The Gaya Police and Bihar Task Force have recovered unlicensed firearms and arrested one person from an RJD MLA Kunti Devi’s residence in Gaya town.
Speaking to the media, Superintendent of Police (City) of Gaya, Anil Kumar confirmed about the raids conducted at the AP Colony house of Kunti Devi, RJD MLA from Atari and recovered two country-made .303 rifles and a country-made pistol.
He further said that the raid was conducted jointly by the State Task Force and the police officials of Rampur. Reportedly, a person named Jackie Kumar was arrested from the house but, other two other occupants in the house managed to flee from the location.
Gaya Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajiv Mishra said “Police recovered unlicensed firearms from the residence of Kunti Devi and arrested one person Jakie Yadav. Two others, Pankaj Yadav and Dablu Yadav, managed to escape as all these three were involved in supplying illegal firearms from Kunti’s residence in Gaya and adjoining districts.”
SSP Mishra added that three accused have supplied more than 150 firearms in the past. Pankaj Yadav is said to be related to Kunti Devi’s son Ranjit. “Jakie is being interrogated to elicit further information about the illegal supply of arms and how they were procuring these arms”, he further added.
It is reported that the RJD MLA was not present at the house when the raid was conducted. The police officials said that the arrested person was being interrogated. Kunti Devi is the wife of former RJD legislator Rajendra Yadav, who is serving a life sentence in a murder case.
Kunti Devi was also in the news in 2016, as his son had allegedly misused his mother’s political power and had assaulted a doctor in Bathani government hospital in Gaya, Bihar.
When the Pune police briefed the media regarding the evidence collected by them about Maoists-sympathiser activists that they have detained, they revealed about a letter by one Maoist comrade to another, where the requirement of funds of ₹8 crore for annual supply of grenade launchers was mentioned. Police also mentioned the name of Varavara Rao as the authorized personnel by the central committee of the Maoists with regards to procurement of the weapons which include but not limited to Russian GM-94 Grenade launcher, Chinese QLZ-87 Automatic grenade launcher and American M60 Light machine gun.
It is no secret that in several ambushes they have done on security forces, the Maoists have used grenade launchers. Plus, launchers of various type are regularly recovered by police from Maoist extremists. Lets have a look on some of such recoveries.
In September 2006, Andhra Pradesh police had recovered 27 rocket launchers, along with 875 rockers and 70 gelatine sticks belonging to CPI-Maoist party in two different places. The rockets and launchers were found to be manufactured in several lathe workshops and foundries in the Chennai suburbs of Tamil Nadu. According to police, a Maoist ‘technical wing’ member had convinced those companies to accept small manufacturing orders.
In October 2006, 21 rocket launchers were recovered from a dump of CPI (Maoist) party in Andhra Pradesh. Police also found 25 mortars and 600 kg of explosive material in the dump.
In November 2009, police seized two powerful rocket launchers along with other arms and ammunition in West Midnapore, West Bengal. According to police, the rocket launchers were improvised ones, made from iron pipes with 4-5 inch diameter.
In March 2010, Andhra Pradesh police recovered several rocket launchers and 3000 hand grenades while conducting raids in West Godavari district. Police had also arrested few Maoist leaders in the raid, which was conducted on the basis of documents recovered from two top Maoist leaders, who were killed in a shootout.
In June 2011, police had recovered two U.S.-made grenade launchers near Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand. The launchers were meant to be supplied to Maoists by two persons but police nabbed them along with the weapons. The launchers had a range of 150-350 meters and it fired 40 mm fragmentation grenade.
Police displaying a grenade launcher seized from the Maoists
In June 2015, three improvised rocket launchers were seized from a dense forest in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district. The joint search operation by ITBP and district police were conducted based upon a specific input that weapons were hidden in the village forests.
In April 2018, eight Maoists were killed in an encounter in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh. In the arms and ammunition recovered from them included six rocket launchers.
In May this year, an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) was recovered from an encounter site with Maoists in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, along with a German made G3 Heckler and Koch assault rifle.
This goes out to show that Maoists are not only procuring grenade launchers and snatching them from security forces, but they are also making them, which range from crude to high tech. In several instances police have found evidence of Maoists developing indigenous propellers and rocket launchers.
It is perfectly legitimate that Arundhati Roy-Prashant Bhushan may hold a different opinion to mine. Like Azaan which a newly-born Muslim baby first hears, they probably heard of “democracy” when brought on to this world. Lately, their diaphragm is in spasm for the shouting of last few days. Roy and Bhushan have also taken to pen in be-my-guest news outlets such as Scroll and Indian Express.
Both of them are outraged and allege that Pune police have raided homes of “well-known” activists, poets, lawyers and priests and arrested five on trumped-up charges. But then Osama bin Laden was also an engineer and “well-known.” So could a pursuit of him be termed as an “assault on democracy?” Who decides if your “civil right activists” are not “urban naxals” as they could be in my book?
Both are convinced Pune Police has no case against them. They probably read too much from Indian Express which has published the version of police commissioner R. Venkatesham but missed out on the latter’s comment that “all evidence has been scientifically analysed…many incrimination communications and evidence have come out which detail sending students to the interiors (jungles) for training, mobilizing money and holding discussions on weapons, the people to be authorized, to purchase these weapons and how they will be moved, besides more violent acts against security forces and other functionaries.”
Roy has rarely sounded so shrill and fake as she has in her Scroll article. She believes this action has been initiated because Modi is losing popularity and wants to divert attention from “scandalous” demonetization and purchase of Rafale aircraft. Gauri Lankesh, farmers’ distress, dismantling of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) all make her shed bucketful tears. Eyes closed, these would’ve appeared Rahul Gandhi’s words. Great minds do think alike and fools seldom differ.
Roy claims that none of the five arrested was present at the Elgar Parishad Rally of December 31, 2017. Well, when the World Trade Centre towers fell, Osama bin Laden was also not present in New York. This is the age of driverless cars and metros. There are no hands as you move in driverless metros. Ever heard of a remote control, Ms Roy?
Both of them never care to explain why their concern on human rights doesn’t extend to Kashmiri Pundits or policemen doing their duty in Jammu & Kashmir. Roy is for the independence of Kashmir but I haven’t heard her support Assamese and their fears against illegal immigrants. Roy speaks lies as its nobody’s business – and when police want her to stand by her words, she is nowhere to be found.
Similarly, why shouldn’t I be suspicious of Prashant Bhushan who was stripped of his credibility by none other than the judicial Vatican of this country, the Supreme Court? Bhushan and his NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) were slammed by SC which said: “attempts were made to misrepresent and mislead the court by manufacturing evidence to cast a doubt on the circumstances leading to the death of judge Loya.”
Justice DY Chandrachud’s opinion on Bhushan are worth hearing in detail: “Prashant Bhushan adopted a dual mantle and went to the length of personally collecting evidence to bolster the case…the petition is a veiled attempt to launch a frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary and to dilute the credibility of judicial institutions.”
So Mr Bhushan, why we must believe you are championing “democracy’ and not “subverting” it? You now find the evidence against five activists as flimsy but should we remind you of what Supreme Court thought of your absurd allegation of bribe against Narendra Modi?
Just look at all those who are moving mountains against the Pune police today—just jot down their names, the news outlets who support them, the political leaders who are joining the chorus. All of them call themselves as champions of “democracy” even though they have little regard or patience for its constitutional arbitrator, the Supreme Court which has granted house arrests for these very five “well-known” activists. To my eyes, I can spot the forces who’ve ganged up against my country called India and its very “democracy.”
Shocking details have emerged in the arrests of the Maoists-sympathiser activists after the Pune Police briefed the media on the evidence collected by them. The police revealed that the evidence collected by them establishes their roles with the Maoists.
#WATCH A letter by Rona Wilson to comrade Prakash,”I hope you have received details of a requirement of Rs.8 crores for the annual supply of grenade launchers. Comrade Kishan&others have proposed steps to end Modi raj, like Rajiv Gandhi incident:PB Singh, ADG, Maharashtra Police pic.twitter.com/571vQHQJH2
The Police that said in a letter by an activist Rona Wilson to comrade Prakash, Wilson talks about details of the requirement of funds of Rs. 8 crores for the annual supply of grenade launchers with four lakh rounds. In the letter, he also talks about proposing concrete steps to end ‘Modi raj’ and that they are thinking on the lines of another ‘Rajiv Gandhi type incident’.
The police read out excerpts of several letters and documents seized from raids carried out by them. We had earlier reported about the ‘letter’ that the Maharashtra police affirmed being a part of the evidence in the said case. Sudha Bhardwaj, poet P Varavara Rao, activist Gautam Navlakha, and lawyers Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves have recently been detained by the Maharashtra Police for having links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The letters produced by the police mention how Maoists are afraid that the continuous electoral success of Narendra Modi will pose a direct threat to their movement. There is also a mention of networking with other insurgency groups around the country and creating more chaos within the republic. The letter also mentions Rs. 8 crores to purchase M4 carbines and 4 lakh ammunition, a statement partially reciprocated by the Maharashtra Police today.
While addressing the media Singh stated, “These were over-ground cadres. But they were doing illegal work of the underground… furthering their agenda,” thereby confirming the existence of an elaborate network of people who sympathize to the Maoist cause of waging a war against the Indian republic.
Police stated that they have also recovered password protected documents from the arrested persons which contained but not limited to a cache of arms that the Maoist central committee leadership wanted to purchase. Police also mentioned the name of Varavara Rao as the authorized personnel by the central committee of the Maoists with regards to procurement of the weapons which include but not limited to Russian Gm-94 Grenade launcher, Chinese QLZ-87 Automatic grenade launcher and America M60 Light machine gun.
Some of these weapons have ranges up to 1100 meters, according to the available data. The police also categorically stated that the seizures were filmed and well documented and the integrity of the evidence has been maintained. The seized materials were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratories. The entire investigations have been carried by the cloned devices and the original seized materials are still with the Forensic Science Laboratories.
Police also mentioned the possibility of the involvement of foreign organizations in the plot. Some universities in US Cincinnati has been mentioned in one of the letters, where it is said that a certain agreement has been reached between the underground and the over-ground cadres and sympathizers of the Maoist that these universities will ask a certain group of people to give lectures at their universities a minimum of twice a year. Rona Wilson is believed to be the intermediary between the central committee and the overground cadre base.
The police also mentioned of a certain conference in France which some the over-ground cadres attended to garner international support. They also mentioned a letter written by Sudha Bharadwaj to a certain Comrade Prakash, whom the police believe to be corresponding on the behalf of the central committee, where she writes that a certain Comrade Gautam and Comrade Ankit are in touch with Kashmiri separatist and also recommends to a Comrade Prashant for rendering legal aid against- the use of pellet guns in the valley. In the same letter, Sudha also asks for financial aid in order to send students from JNU and TISS to the interior.
The police also produced a letter, which the police allege is written by central committee member Sudarshan has written to Comrade Gautam (Gautam Navalakha). This letter depicts how Maoists use Fact-finding committees in order to further their own agenda. In this letter, Sudarshan asks Navalakha to stand united with them at this time of ‘increased oppression’.
This latest revelation by the Maharashtra Police exposes the extent of Maoist ideology in certain education centres and how a section of these ”activists” are hand in glove with the Maoist insurgents.
The Supreme Court of India has quashed an FIR filed against actress Priya Prakash Varrier and the makers of Malayali movie ‘Oru Adar Love’. ‘Somebody in a film sings a song and you have no other job but to file a case’, the SC bench also rebuked the people behind the FIR.
A bench comprising of CJI Deepak Mishra, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AM Khanwaliker also stated that a wink in a popular song cannot be called an act of blasphemy. The bench also observed that the song ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi’ on which the viral video of the film was made, has been a popular Malayali song since 1978 and the 30-second video clip of the film Oru Adar Love cannot be termed as blasphemous.
The 30-second video clip in which many young actors were seen had gone viral on social media. The scene where the actress Priya Varrier winks and smiles at the male lead had become immensely popular over social media platforms and made Priya Varrier a household name all across the country.
Soon after the song video went viral, some Muslims in Telangana had filed an FIR in Hyderabad alleging that the song, which mentions the love affair between prophet Mohammad and his first wife Khadija has been represented in a blasphemous way in the video as winking is against Islam.
According to reports, the SC bench has stated, “We allow the writ petition of Varrier and the others and quash the FIR lodged against them in Telangana and further direct that no FIR or any complaint under section 200 of the CrPC will be entertained against the petitioners over the picturisation of the song in question.”
The film Oru Adar Love is yet to be released. The SC order is expected to bring relief to the director and the producer of the movie too who were also named in the FIR.
Raising questions about Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s perceived intimacy with the Chinese establishment, the BJP today pointed out that Rahul Gandhi has left for China with the Chinese ambassador to accompany him.
“If he really wanted to know the Indian perspective on Doklam he should have asked the minister of MEA or approached the NSA or talked to the foreign secretary. But he wanted to know the Chinese perspective that is why he met the Chinese ambassador’’ BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said while addressing the media.
Rahul Gandhi has left for China via Nepal. Rahul ji has an obsession for China. Why is it that Mr. Gandhi always wants to get a Chinese view on everything but does not want to have an Indian perspective? Which politicians will he meet there? : Sambit Patra,BJP pic.twitter.com/8c2Un2QssC
This comes close on the heels of Rahul’s Mansarovar Yatra, in which the BJP alleges Gandhi wanted to have a ceremonial send-off by China. BJP states that the same was conveyed to the Ministry of External Affairs.
BJP hits out by stating that Rahul has always been keen on seeking the Chinese perspective about everything and that is why “he is obsessed about China’’ and alleges collusion between the Chinese establishment and Rahul Gandhi. Patra added, “We all know how Rahul Gandhi met Chinese embassy officials in Delhi.” After initially denying the meeting, Congress got around to admitting it after the Chinese embassy website issued the official statement confirming the meeting between Rahul Gandhi and the Chinese envoy. Later, Rahul Gandhi said that his job is ‘to be informed’ of critical issues. Amusingly, despite being ‘informed’, Rahul Gandhi recently confessed that he does not ‘have details’ about the Doklam issue to say how he would have handled it differently.
Technically, this is rather unusual more so because Rahul Gandhi does not hold any constitutional position and for a member of parliament such ‘official send-off’ or ‘ceremonial send-off’ is rare would be an understatement. The fact that the Chinese ambassador sent in an official request to the Government of India for the same is indicative of the unusual nature of relationship Rahul seems to have with the Chinese.
The allegation is not completely baseless, if one looks back to the previous months of this year, Rahul Gandhi has time and time again tried to initiate extra-governmental talks with the Chinese. In January this year, Rahul met with a Chinese Communist Party delegation led by Mr Meng Xiangfeng, a member of the CPC central committee.
He met the Chinese envoy after the Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui said in an interview that there was “no scope for compromise” and that for any dialogue to commence, India must pull back its soldiers. Delhi has ignored that warning, as also several threats in Chinese state-run media of India exposing itself to a “humiliating” defeat like the 1962 war.
If the main reason for such tier-1 talks is the bilateral exchange of information then why did Rahul tried to maintain secrecy every time he met with Chinese officials? This sudden praise of China and the reciprocation from China in the form of this official send-off is a cause of concern. This extra-governmental approach of Rahul Gandhi could very well undermine India’s position not only in front of China but also globally. For petty politics, sacrificing national security is detrimental, and it’s time Rahul Gandhi is questioned, vociferously.
With the crackdown on Naxalite sympathizers by Maharashtra police in the Bhima Koregaon violence case, the anti-national stand of those ‘intellectuals’ has again become a subject of national debate. And it is no surprise that the ideology of these people often seems to align with other forces trying to break India, and the prime among them is the Kashmiri separatists. We have often seen that people who support the Naxalites also take the side of Kashmiri separatists.
One of the persons detained by police in the ongoing crackdown is Varavara Rao who is a poet, journalist, activist, and Naxalite sympathiser. An interview he gave to Tehelka magazine in 2010 gives us an insight into how deep the relations between Naxalites and Kashmiri separatists go. He said, “I feel azadi [freedom] is the only way for Kashmir. Self-determination is the right of every nationality. Being a Maoist, I support revolutionary and independent movements of people. On that Marxist-Leninist principle, I support the nationality struggle of Kashmir and of the Northeast.” He adds that Hyderabad and Kashmir were ‘invaded’ by India. According to him, Hyderabad had Muslim ruler (but majority Hindu population) and Kashmir had majority Muslim population (but Hindu ruler) so these two regions should secede from India.
Another important point to note is that, when he was asked about views of Kashmiri Pandits, he labelled the Pandits as Sangh Parivar people and completely ignored the question of their views. Talking about the “Azadi: The Only Way” conference in Delhi that he attended along with Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Arundhati Roy and others, he said “There were around 700 people at the conference, most of them supporting azadi. Around 200 of them were Kashmiris. The Sangh Parivar people, including Kashmiri Pandits, were not more than 70. That means the people of Kashmir are not alone in their struggle.” He basically meant that Kashmiri Pandits also support secession and those who do not belong to Sangh Parivar, only based on attendance in a conference calling for breaking India!
When asked about tie-ups between the Maoists and the separatists, he categorically replied, “Right from the days of Charu Mazumdar, we have supported the struggle for azadi in Kashmir and the Northeast. That support remains.”
Hence a prominent Naxalite activist confirms that Naxalites and Kashmiri Separatists have a deep relation for a long time. And the both these groups share a common objective, breaking up India, a large country with substantial standing and presence in the international stage, into several smaller nations, each much weaker and vulnerable to aggressive forces of both western military muscles and middle eastern ideological forces.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi may appear clueless and clownish when he makes statements that are bereft of logic or can’t be backed with data. However, his statements often are a peek into Congress strategy because he is the supreme leader after having taken over from his mother, who ran the party with an iron hand.
Earlier he made the ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ jibe against Prime Minister Modi when his policies were actually pro-poor like Jan Dhan Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. This is always a signal by Rahul Gandhi for his coterie, politicians and media, to latch on to such hollow statements and turn it into a rallying point.
They extended his ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ strategy to target industrialists and top businessmen by claiming that PM Modi works only for ‘his friends’. To that, PM Modi gave a befitting response by saying how he is not ‘scared’ to be seen with businessmen as they are as much part of India’s growth story as farmers are.
The allegations, however, did not stop. Eventually, Anil Ambani filed a Rs. 5,000 crore defamation case against Congress mouthpiece National Herald for a defamatory article on Rafale deal. Prior to that, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence had sent a legal notice to Congress leaders to cease and desist from making frivolous, unverified and defamatory statements. Despite evidence that proves otherwise, Rahul Gandhi continues the intensive offensive by referring to the Rafale deal as a scam and the media, instead of questioning Rahul Gandhi with facts, is amplifying the narrative.
There are many such examples, where Rahul Gandhi’s seemingly stupid statements are actually a strategic line to be taken by Congress. This has even gone to ridiculous levels when senior Congress leaders even took the line that Coca-Cola founder indeed sold shikanji in a pushcart. From connected MRI machines to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) manufacturing mobile phones, Congress President has made increasingly hilarious statements. But amidst all this, he has given a glimpse of a larger, sinister strategy.
The latest one is the comparison between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamist Sunni organisation founded in Egypt. It was triggered by Congress President Rahul Gandhi when he compared the RSS with the terror organisation in Britain earlier this month.
While there are various reasons the debate on this is absurd, this statement of Rahul Gandhi also has to be seen in the light of how it transforms into Congress strategy. OpIndia has undertaken that analysis and we have concluded that by juxtaposing the two the Congress President is conflating secularism with the dominance of Muslims and communalism with the dominance of Hindus or even equal rights between Hindus and Muslims. The countries, other than the ones like Russia etc, where the Muslim Brotherhood is banned in, are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria etc.
OpIndia had written how if Congress comes to power in 2019, there may be a massive crackdown on the RSS. We had written how with the help of the propaganda outlets under its wing, Congress will demonise the RSS and build a narrative that the crackdown on the RSS is necessary. That the media outlets which are busy whitewashing the murders of RSS and BJP workers in Kerala and Bengal will justify the raids and shutting down of RSS Shakhas.
Starting with, Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, asks Rahul Gandhi to ‘learn some lessons from Egypt’s crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood’.
ThePrint asking Rahul Gandhi to learn lessons from Egypt’s crackdown of Muslim Brotherhood.
With The Print calling for persecution, OpIndia’s analyses seem to be coming true even before the Congress comes to power. The ecosystem established and nurtured by the Congress has already started propagating Hitler-esque rounding up and persecution of Hindu activists.
The Muslim Brother is an extremist Islamist organisation that has been indulging in torture and murder for the longest time. That the left-liberals would maliciously and fallaciously compare an innocent and cultural organisation like the RSS to the Muslim Brotherhood is a precursor to them endorsing torture and murder of RSS swayamsevaks or anyone they perceive as a ‘Sanghi’. They would want to perhaps take a cue from how in September 2017, Egypt’s President, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi gave a green signal to use ‘torture with impunity’, especially against those who are alleged sympathisers of Muslim Brotherhood.
In 2017, four men were reportedly killed extrajudicially by Egyptian Police on suspicion of being members of Muslim Brotherhood. In 2015, Egypt’s Brotherhood claimed one of their members was tortured to death by security forces, two weeks after he went ‘missing’. These steps were arguably necessary for the establishment of law and order and to curb an extremist organisation that itself indulges in Islamist indoctrination and murder. But, The Print endorses the fallacious comparison because it can then, as they have today, endorse the killings and torture of RSS men once Congress comes back to power. This sinister and fascist agenda of The Print is ghastly.
Yes. The ecosystem wishes for Congress to go for an all-out war, which will include violence and state-sponsored persecution should Congress come to power. That all that just because the RSS and people associated with the Sangh are intrinsically Hindus. They wish to justify and legitimise the torture so that they can later claim that because ‘RSS is just like Muslim Brotherhood’, it is in the interest of national security to ‘eliminate’ them.
This process has already started. While this fascist narrative has come to the fore only after Rahul Gandhi spouted this dangerous propaganda, one looks back and realises that when RSS men are tortured and murdered at the hands of Kerala communists or West Bengal TMC, the ecosystem maintains a stoic silence. When coaxed and coerced to speak, they introduce a ‘political angle’ to a Hindu’s murder.
The depravity of their soul is evidenced by the fact that they wouldn’t bat an eye before comparing innocent Hindus to radical Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood and ask for the Hindus’ head on a stick. The witch-hunt is being anticipated with baited breath and smacking lips.
And even as the narrative is built to demonise Hindus and is spread far and wide, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is busy thinking of saying something even more ridiculous so we could make fun of him.
In a bid to help strengthen Government of India’s efforts to the ongoing cleaning Ganga project, the German government has decided to provide a soft loan of Euro 120 million or Rs 990 crore to India for cleaning Ganga project in Uttarakhand.
The German government in 2015 had committed to provide an interest subsidized loan of 120 million Euros through German Development Bank KfW for financial investments such as construction of sewerage network and sewage treatment plants, including training and exposure of technical staff to best practices in the sector.
Jasper Wieck, the charge d’affairs, German Embassy in India, said that going by their own experience, the German government took 30 years and 45 billion Euros to clean the Rhine river and hence, the cleaning Ganga project would not be an easy one. Elaborating on their country’s role, Wieck explained the German initiative will also include construction of 13 sewage pumping stations as well as extension and replacement of sewage system. “The purpose of the project is to reduce the inflow of untreated wastewater in the river Ganga and, thus, to improve the water quality of the river,” Wieck said.
He added that the German development agency GIZ has prepared a ‘Ganga Box’, aimed to target school-going children and inform them about the river. Vikrant Tyagi, a project coordinator with GIZ, said the aim is to bring change in the behaviour of the people towards the river. A discussion is also on to give the Ganga Box prototype to National Clean Ganga Mission so it could be replicated in other states.
In India, a large section of self-proclaimed secular, liberal media and politicians have been practising a version of ‘secularism’ that is actually nothing but blatant Hindu hatred. Extending the umbrella of Hindu hatred, that perspective has also been widened to include hatred of anything indigenous, anything that forms the core of Indian nationalism and identity. Over the years, observant watchers would agree that the hatred has evolved into open shaming of Hindu practices and to such extent that the so-called secular liberals often consider India’s national security and its territorial integrity to be of far less importance over their desperate need for Mulsim appeasement.
Perhaps on cue, a specific section of global media too is often seen indulging in the blatant shaming of Indian culture and hatred for Indian practices. We have seen how The New York Times has repeatedly carried out their propaganda against India. From Indian attire to India’s security concerns, they have made every possible attempt to deride, shame and tarnish India’s global image.
Kashmir has been a burning issue for India since decades. A global trend worldwide can be seen when one looks at events happening across the world. Islamist terrorism is spreading its wings globally for years now. When armed terrorists carry out bomb blasts, terror attacks and mass murders, there is also a growing section of media and political force that indulges in apologist activities. They attempt to blame everything, from cultural discrimination to racism to stress and anxiety when it comes to terrorists. A sinister reflection of that behaviour has also been visible when it comes to India and especially Kashmir.
In July last year, a bus carrying 60 Amarnath yatris was attacked by a group of Islamic terrorists who sprayed bullets on innocent, unarmed Hindu devotees. The attack was not the first of its kind, Amarnath yatra has been the target of Islamic terrorists for a long time. There have been attacks previously too. in 2000, a total of 89 people were massacred in five different co-ordinated massacres that happened over two days. Attacks have happened and Hindu devotees have been killed in 2001 and 2002 too. Let us see how some of our secular liberals have reacted after the 2017 Amarnath Yatra attacks.
Sitaram Yechury on TwitterBarkha Dutt on Twitter
This year, thankfully, the Amarnath Yatra began and concluded without any Hindu pilgrims losing their lives in the hands of Islamic terrorists. The Indian government had left no stone unturned in providing security measures and had deployed thousands to armed soldiers with modern surveillance technology to ensure the safety of the lakhs of pilgrims who take the arduous journey to get a glimpse of what is one of the most revered Hindu shrines.
However, several media organisations across the world have a problem with India protecting its citizens, especially Hindu citizens. An August 9 article in Foreign Policy states India is trying to create a ‘Jerusalem like’ situation in the ‘divided’ region of Kashmir through the Amarnath Yatra. Incredulous as it may sound, the article is laden with a number of assertions on how India is sending hoards of Hindu pilgrims in an attempt to “Mix religious and national sentiments to turn the disputed territory into a sacred ground that can never be surrendered.”
foreign Policy article on Amarnath Yatra
The article makes bold assertions, from making it clear in the first paragraph itself that the Amarnath Yatra is nothing but a state-sponsored attempt to ‘capture’ Kashmir by India’s Hindu nationalist government, it goes ahead to assert that the BJP government is trying to support the ‘Hindu claim over Kashmiri land.’
The article in Foreign Policy
As if blatantly challenging India’s territorial integrity was not enough, the article also goes ahead to assert that it is the Hindu pilgrims who are carrying out the government agenda of ‘claiming’ Kashmir. Sadly, the article very conveniently forgets to mention that Hindus have always lived in Kashmir. The article has no mention of the lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits who were massacred and were forced to leave their homes. Leave alone Kashmir’s ancient heritage, that has roots in Shaivite Hinduism and asceticism nurtured with centuries of Hindu saints, poets and kings, the article paints a picture of Kashmir being an exclusively Muslim territory, with India now thrusting its Hinduism upon its poor, hapless Muslims through activities like the Amarnath Yatra. For them, India being prepared to protect its own citizens is a crime because the citizens happen to be mostly Hindus.
Sadly, this was not even the only article to make such depraved assertions of a twisted ideology.
A 16th July article in Turkish state-sponsored media outlet TRT World titled “Is India trying to subdue Kashmir through religious tourism?” takes a similar stand. it claims India, which is undergoing a ‘Hindutva transformation’ has, over the years, institutionalised the Amarnath yatra and is carrying our a ‘cultural imperialism’ to assert India’s claim over Kashmir.
An article in TRT World
Not stopping at that, the article also goes ahead to claim India’s imperialist attempts to ‘claim’ Kashmir through the Amarnath shrine are creating an environmental disaster for the Kashmir valley. it also adds that Hindutva organisations and the present government of India are deliberately creating a surge of Hindu pilgrims in the valley to ‘create demographical tensions’ in the region and expresses the notion that all of this is a part of the fierce attempts by India to assimilate Kashmir into the Indian state. it even mentions that ‘there are even attempts to make these yatras a permanent affair.’
The article on TRT World
They went further and also claimed that the Indian army’s primary job is to maim, kill and torture Kashmiris day in and day out.
How conveniently these articles forget to mention that it is the Indian army that saves Kashmiris during floods and other natural calamities, runs hospitals and health camps and its primary job is to protect the innocents Kashmiris from their radical Islamic jihadi brothers who have been trained and funded by Pakistan to kill their own. The black ISIS flags being waved at protest rallies and the brutal stone peltings on security forces that have injured thousands of soldiers find no mention either. The systemic and selective killing of Hindus over the years in Kashmir in an attempt to eliminate Hindus from the valley find no mention in these hallow narratives of malignant smear campaigns.
Hidden beneath all the assertions and allegations is a more sinister agenda. An agenda to mainstream jihadi Islamist radicalism. By painting the Islamic terrorists as a ‘product’ and not the cause, by portraying security forces in Kashmir as a threat to its present status, by conveniently ignoring the brutal genocide of Kashmiri Hindus, these elements are actually driving the greater cause of subtle propaganda peddling, a psychological mission to programme unsuspecting minds into believing that the terrorists are rebel heroes and they only take up arms to protect themselves. Just like Burhan Wani was projected as the ‘poor headmaster’s son’ and more recently Rahul Gandhi stated that it was joblessness that created ISIS.
While inside India a large section of liberals was busy establishing the ‘secular’ roots of Amarnath Yatra by hailing the false narrative of Buta Malick ‘discovering’ the shrine, certain sections of global media worked to portray the pious journey as a malicious attempt by wicked Hindus to snatch Kashmir from the Muslims. Looks like India and Indians will have to be prepared for a war of narratives.
