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Karni Sena extends support to Congress, while after meeting Yogi Adityanath, agree to watch Padmaavat

OpIndia Staff
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Karni Sena extends support to Congress, while after meeting Yogi Adityanath, agree to watch Padmaavat

Nearly a dozen Rajput organizations, including the Karni Sena, have declared support to the Congress party for the upcoming by-polls in Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies to be held on January 29. The Rajput organizations claim they have taken the decision to avenge the humiliation Rajputs have suffered under the BJP rule in the state.

Giriraj Singh Lotwara, Preseident of Shri Rajput Sabha, said, “The Rajput community is unhappy with the state BJP government. The community feels cheated. The agreement inked in the Anandpal encounter case has not been followed. In the Chatur Singh case, we demanded a CBI probe but nothing happened. Also, a sum of ₹3.5 crore service tax has been imposed on Rajput Sabha Bhawan.”

Candidate of the Congress Party from Ajmer, Raghu Sharma, met with leaders of the Rajput community seeking support for the upcoming by-polls. Leaders of Rajput organizations have assured unconditional support to the Congress in all the three seats going into polls. Khachariyawas, who was accompanying Sharma, commented “The Rajput organisations have assured support on all three seats and this will come as a big jolt to the BJP. We have also assured the Congress’ support to the community.”

The other Rajput organizations to have declared support to the Congress include Shri Rajput Sabha, Marwar Rajput, Rashtriya Karni Sena, Rawna Rajput, Charan Rajput, Pratap Foundation.

It wasn’t the first time that Congress leaders have sought to appease the Rajput community for electoral gains. When members of Karni Sena had thrashed Sanjay Leela Bhansali last year, Congress leader Pratap Singh had backed the Karni Sena and stated that no one had the right to dent Padmavati’s image. He had told ANI then, “Padmavati was not lover of anyone. Bhansali cannot hurt the sentiments of the people by portraying the sacrifice of Padmavati in a wrong way. Padmavati has a history, she had fought for everyone. Chittaur is a pride of the nation.”

The conspicuous silence of the Congress bigwigs over the violent antics of the Karni Sena has not gone unnoticed. Normally, they are overeager to point fingers at the BJP and demand strict punishment for the offenders, however with the state assembly elections in Rajasthan around the corner, the Congress party has adopted a strategic silence.

Shashi Tharoor, self-proclaimed champion of Freedom of Expression, demanded that the sentiments of Rajputs be respected, giving the impression that he was perfectly at ease with censorship in this particular instance:


While the Congress party maintains stoic silence, and Karni Sena extends support to Congress, news emerged that after meeting Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Karni Sena has agreed to accept invitation extended by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and watch the movie Padmaavat:


Appeasement has been a favored tactic of the Congress party to succeed at electoral politics and it is not surprising that it is looking to benefit electorally from the Padmavat controversy. Congress has in the past adopted the same strategy and it has served their purposes electorally. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the Party which brought the First Amendment is again willing to retract from its self proclaimed strong commitment to Freedom of Expression for electoral benefits.

Throwing Saraswati away

Anuraag Saxena
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Throwing Saraswati away

Major General William Kincaid was a British officer posted in India in the late 1800’s. Unlike a typical gun-slinging and swashbuckling armyman, Kincaid led a rather insipid career, dabbling between “adjusting boundary disputes” and playing “political agent”.

What one does though, when faced with annual appraisals and proving loyalty to the Crown, is plunder the country one has colonized and send “gifts” back to the Crown. This is apparently what Kincaid did. While posted in Bhopal, he pilfered some murtis and dispatched them to London.

The most controversial amongst this loot, have been the murtis of Goddess Saraswati, taken from Bhojshala in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. These murtis were commissioned by Raja Bhoja (incidentally after whom Bhopal is named), and were the object of reverence for centuries.

But back to the controversy. The loot of the Saraswati murtis became controversial for three reasons:

  1. The location and temple has since become a mosque, where namaaz is offered till today.
  2. The return of these murtis have become an election mudda over the last decade.
  3. PM Narendra Modi is the first Indian head of state to demand (and personally receive) stolen antiquities from the United States of America, Canada, Germany, Australia and other nations.

 

One of the thousands

UNESCO estimates that 50,000 idols and artifacts had been stolen out of India till 1989. Advocacy group Global Financial Integrity estimates the illegal trade of arts and artifacts is worth Rs. 40,000 crores a year. As an example, a single sandstone sculpture stolen from Madhya Pradesh was worth Rs. 100 crores in the international market.

It’s not just a National Pride issue now, but a National Security issue.

In February 2015, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) expressed its concern that the Islamic State (ISIS) “are generating income from engaging directly or indirectly in the looting and smuggling in cultural heritage items (…) to support their recruitment efforts and strengthen their operational capability to organize and carry out terrorist attacks”.

As a response, the UNSC adopted its resolution 2199, formally recognizing art and antiquities trafficking as a terrorist financing tool.

You would imagine a certain level of seriousness, to therefore bring the Saraswati (and indeed others) back home.

Saraswati : Drawing Adversaries Closer

Shashi Tharoor made the case for the larger issue of reparations, at the now famous Oxford debates. Regardless of party affiliation or personal opinion about the gentlemen himself, this call of his needs our unequivocal support.

Subramanian Swamy, during his visit to Dhar, lent his voice to the issue demanding that this murti be brought back. This follows closely, the famous London Nataraja case, which India won successfully in the UK.

PM Narendra Modi, in his earlier avatar as the CM has promised to bring this murti back at an election rally in Dhar.

So you see, the Bhojshala Saraswati Devi finally had the divine power to get adversaries to agree.

Britain’s envy, India’s pride

In June 2016, I was invited to speak at an “Art Crimes” Seminar in London. Many members of the audience were eminently supportive of our #BringOurGodsHome program, where we demand that heritage should go back where it belongs. Post-conference conversations revolved around “How can we help?” type of discussions; with wide consensus on Britain’s moral obligation to return what is rightfully India’s.

Lo and behold! A few months later, in September 2016, one of the audience-members actually DID return a Brahma-Brahmani murti that was stolen from India earlier (located painstakingly by Mr. Kirit Mankoti). Fascinating that it was the first ever piece of heritage that came back to independent India from the UK, a historic occurrence by any measure.

Is there hope?

Well yes and no.

On one hand, PM Modi has been the first Indian head-of-state to focus on the issue. But on the other hand, his bureaucrats can’t seem to deliver on the PM’s commitment. As an example, 200 heritage-objects were offered to PM Modi in June 2016. Of the 200, only a dozen seem to have been brought back by officials.

On one hand we are seeing a Hindu resurgence of sorts, where more and more people are realising the value of our cultural heritage. Issues of reclaiming temples and bringing our gods back are slowly but steadily become dinner table conversation and social media discussion. While the conversation around this is reaching a crescendo, on the other hand, there are people who take a step further and lead community driven awareness campaigns like #BringOurGodsHome, #ReclaimTemples, #YearofTemples etc.

While community outrage on political issues and the nitty gritties of the Lutyens charade is important to keep the discourse on track, we can’t possibly choose to sacrifice Maa Saraswati at the altar of seemingly frivolous conversation. It is my personal hope, that perhaps one day, our collective energy will create something beautiful, the seeds of which are already being laid by Hindus consolidating. Perhaps one day we as a people would decide to pool and channelise our anger and stress a simple idea in one, united voice :

History belongs to its geography.

(Anuraag Saxena is a Singapore-based CA & MBA. He is passionate about Indian heritage and culinary-history, and runs India Pride Project (www.ipp.org.in). He tweets at @anuraag_saxena)

Fed up of ‘restrictions’, Muslim girl becomes Hindu, seeks security

OpIndia Staff
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Fed up of ‘restrictions’, Muslim girl becomes Hindu, seeks security

A girl hailing from Haldwani Banbhulpura in Uttarakhand has submitted an affidavit to the local administration on Friday, informing them that she has converted from Islam to Hinduism. She has further requested the authorities to provide her a security cover. She has also stated that she be called Sunita instead of Shahnawaz in the future.

Media reports say that Sunita along with a few other people came to the City Magistrate’s office on Friday, and informed him about her conversion to Hinduism. Following this, the Magistrate handed over an affidavit, where she wrote that the myopic views towards women in Islam prompted her to learn about other religions. While reading about Hinduism she found that Hindu women have a right to live independently without any sort of restrictions.

The 22 years old girl has alleged that her family members have been harassing her for a long time and had also placed a lot of restrictions on her. Things were allegedly so bad that the family members were even threatening to poison her. The girl as a result has claimed that she has been in hiding in the recent past. She claimed that she was tired of all the restrictions heaped on her, and after expressing wariness about the practice of triple talaq, she decided to become a Hindu.

Following her conversion to Hinduism, Sunita has claimed that her family members have threatened to kill her.

Based on the girl’s claims, the city magistrate Pankaj Upadhaya has instructed the police to carry out a probe in the matter. Upadhaya called it a personal matter of the girl, and said that the police will probe the circumstances of the girl’s conversion, and would also ascertain whether she was forced by anyone to carry out this exercise.

Even though such religious conversions are rare, there have been similar incidences in the past.

In December of 2016 it was reported that a Muslim woman in Ghaziabad, who was a victim of triple talaq, had decided to convert to Hinduism. She was reportedly given triple talaq by her husband in 2014 after which she, a mother of two kids, had to leave their home. She also claimed that following her conversion, she would lead a fight against such evils.

Interestingly, it has also been reported that a family from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, which had converted to Islam about 5 years ago, had decided to reconvert back to Hinduism. As per one family member, he felt uneasy for a long time after converting to Islam, following which he then finally decided to listen to his inner voice and decided to rejoin Hinduism.

Sunita’s demand for security might be justified as such conversions attack severe backlash from the Muslim community.

We had reported how a mob had threatened to kill a Bihar advocate who had accepted Hinduism after renouncing Islam. The lawyer from Bihar’s Begusarai region had supposedly converted to Hinduism along with his sons, after he was being threatened by some radical Muslims for failing to follow the tenets of Islam.

Following the conversion, he was surrounded by a 15-20 strong mob at the town square who apart from hurling vile obscenities, also threatened to kill him.

How ‘Young Indian’ physically obstructed IT officials from conducting inspection of premises in NH case

Editorial Desk
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How ‘Young Indian’ physically obstructed IT officials from conducting inspection of premises in NH case

The Income Tax order presented by Subramanian Swamy in the court has opened a pandora’s box for Congress and the Gandhi family. The order by itself indicts the Gandhis of exactly what was alleged by Dr Swamy. Further, it reveals some sub-plots like how the Gandhis’ company Young Indian tried to thwart the investigation. The order also reveals how the Congress party threatened a tax officer with legal consequences, for asking “irrelevant questions”.

Another section of the order now reveals how the officers of Young Indian (YI) physically obstructed an income tax officer from doing his duty. At this point, the Income tax department’s investigation had concluded that the entire National Herald case was a scheme to transfer prized real estate assets from Associated Journals Limited (AJL) to the Gandhi family controlled YI. The scheme was devised such that no tax would have to be paid, since the fair market value of these properties would run into hundreds of crores.

Thus, to determine the tax evaded, the Income Tax department had to value the properties involved. For this, they ordered that the following properties owned by AJL be valued by the Departmental Valuation Officer (DVO) to ascertain the fair market value as on date:

Little did the DVO know that he would be stopped from discharging his duty by YI and AJL. In his physical inspection report, the DVO lays down the facts.

He states that via a letter dated 14.07.2017, certain information and documents were sought from YI to facilitate the valuation. Instead of providing the information and documents, YI raised certain objections. The officer clarified the objections by 09.08.2017, and YI was again requested to furnish the information and documents by 22.08.2017. The tentative date of inspection of the above properties was also intimated to YI via this letter.

In response to this letter, again raised some objections via letter dated 21.08.2017. In response the DVO intimated to them that even if they could not provide the information and documents, the DVO would inspect the propertv at 5A, Herald House, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, on 01.09.2017 at 11.30 hours. AJL as well as YI were asked to extend the necessary cooperation.

The story beyond this, as per the DVO’s report is shown as below:

As can be seen from the DVO’s report, he states that the security personnel at the premises and the representatives of YI and AJL, did not allow the DVO and his team to carry out physical inspection of the premises. Thus YI and AJL, left no stone unturned to ensure that the true value of the premises would never come out.

consequently, the DVO resorted to collect external data and estimate the value of the premises. The order notes that the above incident corroborated the finding that YI “had not only taken possession of whole property but it had full control over the property including entry and exit to the property“. Thus YI itself had proved that the entire transaction was done to gain control over AJL’s properties, and it had succeeded in the same.

This reluctance of YI and AJL in even letting an income tax officer visit their premises, betrays extreme fear of being caught in something which they have no way out of.

Kerala Congress desperate to align with CPM, which has been accused of killing Hindu activists

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala Congress desperate to align with CPM, which has been accused of killing Hindu activists

Senior Congress leader A. K. Antony, on Sunday came down on CPI-M, the ruling party in Kerala, for ruling out forming an anti-BJP pact with Congress. He even said that opposing Congress in the fight against the BJP is nothing less than being a traitor. His remarks came soon after CPI-M’s central committee meeting in Kolkata ruled out the alliance.

While Sitaram Yechury was in favour of forming an alliance with Congress, Prakash Karat, was not in favour of any alliance with Congress for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Yechury’s draft got support from West Bengal unit, where after 2016 alliance with Congress, their performance was disastrous, and Tripura, while Karat got support from the Kerala unit.

However, Congress slammed CPI-M for playing a ‘spoilsport’ in an effort to form a ‘secular front’ against the BJP. Which is ironical since CPI-M workers are accused of brutally murdering RSS workers and other Hindu activists in Kerala. Even BJP President Amit Shah has blamed the current chief minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan for the political killings taking place in Kerala, on a very regular basis.

The last couple of years have seen numerous instances of violence perpetrated against RSS sympathizers with both workers and their offices getting targeted. In February 2016, year a 27 year old RSS worker was hacked to death in front of his parents in Kannur. In January last year, a BJP worker was stabbed to death at Andaloor in Dharmadam which is the constituency of the current CM of Kerala. We had also reported how an RSS office in Kannur was vandalised by alleged CPM workers, a day after it was inaugurated. It was also alleged that the office had been attacked a whopping 18 times during its construction.

In May last year, two CPM workers were arrested in Kerala for the murder of an RSS worker. All this while Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has tried to downplay the murders of RSS workers in Kerala by claiming how CPM victims in the political murder wars was higher than BJP/RSS on basis of partial data.

In October 2016, the RSS establishment had claimed that as many as 350 of its workers have been a victim of political murders in the last 7 decades.

Meanwhile, Kerala State Congress President MM Hassan also ridiculed CPI-M for praising North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and having a pro-China stand. ‘While the policies in China and North Korea are acceptable to them, they feel allergic to the policies of the Congress party,’ Hassan has reportedly said.

‘Opportunists are those who become selectively janeu-dhari when it suits them’ – Shehzad Poonawalla

Nupur J Sharma
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‘Opportunists are those who become selectively janeu-dhari when it suits them’ – Shehzad Poonawalla

Indian politics is extremely diverse, and up until recently, it could be said that all parties, national and regional, move in concentric circles around the central party, which was the Congress. Recently, however, they have lost miserably in elections, and, it would appear, that their core ideology has morphed into a potpourri of electoral demands. The Congress party, led by a now-a-janeu-dhari-now-a-topi-dhari President and a now-supporting-tukde-tukde-gang-then-muzzling-dissent politician, has lost its way to say the least. One such incident is the public distancing from the rebel congress member Shehzad Poonawalla who recently spoke against the predominance of Dynastic politics within the grand old party. He spoke about how the Congress’ electoral vision is limited to keeping the Shehzada in power. I spoke to him to get a sense of what he thought the Congress party had morphed into. I tried to understand the ‘insiders opinion’ on whether Congress is pro minority, as it had always been, or pro ‘soft hindutva’, as it was trying to protect itself as during Gujarat elections. I end the interview by asking him if he is an opportunist, as many from his own party have been claiming.

Mr Poonawala, you and your brother have been one of the biggest, loudest supporters of the Congress party and the Gandhi family. What changed that prompted you to speak against the dynastic politics in the party?

We have to behave in the public domain in a certain way when we are working for a particular political party, be it the Congress, BJP or AAP. But that does not mean that we are totally unmindful or unaware of the rights and wrongs happening within. Let us be honest, even hardcore supporters would admit that some things are wrong and some things are right when it comes to their party. I too was aware of shortcomings of my party. The thing is, I tried to use the internal platforms available in my party to highlight certain issues. One of them was, the manner in which we allow our representative leader to be chosen and this was the reason I was taking time to reach out to Rahul Gandhi on my level. Internally I was trying to approach him on this matter from 2011 onwards without much success. Probably it was because I spoke too much about how the dynastic politics is actually hurting us instead of helping.

But you always knew about the Dynastic nature of the Congress party, didn’t you?

Since Rahul Gandhi became actively involved in politics he has been speaking about presenting a “New Congress”. It was what he said in 2007 when he became general secretary and also when he became vice president in 2013. It was for me to believe my leader and give them a reasonable amount of time trying to change things before I had to take another course. I did my part. But the sad thing is the party has now become a ” kabeela”, a stringent tribal system. There was a time when there were certain people strong enough to take on the kabeela, like for example Dr Pranab Mukherjee. But today as you know, today has his own mini-kabeela where Sharmistha and Abhijit Mukherjee are there. Everyone has either become a beneficiary or a stakeholder in the kabeela to the extent that Dynastic politics has become the rule, the norm in the party and real talent has become an exception. So please tell me if I had not spoken out against it now when Rahul Gandhi is being coroneted as party president for probably the next twenty or twenty-five years, then when?

According to you, what is the core ideology that drives the party now, which is headed by Rahul Gandhi?

It has nothing to do with the ideology of Congress that started with Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad or Lokmanya Tilak. In fact it is totally against it. It has nothing to do with the principles with which the Congress was once founded, to fight against a foreign rule and get India’s freedom. It is now a subservient party that can be described in a three-point ideology.

  1. Gandhi family must remain in power, in the party and in the nation.
  2. Be it caste or any other card, irrespective of national interest has to be used if it can help us achieve point no 1
  3. Any sort of questioning or dissent on the leadership is not allowed because it will affect point no 1

Congress is known for minority appeasement. Now they are also fiddling with “soft Hindutva” and at the same time, trying to manipulate caste based divide within the Hindu community. What is your view on it?

There was a time when Maulana Azad became the Congress president. Not even the worst critic of Congress had said then that him becoming president was minority appeasement. Because the spirit of the party then was inherently democratic.  There were differences between leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bose, Sardar Patel. But there was a prevailing sense to maintain democracy which allowed talent to flourish. In the last two decades that the party has been completely hijacked and monopolised, tokenism has become the agenda. Have you seen a single Muslim CM in any state other than J&K? Are there no talents in the Muslim community that this self-proclaimed secular Gandhi family could find?

So are you saying the Congress only uses the Muslims as vote banks and they not exactly interested in the upliftment of the community?

I am not saying it, The Sachchar committee report is saying it. In Gujarat there is a 10% muslim population. Congress blames BJP for not giving tickets to Muslims. How many tickets did the Congress give? Did they speak a word about Muslims in Gujarat during their election campaign? They suddenly discovered temples and completely forgot about the Muslims. So much so that when somebody asked if Ahmad Patel can become CM, a competent man who has been in the Rajya Sabha for so long and been such an active person in the party, they rejected that too. For Gujarat they became Janeu Dhari, now that Karnataka has a significant Muslim population, they have started opposing the triple talaq bill. They do politics in the name of Dalits, please tell me in the last many decades that the party ruled the nation, have we ever seen a Dalit Prime Minister?

It is believed that Congress is now seeking an alliance with PFI to consolidate Muslim votes. As someone who practices the faith and is associated with the party, do you think it is the right way to consolidate Muslim votes, to seek an alliance with a radical organisation like PFI?

When my party approached Maulana Bukhari during the 2014 elections I was strongly critical of it. I always tried to get my leaders to seek support from Muslims of talent and education who can be an inspiration to others. PFI is now being investigated by NIA for alleged links to terrorist activities. The very idea of an alliance with them is wrong. Ethically and morally.  Extremism of any religion is condemnable. Congress is quick to call out extremism associated with any other religion, then why to shake hand with Fanatic Muslims? Cant we reach out to the mainstream Muslims, Christian or Sikh to know their views about our country and its policies? It all fits into their policy of divide and rule, tokenism and photo-ops with controversial elements help them to set their narrative of fear-mongering among the masses against BJP. Gandhi family is very good at the divide and rule game.

Congress has a very bad history when it comes to personal laws. Overturning the Shah Bano verdict had started a whole string of bad judgements and atrocities that women faced. Now they are opposing the triple talaq bill. What are your views on it?

I think Congress has not realised that we have moved on from the era of Shah Bano to the Era of Shayara Bano. Today a Muslim woman is as much a stakeholder in the community as any cleric. Congress can appease a few clerics but that is not going to win them any support over the entire community. The bill is a reform that was long overdue. It would have been understandable if congress had said they have problems with certain clauses of the bill, but in the Lok Sabha where BJP holds a majority, they allowed the same bill to pass. How can they have a completely different stand on the bill when it came to Rajya Sabha? They can not preach gender equality here and then run to appeasement in the other house. They cannot step on two boats at the same time.

So you are saying that Congress as of now is neither loyal to Hindus, Muslims or Dalits?

Yes.

How did the Congress react to you after your rebellion? Were doors shut?

You will be surprised to know the number of people who had called me and congratulated me for bringing the issues out in the open. They all told me they wish they had my courage and conviction. But they are also certain that at the right time and right place they are going to make themselves heard. The sentiments I am expressing are echoed by a large number of people. I also want to clarify that I am still a member of Congress party. There had been statements that I don’t belong to Congress but I have provided ample proof and let me assert again that I have not been expelled, neither have been served any show cause notice.

You recently had a spat with Rajdeep. He said that nobody had called and asked him not to invite you to debates and you contradict it, saying there have been communications from Mr Surjewala and his media cell

It’s common knowledge that when there is a TV debate, it is not the anchor who invites the participants. In case of political parties, they have a media coordinator who decides who will attend a debate. The guest co-ordinators from the channel contacts the media cell of a party. There are two people, Dinesh and Girish, who work under Mr Surjewala. They get instructions on which guest to send to which news channel and to speak on what topic. Those two have been telling the guest co-ordinators from each channel that if Shehzad Poonawala is in the panel, we will boycott the channel for the next three days, My point is, this is blatant blackmailing. I have proof of such communication happening. I want my freedom of expression to be upheld too. There are channels who have very good dynastic connections and they have boycotted me.

Can you give me three names of journalists who can qualify as unofficial spokespersons of Congress and three names who are still practising respectable journalism

I won’t give you specific names of persons but I can give you names of media outlets who selectively do not report faults of Congress and do not practice unbiased journalism. First is ‘The Quint’, you saw how they have reported about Kulbhushan Jadhav to propagate their narrow interests, they also promoted Rahul Gandhi and Jignesh Mewani. Second is ‘The Wire’ and third, there are some specific individuals in NDTV and India Today who have a direct connection with congress leadership and allow their personal relationship to influence their professional sphere.

And the channels or anchors that have not changed their stance towards you depending on whether you are talking in support of Congress or against its leadership?

I can not comment on that.

I’m asking if there is still any media house that has not fallen into the blackmail of the Congress media cell?

Then, in that case, it would be Times Now. They have made it clear that they will not deny me a platform.

You are already being depicted as an opportunist who wants to change sides now that Congress is losing elections. Are you worried about the kind of image that Congress is going to project you as

Congress gave its worst ever performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. They have been losing consistently after that. If I wanted to escape and jump ship the doors were open. Opportunists are those who become selectively “Janeu Dhari” when it suits them.

Delhi police arrests founder of Indian Mujahideen and 2008 Gujarat Blast mastermind Abdul Subhan Qureshi

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi police arrests founder of Indian Mujahideen and 2008 Gujarat Blast mastermind Abdul Subhan Qureshi

In a major breakthrough, the Delhi Police on Monday arrested Abdul Subhan Qureshi, who was one of India’s most wanted terrorist, and the mastermind of 2008 Gujarat terror attack which killed at least 58 people. Qureshi who is also the founder of Indian Mujahideen was on the run for almost 10 years.

As per reports, Qureshi was earlier living in Nepal using forged documents and had decided to return back to India for reviving the Indian Mujahideen. He was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police after a light exchange of fire.

PS Kushwah the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), termed Qureshi as India’s most wanted terrorist. Qureshi is also on the National Investigative Agency’s (NIA) most wanted list and had a bounty of Rs 4 lakh on his head.

The visuals of his arrest have started emerging:


The hunt for Qureshi began soon after the 21 bomb blasts in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, when the Gujarat police announced him as a suspect following an email by Indian Mujahideen which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Apart from this, Qureshi was also wanted by the NIA for his alleged involvement in the 2006 Mumbai local train attacks, and blasts in Delhi, Bangalore. Qureshi is believed to be a tech-savy terrorist, who apart from being a bomber, was an employee with IT companies Bengaluru and Hyderabad. He was later allegedly recruited by Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in 1998.

Qureshi, a native of Madhya Pradesh’s Rampur, is also considered an expert in changing appearances and carries aliases like Abdul Subhan Usman Qureshi, Kasim, Zakir, Qab and Touqeer. This might be the reason why he was so successful in giving the police a slip for such a long time.

Swamy explains why Congress may be silent on National Herald papers

OpIndia Staff
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Swamy explains why Congress may be silent on National Herald papers

Subramanian Swamy’s “nuclear bomb‘” in the National Herald case is finally out. Swamy today produced in court was an Income Tax assessment order against the Gandhi family owned company Young Indian. The 105 page order dated 27th December says Congress claim of Rs. 90 Crore loan to AJL was “bogus”. It orders Young Indian to pay tax for concealed income of Rs. 414 crore.

One would imagine that after such explosive revelations, the congress party would go hammer and tongs addressing press conferences, calling the allegations “false and politically motivated” in their usual style.

We wondered why there was such radio silence on this issue. Today, Swamy hinted why they might have chosen to refrain from commenting.

Swamy said that perhaps Congress is not addressing the media on National Herald because if they do, they will have to confirm whether those papers presented by Swamy are authentic or not, and whether they were served with these documents by the IT authorities.


Interestingly, even during court proceedings Swamy had reportedly told the Gandhis to either confirm that these papers are authentic or face perjury.


Swamy also speculated as to who might have delivered these documents to him anonymously.


We had accessed the assessment order and had reported on how the order implicates the Gandhis and how the order indicates that the Gandhis took “loan” from a Hawala operator. With these interesting developments and the hints being given by Swamy, this case promises to be one with endless fireworks.

Raja Ki Mandi station in Agra gets a colourful makeover with gorgeous wall art

OpIndia Staff
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Raja Ki Mandi station in Agra gets a colourful makeover with gorgeous wall art

The idea of painting walls of Railway stations with vibrant, colourful art has become very popular lately. They have received huge support and appreciation from all quarters. The vibrant art not only creates awareness among the public, it also encourages them to keep the stations clean.

We have reported earlier about the beautiful paintings at Titwala railway station near Mumbai and Madhubani railway station in Bihar. Both projects have received tremendous public appreciation and support. While the Titwala station saw wall-art spreading awareness about cleanliness and deforestation, The Madhubani station’s wall art was a tribute to the local art-form of Madhubani paintings. The East Central Railway division had taken it upon itself to beautify the station walls with traditional murals in the Madhubani station. While in case of Titwala the paintings saw a mix of modern art and awareness campaigns carried out by Central Railways.

The latest entrant in this positive and energetic initiative is the Raja Ki Mandi railway station in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. According to a report, the railway officials have roped in the student artists of Lalit Kala Sansthan to unleash their creativity on the station walls of Raja Ki Mandi. Rashmi Baghel, senior DCM, Agra Division, North-Central Railways, stated that the beautification projects are being undertaken with the tagline “Mera station, Meri Shaan” and they have already painted the walls of the Agra Cantonment station too.

Ministry of Railways has tweeted regarding the beautiful art at the Raja Ki Mandi station.


The paintings at the stations were based on the “pachhikari” work of Agra, giving them a Mughal era feel. On the other hand, the paintings at the Raja Ki Mandi station will showcase the “Ram Baraat” of Agra. Here it must be added that the “Ram Baraat” is a part of the famous Ramleela celebrations of Agra and it is one of the biggest events in the city.

‘Ram Baraat’ painted at Raja Ki Mandi railway station. Image courtesy: Times of India

 

Students of Lalit Kala Sansthan, Agra painting the walls of Raja Ki Mandi Station. Image courtesy: Times of India

These gorgeous paintings can sure infuse some colour into mundane travel routines!

Saraswati Puja pandal and idol burnt down in West Bengal by suspected criminals

OpIndia Staff
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Saraswati Puja pandal and idol burnt down in West Bengal by suspected criminals

A Saraswati Puja pandal was reportedly found burnt down in West Bengal’s Dasnagar area, in Howrah District on Sunday night. Apart from the pandal, even the Saraswati idol was set ablaze by the arsonists. As per reports, this incident has happened at the puja organised by the Green Star Club, which has been performing such a puja for the past 25 years.

The incident is supposed to have happened in the wee hours of the night as the decoration and arrangements for the puja went on till 2 AM, following which the organisers decided to go home. The fire was noticed within the next hour, after which locals rushed to douse it using bucket full of water and fire tenders were also called in. The police too were informed of the incident.

As per ANI, the criminals perpetrated the crime to allegedly extol vengeance against locals who closed their liquor shops near that spot:


The organisers have also claimed that the local criminals run a parking lot where people drink, play cards and also perform certain illegal activities.

The Saraswati Puja in West Bengal was also riddled in controversy a year back, when Muslim groups had stopped a school from celebrating Saraswati Puja in West Bengal’s Uluberia.

We had reported the tensions had risen in the Tehatta High School after Muslim groups and locals had forcibly entered the school in December to celebrate Nabi Diwas (Birthday of Prophet Mohammed), which included making religious speeches. They had later also proceeded to vandalise the school property.

About a month later, when the date of Saraswati puja started nearing, such groups again demanded to celebrate Nabi Diwas on 28th January. The headmaster as a result begged the Uluberia police to take some preventive steps as the school could see another forcible gathering and protests. This allegedly angered the groups as they again vandalised the school property.

The district inspector of schools, thus, ordered the school to remain shut until further notice, thereby ensuring that the 65 years old tradition of Saraswati Puja celebrations stood cancelled.

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