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Nun Rape case: Arrested Bishop Franco Mulakkal granted bail by Kerala High Court

OpIndia Staff
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Nun Rape case: Arrested Bishop Franco Mulakkal granted bail by Kerala High Court

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, a Catholic priest who was arrested by the Kerala police for allegedly raping a 44-year old nun, has been granted bail by the Kerala High Court.

According to reports, the Kerala High Court on Monday has issued some directions to the rape accused before approving his bail plea. The court ordered the bishop to be present before the investigating officer once in two weeks. The rape accused bishop has also been asked to surrender his passport to the court and it has also prohibited him from entering Kerala.

Interestingly, the prosecution did not object to Bishop Franco’s bail plea. However, they asked the court to grant bail to Franco on strict conditions. The court further warned the accused of cancellation of his bail if he is found to be violating any of the conditions.

Earlier, the bishop had moved the high court after a magistrate’s court in Pala rejected his bail application. On October 3, the Kerala High Court had heard his petition and had dismissed the bail plea. At that time Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan had accepted the prosecution’s argument that if the Bishop is granted bail, he may try to influence witnesses. He is currently under judicial remand in a sub-jail at Pala in Kottayam district.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, Archdiocese of Jalandhar, Punjab, was arrested by the police officials on September 21st after the investigating team finally found evidence that linked him in the sexual harassment case. The court had pointed out the availability of evidence to pursue the case and evidence shows that there are materials that prima facie show that the allegations against the Bishop are true and serious.

Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, is said to have raped the nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and exploited her sexually on several other occasions. The nun has registered a complaint in June this year and has been allegedly threatened by the accused of doing so. The congregation has also stood by the rape accused and referred to him as an “innocent soul”. We had also reported that Kerala MLA PC George had called the alleged rape victim a ‘prostitute’.

Senior Congress leader shares fake image to target BJP govt in Madhya Pradesh, gets slammed by the CM

OpIndia Staff
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Senior Congress leader shares fake image to target BJP govt in Madhya Pradesh, gets slammed by the CM

One of the contenders for the seat of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from the Congress party, Kamal Nath, took to Twitter and accused the BJP dispensation in power of rampant corruption. He used a picture of a shoddily constructed road that’s falling apart to take potshots at Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government.


This was also retweeted by the Twitter handle of Madhya Pradesh Congress.

Unfortunately for the Congress leader, the picture does not depict any place in Madhya Pradesh or even in India but Bangladesh. The picture was shared on Twitter in June 2016 by user @RifatAlam007 who was quite disillusioned with his own government.


Another report from an apparent Indonesian outlet in September 2016 claims that the folding road is from Indonesia. Madhu Kishwar had been slammed by then Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, for claiming that the image was from Bihar. Therefore, it’s quite clear that the image is either from Indonesia or Bangladesh but definitely not from anywhere in India.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was quick to bust the narrative the Congress leader was peddling. He said, “What can we say about our friends from the Congress party? First, Digvijay Singh brought a pool in Pakistan to Madhya Pradesh and now Kamal Nath has brought a Bangladeshi road to Madhya Pradesh.”


Shivraj Singh Chouhan was referring to Digvijay Singh’s blooper in June when he claimed that the photo he had shared on Twitter showed a damaged overbridge from Subhash Nagar Railways Faatak in Bhopal. However, the damaged bridge almost certainly was from Pakistan and surely not from Madhya Pradesh as has been reported by us earlier. Digvijay Singh later issued an apology over the tweet.

The Congress party appears to have upped its ante with regards to spreading fake news. Only yesterday, senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had posted a fake petrol bill on Twitter to instigate the public against the BJP. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan came out himself and chastised the Congress leader over the tweet. On a far more serious issue, Youth Congress had shared a fake image of ‘exodus’ of North Indians from Gujarat to target the BJP government in the state only days after Congress leaders had instigated the violence against migrants.

#MeToo: ‘Who wanted to kiss whom,’ Chetan Bhagat shares email of the woman accusing him of sexual misconduct

OpIndia Staff
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#MeToo: ‘Who wanted to kiss whom,’ Chetan Bhagat shares email of the woman accusing him of sexual misconduct

As the #MeToo movement in India gains momentum, the social media has been abuzz since the past few days as more and more women have come out and accused many men in the powerful position of sexually exploiting them. One of the men named has been author Chetan Bhagat, who has been accused by women of crossing professional boundaries as well as sexual misconduct.

Ira Trivedi, an author, has also accused Chetan Bhagat of trying to forcefully kiss her as well as inappropriate behaviour. Trivedi narrates an incident from a decade back where Bhagat was moderating a panel at Jaipur Literature Festival. She says how upon being asked what would she do if anyone hits on her at book launches, Trivedi, who was 22 then, said jokingly, she would kiss a guy who buys her 100 books and marries him if he buys them all.

A few weeks later, she claims that Bhagat invited her for a tea and later, under the pretext of giving her a signed copy of his book, invited her to his room. Trivedi accuses Bhagat of making a pass at her and trying to plant a kiss on her lips as “he had bought a hundred copies of her book and donated to a library in Pune.” She expressed her shock at the behaviour. Later, in Bhagat’s book ‘Half Girlfriend’, she read a scene where the male protagonist tries to forcefully kiss the female protagonist and found it ‘eerily familiar’. She had then wondered with how many women had Bhagat “reenacted this very scene before he penned it into his book.”

She claims that she continued being friends with Chetan even after that, but he continued making overtures where she would just roll her eyes and move on. She later accuses Bhagat of groping a friend of hers on a moving bus. She even accuses him of having a repeated behaviour pattern of exploiting young women.

Chetan Bhagat being accused of sexual misconduct by Ira Trivedi

In his defence, Chetan Bhagat took to Twitter to clarify his stand regarding the allegations and also to appeal to people to leave him alone for peace of his family. He shared a screenshot of an email sent by Trivedi to him back in October 2013 where she signed off with “Miss u kiss u.” Bhagat questioned, “So who wanted to kiss whom?”


He even slammed Outlook for publishing the article without getting his side of the story.


He shared a video where Bhagat had launched Ira Trivedi’s book in 2015-16 and questioned whether anyone would call their harasser as chief guest for their book launch.

Adding that a person’s reputation is the most prized asset and it takes a lifetime to build one he said such “motivated, fake attacks” on him are “abhorrent and the sickest thing a person can do.” He then appealed to everyone not to believe the allegations.


He said that he is not a vindictive person and just wants to be left alone.


In the course of the last few days, two women came forward and accused The Wire’s co-founder and founding editor Siddharth Bhatia of sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement on social media has taken the country by a storm with many big industry names like Vinod Dua, Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor, Varun Grover and comedians like Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba, co-founders of All India Bakchod being accused of sexual misconduct. Journalists like Prashant Jha and film director Vikas Bahl and many, many more have been named as perpetrators of harassment.

Revenue department sends notices to about 10,000 people under the benami law

OpIndia Staff
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Revenue department sends notices to about 10,000 people under the benami law

The revenue department, while scrutinizing data on deposits of demonetized currencies has issued notices to about 10000 people under the benami law seeking sources of their income, as reported by The Economic Times.

Sources in the department confirmed that many other may get similar notices in the coming week. “While the money may have come into the banking system, the money has come with a name,” said a senior official close to the development. “Not just income tax but several government departments can now use the data for future investigations.”

Experts have reportedly stated that the Income Tax department is focusing on larger transactions as of now and the people who have evaded tax could be in trouble.

The department has been utilizing data analytics including phone numbers, credit card and PAN details, tax returns and even data available on social media platforms to detect tax evasion.

The benami notices are preliminary and have been issued to those who had deposited unaccounted cash or whose cash deposits may not correspond with their income or in many cases not belonging to them. The report also mentioned that the notices would mean both the bank account holder and the one who deposited the amount would face benami investigations.

Experts maintained that demonetization has brought several suspicious transactions under the tax department’s scrutiny through ‘cross-referencing’ with older data. They furthered that the government is using advanced tools to analyze and establish relationships among different entities up to 16 levels deep, based on different details such as addresses, phone calls, social media interactions, travel trends and IT returns.

The Modi government, since the time, has come to power, undeterred to fight corruption and tax evasion has tightened the noose around tax dodgers.

The November 8, 2016 decision to scrap banknotes of Rs 500- and Rs 1,000 denomination was aimed at cornering black-money hoarders into depositing or exchanging old notes at banks.

Under ‘operation clean money’, which was launched on January 31 2018, to detect shady funds deposited with banks, more than 60,000 persons, including 1,300 high-risk persons, according to data collected until February 2018, had been identified for an investigation into claims of excessive cash sales during the demonetisation period and were sent notices to explain the sources of their income.

As reported on July 25, in its quest to fight corruption the government had attached more than Rs. 4,300 crores of benami properties in the country.

Benami properties are those assets which are bought by an individual, not under his or her name. It can include properties which are held in the name of spouse, child or any other family members, for which the amount is paid out of known sources of income.

Experts believe the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act 1988 which was amended by the present government to provide more teeth to fight against illicit transactions and black money, is stringent and infractions can lead to imprisonment up to seven years and fine for violation of the Act which may extend to 25% of the fair market value of the benami property.

Recently, the government cracked down more than 16,500 shell companies and has put another 80,000 companies under the scanner and has also introduced a reward scheme to clamp down on benami properties.

Ayodhya Art Festival: It might appear a minor swing in pendulum, but it is a step towards reclaiming lost glory

K Bhattacharjee
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Ayodhya Art Festival: It might appear a minor swing in pendulum, but it is a step towards reclaiming lost glory

The city of Ayodhya organized the Ayodhya Art Festival to commemorate the life and times of its beloved king, Shri Rama. The three-day festival which began on the 12th of October saw artists from all across the country descend at Ram Janambhoomi to create a wall to wall paintings depicting different events from the Ramayana. The theme of the event is “Rama and his Life” with focus on 10 different episodes of his life, including Bal-kand, Ayodhya-Kand, Aranya-Kand, Sundar-Kand, Lanka-Kand, Uttara-Kand, Lav-Kush-Kand and Ram Darbaar.

Initial sketching began on 12th and artists could be seen working hard on their art. The winners will receive a prize money of Rs. 25000, Rs. 15000 and Rs. 10000 for their respective position on the podium.


Karan Acharya, the creator of Hanuman 2.0 which is a rage on the internet, has also joined the event.


Ayodhya holds a special place in the heart of every pious Hindu. It is the birthplace of our Shri Rama and in independent India, it is the place where Hindu Renaissance began. For far too long, efforts were made to curtail the cultural potential of the city. But the mystical power that the city is teeming with is impossible to curb for long. It is at Ayodhya that the seeds of Hindu consolidation were sown and it is in the sacred soil of that sacred city where the fire of Dharma burns the brightest.

For a long time, Ayodhya was famous, or rather infamous, for the bloodshed it witnessed in the early part of the 1990s. One of the holiest cities of Hindus was not given the recognition it was due because of internal politics of the country. It was only last year after the saffron-clad Mahant of Gorakhnath Math assumed the seat of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, did Ayodhya receive the adulation it deserved. In what was one of the most powerful acts of symbolism in Narendra Modi’s reign as Prime Minister, the ghats of the legendary Sarayu was lit with hundreds and thousands of Diyas at the behest of Yogi Adityanath.

It was during Diwali last year that Ayodhya had finally managed to cast off the dark shadows of tyranny that the Babri had inflicted on it since centuries and continued to even after its demolition. It was a poignant message that was conveyed through the simple act of celebrating Diwali with great pomp and vigour at Ayodhya, a simple message that our culture and our heritage shall no longer be held hostage by the vicious claws of appeasement politics.

The art festival at Ayodhya may appear to some as a minor swing of the pendulum in the grand scheme of things. However, it is a further testament to the fact that Ayodhya shall no longer be a mere reflection of Mughal tyranny in the public mind. Ayodhya shall again honour the one true king it has ever known, Prabhu Ram. The art festival is an auspicious start but one hopes that in the years to come, the entire city will be transformed to reflect its great heritage and ancient history. More importantly, the art festival appears to be preparing the city for the Bhavya Ram Mandir that was promised. Long years have passed and many appear to be losing faith but it is my firm belief that the Bhavya Ram Mandir is not too far away.

It is in the sacred soil of Ayodhya that the future of our great nation rests. Our commitment to the city and our veneration of it will determine whether the Hindu civilization will still continue to serve as a beacon of Pagan culture in a world devoured by the intolerance of monotheistic cults or fade away into oblivion like our Roman and Greek cousins.

The world as we know it is undergoing a tectonic shift and great powers appear to be afoot to shape the destiny of our people and our civilization. The protests in Kerala after the Supreme Court struck down a tradition centuries old are a testament to the fact that the great Hindu spirit is very much alive. The protests have garnered great support from all across the country and Hindus regardless of their caste and transcending barriers of regionalism have come forward to show their support for the great Sabarimala Temple.

It is also important to remember to not lose sight of the great scheme of things. Yes, we are at a situation where every tradition of ours is under attack from an undemocratic wing of the state and an evangelist ideology that seeks to crush every pagan act of devotion. We have suffered and continue to suffer heft defeats but there are enough reasons to make us optimistic about the future.

The protests at Sabarimala have shown that there’s greater unity among Hindus and a greater consciousness about the siege on our faith and the willingness and dedication to combat the forces of evil. Also, the sacred city of Ayodhya is finally being reclaimed from the clutches of appeasement politics and being transformed to honour its true King.

These are signs that ought to give hope to every Hindu alive. There are plenty to reasons to be unhappy about but we are indeed, finally, moving in the right direction.

Congress opposes Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to rename Allahabad to Prayagraj

OpIndia Staff
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Congress opposes Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to rename Allahabad to Prayagraj

Soon after UP CM Yogi Adityanath declared that if a consensus is reached to rename Allahabad, his government will change its name to Prayagraj, the Congress party on Sunday has come out opposing the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decision.

According to the reports, Congress spokesperson Onkar Singh said that Allahabad had a history attached to it, which has played an important role since the days of Independence and renaming the name of the city to Prayagraj by erasing Allahabad would be an insult to the freedom movement. Onkar Singh further added that if the UP government is very much interested in changing the name, then a separate city of ‘Prayagraj’ can be carved out of Allahabad.

Singh further said, “During Gandhi-era and fight for independence, Allahabad has been a center for inspiration. In 1888, 1892 and then in 1910, Congress Mahaadhiveshans took place here, which gave shape to the freedom movement. The city gave the country its first Prime Minister. Moreover, the Allahabad University would lose its identity as it would also be named Prayagraj University.”

Ahead of the Kumbh Mela next year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday had announced that his government will rename the Allahabad district to Prayagraj after achieving the consensus. He had also said that he had got the Governor’s approval for renaming the city.

CM Yogi said, “Ganga aur Yamuna do pavitra nadi ka sangam ka sthal hone ke nate yahan sabhi prayago ka raaj hai, isiliye Allahabad ko Prayag raj bhi kehte hain (Two holy rivers, Ganga and Yamuna, join in Allahabad and hence there’s ‘raj’ of all ‘prayag’, confluence of rivers. And therefore, Allahabad is also known as Prayag Raj).”

BJP state spokesperson Manoj Mishra said the announcement has been made to respect the sentiments of lakhs and crores of people of the state. “Akbar ki Nishani Ko mita kar pauranik naam dena shreyaskar hai. (To remove the sign of Akbar and give a historical name is good).”

The Uttar Pradesh government in the past had also renamed the iconic Mughalsarai railway station to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction on Monday. The Yogi Adityanath government had made this decision to revive the legacy of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, co-founder of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the present BJP.

As #MeToo rages, it’s unfathomable how Kejriwal got away with ‘compromise kar lo’ comment to a victim who later committed suicide

Abhishek Banerjee
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She was a young AAP volunteer from Narela in Delhi. Her name was Soni. She killed herself in 2016.

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According to her family, she had been worried and tense about constant sexual harassment by one Ramesh Bhardwaj, allegedly an AAP leader.

But the matter goes far deeper because Soni had taken up the matter of sexual harassment with no less than Kejriwal himself. His response? Here it is:

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“Compromise”.

Really? Did that actually happen?

Absolutely. In fact, Aaj Tak even showed the chilling video where AAP worker Soni said that Kejriwal had asked her to ‘compromise’ (watch here from 9:55).

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Here, Soni declares that she is in so much depression that she wishes to commit suicide.

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Chilling words from Delhi CM Kejriwal: “Compromise kar lo.”

She didn’t compromise. She committed suicide instead. Possibly, the only people who ‘compromised’ were our collective of liberal journalists, thinkers and opinion makers.

This was the victim on video admitting that Delhi’s Chief Minister had told her to compromise with sexual harassment. The victim admitting on video that the constant sexual harassment and the insensitive response from AAP leadership, including Kejriwal himself, is driving her to commit suicide. And then, sadly, she went ahead and actually killed herself.

When I mentioned this incident on Twitter last evening, it seemed that few had heard of it before. Most people could not believe that such an incident had passed almost without comment in media, without any nationwide outrage. They demanded I provide links to prove my claims. They could not believe their eyes and ears when I did.

When such a sad thing happens, there is an urge to condemn anyone who makes it political and perhaps rightly so. But then, this is all political, is it not? Does anyone seriously believe that such an explosive allegation against a BJP Chief Minister would have been forgotten by the media? For what it’s worth, Prime Minister Modi is in the dock every single day for any tweet by any person that he is following on Twitter.

And here, Kejriwal waltzes in, supposedly tells a woman to “compromise” with sexual abuse. The victim goes into depression and commits suicide. The media forgets all about it.

We all know that this was only possible because Kejriwal is ‘secular.’

Of late, the #MeToo movement has ripped off the masks of a lot of people who were given to lecturing the rest of us about being progressive, liberal and modern. Behind that edgy, “woke” comedian who makes “Azaadi” look sexy is a predator who will send d*ck picks to minor girls over the internet. Behind that sour-faced anchor who poses as the voice of dissent is a monster who will corner a young intern in his car and start slobbering all over her face.

In other words, the  #MeToo movement has brought the establishment face to face with decades of its own crimes.

But what happens if the victim of sexual harassment is no longer alive? Worse, what happens when she has committed suicide? Does the crime that she suffered and the liberal moral giant who enabled it to get to go free of all blame?

Let us find out.

Mosque in Palwal, Haryana is built with LeT money, reveals NIA investigation

OpIndia Staff
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Mosque in Palwal, Haryana is built with LeT money, reveals NIA investigation

The National Investigation Agency has recently revealed that the Khulafa-e-Rashideen mosque in the Uttawar village of Palwal, Haryana has been built with funds received from terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Reports state that the investigating agency has visited the mosque earlier this month.

According to reports, a team of NIA officials had visited the mosque in Uttawar village in Haryana on October 3. NIA had searched the documents and bank account details related to the mosque. The team had reportedly confiscated the fund registers and several financial documents in the mosque.

The mosque in the Uttawar village had come under the radar after the NIA had arrested three Individuals named Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Salim, and Sajjad Abdul Wani last month. The investigating agency had raided 3 locations in Delhi related to the 3 men and had recovered Rs 1.56 crores in cash, 43,000 in Nepali currency and several other items. NIA had revealed that the trio was linked to hawala operations and was receiving money from LeT run organization Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF).

Mohammad Salman, one of the persons arrested was reportedly an old hawala operative and is believed to have made trips to Dubai and meeting individuals linked with FIF. NIA had revealed that he has been involved in terror funding cases in Mewat area of Haryana. The third arrested person Sajjad Abdul Wani was a hawala courier from Srinagar. It is notable here that the NIA has been investigating terror funding cases in Kashmir too and has several high profile arrests in the valley including Syed Shahid Yusuf, the son of Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin. Salahuddin’s other son, Shakeel was also arrested by NIA in terror funding case in August this year.

Mohammad Salman is said to have received over Rs 70 lakhs to build the mosque from FIF. A report in the Indian Express has also quoted NIA sources stating that Salman also received money for the weddings of his daughters. While the land for the construction of the mosque was arranged by the local Muslims, the money for construction was given by Salman. During the investigation, Salman was found to be in regular touch with a Dubai based Pakistani national, who is a direct link to the deputy chief of FIF.

It is notable here that the FIF is a front organization run by Hafiz Sayeed led Lashkar-e-Taiba. FIF features in the list of terrorist organizations as per the entry 33 in the first schedule of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)with prevention and suppression of terrorism (Implementation of security council resolutions) order,2016.

In recent months, the NIA has been coming down hard on terror funding modules. In June 2017, it had raided 23 locations in Delhi, Srinagar, and Haryana. Several raids on Kashmiri separatist leaders have also been made in relation to funding being allegedly provided to stone pelters in the valley.

Fact Check: Is use of defence ground in Secunderabad for political rally ‘unprecedented’ as claimed by Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Is use of defence ground in Secunderabad for political rally ‘unprecedented’ as claimed by Congress

On October 14, Congress media cell in-charge and close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Singh Surjewala protested that defence ministry has granted permission to BJP’s youth wing BJYM for holding a political rally on Defence grounds in Secunderabad. In a tweet, he said this must be resisted, and BJP is “habitual offender in using Armed Forces for cheap political gains”.


Mr Surjewala wants to imply that army grounds can’t be used by civilian people and if it is done it some illegal activity.

That is a false claim. Grounds owned by the army is being used for civilian purposes for long, and there is nothing illegal about it. And no, using an army ground after obtaining necessary permission does not amount to using Armed Forces for any gain, political or not.

The most famous army ground used for non-army purpose is Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The iconic cricket stadium is built on land owned by the army, but there is no ban on holding cricket matches there because of its ownership. Army has leased the land to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

Another nearby ground in Kolkata is Brigade Parade Ground, commonly known as Maidan. This is also an army ground, and this ground is always used for political rallies, and other civilian purposes. CPM and TMC have organised numerous political rallies on this historic ground, which is maintained by army’s Eastern high command, which operates from Fort William located in the Maidan.

And the Secunderabad parade ground that Surjewala is talking about also has played host to rallies by political parties regularly, including by the Congress party. In March 2005, Sonia Gandhi had addressed a rally in this same parade ground. Again on 28 February 2009, the then Congress president had attended a massive rally on the Secunderabad Parade Grounds.

A TRS rally on Secunderabad parade ground

Responding to the tweet by Surjewala, BJYM tweeted back giving details of Congress rallies addressed by Sonia Gandhi on the same Parade Ground, and requested to ‘leave Armed Forces from being maligned by fake news factory of Congress party’.


Army owns large areas of land in every part of the country, which includes open grounds. And such grounds are regularly used for civilian purposes, including political rallies. There is not any illegally in it, as long as all necessary permissions are obtained and there is no permanent damage to the ground.

It is evident that Congress party has run out of issues to target the Modi government to target with, and they are now resorting to such juvenile accusations.

MP: Amit Shah slams ‘Diggi raja’, ‘Rahul baba’, SP and BSP for treating infiltrators as vote banks

OpIndia Staff
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MP: Amit Shah slams ‘Diggi raja’, ‘Rahul baba’, SP and BSP for treating infiltrators as vote banks

BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday urged the BJP party workers to work hard to secure victory in 200 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls. Shah was addressing a BJP booth workers’ meeting in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.

According to the reports, Amit Shah accused Congress party of indulging in vote bank politics ahead of elections. He further attacked Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for using infiltrators as their vote banks and said his party considers the issue of illegal infiltrators as a matter of national security. He went on to say that the BJP government will expel every infiltrator from the country.

“40 Lakh infiltrators were identified & as soon as it happened, right from ‘Diggi Raja’ to ‘Rahul Baba’, all of them started making noises in Parliament. For Congress, SP & BSP infiltrators are vote banks, for BJP they are an issue of national security”, said Amit Shah.

Amit Shah speaking to the party workers said the BJP securing more than 200 seats will inspire other BJP party workers across the country. “The party can form the government with less than 200 seats, but we need to cross the 200-mark because our workers in West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are looking towards Madhya Pradesh,” Shah said to BJP party workers.

He further added said that BJP is the party of workers and even a tea seller can become the PM. Shah addressing the gathering of booth workers shared his experience of being a small worker in the party before being the national president of the party. He thanked the party workers for their sacrifices and said, “It’s their sacrifices that have brought us here today. We should score such a mammoth victory in MP and then in 2019 that we should rule from Panchayat to Parliament for the next 50 years.’’

Amit Shah slammed Kamal Nath for his inability to develop Madhya Pradesh despite being Union minister and asked party workers to knock on every household in the state and talk about the injustice they faced under the Congress rule. The BJP president challenged the Congress to declare its chief ministerial face in MP. He took a dig at the state Congress leadership by saying that elections cannot be won by “Raja, Maharaja and Udyogpati”, a reference to Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, respectively.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the dates for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana. The states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will go to poll on November 28 and December 7 respectively and the results will be announced on December 11, 2018.

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