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RJD gets Income Tax notice for its Desh Bachao, Bhajpa Bhagao rally on 27th August

Hemant Bijapurkar
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RJD gets Income Tax notice for its Desh Bachao, Bhajpa Bhagao rally on 27th August

A “Desh Bachao, Bhajpa Bhagao” rally was organised by Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD on 27th August in Patna which was attended by various opposition leaders. This rally was supposed to be a show of strength and was also seen as an attempt to forge an alliance of like-minded opposition parties to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. But unfortunately for the opposition, the rally has been in the news for the wrong reasons, ever since it was announced.

First, key participants started pulling out, then when it finally took place, adequate number of people allegedly didn’t turn up. In order to mitigate the embarrassment, Lalu and others reportedly tweeted out a morphed photo which showed the rally ground overflowing with people.

Now that the rally has taken place, the Income Tax Department has decided to get on its case. According to reports, the IT department today issued a notice to the RJD in order to inquire about the expenses incurred during the rally:


The IT department has reportedly asked the RJD to explain the sources of its funds and to provide all the necessary details.

Incidentally the Income Tax has also been close on the heels of Lalu’s family recently. In June we had reported how, the IT department had seized benami properties of Lalu’s daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti, son-in-law Shailesh Kumar and his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav in Gurugram, Delhi and Rewari.

Also this Tuesday, there were reports of the IT officials again questioning Tejaswi Yadav and former Bihar CM and Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi. This was in connection to the IT probe into alleged corrupt land dealings against which a case was registered in June.

 

Punjab and Haryana HC upholds constitutional validity of jat quota.

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab and Haryana HC upholds constitutional validity of jat quota.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday upheld the Constitutional validity of the Haryana Backward Classes Act 2016, providing reservation to six communities including Jat under newly created BC (C) category. The Court then referred the petition on the Jat reservation to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which will have to submit its report by March 31, 2018. Till then, the reservation to these communities will be put on hold.

The Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admissions in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, passed unanimously by the Haryana Assembly in March, 2016, provided reservation to Jat, Jat Sikh, Muslim-Jat, Bishnoi, Ror and Tyagi communities under a newly created BC (C) category.

However, on May 26, 2016, a division bench of the HC had stayed the reservation to these communities after hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the constitutional validity of schedule-III (block-C) of The Haryana Backward Classes (reservation in services and admission in educational in stitutions) Act 2016.

The Haryana Government has maintained that Jat is backward community, hence they should be awarded reservation, whereas the petitioner has maintained that the Jats represent about 30-56% of various posts.

The district administration and police authorities were on high alert in anticipation of the verdict today.

Muslim youths create commotion in a Ganesh puja and abuse the Priest to stop devotional songs

OpIndia Staff
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Muslim youths create commotion in a Ganesh puja and abuse the Priest to stop devotional songs

The town of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh was a witness to unfortunate scenes on Wednesday evening after Muslim youths created commotion in an ongoing Ganesh puja. Reports claimed that the youths demanded that devotional songs and bhajan-kirtan be stopped playing.

According to reports, the preparations for an Aarti were underway at a Ganesh Puja in Risia Nagar when 5 youths from a nearby locality barged into the Puja stall with their shoes on. They started to create chaos and even started vandalising things present inside. When the priest objected they reportedly started to abuse him. When the committee members of the puja rushed to the spot, the youths fled from the area after giving threats. After somehow finishing the aarti, a crowd reached the nearby police station and started to demand action.

Seeing the situation, the Circle Officer along with a police force reached the spot and placated the crowd. After registering a case, the police raided 8 locations and as a result arrested the 5 accused named Zuber Khan, Faiz Ansari, Rizwan Ahmed, Sahil Idrisi and Istihaq Ahmed. They were later sent to a jail.

The report while elaborating on the matter claimed that the Ganesh Puja was being organised inside a Hanuman Temple. The incident happened at about 9:30 PM when the people had congregated for the Aarti.

This isn’t the only time such a communal incident has happened during Ganesh Puja. It was reported from Sahebganj in Jharkhand that two groups were involved in a big fight on Monday night during a Ganesh Puja Visarjan. As a result situation became tense in the city and in order to control it, a heavy police force was deployed.

According to the report, at about 10 PM the Visarjan procession was passing through a sensitive part of the city. Around that time, people taking part in the procession and youths of a particular community had a disagreement near a mosque. This unfortunately escalated and led to a fight which also involved stone pelting. In light of the incident, the Visarjan was done under heavy security presence and very few people were permitted to witness it.

Al Qaeda’s Kashmir head Zakir Musa threatens India, says will liberate India from Hindus

OpIndia Staff
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Al Qaeda’s Kashmir head Zakir Musa threatens India, says will liberate India from Hindus

On the eve of Eid al-Adha, Al Qaeda’s Kashmir cell head, who preceded Burhan Wani, released a ten minute long audio tape threatening to “liberate” India from the rule of “cow-worshipping” PM Modi and Hindus. Musa, who is a former Hizbul Mujahideen militant, also warned the government warned the government against deporting Rohingya Muslims.

Hitting out on the Pakistan army for ‘betraying Kashmir’s jihadi movement by supporting the US in war against Mujahideen’ by closing training camps and killing activists.

According to reports, Musa threatened India, saying the country will see its leaders chained and dragged. “Narendra Modi the worshipper of cow, can gather as much might with his politics and diplomacy but won’t be able to stop us… We will hoist the flag of Islam on Hind and we will have the Hindu rulers chained and dragged,” he said.

Earlier, too, Musa had released audio tapes where he had called Indian Muslims “shameless” for not joining jihad.

Zakir Musa recently featured in the list of 12 dreaded terrorists, operating in the Kashmir Valley, released by Indian Army. He has been marked as A++ category terrorist by the Indian Army.

Earlier, Musa as the Hizbul Mujahideen commander had called the separatist Hurriyat Conference leaders “hypocrites”, “infidels”, “followers of evil” and had threatened to chop off their heads and hang them in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk “if they create hurdles in the path of making Kashmir an Islamic state”.

Musa parted ways with the Hizbul recently in a step that could be a tactic to pander to Islamist crowd in Kashmir while keeping a ‘secular’ facade to get international and intellectual support.

Kolkata Police traces triple talaq petitioner Ishrat’s two children who went missing

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata Police traces triple talaq petitioner Ishrat’s two children who went missing

Triple talaq petitioner Ishrat Jahan’s woes don’t seem to be ending. Following threats, character assassination and social boycott Ishrat has now claimed two of her four children have gone missing. Thankfully, the children, who were allegedly to Ishrat’s husband’s relatives place were later on traced by Kolkata Police.


31 year old Ishrat has filed a missing complaint report in Golabari Police Station in Howrah. Ishrat has four children, of which one son and one daughter were allegedly taken away by her husband.

Ishrat has been on the receiving end of lot of humiliation after the Supreme Court verdict making instant triple talaq invalid. Earlier, she had written a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister accusing the West Bengal Police of not providing enough safety and security to her. A copy of the letter was also sent to  Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the chairperson of National Commission for Women Lalitha Kumaramangalam and and Howrah Police Commissionerate, among others.

TMC has also asked its leaders to stay mum on the triple talaq verdict. TMC leaders Siddiqullah Chowdhary and Idris Ali have allegedly been using derogatory words for Ishrat after the triple talaq verdict. The leaders, however, maintain that they have only voiced their opinion criticising the Supreme Court’s verdict and have not used abusive language for Ishrat.

The party leadership has since asked the TMC leaders to not voice any of their opinion on this subject matter without keeping the leadership in the loop.

In 2001, when Ishrat was 14, she was married in Bihar, where she and her husband lived before shifting to Pilkhana in Howrah. She was one of the five petitioners who filed a petition in the Supreme Court against triple talaq.

A whole Telangana town stands still every morning to sing the National Anthem

OpIndia Staff
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A whole Telangana town stands still every morning to sing the National Anthem

A small town named Jammikunta in Telangana is home to unique scenes every morning. According to reports every morning at 8 AM the whole town comes to a standstill in rapt attention as the National Anthem gets played. Apart from that the residents also saute the tricolour.

This practice was started by the Jammikunta police from 15th August. In order to make it far reaching, the police has installed 16 loudspeakers across the town which are connected to the police command and control centre. The loudspeakers start playing patriotic songs from 7:45 AM after which Prashanth Reddy, the Circle Inspector addresses people regarding the current issues. Finally after that, the National Anthem gets played.

When asked as to why they had started such an initiative, Reddy interestingly replied that they had done so after being disappointed that the young generation did not know the National Anthem. He further stated that with people coming together, their relationship would get stronger and thus with positive vibes, the negative thoughts can be wiped out from the society.

Even the residents were very welcoming of the idea. According to a local resident, they look forward to sing the National Anthem with their fellow citizens thereby showing gratitude to their motherland in a great way. He/she also praised the police for coming up with such an initiative.

This isn’t the only time a public singing of National Anthem has been brought into practice. Famously in November the Supreme Court had declared that it was compulsory for all cinema theatres to play the anthem before a movie begins and a National Flag would also have to shown on the screen while its played.

Chief Imam of All India Imam organisation wants cow to be declared India’s national animal

OpIndia Staff
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Chief Imam of All India Imam organisation wants cow to be declared India’s national animal

Umer Ahmed Ilyasi the Chief Imam of the All India Imam organisation on Wednesday called for the cow to be declared as India’s national animal. He made the statement during a religious gathering named Shashtipurti Mahotsav in Ahmadabad.

He was quoted as saying that a message should be sent to the government regarding the same and his statement as a result got a standing ovation from the people at the event who had attended it in the thousands. He at the event also reported told an anecdote about a Jain family once being neighbours with a Muslim family who then used to leave their house for 10 days during Bakri Eid as the Muslim family used to sacrifice a goat on that day. He then claimed that when he came to know about it, he reasoned with the Muslim family and made them stop it.

Ilyasi has also previously been in the news for his pro-cow advocacy. At the start of this month he reportedly demanded a nationwide ban on cow slaughter. He at that time had also stated that there was nothing wrong in chanting “Jai Sri Ram” as it was acclamation of his victory. This was in response to the whole controversy which had erupted when the Bihar Minority Affairs Minister Khurshid Alam had chanted the same.

Also this is not the only time cow and national animal have been uttered in the same breath. A couple of months back Mahesh Chandra Sharma the Rajasthan High Court judge who famously had claimed that peacocks don’t have sex, had recommended that the cow be declared India’s national animal. He had further suggested that those found guilty of cow slaughter should be sentenced to life imprisonment. These comments of his had come while he was hearing a matter of hundreds of cows perishing in a government run cowshed.

TMC asks ministers not to comment on triple talaq verdict without keeping leadership in loop

OpIndia Staff
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TMC asks ministers not to comment on triple talaq verdict without keeping leadership in loop

Even as the triple talaq petitioner from Howrah Ishrat Jahan wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requesting protection, TMC has asked ministers to keep mum on the subject. In her letter, Ishrat, she had requested Mamata Banerjee to act against TMC Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhary and TMC Lok Sabha MP Idris Ali for their derogatory comments on Ishrat after the triple talaq verdict.

Siddiqullah and Idris maintain while they had not used derogatory words against Ishrat, they had voiced their dissent against the 22nd August Supreme Court verdict. The party leadership has since asked the TMC leaders to not voice any of their opinion on this subject matter without keeping the leadership in the loop.

However, Mamata sent a show cause notice to both the leaders to explain why any action should not be taken against them for their comments. However, this she herself has neither criticised nor welcomed the verdict of the Supreme Court.

Ishrat has also complained she is facing threats, character assassination and social boycott from her neighbours and relatives in Howrah. 30 year old Jahan’s husband divorced her in 2015 over the phone from Dubai and allegedly took awayher 4 children. In her fight for social justice, she has faced financial losses and now she has to face abuses as she is called “dirty woman”, “enemy of men” and “anti-Islam”.

In 2001, when Ishrat was 14, she was married in Bihar, where she and her husband lived before shifting to Pilkhana in Howrah. She was one of the five petitioners who filed a petition in the Supreme Court against triple talaq.

Earlier, she wrote a letter to the West Bengal CM accusing the West Bengal police of not providing enough safety and security to her. A copy of the letter was also sent to  Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the chairperson of National Commission for Women Lalitha Kumaramangalam and and Howrah Police Commissionerate, among others.

Chowdhary has been vocally against the verdict, whereas, Mamata Banerjee has maintained silence on the Supreme Court verdict declaring instant triple talaq unconstitutional.

Yogi govt to make subjects like maths and science compulsory in state’s madrasas

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi govt to make subjects like maths and science compulsory in state’s madrasas

In a possible move to modernise the 16,000 odd madrasas in the state, the Yogi government is reportedly planning to revamp the course curriculum of the madrasas which would mean that subjects like mathematics, science, social sciences, English and Hindi would have to be compulsorily taught by them.

In order to bring in the fresh curriculum, the state government has enacted a 40 member committee which includes a members from NCERT, Aligarh Muslim University, Lucknow University along with principals of secondary, higher secondary schools and research scholars from Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Urdu, Arabi-Farsi University.

The medium of instruction of the non-language subjects would be in Urdu and would be based on the NCERT curriculum. According to Monika Garg the principal secretary of minority welfare and wakf department, this move is being undertaken to modernise the madrasas’ teaching methods so that its students can get jobs. She then clarified that the government won’t interfere in the religious curriculum of the religious institutions. The UP government has also reportedly allocated Rs 15 crores so that it can buy education material and conduct exams via its online portal. Incidentally even the BJP government had proposed a similar madrasa modernisation program in its 2014 lok sabha manifesto[PDF].

The UP government is also reportedly seeking further transparency about the inner-workings of the madrasas. According to the report, the government would be tracking them through a GPS-based service and each madrasa would get a unified district information system for education (UDISE) code. The government has tried to justify such measures by claiming that it wants to detect fake teachers and pupils plus provide better administration. Also these madrasas in order to retain their government funding would also have to register on the UP government’s madrasa portal. But the madrasas on the other hand have questioned the government’s intention.

Yogi government’s focus on the state’s madrasas had come into public attention after it was reported that the state’s Madarsa Shiksha Parishad had directed all Madrasas in the state to unfurl national flag and recite the national anthem on India’s 71st Independence Day. This was sensationally reported by many to be a test of patriotism, but this charge was debunked by us in our report which pointed out how it was a standard “Sarkari” circular which the Yogi government had issued after being instructed to do so by the Allahabad High Court.

Jodhpur hospital incident: both women and their children alive

OpIndia Staff
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Jodhpur hospital incident: both women and their children alive

On Wednesday, a video of two doctors engaged in an ugly verbal spat allegedly shot inside the delivery room in a hospital in Jodhpur went viral.


It was reported that the newborn baby died in the delivery room after the doctor’s brawl. However, later Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf clarified that the baby survived, but the baby of another woman who underwent surgery on nearby operation table died.

The Rajasthan High Court also took cognizance on Wednesday and sought to know if that is the case.

However, later yesterday, Rajasthan government clarified that both the women and their babies are alive and safe.

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