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Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee says that ‘Karat lobby’ is controlling CPI(M)

OpIndia Staff
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Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee says that ‘Karat lobby’ is controlling CPI(M)

The grave crisis in CPI(M) has attracted the attention of political observers. The party has been struggling because of an internal fight between Prakash Karat and current general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Yechury supported open alliance with Congress to keep BJP at bay. But Karat has openly opposed this strategy while accepting the goal of defeating BJP. This opposition led to a vote over the issue, which exposed factionalism within the CPI(M).

The result of the vote over this difference has established the fact that Karat holds sway over the CPIM polit bureau (highest decision making body of the CPIM ). It has also attracted comments of Somnath Chatterjee, former speaker of Lok Sabha. Mr Chatterjee said that ‘left parties were getting weaker and weaker even in West Bengal’ He also added that Prakash Karat ‘lobby’ controlling the party was not good for future.

It remains to be seen as to how this rivalry will play out in the party congress to be held in Hyderabad during the month of April. Will the Left parties vanish into oblivion due to infighting or reunite after the bitter fight over political differences? We will have to wait and watch.

Saudi Arabia disqualifies camels from beauty contest as they were caught using Botox

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Arabia disqualifies camels from beauty contest as they were caught using Botox

Saudi Arabia annually hosts the prestigious King Abdulaziz Camel Festival to determine who is the most beautiful camel in the land. The contest commands a total prize money of $57 million out of which $30 million goes to the winning Miss Camel.

This competition hosted on the outskirts of Riyadh, is pretty popular with the locals, with it seeing a footfall of 3 lakh people, which is 30% more than last year.

Here are some pictures of the event:

Image via The Hindu
Image via Metro

As per the contest’s chief judge, the camel is a symbol of Saudi Arabia and now is preserved as a pastime. In this month long festival, the camels are judged on the basis of their size of lips, cheeks, heads and knees.

The contest also maintains a strict regulations code which means the camels cannot have drugs in their lips, cannot be shaved or dyed in any part of the body. It also needs to be ensured that the natural form of the camels isn’t changed.

But with such a heavy prize money at stake, some people decided to cut corners, and as a result, 12 camels have been disqualified from the contest for being injected with Botox.

Botox which is basically a neurotoxin named botulinum toxin which is manufactured via a bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. As part of a cosmetic treatment, it is used to reduce fine lines and wrinkles on the face.

As per a regular at the camel festival, the camel handlers use Botox for the upper, lower lips, nose and the jaw of the camel. The head of the camel as a result becomes inflated because of the Botox, which is a desirable quality while judging the contestants. Apart from the face, the camel’s height, shape and hump placement are also considered important factors.

Cheating is apparently so prevalent in this competition that a day before the start of the tournament, a veterinarian was caught performing plastic surgery on some camels.

Blow to Shekhar Gupta as judiciary convicts ‘upper caste’ Mishra along with Lalu

OpIndia Staff
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Blow to Shekhar Gupta as judiciary convicts ‘upper caste’ Mishra along with Lalu

Last month, in one of the various cases related to the infamous Fodder Scam of Bihar (the then undivided state of Bihar that included Jharkhand too), former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted but another former CM Jagannath Mishra was acquitted.

This had led to senior journalist Shekhar Gupta claiming ‘casteism’ and he tried to insinuate a “caste bias” in the judiciary, because Mishra, an upper caste Brahmin, was let off and a ‘lower caste’ Yadav was convicted. Gupta’s tweet containing this ‘conspiracy theory’ was shared by Lalu himself back then, even as many people tried to reason how both of them were wrong.

Today, the judiciary also proved them wrong as a special CBI Court in Ranchi found both Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty in another case related to the Fodder scam, the Chaibasa Treasury case. No special treatment was meted out to the ‘upper caste’ Mishra:


On expected lines, Shekhar Gupta maintained strategic silence on his Twitter page unlike last month, when he was actively promoting his ‘caste bias in judiciary’ theory. As a result, Lalu Prasad Yadav, whose Twitter account is being operated by his ‘office’ these days, too couldn’t get any conspiracy theory to share.

However, Tejaswi Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, decided not to depend on Shekhar Gupta alone, and went ahead with a new conspiracy theory. Tejaswi alleged that BJP, RSS and Nitish Kumar had hatched a conspiracy against Lalu. He further said that there will be an appeal in the higher courts against today’s order.

Bihar BJP’s leader Sushil Modi termed Tejaswi’s allegations “unfortunate” but not unexpected.


Lalu Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra, both, have been sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Ranchi Court. They have also been fined Rs. 5 lakh each for their involvement in the scam. Lalu Yadav is already in jail following last month’s verdict.

Judging from Tejashwi Yadav’s comments after his father’s latest conviction, it is to be expected that the party will adopt the same strategy to deflect attention from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s involvement in corruption, though this time they may miss the support of senior journalists like Shekhar Gupta.

Kerala Government issues circular against RSS chief for Republic Day, sparks controversy

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala Government issues circular against RSS chief for Republic Day, sparks controversy

In a new circular ahead of Republic Day, the Kerala Government has declared that only head of departments at various public offices, schools and colleges in the state can hoist the National Flag on Republic Day. The diktat comes after the controversy last year, when RSS Chief Mohan Singh Bhagwat, had defied orders from the state government and hoisted the Tricolour at a public school on Republic Day.

Bhagwat is expected to hoist the flag at Sangh-run Bharatiya Vidya Niketan in Kallekadu this year. However, he is also scheduled to hoist the National Flag at a school in Palakkad.

When questioned about the move, Dr Dinesh Varshney, CPI leader said, “If hoisting is allowed for everybody, it may be misused.” BJP Party spokesperson had called the move, “utter nonsense”.

There is a history of conflict between the Left parties in Kerala and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. With tacit approval from the liberal establishment, communists under the Pinarayi Vijayan led government have become emboldened in their persecution of the Sangh karyakartas in recent years. RSS workers are regularly murdered by communists. In such a scenario, with the law and order situation going from bad to worse, the latest circular by the Kerala government appears to be an act of vendetta against a political opponent.

USA designates Indian-origin Islamic convert Abu Rumsyah a global terrorist, Media uses his Hindu name

Nithesh S
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USA designates Indian-origin Islamic convert Abu Rumsyah a global terrorist, Media uses his Hindu name

Indian-origin person named Abu Rumaysah was designated as a global terrorist by the United States. He joins the list of other prominent terrorists like Syed Salahuddin and terrorist from Bhatkal, Mohammad Shafi Armar, who have been designated as global terrorists.

Abu Rumsyah – The new Jihadi John

Abu Rumsyah converted from Hinduism to Islam before joining terrorist groups. Before 2014, he was the leading member of a terror organisation named  Al-Muhajiroun (now defunct). He had skipped his UK bail in 2014 to meet his wife and children in Syria. Rumsyah went on to becoming a senior commandant of ISIS. He was considered to have filled the position of  Mohammad Emwazi (known as Jihadi John). The ‘global terrorist’ designation will make it more difficult for Rumsyah to access resources in order to carry on his terrorist activities.

Media uses his Hindu name to shield his Muslim identity

Mainstream media continued to use his old name Siddhartha Dhar. One wonders if this was done with an intention of shielding his new Islamic identity and insinuate the false narrative of ‘Hindu terror’ implicitly. Following are the screen grabs from portals like the Times of India, Scroll.in, and NDTV.

Snapshot of Times of India report
Snapshot of Scroll.in report

 

Snapshot of NDTV report

This reminds one of a previous case where LeT terrorist Adil was called by his previous name, Sandip Sharma, to insinuate the idea of a ‘Hindu terrorist’. Similar to the case of Rumsyah, he had already converted to Islam before taking up terrorist activities.

The “Hindu terror” bogey has fallen flat on it’s face many times. One wonders why then, would the Media actively further that agenda by deceitful headlines. The man who joined terror organisations was Abu Rumsyah and not Siddhartha Dhar. We can only hope that the media learns to stick to facts, rather than half truths.

US Drone strike kills two terrorists from Haqqani Network in Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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US Drone strike kills two terrorists from Haqqani Network in Pakistan

A US Drone strike has killed two terrorists belonging to the dreaded Haqqani Network on Wednesday morning.

The US-based news channel Fox News has reported the drone strike to have taken place in Dapa Mamuzai village near Pakistan’s Kurram tribal regions. Two intelligence officials have confirmed the strike, under conditions of anonymity.

The killed terrorists were reportedly named Ahsanullah a.k.a. Nooray and Nasir Mehsud. Ahsanullah reportedly was a dreaded commander from the Haqqani Network. Two missiles were fired at a residential building in this strike. The area is situated very close to the Afgan border. Earlier on January 17 too, a drone strike had killed two terrorists in the area. Pakistani news website Geo-news has reported.

The rough terrain of Pakistan’s northwestern regions is widely used by terrorists as a hideout. The US has been targeting these hideouts in repeated drone strikes. On Dec 26 too, News agency Reuters had reported that a US drone strike had killed a Haqqani terrorist in the same region.

The frequent drone strikes are opposed by Pakistan as a violation of their sovereignty. In most cases, The Pakistan government does not even officially admit to the strikes and the Pakistani officials confirm it under conditions of anonymity citing ‘sensitive nature’ of the strikes.

The US President Donald Trump has been taking a hardline stand on Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists. On January 1, 2018, in his first tweet of the year, he had slammed Pakistan for giving USA nothing but lies and deceit and had decided to cut 255 million dollars aid.

Pakistan has always been in denial mode when it comes to terrorists and has only issued empty promises on fighting terrorism. It had only taken token steps like prohibiting global designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed from taking donations and making baseless statements.

Aligarh Muslim University student who reportedly became a terrorist, now praised in University’s enquiry report

OpIndia Staff
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Aligarh Muslim University student who reportedly became a terrorist, now praised in University’s enquiry report

In the first week of January, a news had broken that a geology student pursuing his PhD with the Aligarh Muslim University had reportedly become a terrorist with the terror organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.

This was ascertained after a photograph of him holding an AK-47 surfaced on social media, with a message that, “Mannan Wani, son of Bashir Ahmed Wani, joined Mujahideen on January 5”. Apart from this, support started pouring in on social media from the usual elements from Kashmir and Pakistan wishing Wani success in his ‘mission’.

Soon after the news blew up, Wani was expelled from the university. Apart from this, the Uttar Pradesh police conducted raids in the campus and it is believed that suspicious material has been found from in Wani’s room. The recovered material include books, photocopies, and pen drives.

Apart from expelling Wani, the University had also set-up an inquiry in this matter, which is now in the news for supposedly ‘praising’ the student turned terrorist.

As per reports, an inquiry which was submitted by AMU to the police, has described him as a brilliant student who had nothing objectionable against him, in context of the university.

A total of two inquiries were initiated in the matter, one was led by a two member committee which consisted of JN Medical College professor SH Arif from the department of pathology and Kamlesh Chandra from ENT department. It has been claimed in the report that during his five year enrolment at the university, Wani had nothing suspicious on his record.

The second committee led by the varsity proctor, Professor Mohd Mohsin Khan, has submitted a 20 page report, which is similar to the other committee’s report.

The Aligarh’s senior superintendent of police Rajesh Pandey has said that these reports would be sent to the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) for a detailed examination.

This episode was also in the news after a section of the media reports claimed that the roommate of Wani was also missing. This was debunked by the roommate’s kin who claimed that he discontinued his PhD in September 2016 after he was offered a job with a reputed corporation in Maharashtra.

Journalist uses rape analogy for Bhansali inviting Karni Sena to watch Padmavat, gets flak

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist uses rape analogy for Bhansali inviting Karni Sena to watch Padmavat, gets flak

Columnist Saba Naqvi with a fading career, desperately clutching on to straws, today tried to come down on Karni Sena, which has been protesting violently in various parts of the country over screening of the movie Padmaavat.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Naqvi likened the violence by Karni Sena to a woman getting raped.


While there is no way to justify what Karni Sena is doing, equating the violence to rape is wrong on many levels. Especially when people across the world are being vocal against downplaying sexual assault. Naqvi got called out on Twitter for her insensitive tweet.


Some even questioned her ‘liberal’ credentials.


While others even pointed out how the Internet Liberals would’ve reacted if such a comment was passed by a man.


Perhaps expecting a little bit of sensitivity from self appointed guardians of feminism is too much to ask for.

Meenakshi Lekhi to sue Rahul Gandhi’s aide for spreading fake news about her father-in-law

OpIndia Staff
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Meenakshi Lekhi to sue Rahul Gandhi’s aide for spreading fake news about her father-in-law

Sadhavi Khosla is one of the famed cheerleaders of Rahul Gandhi. Her allegiance to the crowned prince of Indian National Congress was evident when, in a horrific ode to Rahul, she basically said that Rahul Gandhi, being “the most eligible bachelor” wouldn’t rape anyone since “a person of his stature” can find a “decent, respectable woman to get married to”. Basically, not only promoting rape culture, but also insulting genuine rape victims, in one single paragraph.

Of course, after outcry from many quarters, Sadhavi had deleted this portion of her blog.

Sadhavi Khosla seems to have gotten herself into a bit of pickle yet again, in her quest to cheer for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Today, Sadhavi quoted a tweeted of Meenakshi Lekhi remembering Subhash Chandra Bose to allege that Lekhi’s father-in-law, PN Lekhi, had defended Nathuram Godse in the court of law.

This assertion was obviously ridiculous considering that in the book “The Murder of Mahatma” by G. D. Khosla, Former Chief Justice of Punjab, who heard the appeal of Nathuram Godse and others and gave his most historic verdict in the case of assassination, he writes on Page 19 that Nathuram Godse had declined counsel and represented himself [PDF].

After Sadhavi Khosla tweeted her lies, Meenakshi Lekhi tweeted to her saying that she was going to report this incident to the police considering spreading lies and rumours is an offence both in real life and on Twitter.

This blatant lie was of course gleefully supported by other cheerleaders of Congress and Rahul Gandhi.


Considering Lekhi’s general “take no prisoners” attitude, it remains to be seen if she will finally take people to task over malicious lies they spread.

Revamped counter-insurgency plan bears fruits with the Maoist influence shrinking to a mere 58 districts

OpIndia Staff
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Revamped counter-insurgency plan bears fruits with the Maoist influence shrinking to a mere 58 districts

The Indian districts infested by the threat of Maoists have now shrunk down to 58, if reports are to be believed. This incremental drop comes over a two year period, with 67 districts reporting violent attacks in 2016 to 58 districts reporting it in 2017. In 2015, about 75 districts had reported such attacks.

The Maoist sphere of influence currently seems to be restricted to the four states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, from where 90% of the Maoist attacks have been reported.

This reduction in Maoist influence is being credited to a redrawn counter-insurgency plan which is backed by real time intelligence via the use of modern tech like drones. It also involves coordinated day and night operations by security personnel, which allows Maoists to be targeted deep in the jungle.

As per officials, senior Maoist leaders and informers are targeted via precise intelligence and recent times have also seen more coordinated operations between the CRPF, IAF, BSF, ITBP and state police.

Besides this, what has also helped is the renewed focus on development of the Maoist infested regions. This includes setting up of mobile towers and construction of roads. The construction of roads come in the backdrop of the Centre deciding to spend a whopping Rs 11,000 crore for providing road connectivity to 44 Maoist-affected districts, including Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, where 25 CRPF personnel were killed in a deadly Maoist ambush in April.

To list out a few other development works, we had reported how the Indian Railway had successfully started the first Express train in the Maoist bastion of Dantewada.

The ITBP jawans had given another jolt to Maoist aspirations by building a bridge over Tatoda river in the Maoist-infested Kaneri village of Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district, in just 30 days. This bridge before its completion was pending for about 9 years due to the Maoist threat and its construction would help around 10,000 villagers of 60 villages.

As per CRPF’s Director General Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, the Naxal influence is now restricted to mere three pockets which are, Bastar-Sukma which have an area of about 1200 sq km, Andhra-Odisha Border a 2,000 sq km region and the 4.500 sq km Abujmaad forest area.

2017 also saw more 150 Maoist cadres getting killed, which made it one of the most successful year for the security forces.

This success against the Maoists has carry-forwarded to 2018, with the police arresting four Maoist couriers on Tuesday while they were on route to deliver a shipment of medicines for their counterparts holed up in Bastar.

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