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.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee is set to visit Gurgaon along with the Chief Minister of Haryana to inaugerate projects under the Smartgram Yojana under which he had adopted some villages in 2016, while he was the President of India.
He will visit Harchandpur and Nayagaon, both in Gurgaon, and launch training and innovation warehouses and set up water ATMs, as part of ‘Smartgram’ projects that his foundation is undertaking in adopted villages. He will meet entrepreneurs and sarpanches of both villages. The CM too will be part of the events in both villages.
Economic Timesreported that Mukherjee had met RSS workers at his residence a few days ago and briefed them about his foundation’s effort to provide clean drinking water in Haryana villages it has adopted. 15 senior and junior level RSS workers who were invited for the event assured him of all possible help and also presented him a coffee table book on the history and struggles of the RSS.
A member of the RSS while speaking to Economic Times said, “What he is doing is social work and the RSS has a very good presence in Haryana, especially around Gurgaon. We would really like to help him in whichever way possible because for the Sangh, it is the work that matters, not politics”. An associate of the former president while confirming that he met a group of RSS members recently said nothing has been formalized yet about the RSS and Mukherjee working together on any project. “But he has always been a proponent of inclusiveness. And for the work he is doing, he would want to include everyone.”
Earlier in May when the news broke that the former President is set to deliver the valedictory address at the function of Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga (SSV) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at Nagpur and that the RSS has formally extended an invitation to Mukherjee which the former Congress stalwart chose to accept, it drew a lot of controversies with his own party members annoyed at the entire idea. Several Congress leaders had stated their grievance with Mukherjee via letters and phone calls. The former president undeterred had maintained his position of attending the event.
Congress party and assorted liberals had previously displayed their pettiness when the former President had in June, during his visit to the birthplace of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, hailed him as “a great son of Mother India”. They have continued castigating the Sangh by comparing it to the global Islamist terrorist organisation Muslim Brotherhood which was founded in Egypt. The Former President, however, oblivious to all this maintained that he sees this matter in an ‘apolitical’ sense and believes that he transcended petty political partisanship when he assumed the role of the President of India.
Update: Ex-President Pranab Mukherjee took to Twitter to clarify that there is no collaboration between his think tank and RSS. He clarified that he had adopted some villages under the Smartgram Yojana in Haryana while he was President of India and he will be visiting Haryana on the CM’s invitation, along with the CM of Haryana, to inaugurate the projects started in the last two years.
The Telangana police have arrested two men from the CPI-ML (New Democracy) with several guns and ammunition. According to a report in Times Now, the police have recovered both large and small weapons. The large weapon recovered is reportedly an area weapon used to fire from a long range. A load of cartridges and smaller personal weapons have been recovered too.
Telangana police conducted raids on members of the CPI(ML), the cops arrested 45 year old and his gunman and seized several weapons from them @NikunjGargN shares more details #MaoistCrackdownpic.twitter.com/k00GXGkoJj
According to reports, the arrested leader is Gudur Divisional secretary Sangapongu Muthiaraj and his personal gunman Nallamari Ashok. 100 eight mm rounds, 50 SLR rounds, 23,000 rupees in cash and kit bags were also recovered along with a pistol, a 9 mm carbine, two 9 mm carbine magazines were also a part of the heist. As many as 10 different cases were reportedly pending against Muthiaraj in three districts of Telangana.
This comes after the massive crackdown of urban Maoists launched by the Maharashtra police after the Bhima Koregaon violence. In June this year, 5 urban Maoists were arrested in Pune while earlier this week the police had conducted simultaneous raids in several cities and arrested alleged urban Maoists Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Arun Pereira, Stan Swamy and Anand Teltumbde.
In July this year, the Telangana police had arrested 48-year-old A Narayanaswamy alias Madhu, the state committee member of the CPI-ML(New Democracy). He was arrested from a tribal hamlet in Yellandu mandal with guns, live ammunition, cash and party literature. Madhu was arrested after a police raid when he was trying to flee. It is notable here that the only CPI-ML(New Democracy) MLA in Telangana assembly also hails from Yellandu.
In February this year too, two members of the CPI-ML (New Democracy) were arrested in Mehboobabad, Telangana. Several weapons, carbines, ammunition and cash were recovered from them. In January this year, CPI-ML (New Democracy) leader Surnapaka Badraiah alias Rambabu was arrested with weapons in the same Mehboobabad area.
the CPI-ML formed by Kanu Sanyal in 1969 wherein the newly formed faction had denounced the electoral policy practised by CPI-Marxist and had formed a separate group under leaders like Charu Majumdar and Saroj Datta. After the death of Charu Majumdar, the party had eventually further broken down into over a dozen individual groups many of which practise armed communist terrorism. Left-wing activist Kavita Krishnan is a politbureau member of the CPI-ML and editor of its magazine, Liberation.
Over the years, while the Indian security forces have been deployed to combat the menace of left-wing terrorists in tribal areas of India, a certain section of educated and elite individuals, now known as ‘Urban Naxals’ have been allegedly carrying out propagation of violent and secessionist left-wing ideologies.
Controversial writer-activist Arundhati Roy has added one more statement to her long list of bizarre and outlandish statements. On 30th August 2018, she decided to join the ongoing debate over Rafale deal, but in doing so she upgraded the French multirole fighter jet to an aircraft carrier. At a press conference, she said “but the real fire of make in India, is the Rafale aircraft carrier deal”, taking a jib at the incident of fire at Make in India event held at Mumbai in February 2016.
The real fire of Make in India is the new Rafale aircraft carrier deal. The PM announced this deal in Paris against all known protocols: Arundhati Roy, Author #MaoistCrackdownpic.twitter.com/WYJn15IlAU
Although it was just a minor goof-up this time, she has made many more seriously and outrageously wrong statements in the past.
While speaking at an event at Northwestern Law School in Chicago in 2013, she described the event of Godhra train burning case as:
“A train full of pilgrims coming back from the destruction of this Ayodhya mosque which was disputed. The train caught fire; nobody knows who set fire to the train and 57 pilgrims were burnt…”.
It was a foreign audience so nobody could point out to the her that the Ayodhya mosque was demolished in 1992 and Godhra train burning happened in 2002. It is, of course, very difficult to believe that it was a genuine mistake since both the incidents are two of the most talked about events in contemporary Indian history. The logical conclusion would be that she most likely still chose to do this since she knew the profile of her audience and was confident that she would get away with her bizarre lie.
In 2010, she wrote a three-part series in The Guardian comparing Maoists with Mahatma Gandhi. She argued, Maoist guerrillas are Gandhis, but with Guns. Narrating her visit of a Maoist camp, she wrote:
“There are no signs that almost a hundred people had camped here, except for some ash where the fires had been. I cannot believe this army. As far as consumption goes, it’s more Gandhian than any Gandhian, and has a lighter carbon footprint than any climate change evangelist. But for now, it even has a Gandhian approach to sabotage; before a police vehicle is burnt, for example, it is stripped down and every part is cannibalized. The steering wheel is straightened out and made into a bharmaar barrel, the rexine upholstery stripped and used for ammunition pouches, the battery for solar charging.”
Gandhian approach to sabotage, it seems! Take a moment to absorb this – she finds terrorists cleaning up their camp to remove evidence, Gandhian. Most gangs and criminals would resort to this to reduce their carbon footprint. She thinks terrorists making deadly weapons out of captured police vehicles is Gandhian! One wonders if she also thinks that the murder of innocents by Maoists is the ‘Gandhian way’?
She also finds the ability of trained Maoist terrorists to carry loads of backpack, rifle, ammunition, provisions while walking in the darkness in a forest, ‘amazing’. In fact, she is so impressed by it that she calls it a miracle. Terrorists should also take her along on their ambush missions, to impress her with their sharpshooting capabilities, to demonstrate their efficient mass killings with their handmade bombs so that she can write how the boys and girls are so talented.
Again in 2010, Arundhati Roy had attended a conference on “Azadi-the Only Way” along with Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others, where several anti-India statements were made and after a petition filed against them, police had filed an FIR her and others under various sections including sedition.
On several occasions, she has argued that only way to solve the Kashmir problem is the independence of Kashmir. It is safe to say that Arundhati Roy stands against the independence, sovereignty and integrity of the country. She stands for breaking India into tiny pieces, she talks in favour of an armed struggle to meet that goal and lies through her teeth to make her points. After the trail of statements left behind by Arundhati Roy, her statements on Rafale seem like a mere gaffe.
The Union Law Ministry has decided to allow the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to book former Editor of Tehelka, Upendra Rai under the Officials Secrets Act. This comes after the Enforcement Directorate had earlier attached assets, including nine immovable properties, worth Rs 26.65 crore in connection with a money laundering case.
Upendra Rai, the former editor of the controversial Tehelka, is considered to be one of the Benami petitioners of the former finance minister P Chidambaram, who himself is facing cases of severe financial irregularities. Upendra Rai is now investigated by both CBI and ED for his involvement in the extortion from businessmen and in helping them in return to settle cases with the Income Tax Department and other agencies.
One of the biggest allegations against him is that of him being one of the Benami’s of former finance minister P Chidambaram and owing as many as 19 residential buildings in various cities. The properties supposedly include a 30 crore bungalow in Delhi’s Greater Kailash and flats in Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow.
The searches conducted by the agencies on the premises of Rai had helped obtain his possession call data records of businessmen and nearly 140 classified Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in a pen drive. Reportedly, the STRs are connected with the firms which are being probed by various agencies. This confidential information has been sent to law enforcement agencies for further probe on his involvement in money laundering and other export/import fraud against individuals or firms.
The Law Ministry believes that the STRs are meant to be classified and can only be accessed by the concerned agency. STRs are not disclosed under the Right to Information Act. Hence Law Ministry believes that “it would not be necessary to show that the accused person was guilty of any particular act tending to show a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state”.
Reportedly, if Upendra Rai is found to be involved in the violation of the OSA, he would be punishable with imprisonment extending up to three years in this case. This would be in addition to penalties that are handed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act for which Rai is being probed by the ED and the CBI, said sources.
Reportedly, Upendra Rai is believed to have received huge amounts of money has extortion from different companies and corporate houses. According to ED, he has allegedly generated and laundered money worth at least Rs.29.58 crore.
Rai was arrested on June 8 by the Enforcement Directorate under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at the Tihar Jail, moments after he secured bail in a Central Bureau of Investigation case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions. He has reportedly amassed huge wealth and as many as 19 residential properties in various cities in the country, including a bungalow worth Rs 30 crores in Delhi. Rai was arrested by CBI in May 2018.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had dismissed Upendra Rai’s plea to restrain ED officer Rajeshwar Singh from investigating a graft case against him but dismissed the plea allowing officer Singh to proceed with the case. It is reported that Rai is also allegedly involved in money laundering and IPL betting. He was associated with the Sahara Group before he joined Tehelka. He is even accused of threatening and blackmailing CBI officers who were investigating Sahara’s, Subroto Roy.
On every Independence day, there is always that one person in our Facebook friend list who asks that question everyone is bored of hearing, “Are we really independent, though?” The more annoying bit is the person actually believes he has said something extremely profound and ought to be taken seriously. In more recent times, another trend has emerged of people wondering if India should lose in sports to curb the rising tide of nationalism or asking Indians to not celebrate too much by pointing towards another country that has done better. Such people, it is quite obvious, do not understand sports at all.
I had the misfortune of coming across an article in a certain outlet that claimed Indians should not celebrate its success in the Asian Games since China had done much better. It is equivalent to suggesting that Arsenal football club should not have celebrated its FA Cup victories since it hasn’t won the Premier League in over a decade; or, suggesting that Kevin Anderson should not have celebrated his remarkable display at Wimbledon 2018 merely because he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final. It does not make any sense but if you are an intellectual, you can use the significant mental resources at your disposal to defend even such great depths of utter nonsense.
It is one thing to suggest India should not be satisfied with the tally of medals it has secured in the Asian games but completely different to suggest that India shouldn’t celebrate its success at all. Suggesting that we should not celebrate the success that we have achieved because of the fact that we haven’t achieved more is remarkably obtuse. It’s an insult to our sportsmen who have worked so hard to achieve the success that they have if we do not celebrate their achievements as a nation. It’s an insult to the dedication and devotion of our sportsmen if we do not shower them with all the adulation that they deserve merely because our nation hasn’t won as many medals some others might have.
Celebration and adulation is an essential part of sports. The glory that awaits a sportsman when he secures a place in the podium serves as an infinite source of motivation for many others who aspire to earn the same amount of adulation to work hard and dedicate their entire lives towards the sport. Who knows how many girls watched Dipa Karmakar and were inspired by her heroics following her remarkable performance at the Rio Olympics and the praise that was showered upon her? Who knows how many youngsters Indian sprinter Hima Das is going to inspire with her heroics? If the nation hadn’t celebrated their victories and that of other Indian sportsmen, They wouldn’t have become the sensation they are today and couldn’t have served as an inspiration to so many others to achieve what they have. Not celebrating India’s success is denying our athletes what they deserve, glory and adulation and veneration.
An argument can be then made that the success of the athletes is not so much due to the nation as it is for their own individual efforts and therefore it should only be celebrated as a success for the athletes themselves and not the nation, and as a nation we should not be too proud since we haven’t won too many medals. Of course, you have to be capable of a remarkable amount of conceit to make such an argument. We celebrate the success of our athletes because they are Indians and even though the government or we as individuals might not have contributed to their success, we are proud of them because they are our own. Their achievements cannot be separated from their nationhood as they won those medals representing our country, they won their medals representing us at the events, representing India.
There is such a thing called ‘expectations’ which intellectuals often fail to appreciate as their mental faculties are far too busy with inventing problems to solve. It is pretty immature to critique our low expectations at such events or the fact that we take immense pride over our medal tally even when it’s considerably smaller than other nations. That is because historically we haven’t performed very well at such events. When more of our sportsmen start winning more regularly on a consistent basis, our hunger for medals will grow and our expectations will exceed. There is a natural order of things and childish rants are generally of not much help. There is also a clamour for the government to increase its expenditure on sportsmen but considering the massive amount of investment that is required, a better option would be to provide private institutions with incentives to participate in improving the infrastructure available for the development of sports.
Sports is about glory, it’s about loyalty, it’s about the hunger to succeed in overcoming every obstacle that is thrown your away, We feel proud as a nation of the achievements of our sportsmen because when they take to the arena, they cease to be ordinary individuals and carry the aspirations and expectations of an entire nation on their shoulders. And a significant aspect of sports is the players taking to the field for a higher ideal. You will hear football fans speak all the time about the necessity of footballers playing for the badge on their jersey, about them understanding what it means to play for the club. The same goes for players of any other sport. All of us remember the pride with which Hima Das wrapped the Indian flag around herself after Gold in a track event at the IAAF World U20 Championships. We remember the Phogat sisters taking to social media to affirm their love for the country. Anyone who understands sports understands that tribal loyalty, hero-worship and heroes. The players played for their nation and for that. the nation is honoured and its heart swells with pride.
India may not have won as many medals as China but we are proud today. We are proud as a nation of Swapna Burman who surmounted all odds to secure the Gold medal for the country at the Heptathlon event. And the entire nation felt emotional after watching her mother’s reaction to her stellar performance at the Asian Games. We are proud of our shuttlers who have made winning medals something of a habit in recent times. We are proud of every single sportsman who participated in the Asian Games because they played for that flag we call our own. Our sportsmen have done the nation proud with their performance and for that, we shall be grateful and celebrate and cherish their achievement.
For almost this entire month, two cells in Barrack No.12 of Arthur Road jail where the CBI plans to lodge embattled liquor baron, Vijay Mallya, after executing the ongoing extradition proceedings, have been getting a major face-lift with the tiles being replaced, walls painted and bathroom refurbished.
Barrack 12 at the Arthur Road Jail houses high-profile inmates, including prisoners who face a security threat elsewhere, or ones who could pose a threat to others. It’s a ground-plus-one structure with eight cells on each floor.
A video of the new and improved cell has been shot by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and the top-secret video has been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs to aid in the extradition process.
Fugitive Vijay Mallya has been resisting extradition and possible lodging in the Arthur Road jail citing poor conditions of prisons in the country.
The specifications were highlighted after a UK court on 31st July, asked Indian authorities to submit a “step by step video” of the jail compartment where Mallya would be kept. The court’s directions came after Mallya’s defence team focused its objections on the lack of natural light available in Barrack 12 and claimed that the “government of India assurance cannot be relied upon”.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a nearly 10 minute-long video highlighting various facilities, such as a television set, private toilet, a washing area, availability of proper natural light, access to library and a courtyard to take a walk, before the London court.
The CBI resolute in bringing back Vijay Mallya to India, and predisposed to make any further acclimations in the process, had to concede on shooting a video since the Westminster Magistrates’ Court judge, expressing dissatisfaction with the still photographs provided by the Indian authorities of the jail premises, had given specific instructions for the video to be shot and submitted within three weeks.
The 62-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, who has been on bail in an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year, is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.
In the ongoing extradition proceedings, if the judge rules in favour of the Indian government, the UK home secretary will have two months to sign Mallya’s extradition order. However, both sides will have the chance to appeal in higher courts in the UK against the Magistrates’ Court verdict.
There have been numerous media attempts to paint Kanwariyas as perpetrators of violent crimes in recent weeks. Earlier we have reported how CNN News 18 had tried to paint an incident of mob violence by Muslims as ‘Kanwariya Menace’. The trend seems to continue.
Yesterday in Siwan, Bihar a 62-year-old kanwariya was dragged from a vehicle and was beaten to death by a local mob. According to reports, a vehicle carrying kanwariyas from Babadham had brushed a bike about 5 km from Lohgajar village. The young man in the bike reportedly called almost a dozen of his associates and the mob started assaulting the kanwariyas in the vehicle. Even female kanwariyas were not spared. Due to the assault by the local mob, 62-year-old Janardan Yadav. Six other kanwariyas, including women, were also injured in the mob assault. Arrests were yet to be made.
However, as pointed by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, The Telegraph ran the report with the headline, ‘1 lynched after Kanwariya vehicle hits bike’. The headline by Telegraph might give the readers an impression that it was perhaps the kanwariya who was involved in the lynching and not the victim. Especially, considering the malign campaign that the media has run against kanwariyas.
News: A vehicle carrying #kanwariyas hits a bike in Bihar. Bike rider calls his henchman, brutally assaults occupants of vehicle including women, kills a 62-year-old kanwariya.
Lakhs of Hindu devotees undertake the Kanwar yatra every year and sparing some stray incidents the yatra is mostly peaceful. However, the recent attempts by the media to paint Kanwar yatras in the negative shade has caused people to take objections.
There has been several maligning attempts and generalisations when it comes to kanwariyas. In another such attempt, Business Standard had insinuated the idea that kanwariyas are ‘jobless’. In the meanwhile, deliberate and violent attacks on kanwariyas, like the incident in Fatehpur, Rajasthan fail to get enough attention from mainstream media.
As the country celebrated Raksha Bandhan on 26th August, many people and politicians are remembered Mother Teresa on her birth anniversary. People regard her as the angel or the saviour of the poor, one who helped the poor kids and families of Kolkata in their worst times. While, it is common to spot a portrait of Mother Teresa hanging in hospitals and schools, being a symbol of compassion and generosity. This image is intact, at least in the minds of the most people in India, since their childhood.
I am a firm believer of democracy. Thus, I abide by the core concept of democracy to question the ambiguous authority, immaterial of their influence in the society. Even Gods and scriptures, can be questioned and sometimes criticized. It’s neither wrong to revere the people who gave all of theirs for others nor erroneous to follow their ideals, which all of us should do. But, the ideals must always be in factual premises, as nobody can go unquestionable in a democratic state. None can surpass the sanctity of democracy.
You would be pondering over now and while reading the title that how can someone question Mother Teresa? Well, no right-minded one can do so, so how can I? In fact, when I heard of Christopher Hitchens, even I wondered about tainting the saintly figures like Mother Teresa, who earned a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979 and was consecrated the title of Sainthood by Vatican in 2016.
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu or Mother Teresa was not more than an Albanian missionary, who traveled to India through Ireland. History immensely provides to reveal the horrors that the poor and proselytized witnessed at her clinics and hospitals, due to the ardent and orthodox views she espoused of the Christianity.
Her views on abortion and contraception
Abortion is an issue that forms a significant part of western politics. Strict set of laws are in effect in some western and Latin America countries to punish the act of abortion, even in the case of rapes.
India, where the laws are comparatively liberal regarding abortion still grieves the unfortunate death of Savita Halappanavaran. She was a woman of Indian origin, who died because of the strict abortion laws in Protestant-dominated Ireland which prevented the treatment for the complications of septic miscarriage at the 17th week.
It is ironical that Mother Teresa and Ireland both shared similar views on abortion, to the same extent. In fact, Mother Teresa in 1992, while addressing a crowd in Knock, Ireland, said:
‘’Let us promise Our Lady who loves Ireland so much that we will never allow in this country a single abortion. And no contraceptives.’’ [Page 58, The Missionary position, Christopher Hitchens]
The aversion to abortion and contraception was maybe explained by Mother herself in her speech at Norway while addressing the investiture, after receiving the Nobel Prize.
‘’And I feel one thing I want to share with you all, the greatest destroyer of peace today is the cry of the innocent unborn child…Even in the scripture it is written: Even if mother could forget her child – I will not forget you – I have carved you in the palm of my hand.’’
After toppling the Indira Gandhi government, Janta Party came to power in 1977 with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister. In same year, PM Desai introduced a bill in the Parliament to discourage the use of ‘force or inducement’ in conversion of tribes, mainly in the north-east region of country.
As a result, many Christian NGOs and churches protested against the bill in Bombay, Delhi and Kolkata. Mother Teresa herself wrote a letter to Desai:
Mother Teresa’s letter to PM Moraraji Desai regarding introduction of anti-conversion law in parliament(Emphasis added)
In addition to being a vocal supporter of anti-abortion laws, she even dared PM Desai, to accept the demands of Christians in India or be ready to face spiritually dire consequences at the time of death.
Mother Teresa exploited the poor’s suffering
To put a context to the above sub-heading, have a look at what Mother Teresa had for an answer to Malcolm Muggeridge’s question [Page 11, The Missionary Position].
Malcolm: ‘Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?’
Mother Teresa: ‘I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.’
Commenting upon above Mother Teresa’s logic and reams of other evidences, Christopher Hitchens wrote in his book:
“Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.”
Christopher Hitchens was one of the staunch critics of Mother Teresa.
One can easily discard Hitchens book and evidences as being biased and written with an agenda, and his critics often do that. But, The Lancet, one the world’s oldest and most respected medical journal, sent Dr. Robin Fox to check the condition of Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitute.
Dr. Fox labelled the environment at those centres as ‘’haphazard’’ and severely criticized the lack of professionals at the hospice.
Dr Fox account in The Lancet regarding abysmal conditions in Dying Home(Emphasis added)
As you can see the snippet for yourself and paint the image of clinics and hospitals, handled in the most pathetic manner. The Home disallowed the patients from medical tests and prohibited the use of analgesics (painkillers) at their centres. Many benign and harmless diseases used to kill patients merely because of lack of antibiotics. They made the lives of the poor so insignificant.
One cannot simply argue the lack of resources. The Home ran in action nearly for four decades, and the charity received ample donations from people to maintain it. In the cited journal, Dr. Fox himself asserted that conditions of centres prevailed purely in accord to Mother Teresa’s wishes, thus the question of her unawareness can be excluded for the abysmal conditions of Homes of Dying.
Susan Shields a sister at Missionaries of Charity had the following to say, [Page 47, The Missionary Position]:
Susan Shields’ statement regarding inflow of donations but still unused on conditions of House
Many authors claimed that the needles were used multiple times in the centres,and never even sterilized and were merely ‘’washed’’ to clean them.
Mother Teresa used to tell her patients that they are suffering from pain as same as ‘’Christ faced the pain on cross.’’
Anand Ranganathan, a scientist and columnist, who is widely known on social media for his brilliant threads including his ‘’Made my day’’ thread, where he calls out the hypocrisy of politicians.
He similarly, wrote a thread in which he exposed her hypocrisy.
29,000 have died in our one house since we began in 1952. We give them all the special ticket of St. Peter. [Laughter] – #MotherTeresapic.twitter.com/VWR2tjpXys
The tweet makes it very clear what Mother Teresa used to think of the dying and suffering kids at her facilities.
Mother Teresa used to baptize the dying children
Susan Shields again says:
Susan Shields’ testimony regarding proselytizing of dying children(Emphasis added)
This account and various others are votary of the malaise that seemed to have plagued Mother Teresa’s mind and motives. Sisters were sent to bed of dying children and surreptitiously asked to rub wet cloth on child’s forehead and chant relevant verses, so as to baptize the dying.
What a person could be like who baptizes children even at death! Evangelist in the garb of an angel.
Stories about baptizing dying children is also present in UK’s most circulated newspaper, here.
All of this statements by sisters of Missionaries of Charity shatters the mantle of altruism and generosity from Mother Teresa. Her bizarre justifications and exploiting suffering of poor, creates a very different canvas of Mother, from what we had seen since childhood.
Mother Teresa herself used to get capricious treatment from American Hospitals, but didn’t even allow painkillers and antibiotics to help poor children from excruciating pain at her centres. If this is not hypocrisy, then what on earth is!
Some other accounts regarding Mother Teresa by other journalists and writers
More clinching evidences are put forth by Dr. Aroup Chatterjee in his book ‘The Final Verdict’ and ‘Mother Teresa: The Untold story’
In 2013 a French research paper published in a journal called Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, analyzed 96% of literature pertaining to Mother Teresa, and drew various conclusions.
Their researches corroborated Dr Fox’s observation of Dying Homes published in The Lancet, regarding hygiene and medical awareness. They also questioned about the usage of large sum of money, that Mother Teresa received from donors across the globe. They called enrtire image made by media a myth and severely criticised pusillanimous attitude of media while addressing the various allegations on Teresa’s works.
Entire research paper is summarized in this news report.
Even, a documentary was released in 1994 of the name ‘’Angel’s Hell’’ on criticized Mother Teresa. It was based on interviews done by Malcolm Muggeridge who was a great admirer of Mother Teresa and her miracles, but all his claims were later debunked by his cameraman Ken McMillan.
Mary Loudon, former volunteer at House of Dying in Kolkata, was another witness to tragedies and abjection at those houses.
On the night of 2 December 1984, Bhopal witnessed one the world’s most gruesome incident of history. The leakage of Methyl Isocynate killed thousands of people immediately, the world’s worst industrial disaster.
Anees Chisti, a reputed journalist penned down a book named Dateline Bhopal. She quotes Mother Teresa views on tragedy and the main culprit Warren Anderson.[ page 51, Mother’s Message of Hope]
Snippet from Dateline Bhopal
The archetype of humanity and compassion asks the victims to ‘’forgive’’ the perpetrators. Maybe, Mother didn’t realize the quantum of the tragedy that not only killed but even crippled thousands and left them suffer whole lives. I can’t even imagine, a person, let alone a Saint, to have such views on human tragedies.
Conclusion
Mother Teresa coming from West to eastern countries to take care of children seems so beautiful and angelic! As Krithika Varagur here cites, historian Vijay Prasad,
Mother Teresa is the quintessential image of the white woman in the colonies, working to save the dark bodies from their own temptations and failures.
We have to bear with the bitter tenets of democracy, no half-truth shall elude the people for long. The smearing attempts by some part of the media has left the people untouched of the public ideals. They still feed the people on the British origins make us fond of anything that is western. We need to stop being fans of West or at least be more pragmatic.
