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Delhi’s AAPradhi: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan’s history sheet

Nirwa Mehta
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Delhi’s AAPradhi: AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan’s history sheet

As medical reports confirm injury on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan, one of the MLAs accused of carrying out the assault has been arrested by Delhi Police after he surrendered earlier today.


This is not the first time Amanatullah Khan has been accused of abusing his position of power. In November 2016, the CBI registered a case of corruption and criminal conspiracy for alleged irregularities in operations of the Delhi Waqf Board during the time he was its chairman. As reported in the Indian Express, the FIR alleges that the existing Waqf Board was illegally scrapped/superseded by the government under the directions of the Deputy Chief Minister and Chief Minister.

In October, 2016, an FIR was filed against Khan and his supporters for allegedly beating up someone.


In July and September, 2016, Khan was arrested on two different cases of rape and sexual harassment, each. In September, the complaint was lodged by his relative who alleged Khan was pressuring her to get into a physical relationship with him. Then, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, had brushed it off as ‘family matter’.


In December last year, too, Khan was accused of threatening a woman officer in the Delhi health department. She had also filed written complain in the office of the Director General of Health Services against him. As per the complaint letter filed by the officer, the AAP MLA said threatening to her, “Tujhe dekh lenge. Tera ilaaj bhi karoonga.”

This is not all, in July 2014, Amanatullah Khan was also arrested for allegedly putting up provocative posters, which he confessed to have created himself. The highly communal and objectionable posters had explicit approval of AAP chief Kejriwal.

Communal poster allegedly put up by AAP MLAs.


He even endorses Khan of trying to instigate mob which could lead to law and order disruption.


Despite all these allegations, the fact that AAP Supremo Arvind Kejriwal chooses not only to turn a blind eye towards his MLAs with violent tendencies, but also seemingly approve of it, is shocking, to say the least.

Leading business houses promise investment worth Rs. 4.28 lakh crores during first Investors Summit under Yogi

OpIndia Staff
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Leading business houses promise investment worth Rs. 4.28 lakh crores during first Investors Summit under Yogi

The Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018 which is to be held on the 21st and 22nd of February has commenced in Lucknow today. The summit was inaugurated by the Prime Minister where he complimented Yogi Adityanath on his efforts towards ensuring the development of the state. Narendra Modi also announced the construction of two defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and highlighted the good work done by the Chief Minister towards generating an environment conducive to investment.

Earlier, the Saffron clad Mahant of Gorakhnath Muth had stated that his government has already signed 1045 MoUs worth Rs. 4.28 lakh crores which is roughly equivalent to the state budget for the current year. Yogi Adityanath reiterated his focus on jobs during his address to the investors. “Our target is to create 40 lakh new job opportunities in UP in the next three years,” he said.


Businessmen also promised huge investments during their address at the summit. Kumar Mangalam, chairman of the Birla group, congratulated Yogi Adityanath on making Uttar Pradesh the 7th most favourable investment state in the country. He assured that Uttar Pradesh will become Aditya Birla’s highest investment state as he announced his plan to invest Rs. 25,000 crores during the course of the next few years.

Mukesh Ambani admitted that he had never seen a state capital so beautifully decorated for an investors summit and emphasized that Uttar Pradesh is not merely rising but racing ahead. He expressed his desire to participate in the Namami Ganga project and assured of providing the state with 2 crores new Jio phones in the next few months on a priority basis. Taking forward his investment of 23,000 crores in the state, he announced that he plans to invest 10,000 crore more in the next 3 years.


Gautam Adani who also addressed the crowd reflected on the Prime Minister’s efforts which he said were changing the global image of India. He announced an investment to the tune of Rs. 35,000 crores in the next five years in metro rail projects, food processing units and power.


The Zee group will invest Rs. 18,750 crores in the state said, Subhash Chandra. Anand Mahindra announced his decision to create a Rs. 200 crore Club Mahindra facility in Varanasi. Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, announced that the company will provide employment to 30,000 employees in a new campus to be set up by TCS in Lucknow. Packaging solutions firm Uflex plans to invest another Rs. 1,700 crore in the state to boost its manufacturing capacity.

Yogi Adityanath has been striving hard to generate employment in the state. His hard stance in law and order is driven towards creating a business-friendly environment in Uttar Pradesh. In the first investors summit in the state, Yogi Adityanath has succeeded in attracting investments which is expected to propel the most populous state in the country tto a new era of prosperity. His primary focus now would be to follow through with the MoUs that have been signed by his government.

UP pollution control board seals Haj House in Ghaziabad as per NGT’s order

Nithesh S
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UP pollution control board seals Haj House in Ghaziabad as per NGT’s order

The UP pollution control board implemented an NGT (national green tribunal) order by sealing of Haj house in Ghaziabad. The order passed on February 6, 2018, comes in response to the petition filed by ‘Residents of Ghaziabad Welfare Association’.

The Haj house had been inaugurated by former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on September 2016.


In order of the case Himanshu Mittal & others vs Union of India & others, the court examined whether the Haj house was built on the floodplain as accused by the petitioners. It also checked whether the building was polluting the river Hindon.


Details of the NGT order

The NGT order said :

In such circumstances, particularly after having observed that this does not fall in the floodplain zone, we are of the considered opinion that demolition of the Haj House is not called for, however, in the interest of environment we pass the following order:-

1. The application for demolition of the Haj House is dismissed.

2. Respondent No. 8 U.P. Haj House Committee is directed to ensure that there is STP to treat the domestic effluent of 136 KLD installed and commissioned at the said site as per the requirement of the U.P. Pollution Control Board.

3. U.P. Pollution Control Board shall inspect the said premises within one week and in event of there being no STP of the specific capacity been found installed at the said Haj House the Haj House shall be sealed.

Liberty is granted to Respondent No. 8 U.P. Haj House Committee to approach the Tribunal for de-sealing the said premises in the event of their being full compliance of the directions of U.P. Pollution Control Board.

After examination of records submitted by government authorities, the court ruled that the building was not on the floodplain and therefore dismissed the plea to demolish it. However, it ordered that the sewage treatment plant that was recommended by officials in a report Regional Officer of U.P. Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) dated 31st May 2016 must be inspected by officials within a week.

The UPPCB report had noticed that a domestic effluent of 115 KLD could be generated and had proposed a sewage treatment plant of 136 KLD for the Hajj house. However, UPPCB had not inspected the building to ensure compliance with Haj board before its inauguration.

The UP pollution control board inspected the building and found that it was not compliant with its earlier recommendation on sewage treatment plant and hence sealed the building as per the order of NGT. This is not the permanent sealing of the Haj house but an interim action till the sewage treatment plant is set up.

Mamata expresses her displeasure over RSS run schools: Orders 125 of them to shut down

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata expresses her displeasure over RSS run schools: Orders 125 of them to shut down

The Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government has asked 125 schools to shut down over the allegation that they were run by the RSS. The notice issued in this regard was announced by state education minister Partha Chatterjee on Tuesday.

As per Chatterjee, the state government won’t allow schools to teach violence to students and also claimed that the 125 schools which were ordered shut, don’t have the necessary clearances from the education department. In another attack he stated that “wielding sticks” cannot be taught in the schools. He further claimed that complaints had been received against about 500 schools out of which 493 were under investigation.

The notice sent to the Vivekananda Vidyavikas Parishad which runs 12 such RSS schools, has been challenged by the society in the Calcutta High Court. As per its organising secretary Tarak Das Sarkar, they had applied for clearances back in 2012 which till date haven’t been provided.

The society which dates back to 1975 hadn’t run into any government trouble till 2012 after which the government amended laws to make it mandatory for all schools to get a NOC from the educational department. Even though Partha Chatterjee took potshots at the nature of content in these schools, as per Sarkar the dispute has arisen due to infrastructure deficiencies like fire safety.

Besides this, the RSS has now come out to claim that they have no involvement in these schools’ functioning and asked the Mamata government to pay attention to Madrasas and their education content.

The RSS’s South Bengal secretary Jisnu Basu too commented on this matter by claiming that schools which the Mamata government is trying to close, is providing a hygienic atmosphere and good education to kids. He as a result implored Partha Chatterjee to improve the conditions of primary schools in the state.

A similar news was reported in April, 2017 about the Mamata government planning on imposing heavy fines on schools allegedly running without NOCs and majority of the schools in question were considered close to the RSS.

Ironically the Mamata government in 2011 had also announced a plan to regularise 10,000 madrasas in the state, regardless of the fact that they follow no formal education pattern and have been a hotbed of violent activities which include imparting training to make bombs.

The Mamata government’s supposed disdain for everything “right” was also noted recently when a saffron coloured school was in trouble for not switching over to Mamata’s favourite blue and white colour scheme.

Is AAP social media team stealing pictures of girls off the Internet to spread agenda?

OpIndia Staff
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Is AAP social media team stealing pictures of girls off the Internet to spread agenda?

After Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seems to have taken to stealing pictures of unsuspecting strangers on the Internet and creating fake accounts on Twitter to spread their agenda. Earlier, we had reported how Congress social media team seems to be using bots and ‘fake girls’ to push Rahul Gandhi’s image on Twitter.

Popular Twitter user Ankur Singh, who had earlier exposed Congress’ social media strategy on ‘fake girls’, tweeted on AAP using images of girls stolen from the Internet, seemingly without permission, to create fake accounts to push AAP’s agenda. In January, a Twitter handle Mayra Gupta was busy trending hashtags in favour of Aam Aadmi Party. The account regularly indulges in defending AAP and Kejriwal.

Except, the image the account was using was of one Aayushi Malik, a model.

The need to make it appear like it is a real account, the account even changes profile picture, regularly. Currently, the picture the account has a June 2017 picture taken from Malik’s Instagram account.

Recently, too, it seems AAP has resorted to creating fake accounts to distribute certificates of nationalism.

One Anisha Gurnani’s LinkedIn profile picture is ‘stolen’ and passed off as Aaditi Kaushik on Twitter who spends her time hailing Kejriwal.

This raises serious questions whether AAP social media team is misusing pictures of girls? Whether DCW chief Swati Mahiwal swing into action?

Ram Guha is intellectually deceitful and his latest flip-flop on Anna Hazare only to target Modi proves it

Nithesh S
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Ram Guha is intellectually deceitful and his latest flip-flop on Anna Hazare only to target Modi proves it

Ram Guha has been one of the typical hypocrites from the left-liberal ecosystem. He has the knack of twisting the tale in a way that suits his political leanings. He is also known for twisting the truth or manufacturing lies in order to malign RSS and BJP, as he did after the murder of Gauri Lankesh in 2017.

Another classic example of Guha’s theatrics came to light recently when criticised the PM for ignoring Anna Hazare’s letter. Guha plugged an article that reported about letters written by anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare regarding corruption and implementation of Lokpal Bill. However, Guha had claimed that Lokpal was not an effective solution to India’s corruption problem way back in 2011. Suddenly, he has realised the importance of the issue in 2018.


For Guha, Anna Hazare was ‘parochial’ when UPA was in power

In an article titled ‘A PATRIARCH FOR THE NATION?’ – The nation’s problems cannot be solved by a supercop‘, Guha had tried to rationalise as to why Anna Hazare was a ‘village patriarch’ and why middle class could not rely on him to solve the country’s problems.

Ram Guha, had given a casteist twist to Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement in this article published in 2011. He claimed that Dalits and backward castes were seeing it as a ‘reprise of anti-Mandal protests led by Savarna activists. This is an asinine comment as it tries to sideline an issue that affects all citizens irrespective of their caste. Guha’s goal was not only to prove that not all Indians were behind Anna but also rally Dalits and backward castes away from an anti-corruption movement. He wrote (emphasis added) :

Some television channels claim that Anna Hazare represents the overwhelming bulk of Indians. Print, cyberspace and soundings on the street suggest a more complicated picture. Liberals worry about the dangers to policy reform contained in street agitations led by men whose perfervid rhetoric undermines constitutional democracy. Dalits and backward castes see this as a reprise of the anti-Mandal agitation, led and directed by Suvarna activists.

Rather than criticising the scams of UPA, he went on to attack the Gandhian anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare of having a ‘deeply Brahminical‘ attitude. After calling Anna Hazare a ‘village patriarch’ he employed his ‘intellect’ to accuse Anna of being the cause of anti-Dalit violence in his village, Ralegan Siddhi. He wrote (emphasis added) :

Large swathes of the middle class have thus embraced Anna Hazare out of disgust with Manmohan Singh’s government. That said, one must caution against an excessive identification with Anna Hazare. Hazare is a good man, perhaps even a saintly man. But his understanding remains that of a village patriarch.

The strengths and limitations of Anna Hazare are identified in Green and Saffron, a book by Mukul Sharma that shall appear later this year. Sharma is an admired environmental journalist, who did extensive fieldwork in Ralegan Siddhi. He was greatly impressed by much of what he saw. Careful management of water had improved crop yields, increased incomes, and reduced indebtedness. On the other hand, he found the approach of Anna Hazare “deeply Brahmanical”. Liquor, tobacco, even cable TV were forbidden. Dalit families were compelled to adopt a vegetarian diet. Those who violated these rules — or orders — were tied to a post and flogged.

Ram Guha had claimed that Lokpal was an ineffective solution in 2011

After the character assassination of Anna Hazare, Guha goes on to pooh-pooh the idea of Lokpal itself. He suggests other larger changes that India had to undergo to weed out corruption. Not even a single sentence in his article criticises the Congress or Manmohan Singh for indulging in corruption. He concludes his article with these lines (emphasis added) :

Anna Hazare claims that the creation of a single lok pal will end 60 per cent to 65 percent of corruption. That remark confuses a village with a nation. A benign (and occasionally brutal) patriarch can bring about improvements in a small community. But a nation’s problems cannot be solved by a Super-Cop or Super-Sarpanch, even (or perhaps especially) if he be assisted (as the legislation envisages) by thousands of busybody and themselves corruptible inspectors.

Improving the quality and functioning of democratic institutions will require far more than a lok pal, whether jan or sarkari. We have to work for, among other things, changes in the law to make funding of elections more transparent, and to completely debar criminals from contesting elections; the reform of political parties to make them less dependent on family and kin; the use of technology to make the delivery of social services less arbitrary and more efficient; the insulation of the bureaucracy and the police from political interference; the lateral entry of professionals into public service, and more. In striving for these changes one must draw upon the experience, and expertise, of the very many Indians who share Hazare’s idealism without being limited by his parochialism.

Ram Guha who had such a low opinion of Anna Hazare has now used him to take a potshot at the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If Anna Hazare had so many deficiencies in ideology as per his own assessment in 2011, then why should he deserve the Prime Ministers attention in 2018?

Unlike Anna Hazare, Ram Guha is not known for consistency or honesty in causes/values he stands for. Under a UPA regime, he saw it as his responsibility to protect a regime which he supported and indulged in a smear campaign against Anna Hazare. But in 2018, he is open to use every opportunity to criticise the prime minister and a regime that he doesn’t support.

This is an open secret among his own ecosystem. However, a common man who is not aware of these tactics might get carried away with such a propaganda. Therein lies the danger for societies who consider such individuals as ‘public intellectuals’

Fact Check: Do you really have to convert your phone number to a 13 digit number?

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Do you really have to convert your phone number to a 13 digit number?

After a notification by the Department of Telecom on M2M (Machine to Machine) connections, certain media outlets peddled the narrative that the government wants all existing mobile numbers to be converted into 13 digit ones. The news went viral and created a sense of panic among customers.

Here is what the Financial Express reported on the issue:

And this is what NewsX reported:

From the above news reports, one understands that the directive of the DoT applied to all mobile sim users. However, the letter communicated by the Ministry of Communication to TRAI says that ’13-digit numbering scheme has been approved for SIM-based M2M devices’.

M2M devices refer to those machines that require network connectivity. Examples of such devices are home automation systems such as communication with refrigerators or air conditioners, fitness health care services, woman safety bands and the likes.

Soon enough, Twitter users began to puncture holes on the media narrative.


Before long, the mainstream media began to change its tune and issued clarifications on the matter. The latest gaffe of the media is only reflective of their over-zealousness to put the news out first rather than focus on putting out the correct information for their readers. The directive specifically mentioned that the change in numbers was only for M2M devices, that the media interpreted it to mean all mobile phone numbers reflects on its ability very poorly.

Now Manish Sisodia accused of abusing and threatening to turn an IAS officer’s life into a living hell

OpIndia Staff
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Now Manish Sisodia accused of abusing and threatening to turn an IAS officer’s life into a living hell

Serious questions were raised about the AAP led Delhi government’s way of functioning on Tuesday after it was reported that, Delhi’s chief secretary was assaulted by AAP MLAs at Kejriwal’s official residence on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

As per the FIR lodged by the Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, he was asked to come to Kerjiwal’s residence at midnight for discussing the difficulty regarding the release of certain TV advertisements created to commemorate AAP government’s three years in power. After reaching there, he was accused’ of not doing enough for ‘publicity of the government’, following which he was outright assaulted by two MLAs including Amanatullah Khan. They also threatened to hold him captive and implicate him in a false atrocity against SC/ST case, if he refused to do their bidding.

Following massive outrage over the incident which included protests by IAS officers, the police arrested AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal from his Delhi residence, even as the party tried to play victim by citing his recent marriage, detaining the advisor to Arvind Kejriwal and arresting Amanatullah Khan.

Now further skeletons are tumbling out from the AAP government’s closet with a letter emerging, where an IAS official has accused Deputy CM of threatening to ruin his life. The letter from December has now been made public by rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra:

Image via Kapil Mishra

The letter, signed on 15th December by Dr Jayadev Sarangi, the Secretary of Information and Public Relations recounts that he and the Chief Secretary was summoned by Sisodia to his office on 28th November to explain why an advertorial regarding Health Department’s handling of dengue was not published.

Sisodia was as a result explained about the Supreme Court guidelines and CAG objections regarding the matter. But rather than rationally analysing the situation, Sisodia flew into a rage and started to use abusive language. He allegedly also threatened Sarangi with the words, “Sarangi tumhara jeena haram kar dunga” which roughly translates to “Sarangi I will make your life a living hell”.

Sarangi further recounted that since becoming a bureaucrat, he has received threats from elements like terrorists, criminals, land mafia etc but it was for the first time that he was threatened by such a high profile individual with a massive following. He thus claimed he was spending sleepless nights worrying about threats to his life and reputation and demanded the urgent attention of CM Kejriwal and the Lt. Governor.

Considering such reports, the Delhi government might soon become infamous as a hostile working environment for employees of any degree, who may be faced with any level of threats if they refuse to obey Kejriwal’s government’s diktats to the letter. The chance of the issue resolving might also be bleak considering Kejriwal too might be complicit in such behaviour of his minions, as seen via the assault on the Chief Secretary which took place in the AAP supremo’s home.

PAAS leader Hardik Patel’s discharge application rejected by Ahmedabad court, no relief from sedition charges

OpIndia Staff
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PAAS leader Hardik Patel’s discharge application rejected by Ahmedabad court, no relief from sedition charges

A sessions court in Ahmedabad has rejected the discharge plea filed by Hardik Patel. The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader had filed the discharge application seeking relief from the sedition charges against him. He was booked by the Crime Branch on sedition charges after he the large-scale violence in Gujrat in 2015 seeking reservation for Patidars.


Hardik has two cases of sedition against him. One in Surat and the other in Ahmedabad. The Surat case was filed by the Surat police. Hardik had earlier suffered a major setback in that case too when the Gujrat High Court had rejected his plea seeking to quash of the sedition case in Surat. Back in 2015, the Gujrat HC had upheld the cases rejecting his plea. The case was filed after alleged evidence showed him inciting people to kill policemen during the violent Patidar agitation.

In January 2016, The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) had filed a charge sheet against Hardik Patel. The 2700 page charge sheet had held the entire Patidar agitation illegal and alleged that Hardik and his five other associates created the Patidar agitation and incited violence while being fully aware that the community cannot be listed in the OBC category legally and socially. The charge sheet claimed that their agitation was aimed at dislodging the democratically elected Gujrat state government. The DCB had accused Hardik and his associates of criminal conspiracy and sedition. They had also alleged that properties worth 40 crores were damaged and 203 police personnel had suffered injuries during the violence. A constable named Dilip Rathva had died in Surat during the agitation.

Hardik had moved to the Ahmedabad court in September 2017 seeking discharge from the sedition charges. He had filed an application the court of Judge S H Oza claiming that there is no evidence against him and the case did not hold ground.

The Patidar Andolan in Gujrat had brought the state to a standstill in 2015 as widespread incidents of violence and clashes had caused intense law and order situations. A total of 9 people had died and the Army was deployed to maintain peace. A total of 5000 paramilitary personnel had to be posted in different cities to help control the situation. Then 22-year-old Hardik Patel had made several objectionable remarks in a rally that had turned violent.

Shoes hurled at Naveen Patnaik in public meeting during Bijepur by-poll campaign

OpIndia Staff
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Shoes hurled at Naveen Patnaik in public meeting during Bijepur by-poll campaign

Shoes were hurled at Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik while he was addressing a public meeting during the by-poll campaign for the Bijepur Assembly constituency. As per reports, Naveen Patnaik was not hurt.

The incident happened in the Kumbhari village in Barpali block of Bargarh district at around 6 pm on Tuesday. CM Naveen Patnaik had just wrapped up his speech and started to leave the when a man in the audience hurled one shoe and then another which was stopped by his security guards.

The local police and security personnel detained the man, who is identified as Kartik Meher, a local youth. As per reports, he was allegedly thrashed by BJD activists and local villagers before the police could detain him. He was admitted to Barpali hospital.


Leaders of both the Opposition parties BJP and Congress have condemned the attack. Though BJD has put allegations that BJP was behind the attacks.

BJP MLA for the neighbouring Padampur constituency Pradip Purohit has called the allegations baseless and added that it shows the anger of the common people towards the BJD government.

The CM was campaigning for Biju Janata Dal candidate Rita Sahu. Rita Sahu had joined BJD after her husband and Congress MLA Subal Sahu died in 2017. The Bijepur constituency seat had remained vacant after Subal Sahu’s demise. Rita Sahu had joined BJD after much political tussle by BJD and Congress. The constituency seat is set for by-polls on February 24 and political campaigns are in full swing. Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Giriraj Singh and Smriti Irani have also campaigned in Bijepur for the BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi.

BJD MP Bijayant Panda has also tweeted about the incident and said that the protestors should choose nonviolent ways:


According to reports by OTV, the arrested youth had initially denied affiliation to any party, but later changed his statement and alleged that he acted at the behest of the BJP candidate. Ashok Panigrahi has denied the allegations.

Earlier in January, eggs were hurled at CM Patnaik while he was addressing a beach festival in Balasore. A woman was arrested for the incident.

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