ashamed of it. After his speech, many locals criticised the MLA and also raised slogans against him.

This outrageous speech by a Congress leader is not limited to this. Mamta Bhupesh, the recently sworn in women and child development minister in Rajasthan’s Congress government had declared in a public event that her first duty is towards her caste, and then to the society.

 Congress had won the largest number of seats in the recent assembly elections in the state and formed the government with Ashok Gehlot as the CM.
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