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Minority scholarships for MPhil and PhD scholars increased from 756 last year to 1,000 by UGC

K Bhattacharjee
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Minority scholarships for MPhil and PhD scholars increased from 756 last year to 1,000 by UGC

The Central Government has increased the number of slots under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) to 1000 from 756 the previous year. The scholarships are available to students from minority students only.

The scholarship provides incentives to students from minority communities to pursue their MPhil or PhD from government recognised universities. The students have to clear NET or JRF to be eligible and they may be provided with a complete fee waiver and stipend.

Junior Research scholars under the scholarship will receive a monthly stipend of ₹25,000, ₹1,000 as contingency grant and an allowance for house rent between ₹2,000 to ₹6,000. Senior research scholars will receive a monthly stipend of ₹28,000, a contingency grant of ₹2,000 and a house rent allowance between ₹2,200 and ₹6,700.

“The effort is to facilitate the education of deserving candidates from all sections,” a UGC official told Hindustan Times. Interested candidates can apply for the scholarships till the 31st of December, 2018.

There was some confusion regarding the initial notification by the UGC. It had mentioned only UGC NET and CSIR NET December 2017 and June 2018 as the qualifying criteria, the new notification, however, does not mention it. The new notification states,  “All candidates who belong to one of the minority communities i.e. Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Christian and Jain and who are enrolled for full-time MPhil / Ph.D degree in Indian Universities/ Institutions/ Colleges recognized under Section 2(f) and Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956 and CBSE/NTA-UGC-NET/JRF or CSIR-NET/JRF may apply.”

Are progressives normalising paedophilia? 11 year old dances at a gay bar while adults throw money at him

K Bhattacharjee
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Are progressives normalising paedophilia? 11 year old dances at a gay bar while adults throw money at him

On the 1st of December, an 11-year old kid, dressed in drag attire, danced in a sexually provocative manner at a gay bar in New York called ‘3 Dollars Bill’, the Daily Wire has reported. The matter was first raised by YouTuber Yosef Ozia of Ozia Media.

The media outlet reported, “The child, Desmond Napoles, was dressed as a Gwen Stefani-lookalike — full drag makeup, a blonde wig, and crop top included — as he bounced around onstage to No Doubt’s “Like a Girl” and collected dollar bills from male adults viewing the number.”

People on Twitter were horrified at the exploitation of the child by his parents. The child’s parents are being accused of brainwashing him to benefit themselves financially.


Some have also called it ‘criminal’ on the part of the parents.


People also pointed out the duplicity of the mainstream narrative. They said that if it were a little girl at a bar who dressed in such a manner and had money thrown at her by straight males, there would be immediate arrests.


The mainstream media has long promoted Desmond as an inspirational figure and branded his parents as ‘progressive heroes’. To anyone who still has a brain, the entire charade reeks of paedophilia.

We have earlier reported on the attempts to normalize paedophilia in the West. In an independently organized TEDx event in Germany, the speaker painted paedophiles as victims and asserted that they deserve ‘acceptance’.

There have also been attempts by certain sections of the LGBT community to expand the eternally growing set of letters in the acronym to include ‘P’ for Pedophilia. Thus far, it has not found acceptance within the mainstream community.

However, ‘Drag Kids’ have widespread acceptance in the community, a phenomenon that is deeply problematic. Kids are also being encouraged to receive hormone therapy before reaching adolescence merely because they ‘feel’ they were born in the ‘wrong body’. The ‘feelings’ may well be temporary but hormone therapy is permanent and there’s no going back from it.

The developments ought to concern us in India as well considering the fact that Indian liberalism is Western Progressivism with a time lag. The ideas that gain prominence in the West are automatically applied to the Indian context by liberals here. We saw that with the ‘Blacks Live Matter’ narrative which was transported to and furthered by hard-line Leftist under the banner of ‘Dalit Lives Matter’. The concept of ‘White Supremacy’ was applied as ‘Brahmin Supremacy’. Progressivism considers White Males to be the root of all problems while in India, liberals demonize Brahmin males.

Therefore, the normalization of paedophilia in the West ought to concern us all.

Pakistan has something in abundance that China needs desperately – Donkeys

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan has something in abundance that China needs desperately – Donkeys

What can Pakistan give to the world? No, we are not talking about terrorism, that’s a terrible joke. We are talking about a proper, legal tradable commodity.

Actually, Pakistan is not that hopeless, it is among notable exporters of agricultural produce like mangoes and rice, and it exports sports goods like footballs. However, most of these exports are to the European countries, USA, or the Gulf nations, while Pakistan imports a whole lot of things from China.

With such a huge imbalance in the trade deficit, what can Pakistan really give to China so that it doesn’t become a colony of China? Pakistan seems to have found a solution.

Donkeys!

Yes, this year, Pakistan has seen a huge growth in the donkey population, with the local media priding itself that the country is now in the top three nations as far as the donkey population is concerned. It should be noted that in terms of human population, which also grows really fast in Pakistan, Pakistan is at number 6, but in terms of donkeys, it is now at number 3. Admirable achievement.

So, what caused donkeys to breed faster than humans in Pakistan?

No, donkeys were not watching ‘donkey porn’ and getting horny, though Pakistan tops in such internet searches too. Donkeys don’t have internet access in Pakistan, at least literally.

It appears that donkeys could breed fast in Pakistan because China needs them to!

In 2017, it was reported that China faces a shortage of donkeys, and in 2018, we get the news that Pakistan has broken into the top 3 countries having donkeys. Dost ho toh aisa! 

And if you thought it was just a coincidence, no. China and Pakistan are actually working on a project that aims to breed donkeys.

China needs donkeys because of the same reason China needs almost all animals in the world. To make some exotic medicine. In this case, it is an ancient medicine called E’jiao. The Chinese believe that this medicine works wonders. In 2nd century BC, a royal concubine apparently used E’jiao to prevent her miscarriage and her son became the emperor of China.

E’jiao is made by boiling donkey skin. China reportedly had the world’s largest donkey herd until 3 decades ago. But the growing demand for E’jiao saw most donkeys in China being skinned and boiled, and it now faces an acute donkey shortage.

Apart from ivory, rhino horns, tigers and pangolins, donkeys were being killed with fervor to meet China’s demand that over the years, many countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Botswana have incurred ban on slaughter and export of donkey skins.

Pakistan, however, has quickly risen to meet China’s demand. So much so that with the ongoing CPEC, 80,000 donkeys are to be exported to China per year, thanks to China-assisted breeding programmes in Pakistan, their officials had announced last year.

So Pakistan started breeding donkeys with Chinese help recently and within barely a year, the donkey-breeding programme has met with spectacular success.

Pakistan also loves donkeys because there is a domestic market for donkeys too. Donkeys are used widely for transportation in Pakistan, and they are part of the local culture with donkey cart races being a popular sport. Donkeys are also safer than other animals in Pakistan, because many Islamic scholars believe that eating donkeys is haram.

Now it seems that donkeys are all set to become a major tool of diplomacy too. Many experts have often argued that Pakistan will become a colony of China due to huge debts the Islamic country is poised to create after trade deficit and big investments by China. How Pakistan keeps crying about ‘human rights abuses by India’ in Kashmir but keeps quiet about Chinese treatment to local Muslims, including wives of Pakistani men, is an example of that process of becoming a colony of China.

We hope that Pakistan can breed so many donkeys that it repays the Chinese loan and finds the tongue to talk about Chinese aggression.

And before it is able to do either of the above, please watch this video where a Pakistani reporter is riding a donkey, and talking about the achievements of Pakistan in the donkey sector:


So enthusiastic are Pakistanis about the prospects of donkey selling that the reporter is barely able to sit still on the poor animal’s back. The last time a Pakistani reporter showed such dedication in his job, he inspired a character in Salman Khan’s movie Bajrangi Bhaijan, let us hope our belligerent neighbour breeds so many donkeys that it finds better livelihoods for their population. One day, Bollywood may be inspired to make a movie based on two donkey breeding lovers going to China.

2012 defamation case: Summons to Smriti Irani quashed, no relief for Sanjay Nirupam

OpIndia Staff
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2012 defamation case: Summons to Smriti Irani quashed, no relief for Sanjay Nirupam

The Delhi High Court today allowed the petition of Union Minister Smriti Irani seeking quashing of summons filed against her by Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam. However, no such relief was given to Nirupam.

In 2012, foul mouthed Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam had reportedly made a sexist remark against Irani during a debate on a news channel. He had said that Irani used to charge money to dance on television before becoming an election analyst.

Following this, Irani had filed a defamation case against Nirupam and the Congress leader had followed it up by filing a criminal defamation case against her, wherein he alleged that she had defamed him by casting direct aspersions against his character.

Irani has also alleged that Nirpuam had continued making derogatory comments against her like, “Iss aurat ko Supreme Court jaane ka shauk hai” (this woman is fond of going to Supreme Court).

In July this year, Irani had demanded a trial against Nirupam instead of accepting just apology for the same. Despite the defamation case against him, Nirupam continued his spree of sexist and defamatory statements. In April, the Congress leader had tweeted an extremely misogynist and condescending tweet referring to Irani as ‘Bahurani’ (daughter in law), which seems like a reference to very popular serial starring Irani, ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

Incidentally, Smriti Irani isn’t the only public figure who has been at the receiving end of Nirupam’s derogatory statements. Post the Karnataka elections Nirupam had cooked up a storm after he equated to Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala with a dog.

Charity needn’t necessarily begin at home – it can just as well end at home too

rohitagarwal
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Charity needn’t necessarily begin at home – it can just as well end at home too

In a dark cave on Akbar Hill near the great Raisina mountains sat the wizened mendicant of the grand old party. His eyes deep shut and lips muttering divine incantations to the Gandhis gone by, some of who’s coteries he had been an active member. His reverie was disturbed by the approach of two old-guard leaders, but he continued without paying any apparent heed to them. The old-guardsmen entered the cave silently, placed the gifts of bottled distillates from far off Scottish shores down on the floor and sat at the mendicant’s feet, patiently waiting to be acknowledged.

“Om Jawaharayeh Namah! Om Indirayey Namah! Om Rajeevayeh Namah! Om Soniayeh Namah!” he went on and on, his fingers counting the beads of his rosary furiously. When finally he was done with his mandated invocations, he opened his eyes and looked at his visitors. They stood and approached him, waiting to be addressed.

“I know why you are here.” The mendicant finally broke his silence. “Of course you know you old fool. It’s all over the papers” thought one of the guardsmen, but instead of verbalising his thoughts, bowed his head and said, “you’re truly antaryami (all-knowing) maharaj”.

“You’re worried about being pipped to the post by the upstart young Turks. If the CM’s chair in your respective states goes to these minor dynasts, your career is as good as over.” The mendicant summed up their dilemma, as both of them nodded vigorously. “I believe the cave next to mine is available.” He teased them.

But looking at their crestfallen faces, he assured them “I have the answer to your problems.” He looked down sneeringly at the gifts they had brought – his look was worth a thousand words. “Please help us Maharaj” one of them begged, “and we will shower you with choicest of favours from our state governments for your kith, kin and followers.”

“The answer is staring at your face”, the mendicant said, the wisdom gleaned from 60 years of misrule shining on his face. “Farm loan waivers.” He said.

Seeing the quizzical looks on the guardsmen’s faces, he elaborated with the air of an indulgent parent talking to a less than an intelligent child. “You know the cash crunch we are facing after demonetisation. With parliamentary elections just six months away, the best way to ensure the Chief Ministerial slot for yourselves is to promise to contribute 1,000 Crore each to the party coffers for elections.” Seeing the worried looks on their faces, the mendicant explained, “Not difficult at all. It’s a tried and tested formula of the party. Here is how it works.”

The old guardsmen, though being seasoned veterans themselves, were nowhere near the mendicant when it came to experience in such matters. They drew closer and listened on raptly as he explained. “Tell the party president you will each contribute Rs 1,000 Crore to the party funds if you are made CM. Then, immediately on taking over, announce waiver of farm loans in your respective states. The outstanding loans are over 56,000 Crores in your state, and 90,000 Crore in yours.” He rattled out the figures effortlessly, pointing to each aspirant in turn.

“Yes, but how will farmers not paying back their loans bring money into our party fund?” One of them asked. Giving him a look of utter contempt, the mendicant replied, “What have you been doing for all these years in the party. I am tempted to call up ma’am and tell her of your ignorance.” But then his gaze fell on the bottled gifts and he softened. “Listen carefully.” He said, “If you’re a farmer owing 2 Lakhs to the government, won’t you rather pay 20,000 to your local leader and get the entire amount waived?”

Both nodded in unison. “So once the loan waivers are announced, our collection machinery will kick in. Your offices will instruct the concerned banks to take orders from the party functionary in their areas. Loans of each farmer will be waived only after it’s cleared by him. Of course, it will be cleared only and only if the farmer has paid 10% of the loan to us. So the potential for collection is between 6,000 to 9,000 crores in your states. You will have enough left over to plan your own futures after giving the promised sums to the party fund.”

The old-guardsmen were awestruck with the brilliance of the whole scheme. The farmers would happily pay 10% to the party to avoid paying the rest of it to the bank. The losses will be borne by the ‘state’, or the taxpayers – who don’t come out and vote in any case. And the party will ensure there’s enough money flowing into their coffers for fighting elections. Hands folded, they rose, then bowed to touch the mendicant’s feet before leaving.

And so they were sworn in, over the heads of the obvious choices, to keep the party traditions alive and kicking. Charity needn’t necessarily begin at home – it can just as well end at home too.

Rajasthan: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a major bureaucratic rejig transfers 40 IAS officers

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a major bureaucratic rejig transfers 40 IAS officers

The newly elected Rajasthan government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in its first bureaucratic reshuffle has transferred 40 IAS and 8 Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officers on Tuesday evening.

According to the reports, IAS officer of 1994 batch Kuldeep Ranka, who was earlier the principal secretary for tourism and forest, has now been appointed as principal secretary to the chief minister. He has replaced Tanmay Kumar, who has been shunted out of chief minister’s office (CMO) and posted as Commissioner, command area development in Bikaner. Ashok Gehlot had frequently criticised Kumar by referring to him as the “de-facto chief minister” of the state.

Gehlot has also promoted four IAS to secretaries and has appointed them in the CMO to assist him. Ranka would be assisted by secretary Ajitabh Sharma and two joint secretaries Arti Dogra and Rajan Vishal. Eight RAS officers have also been brought to the CMO as joint secretaries and OSD. Ajitabh Sharma and Rajan Vishal have been appointed as secretary and joint secretary to the chief minister.

Addition to that, additional chief secretary, excise and taxation, Mukesh Sharma, has been appointed as chairman of the Revenue Board in Ajmer, and additional chief secretary Rajeeva Swarup, will be taking charge of the home department from the department of industries while Veenu Gupta is the new additional chief secretary, PWD.

Sudarshan Sethi will now be additional chief secretary forest and environment and mines, Giriraj Singh has been appointed as chairman of the Rajasthan Civil Services Appellate Tribunal. Dr Subodh Agarwal has been appointed as additional chief secretary industries and DMIC, the release said.

Shashi Tharoor alleges the Triple Talaq bill violates the constitution. Here is how he is wrong

Aditi
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Shashi Tharoor alleges the Triple Talaq bill violates the constitution. Here is how he is wrong

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 popularly known as the Triple Talaq Bill, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid opposition from several parties. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor opposed the Bill saying that it was targeting a certain religion and therefore is unconstitutional under Article 15 and 16.

“An attempt at creating a class-specific legislation on the grounds of religion. Instead of focusing on the larger issue of mistreatment and desertion of wives and dependents, which affects all communities, this bill is couched in terms of a specific religion. Therefore it is a violation Article 15 and 16 of the Constitution,” he said. “The bill has no procedural safeguards to prevent its misuse. It is therefore manifestly arbitrary, and therefore is a violation of Articles 14 (Equality before law) and 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution,” he further added.

“And finally, the Parliament does not have the legislative competence to enact any law which is inconsistent with Part III of the Constitution in light of Article 13(2). So I do believe that the bill is a misconceived bill that should not be brought to the House. I do not believe that Parliament has the competence to enact such a bill,” he said.

Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad argued in the favour of the Bill that “despite the Supreme Court’s order making Triple Talaq [instant divorce] illegal, there is rampant use of instant triple talaq against women. We have discussed and thought about the issue and decided to bring the bill. There is a penal provision in the bill but we have improved it.”

Tharoor has termed the Bill a ‘class legislation” and hence a violation of Article 14. Article 14 prohibits improper discrimination by conferring particular privileges or imposing liabilities on an arbitrarily selected class of persons. However, the provision permits reasonable classification for the purpose of achieving specific ends. The Supreme Court has in a number of cases laid down the criteria to determine whether a piece of legislation is class legislation or not. The test says that-

  1. The classification must be based on intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group.
  2. The differentia must have rational relation with the object to be achieved by the legislation.

Here in the case of the Triple Talaq Bill, the Supreme Court set aside the practice of Triple Talaq declaring it unconstitutional. It also directed the Government to consider an appropriate legislation with reference to Talaq-e-Biddat or Tripple Talaq.

The Bill was drafted following the directions of the Supreme Court to address the social evil of Triple Talaq which ruined the lives of women Muslim women for years. Here the class concerned is an already existing class i.e. the Muslim community and the object to be achieved is the abolition of the evil practice of Triple Talaq prevalent in the community. So the legislation is not at all creating a new class, it is only addressing a problem pertaining to an already existing class. Therefore Tharoor’s argument of calling the Bill as a class legislation does not hold water.

So far as the question of the Bill being violative of Articles 15 or 16 is concerned, for the reason of being discriminatory on the ground of religion, it is definitely not so. In a case where a problem pertains to a certain community, the legislation seeking to address the problem will inevitably apply to the community. An example of such a legislation can be the Bengal Sati Regulation 1829 which addressed the social evil of Sati (immolation of a Hindu widow on the funeral pyre of her husband) and made it illegal. While Article 15 prevents gender discrimination, it also empowers the legislature to make special provision for women and children. The Triple Talaq Bill being an effort in the direction of the empowerment of Muslim women has the support of this provision. Article 16 on the other hand, does not come into the picture at all as it refers to equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

Tharoor has also said that there was no need of criminalising an act which is already null and void by virtue of the judgment of the court. As was mentioned in the Preamble to the Triple Talaq Ordinance 2018, that despite the Supreme Court declaring the practice of Triple Talaq as unconstitutional, the cases of Triple Talaq are still continuing unabated. In such a situation, it becomes necessary to instill the fear of law in the hearts of offenders because of whom the Muslim women continue to suffer. There were reports on how Muslim women are still being humiliated at the hands of their husbands who continue to use triple talaq as a weapon of subjugation against them even after the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 was introduced.

Tharoor, who is an accused in his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s murder case, seems to be more worried about the rights of the men who practice Triple Talaq than the women whose life as well as dignity is compromised because of such practices.

2018 loss, 2019 victory, Sabarimala, Ayodhya and Rafale: Amit Shah’s tell all at Republic Summit

OpIndia Staff
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2018 loss, 2019 victory, Sabarimala, Ayodhya and Rafale: Amit Shah’s tell all at Republic Summit

Speaking at Republic Summit 2018, BJP national president Amit Shah on Wednesday expressed his confidence that NDA alliance will be back in power by securing a comfortable majority in the 2019 general elections. Dismissing the impact of the recent assembly election losses on the Lok Sabha elections, Amit Shah said that recent elections were not favourable for the party but they do not set a precedent for the 2019 general elections.

In his first interaction with the media since the results of elections were announced on December 11, Shah said that the BJP will introspect the reverses it faced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and it is necessary not only for him but for the people that BJP wins the 2019 polls in the Hindi heartland and rest of the country.

Amit Shah said the Lok Sabha elections are different from state elections and in 2019 elections will be fought on the basis of leadership capabilities. Responding to issue of ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’, Amit Shah said that the fight of the BJP is against the Congress party and will ensure that the party defeats the Congress in the general elections as it did in 2014.

He further added that BJP has not lost its vote base in the Hindi heartland despite the reverses it faced and expressed confidence in securing more seats in the next elections. “It is our duty to work for the people and convince them, but if the mandate is against us we accept that too,” said Shah while reacting regarding the issue of failure to win despite huge rallies and campaign in the recent elections.

Referring to the idea of Mahagathbandhan and the idea of opposition parties to unite against the BJP as an ‘illusion’, Amit Shah said the impact of regional leaders on the national politics is ineffective, as the grand alliance offer neither leadership nor stable government unlike BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The reality of opposition mahagathbandhan or grand alliance is different. It doesn’t exist and is a bhram (illusion),” Shah said. He added “Mahagathbandhan does not exist anywhere. We have fought against all of them in 2014 and defeated them to form a govt. They are all regional leaders, they can’t help each other.”

Amit Shah further said that his party will never indulge in vote bank politics, appeasement or casteism to secure victory in electoral politics. He said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be fought on the issues of leadership and strength of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We fight our elections on the strength of PM Narendra Modi, not on the weakness of other,” expressed BJP President.

Shah expressed his hope of winning more seats from West Bengal, North-East and Odisha in 2019. He said BJP will win in more than half of total seats from the West Bengal and said will increase its tally in southern states, where the party does not have a strong presence.

Assuring that the Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhya, he said they will wait for the Supreme Court to hear the issue in January and decide on the further course of action after the Supreme Court takes a decision on the issue. Rejecting any dispute with Shiv Sena on the issue of Ram Mandir, he said both Shiv Sena and BJP are on the same page regarding the issue of Ram Mandir, as both parties want a temple to built at the historic site.

“We are ready to wait till January for the Supreme Court hearings on Ayodhya. If day-to-day hearings happen, the matter can be resolved in 10 days,” said the BJP supremo.

Speaking on the issue of Sabarimala, Amit Shah said, “Sabarimala is not about gender indiscrimination, it’s about a belief. There are many such issues where judicial reviews are not possible, it should be left to the people.”

He also said that Triple Talaq is a social issue and not a religious issue. He said it is time that India’s Muslim women get justice, hence the party decided to bring in an ordinance on Triple Talaq. Now it’s on the Opposition to decided whether to support it or not in the Parliament, said Amit Shah.

He slammed the Congress for misleading the nation on the issue of Rafale deal. “They have tried to mislead the nation on Rafale, they should apologise to the forces and people. After the Supreme Court’s verdict, it’s our right to say the truth,”, said Shah.

Here is why Congress finds it convenient to paint UP and Bihar as burdens

Nirwa Mehta
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Here is why Congress finds it convenient to paint UP and Bihar as burdens

If you thought the Congress leader who is now the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh allegedly leading a mob and setting Gurudwara Rakabganj on fire and killing of two Sikhs was a thing of past, you may want to think again. It has been 34 years since the carnage and if history is to bear witness, the Gandhis and their loyalists don’t take very kindly to those who either don’t vote for them or those who don’t show the same level of reverence to the political Czars as the others.

Soon after swearing in as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Nath announced that the scheme for providing incentives of investment will be imposed only after 70% of youth from Madhya Pradesh get employment.


“People from other states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh come here & local people don’t get jobs,” Nath said while addressing the media after taking the oath. If he were to stick to his words, he should give up his chair of chief minister since as someone born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, he is taking a job a local could’ve done.

Nath, born in Uttar Pradesh, studied in St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, West Bengal and having the business interest through wife Alka and sons Nakul and Bakul are spread across the country. They control companies across sectors like real estate, aviation, plantation and hospitality.

Kamal Nath, who is now the CM of Madhya Pradesh is a thorough Congress loyalist. Just like Ashok Gehlot who used to amusingly show magic tricks to Rahul Gandhi earlier. Kamal Nath the loyalist had allegedly told RV Mani that several others are willing to drink Rahul Gandhi’s urine. This was said in a bid to castigate Mani for now bowing to pressure in implicating Narendra Modi in the Hindu terror narrative. Kamal Nath, the eternal loyalist who is alleged to have played an active role in the 1984 pogrom where Sikhs were captured, burnt and murdered (all because Indira Gandhi’s assassin was a Sikh) has not turned his attention to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Born in Uttar Pradesh himself, he is not very happy about UP and Bihar “migrants” in Madhya Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have abandoned the Congress and especially, the Gandhis. There has not been a Congress CM in these two states since 1989. Kamal Nath, almost a Gandhi family heirloom is bound to be upset with the two states that the scions have been unable to shake even after their best efforts.

During the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, one recalls how Rahul Gandhi embraced Akhilesh Yadav and called himself a “UP ka ladka”. But BJP swept those polls and now, suddenly, Kamal Nath has no qualms calling UP and Bihar residents as ‘outsiders’.

In the end, it is evident that Congress and its loyalists have absolutely no qualms deriding an entire state and creating a divide as long as their electoral purposes are served.

And while Congress uses and throws every state, the regional players of UP and Bihar have been pandering to them one way or another for their own electoral gains.

In Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly elections, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had not formed a pre-poll alliance with Congress. However, after the elections, both extended their support to Congress because their ultimate goal was to defeat the BJP. BSP chief Mayawati had said that in as many words.

In Uttar Pradesh now, it is emerging that SP, BSP and Congress are all set to fool the public again. There appears to be a concerted effort to indulge in shadow boxing so BSP can consolidate Dalit votes, SP can consolidate Yadav and Muslim votes and Congress can split the upper-caste votes of BJP.

We may outrage on social media, accusing Congress of dividing India on regional lines, the ‘Opposition’ is united, busy dividing India on caste lines. SP and BSP and RJD are much stronger on their own in UP and Bihar. Forging an alliance with Congress has cost them two states. In 2019 they are wiser. While rabble-rousers like Kamal Nath hit out at UP and Bihar, Congress and regional players are busy putting up a show to fool its public into voting for the ‘mahagathbandhan’ that will pretend to be divided but come together for a post-poll alliance after 2019 elections.

So while Kamal Nath plays the region card, Akhilesh and Mayawati ‘appear’ upset to appeal to their voters only to join hands with Congress after elections are over.

A tale of two mobs: Rioting mob in Bulandshahr does not garner media sympathy, but in Kashmir it does

Nirwa Mehta
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A tale of two mobs: Rioting mob in Bulandshahr does not garner media sympathy, but in Kashmir it does

Early morning on Saturday, 15th December, supporters of terrorists clashed with security forces after an encounter and in retaliatory action, ‘civilians’ were killed. According to Kashmir Police, “While the operation was going on, a crowd who came dangerously close from different parts to the encounter site got injured.” This encounter also killed 3 terrorists including one Abdul Majid Thoker who had deserted the Army last year to join the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit.

Former DGP of Kashmir, Shesh Paul Vaid tweeted his anguish at the lost lives.


He explained that ‘civilians’ are constantly instigated by terrorists and their masters across the border in Pakistan to reach such encounter sites and disrupt the operations by pelting stones. Such people then, unfortunately, get caught in the crossfire and precious lives are lost.

The deaths of those killed get tremendous media sympathy, with the narrative being the retaliatory firing being ‘mindless killing’.


Sympathy for those ‘civilians’ killed flowed from all quarters for them.


Including from across the border.


So did anger for the security forces.

The ‘other’ mob

Barely fifteen days back, a stray bullet from a Policeman’s gun killed a 17-year-old boy in Chingrawati village of Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh. The boy, Sumit’s parents were inconsolable as they recounted how their young son had just gone to the bus stop to drop off his friend and was at a wrong place at a wrong time when the bullet from Inspector Subodh Singh’s pistol killed him. Inspector Singh was later killed in mob violence, the investigation of which is being carried out by an SIT.

As soon as the news broke of the incident, the sympathies were with the police officer here and 17-year-old Sumit was painted as a violent 20-something stone-pelter who had political affiliations. Almost as if justifying his killing by Inspector Singh’s bullet. Inspector Singh was the only ‘victim’ for whom the hearts bled.


If a mob gathers in Uttar Pradesh, it absolutely cannot be a peaceful protest because a policeman (who first ‘accidentally shot’ an innocent civilian) got killed. But if a mob gathers in Kashmir, tries to disrupt encounter proceedings against terrorists, pelts stones at the security forces, and if retaliatory firing kills them, it is excessive use of force by the security forces.

Bulandshahr incident, just like the various incidents in Kashmir is not a stray incident. Horror stories of mob violence from Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh keep appearing even in mainstream media, but hardly any of these ‘mobs’ get any sympathy the way stone-pelters in the valley get. In fact, celebrity journalists some days wonder when would this ‘mob lynching madness’ stop.


but when mob pelts stones on security forces, they hardly ever condemn their actions.


Trolls with fictitious ‘sources’ masquerading as journalists too have a soft spot for stone-pelters.


But ‘lynching’ will stop only if police shoots at the mob.


Why the duality? Why, when both mobs are ‘angry civilians’, the so-called liberals demonise one but empathise with the other? Why is an angry gau rakshak mocked, ridiculed for protesting against killings of cows, but a Pakistan sponsored ‘protesting mob’ which takes to stone-pelting at security forces garners empathy? Why the double standards? Why are some lives less equal than others?

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