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Kejriwal’s apology is not funny, because the joke is on us

Abhishek Banerjee
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Kejriwal’s apology is not funny, because the joke is on us

The other day social media erupted with jokes as Arvind Kejriwal’s written apology to ex-Punjab Minister Bikram Majithia went public.

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Now there is nothing wrong with a little bit of fun. The question is : was the joke really on us?

Let’s take a look at the course of events. Arvind Kejriwal, backed up by an entire media choir, went around spread the “information” that Punjab is crying for help under a drug menace. The youth of Punjab had been left hopeless and unemployed, coping with the despair in their daily lives by taking drugs.

And who was to blame for the supposed doom and gloom in Punjab? The Akali-BJP government of course, which was then in its second consecutive term in the state. They had been elected for a second term in 2012, breaking the long running cycle of incumbency in state.

Not only was the Akali-BJP government responsible, it was also directly culpable in the drug menace, with Bikram Majithia, a relative of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, supposedly being a “drug dealer.”

Now, we know we all responded to these allegations roughly according to our political inclinations. The Congress supporters probably swallowed them without asking any questions. The right-wing was more circumspect, although it probably insisted that supporting Akalis was a small price to pay to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Modi. The wider public was probably somewhere in between.

But the thing is : we all believed Kejriwal’s allegations at some level. After all, we know that the world of politics is dark and murky.

Mass media was only too happy to fuel the illusion. Movies were made to cultivate, sustain and deepen the impression that Punjab is suffering a drug menace and that the ruling Akalis are feeding it.

In course of time, the election in Punjab came along. Again, the media fed us fantastic stories of how Akalis had been wiped out of the contest, fanciful stories of humongous, delirious crowds at AAP rallies. The impression that was given out was that of an election being fought between Congress and AAP, with Akalis reduced to non-players, even vote cutters.

The key aims had all been achieved :

(1) Huge negative perception created in the public and even right wingers about the Akali-BJP government in Punjab.

(2) Complete demoralization of Akali-BJP workers on the ground, who thought they were fighting for second place, rather than trying to win.

(3) This attitude filtering into the electorate, who began to wonder if voting for Akali-BJP would be wasted votes.

On March 11, 2017 when the results came out, I remember a liberal TV anchor asking if BJP workers were also “celebrating” the results in Punjab. Why? Because AAP didn’t win.

There was probably a decent amount of truth in what the anchor said, especially if you go by the sentiment on social media. A number of right-wingers expressed relief that Congress had won Punjab instead of AAP!

What a situation to be in for supporters of BJP! The duo of Modi-Shah has created in their supporters such a ruthless, such a relentless hunger for victory that they don’t give up even on Nagaland. At the same time as the BJP is winning a historic victory in Tripura, BJP supporters anxiously watch the scoreboard in Nagaland. Once it is clear that Nagaland is in the bag, they do not rest easy until it becomes known that BJP will also be part of the government in Meghalaya.

This is the new culture of BJP, where winning becomes the new baseline expectation. In such a backdrop, the fraud of Punjab was pulled off superbly, like a well-oiled scam, reducing BJP supporters to celebrating a Congress victory.

In hindsight (which is forever 20-20) we can now see just how well the ecosystem pulled off the Punjab scam on all of us. A myth of “drug menace” was manufactured in Punjab along with a vicious rumor about a prominent Akali minister being a drug dealer.

The punches were being thrown at the Akali-BJP government not from the discredited Congress Party, but from AAP which was set up to be a decoy. The BJP supporters were then baited into attacking this decoy, which was suddenly the main enemy.

The media screamed from the rooftops that the decoy was winning the battle.

Even to BJP supporters, suddenly the bad old Congress party didn’t seem so bad at all. Because of the decoy. But this decoy was never in the fight and never intended to be.

Worse, there was fear that this decoy was conspiring with Khalistanis. Some of the urban Hindu vote in Punjab was terrified into polarizing in favor of Congress. But the decoy wasn’t even fighting. It was just placed in the electoral battlefield, playing with hidden fears of Akali-BJP supporters, causing their minds to play tricks on them.

Then, the election happened. Like a Nigerian email scamster, Kejriwal dismantled the decoy, wrapped it up and disappeared. Since that day, no one has heard a squeak, not from Kejriwal, not from a journalist nor an intellectual about the drug menace in Punjab.

This is exactly what happens after you send some money to help the “prince” in Nigeria who was in danger of getting murdered by the generals who had betrayed his father the king. You never hear from them again. There was no king, there were no generals, there was no prince in exile and there was no treasure chest. Just like there was no minister in Punjab running a drug cartel.

But, a true conman is someone who sees himself as an artist and takes pride in his work. This is why Kejriwal has resurfaced almost exactly a year after the results in Punjab with a letter. He is not apologizing to Majithia, he is rubbing it into our faces. He is reminding us of how we all fell for his trick. We can laugh about it, but the joke is ultimately on us.

Congress plenary session sees a race to praise Nehru Gandhi dynasty, and a slip of tongue

OpIndia Staff
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Congress plenary session sees a race to praise Nehru Gandhi dynasty, and a slip of tongue

Praising Rahul Gandhi was one of the top priorities at the ongoing Congress plenary session at Delhi. In his inaugural address, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Congress party symbol was holding India together. Earlier he had said that it meant ‘daro mat‘.

Congress symbol explained

The party plans to hold panel discussions, pass resolutions and decide its strategy for the 2019 general elections. As per reports, the party’s political resolution wants EVMs to be scrapped and paper ballots to be used in future elections.

But it started with all round wholesome praise for leaders born in the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Mallikarjuna Kharge, the leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha remembered that his party under Nehru had helped India to  set up irrigation projects and large scale industries.

Nehru helped India !

One of the few Congress CMs left, Siddaramaiah declared that no one could stop Rahul Gandhi from becoming PM of India.


Sachin Pilot claimed that Congress was winning bypolls under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, even though the party lost its deposits in the recently concluded bypolls of Phulpur and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.


Sushmita Dev in her address claimed that Rahul Gandhi would pass the women’s reservation bill when he becomes the PM and accused the BJP of misleading the country on triple talaq bill.

Amarinder Singh Raja Brar remembered the ‘martyrdom’ of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He also added that the Congress would win 2019 and Rahul Gandhi would be the prime minister. Brar is among the sexist trolls who had targeted BJP leader Smriti Irani, but currently a leader in Congress.

The plenary is likely to continue to be a competitive exercise in praising their future prime minister. It appears that this session is solely meant for announcing that Rahul Gandhi will be the prime ministerial candidate for 2019 elections.

Among all the high praise, Sonia Gandhi mispronounced the word ‘palatkar’ as ‘balatkar’ in her speech. The video clip has gone viral on Twitter

West Bengal teenager dies after AC mechanic posing as doctor fails to provide critical care

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal teenager dies after AC mechanic posing as doctor fails to provide critical care

16-year-old Arijit Das of Birbhum, West Bengal has died after a fake doctor in a private ambulance failed to provide him treatment. The incident happened on Thursday night.

According to reports, Arijit Das, who was appearing for Class 10th board exams was suffering from a prolonged fever and complained of chest pains. He was admitted to a nursing home in Burdwan from where he was being taken to another hospital in Kolkata. The boy’s family had requested for the ambulance and a doctor to take him to Kolkata for treatment.

However, upon reaching Kolkata, the doctors found Arijit Das dead. Upon inquiry, they discovered that the ‘doctor’ who accompanied Arijit in the ambulance was an air conditioning mechanic named Sheikh Sarfarajuddin. Sarfarajuddin was posing as a doctor. He also wore a white apron and acted as a doctor.

Arijit was a resident of Nausipur in Nalihati area. He had appeared for three subjects in the ongoing board exams and was admitted to hospital after he had a severe fever and complained of back and chest pains. His family took him to Rampurhat subdivisional hospital from which he was taken to the Annapurna  Nursing Home in Burdwan.

When the boy’s conditioned continued to deteriorate, the family requested the Nursing Home Authorities for an ambulance to take him to the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS). The boy’s family has stated that they had agreed to pay Rs 8000 for the ambulance and another Rs 8000 for the doctor, but they were not allowed to accompany their boy in the ambulance and they were asked to hire another vehicle to reach Kolkata.

The family has suspected something amiss when they saw the driver, 26-year-old Tara Babu Sha fixing the oxygen cylinder instead of the doctor. The family has alleged that Arijit could have survived had the fake doctor known how to operate the life support system inside the ICCU ambulance.

When the doctors at Kolkata declared Arijit as ‘brought dead’, Sheikh Sarfarajuddin allegedly tried to escape amidst the confusion but he was nabbed by the family and after interrogation initially stated that he was a medical technician. But later at the police station, he admitted that he was just an AC mechanic.

An FIR has been registered in the case and both the AC mechanic and the driver have been arrested by the Purba Jadavpur police. The Annapurna Nursing home officials have claimed that the ambulance and its staff are not associated with them but the district health officials have assured that the Nursing Home will also be probed in this matter.

Bali in Indonesia is celebrating Hindu New Year, observed as the Day of Silence

Sanghamitra
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Bali in Indonesia is celebrating Hindu New Year, observed as the Day of Silence

The Indonesian island of Bali is celebrating the Nyepi or the New Year from 6 AM on Saturday to 6 AM on Sunday. Its a unique event in Indonesia’s diverse culture and also known as the Day of Silence.

Nyepi is observed marking the turn of Saka calendar. Bali is predominantly Hindu and the Nyepi is observed with much reverence and often advised as a ‘must have’ experience for tourists. The turn of the Saka calendar is called Isakawarsa and the day following Nyepi is observed as new years day. It is on the same day as Ugadi is SouthIndia. This is the beginning of Saka year 1940.

Nyepi is preceded by several rituals. The first among them is the Melasti, which is performed in beach temples. The next is called Bhuta Yajna which is done to vanquish the negative elements. villages in Bali celebrate make ‘ogoh–ogoh’, demonic statues made of richly painted bamboo, tinsel, clothes and styrofoam.

Melasti, the purification ritual. Picture courtesy: Lighthouse Bali


The Nyepi rituals that are being observed today are rituals of silence. The Balinese Hindus follow the following rules Catur Brata Penyepian, roughly the ‘Four Nyepi Prohibitions’. They are as follows:

  • Amati Geni – which mean no fire or light (including electricity)
  • Amati Karya – no working
  • Amati Lelunganan- no travelling
  • Amati Lelanguan- fasting and no revelling

Nyepi is a public holiday where the Bali even shuts down its airport and transport. The streets are deserted and even the internet services are shut down. Though the region operates emergency services like security, hospitals and disaster management. No motor vehicles are allowed on the streets and people remain indoors.

deserted streets except for security personnel

The Island of Bali, which is usually a bustling tourist hub, maintains absolute silence on the day of Nyepi. Bali has deep cultural and traditional links to India and the rituals surrounding Nyepi also have many similarities in Indian culture. Nyepi is the holiest day for Balinese Hindus and they follow the rituals with deep reverence. They obseeve the day as a day of cleansing the hearts and minds and seek forgiveness from god.

Here are some more images from the occasion:

image courtesy bali-indonesia.com
image courtesy: bali-indonesia.com

The Saka calendar is also the Indian National calendar and is used alongside the Vikram Samvat calendar widely in India. Chaitra is the first month according to the calendar. Java and Bali both use this calendar too and the Nepal Samvat calendar is also evolved from the Saka calendar.

It was futile of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to have a conversation with bigoted haters at The Wire

Nithesh S
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It was futile of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to have a conversation with bigoted haters at The Wire

The Ayodhya Ram janmabhoomi dispute is one of the oldest contentious issues in India. Art of Living founder, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is attempting to resolve this issue through mediation as per Supreme Court’s past directions. While it is true that past attempts have failed and the trial is ongoing in the apex court, there is nothing wrong in trying to resolve it amicably out of court.

In the course of this exercise, he had made some comments in the media that created controversy. He later clarified that his comments on ‘Syria like situation’ in the aftermath of a court verdict were a caution and not a threat. Perhaps he chose the wrong word or example when he cited Syria, but it was not meant with any violent intentions.

The spiritual guru tried to engage with The Wire to convey his thoughts on his mediation efforts through an interview. The kind of treatment meted out to him by the journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani — earlier an employee with the Rajya Sabha TV when Hamid Ansari was the Vice President of India — in the interview is not only sad, but also disgusting.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tried to carry the message of peace and reconciliation through his interview and tried to clarify his controversial comments on Syria. In return, he was demonised and projected as a person who believes in Hindu domination rather than constitution/rule of law.

Sherwani instead of building bridges between Hindus and Muslims, brought in Veer Savarkar into the debate. It is widely known that Savarkar has been demonised through persistent propaganda by the secular ecosystem for decades. Though Sri Sri has repeatedly clarified that his mission is apolitical and in sync with Supreme court’s direction to resolve the issue out of court, she asked him if he was connected with RSS and BJP.

Though Sri Sri could have answered ‘no’ and carried on with the interview he preferred to stop interacting with a person who displayed visceral hatred and aggression to his ideas. Perhaps he detected that the intention of the journalist was to malign him by twisting his words during the course of his interview.

Now, this matter could have been presented as such, but The Wire went on to allege that Sri Sri’s followers shut the cameras by force.

The Wire’s victim card

After the journalist had managed to force Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to quit the interview midway, the left-liberal ecosystem praised her for her ‘tough’ questions and celebrated her success in maligning Sri Sri with this suspicious accusation.

Arfa Khanum Sherwani enjoying praise for her ‘expose’ of Sri Sri

Let us admit that every public personality must be questioned and held accountable to all their statements which affect public at large. Similarly, the journalist who is making accusations should also be held accountable for the accusation she makes.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s admirers posted videos shot from another angle which showed that the camera was not blocked forcibly as per The Wire‘s accusation. They asked the journalist to apologise. Sri Sri’s followers were visibly angered by an unqualified accusation by The Wire.


In response to the demand by Sri Sri’s admirers and followers, The Wire did not produce any fresh evidence to prove their claim. Neither did they apologise to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for leveling the accusation. Instead they resorted to playing the victim card and put the onus of decency and good behaviour on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his supporters.

How can those who are hostile and full of hatred respect love and goodwill? This is like asking Indian Army to hug stone-pelters in Kashmir.

Victim card played by The Wire journalist

This is very similar to the episode where The Wire wore the badge of an honest news portal trying to expose the high and mighty when OpIndia revealed their plans to defame Arun Jaitley. This strategy of hit, run and play victim when confronted is a standard operating procedure of anti Hindu secular brigade in India. .

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and all peace loving Hindus must learn one lesson from this episode. You can’t gain the goodwill and admiration of the anti-Hindu brigade with reasonable and polite demands of Hindus. They will treat you with contempt and hatred if you show even the slightest affinity to Modi, BJP and RSS. You have to become Hinduphobic if you wish to be treated well by this ecosystem.

Facebook suspends data agency which was reportedly helping Congress win elections

OpIndia Staff
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Facebook suspends data agency which was reportedly helping Congress win elections

Popular social media website Facebook on Friday suspended political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. As per the statement issued by the tech giant, it had found that a Cambridge professor Dr. Aleksandr Kogan violated Facebook’s platform policies by sharing data from his app (which was using Facebook login) to Cambridge Analytica.

As explained by website Tech Crunch, Cambridge Analytica had obtained Facebook user information without taking approval from Facebook. The professor in question developed an app named “thisisyourdigitallife”, which claimed to predict one’s personality. This was downloaded by about 2.7 lakh people who used Facebook login and gave the professor information like location and liked pages etc.

The violation was first encountered in 2015 and has now come to the forefront, after Facebook found out that, Cambridge Analytica and others had failed to completely delete the data they had collected via the aforementioned means.

The firm is believed to have ‘manipulated sentiments’ of users using its data analytics tools and create an environment in favour of Donald Trump, who had employed them for his presidential campaign.

Incidentally Cambridge Analytica which is now being accused of misusing user data by Facebook itself, was ahead of Gujarat elections, reportedly in talks with the Congress party to make use of big data for winning elections. It was also reported that Cambridge Analytica’s CEO had even met various leaders of the UPA to design its electoral strategy for the 2019 polls.

This raises the question whether the data agency accused of seriously undermining people’s personal information, is currently working with the Congress party? If yes then does it feel comfortable working with such a controversial company? And if not then would the Congress publicly issue a statement dissociating with the big data firm?

If the association between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica is indeed true then this will be another embarrassment for the party in the digital space.

It has been reported how Rahul Gandhi has been accused of boosting his Twitter stats by employing bots from exotic countries like Russia, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. When the bots were exposed the party decided to seek help of “fake girls”, to top up Rahul Gandhi’s image. This is besides the innumerable gaffes the Congress party’s official social media account has committed in recent days.

Arvind Kejriwal will ally with Congress and dump AAP Punjab: Kapil Mishra

OpIndia Staff
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Kapil Mishra, the rebel MLA of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi assembly, has alleged that party supremo Arvind Kejriwal will ally with the Congress party for the Lok Sabha elections next year. As part of the deal, AAP will not field any candidates in Punjab. He also said that the Delhi Chief Minister wants to end the party unit in the state.


During his early days in politics, Arvind Kejriwal had stated on several occasions that he will not ally with either the Congress or the BJP. However, it certainly won’t be the first time he takes a u-turn if indeed he does go on to ally with the Congress for the General Elections next year. Earlier Arvind Kejriwal had sworn by his children that he will never tie-up with the Congress or the BJP before forming he government in Delhi with Congress’ support.


Yesterday, after Arvind Kejriwal’s unconditional apology to Bikram Singh Mathijia of Shiromani Akali Dal, Bhagwant Man resigned as the President of the party’s state unit in Punjab.

Times of India also reported on Saturday that a majority of AAP MLAs in Punjab were in favour of parting ways with the party, but had not yet decided to split due to a lack of consensus.

Kapil Mishra’s allegation of Kejriwal’s desire to shut down the Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party might materialize after all if the members of its Punjab unit reach a consensus on the matter of quitting the party.

Data versus ‘Mahaul’, can Narendra Modi win the perception battle?

Nithesh S
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Data versus ‘Mahaul’, can Narendra Modi win the perception battle?

Can ‘Vikas’ win elections? This debate has been a long standing one. Narendra Modi’s consecutive victories in Gujarat made people believe that it could be possible. However, Vajpayee’s loss in 2004 will always be remembered as a rude shock to those want to believe in the theory.

The recent loss in Phulpur and Gorakhpur also stands testimony to the fact that slogans of ‘Vikas’ alone cannot lead to a comfortable electoral victory in any given situation.

The recent speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi – which included graphs, videos and powerpoint slides – resembled a status update in a corporate meeting. Yes, the presentation was impressive, it gave a detailed account of how the government is on the right track so far as ‘vikas’ is concerned.

Those who believe in development mantra could feel confident that with this performance, Modi will easily win 2019 elections. But that is not enough. One cannot take Rahul Gandhi’s tweet mocking Modi’s ‘fancy slides’ tweet lightly:


While Modi offers the fresh air of accountability and performance, his opponents who are hungry to wrest power from BJP are adept in tactics that have an edge over ‘accountability’. If you compare a graph which shows crores of loans that have been waived in India with an image of farmer with bleeding foot after a long march to Mumbai, you are more likely to be impacted by the latter. In fact, the long march itself was considered as a way to revive the communist party by some commentators.

The satisfaction of an electorate that gets benefits from doles rather than long term pro-people policies like Swacch Bharat is likely to be higher. It is also more palatable for an international audience, when secular politicians go around speaking about pluralism, diversity and harmony rather than a graph depicting number of toilets constructed in the last five years.

Three generations of Indians have lived with great amount joy about Nehru’s internationalism, secularism and tolerance in India even though we know that his policies left a large number of illiterate and impoverished people in India.

Graph depicting number of toilets constructed in past five years

The persisting difficulties of the agriculture sector in India are a well known fact. Though Modi may repeat his positive policy decisions like neem coated urea, village electrification, soil health card or PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana, the rural hinterland will continue to demand more from the government. The fact that Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya have escaped without paying their loans prompts them to ask for loan waivers which further deteriorate the health of banks. The ‘mahaul‘ effect or ‘public mood’ needs more attention even though real achievements matter more in the long run.

On the anti-corruption front, Modi government may have renegotiated treaties of double taxation with countries and signed an information sharing agreement with Switzerland. It may have removed lakhs of shell companies from the official register and passed a bill on Benami property. But the mahaul effect generated when accused politicians in 2G or BSNL exchange case are acquitted cancel the positive impact of the government’s anti corruption record.

Another classic example of mahaul v/s data is Jan Dhan Yojana v/s demonetisation. It is hard to dispute the fact that 99% of the money returned to the system. The rich did not become poor because of this exercise as expected. There was a rise in number of tax payers, digital transactions increase and some had to lose a part of their money to middle men. The exercise adversely impacted some informal businesses. But the mahaul created was right. People are more likely to remember the demonetisation exercise rather than the 30 crore bank accounts that were opened under Jan dhan yojana. In reality, financial inclusion is more likely to change lives of poor but they may forget the fact before 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but they will remember demonetisation.

Similarly, people forget lakhs of people who could get their subsidy benefits  because of Aadhar cards. Some exclusions because of bureaucratic procedures get highlighted in media and generates anger against the scheme. The inclusion of more beneficiaries takes the backstage and the exclusions because of Aadhar get highlighted. The government will have to do more communicate better on this front. The PM is well aware of this mentality and hence, he has ensured that his schemes can contribute to the mahaul even while he dishes out graphs of progress.


Take a slide showing acceptance of India in MTCR, Wassennar agreement, Australia group on one side and the video showing impact of Ujjwala yojana on the other. Though this is the case of comparing apples with oranges, the impact on the audience will be larger in the latter case rather than the former.

Thus, Modi and BJP will have to balance statistics and mahaul in the coming days in order to ensure that the opposition doesn’t run away with the narrative. The mahaul is as important as the data.

Ironically, while the opposition parties mocks ‘jumla’ of Modi government, fact is that it’s the opposition that is tasting success based on jumlas that create mahaul, while BJP appears on backfoot despite having data and facts to flaunt.

Court summons Mizoram CM and Congress leader accused of lying in an affidavit

OpIndia Staff
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Court summons Mizoram CM and Congress leader accused of lying in an affidavit

Lal Thanhawla, Chief Minister of Mizoram, has been summoned by a district court for allegedly filing a false affidavit prior to the 2013 Assembly elections.

Deputy controller of mines at Indian Bureau of Mines, Kolkata, Lalhriatrenga Chhangte, had accused the Chief Minister from the Congress party of concealing information about him owning a plot of land in Kolkata and his age while filing his nomination for the 2013 assembly elections. Following this, a criminal case under section 200 of the CrPC was lodged against the Chief Minister by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Serchhip district.

Chhangte has alleged that the Mizoram CM has a huge property in New Town, Kolkata, and he willfully concealed the information in his affidavit to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Chhangte had initially approached the ECI in November last year with the complaint. However, he was directed to file a complaint in the district court. Various opposition parties, including the Zoram National Party, have demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation over the matter.

Mizoram is slated to go into polls later this year with Assembly Elections to be held for its 40 constituencies. After suffering a string of losses in the North East since Narendra Modi came to power, accusations of lying against its Chief Minister does not bode well for the Congress party’s prospects in the state.

Bihar DGP busts claims of alleged fact checkers, reiterates pro-Pak sloganeering video isn’t doctored

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar DGP busts claims of alleged fact checkers, reiterates pro-Pak sloganeering video isn’t doctored

The Bihar police on Friday arrested two men named Sultan Aazmi and Shehjad in connection with a viral video which recorded people raising pro Pakistan slogans in Bihar’s Araria, soon after the Lok Sabha by polls, which RJD won.

This is the video in question:


Soon after the video went viral, alleged fact-checking website “Alt News” decided to carry out a fact-check of the audio present in the footage, to claim that it raised suspicion. Here the website analysed the “waveform” of the corresponding audio and extrapolated on the lack of video audio sync in the footage.

After carrying out its technical analysis, the “fact-checking” website concluded that the video raised several red flags, thereby trying to raise questions regarding its authenticity.

Such claims though have now suffered a blow, after media reports have quoted Bihar’s DGP KS Diwedi as confirming that the Araria tape isn’t doctored. As per the soundbite provided by Diwedi, two out of three accused have been arrested. Coming to the video, he claimed that it was being forensically tested and that it didn’t look doctored as the accused too aren’t denying the allegations.

Just to point out forensic reports provide inputs about technical aspects of the video which are then taken into consideration by the police to frame specific charges and collect evidences. While detailed forensic report is awaited, police, based on the accused’ lack of denial have suggested that the video is not fake.

Another report which too carried similar claims, has quoted the DGP as saying that initial investigation is confirming the guilt of those accused.

To strike another blow on Alt News’ claims, some twitter users raised questions over the analysis employed by the website:


Incidentally such a modus oprendi to try and declare a video as fake was also employed by “certain elements” during the whole JNU anti-national slogan chanting fiasco. This later was exposed as propaganda when the footage was revealed to be accurate.

When it comes to such video clipsm it is very much possible that certain vested elements choose to employ “technical whataboutry” to try and mislead people by seeking refuge in double meaning terminologies. One such example being insinuating that an edited video clip is bound to be a fake one, while such an assertion cannot be further from the truth.

Almost every clip available on TV channels or media websites is edited in one form or another to make it more watchable or to ensure that relevant sections are aired, which doesn’t imply any malicious intent.

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