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Indian Army gets a power boost with the induction of K9 Vajra and M 777 Howitzer

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Army gets a power boost with the induction of K9 Vajra and M 777 Howitzer

Enhancing its artillery capacity, the Indian Army inducted in its fleet artillery guns K9 Vajra and M777 howitzers on Friday. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat were present in the induction ceremony when the Army enlisted these fierce combat equipment in its armoury at Army’s Deolali artillery centre.


The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Anand, said to the media on Thursday that within 2 years till November 2020, 100 K9 Vajra guns will be included in the Army. By the end of next month, 10 batches of K9 Vajra guns will reach the artillery and 40 other guns will be included by November next year. While the remaining 50 guns will be available in November 2020. The production and induction of this warfare is a result of collaboration between India and South Korea under the former’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. It is being built by Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and South Korea’s Hanwha Tech Win (HTW).

Apart from this, the Army will also include a regiment of 145 M777 Howitzers guns. Five guns will be included in the Army arsenal at the beginning of August 2019. This process will take 24 months to complete. The first regiment will be completed in October next year. These 30-kilometre range artillery guns are highly mobile and could be transported from helicopters or aircraft to remote locations.


After almost 3 decades since Bofors, self-propelled howitzers will be inducted in the Indian Army arsenal. This highly potent 21st-century weapon can be used in different modes including the deep fire support as it has a longer firing range. It provides reliable fire support in all kinds of situations with its higher versatility and improved protection by the dint of its qualitative supremacy to overpower a numerical inferiority.

The first batch of the ‘Made in India’ K9 Vajra guns is being prepared by the Indian private sector for the first time. A full load of K9 Vajra is expected to be ready by July next year. The fire-range of these guns is 28-38 kilometres. This cannon can fire three consecutive rounds in just 30 seconds. In just 3 minutes it can fierce fire 15 rounds, while in 60 minutes it can shoot 60 rounds.

The K9 Vajra gun which is customised to fulfil Indian demands is a variant of K9 Thunder, the world’s best 155mm/52 Cal.SPH. Private defence equipment manufacturer L&T had won the bid in May 2017 to build 100 howitzers at a cost of nearly Rs 4,500 crore under the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. The guns will source about 50% of its components from India. This is one of the first defence programmes between India and South Korea and the two countries have already signed an Inter-Government MoU for collaboration in military vessel building.

“Enough funds available, claim and achieve target”: Centre to states on rural housing scheme

OpIndia Staff
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“Enough funds available, claim and achieve target”: Centre to states on rural housing scheme

The centre has urged 22 states and union territories to claim funds for the construction of houses under Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Grameen (PMAY-G) so that the target of building one crore houses can be achieved by March 31, 2019. According to a report published in the Economic Times, the government confirmed it has enough funds available to achieve the target.

The centre had set a revised aim, ending this year end for the rural development ministry, to accomplish the task, but judging from the progress, the Centre might be realising that it might be difficult for it to achieve the target.

So far, 56 lakh houses have been reportedly completed under the scheme while the final instalment has been released for 26 lakh houses. But most states have yet to claim full funds from the centre for 2017-18 and some even for 2016-17, triggering concern.

Expressing concern, the rural development ministry wrote to the 22 states and union territories. In its identical letters dated November 2, the ministry stated, “For smooth implementation of PMAY-G, timely flow of funds to the beneficiary is one of the prerequisites.” It furthered, “Non-availability of funds in the state nodal account might adversely affect the progress of construction of houses thereby impacting the timely achievement of the target of completion of one crore houses in the country. It is mentioned that sufficient funds are available at the ministry level to meet the demands of the states.”

Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Tamil Nadu are among the states, which have not yet met the targets set for them under the scheme.

The Bihar government, for example, has not submitted any proposal to claim funds for 2017-18 and has completed only 1.82 lakh houses so far against its allotted target of 11.76 lakh houses. Andhra Pradesh, against a target of 1.23 lakh houses, has completed only 28,000 houses so far. The Maharashtra government has completed 2.56 lakh houses out of its target of 4.5 lakh houses and not claimed money from the Centre since the second half of 2017-18. Similar is the case with Tamil Nadu, which has completed only 1.13 lakh houses out of its allotted target of 3.27 lakh houses.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is an initiative by the Government of India, launched in June 2015, in which affordable housing will be provided to the urban poor with a target of building 20 million affordable houses by 31 March 2022. It has two components: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY-U) for the urban poor and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Grameen0 for the Rural poor.

Navbharat Times claims Delhi air worsened ’77 times’ due to firecrackers during Diwali based on absurd data

OpIndia Staff
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Navbharat Times claims Delhi air worsened ’77 times’ due to firecrackers during Diwali based on absurd data

Navbharat Times published an article on the 9th of November, 2018 which claimed that firecrackers on Diwali have inflicted terrible damage to the air quality of Delhi. The headline of the article which reads, “बैन के बावजूद फोड़े 50 लाख किलो पटाखे, 77 गुना तक बढ़ा प्रदूषण” suggests that firecrackers increased the pollution levels by 77 times.

However, later in their own report, they claim that the Particulate Matter (pm) 2.5 levels had actually reached levels which were more than 77 times of what could be construed as safe. Therefore, unlike what the headline suggests, firecrackers had not increased pm 2.5 levels in Delhi by 77 times, only that pm 2.5 levels were more than 77 times of what could be construed as safe. There’s a huge difference between the two.

This is not all. Even the conclusion they reached was based on dubious data.

For instance, the report claims that pm 2.5 levels at Wazirpur, Delhi was 4680 mgcm at 1 AM. But according to National Air Quality Index data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), pm 2.5 level at 1 am at Wazirpur was 419 (average) with a maximum of 500 and a minimum of 319 and the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 419 which can be categorized as severe. Same time the previous night, Wazirpur had an AQI of 357.

The weirdest thing here is mgcm is not a valid unit for measurement of pm 2.5 levels. The level is defined as a number of particles per unit of volume. Therefore the correct unit would be mg per cm cubed. The CBCP measures it in terms of mg per metre cubed. Therefore, even their standard of measurement of pm 2.5 is wrong. And if that wasn’t enough, they compared their data, which does not reflect a legitimate unit of measurement, with the 60 mg per meter cubed levels of pm 2.5 at safe levels and reached the conclusion that the concentration of pm 2.5 in the air had reached a point that was 77 times that of safe levels.

Thus, it appears that Navbharat Times published an entire report with wrong data which is extremely unlikely to have come from any reliable source. It is a bit perplexing that they reached such far-reaching conclusions on the basis of data that does not even use a valid unit of measurement. More importantly, the website for checking the National Air Quality Index by the CBCB does not mention any area in Delhi where the pm 2.5 levels exceeded 500. The whole report is utterly absurd.

#MeToo: The Wire puts a journalist who was accused of rape back to work without offering an explanation

OpIndia Staff
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#MeToo: The Wire puts a journalist who was accused of rape back to work without offering an explanation

The #MeToo campaign that hit India saw many allegations against many people from the entertainment and media industry with Leftist propaganda portal The Wire smack in the middle of the storm. During the campaign, their senior Editor Siddarth Bhatia was accused. He had summarily denied all allegations and said he was open to any investigation. He had also filed a complaint against the Twitter handles who accused him.

Their senior journalist, Vinod Dua was also accused at the time. Denying the allegations, he had proceeded to publish a video where he dismissed the entire campaign and termed grave allegations as “keechad”. The Wire had later apologised for allowing Dua to discredit the #MeToo campaign.

At the time, one of their correspondents, Akhil Kumar was also accused by multiple women who chose to keep their identity hidden. The woman accused him of “cruel and abusive” behaviour. She says his behaviour was not one-off as he became more aggressive every time she resisted. She says Akhil forced her into a sexual activity beyond a point where consent was explicitly withdrawn. She says Akhil left bruises and many signs of force on her body. She says she kept quiet because she was scared that Akhil would ‘gaslight’ his way out of it.

Another woman came forward and anonymously narrated her tale of horror. She has accused him of sexual assault and emotional harassment. She narrates two incidents. One, where Akhil removed his condom without informing her and she suffered infection after that. Second, where he forced himself on her, repeatedly bit her and pinned her down. She says that Akhil didn’t stop even after she repeatedly said no and broke down into tears. She also accused him of emotional traumatizing her.


After these grave allegations, Akhil Kumar came out with a half-hearted statement where he attributed his behaviour to the ‘process of growing up’. He said that he realised he has caused emotional trauma to many and he apologises for the same. He says that as one of the complaints had suggested, he is trying to introspect and reinvent himself. However, he also said that he has never ‘violated consent’.


The Wire as a portal has been a strong proponent of the MeToo movement. They rallied for MJ Akbar to resign and rightfully so. They also reported on the other allegations that surfaced during the #MeToo movement and apologised after letting Vinod Dua use their platform to tarnish the entire movement.

However, after these grievous allegations against Akhil Kumar, The Wire had not issued any statement. The incident itself perhaps fell through the cracks and didn’t inspire the outrage that allegations against other senior members inspired.

The Wire not only did not issue a statement but yesterday, on 8th November 2018, after the clamour around the movement had thinned, they published an article by Akhil Kumar on their portal.


It is evident that Akhil Kumar was not relieved of his employment with The Wire. However, it is baffling that Akhil Kumar disappeared after issuing his statement and resurfaced only 19 hours ago with his article on The Wire.

In the interim period, Akhil Kumar had not tweeted or written for The Wire under his own name. We, of course, cannot confirm if he was working with the portal in some non-editorial capacity or had written under the staff byline.

The Wire has, to date, not issued any statement or given a reason for exonerating Kumar and continuing his employment. One reason could perhaps be that they might not have received any formal complaint against Akhil Kumar. However, even in the case of allegations against Siddarth Bhatia or Vinod Dua, Wire proclaimed that they had not received any formal complaint. Yet, they did come out and publish their statements. One wonders what was different in the case of Akhil Kumar. Was no statement issued and no enquiry conducted because his profile was not important enough to inspire widespread outrage? Did The Wire merely wait for the storm to blow over, after which, they could continue with business as usual? Or was there an enquiry conducted and Akhil Kumar was found innocent of all charges?

These are some questions that only The Wire can answer. We did reach out to The Wire for their response and we haven’t received one yet. This story will be updated with their response as and when we get one.

Greece takes Church priests off government payroll, ends their ‘civil-servant’ status

OpIndia Staff
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Greece takes Church priests off government payroll, ends their ‘civil-servant’ status

According to reports, the government of Greece, in a decision taken on Tuesday has caused a remarkable shift in the status of the clergies, thereby creating a separation between the Church and the State.

The Greek Orthodox Church is considered as the official religion of the State under the constitution. The importance of the church can be understood from the fact that the leaders who took oath as ministers first used to go to church and take a traditional oath.

The decision will take around 10,000 priests and the auxiliary staff off the payroll. According to the deal made between the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras and the Archbishop Ieronymos of the Church of Greece, the state will in the future transfer an annual state subsidy to a special church fund for the payment of priests’ salaries. The fund will be managed by a five-member board. Two members of the Fund will be appointed by the Church of Greece, two members appointed by the Greek Government and one member appointed jointly.

According to the government spokesman Dimitris Janakopolos, posts of 10 thousand civil Servants will be vacated as a result of the decision. Pastors are not bureaucrats, they are given only this status. But they are treated as civil servants and they get a lot of facilities.

The decision was taken by a mutual agreement between the Church and the government. PM Alexis Tsipras announced the decision on Tuesday saying that the aim of these decisions was to make the Church self-reliant and to deal with the historic disagreements that have long hindered the functioning. “It solves many decades of outstanding issues that have arisen since the 1920s, but mainly because it is an Agreement for the benefit of both sides,” he said.

“The Greek State undertakes to pay annually to the Church in the form of a subsidy an amount corresponding to the current salary cost of the active priests, which will be adjusted according to the salary changes of the Greek State”, he added.

As per reports, this move is aimed at making the Europian nation religion-neutral, which has been supported by the ruling Syriza party.

The Church is one of the country’s largest real estate owners. The annual cost of the priests on the government’s payroll is estimated at about 200 million euros. Greece’s creditors have reportedly long insisted the government sell assets and reduce the number of public sector employees. Under the current system, priests’ salaries are paid directly from the state budget like all civil servants.

However, the agreement is yet to be approved by the cabinet, parliament and church leaders. Meanwhile, a group representing the priests has shown resistance towards the decision.”We will struggle to ensure the present status is maintained,” Father Georgios Sellis, head of the association of Greek priests, reportedly told the Greek media.

Sabarimala Karma Samithi, a united Hindu front appeals for unity among Hindus to protect customs and traditions of Sabarimala

OpIndia Staff
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Sabarimala Karma Samithi, a united Hindu front appeals for unity among Hindus to protect customs and traditions of Sabarimala

The Sabarimala Karma Samithi, a united Hindu organisation has written a letter appealing to all the likeminded Hindu organisations, groups and individuals to come together to peacefully protest against the decision of the Supreme Court of allowing women of all age group to enter the Sabarimala Shrine.

The Sabarimala Karma Samithi, a united front to bring all the individuals and groups to plan and execute all possible acts peacefully and legally was set up on October 8, 2018. The Samithi has been set up to protect the age-old customs and traditions practised at the Sabarimala shrine. The Samithi consists of important stakeholders comprising members from the Pandalam royal family, Hindu saints, legal luminaries and members of Hindu organisations.

In its appeal to the Hindu devotees, the Samithi has criticised the Supreme Court’s judgement to allow women from age 10-50 to enter the Sabarimala shrine and accused it of interfering with the customs, traditions and faith of the people. The Samithi has further said that the Court has not taken into account the great traditions followed at Sabarimala temple, citing the unique nature of God being a ‘Celibate’ (Nasthika Brahmachari).

An appeal letter to devotees written by Sabarimala Karma Samithi.

The United Hindu front also criticised the Kerala government for its deliberate attempt to break the traditions by allowing few activists and other people with a dubious background to enter the shrine. They accused the Communist Kerala government, who advertise themselves as non-believers, of destroying longheld customs and traditions being maintained at Sabarimala temple. The Samithi also expressed its fear that the government will not spare other temples with its ‘mischief’ of interfering with the Hindu Customs.

In its letter, the Sabarimala Karma Samithi has questioned the hypocrisy of the Kerala government on why they do not act on Muslims and Christians but rather intervene with Hindu traditions. The Samithi said that situation is ‘very alarming’ in the state after the Communist government is forcefully trying to enter women into the temple. It also expressed its anguish against the government’s high handedness after it lodged cases against Hindu devotees for peacefully protesting against the government.

The Samithi has appealed to the people, especially the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to understand and appreciate the sentiments and sensibilities of the fellow Hindus and support the movement. It has asked to conduct peaceful protests by organising Nama Japa Yatras and Yajnas every day. The Samithi has also planned various seminars to propagate the importance of maintaining temple traditions and the importance of the existence of the temples. It has also planned to provide legal and financial help to thousands of people who have been arrested and also a signature campaign will be started and presented before the Supreme Court starts the hearing.

The Sabarimala Karma Samithi in the letter has asked the people for monetary support to file review and fresh writ petitions to reestablish the customs of the Sabarimala temple. It further said that the Sabarimala issue is a do-or-die situation for Hindus and also expressed hope regarding the outcome after seeing the mass awakening of the Hindus regarding the Sabarimala issue.

The Kerala government has been receiving severe criticism for its interference in the Sabarimala case. Recently, the Kerala High Court while hearing a petition seeking to restrict entry of non-Hindus in Sabarimala temple, had expressed its displeasure over the police excesses at the Sabarimala temple. The Kerala High Court came down heavily on the Kerala Communist government for interfering unnecessarily in the daily affairs of Sabarimala temple and had asked the Communist government would stop interfering in the temple affairs.

Congress is busy protecting ‘Urban Maoists’ who have destroyed the lives of Adivasis: PM Modi in Chhattisgarh

OpIndia Staff
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Congress is busy protecting ‘Urban Maoists’ who have destroyed the lives of Adivasis: PM Modi in Chhattisgarh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in poll-bound Chhattisgarh’s Jagdalpur today took on the ‘Urban Maoists’ and said that they themselves lead a life of luxury while the lives of the children of the Adivasis is completely ruined.


The hands which should hold pens, some people put guns in them. Congress leaders are busy protecting these very ‘Urban Maoists’. He urged the people of Bastar, one of the Naxal-affected district which goes to votes on 12th November, to give a fitting reply to Congress.


In these 4 years, more than 9,000 villages of Chhattisgarh were connected by roads, said Modi. “For ten years during the UPA rule, Congress created hurdles for Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh who wanted to work for the betterment of Chhattisgarh. But the state has progressed by leaps and bounds after NDA came to power,” he added.

Taking on Congress, Modi said that Congress considers Dalits, the underprivileged and the poor only as vote-banks and is not ready to look at them like humans.

Pakistanis join hands with ‘liberals’ to paint journalist Jagrati Shukla as a monster and violent stone pelters as innocent

K Bhattacharjee
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Pakistanis join hands with ‘liberals’ to paint journalist Jagrati Shukla as a monster and violent stone pelters as innocent

Jagrati Shukla, Lok Sabha TV journalist, once again caused a furore on Twitter by tweeting that it would have been better for the armed forces to use real bullets in Kashmir instead of pellet guns.

The tweet has caused a lot of offence on Twitter among liberals and they have managed to get her account suspended after reporting her to handle en masse.

Not just liberals in India but Pakistanis have jumped into the matter as well.


Liberals have been showering Jagrati with the choices of abuses such as ‘monster’ and ‘hatemonger’ among others.


Jagrati’s suspension has given them a lot of joy certainly and articles and tweets are overflowing celebrating it. However, it appears a bit strange that liberals are using Jagrati’s tweets to paint her as a monster while portraying murderous stone-pelters as innocent victims.

Every liberal is accusing Jagrati of wishing harm on Kashmiris. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Her tweets quite clearly indicated that she was not talking about ordinary Kashmiris but stone-pelters. Unless the liberals want to tell us that all Kashmiris are stone-pelters or that pelting stones is an integral part of the identity of a Kashmiri, then they are blatantly lying and quite mischievously so.

Only in October, a 22-year old soldier was murdered by bloodthirsty stone-pelters and COAS Rawat asserted that they were indeed over ground workers of terrorists. We are well aware how stone-pelters assist terrorists in myriad ways often jeopardizing military operations. It is well known that stone-pelters work in tandem with terrorists and assist them in waging war against the Indian state.

Jagrati’s tweet may have crossed a line but honestly, can we call people a monster because they wish to see their enemies suffer? Can we really call people monsters because they wish to see violent agents of terrorists suffer?

We have been told since childhood, “Actions speak more than words.” But it appears in the world of liberals, that wisdom is reversed. And that is why Jagrati who merely wrote a few on social media is more of a monster that violent murderous stone-pelters will ever be.

On several occasions in the past, many would say that Jagrati crossed the line and many of her tweets were unwarranted. However, to paint her as evil while exonerating people who actually aid and support terrorists against our armed forces only reveals the hypocrisy of our liberals. More importantly, never has she advocated for civilians to commit violence against stone-pelters, she has only suggested manners in which the armed forces should deal with stone-pelters.

All things said and done, the series of events has revealed once again that liberals are more concerned about the offensive speech from their political opponents than they are about actual violence committed by people who help their agenda.

Watch: ‘He should change his name instead,’ Renuka Chowdhury proposal to rename Hyderabad

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: ‘He should change his name instead,’ Renuka Chowdhury proposal to rename Hyderabad

A day after BJP MLA Raja Singh said that if the BJP comes to power in Telangana, Hyderabad may be renamed to Bhagyanagar, Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury hit out on Singh and said if he wishes, he could change his name instead.


Chowdhury said, “What does he think? By doing all this dialogue-baazi, he will get votes? I am a Hyderabadi and with great pride we say we are Hyderabadis. Who is he to interfere? To change name? He could go change his name if he wants. No one will object. If he tries to change city’s name, our identity it will not be good for Singh ji.”

In September, Telangana Cabinet dissolved state assembly, paving way for early polls. Telangana Assembly elections will be held on 7th December along with Rajasthan and the results will be declared on 11th December along with Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan polls.

‘Liberal’ meltdown for Statue of Unity is getting more creative with Shekhar Gupta’s The Print leading the charge

Sanghamitra
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‘Liberal’ meltdown for Statue of Unity is getting more creative with Shekhar Gupta’s The Print leading the charge

The Statue of Unity recently inaugurated on the bank of Narmada by PM Modi has been guilty of causing heartaches and major meltdowns by a section of India’s secular, intellectual liberals. From the hurt sentiments of it not being a statue of Gandhi-Nehru family to its height and expenses, the arguments have been as diverse as numerous.

Here are some of the most popular excuses run by eminent intellectuals against the statue.

  1. How can the tallest statue be that of Sardar Patel and not MK Gandhi? The eloquent Mr Tharoor said that. Apparently, the deification of Gandhi is so absolute that no statue should be bigger than his statue. Is there a law that says so? of course not.
  2. The statue is an election gimmick by BJP. Well ‘election gimmick’ is the tag placed upon just about every project undertaken by the Modi government. From Swachh Bharat, Beti Padhao to farmer subsidies, if everything is an election gimmick, should a government rather sit tight and do nothing?
  3. The statue is a waste of tax-payer’s money. The money should have been used for creating jobs and infrastructure. Apparently, the liberal brain is blind to notice that the statue has been built near the Sardar Sarovar dam, a dam that provides irrigation to 18.5 lakh hectares of farmland, produces electricity for 3 states is not infrastructure development for these people.
  4. Where are the jobs? This is the most exhaustive of all the rants, One must assume, do the liberals seriously think that the 182 metres tall statue was made to appear just like that? The years of labour, man-hours spent and materials procured, artists, masons and technicians hired, do they not count as jobs? Sadly, you can not expect the secular liberal brains to be absorptive of facts and logic.

One of the most vocal sources of non-stop Sardar statue criticism has been Shekhar Gupta’s leftist propaganda website The Print. The Print had started its share of Statue criticism with socialist arguments.

The giant loopholes and flaws in the argument were discussed by Karan Bhasin in his rebuttal of the article mentioned above, which, The Print refused to publish.

The Print did not take the counter-opinions well though. When ‘economic estimates’ route did not work, they took another path to ‘belittle’ the statue, subtle slandering. Their article on the next day was about how ‘dynastic’ Sardar Patel was.

It has been more than a week since the statue was inaugurated and after the first Sunday, reports started pouring in on the number of tourists that are flocking to glimpse the world’s tallest statue. The statue reportedly collected rs 19 lakhs in a single day.

Now the liberal argument had to move from socialism and find a new cause to deride the statue and Modi government. Like clockwork, The Print came up with a new excuse, this time it had nothing to do with socialist ideals and condescensions. Since the anti-statue rants were met with solid data and practical arguments, the new attack attempted to bring in something fresh, logistical issues: the statue is just too far away.

The article argues that the statue is practically inaccessible. Yes, it states that the nearest airport in Vadodara is 95 Kilometres away. The article goes further to complain that the distance has to be covered by road. What a letdown, because most tourist destinations like Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China and Machu Pichu all provide direct air-drop service if you are secular enough to survive it.

How can unwashed, Modi-Bhakt Indians understand that if something is not accessible by air, it is not worth a visit? No decent intellectual traveller would show interest in a monument that does not have an airport attached.

As for the ‘too far from airport’ argument, let us hope the citizens of Bengaluru do not find that offensive because the Kempegowda International Airport is arguably closer to Hyderabad than Bengaluru and no citizen of the Silicon city has ever complained about it.

The interesting thing is, the article itself states there are public transport buses available from Vadodara to Rajpipla and many buses run from Rajpipla to Kevadia (the nearest town to the statue) too. Trust the elitist mind to read the headline of the article and scoff at the foolish Chaiwallah for making a statue that is tougher to reach than Mars.

Yet, Modi-bhakts have no class. They can happily travel in buses and autorickshaws to see the world’s tallest statue. Some Twitter users have actually pointed it out.


Looking at the trends of progression the arguments against the statue are taking, let us take a guess at the possible lines we might hear in a few days.

  • The statue is so tall, it should have been in the sitting or sleeping position, it does not cast a wide enough shadow and the sun-exposure might bring tans on the delicate skin of AC room pontificators.
  • 250 innocent citizens have had their hats fall off while trying to look at Sardar Patel’s face. This is an emergency like situation. Modi should pay them for damages to the hats and the harassment faced while picking them up.
  • Birds that were flying away scared from Diwali crackers found their path blocked by the gigantic statue, they had to take a diversion. Ban Diwali and condemn the statue for causing unnecessary fatigue to birds.

Looks like UP CM Yogi Adityanath has read the Print article because he announced an airport and a hospital at Ayodhya on the occasion of Diwali celebrations. While some seculars still managed to complain about the lack of jobs, (we do not know why. Maybe they assumed that hospitals and airports with non-secular names do not employ people) it is safe to assume that ‘no airports in the neighbourhood’ is not going to work in Ayodhya. Till then, let us wait and see what creative excuses the proposed Ram statue at Ayodhya and the Ram Temple will inspire.

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