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‘The Wire’ spins another lying web, this time, to target Piyush Goyal

Ashutosh Muglikar
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‘The Wire’ spins another lying web, this time, to target Piyush Goyal

The leftist propaganda website ‘The Wire’ and its “ace journalist” Rohini Singh have developed a penchant for peddling baseless stories and branding it “investigative journalism”. Their modus operandi is simple. They take unrelated facts, throw in some well-worded insinuations and quote incomplete reports to make the reader believe they have stumbled upon proverbial gold when what they have is worse than ash. They did it with Jay Shah for which they are facing a 100 crores defamation suit, they did it with Shaurya Doval, and now, their latest target seems to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

In an article titled “Promoter of Company in default of Rs. 650 crore has ties to Piyush Goyal, family” they seem to have stuck to their shoddy modus operandi.

The headline of the article itself is intriguing. They insinuate that Piyush Goyal and his family have business ties till date with a defaulting company. Nothing could be further from the truth if one looks at the facts.

In the first paragraph itself, the direction of their shoddy story becomes clear.

“At a time of mounting public concern over the bad debt of banks, does a minister have a responsibility to declare his interest in a company of which he had been director when it was under financial stress and which later, after he exited, defaulted on loans totalling Rs 650 crore?”

Their intention is to hold Piyush Goyal answerable for a company he is no longer associated with. As per documents accessed by us, Piyush Goyal, as per official records, resigned from the company in 2010 of which he had become a Director in 2008, which incidentally, even the author of ‘The Wire’ story concedes to.

Piyush Goyal in this letter says that due to his election as Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), he will have to resign from ‘Shirdi Industries Private Limited’ since he will have to spend most of his time in Delhi. The resignation came to effect on 1st July 2010. When the ‘The Wire’ says that Piyush Goyal hasn’t declared, that would be termed an absolute lie considering all papers of his previous association is in the public domain.

In fact, the defaults they speak of, happened much after Piyush Goyal resigned as the directed.

The article says :

The company is the Mumbai-based laminates maker Shirdi Industries. Its chairman until July 2010 – a period when loans were raised and delayed payments first red-flagged by Crisil – was Piyush Goyal, now railways minister and the Modi government’s chief troubleshooter

Shirdi Industries is in existence since 1993 and as per CRISIL Report (an independent professional body) is one of the leading manufacturers of manufacturing and marketing of medium density fibre (MDF) and particle boards in India. The loans were taken even before Piyush Goyal was appointed as a Director. It is pertinent here to note that the same CRISIL report which the Wire quotes state that the payments were being made on time.

The Wire then writes :

Even as they defaulted on the money they owed government banks, Shirdi’s promoters also extended an unsecured loan via another entity to a company run by Goyal’s wife, Intercon Advisers Pvt Limited. This loan, they told The Wire, was granted “out of friendship.” The last statutory filing done by Intercon for FY 2016 shows an outstanding amount of Rs 1.59 crore to Asis Industries, a company owned by Shirdi promoters. Even as Asis lent money to Goyal’s wife’s firm, Shirdi also had a Rs 4 crore provident fund default.

The loans were taken by Shirdi Industries Limited. The loans extended to Piyush Goyal’s firm were by another entity owned and managed by the Promoters of Shirdi Industries. The fact here is that the loans (inter-corporate deposits) were given at a market rate of 12% per annum and that the same was repaid, regular TDS deductions were being made and proper accounting was done. The loans were given in 2012 which The Wire amusingly fails to point out.

In fact, in the same article, they link to claim “they have a 4 crores provident fund default” they conveniently miss mentioning that in that same article it has been mentioned that the 4 crores will be paid between March 2022 and 2024 as per NCLT settlement. They also fail to mention that the said article is from 2018, whereas, Piyush Goyal resigned in 2010.

The Wire then writes :

Shirdi Industries has not only defaulted on loan repayments but was also referred to the National Company Law Tribunal where its creditor banks agreed to take a 60% haircut – banking parlance for a part write-off – on the debt owned by the company.

The Company was not referred to NCLT directly. The Wire has failed to do its due diligence. The company was registered as a sick company with BIFR in December 2013 and was declared a sick company in September 2015. Subsequently, the credit facilities of the company were restructured in July 2015 with the support of nearly 82% of financial creditors. Since then the operations of the company have been reasonably stabilized and is in the process of optimisation. The company has paid over Rs. 30 Cr to its financial creditors since the completion of the restructuring.

Upon repealing of SICA, the registration of the company with BIFR was abated in November 2016 and the company filed an application for Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code before the NCLT, Mumbai in April 2017. The case was admitted by NCLT on 18/5/2017.

What is pertinent to note is that these issues have occurred much later after Piyush Goyal exited the Company as a Director in 2010. Nearly three years later.

The Wire then, after making some obvious remarks and veiled insinuations, goes on to peddle half-truth yet again. It says :

Unusually, the NCLT, in a landmark order last December, allowed the promoters to bid for the company because its lenders  – most of which are government owned – reposed faith in them. The NCLT order is in contravention of the Modi government’s November 2017 ordinance on non-performing assets, which barred existing promoters from bidding for their own company if their loans were classified as non-performing assets for more than a year.

This is a half-truth. The NCLT order was not in contravention of the Modi Government’s Ordinance. The Ordinance was not “retrospective”. After NCLT admitted the company’s case the promoters were the only bidder for the company. The whole Resolution process is managed under the watchful eyes of the NCLT and independent professionals submit their reports to the Tribunal Bench based on which orders are issued. It is pertinent to note that there is absolutely no involvement of the government or specifically Mr Piyush Goyal in this whole process. The Order is available on NCLT website for anyone to read and understand. In fact, these issues have got nothing to do with Piyush Goyal per se as he has no pecuniary interest in the Company since 2010 and these matters relate to 2013 and later.

They said :

The NPA ordinance was designed to ensure promoters did not get to borrow money from banks, run up huge debts and then have those debts written off only to come back and take control of their (now financially healthy) companies once again at a cut price.

This para although factual somehow seems to point that there is a wrongdoing in the NCLT process. These reasons clearly show that the promoters of Shirdi Industries had incurred genuine business losses and were not run of the mill cheats as is being hinted. There was no Goyal in any of this process. Yet The Wire is trying to make fake connections. Clearly, it believes that by linking a high profile minister through trial by association, it can wash the sins of the UPA which is responsible for the current mess in the banking sector. Modi has already called NPAs as the biggest scam of the UPA era. Perhaps the supari givers believe they can stop the government from exposing them by weakly linking a minister to an NPA.

In fact, if one reads the NCLT order, third-party forensic auditors confirmed that there was no wrongdoing and the proposal was accepted by 99.43% creditors.

Firstly, since the entire process happened much after Mr Piyush Goyal resigned, it has no bearing on him. Secondly, The Wire words their article to project this entire process as some sort of grand conspiracy when documents suggest everything was done in accordance with the law of the land and even external auditors concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the company.

In fact, the article linked by The Wire itself makes the picture entirely clear. But propaganda must rule over facts, and hence, the pesky details were either left out or spun in a manner to insinuate wrongdoing, that too, much after Piyush Goyal resigned.

The Wire again states incomplete facts to insinuate a connection :

In 2010, when Shirdi Industries had filed for an IPO with the market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), it had listed Piyush Goyal as its chairman and non executive director.

While Piyush Goyal may have reflected as a non-executive director when the company filed for IPO, The Wire fails to mention that firstly, he resigned soon after, and secondly, even as per the very article they have linked, the IPO was delayed by for over 27 months which is how the company incurred debts.

‘The Wire’ tries to insinuate conflict of interest between Piyush Goyal being the Director in SBI and him being involved with Shirdi Industries. What they fail to tell its readers are the dates. The important, pesky little dates.

As per this Annual Report, it is clearly mentioned that Piyush Goyal ceased to be the member of the board of SBI and in his place, Dr (Mrs) Vasantha Bharucha became a part of the SBI board with effect from 25th February 2008.

Now, according to documents accessed, Piyush Goyal gave letter accepting the directorship of Shirdi Industries on 15th April 2008.

If Piyush Goyal retired as a member of the Board of SBI in February and became the Director of Shirdi Industries in April, how The Wire can insinuate conflict of interest is incomprehensible.

The Wire says :

That’s not all. According to filings made with regulators, Intercon Advisors Private Limited – a company wholly owned by Piyush Goyal’s wife, Seema, and son, Dhruv Goyal – lists an outstanding unsecured short-term borrowing of Rs 1.59 crore from Asis Industries in FY 2016 – an “inter corporate deposit repayable on demand” at 12% interest.

Agarwal denied there was anything untoward in his company – whose subsidiary was defaulting on money owed to government banks – making an unsecured loan to a company owned by a minister’s wife and son.

A Piyush Goyal resigned from the post of Executive / Whole-time Director on 30th September 2009 and served as Non-Executive Chairman till 26th July 2010. In 2012-13, a good two years after he left the company, Asis Industries Limited (a group company of Shirdi Industries) extended inter-company deposits (ICDs) of around Rs 3 crores, to his company Intercon Advisors Private Limited (IAPL). The terms were commercial – 12% interest rate per annum – hardly very exciting terms. It is strange why the writers at The Wire are getting all hot and bothered about this.

IAPL repaid Rs 2 crores on 12 December 2013 and the loan was serviced as per law. In addition, it has been regularly recognizing interest cost on these ICDs every year and is also following Tax Deducted at Source norms. The current outstanding is Rs 1.8 crores

The Wire again insinuates impropriety on the part of Piyush Goyal on the basis of his being the member of SBI Board.

In 2010, Goyal was made the treasurer of the BJP and nominated to the Rajya Sabha. He was nominated to the parliamentary committee of finance the same year. This is the committee that oversees the performance of financial institutions, including banks.

This is again half-truths to make stuff look shady. Shirdi Industries availed credit facilities of Rs 245.11 crores from a consortium of lenders including Rs 35 crores from SBI in 2010. Piyush Goyal was not a director in any bank at that point in time. So clearly he could not have taken a decision to lend Shirdi Industries such a sum of money.

The article then goes on to talk about some unrelated recent developments, to which, the only response can be derision because once Piyush Goyal resigned in 2010, he has absolutely nothing to do with anything that goes on with the company.

This article holds no water and is a half-baked and shoddy attempt at maligning Piyush Goyal perhaps because he has been doing a stellar job, first with electrification and then with the railways. The Wire either needs to hire better journalists, or a better Editor who can vet stories and differentiate between fact, fiction and bold face lies.

(This article has been co-authored by Nupur J Sharma)

Smriti Irani cracks down on fake news peddlers, senior journalists have a very public meltdown

Nirwa Mehta
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Smriti Irani cracks down on fake news peddlers, senior journalists have a very public meltdown

In what one would believe is a welcome step, the journalism fraternity has done the complete opposite as soon as new guidelines were announced to crack a whip on fake news. The journalists who are always riding the high horse with regards to fake news and were celebrating the arrest of Mahesh Hegde for the same, are suddenly outraging when the government is finally taking steps to ensure fake news are curbed. According to the circular, if a journalist is found peddling fake news, he or she may lose accreditation from 6 months to permanently.

In July 2017, Abusive troll masquerading as a journalist wrote about how fake news is messing with our minds.


In June 2017, She also believed spreading fake news is not equal to freedom of expression.


In 2018, the moment guidelines are announced which can possibly tackle fake news at least spread by accredited journalists, Chaturvedi loses her cool and calls it an anti-democracy and an anti free press move.


Could it have something to do with the fact that she herself was caught spreading fake news about BJP-RSS ‘tussle’?

Moving on, under normal circumstances, self proclaimed Nehru fangirl Sagarika Ghose believes fake news is one of the political manipulation techniques. This revelation is from 11th March 2018. Not so long ago.


However, less than a month after she tweeted about it, she calls the steps taken to curb fake news as ‘serious assault on the press’.


And then indulge in whataboutery because one wrong makes the other right.


Could this be because she herself has at one point tweeted an unverified (read: fake) news regarding ‘mob hunting and killing of Muslims across India’ which she had to delete after being warned of police action?

But Ghose’s fears of using Twitter as a tool of manipulations by politicians and some journalists with vested interest are not unfounded. Example, journalist Rohini Singh, who has also turned into part-time bully on Twitter, and seems to have wiped off her digital footprints before joining the leftist propaganda website The Wire, which regularly spreads half-truths and whole lies, tried to use Twitter to show how the BJP is losing in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections last year.

So much was the backlash after BJP’s landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh that Rohini deactivated her account only to emerge almost a year later with her digital footprints of her glorious fangirling deleted. Her argument against crackdown on fake news is that ‘citizens have the right to know’.


And we’ve all seen what Rohini has to say to the citizens.

Amidst all this, Shekhar Gupta, whose digital publication The Print, has been referred to as ‘sick journalism‘ and accused of indulging in spinning sensational stories, has referred to the new guidelines as ‘breathtaking assault on mainstream media’.


Let me remind Gupta of the one night in January when Raisina Hills was so spooked because two units of the Indian Army had ‘moved’ towards Delhi without notifying the government, casting aspersions that India was having its own military coup, earning Gupta the monicker of ‘Coupta‘. Why should this assault on our collective intelligence be gone unpunished?

Another journalist to take a high moral ground was Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV, who was accused by Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu of having an agenda of ‘sensationalism‘. He was joined in his concerns by London-based ‘journalist’ Salil Tripathi.


Not so long ago, NDTV had pulled down an article written by Jain and he tried to take a moral high ground instead of accepting that his article could be erroneous or defamatory. Tripathi has very recently shared a picture of girl claiming to be the NCC Cadet and also associated with ABVP, student with of the RSS, claiming to be the same who had asked Congress President Rahul Gandhi an uncomfortable question. The profile later turned out to be fake.

Moving on. Pallavi Ghose, journalist whose sycophancy towards The Family is pretty evident, has in the past shown her disdain toward ‘fake news’ about Congress President Rahul Gandhi.


However, in her defence, she did talk about nuances between ‘wrong news’ and ‘fake news’, especially after the channel she works for had published fake news about terrorist Hafiz Saeed’s ‘arrest’.


Perhaps the fact that she herself has spread fake news about ‘gang rape’ over eating beef in UP is the reason she is maintaining stoic silence.

In fact, even Rana Ayyub, the veteran fake news peddler jumped into the fray and criticised the regulations.


Rana is the same journalist who spread sensational lies about the West Bengal nun rape. She deliberately told a lie with the insidious intent of promoting enmity between communities and fomenting communal violence. She violated every conceivable law. So have media houses which still host her creed. She is a pathological and congenital liar whose entire perverse intention is to sow disharmony. She has an evil mind that works overtime to invent new lies, to manufacture fake news, to market her tripe among unsuspecting people, to poison impressionable minds, to plant hate, and to smear individuals and institutions with her grubby dirty hands. Is that why she was upset with the regulations?

Politicians, too, weren’t behind in getting into panic mode. Congress leader Ahmed Patel too voiced his concerns about misuse of the law.


Section 66A of the IT Amendment Act, brought in by Congress’ former union minister Kapil Sibal which could land you in jail for an ‘offensive‘ tweet, says hello.

As per the new guidelines issued, on receiving information of fake news, the information will be forwarded to Press Council of India (PCI) if it pertains to print media, and News Broadcasters Association (NBA) if it pertains to electronic media. The circular says that the complaint needs to be resolved within 15 days by these regulating agencies. Once the complaint has been registered with the concerned agency, the accreditation of the concerned journalist will be suspended till the resolution of the complaint. PIB, which consists of representatives of PCI and NBA will be reached out for any accreditation requests by journalists.

If the complaint of such fake news is found to be true, in the first instance, the accreditation of the said journalist would be cancelled for 6 months. On the second instance, the cancellation period would increase to 1 year, and on the 3rd strike, the journalist who spread or propagated the fake news would lose their accreditation permanently.

While examining the request for accreditation, the agencies would examine if the journalist adheres to the “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” and “Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards” prescribed by PCI and NBA are adhered to by the journalist as a part of functioning.

PCI and NBA are independent bodies, not governed by the government of India, yet the champions of fake news busters prior to the announcement are crying government interference.

The NBA has illustrious members from the journalist fraternity heading the agency. President of NBA is the veteran, Rajat Sharma. In fact, even Sonia Singh of NDTV is a member of the board. One wonders why these “journalists” have an issue with their own peers deciding if an accredited member has spread fake news or not? And when the agency consists of their peers, how is the government going to interfere with the process?

In fact, the Journalists Code and Ethics were formulated in 2008 by the UPA government. Perhaps their concern is not the rulebook but the enforcement of the rule book which has been lacklustre so far?

Not so shockingly, ‘journalists’ have also changed their stand on independence of NBA after last night’s announcement.

Left: Sagarika on NBA under UPA. Right: Sagarika on NBA under NDA.

So don’t they trust one of their own or is it their guilty conscience talking?

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed that the press release regarding fake news be withdrawn and the matter should only be addressed in Press Council of India.


Hopefully, the PCI will address the matter and broaden the spectrum to include even those who are not accredited and does not have to wait for a complaint to be filed to take the action.

Direct Tax collections exceed budget target, 26% more returns filed than previous financial year

OpIndia Staff
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Direct Tax collections exceed budget target, 26% more returns filed than previous financial year

The direct taxes collections for the financial year 2017-18 has exceeded the set target of Rs 9.8 lakh crores. Finance secretary Hansmukh Adhia has stated that the total direct taxes collected by the end of March in as the financial year 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 9.95 lakh crores. As per reports, Adhia has added that the GST revenue collections for the month of March stand at Rs 90,000 crores.


According to the official statement released by the Ministry of Finance, gross tax collections (before adjustment for refunds) has increased by 13% to 11.44 lakh crores, and refunds amounting to Rs 1.49 lakh crores have been issued for the financial year 2017-18.

By the end of December 2017, the net direct tax collections had reached up to 67% of the total budget estimates. The net direct tax collected till then was Rs 6.56 lakh crores. So achieving and exceeding the set budget target was expected.

The number of income tax returns filed in the 2017-18 financial year has also surpassed all previous records with numbers at 6.84 crores. The chairman of CBDT Sushil Chandra has stated that this is a 26% increase in the number of returns filed than the previous financial year. 5.43 crore returns were filed in the financial year 2016-17.

The CBDT chairman further added that a total of 99.5 lakh new assessees were added to the tax net. He further added that the collection of corporate tax has increased by 17.1% while the collection of personal income tax has increased by 18.9% as compared to the previous financial year.

The Ministry of Finance official statement attributes the significant increase in the number total returns filed and new returns filed to the sustained efforts by the Income Tax department by following up with potential non-filers through emails, SMS, statutory notices and outreach programmes as well as making structural changes in the existing norms and government’s emphasis on widening the tax net.

Delhi’s Mother Khazani Convent School reported to be epicentre of CBSE class 12 economics paper leak

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi’s Mother Khazani Convent School reported to be epicentre of CBSE class 12 economics paper leak

CBSE’s class 12 Economics paper leak has been traced to Mother Khazani Convent School in Bawana region of North West Delhi. Reports have claimed that two teachers of the school named Rohit and Rishabh supposedly opened the Economics paper, about an hour before the examination and forwarded its snapshot to a local tutor named Tauqeer.

It is being reported that the Tauqeer who runs a coaching centre, solved the questions and sent back the answers. Reports have claimed that the two school teachers received about Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 from every student who received the paper, of which 50% was given to Tauqeer.

As a result of the breakthrough, Delhi police crime branch’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested the trio. The police managed to zero in at Mother Khazani school, based on the location code present at the corner of the question paper.

The said accused supposedly planned this act about two weeks before the exam dates. Following their arrest, they have been sent to a two-day police custody by Delhi’s Karkardooma Court.

Reports have now even claimed that the said teachers might have also similarly leaked the Physics and Chemistry question papers, exams of which were held prior to the Economics paper. In order to investigate that claim, the mobile phones of the three accused have been sent for forensic analysis. As per Alok Kumar – Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Rishabh is a Physics teacher and Rohit teaches Chemistry. He also claimed that there might be more arrests in the future.

During its probe so far, the police have questioned about 53 students and nine teachers. The CBSE during this time has suspended a board official KS Rana, owing to him being lax in supervising the exam centre responsible for the leak. Reports though have denied there is any link between the suspended CBSE official and the accused.

Smriti Irani finally cracks the whip on fake news with these new guidelines for accreditation of journalists

OpIndia Staff
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Smriti Irani finally cracks the whip on fake news with these new guidelines for accreditation of journalists

Fake news has become one of the greatest societal menaces. There are ‘five-star journalists’ who have started thinking that they can lie with impunity perhaps to further their political agenda that they cover so carefully behind the veil of neutrality. And then, when they are called out for their malicious lies, they cry “troll”, “vendetta” or plain “hate”. The cacophony demanding action against such malicious lies has grown louder over the years. In fact, the government itself faced severe criticism for treating the media with kid gloves.

Finally, the government and specifically the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has come out with circular that might potentially put an end to the fake news menace once and for all.

The Government now seems to have amended the Guidelines for Accreditation of Journalists. Now, on receiving information of fake news, the information will be forwarded to Press Council of India (PCI) if it pertains to print media, and News Broadcasters Association if it pertains to electronic media.

The circular says that the complaint needs to be resolved within 15 days by these regulating agencies. Once the complaint has been registered with the concerned agency, the accreditation of the concerned journalist will be suspended till the resolution of the complaint. PIB, which consists of representatives of PCI and NBA will be reached out for any accreditation requests by journalists.

If the complaint of such fake news is found to be true, in the first instance, the accreditation of the said journalist would be cancelled for 6 months. On the second instance, the cancellation period would increase to 1 year, and on the 3rd strike, the journalist who spread or propagated the fake news would lose their accreditation permanently.

While examining the request for accreditation, the agencies would examine if the journalist adheres to the “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” and “Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards” prescribed by PCI and NBA are adhered to by the journalist as a part of functioning.

The circular ends with an interesting “it would be obligatory for journalists to abide by these guidelines”. Which is to say, these rules and regulations that now seem to be enforceable won’t be optional for journalists if they wish to retain their accreditation.

With these stringent rules in place, the volume of fake news might certainly come down.

Outraged Muslims want Mid-Day newspaper office put on fire for anti-triple-talaq cartoon

OpIndia Staff
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Outraged Muslims want Mid-Day newspaper office put on fire for anti-triple-talaq cartoon

Mid-Day newspaper is under fire for publishing a cartoon that suggested that it were mostly the conservative Muslim men who wanted to retain the shariat law, especially the aspects related to triple talaq.

The cartoon was carried in the newspaper published from Mumbai on page 2 today, and was drawn by noted cartoonist Manjul. Following is the now ‘controversial’ cartoon:

Manjul's cartoon on triple talaq
The cartoon that upset some Muslims

In the past few weeks, there have been many rallies and demonstrations in different parts of the country by burqa clad women, who have opposed the proposed anti-triple-talaq bill, which seeks to criminalize the practice. These rallies have been primarily organized by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which has been arguing in favour of the practice of triple talaq even before the Supreme Court declared it invalid.

Although the practice has been termed invalid by the apex court, media reports suggest that it has not stopped, due to which it is being argued that a law that criminalizes the practice is needed. However, Muslim groups and so-called liberals are opposing such a proposed law.

All such opposition has led to a belief that the proposed law is ‘unfair to Muslims’. And now some outraged Muslims have decided to vent their anger over the proposed law on the newspaper that published the above cartoon.

A Facebook page earlier today called Muslims to unite and protest against the Mid-Day newspaper. The page declared that the cartoon hurt the sentiments of Muslims, and termed it ‘cheap publicity’ by the newspaper. The post by the Facebook page further claimed that many organizations were planning to file an FIR against the newspaper.

The post attracted many angry comments from Muslim users who demanded strict action against Mid-Day. While some restricted to boycott of the newspaper and its allied publications, others were not happy with mere boycott. One user declared that Mid-Day ‘news channel’ was slave of Jews, while some demanded that the office of the newspaper should be put on fire:

Islamic trolls target newspaper
Mid-Day is apparently run by Jews (yahudi) according to one comment by angry Facebook users
cartoon on triple talaq angers Muslims
Abuses and violent threats towards Mid-Day by outraged Muslims

The outrage was going on in full swing by the time this report was published.

Earlier a Marathi newspaper’s offices were attacked by angry Muslims as a cartoon on ISIS was deemed blasphemous by outraged Muslims.

BSP leader arrested for violence during Dalit protests in UP, police says he was the main conspirator

OpIndia Staff
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BSP leader arrested for violence during Dalit protests in UP, police says he was the main conspirator

The widespread violence that has erupted after several Dalit organisations called for a Bharat bandh today on April 2nd has been turning uglier by the hour. There have been reports of rampant damage to properties and vandalism from many states of the country.

In Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, more than 200 violent protestors have been detained by the police. The violent mob reportedly attacked the district collectorate and vandalised the office buildings. Police had to initiate lathi charge to curb the violence.


According to reports, BSP former MLA Yogesh Verma has been arrested by the police. Meerut SSP Manzil Saini stated that he was the main conspirator behind the violence and he has been arrested.


The SSP also added that no serious injuries have been reported and the police will proceed to put criminal charges on the people arrested.

The Bharat Bandh was called by Dalit organisations to protest against the Supreme Court order which proposed corrections to the existing SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court which was examining the need of safeguards in the existing laws to prevent its misuse had earlier issued directions to prevent automatic arrests without preliminary investigations and the chance to get anticipatory bail in cases where there is lack of prima facie evidence.

The central government has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court regarding the said order. Home Minister Rajnath Singh today appealed to all political parties to maintain peace and not incite violence.

So far, the violence has claimed 4 lives in Madhya Pradesh and several people and police personnel have been injured. The CBSE board examinations have been postponed in the state of Punjab and several trains have been cancelled.

As per latest reports, the Supreme Court of India has declined any urgent hearing on the review petition filed by the government against the order.

Mass violence reported during Bharat Bandh against Supreme Court ruling preventing misuse of SC/ST act

OpIndia Staff
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Mass violence reported during Bharat Bandh against Supreme Court ruling preventing misuse of SC/ST act

Dalit organisations called a nationwide Bharat Bandh on Monday in order to protest against the Supreme Court order, which had sought to prevent the misuse of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The two-judge bench which was examining whether safeguards could be put in place so that the said act isn’t misused issued the directions which included, there won’t be an absolute bar on getting anticipatory bail if there is no prima facie case. The court also banned automatic arrests and registration of criminal cases under this act.

Following this, the Modi government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against this ruling which contends that the order will weaken the provision of this act, which could result in more violence against Dalits.

Despite the Modi government working towards trying to get the stringent procedures restored, a call for Bharat Bandh was issued, which since then has spiralled into incidents of mass violence, resulting in the deaths of at least four people.

The protests have been recorded pan India with regions in Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Jharkhand and Punjab. In Punjab’s Amritsar, Bathinda scores of protesters carrying weapons forced businesses to shut down and in Firozpur, protesters have been openly brandishing swords.

In Rajasthan’s Barmer cars, the property was damaged and a clothes showroom was vandalised in Jaipur. Several people were injured in a police-protester clash in Ranchi. One person is said to have died in Rajasthan’s Alwar due to police firing.

Madhya Pradesh has been especially hard hit in the protest with a mob in Gwalior getting recording firing shots:


As per Makrand Deuskar – IG Law and Order, four people have died in the said violence at Gwalior and Morena. In Gwalior apart from the deaths, 19 people have been injured out of which two are said to be in critical condition. In the state’s Bhind region mobs have been seen pelting stones. In order to prevent further trouble in Gwalior, curfew has been imposed in parts of the region and the district has seen internet services getting postponed till 6:00 AM tomorrow.

Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh has seen a bus getting set ablaze, vandalism has reported from Meerut and reports have claimed that various districts of Western Uttar Pradesh too have been marred by violence.

Owing to the violence, the police have detained about 30 people in Rajasthan and 60 Dalit and Tribal students have been detained in Ranchi. This “Bharat Bandh has also adversely affected 10th and 12th standard CBSE students in Punjab, following the postponement of their exams.

Arun Jaitley accepts Arvind Kejriwal’s apology but ensures he doesn’t go completely scot-free

OpIndia Staff
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Arun Jaitley accepts Arvind Kejriwal’s apology but ensures he doesn’t go completely scot-free

Even as the world celebrated Easter and savoured delicacies on Sunday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal had to eat his own words. Kejriwal, along with other leaders like AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, leader Ashutosh and AAP National Executive Member Raghav Chadha who once found defamation suit slapped by Jaitley ‘interesting‘ have now written an apology to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley since they now have come to the conclusion that the allegations were unfounded and unwarranted.

Kejriwal even added that the part where his former counsel Ram Jethmalani, who was supposed to get Kejriwal out of trouble, invited a second defamation case against Kejriwal by referring to Jaitley as a ‘crook’, did not have Kejriwal’s approval. He said he does not approve of the ‘disparaging and malicious statements made by Jethmalani’.

Thankfully, no one mistook it for April Fool’s Day prank, considering the letters were dated 1st April. Finance Minister Jaitley, has accepted the apology but a joint application is filed for decree based on the apology by Kejriwal and gang.


In this case, unlike others, Arun Jaitley basically accepted his apology, but, instead of withdrawing the case, wants the court to pass an order based on Kejriwal’s apology and acceptance of guilt. 

BJP leader Arun Jaitley in December 2015 had filed a defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal and 5 others for what he claimed were false allegations regarding his alleged role in certain irregularities in the DDCA (Delhi & District Cricket Association). Jaitley sought compensation of 10 crore rupees due to damages caused by alleged defamatory statements by Kejriwal. After the case was filed, Kejriwal sought the legal help of eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani to untangle himself from the mess. But for Kejriwal, hiring Jethmalani resulted in him getting into a further mess. During a hearing in May 2017, Ram Jethmalani went into an overdrive and called Arun Jaitley a “crook”, to which Jaitley lodged a strong objection. When Jethmalani was asked whether he was authorised by Kejriwal to use the term, Jethmalani answered in affirmative. Following which, Jaitley filed another defamation case against Kejriwal.

In a twist in the tale, in July last year, Jethmalani called Kejriwal a ‘liar’ and quit as his counsel. Jethmalani had also asked Kejriwal to settle his pending legal fees, which amounted over Rs 2 crore as per media estimates. In February last year, the Delhi government, on behalf of the Chief Minister and the five other AAP leaders, had cleared a bill of Rs 3.5 crore to Jethmalani by burdening the exchequer.

Recently, Kejriwal has been on an apologising spree with him seeking forgiveness for his remarks on union minister Nitin Gadkari, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia and former union minister Kapil Sibal which led to defamation cases against him.

Cambridge Analytica was to help Congress ‘when it faces its first existential challenge at the 2019 Lok Sabha’?

OpIndia Staff
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Cambridge Analytica was to help Congress ‘when it faces its first existential challenge at the 2019 Lok Sabha’?

According to the Open Magazine, a new document has surfaced which suggests that the Indian National Congress might have been in discussions with the disgraced Cambridge Analytica to organize its campaign in the upcoming Assembly election polls in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, apart from the 2019 General Election itself. Open Magazine claims that it is in possession of a detailed proposal by the firm that outlines its plan to turn around the fortunes of the party that appears to be in decline.

The papers state that the firm’s help will be critical ‘when the INC faces its first existential challenge at the 2019 Lok Sabha and competes with the incumbent BJP’. The firm plans to use ‘a combination of data analytics, behavioural science and targeted communications’ to help the Congress party. Whistle-blower Chris Wylie in a disposition to the UK House of Commons also claimed that the Congress party was one of the clients of the firm. He said in response to an MP’s question,  I believe their [Cambridge Analytica’s] client was Congress. I know that they have done all kinds of projects both regional… I don’t remember a national project, but regional… I mean India is big. One state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there and they do have staff there. I believe I have some documentation in India which I can also provide.

Cambridge Analytica and its parent’s firms are reported to have been involved in over 200 elections in multiple countries across the world. Recently, Quartz reported that Cambridge Analytica and its parent firm significantly influenced South Asian politics. The SCL group claims that it came to Indonesia at the behest of “pro-democratic groups” to “assist with a national campaign of political reform and democratization.” During the assignment, the firm organized massive rallies at universities to help students “let off steam”. It sponsored “organized avenues of protests” to draw students away from violent protests. The SCL documents state, “Large rallies were organised at each university. This was achieved by establishing a rally committee and financing activities and coverage across the country.” They add, “The events were so large that there was a general feeling amongst students that their voice really had been heard.” In Thailand, its mandate was supposed to ascertain the pattern of vote-buying behaviour in constituencies and identify how open a particular constituency was to accept a change in their behaviour.

It has been reported that Cambridge Analytica was interfering in elections in Nigeria and Kenya as well. But the verdict appears to be that they were not very successful with their strategy. However, the failure in one particular scene should not be translated to mean that they weren’t able to elections elsewhere. The firm supposedly managed the successful election campaign of President Donald Trump which saw him score the most improbable election victory of the century thus far.

The Congress has been in troubled waters since the scandal broke out. After alleging the BJP of a data leak, the official apps of the Indian National Congress and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah disappeared from the Play Store. It became apparent that a section of the media is trying to protect the Congress party but with the emergence of an image that showed the Congress party symbol adorning Cambridge Analytica’s office and now the document assessed by Open Magazine, Congress’ involvement with the disgraced firm is becoming harder to deny every day.

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