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One tweet, multiple lies : The Wire ‘journalist’ discovers new heights of tabloid journalism

OpIndia Staff
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One tweet, multiple lies : The Wire ‘journalist’ discovers new heights of tabloid journalism

The Wire journalist Rohini Singh, who had earlier floated mathematically and logically challenged conspiracy theories about a business venture by Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, which eventually resulted in a 100 crore defamation suit filed against The Wire and regularly indulges in spreading lies, was at it again.

On 4th August, Rohini Singh tweeted that the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror case Brajesh Thakur’s name was missing from the FIR. Singh assertion, according to her, was based on the MLA son of fodder scam accused Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashvi’s statement.

She begins her tweet by saying that she agrees with Tejashvi, indicating that the assertions in her tweet were made by Tejashvi Yadav himself.


There are two lies in the above tweet of Rohini Singh when she says “Brajesh Thakur’s name is missing from FIRs” and attributes that statement to Tejashvi Yadav.

Firstly, Tejashwi Yadav did not say that Brajesh Thakur’s name is missing from the FIR. He said that the FIR was lodged 2 months after the TISS report was submitted.


Secondly, What Tejashwi said (delay in filing of FIR) was actually a lie in itself.

TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) was approached by the Bihar government in July 2017 to conduct an audit of 110 government-run or aided institutions including old-age homes, children’s homes, adoption centres, etc. The TISS team submitted the report in May 2018 and an FIR against Thakur was lodged on 31st May 2018, following which ten people were held.

So essentially, here is how The Wire journalist Rohini Singh discovered a new pinnacle of tabloid journalism:

1. Tejashwi Yadav lied about there being a delay in filling the FIR against Brajesh Thakur

2. Instead of correcting the lie by Yadav, Singh furthered Yadav’s lie

3. Rohini Singh not only furthered Yadav’s lie but added a new lie of her own

4. Rohini Singh said “Brajesh Thakur’s name is missing from FIRs” and insinuated that the statement had come from Tejashwi Yadav

5. The statement tweeted by Rohini Singh was not made by Tejashwi Yadav

6. The statement is factually incorrect because Brajesh Thakur is already in custody. Had Brajesh Thakur’s name not been there in the FIR, how would it lead to his arrest?

In this inception like lie, Rohini Singh has proven why The Wire, widely considered a leftist propaganda website which has often been caught spreading blatant lies, considers her their ‘star journalist’.

The Bihar incident has shaken up the conscience of the society and woken up to act as responsible citizens to not turn a blind eye if we notice exploitation in the society, but it is unfortunate that people are using the incident for settling their own political scores.

Teased over flop movie, ‘Mulk’ director mocks ‘Vikas’, gets roasted on Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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Teased over flop movie, ‘Mulk’ director mocks ‘Vikas’, gets roasted on Twitter

Anubhav Sinha, the director of recently released movie Mulk, who was in the news for endorsing piracy to promote his film in Pakistan, got irked when a Twitter user mentioned that his movie has flopped. Sinha, then resorted to mocking the name of the Twitter user, Vikas.

 

Anubhav Sinha

Sinha’s attempt at political sarcasm did not go down well. Twitter users recalled his previous mega-budget flop movie Ra.One


Sinha’s ‘anubhav’ (experience) in allegedly converting black money into white was also mentioned. As Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had shared that he spent his weekend watching Mulk, Twiter users celebrated the old relationship.


As Sinha had mocked someone’s name, one Twitter user returned the favour.

Anubhav Sinha

The Twitter user whom Sinha had mocked replied back too.


Before the release of his movie, Mulk promoters had used some questionable statistical data to claim Muslims are wrongly perceived in India. During a press event, Sinha even claimed that Muslims become terrorists because one minister had ‘facilitated rioting Hindus’.

RTI query reveals journalists owe huge amounts in unpaid rents to the UP government

OpIndia Staff
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RTI query reveals journalists owe huge amounts in unpaid rents to the UP government

An RTI query has revealed that the UP government is owed huge amounts of money in rent by journalists who have been staying in government allocated houses. Opindia has obtained the detailed RTI reply by the UP Rajya Sampatti Nideshalaya made to a person named Ashok Kumar Navratna. Mr Navratna, in his RTI query, had asked the state department about the list of journalists who have pending rent for staying in government allocated houses in Lucknow.

In its reply, the state department has provided a list of 236 such houses in colonies maintained by the department and the names of the journalists staying in them. The reply shows that the journalists owe a huge sum of money to the government of UP. Several journalists have rent amount of more than four lakh pending that they are yet to pay.

Several of these journalists are from reputed media outlets. There are names from Sahara group, Hindustan Times, Pioneer and Times group in the list. Over 50 journalists have unpaid rents in several lakh rupees.

According to the list provided, the highest amount is owed by one Abhishek Bajpai of The Pioneer. A basic search shows that he now works for the Press Trust of India. Mr Bajpai owes the UP government a whopping Rs 7lakh 81 thousand in rent. The next highest amount is owed by one Alok Awasthi of Sahara TV. Mr Awasthi, according to the RTI reply, owes Rs 6,87,495 in rent to the UP exchequer.

[scribd id=385537824 key=key-FpJAhl1Ii9wUFxCaSKkP mode=scroll]

We spoke to Mr Navratna, who filed the RTI and introduced himself as a journalist. He said “Some are staying illegally and some legally. But if they have so much outstanding, they are staying illegally by default. Also, there are few whose names have not even been submitted to the department”.

The UP government had recently made six former chief ministers of the state vacate their government allocated bungalows after a Supreme Court order. Former CM Akhilesh Yadav was criticised in media and public after his associates ransacked caused extensive damages to the bungalow he was residing in. BSP supremo Mayawati too employed several measures not to let go of the government allocated bungalow she had been occupying. Going by this RTI reply, it is evident that there are hundreds of journalists staying in government dwellings without paying rent for years.

Terror attack foiled: terrorist carrying cache of grenades from Jammu to Delhi arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Terror attack foiled: terrorist carrying cache of grenades from Jammu to Delhi arrested

A deadly terrorist attack on Delhi has been foiled by security forces days before the 72nd Independence Day celebrations in the country. The police have arrested a youth, who was carrying 8 grenades, from Kashmir on Sunday night in Jammu.

The Kashmiri youth identified as Arfan Wani, was travelling in a Delhi bound bus from Jammu and is reported to have caught carrying explosives. The police have recovered eight live grenades and cash worth of Rs. 60,580 from him. It is reported that Arfan Wani did not have any past record of involving in militancy in the past.

As reported Times Now, Arfan Wani is a resident of Awantipora in Pulwama district. He boarded the Delhi-bound bus from the General Bus Stand area in Jammu around 11 pm and when the vehicle reached Gandhi Nagar, security agencies stopped it and arrested him.

The security forces said that the terrorist had moved from Kashmir to Jammu and was on their radar for a very long time. The inputs from the agencies said that the terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen have planned to carry out terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi on the Independence Day.

In view of the Independence Day celebrations, police and security agencies have been maintaining high alert. The Jammu and Kashmir is also under high alert as the Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights and privileges to those permanent residents.

Shelter home inmates in Deoria, UP, allege sexual exploitation, say were forced into prostitution

OpIndia Staff
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Shelter home inmates in Deoria, UP, allege sexual exploitation, say were forced into prostitution

As many as 24 girls were rescued from a shelter home in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh after the license was revoked following an inspection by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). As per reports, the incident came to light after a ten-year-old escaped from the shelter home and informed the police about the ‘servant-like’ treatment meted out to the girls.

As per reports, the police went to the shelter home after the order to close the institution came. However, the director of the shelter home reportedly misbehaved with the police. Yesterday, a girl escaped from the shelter home and informed police about the situation there, following which the police got to know the reality of the place. The director Girija Tripathi and her husband are arrested.

Reports suggest about 18 girls who were registered with the shelter home are still not traced and are ‘missing’. According to police, the girls faced sexual abuse in the shelter home. The girls have claimed that cars would come to pick up the girls in the night and they would return the next morning, crying.

As per reports, in 2017, a CBI investigation had found this shelter home suspicious and orders were passed to shift the women and girls to a different shelter home but the shelter home claimed the matter is in the high court, where no such matter is registered.

This incident comes days after the case of sexual abuse in a shelter home run in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur came to light. As many as 42 girls were rescued from the Muzaffarpur shelter home who were sexually and physically abused.

Shashi Tharoor finds North Eastern headgears ‘outlandish’, attacks Modi for wearing those but not skull cap

OpIndia Staff
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Shashi Tharoor finds North Eastern headgears ‘outlandish’, attacks Modi for wearing those but not skull cap

Shashi Tharoor has attacked the Prime Minister for his choice of headgears and called North Eastern headgears ‘outlandish’ in his recent remarks. According to a report in DNA, the former UPA minister has stated that PM Narendra Modi wears outlandish headgears but refuses to wear a skull cap.

Speaking in a seminar in Thiruvananthapuram over the topic of ‘Standing up to hatred: Violence and intolerance in contemporary India’, Tharoor reportedly stated,” Why does our Prime Minister, who wears all sorts of outlandish headgear wherever he goes around the country, refuse to wear a Muslim skull cap? You’ve seen him in hilarious Naga headdress, feathers, and various kinds of extraordinary outfits. Why does he refuse to wear the green?”

As per the report, Tharoor also went on to criticise the PM over why he calls Rahul Gandhi by an Urdu/Persian word ‘shehzada’ and not a Rajkumar. In the seminar that was organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, run by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, Tharoor also reportedly launched an attack on the BJP over the usual lines of cow-vigilantism and communal violence.

It is notable that the Naga headgear that Tharoor has called hilarious, is a traditional Naga headdress adorned by the native tribes in Nagaland and it is a part of their cultural heritage. Tharoor, however, did not comment on the recent event where his own party President Rahul Gandhi had refused to wear the traditional Mysuru Peta.

Tharoor’s branding of traditional headgears as ‘outlandish’ has drawn severe criticism on social media.


Shashi Tharoor, who is out on bail on charges of abetting his wife’s suicide and had gone to court to gag Subramanian Swamy, is known for his suave English and oratory skills. But this time, both his vocabulary and idea of mockery seems to be borrowed, just like his “Hindu Pakistan” remark which exposed Congress and invited an FIR against him.

Earlier, a journalist with The Economist named Stanley Pignal had termed the North Eastern headgears as ‘outlandish’. While a foreign national’s condescension and lack of understanding of traditional attire are still understandable, it is really shameful for an Indian national who had represented the country at the UN and is an elected representative, to mock traditional customs of Indian states.

NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain threatens to sue columnist for pointing out controversial past of Jain’s father

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain threatens to sue columnist for pointing out controversial past of Jain’s father

On 30th December 2017, news surfaced that Palestine had decided to recall its Ambassador to Pakistan, Walid Abu Ali, for sharing the stage with Hafiz Saeed. Columnist Rajiv Mantri quoted the news and spoke about an incident that was documented by many news agencies back when the Pokhran tests were taking place during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era.

He wrote that an Indian ambassador had “disgraced himself” by “opposing India while holding office abroad in the aftermath of Pokhran tests”. He also asserted that Vajpayee had immediately recalled the ambassador and that “today his son propagandizes at a TV channel for secular forces”.


Mantri followed this tweet up with a news article to indicate whom he was talking about. He indicated that he was talking about Ambassador LC Jain. He quoted from the article saying “Jain was against the Pokhran tests and made no bones about telling the South Africans as much”. Mantri said that the ambassador’s son was none other than Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV.


Along with a screenshot of the Telegraph article, Mantri said that South Africa was planning to use the NAM forum in Durban to take a stand against India’s nuclear power status – South Africa’s supporters in this endeavour was none other than LC Jain.


Shockingly, Rajeev tweeted yesterday that he has been served a legal notice for the three tweets which spoke about Sreenivasan Jain’s father. Mantri tweeted that he had received a legal notice asking him to delete the three tweets from 2017 or face consequences. His surprise was amplified because he had simply quoted a Telegraph article which was written then by senior journalist KP Nayar.


Mantri rightly pointed out that this case fails the litmus test of defamation considering he had only sources an article written by a senior journalist. He was also shocked that a senior and powerful journalist like Sreenivasan Jain was stifling the voice of a common citizen. Mantri also said that he is seeking legal advice on how to proceed.


Ironically, this legal notice sent to Mantri on flimsy grounds comes when Sreenivasan Jain himself has been crying hoarse about the “censorship at ABP news”, which we said could possibly be about the journalists who were made to leave for peddling wildly fake news.

He had recently tweeted that the exit of PP Bajpai and Milind Khandekar from ABP is “by all accounts, yet another casualty of daring to speak truth to power”.


He even retweeted a tweet that claimed that the two journalists had quit after they “ran a story on a woman in Chattisgarh being tutored to make false claims in an interaction with Modi”. This programme by PP Bajpai about Chattisgarh was in reality, a blatant lie and full of fabrications as we had proved here.

It is indeed ironic that Sreenivasan Jain is threatening to sue a common citizen for quoting from an article while concocting stories about how ABP news was hounded for “speaking truth to power”. The hypocrisy of ‘Mr Chotta Mota blast’ is of course not new. Earlier, Sreenivasan Jain had edited some portions of an interview with Yoga guru Ramdev Baba and was called out. He had also dissected the Jan Dhan Yojana with half understanding. He had defended the corrupt and had also been called out for his ‘journalism of sensationalism’.

Perhaps Sreenivasan Jain is allergic to facts or maybe, he likes “truth to be spoken to power” as long as the “truth” fits his agenda and the person wielding the power isn’t him. Meanwhile, support has been pouring in for Rajeev Mantri.

Akhilesh Yadav offers Rs. 11 lakh to the person who outs the name of journalists who filmed how he ruined his former bungalow

OpIndia Staff
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Akhilesh Yadav offers Rs. 11 lakh to the person who outs the name of journalists who filmed how he ruined his former bungalow

After setting an example of ‘samajwad’ by trashing his government bungalow before vacating it following Supreme Court orders, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had brazened it out by giving veiled threats to bureaucrats who let the mediapersons take picture of the house. Taking it a step further, Yadav has now appealed to the journalists and offered Rs. 11 lakh, which he would collect from Samajwadi Party people and pay it to the one who gives the names of the journalists who had taken pictures and videos of the government accommodation that drew a lot of flak.


In a video uploaded by Times Now, Yadav appears to be addressing a group of Samajwadi Party workers where he is saying he has a list of all NOCs and permissions for the construction. He says that people accuse him of doing illegal construction at his former government accommodation, but he had got the map passed by the LDA (Lucknow Development Authority), which he is willing to share. He then asked his ‘journalist friends’ to out the name of the journalists who had filmed the bungalow he left in ruins, following which the Samajwadi Party people will collect Rs. 2,000 from each person and reward them Rs. 11 lakh.

In a 266 pages report submitted by the inquiry committee headed by Chief Engineer (Bhawan) of Public Works Department (PWD) mentioned damage to the terrace, kitchen, electrical equipment, floor tiles, lawns, paint, brickwork and bathroom fittings of worth Rs 5.19 lakh. Besides, the team also claimed that the loss due to illegal structure erected by Yadav came to Rs 5.84 lakh.

The probe team also found that besides construction carried out by Estate Department, Yadav had pumped in Rs 78.39 lakh for maintenance/beautification, Rs 54.15 lakh for the extension of house, Rs 174.95 lakh in two-storeyed guest house, Rs 156.50 lakh on security house/two storeyed-waiting room, Rs 56.53 lakh on servant’s quarter (double storeyed), Rs 22.92 lakh on generator room, Rs 13.19 lakh on Trimix flooring and Rs 1.23 lakh on pathway. All this came to a whopping Rs 5.57 crore.

It may be mentioned that out of this amount, about Rs 90 lakh went from Estate Department coffers.

The row over the vacating of official bungalows started when the Supreme Court, on 7th May 2018, struck down the amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances, and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1981 to provide for the allotment of government residence to former chief ministers for a lifetime. Former CMs, including Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh, Akhilesh Yadav and ND Tiwari were amongst those who were asked to vacate the government bungalows following the Supreme Court order.

IAS officers lock horns with AAP minister again, accuse Kailash Gahlot of misbehaving with woman IAS officer

OpIndia Staff
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IAS officers lock horns with AAP minister again, accuse Kailash Gahlot of misbehaving with woman IAS officer

The Aam Aadmi Party’s turbulent relationship with bureaucrats in Delhi shows no signs of improvement. In a recent development, the Delhi Government Employees Association, in a statement on Twitter, has alleged that a Delhi minister misbehaved with a female IAS officer and insulted her in front of subordinates. The statement also claims that the minister threatened to have the officer implicated in false cases.


The statement reads, “All the officers and staff of Transport Department are greatly pained over the misbehaviour of Shri Kailash Gahlot, Minister (Transport), Govt. of Delhi with Ms. Varsha Joshi, IAS, Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Transport), in the Conference Room of Transport Minister on 3.08.2018. In the said meeting, the Minister not only misbehaved with an honest and upright woman officer but also insulted her in the presence of more than 30 subordinate officers. The Minister also threatened the Secretary to implicate her in false case and directed his staff to stop the entry of Secretary to his room if she tries to enter his office.”

The IAS Association has condemned the incident through its official Twitter handle.


Interestingly, the minister in question, Gahlot, received a talking down on Twitter from Kejriwal who prefers issuing orders to his ministers on social media instead of reaching out to them personally. Kejriwal’s own conduct with regards to his subordinates may well have influenced Gahlot’s behaviour towards his subordinates.


The Aam Aadmi Party’s troubles with the bureaucracy began when the Chief Secretary of Delhi claimed that he was assaulted by AAP MLAs in front of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Since then, a key aide of Kejriwal has asserted that he witnessed the whole series of events unfold before his eyes. We have reported earlier that Delhi Police is likely to book in the matter Arvind Kejriwal for criminal conspiracy. The Aam Aadmi Party, however, has denied the allegations. One AAP MLA was also caught on camera calling for an assault on IAS officers. Arvind Kejriwal has also accused the IAS officers of not working for 4 months, a claim that was refuted by officers in a press conference. After the latest allegations of misbehaviour against a Delhi Minister, it appears that Kejriwal and his men are unapologetic about their behaviour on previous occasions and there is no remorse over their tumultuous relationship with the bureaucracy.

PM Modi to oversee Kumbh Mela preparations which will be held in Allahabad in 2019

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi to oversee Kumbh Mela preparations which will be held in Allahabad in 2019

Prime Minister’s office to oversee the preparations for the 2019 Kumbh Mela which will be held in Allahabad from 14th January onward. It is reported that the Uttar Pradesh state government will also do the branding for the Kumbh Mela along with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas which will be hosted in Varanasi between 21-23 January 2019. Plans are in place to organise tours for the people attending Pravasi Bharatiya Divas for the Allahabad Kumbh Mela.

Interestingly, the last time the PMO was involved in overseeing the preparations for the Kumbh Mela was back in 1954 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the PM. With the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad falling in the election year, the BJP and the government does not want to leave any stone unturned to make this Kumbh Mela a huge success.

The last time the PMO was involved in the Kumbh Mela it was also held in Allahabad and it is also believed that Nehru himself visited the place to check up on the preparations. A special committee was also formed to oversee the preparations.

It is believed that Modi may also visit Allahabad to see the preparations.

Kumbh is believed to be a holy gathering of Hindus where pilgrims gather to bathe in the sacred water of the holy rivers. Kumbh Mela is inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Four fairs are periodically every three years, with one venue hosting it after interval of 12 years. The four places are Haridwar, Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha, Ujjain Simhastha and Allahabad, which will host the Mela this year after twelve years. In Allahabad, the festival is held on the confluence (sangam) of the three holy rivers, the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Saraswati.

For the first time in the history of Juna Akhara, a Dalit sanyasi will be designated as ‘Mahamandaleswar’, the presiding position in the akhara which is considered one of India’s oldest and largest order of sanyasis. According to reports, 32-year-old Kanhaiya Kumar Kashyap will be declared Mahamandaleshwar during the 2019 Kumbh.

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