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Congress spreads misinformation to belittle India’s achievement of becoming sixth largest Economy

Shantanu
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Congress spreads misinformation to belittle India’s achievement of becoming sixth largest Economy

India has surged past France to become the world’s sixth largest economy based on World Bank’s nominal GDP data for 2017. India’s nominal GDP in 2017 stood at USD 2.597 trillion as compared to France’s USD 2.582 trillion. This achievement comes at a time when the Modi government is under a constant attack from the opposition and certain sections of the media for allegedly mismanaging the economy.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi claimed that Modi has given our economy ‘a stroke’. Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that under Modi government, Indian economy is like “a vehicle with 3 punctured tires”. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh claimed that Modi has “systematically dismantled” the economy. Anti-Modi propaganda newspaper New York Times also painted a grim picture of ‘worsening’ Indian economy.

While economic indicators never supported any of these claims, the propaganda did not stop. The Congress ecosystem is now spreading misinformation about India’s latest GDP achievement. They are using India’s GDP ranking based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) to claim that the ranking has actually worsened during Modi government. Below are some examples of this misleading claim.

Congress spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa peddled the same theory.


Maharashtra Congress General Secretary and social media coordinator Abhijit Sapkal followed suit.


Congress Digital Communications team member Gaurav Pandhi too chimed in.


And if party functionaries weren’t enough, a journalist working for PTI, too, furthered the same narrative.


These Congressmen (and journalists) have mixed two completely different indicators to claim that Indian economy fared better under the UPA government. The recent World Bank ranking, which ranked India at the sixth position, is based on nominal GDP. Nominal GDP measures the actual value of final goods and services produced in a country. The GDP growth estimates are given by the government, RBI and international agencies are all based on nominal GDP. The following infographic shows India’s ranking over the years based on nominal GDP.

Nominal GDP Rankings (Source - World Bank Data)
Nominal GDP Rankings (Source – World Bank Data)

This clearly shows that during the last four years of UPA government, India’s GDP ranking worsened from Rank 9 to Rank 10, while in the first four years of Modi government, it improved from Rank 10 to Rank 6. So what’s the number 3 ranking as claimed by Congressmen? It is based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which is a measure of the domestic purchasing power of the currencies of different nations. Which is NOT based on the market value of INR or USD. In short, GDP at PPP can NOT be compared to nominal GDP. India’s rank based on GDP at PPP was #4 from 2003 to 2008. It improved to #3 in 2009 and has been constant since then (source – World Bank Data).

So as things stand now, according to the PPP model, India’s rank has remained stagnant at Number 3 since 2009.

According to Nominal GDP method, India’s rank improved 10 to 6 from 2014 to 2017.

While Congress will continue to misrepresent facts for political gains, the truth is that India is marching ahead and is poised to overtake the UK to become the world’s fifth largest economy in 2018.

Shashi Tharoor is wrong : It is in fact Congress that takes inspiration from Pakistan. Here’s how

Sanghamitra
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Shashi Tharoor is wrong : It is in fact Congress that takes inspiration from Pakistan. Here’s how

Senior Congress leader and ‘on bail’ MP Shashi Tharoor has stated recently that if BJP sweeps majority in the next Lok Sabha elections, India will become a ‘Hindu Pakistan’. According to reports, the MP, who is now on bail after charges of allegedly abetting his third wife Sunanda Pushkar’s alleged suicide, stated during an event in Thiruvananthapuram that if the Bharatiya Janata Party manages to repeat 2014 like success in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and gets a two-thirds majority in Rajya Sabha too, it will change the constitution and convert India into a ‘Hindu Pakistan’.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vZcgu8PlME]

Though Congress and its leaders are known for their derogatory remarks and false equivalences, they also have the tendency to stand by defending their statements with impunity. Following the footsteps of their party President Rahul Gandhi, who blames the BJP and RSS for everything under the blue sky, painting the BJP, PM Modi and the RSS as devils is the favourite hobby for Congress leaders. The irony that they so conveniently forget that it was their party which ruled the country for most of its post-independence existence is not lost on anyone.

Congress, however, has a special proclivity towards Pakistan. No, by Congress’ Pakistan affinity, I do not mean Mani Shankar Aiyer’s famous request of ‘unhe hataiye, humein le ayiye’ while he was visiting the country. Congress is inspired from Pakistan at a deeper, stronger level. Their behaviour has been a subtle, slow reflection of Pakistan’s ideologies.

It is not at all surprising that not only Tharoor stood firmly by his remarks, but even his party refused to openly condemn it. They just gave an excuse that the remarks were made in Tharoor’s personal capacity. Deeply hateful, derogatory and shameful remarks towards a democratically elected Prime Minister like PM Modi has become a thing of the past for Congress. Now they have brazenly started to make such remarks against their own country. Most Indians would feel that equating India to the failed state of Pakistan is shameful, but not for Congress. Pakistan is what inspires them, the principles and ideologies that are followed in Pakistan run through the veins of Congress.

Pakistan is a failed state. It was formed purely on the basis of hatred and one man’s hubris. The hatred that manifested its corrupted legacy to the subsequent generations of its people has been consuming the country from within. Nurturing terrorists in its own backyard, directing all its policies and international stand only towards maligning and hurting India, allowing Islamic terrorists to prosper and eventually take reigns of power and letting generations after generations of its own countrymen succumb at the mercy of Islamic terror breeding propagandists has brought the country into a demographic, intellectual, economic and social ruin. If one looks closely, the actions a political direction of Congress, in many of its policies and tendencies has been a shadow of that mentality.

Pakistan is a poor, withered, ruined shadow of the democracy it pretends to be. It is controlled by its power-hungry military and Islamic clerics who have happily thrown its population under tenets of sharia law, depravity and disease for their personal ambitions and political benefits. Let us have a look at what Congress has done or attempted to do with Indians.

Recently, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board demanded that it wants sharia courts in all districts of the country, a notion that has no constitutional validity and poses a grave threat to India’s justice system. Sharia courts will mean a parallel justice system that more than 14.2% (according to 2011 census) of India’s population (Muslims) will be subjected to. A system that allows child marriage, polygamy and has provisions for rapists to go free by paying money, and Nikah-Halala. When individuals and political leaders from all over the country expressed shock over such a notion, guess who came out in support of it, Congress. Hamid Ansari, Congress leader and ex-Vice President of the country stated that Muslims have the right to have sharia courts. A party that brings ‘threats to democracy and constitution’ on every drop of a hat is ok with the idea of a quasi-judicial religious body run its own courts and have its own laws inside a democratic country.

The abhorrent and barbaric practice of Female Genital Mutilation that has subjected 200 million women worldwide to an extremely painful, traumatic and hazardous process was recently challenged in the Supreme Court by a group of women. Practised by the Indian Muslim community of Dawoodi Bohras, this practice traumatises thousands of little girls every year. The person defending the practice claiming it is the religious right of Muslims to cut and bleed the genitals of little girls was Congress leader and lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Ironically, Shashi Tharoor, who has himself spoken against the practice, never considered to condemn or question his party colleague for defending this practice. Apparently, for Congress, the constitution and human rights are never in danger when their own people pose risks to its very fundamentals.

Democracy is a joke in Pakistan. In years of its existence, political leaders in Pakistan have been shot, hanged, bombed and exiled after military coups. More often than not, the country is run by a puppet placed by its military leadership who is bullied and manoeuvred around by Islamic clerics. Minority Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are persecuted, tortured and sentenced to death by its dubious and partial blasphemy laws. The irony is Congress has left no stone unturned to make a mockery of democracy itself. Mani Shankar Aiyer hailed Pakistan and sought its help to bring down a democratically elected government in India. It is Congress that has persecuted and victimised individuals for exercising their freedom of expression. It has hounded, persecuted and victimised people for criticising its leadership and politics. And how often has Congress rejected the outcome of democracy because they were not the ones elected? How close is that mentality to Pakistan, where democracy is but a tool in the hands of the ISI?

Indian media has a very fleeting memory when it comes to Congress. Though it is very keen to recall every random incident to malign BJP, it has very conveniently forgotten the darkest phase for India’s democracy and constitution, the emergency, which was the gift of Congress. If India has ever come close to becoming like Pakistan, it was the 21 months from June 1975 to March 1977. Indira Gandhi had shredded every democratic value, conscience and ideology into pieces when she forced the nation into the dark era of emergency. Publications were shut down, journalists were gagged and opposition leaders were put behind bars for her own personal ambitions. The fact that a leader from the same party is preaching about the constitution and its sanctity is the only thing more ironic than Indira’s descendants and the direct benefactors of her legacy calling PM Modi a dictator. In its years of power, it is the Congress which has damaged, mocked and changed the constitution to satisfy its aim.

In his haste to blame BJP for trying to create a Hindu Rashtra, Mr Tharoor even forgot how his own party has very recently gone into every possible path to subvert and mock the judiciary. Not only Congress and its leadership have called every decision by the Supreme Court ‘biased and BJP-controlled’ whenever it is unfavourable for one of their own, they had stooped into a new low when the party tried its best to pass an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India.

The idea of BJP being harmful to India’s democracy and the constitution is laughable, especially considering the way Congress and its Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi treated Shah Bano, a poor, old women who became a victim of triple talaq and whose democratic rights were blatantly stripped away because Rajiv Gandhi’s government was more keen to appease the sharia abiding AIMPLB than honouring judiciary and constitution. Choosing Muslim appeasement over Indian justice system, going to great lengths to appease sharia supporters, persecuting and harassing dissenters, subverting the democratic process and throwing away the nation’s best interests for narrow political gains, if all of that sounds like something that happens in Pakistan, Congress has done it all in India itself.

Pakistan loves its terrorists. And often, it blames the ‘Yindoo Baniyas’ of fomenting terror while feeding milk to the Kalashnikov wielding snakes. Guess who else thought the Hindus are more dangerous than terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba? Of course, Rahul Gandhi. A WikiLeaks confirmed that Rahul Gandhi thought “Hindu Extremists” are more dangerous than LeT. It was the Congress that worked hard to further the “Hindu Terror” narrative. It was the Congress that exonerated Pakistan and worked hard to implicate Col Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya. It was Congress that wanted Pakistan off the hook, and Hindus be branded terrorists.

Pakistan would love to see India broken into pieces. It is their official policy. Now, do we remember Rahul Gandhi supporting the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ in the name of freedom of expression? Do we remember P Chidambaram wanting “autonomy for Kashmir”? Pakistan wants to tear India in the name of caste. Do we remember Rahul fomenting Dalit troubles? Do we recall the letter that surfaced that said Congress was to provide funds, arms and legal help to Maoists? Do we remember the caste trouble during Padmaavat and how Congress was at the helm? Pakistan maligns the Indian Army. Do we remember Congress asking for proof of surgical strike, thereby maligning our forces?

Without even going into the details of massive corruption charges that the Congress leaders have against them, (another similarity to Pakistan), the very tendencies and intentions of the party make it clear that their claims of the sanctity of the constitution and democracy are an empty rhetoric. It is the ‘Hindu’ BJP, which they so love to paint as communal evil, that has first made the injustice called triple talaq a criminal offence. It is the Hindu-BJP that is now pushing to ban the abhorrent practices of nikah halala and polygamy. The Hindu-BJP that has stood up against FGM. The same BJP that Congress has painted as regressive and patriarchal is now helping to bring down section 377 that criminalises gay sex, something Congress failed to do in all its years of power and, in fact, they upheld 377.

Tharoor’s idea of Hinduism and the imaginary dangers he and his party men perceive from a Hindu Rashtra are beyond the scope of this article. But the Congress and their supportive media should realise that repeating a lie in polished English will not make it the truth. A democracy is the will and power of its people. The people of India have decided to throw the Congress out of power and have elected BJP with an overwhelming mandate. No amount of EVM-blaming, conspiracy howling and propaganda peddling will hide the truth that Congress was rejected by the people of India.

Whether the BJP will repeat its 2014 victory or not is again in the hands of the people, but it is high time that Congress and its leaders realise that undermining the popular mandate and passing blatant appeasement as ‘secularism’ will not work anymore. If they begin introspecting their faults and address the real issues that are holding the party from winning elections, maybe they will realise that blaming EVMs and proclamations of threats to the constitutions will no longer fool Indians.

Mamata Banerjee declares support to missionaries even as more crimes are unearthed in her backyard

Jhankar Mohta
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Mamata Banerjee declares support to missionaries even as more crimes are unearthed in her backyard

The month of July did not start well for the Mother Teressa’s Missionioneries Of Charity. Skeletons hiding in their closets for quite some time now have started to tumble out, bringing in tribulation within the institution. The Missionaries of Charity, all this while savouring notoriety has suddenly been put under the scanner. Earlier this month Jharkhand police arrested a woman and detained two nuns of ‘Missionaries of Charity’ running ‘Nirmal Hriday’ – a shelter home for destitute women, a trust founded by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, for allegedly selling the infants born to unwed mothers at the institution.

It was found during the course of the investigation that they were selling off babies from unwed mothers at Rs 50,000 to 1.5 lakh. At least four children have been illegally sold by them.

As this news started surfacing and the media started digging further, horrifying revelations started emerging. Disclosures were made that the Missionaries of charity which was facing the charges of child trafficking, has not been able to provide records of birth by over 280 women at its various homes. According to police sources, 450 pregnant women were admitted to the various home between 2015 to 2018, but there are records of only 170 childbirths and no information about the remaining 280.

As the controversy unfolded, many politicians started coming in the forefront, grabbing on the opportunity to play murky politics. None other than Mamta Banerjee, who can, probably after foreseeing that soon BJP might be successful in saffronizing Bengal, and fearing people to vote her out soon, most proficiently turn every incident into an ‘anti-Modi’, ‘anti-BJP’ campaign, accused the BJP of targeting the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC) and maligning it.

Surprisingly though, with evidence surfacing, West Bengal chief minister, Mamta Banerjee today tweeted showing her sympathy and trust in the missionary saying that the government was targeting the sisters of the institution.


Later when reporters asked her to comment about the allegations against Missionaries of Charity, Banerjee said, “If any individual committed some mistake you can take action, but you (BJP) cannot say Missionaries of Charity is bad.”

India today, tried throwing further light in the process of investigation, by releasing a video, which shows that the missionaries asked the pregnant women coming to them sign an undertaking and were made to surrender the rights on their children.


As reported by India Today, the welfare department of Jharkhand specified that though these shelter homes were authorized to carry out the adoption process since decades, there were several discrepancies which came into limelight as the investigations unfolded. Few being:

  1. These adoption processes which were being carried out were being done without the welfare department and the State government being kept in the loop.
  2. Who were the guardians of the underaged pregnant girls who were given shelter by these shelter houses?
  3. Many of them being ill-literate, how were they asked to give these undertakings, without being able to read and understand the documents.
  4. Records of the pregnant women and child born to them were not being maintained properly.
  5. Children were sold in exchange for money and for monetary benefits.

The horror unfolding at Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity is sordid. Babies born to unwed mothers sold to the highest bidder. Investigations are being carried out, and the perpetrators would hopefully be penalized, but what is saddening is that these shelter homes, for decades being hailed for its good work, has been involved in these horrifying activities under a veil of benevolence.

Twitter Purge : Here’s how many followers some politicians lost

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter Purge : Here’s how many followers some politicians lost

Not too long ago, Twitter decided to purge the micro-blogging website of fake accounts and bots. Recently, Twitter founder Jack tweeted that they will be suspending accounts that have been locked for suspicious behaviour. That would, of course, include bots, fake accounts, accounts which have been purchased, etc. He also warned that this might result in a follower count drop for many.


With the political narrative of India depending heavily on Social Media, most waited with baited breath to see which politician or which party’s supporters and workers would end up losing the most number of Twitter followers. Mostly as a vindication of the fact that the other side depends on fake and purchased followers to increase their presence. We ran an analysis of several political accounts. We calculated, using SocialBlade, how many followers per 1000 followers did these political accounts lose, post the purge.

The two top politicians in the country, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and the President of Congress party and Prime Ministerial contender, Rahul Gandhi, didn’t end up losing much. As supporters of either of the politicians would have hoped for the rival.

While Prime Minister Modi ended up losing 6.6 followers every 1000 followers of his 43 million followers, Rahul Gandhi lost 2.4 every 1000 followers, of his 7.2 million followers.

The official Twitter accounts of BJP and Congress also didn’t lose a substantial amount. While INCIndia (Congress handle) lost 3.5 followers per thousand, BJP4India (BJP’s official Twitter handle) lost about 4.1 per thousand.

Next, we analysed the followers of the heads of Congress and BJP IT Cells. Divya Spandana, Congress’ IT Cell Incharge ended up losing 14.3 followers per 1000 followers, while Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT Cell Incharge lost 3.2 followers every 1000 followers. Clearly, Amit Malviya lost a substantial amount less as compared to Divya Spandana.

Among the other politicians, for most, the impact was negligible. Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi lost 6.5 followers per 1000, Mamata Banerjee, CM of West Bengal lost 2.6 per 1000, Sitaram Yechury lost 2.5 per 1000, Akhilesh Yadav lost 2.6 per 1000. Nitish Kumar, CM of Bihar lost 2.1 followers per 1000 and Congress leader Digvijay Singh lost 8.3 per 1000.

Most other prominent Chief Minister haven’t been mentioned as the drop was substantially less, mostly, below 6 per 1000.

The politicians who stood out was Shashi Tharoor, who lost 22 followers per 1000. This is substantially more than most other prominent politicians.

Among the party workers, while we are still in the process of analysing many other accounts, the party member that has won the race hands down in Tehseen Poonawallah who is a relative of Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi’s son in law.

Tehseen lost a whopping 468 followers per 1000. That translates to Tehseen losing about 46.8% of his followers. Nearly half.

Shaina NC, who is a BJP spokesperson ended up losing 157 followers per 1000 which is also remarkably high, though substantially lower than Tehseen.

BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma lost 3.5 followers per 1000 whereas Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi lost 5.2 per 1000.

So far, the winners seem to be Tehseen Poonawala, Shashi Tharoor, Divya Spandana and Shaina NC. With the scales of fake accounts purged fairly tipped in Congress’ favour, we wonder what happens to the “Twitter resurgence” theory that Congress’ has tried to peddle and whether these substantial fake followers had something to do with it.

We analysed as many accounts as we could, and have come with a Top 10 list on the basis of followers lost per 1000 followers. In this list, we expanded our search to Media houses and some veteran journalists.

Though we tried to analyse hundreds of accounts to come up with this list, it is entirely possible that we missed analysing some Twitter handle that deserves to be in the Top 10. If so, we urge our readers to excuse us as it was certainly not intentional.

Nephew of former PM Narasimha Rao sentenced to three years jail for 133 crore urea scam

OpIndia Staff
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Nephew of former PM Narasimha Rao sentenced to three years jail for 133 crore urea scam

B Sanjeeva Rao – the nephew of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao has been sentenced to three years in jail by a CBI court in connection with the 133 crore urea scam, Times of India has reported. He has also been fined Rs 1 crore by the court.

Besides’s Rao, those sentenced include:

  • Former fertiliser minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav’s son – Prakash Chand Yadav, jailed for three years
  • CK Ramakrishnan – erstwhile CMD of National Fertilisers limited, jailed for three years
  • DS Kanwar and Sambasiva Rao – erstwhile Executive Directors, jailed for three years
  • D Mallesham Gaud – Businessman, jailed for three years
  • Two Turkish nationals and executives of Karsan limited – Tuncay Alankus and Cihan Karanchi, jailed for six years and filed Rs 100 crore each

As detailed by PTI, the scam dates back to 9 January 1995, when Turkish national Tuncay Alankus signed a contract with National Fertilisers Limited to supply them with with 2 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of urea priced at $190 per MT, on the condition that the total amount of approximately Rs 133 crore, would be paid upfront.

Subsequently after first paying $380,000 for insurance reasons, the National Fertilisers Limited credited the remaining amount in the bank account of Karsan limited on 29 November 1995. The bank account of Karsan was held in Geneva’s Pictet bank.

Even though the full amount was credited in the company’s account, it failed to supply the urea and it was subsequently alleged that Alanus had dishonestly transferred the amount in various bank accounts. It was also alleged that the accused Indian nationals too received money via hawala channels.

The CBI stepped into the matter on 19 May 1996, by registering a case in the matter and then subsequently filing a chargesheet in 1997.

British MP Alexander Carlile denied entry into India, MEA says he wanted to tarnish India-Bangladesh relations

OpIndia Staff
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British MP Alexander Carlile denied entry into India, MEA says he wanted to tarnish India-Bangladesh relations

Indian officials denied British MP and lawyer Alexander Carlile entry into the country, as he arrived at the Delhi airport without an appropriate visa. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, he was trying to create problems in Indo-Bangladesh ties.


Alexander Carlile, who is also a lawyer, now represents former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The officials in Home Ministry were of the view that, Carlile wanted to indulge in “political acts” by addressing a press conference which was in violation of his visa conditions.

Ministry of External affairs responded to this incident and said that his activity in India was “incompatible” with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application. “What he intended to do is now very clear when you go through the statement he wanted to make. He applied for a business visa, what kind of business is this,” Kumar said.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkvTGsEHrSY]

It is said that the British MP was informed in advance about his invalid e-visa, but still intended to visit India. The officials suspected the motivation of the British MP, as he was trying to create some kind of a misunderstanding between India and the opposition party BNP, which is led by Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh.

Carlile, who was held at the airport, addressed the press via video-conference from the UK, and he alleged that he was denied entry into India due to pressure from the Bangladeshi government. He also claimed that the Indian government failed to give him any “true reason” for not letting him into the country by revoking his visa.

He said that the charges which are made against Zia were politically motivated and there was “no admissible evidence” against the former Prime Minister. He replied to the MEA’s statements that his visit was not compatible with the purpose of the visit mentioned in his visa, as “completely untrue” and “lie”

The MEA spokesperson said, “You want to come in and you want to say something from Indian soil. You could have done this from London. There is a bit of a suspicion there, the intention itself is a bit doubtful. If he is coming to India, he has to respect the laws of the land and that is true for any other country,” he said.

But, Carlile claimed that he had a valid business e-visa, which was granted several days before his visit to the country by the Indian government. He said he was coming to Delhi for two reasons, to attend a press briefing to speak about the case filed against Zia and also to meet colleagues in a Commonwealth body that deals with human rights.

According to the reports, India does not have any problems with the BNP or Khaleda Zia as such. The Sheikh Hasina government has done extremely well in tackling anti-Indian elements in Bangladesh. The elections in Bangladesh are due in the next six months, hence India does not want to take any chances, as it is safer not to be identified with either of the two parties.

Muslim intellectuals meet Rahul, reportedly express concerns about Congress’ ‘Soft Hindutva’ approach

OpIndia Staff
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Muslim intellectuals meet Rahul, reportedly express concerns about Congress’ ‘Soft Hindutva’ approach

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi has been planning to reach out to different sections of the society. In an effort to boost his image, Rahul Gandhi had met some Muslim intellectuals and activists at his residence today.

MS Farooqui, Amir Mohammad, Irfan Habib, Syeda Hameed, Ilyas Malik, Rakhshanda Jalil, Junaid Rehman, Farah Naqvi were among those who met the Rahul Gandhi at his residence. Reportedly, people who met Rahul Gandhi have given ‘feedback’ on various issues.


Interestingly, the leaders of the so-called Muslim intellectual class conveyed their displeasure over the Congress Party’s recent narrative of being soft to Hindus. They have spoken to Rahul Gandhi that how the community was feeling threatened due to the party adopting ‘Soft-Hindutva’ approach in the recent elections.

The Muslim intellectuals have advised Rahul Gandhi to not talk about the Muslim community in particular in public. According to them, it will give others an opportunity to polarise him as a leader. They insisted that Rahul Gandhi should rather talk about poverty and education.

During the meeting, the intellectuals have advised Rahul Gandhi to do a ” self-introspection of the Congress party”. According to them, the Congress party has changed a lot in recent times. Irfan Habib, a historian said, “He was urged to think about how Congress worked in the era of the 1970s when it talked about inclusiveness and Sajha Virasat”.

In the meeting, Rahul Gandhi has assured the leaders of the community that the party would not comprise its “core ideology”. It is yet to be seen whether Congress will fall back on its old tactics of minority appeasement to gain lost ground during the next general elections.

Speaking to ANI, Salman Khurshid said, “a number of lawyers, historians and university intellectuals today met Rahul Gandhi and discussed public policy with him. They gave their feedback to the leader of Opposition on the areas they are working in. Hope more such interactions will take place in future”.

The outreach programme of Congress has reportedly started on the lines of BJP’s Sampark for Samarthan initiative to mark the successful completion of four years of the Narendra Modi government. Under the Sampark for Samarthan campaign, about 4,000 BJP functionaries, including chief ministers, union ministers and panchayat members across the country, will contact 100,000 eminent personalities.

In the interaction, Gandhi spoke about the future strategy of the Congress and his party’s greater acceptability among regional parties, including past adversaries such as the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The meeting came in the backdrop of the Congress party’s efforts to carve out a wider “secular and democratic alliance”.

According to Habib, Rahul Gandhi has acknowledged the “internal shortcomings” in the Congress party and promised that the corrective measures were being taken. He said, according to Rahul Gandhi, one of the weaknesses of the party was that it had closed it’s on its own leaders.

Habib said that Rahul Gandhi is of the view that the Congress is now more accommodative towards the like-minded parties. He is now more open to working with leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, MK Stalin, Chandrababu Naidu and other leaders of the like-minded parties. Gandhi reportedly said. “Earlier, these parties were not open to us. Now, we will formulate a common strategy and come together”.

The Congress party has decided to widen its outreach programme in light of the next year’s general elections. They have decided to engage with a wider section of the society as per the directions of Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Ashok Gehlot. The Congress party has identified “potential influencers”, those who will be met by Rahul Gandhi in the next few months.

It is apparent now, that Congress is now stuck in a Catch-22 situation. While Rahul Gandhi declared himself as a ‘janeu dhari Hindu’ in a bid to appease the Hindu electorate which has been disenchanted with Congress for a while owing to its “Hindu Pakistan” and “Saffron Terror” sort of remarks, the Muslim community which has been Congress’ core votebank, considering how Congress has appeased the minority for decades, seems disgruntled at this pseudo-Hindutva stand.

Jayant Sinha challenges Rahul Gandhi to stop ‘hiding’ behind Twitter handle, come out in open debate

OpIndia Staff
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Jayant Sinha challenges Rahul Gandhi to stop ‘hiding’ behind Twitter handle, come out in open debate

Following the controversy where Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha had met the accused in the Ramgarh lynching case last week, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to ask his followers, ‘if it fills them with disgust’, to sign a petition requesting Harvard to withdraw Sinha’s degree.


Offended and angry at the remark, Sinha threw an open challenge to Congress President to debate with him either in Hindi or in English and not hide behind his Twitter handle, which Congress’ social media head Divya Spandana claims is run by Gandhi himself.


Sinha took an offence to the personal attack by Congress President by condemning Sinha’s education, value and humanity. He clarified his stand that he condemns vigilantism and the events that took place in Ramgarh were ‘distressing and terrible’. One meat trader Alimuddin Ansari was beaten to death on June 29 last year by a mob at the Bazaar Tand area allegedly on the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car. The accused in the case were convicted, but it is on appeal in Ranchi High Court in Jharkhand. Asserting that the accused have constitutional rights as well and that guilt can be established only through due process since rule of law is supreme in our democracy. He expressed regret if he gave the impression that by receiving the accused, he condoned vigilantism.

On the personal attack by Rahul Gandhi, Sinha said that if Congress President thinks Sinha’s conduct is ‘disgusting’, then they should debate on it in a civilized manner. He added that Gandhi should not hide behind his social media handle and indulge in shoot and scoot politics.

Rahul Gandhi is yet to accept the challenge for a debate. And if Rahul Gandhi’s speeches are anything to go by, this debate would be very, very interesting.

After AIMPLB, ex Vice President Hamid Ansari bats for unconstitutional Sharia courts

OpIndia Staff
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After AIMPLB, ex Vice President Hamid Ansari bats for unconstitutional Sharia courts

In a bizarre justification, the former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari has backed the idea of setting up of the Shariat courts in every district of the country. This comes days after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board demanded Sharia Courts in every district of India.


Speaking to the media, Ansari was of the opinion that each community has the right to practice its own personal law. He said, “People are confusing social practices with the legal system. Our law recognizes that each community can have own rules. Personal laws in India covers marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance. Each community has a right to practice its own personal law.”

The Former Vice President’s statements come as a shocker as the Supreme Court has itself barred the Shariat courts from running parallel justice system in the country. Ansari is now backing the same proposal, which was initiated by the controversial All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). The AIMPLB’s idea to set up Shariat courts has now met with severe opposition from different sections of the society.

This is not the first time for Hamid Ansari to be a part of a controversy, as recently he had backed the students of the Aligarh Muslim University for protesting against the removal of the portrait of Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. It is utterly shocking to see that Hamid Ansari is backing the religious bodies like AIMPLB, which had sought to back the inhuman practices of Triple Talaq and Nikah Halah.

Social Media too was quick to react. While some said that every time Hamid Ansari speaks, he vindicates Narendra Modi’s speech about him:


Another recalled the words spoken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Ansari’s farewell.


Some like Prof Anand Ranganathan simply marvelled at how an ex-Vice President of India could support barbaric practices in the name of religion.


Hamid Ansari is not new to controversies. He earlier had issued a statement saying he is feeling insecure and uneasy as a citizen of the country. His statements were condemned by all sections of the society. Recently, post his retirement, he was seen in a programme organized militant Islamic organization Popular Front of India (PFI) which has been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala.

One out of three rape accused Christian Godmen, surrenders before Kerala police

OpIndia Staff
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One out of three rape accused Christian Godmen, surrenders before Kerala police

One out of the three Kerala Christian priests who have charges of rape slapped against them, surrendered before the Crime Branch office in Kollam on Thursday, Times of India has reported.

This matter pertains to a married woman accusing five Malankara Orthodox Church priests of of blackmail and sexual abuse. As per the victim’s husband, his wife was abused by the priests a whopping 380 times. It was claimed that the troubles began when the victim confessed to one of the accused priests about having a pre-marital relationship. The priests then allegedly started to blackmail her using this confession, in a bid to elicit sexual favours.

A complaint was subsequently lodged against four out of the five priests, with the accused being named Abraham Varghese, Job Mathew, Johnson Mathew and Jaise George. They were booked by the police on charges of rape and outraging the modesty of a woman.

A Hindustan Times report has even reported the victims allegations about her being sexually assaulted by Varghese – while she was a minor.

Following the probe team’s submission of the FIR in the Kerala High Court, Johnson Mathew was exempted from the rape charge. The three other accused though got their anticipatory bails rejected by the High Court. While rejecting their bail pleas, the High Court had reportedly observed that they acted as predators to take undue advantage of the victim.

Now as also reported by Manorama Online, Job Matthew surrendered before the crime branch deputy superintendent of police in Kollam, following which he is now being questioned.

Now claims are that the two other accused might be planning to move to the Supreme Court to get anticipatory bail. A News18 report though has given another dimension to the matter by hinting that the two priests might be absconding, as the police has now started making attempts to trace them.

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