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Scrapping Article 370 will be the most fitting tribute that BJP can offer to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee

Nithesh S
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Scrapping Article 370 will be the most fitting tribute that BJP can offer to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee

“Ek desh mein do Vidhan, do Pradhan aur Do Nishan nahi chalenge” (A single country can’t have two constitutions, two prime ministers, and two national emblems)

– Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee on concessions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir

In an interview to The Hindu after breaking alliance with the PDP led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav articulated BJP’s core agenda as below (emphasis added) :

I give you the example of Vajpayeeji’s government, 23 parties came together, did anyone of them agree with our core ideology? No. That is why we had to put aside our core issues like Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and the construction of a Ram Temple for some time.

One might ask as to why Article 370 is a bone of contention for a national party like BJP. The reason for making this issue a national one is because, no union can afford to have two constitutions, that too a partisan one motivated by religious separatism. If this persists and finds a permanent place in the Indian constitution, it will serve as a model for future separatist movements fueled by religious fundamentalism. One of the first opponents of Article 370 was Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (which was the predecessor of present-day BJP).

BJP observes Dr Mookerjee’s death anniversary (June 23) as ‘Balidan Divas (martyrdom day)’ to pay respects to its tallest icon Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee who layed down his life in Kashmir. He had been arrested for protesting against the permit system which was prevalent in Jammu and Kashmir. It is, therefore, fitting to remember the contributions of a great unsung leader of India on his death anniversary.

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s stellar contribution to India

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee was an educationist who served two terms as vice chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He was elected to the Bengal Legislative Council once from Congress and later as an independent. His initial plunge into politics, as explained by his biographer Tathagatha Roy, was to influence education-related policies in the council.

Later, he provided leadership to address the plight of Hindus in Bengal. Dr Mookerjee came in contact with another patriot, Veer Savarkar and joined Hindu Mahasabha in 1939. He served as its working president from 1940 to 1943 and later as its president from 1943 to 1946. Dr Mookerjee served as the finance minister of Bengal province from 1941-42 under a coalition government.

One of the unsung achievements of Dr Mookerjee in politics is his success in foiling a bid for United and independent Bengal proposed by secularists like Sarat Bose of the Congress. If the proposal of an independent Bengal had gone through, present-day West Bengal would be a part of a separate nation. In the book ‘The Life and Times of Syama Prasad Mookerjee’, Tathagatha Roy, calls Dr Mookerjee as ‘The Architect of West Bengal’.

As chronicled by his biographer Tathagatha Roy, Dr Mookerjee convinced the British and several Hindu leaders of Congress that a 45% Hindu minority in Bengal could not be forced to live in Muslim Pakistan or an independent state under Muslim majority. [1] Having achieved this feat, Mookerjee is said to have remarked to Nehru, “You partitioned India, I partitioned Pakistan.”[2]

For his stellar contribution to Indian politics and recommendation of Gandhi, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee was included as minister of Industries in the first cabinet of independent India under Nehru. [3]

Dr Mookerjee’s resignation and the birth of Jana Sangh

In 1950, the massive genocide of Hindus in East Pakistan led to differences between Nehru and Dr Mookerjee. Dr Mookerjee proposed a population transfer of Hindus or a war with Pakistan over the matter [4]. However, Nehru did not accept either proposal. As a result, Dr Mookerjee resigned from the Cabinet and plunged into opposition politics by starting the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Dr Mookerjee met MS Golwalker of RSS and was assured of support by RSS [pdf]. As a result of this, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Balraj Madhok, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kushabhau Thakre, Nanaji Deshmukh, Sundar Singh Bhandari, Jagdish Mathur and several others joined Dr Mookerjee’s fledgeling party.

The formation of Bharatiya Jana Sangh was announced in a meeting held at Delhi at Raghomal Arya Kanya Vidyalaya on 21st October 1951. It was followed by a public meeting in Gandhi Grounds in front of Gurudwara Sisganj in Old Delhi. In his presidential address, Dr Mookerjee said  [ pdf ] :

“Our party must continue to function (even after the forthcoming general election, in 1951- 1952) carrying a message of hope and goodwill to all classes of people and try to draw out from them their best efforts in rebuilding a happier and more prosperous free India…One of the chief reasons for the manifestation of dictatorship in Congress rule is the absence of well organised opposition parties which alone can act as a healthy check on the majority party…Bharatiya Jana Sangh emerges today as an all India political party which will function as the principal party in opposition…we have thrown our party open to all citizens of India irrespective of caste, creed or community. While we recognise that in matters of customs, habit, religion and language Bharat presents a unique diversity, the people must be united by a bond of fellowship and understanding inspiredby a deep devotion and loyalty to the support of a common motherland…While it will be dangerous to encourage growth of political minorities on the basis of caste and religion, it is obviously for the vast majority of Bharat’s population to assure all classes of people who are truly loyal to their motherland “

Thus it is evident that Dr Mookerjee was an advocate for inclusive politics, but an opponent of appeasement politics. This ideology finds credence in BJP’s slogan ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’.

Dr Mookerjee’s mysterious death in Srinagar

Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee was opposed to the Article 370. He found the rules of the permit system for Indian citizens travelling to Jammu and prohibition from settling in the state as abhorrent to the principles of a united nation. In order to protest against this system, he travelled to the state without a permit card. He was arrested near Lakhenpur and lodged in the central jail. Due to his efforts, the permit system / ID card rule was revoked, but he died under mysterious circumstances at a hospital in Srinagar on 23rd June 1953. Demands for independent inquiries were rejected and it was declared that Dr Mookerjee had died due to a heart attack.

The seed that Dr Mookerjee planted has now grown into a huge tree. Dr Mookerjee’s dream is yet to be realised. Though BJP has occupied the pole position in Indian politics today, it has not made any serious attempts to erase Article 370. The soul of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee will find solace only when this abhorrent provision of Article 370 is scrapped and thrown into the dustbin. Therefore, BJP must commit itself to this goal and implement it as soon as the opportune moment arrives.

Notes :

[1] & [2] Chapter 9: The Life and Times of Syama Prasad Mookerjee by Tathagatha Roy

[3] Chapter 4: The Life and Times of Syama Prasad Mookerjee by Tathagatha Roy

[4] Chapter 11: The Life and Times of Syama Prasad Mookerjee by Tathagatha Roy

Catholic priest, nuns and teachers of catholic school among those questioned in Jharkhand Gangrape case: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Catholic priest, nuns and teachers of catholic school among those questioned in Jharkhand Gangrape case: Reports

A total of 12 people were detained by the police in an investigation into the gangrape of five women in Khunti, Jharkhand. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, two nuns and two teachers of the RC Mission School in Kochang block in Jharkhand’s Khunti district were also detained and questioned by the police.

Five women, including four young girls, were reportedly abducted and taken away to be gang-raped by a group of men on Tuesday. The women were part of an NGO. They were reportedly performing a street play to create awareness against human trafficking. A group of men abducted the performers in a car and gang-raped them in a nearby forest. The perpetrators even reportedly made videos of the crime.

Jharkhand police have launched a man-hunt operation after they were informed by social workers a day later. According to reports, though the incident happened in the school premises in the presence of the priests and nuns, none of them had complained to the police. 2 FIRS, registered in Arki police station and women’s police station respectively, names Father Alphons Aiens for not reporting the incident despite witnessing it. The police reportedly find his role suspicious as he had intervened after the criminals came to interrupt the street play. The priest allegedly got 2 nuns released but made no attempts to help the women.

Teachers of the school, Motaye Mundu and Robert Issa Purty, along with nuns Ranjeeta Kindo and Anita Nag were detained and questioned by the police. None of them had reported the incident. They were later released under personal bonds and will be called for questioning later. All five women victims are reportedly from Adivasi community.

The National Commission for Women has sent a 3 member team, led by undersecretary Preeti Kumar to probe the matter. DIG Ranchi Anmol V Homkar has reportedly informed that 3 separate teams have been formed to probe the matter.

Preliminary investigations have reportedly pointed that the criminals were associated with the Patthalgarhi movement. The movement propagates the ideas of tribal gram sabhas being the only sovereign authority in tribal areas and warns ‘outsiders’ against entering tribal areas. The victims have reportedly stated that they were threatened by the perpetrators not to enter the area without their permission to ‘spread government agenda’. The male colleagues accompanying the women were reportedly beaten up and made to drink their own urine. The Patthalgarhi movement has been a cause of worry for state governments of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The movement even demands Adivasi children not being sent to government schools. Khunti district has also been under the effect of the movement.

The state BJP has demanded the formation of fast-track court in the case and punish the criminals within six months. According to some reports, PLFI (People’s Liberation Front of India) leader Kushal Munda and his associates are allegedly involved in the matter. PLFI is a terrorist organisation operating in the state. PLFI is reportedly a breakaway faction of the CPI(M) and has been involved in murders and several attacks in Khunti district in the past.

CNN-News18 corrects a report that painted Sanskrit as a ‘dreaded subject’ and Arabic as ‘relief’

OpIndia Staff
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CNN-News18 corrects a report that painted Sanskrit as a ‘dreaded subject’ and Arabic as ‘relief’

The Media is known to often make glaring mistakes on occasion. It is known to have journalists inject their personal bias into reports. Many times, when caught, some media houses choose to quietly update their story and others, brazen it out.

Something similar happened last night with News18. Earlier, they had reported on how the RSS backed Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal presented its points to the Committee headed by K Kasturirangan for drafting the policy, recommending a formula with less emphasis on English.

The crux of the issue was rather simple. Sanskrit might soon become compulsory for 9 to 12 and if a student doesn’t want to learn Sanskrit, they would have the option of learning Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin or Greek.

The spin given by News18, however, downright insulted the classical language of Sanskrit and propped Arabic as the preferred language.

News18 wrote how the “dreaded shabd roop” that made students “sweat during middle school” may return soon to “haunt” and students can “get rid of the subject” and “look for respite in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin and Greek”.

This perceived insult to the Sanskrit language created quite the furore on Social Media.


CNN-News18 realised their folly soon and decided to update their story. The paragraph has now been replaced with a simple statement of fact sans the judgement.

The report, as can be seen, was quietly updated at 9:56 PM on 22nd June (last night) without so much as an Editor’s note pointing at the update or an apology issued by the publication.

Perhaps it would bode well for Media houses to exercise some amount of Editorial restraint and vigilance when it comes to blatant anti-Hindu sentiments or tangential judgements that offend sections of the society.

Ayodhya to get memorial park honouring Queen Hu, the Princess of Ayodhya who became Queen in Korea

OpIndia Staff
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Ayodhya to get memorial park honouring Queen Hu, the Princess of Ayodhya who became Queen in Korea

The government of Uttar Pradesh has finalised discussions with the South Korean government for the construction of the Queen Hu memorial park in Ayodhya. According to reports, A high level South Korean delegation is scheduled to visit Ayodhya during Diwali celebrations and the construction of the park will begin before their arrival.

Queen Hu, according to legends, was a princess of Ayodhya named Suriratna, who had travelled to Soth Korea in 48 AD to marry King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya. The princess is believed to have travelled to Korea by sea. After marrying the king, she was known as Queen Hu Hwang ok. Together with King Kim Suro, they founded the Karak dynasty in the region that is the present Gimhae province of South Korea.

Portrait of Queen Hu Hwang ok

According to reports, millions of Koreans trace their lineage to the dynasty founded by Queen Hur Hwang and King Suro. They consider Ayodhya to be the maternal home of their ancient Queen and that is the reason Ayodhya sees hundreds of Korean visitors every year.

Queen Hur’s tomb in the Gimhae province in present-day South Korea courtesy: The better India

Queen Hu’s memorial was reportedly first inaugurated in Ayodhya in 2001. In 2016, when PM Modi visited South Korea, the two countries had reportedly agreed to build a bigger monument in Ayodhya as a tribute to ancient ties between the two countries. A designated area for the proposed memorial was marked by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government at Sarayu riverfront, but a study by the Korean government later suggested that the marked area comes under Sarayu’s floodplains and river water might harm the project.

The present UP government under CM Yogi Adityanath has reportedly allocated a smaller, but the safer location near the upcoming Ram Katha Museum in Ayodhya city. The Korean Sports and Tourism Department, which is coordinating with the UP government for this project has reportedly visited and approved the site.

A design contest for the proposed memorial park was recently conducted by the UP tourism department. Schematic concepts and sample designs were invited. The central theme of the project is to focus on the ‘timeless voyage of Queen Hu’ and traditional aesthetic designs from both Korean and Indian origins will be reportedly considered for the project. A jury of both Indian and Korean representatives are to select and finalise the designs.

The memorial park will have structures that depict the princess’ voyage, her meeting with King Suro and many others depicting Indian and Korean cultural heritage.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath had reportedly written to the South Korean President Moon-Jae-in, inviting him to attend the Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya this year. The South Korean President is scheduled to visit India in July, so a high-level government delegation will be visiting Ayodhya on Diwali this year.

Queen Hu Hwang ok is a popular historical figure in Korea and her voyage, subsequent marriage to King Suro and the foundation of their clan is depicted in plays and many stories.

If you are not in your office during working hours you are suspended: Maharashtra Health Ministry issues whip

OpIndia Staff
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If you are not in your office during working hours you are suspended: Maharashtra Health Ministry issues whip

The Maharashtra Health Ministry issued a government resolution on Thursday warning officials that they would be suspended if not found at their desks during work hours, DNA has reported.

As per the report, it has been observed that senior health department officials have been noted to leave their offices without notifying their superiors and don’t even attend meeting called by ministers. It has also been claimed that the department employees are not found in their offices during working hours.

Thus a PTI report states that the issued resolution instructs the officials to not leave their offices without informing their bosses and also take permissions before leaving on foreign tours. Hence the resolution cited the Maharashtra Civil Services (Behaviour) Rules of 1979 to remind the officials of their need to maintain “highest professional dignity”.

The resolution then proceeds to warns that if the officials fail to obey the said directives, they would be liable for disciplinary action, suspension or even a dismissal.

The health department has thus directed the deputy directors and district health officers to provide a list of officers who do not stay in their regional headquarters without any prior intimation. Following this, the department has instructed that the erring officials should be given a strict warning and be reported to the government.

If the officials still continue to falter in their attendance, then disciplinary action would need to be initiated against them within a month, failing which the senior officials who are supposedly to dish out the punishment, would be held accountable.

Incidentally despite the issuance of such a resolution, state’s public health minister Deepak Sawant has expressed ignorance of the same by claiming that officials didn’t discuss it with him, possibly owing to the model code of conduct being put in place for a Member of Legislative council seat in Mumbai. This though didn’t stop him from asserting that officials should be punctual and remain present in meetings.

Tripura : Real heroes avert a disaster, Minister recommends their name for an award

OpIndia Staff
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Tripura : Real heroes avert a disaster, Minister recommends their name for an award

In an inspiring incident, Tripura Health and Science and Technology Minister Sudip Roy Barman in his residence, felicitated Swapan Debbarma, 45, and his teenage daughter Somati, who averted a train accident on June 15 saving the lives of over 2,000 passengers.


The Minister had invited them to his residence and had breakfast with them. On June 15, the father-daughter duo and other locals of Dhalai’s Ambassa, had waved their shirts before the train, after they spotted a stretch of railway track affected due to a landslide.

The Dharmanagar-Agartala passenger train had to be stopped after they noticed that a portion of the tracks had been washed away by floods. The driver got the indication and stopped the train just in time. “If we had not spotted the signal and stopped the train, it could have met with a severe accident,” Sonu Kumar Mandal, the driver of the train, had said. The bravery of the father and daughter duo has been appreciated by many.


“Had they not taken the risk in stopping the train, lives would’ve been lost. When I came to know of this, I called them at my residence and had breakfast with them,” ANI quoted Barman as saying.


On Thursday, the members of Tripura Assembly unanimously praised the efforts of Swapan Debbarma and his daughter for taking such an extreme step. The state assembly on Thursday resolved to recommend 9-year-old tribal girl Sumati Debbarma for a gallantry award from the President of India and her father Swapan Debbarma for a job in Indian Railways.

Earlier, Northeast Frontier Railway had also announced a reward for Swapan Debbarma for his act of bravery and presence of mind. Tribal welfare minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia awarded Swapan with a cash amount of Rs 50,000 and BJP MLA Shankar Roy awarded him Rs 5,000.

4 terrorists killed in Anantnag encounter are reportedly from Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir

Sanghamitra
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4 terrorists killed in Anantnag encounter are reportedly from Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir

4 terrorists have been killed in an encounter by Indian security forces in the Khiram Srigufara village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. According to reports, the terrorists killed belong to the Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir.

J&K police DGP Shesh Paul Vaid shared on Twitter that the terrorists are believed to be from Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The police chief later confirmed in another tweet that 2 more terrorists have been gunned down by the security forces. According to reports, one of the terrorists killed has been identified as the chief of ISIS’ Jammu and Kashmir operations, Dawood. The terrorists reportedly opened fire at the policemen and some locals also pelted stones to help the terrorists. One policeman was also martyred during the operations.


According to reports, some locals started stone pelting on the security forces to help the terrorists. The police took retaliatory action and several stone pelters were reportedly injured in the clashes.

The top ISIS commander killed in this operation is reportedly Dawood Sofi alias Burhan Musaib, who joined ISIS in 2017 and is originally from HMT in Srinagar.


The state of Jammu and Kashmir was brought under governor’s rule after BJP withdrew from the alliance with PDP. The Anantnag encounter was the first major anti-terrorist operation in the state after the central government declared the suspension of anti-terror operations to be over after the month of Ramzan.

This encounter is arguably the first in where active ISIS terrorists have been killed in India. The presence of ISIS in India has long since been reported. In Kerala, active recruitment centres have been reportedly running through which several Muslims have reportedly travelled to Syria to join the global terror organisation. Earlier this year, female ISIS recruiter Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid was sentenced to 7 years of prison for recruiting people from Kasargod, Kerala to join ISIS.

In the Kashmir valley too, ISIS flags have been reported many times. Reports have emerged that the ISIS had prepared a blueprint for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the valley. ISIS supporters and sympathisers are believed to have started a group called Ansarul Khilafah to further the ISIS’ agenda of the terror organisation. In 2015, flags were seen in the valley during protest marches, announcing the arrival of ‘Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir’.

It is notable here that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as Daesh, is a global terror organisation that has terrorised the world and have been wreaking havoc in Iraq, Syria and nearby regions. ISIS has been involved in a widely reported genocide of Yazidis. They also killed 39 Indian workers near Mosul in India. Their bodies were recovered and identified only after Mosul was freed from ISIS clutches and MoS for External Affairs and former army chief Gen V K Singh had flown to Iraq to bring back their remains.

The state of Jammu and Kashmir faces constant terrorist attacks. There were previous reports of almost 450 trained terrorists in launch pads along LoC waiting to infiltrate into India to target the Amarnath Yatra. If ISIS is indeed operational in the Kashmir valley, it will pose another grave security concern for the Indian forces.

Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba backs Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s statement on Kashmir

Jhankar Mohta
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Pakistani terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba backs Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s statement on Kashmir

As per reports, Pak-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has come out in support of Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, backing his statement on Kashmir. In an e-mailed statement issued to Kashmir News Service (KNS), the LeT spokesman, Abdullah Ghaznawi quoted the outfit chief, Mahmood Shah, said that Indian forces are committing worst genocide on innocent Kashmiris under the disguise of Operation All-Out, and also mentioned that they agreed with Azad and others.

They wrote: “We have been of the same opinion as of the expressions of Ghulam Nabi Azad and others since the beginning. India is up to bring back the era of Jagmohan by imposing the Governor law so as to sabotage the infrastructure and commit a massacre of innocents. It is a move to further intensify the mass killings.”

The statement issued criticised the Indian forces for ‘committing atrocities’ in Jammu and Kashmir. It also alleged that ‘India was committing gross human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir for 7 decades’. It further stated that ‘the cease-fire was a mere drama. It was intended for covert targets, not for the peacekeeping developments.’

This kind of statements coming from terror outfits is not surprising, what leaves us speechless is that a veteran politician like Ghulam Nabi Azad hailing from a political party which takes credit for India independence and swears by the sacrifices made by them in the past, is playing petty politics and in turn tarnishing the reputation of the Indian Army, while getting endorsements from terror organisations.

In hail, sleet, and snow, in icy blizzards and pouring rain, an Indian soldier stands sentinel over the nation’s borders maintaining silent and lonely vigil. Despite the omnipresent danger, hardships, and privations of life on the nation’s troubled frontiers, he stands tall and firm. Stoic and resolute, his courage never wavers, his spirit never flags.

It is unfortunate that Azad(an Indian by birth, not sure how much in understanding) would term operations against terrorists carried on by these Indian brave hearts, who without even bothering about the consequences are ready to lay their lives for their country, as a “massacre” squarely toeing the Pakistan line of argument.

Azad while talking to News 18 said that “They take action against four terrorists and kill 20 civilians along. Their action is more against civilians than terrorists. For instance, they killed 13 civilians in Pulwama and just one terrorist. Saying that it will be an all-out operation, clearly shows that they plan to do a massacre.”

In this denouncing blame game, Congress leader Azad isn’t the only one. Congress president Rahul Gandhi too had attacked PDP-BJP, saying that the ‘opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to Jammu and Kashmir.’

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz took a step further and backed former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s statement on Kashmiris’ independence. Earlier, Musharraf had said if given a chance Kashmiris would want to stay independent. Speaking to ANI, Soz said, “Musharraf said Kashmiris don’t want to merge with Pakistan, their first choice is independence. The statement was true then and remains true now also. I say the same but I know that it is not possible.”

Many condemned the statement by Congress leader and its subsequent endorsement by terror group LeT. BJP leader and legal activist Subramanian Swamy too left no stone unturned in making a jibe at the Congress for the shameful remarks passed by them undermining the Indian Army’s efforts and sacrifices.


Reacting to this, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore had said he hoped that senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad would retract his reported statement that government actions killed 20 civilians for every four terrorists in Kashmir.

“I would have understood if these were the words from some terrorist sympathizer but coming from the leader of opposition in RS is sad; Sir, it’s the terrorists that kill civilians, Our Army & Police are laying their lives to protect Kashmir. I hope you’ll retract your statement,” Rathore, the information, and broadcasting minister said in a tweet.

Truth about ‘Ahmedabad DCCB-Amit Shah scam’ – How Congress spread lies and inanities

Nupur J Sharma
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Truth about ‘Ahmedabad DCCB-Amit Shah scam’ – How Congress spread lies and inanities

The Congress has been getting exceptionally desperate recently. The scam ridden party, whose President, Rahul Gandhi, and its former President Sonia Gandhi, are themselves out on bail, have been desperate to prove that the Modi government and the BJP are as scam ridden as them. This desperation, of course, stems from the fact that the country has summarily rejected the tainted party electorally, and there seems no sign of resurgence even after their rainbow coalition with regional parties.

Congress has been random and sans merit in conjuring up scams by this government and BJP functionaries which have been summarily debunked. Now, in their desperation, they have taken that line forward by targeting Amit Shah himself, and this time the accusations are even more ludicrous and weak than before.

The party has imagined a scam because the BJP President is a director with a bank that attracted deposits during demonetization. This is in line with Congress’ attempt to spread misinformation about demonetization, which had started immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced in November 2016 that old 500 and 1000 rupees note would cease to be valid legal tenders.

At the offset, the most ridiculous insinuation is that an individual, or group of individuals depositing money in the bank, no matter what the quantum, mean they are indulging in malpractice and/or a scam exists. Pre demonetisation, holding cash was a normal phenomenon, and the mere holding of cash that was later deposited in the bank, legally, by no means signifies a scam.

The bank in question here is Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) of which, Amit Shah is the Director. The allegation by Congress is (emphasis added) : 

“The DCCBs were given only five days to accept demonetised cash, instead of the fifty days provided to the Public Sector Banks and other Scheduled Commercial Banks, as the government was aware of the loopholes that the DCCBs could provide to the demonetisation exercise. However, as the reports suggest, it seems that the ‘all-powerful’ required only five days. ADCB accepted Rs. 745.59 crores in demonetised cash in that five-day window. On the other hand, Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd., the apex body in the state, accepted only Rs. 1.11 crores in demonetised currency; 370 DCCBs across India accepted Rs, 22, 271 crores in demonetised currency, which comes down to approx. Rs. 60 crores per DCCB on average. How is it that a DCCB, with Amit Shah as director, accepted 12 times more demonetised cash than any other DCCB? The scam does not stop at Amit Shah alone. According to trends established, it seems that such practices are widespread within the BJP. Rajkot District Cooperative Bank (RDCB), headed by Jayeshbhai Vittalbhai Radadiya – a cabinet minister in Gujarat government, accepted demonetised currency worth Rs. 693.19 crores, i.e. 11.5 times more than any other DCCB, on average. In total, eleven District Cooperative Banks in Gujarat, headed by BJP leaders, accepted demonetised cash worth Rs. 3118.51 crores. This begs the question, how deep does the demonetisation scam run?”

The amusing part about this entire paragraph is how first Congress admits that DCCBs were given only 5 days to accept demonetised currency, and then goes on to say that “powerful people needed only five days”.

On a more serious note, their allegation is that ADCB accepted Rs. 745.59 crores in demonetised currency in that 5-day window and how the Congress is gobsmacked that the amount was so high. They compare how the amount accepted by ADCB is higher than the average amount accepted by 370 DCCBs put together.

What the Congress doesn’t tell the small percentage of people who would read this and actually take them seriously, is that the amount received by ADCB is quite in tune with the size of its operations.

With total business levels of over Rs.9,000 crore, ADCB (where Amit Shah is Director) is one of the top ten DCCBs of the country, recently awarded for the best performance by the Federation of the Cooperative Banks. The bank has a total of 194 branches, the highest among all the DCCBs of Gujarat. Its deposit base of Rs 5,330 crore is also the highest among all the banks of Gujarat, with nearly 16 lakh deposit accounts. It also has the highest number of ATMs [59] among the DCCBs of Gujarat, besides 200 micro ATMs.

According to a press statement by NABARD, there are 16 lakh accounts with the Ahmedabad DCCB (where Amit Shah is the director), out of which 1.60 lakh customers deposited money (9.37%). 98.66% people deposited less than 2.5 lakhs in their accounts. NABARD also says that in the Ahmedabad DCCB, the average deposit amount was Rs. 46,795 which is lower than average per depositor in 18 other DCCBs in Gujarat.

The statement by NABARD reiterates that during this intervening period, 1.60 lakh customers of the bank deposited/ exchanged demonetised notes aggregating to Rs.746 crore which was only about 15 % of total deposits of the bank.

Considering the size of the DCCB Bank and the fact that the average deposit per customer in the bank during the demonetisation period was Rs. 46,795 (much lower than the 2.5L limit set by the government), the question of scam doesn’t arise. The numbers seem to indicate that the quantum of deposits was in concurrence with the size of operations of the bank.

Congress will also not tell its readers that demonetised notes presented in the DCCBs of Maharashtra were higher than those deposited in Gujarat, followed by DCCBs in Kerala. One wonders then, is there a reason why they are going after this DCCB specifically? Is it because they know Amit Shah is one of the main reasons why their party is facing the horrible electoral defeat it is?

According to an Indian Express report, over two-thirds of the demonetised currency deposited in banks has come in the form of deposits over Rs 2 lakh — totalling around Rs 10.38 lakh crore. “These are the immediate high-level cases, which apparently appear to be odd. The Operation Clean Money targets them in the first phase,” Adhia said a day after the Budget.

With such high deposits amounting to the bulk of deposits, Congress insinuating that a bank that averaged Rs. 46,795 per depositor points to a scam, in turn, insults the common citizen who has, in many cases, deposited far more than that amount.

Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to make these insinuations against Amit Shah. In his tweet, he highlights the “In 5 days” part almost hinting that people related to Amit Shah somehow rushed to the bank to deposit cash. Whereas the truth is that the 746 crore was a cumulative deposit of 1.60 lakh customers.


Divya Spandana, Rahul Gandhi lackey and the one responsible for his “Twitter resurgence” took it a step further and made an even more ridiculous comment. She explicitly wrote that “Amit Shah made a whopping 745 crores on demonetised notes” which is an asinine allegation. The entire amount of 745 crores was deposited by 1.60 lakh customers and it certainly doesn’t mean that Amit Shah personally made that money.

The only purpose of this ridiculous tweet seems to be to appear so dumb, that Rahul Gandhi starts looking more intelligent in comparison.


NABARD in its statement also said, “NABARD conducted 100 % verification in Ahmedabad DCCB which revealed that the bank had complied with all the KYC Guidelines of the RBI while accepting the demonetised notes. As per the verification report of NABARD, required under the extant guidelines, the bank had also submitted the required Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) and STRs to FlU-India wherever required. The average amount of demonetised notes deposited by the customers of the bank has been lower than that of other banks.

Based on the satisfactory verification of demonetised notes held by concerned DCCBs across India, including Ahmedabad and Rajkot, RBI accepted the demonetised notes held by these DCCBs. The RBI gave necessary credit in the accounts of DCCBs concerned.”

It makes clear that all compliances were followed, verifications are done for both the Ahmedabad bank and Rajkot bank.

This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi and his coterie have conducted such hollow hitjobs. He had earlier shared The Wire’s comprehensively debunked hit job on Piyush Goyal with some caustic comments without realising his self-goal perhaps. He is no stranger to self-goals too. In fact, not so long ago he had done exactly the same when we at OpIndia has preemptively busted an imminent hitjob against the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. After our article, ‘The Wire’ had conceded that “there was not much of a story to pursue after all“, which is why they had dropped the story after receiving a response from Jaitley and his daughter’s firm. Mr Rahul Gandhi had then proceeded to plug the very article where ‘The Wire’ had admitted to no impropriety on the part of Arun Jaitley, in a bid to tarnish his image. We had then also speculated whether Rahul Gandhi actually knew of the imminent hitjob.

In their article, the Congress also mentions the Jay Shah hitjob which was debunked by us comprehensively and the portal responsible for that hitjob is facing a 100 crore defamation suit, in which the court has already mentioned that a prima facie case exists against the portal.

This lie, just like any other lie peddled by Rahul Gandhi and his motley band of misleaders boils down to one thing, and one thing one. As DaShanne Stokes says, ‘When you’re dealing with frauds and liars, listen more to what they don’t say than what they do.’

Modi snubs Kerala CM Pinarayi, refuses to meet him for the fourth time

OpIndia Staff
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Modi snubs Kerala CM Pinarayi, refuses to meet him for the fourth time

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has been denied an appointment with PM Modi reportedly the fourth time in a row. According to reports, the Kerala CM was trying to meet the PM with an all-party delegation to discuss disparities in ration allocations to the state.

The PMO office has, however, responded to the Kerala CM’s request, saying that they can meet Food and Public Distributions Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to discuss their concerns. Vijayan had reportedly sought to meet the PM last week too but was unable to get an appointment.

According to reports, Pinarayi Vijayan had, on two earlier instances denied appointment to meet the PM. On March 20, 2017, he had reportedly sought an appointment with the PM to discuss budget allocations for the state. Before that, he had tried to meet the PM on November 24, 2016, a week after demonetisation was announced.

The Kerala CM is currently at the national capital to attend a CPI(M) central committee meeting.

It is notable here that on Sunday, the Prime Minister had chaired the NITI Ayog governing council meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Chief Ministers of most of the states, including Vijayan, Lieutenant Governors of union territories and senior central government officials were present at that meeting.

Before that, the PM was seen unofficially greeting Pinarayi Vijayan, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu.


West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had claimed after that unofficial greeting that she along with the CMs of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had urged the PM to intervene in the then on-going dharna of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and resolve the issues.

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