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Radicals threaten to cut off Malayali author’s limbs if he doesn’t convert to Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Radicals threaten to cut off Malayali author’s limbs if he doesn’t convert to Islam

A Malayali author has received a threatening letter that asks him to convert to Islam within 6 months, failing which his right arm and left leg would be chopped off.

The author KP Ramanunni, who is also a lecturer in a women’s college, has filed a police report with the Kozhikode city police commissioner on Friday. He is a novelist and short story writer and has been awarded various accolades like Kerala Sahitya Academy Award and Vayalar Award. The author is based in Kozhikode.

The letter was reportedly delivered to him about a week back and is believed to have been posted from Manjeri in Malappuram district. Initially he had ignored the letter, but finally took action after being advised to do so by senior writers.

According to local media reports, the letter had arrived via Indian Post and was in response to an article written by the author, where he had compared Hindus and Muslims. The letter had reportedly alleged that he was ‘misleading’ innocent Muslims and should desist from such actions.

This is reportedly what the letter stated:

Like TJ Joseph, your right arm will be cut off, your left leg too. You are given six months to convert to Islam. If you do not embrace Islam, we will inflict Allah’s punishment on you

The TJ Joseph referred to in the said letter is a Malayali professor who was attacked by activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI), which is a Islamic fundamentalist organisation. The incident took place on 4th July 2010 when he was returning from a local church. The radicals had then pulled him out of the car and chopped his right hand off. The issue had began when he had put a question during exams, which allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammed.

The Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has meanwhile said that he and his government won’t spare the perpetrators of such threats.

It remains to be seen how effective the promise of the Chief Minister turns out to be, for he has been unable to stop the killings of RSS workers by alleged CPM backed goons in his own district of Kannur. Not just that, there have also been allegations that he had even supported such killings in the past.

Shankarsinh Vaghela quits Congress. But where will he go?

OpIndia Staff
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Shankarsinh Vaghela quits Congress. But where will he go?

In what has come as huge blow to Gujarat Congress, veteran party leader Shankarsinh Vaghela on Friday formally announced his resignation ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Gujarat.

“I have resigned as Leader of Opposition in Gujarat. I will resign as Congress MLA after the Rajya Sabha election. I am not a bonded labourer. I am a free bird now,” Vaghela said addressing a rally of his supporters. The rally was organised for showcasing a show of strength on the occasion of his 77th birthday.

In wake of Congress MLAs from Gujarat indulged in cross-voting in the just-concluded presidential polls, Vaghela claimed that the Congress has expelled him “out of fear” and the party has been “perturbed”.

Vaghela outrightly rejected reports about his political retirement. Reports suggest that Vaghela is unhappy with Congress over as it turned down his demand to declare him as the face for 2017 Assembly elections. His last-ditch meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi failed to yield any result.

Vaghela, once an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), started his political career from the Jan Sangh, which later evolved as the BJP. He was jailed during Emergency. After the Emergency was lifted, he was elected to 6th Lok Sabha on a Janata Party ticket. Later he joined the BJP and worked as the general secretary and the president of Gujarat unit of BJP. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1989. In 1989, Vaghela was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from Gandhinagar constituency and subsequently elected to 10th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas.

In 1995 Gujarat Assembly elections, the BJP won a majority and Keshubhai Patel was installed as the Chief Minister. This is when Vaghela started revolting against the party. In 1996, he broke away from the BJP and floated the Rashtriya Janata Party. Vaghela clinched the Gujarat Chief Minister’s post by staging a coup against the BJP with the help of the Congress. But he had to resign from the post of Chief Minister in October 1997 in the wake of political turmoil in Gujarat. Later he merged his party with the Congress.

Vaghela was elected to 1999 and 2004 Lok Sabhas from Kapadvanj. He was made Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles in Manmohan Singh Cabinet in 2004. Kapadvanj Lok Sabha constituency was reconstituted as Panchmahal, and Vaghela lost the seat to BJP in 2009 general elections (not as a result of renaming). Ahead of the 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, Vaghela was appointed as the Chairman of Campaign Committee. Till date, Vaghela was serving as the leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.

There are speculations that Vaghela may do a ghar wapsi to the BJP in the run up to Assembly elections scheduled for later this year. In May, he had met BJP president Amit Shah. The meeting raised many eyebrows. However, both the BJP and Vaghela had termed the 10-minue meeting a “courtesy call.”

Reports suggest that while some of his loyal MLAs in Congress are keen on joining the BJP, Vaghela is also exploring plans to spearhead a “third front” in Gujarat. With AAP having virtually given up, and forces like Hardik Patel looking to play a role, a space for third front could indeed be possible. Gujarat assembly elections will take place towards end of the year.

Another molestation case gets filed against another AAP MLA

OpIndia Staff
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Another molestation case gets filed against another AAP MLA

In an embarrassment to the Aam Aadmi Party, its MLA from Deoli constituency in Delhi was booked in connection with a molestation case. He has been accused of the crime for the second time in recent days. The FIR was filed at the Sangam Vihar police station on Wednesday.

According to the allegations by the victim, Jarwal and 50 men had barged into her house and then threatened and molested her. Jarwal had also allegedly used abusive language against her.

With regards to the allegation, a case has been filed under sections 354, 509, 506 of the IPC, which deal with assault on a woman, any act committed to insult the modesty of any woman and criminal intimidation respectively.

Jarwal though has rejected the charges and has termed them political vendetta. He also alleged that the woman belonged to the BJP, and the charges were fabricated.

This isn’t the only time Jarwal has run afoul of the law. About 3 months back, a similar case was filed against him over allegations of misbehaving with a woman. Even during that timed he had claimed political vendetta. But there are not just molestation crimes he is accused of committing. In March 2014, a case was filed against him for assaulting a junior engineer of the Delhi Jal Board.

It is not just Jarwal, but molestation charges have also been filed against other prominent members of the AAP on a regular basis.

On 6th July, police had booked senior AAP leaders Somnath Bharti, Jarnail Singh and Amanatullah Khan on charges of assaulting and molesting a woman. According to the woman, she was thrashed by the trio and their aides. She further alleged that she was also dragged and locked inside a room. She had also alleged that Somnath Bharti abused her. The incident allegedly happened when the woman had visited the Delhi assembly to watch the house proceedings.

One of the accused, Amanatullah Khan had notched another serious charge in September of last year, after a woman had alleged that he had molested her 5 times. Whereas a case of domestic violence and attempt to murder was filed against Somnath Bharti by his wife. Even though it was a case filed by his wife, Somnath Bharti had then termed the charges a “BJP sponsored litigation”.

AAP has been routine accused of being women-unfriendly party by many people, including some women leaders who had joined the party with high hopes, such as founding member Madhu Bhaduri. Last year an AAP activist had committed suicide after claiming sexual exploitation by fellow party members. She had claimed that when she complained to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal about the exploitation and molestation, demanding action against the culprits, Kejriwal had suggested her to instead work out a compromise with the accused.

More than 100 Hindus from Pakistan get Indian citizenship in Gujarat

OpIndia Staff
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More than 100 Hindus from Pakistan get Indian citizenship in Gujarat

With the Narendra Modi government at the Centre simplifying rules for Pakistani Hindus in exile to get Indian citizenships, as many as 114 people from Pakistan, most of them Hindus, have reportedly received Indian citizenship in Gujarat.

Sharing his joy 50 year old Nandlal Meghani, a resident of Ghatlodia of Gujarat was quoted as saying, “We are impressed with the common man’s life here in India.” Meghani came to India along with his family 16 years back selling his home and business to make a new start here in India. Meghani who was engaged in auto parts business in Pakistan has started a home renovation firm in Ghatlodia.

The other families of Hindus from Pakistan also share similar stories of joy in India and recalled the horror of terror in Pakistan.

“The menace of terrorism had made it difficult for us to survive. When we ventured out every day, we remained unsure whether we would return home in the evening,” said Kishanlal Andani, 59, who had been migrated to India in 2005 with his wife and four sons. Andani, who used to own a general store in Pakistan’s Sindh province, has started a utensils shop along with his children.

Dr Vishandas Mankani, 50, a resident of Sola Road who came to India in 2001 said, “We are impressed with development in India, which is absent in Pakistan. Safety is also something one can vouch for in India.”

The union government had earlier simplified rules for Hindus and other minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to get for Indian citizenship. Changes have been made in various provisions of the Citizenship Rules 2009. As per the changes, powers have been delegated to Collector’s office to process applications seeking citizenship. Earlier, the pleas had to be made to the Union Home Ministry and a renunciation certificate was compulsory from the home country to get citizenship. Now the provisions have been done away with. The registration free to apply for Indian citizenship has been drastically reduced to as low as Rs 100 from Rs 15,000.

The Monsoon Session of the Parliament has listed a bill to amend the Citizenship Act, which will make it further easy for the Hindus and other minority communities from neighbouring countries to get Indian citizenship.

UNESCO declares BMC the best Municipal Corporation in the world, BMC threatens to sue

Hemant Bijapurkar
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UNESCO declares BMC the best Municipal Corporation in the world, BMC threatens to sue

UNESCO, the internationally reputed organisation that issues ‘best in the world’ certificates whenever such a need exists, today issued a statement declaring Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, or the BMC, as the best Municipal Corporation in the world.

The BMC is the civic body responsible for the maintenance and governance of Mumbai and is believed to be the richest Municipal Corporation in India. Now it is the best too.

But rather than feeling happy and thanking UNESCO for the prestigious distinction, the BMC officials are believed to have flown off the handle and are very unhappy with UNESCO. Top level sources have confirmed to us that a legal notice is being drafted, as we write the report, and will be served to the UNESCO’s India office in New Delhi, which was earlier declared the best capital city in the world.

“He UNESCO wale swatala kay samaztat (Who do the UNESCO people think they are). They will openly mock us and we won’t take any action? We very well understand what is news and what is parody. We were already planning to sue an RJ for a parody song, now we are going to sue them for misrepresentation of facts, slander, and defamation among other things,” a BMC official told this reporter.

Apart from sending a legal notice to UNESCO in New Delhi, BMC is reportedly googling if UNESCO has any offices in Mumbai, where they suspect the international organisation of breeding mosquitoes.

“We will give them the certificate of being the best mosquito breeders in earth!” the BMC official declared.

Our sources indicate that BMC will seek 5 billion US dollars in damages from UNESCO for declaring them the best municipal corporation of the world. We asked the official as to what BMC would do with the $5 billion as they don’t even seem to be using up their existing funds for any constructive purpose, the official threw this reporter into a pothole, thus filling it up and repairing the road.

We have requested UNESCO to declare our reporter as the best reporter in the world.

(note to BMC : the above report is a news satire aka news parody, and our office has no mosquitoes)

With India reiterating PoK as its territory, foreign powers avoid the region for investment

OpIndia Staff
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With India reiterating PoK as its territory, foreign powers avoid the region for investment

India’s diplomatic efforts to highlight the facts that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit-Baltistan are part of our country and Pakistan is illegally occupying the Indian territory is yielding results. Recently, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had reiterated this while issuing visa to a medical patient from PoK.

Even as Pakistan is trying to seek investment in energy and infrastructure projects in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan, there is rising reluctance from international financial institutions and countries to invest in these disputed areas. This is because a cloud of doubt is hanging over the economic feasibility of proposed projects following an increased international understanding of the legal status of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

In addition, most of the terror infrastructures in Pakistan are also based out of PoK, which is another cause reluctance of the countries and the financial institutions for investment in the areas.

According to an India Today report, South Korea’s Daelim Industrial Company Limited is reconsidering its investment plan in the proposed 500 MW Chakothi Hattian Hydropower Project in Muzaffarabad’s Jhelum area in PoK. Further, reports suggest that other Korean-financed ventures in the region like Kohala Hydropower project may also be stalled.

In addition, financiers such as the Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation and Exim Bank of Korea have also expressed their inability to back the project.

“It is a very good and encouraging news that countries are receptive to concerns that India has,” former foreign secretary Shyam Saran was quoted as saying.

Earlier, Asian Development Bank had refused to fund a proposed $14 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which is located in PoK on the Indus river. Since its inception of the project in 2012, several financiers have backed out.

The latest reluctance among investors to invest in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan came after India strongly objected to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through the Indian territory currently under illegal occupation of Pakistan. India’s objection to CPEC has brought the legal position of PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan to the fore once again.

It could be noted that PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan are not only disputed territory, even Pakistani laws do not give them the status of sovereign territory.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier made it clear that PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan are very much a part of Jammu & Kashmir. A 1994 resolution passed in Indian Parliament acknowledges the fact that PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan as integral part of India.

Media spreads Fake News about eggs and non-veg being banned in Greater Noida for Kanwar Yatra

OpIndia Staff
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Media spreads Fake News about eggs and non-veg being banned in Greater Noida for Kanwar Yatra

On 19th July, various media outlets carried news reports that suggested that non-vegetarian food was being banned in entire Greater Noida of Uttar Pradesh, until after the annual Kanwar Yatra was complete:


Kanwar Yatra is an annual pilgrimage on foot, which many Shiv devotes take part in. Apart form this, many devotees, including those not taking part in this yatra, avoid non-vegetarian food during the Hindu month of shravan. However, there is no ban on others having non-veg food, including any Hindu who wants to during this period.

Apart from Navbharat Times, India Today too reported that local roadside vendors and restaurant owners had been instructed by the police to not prepare non-vegetarian food as Kanwariyas prefer only pure vegetarian food. The report also claimed that the police had gone on an inspection where they asked roadside Dhabas serving non-veg food to shut down for a week.

The report then very comfortably concluded that:

Basically, any shops or restaurants or dhabas that were offering eggs, chicken, fish and mutton have now been shut down. You can only find vegetarian food on the streets of Greater Noida now.

Various netizens took the report at face value and protested:


Even a columnist with an international publication, who is abnormally gullible in believing any unverified information that gets pushed by the mainstream media, started outraging:


To be fair, the outrage based on news reports, especially the headlines, was understandable as banning non-veg food completely from an entire city was a step too harsh and far-fetched. Also, shutting down all the non-veg serving shops, restaurants and Dhabas for a week would not just hit the businesses hard, it would also inconvenience many local citizens who might want to consume non-veg food.

But as they say, “something which sounds too far-fetched, usually is”, this reporting too was a case of media exaggeration.

Soon after the news started getting viral, the twitter account of UP Police promptly put out the truth in order to quell further rumour mongering:


As clarified by the police, it is a tradition that during Kanwar Yatra and Mahashivratri, roadside stalls serving non-veg near temples and on the main yatra route are asked to move a bit away from that area. Also the shops serving non-veg food are asked not do display non-veg publicly only to honour the religious sentiments of the yatris.

So not only is there no ban on sale of non-veg food, there was not any diktat to close any shop or restaurants that served it. Plus, this phenomenon is witnessed every year in Greater Noida and is not something which has been introduced after the Yogi government came to power.

In order to further probe the issue, a few journalists, who care for facts, went on the ground to assess the situation. This is something what the India Today and Navabharat Times people should have ideally done before filing their exaggerated reports.

One journalist stated that she talked to various meat shop owners who reiterated that there was no ban on sale of any kind:


Even senior journalist Kanchan Gupta posted a picture of his grocery bill dated 20th July, in which he had brought 25 eggs from a shop in Greater Noida:


//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRecent days have seen a spurt of such hard to believe fake news by the mainstream media. Recently we had busted reports of Madhya Pradesh government hospitals hiring astrologers for treating patients and the reports which claimed that the Yogi government had slashed secondary and higher education budget by 90%.

It must again be reiterated here that you must not believe any WhatsApp forward or Facebook status blindly, but at the same time, never believe any mainstream media report blindly too. Unfortunately, you will have to put in some extra efforts to find the truth, as some journalists have refused to put in that effort.

In the presidential election, many MLAs rebelled and voted for Kovind, find out how many

Hemant Bijapurkar
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In the presidential election, many MLAs rebelled and voted for Kovind, find out how many

Earlier today, Ram Nath Kovind was elected the 14th President of India after winning 65.65% of the total value of votes, thus registering a pretty comfortable victory.

Though a victory for Mr. Kovind was considered guaranteed after many non-NDA parties, including Nitish Kumar’s JD-U extended their support to his candidature, some MLAs belonging to the parties that had officially declared support to opposition’s candidate Meira Kumar, decided to further shore things up for Kovind by voting for him. And there were also instances of a few rebelling against Kovind.

This supposed rebellion is possible in the Presidential elections as here the anti-defection law doesn’t apply. According to this law, it is mandated that lawmakers vote according to the wishes of their respective political parties (known as party whip) otherwise they lose their house membership. Since presidential elections involve secret voting, anti-defection laws don’t apply, and this makes it possible for MPs or MLAs to vote against party line.

So here is a data from some of the states where cross voting took place, based on the total tally of votes:

Disclaimer: We would like to point out that the analysis presented below is based on educated guesses as party wise voting trends are never revealed, for presidential election follows secret ballot system. Also, votes of independent, small parties and invalids have been attributed to the BJP in some cases, to put out the least number of possible defections. So the actual defections can be even more.

Assam

In Assam, the AGP, BPF had sided with the NDA and AIUDF had decided to back Meira Kumar. So looking at the numbers Meira Kumar should have got support of 39 members but got 35, hinting at cross voting by 4 members.

Bihar

Bihar interestingly saw cross voting in Meira Kumar’s favour. In the run up to the election, Nitish Kumar had announced his support for Kovind. So taking JD-U out of the equation, there were 107 MLAs left with the opposition. But Meira kumar received support of 109 MLAs.

Chhattisgarh

Here Meira Kumar received support of 35 MLAs. Going by the data, the opposition had a total of 40 seats, so there was cross voting by 5 MLAs in favour of Ram Nath Kovind.

Delhi

This was one of the disappointing aspects of the election as many were expecting a lot of drama in the state. According to analysts,  just 2 AAP MLAs voted for Kovind. While one of those have to be the rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, it remains to be seen who the other MLA was. It in the end turned out to be a relief for AAP as many people had previously claimed that about 10-12 MLAs could vote for Kovind.

But Delhi saw another drama when votoes of 6 MLAs were deemed ineligible due to wrong procedure of voting. This number was very high considering the size of the assembly.

Goa

The coastal state of Goa too witnessed cross voting. Kovind had 25 MLAs voting for him in the state, while Meira got 11, while 2 were invalid. So after doing all the calculations it turns out that 6 Congress MLAs cross-voted.

Gujarat:

This was one of the first state where cross voting was reported. According to reports at least 8 Congress MLAs here voted for Ram Nath Kovind.

Madhya Pradesh

The total opposition strength in this state is 62. Meira Kumar received support of 57, so cross voting of 5 MLAs.

Maharashtra

Meira Kumar received support of 77 MLAs, but opposition has 83 MLAs, so about 6 people might have swung to the other side. This might come as a relief to the BJP as there was no rebellion of sorts by Shiv Sena, which is its complicated ally.

Punjab

Punjab joined Bihar in this trend, and it saw a token swing of 2 cross voted seats in Meira Kumar’s favour.

Tripura

Tripura saw Kovind getting support of 7 MLAs. We had reported that he may get 8 votes based on the fact that 6 TMC MLAs and 2 Congress MLAs had rebelled.

Uttar Pradesh

Here Meira Kumar polled votes of 65 MLAs. Her backers had about 74 seats in the assembly, so there was a cross voting of about 9 MLAs in favour of Ram Nath Kovind.

West Bengal

In West Bengal, Kovind received support of 11 MLAs. Now the state has 3 BJP MLAs. Assuming Gorkha Janmukti Morcha voted for Kovind, there was a cross voting of 5 MLAs.

Of the other major states we checked, Haryana, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir didn’t show any marked change.

Is China now looking to meddle into domestic politics of India?

Saswat Panigrahi
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Is China now looking to meddle into domestic politics of India?

Chinese state media has been continuing its wild rhetoric against India. Though these are not considered the “official view” of China, by virtue of being controlled by the Communist Party of China, they are supposed to toe lines that could well be adopted by the state later.

Amid the ongoing standoff between Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at India-China-Bhutan tri-junction over Chinese activities at Doklam plateau, an Op-Ed article in state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times has said that rising “Hindu nationalism” has hijacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s China policy.

“In diplomacy, New Delhi is demanded to act tougher in foreign relations, especially toward countries like Pakistan and China. The border row this time is an action targeted at China that caters to the demand of India’s religious nationalists,” the article authored by Yu Ning said.

“Nationalist fervour that demands revenge against China has taken root in India since the border war. The election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fuelled the country’s nationalist sentiments,” the Op-ed observed.

“Modi took advantage of rising Hindu nationalism to come to power. This, on one hand, has enhanced his prestige and ability to control the country, but on the other, has made India more subject to the influence of conservatives, thus hampering reform,” it said.

The article has given flawed logic. The “Hindu nationalism” blabber by the Chinese author sounds force fitted as far as India-China border impasse is concerned. The border impasse has nothing to with the so called “Hindu nationalism.” It is nothing but a fantasy of Chinese commentator Yu Ning about India. Maybe he has been reading too may leftist propaganda websites of India that can link even a pothole in roads to Hinduism.

When India and China went to war in 1962, was it due to some Hindu nationalism? Truth is that China has been acting aggressively with almost all its neighbours and has border disputes with them. Even during the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India and China witnessed many border standoffs.

What has led to the current standoff between the two countries is China’s attempt to build a motorable road in the Doklam plateau. Doklam is Bhutanese territory. But a desperate China claims it as its own territory. Not just it threatens Bhutan’s sovereignty, if China is allowed its way, next it will eye India’s North-Eastern region.

China has accused Indian soldiers of trespassing to its territory in Doklam and preventing Chinese soldiers from building the roads. But it is well within the rights of India to defend its sovereignty and oppose China’s creeping territorial aggression. There is nothing wrong with that. But to argue that the current standoff was planned and executed to cater to Hindu nationalistic sentiments is laughable.

Further, the article argued that the Narendra Modi government in India has failed to curb “Hindu nationalistic violence” against Muslims since it took the reins of India in 2014. “The Modi government can do nothing if religious nationalism becomes extreme, as shown in its failure to curb violent incidents against Muslims since he came to power in 2014,” the article said.

First of all this is rich coming from a Chinese media when China stops its own Muslims from following Islam as mandated by their religious beliefs. China has forced Muslims to not choose ‘religious’ names and have long beards. It also tried to stop Muslims from observing the holy month of Ramzan early this year.

Even if we are to ignore the hypocrisy, that paragraph almost reads as if the Chinese media got someone from India to write for them. Certainly, the Global Times author has got carried away by that hate-Modi campaign in Indian media. Interestingly, the hate-Modi campaign, which ultimately aims at defaming India, is now getting Chinese audience.

Or could the article be a precursor to China meddling in domestic affairs of India? Until now, only some communist groups were those who had links with China, but is China now looking at the “liberal-secular” establishment in India as an ally, which never ceases to talk about dangers of “Hindu nationalism” and “Hindutva”?

Has China also decided to follow the official Pakistan doctrine about exploiting fault-lines in the Indian society, about using media, and about reaching out to Modi-haters?

SP leader who linked Hindu gods to alcohol, has notched many other controversies

OpIndia Staff
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SP leader who linked Hindu gods to alcohol, has notched many other controversies

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal caused an uproar in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, after linking various Hindu gods and goddesses like Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman with alcohol.

Soon after he made the comment, the ruling members of the house led by Finance minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar demanded an apology from the SP leader. Arun Jaitley stated that had Agarwal made the comment outside the Parliament, he would have been liable for prosecution and Ananth Kumar claimed it was an attack on the whole Hindu community.

After the uproar, the Deputy chairman PJ Kurien stated that the remarks were per se derogatory and that the MP should withdraw them. He also ordered that they be expunged from the record. The MP later, almost reluctantly withdrew them.

This isn’t the only time Naresh Agarwal has caused uproar among the people or embroiled himself in controversies. Here are some other past instances:

  • In July 2016, reports alleged that he and Jagdambika Pal were under the scanner for being allegedly involved in a sex racket. Agarwal denied any connection and said that his name was being misused by someone else.
  • Naresh Agarwal had caused another uproar in the Rajya Sabha early this year in March by supporting the behaviour of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who had boasted of hitting an Air India employee with slippers. Gaikwad as a result was put on flying ban, which was termed ‘dadagiri‘ of the airlines by Agarwal.
  • He is also a motor mouth. In 2013, Tarun Tejpal, the editor of Tehelka magazine was accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague. In response to the incident, Naresh Agarwal claimed that organisations were now scared of hiring women. He also allegedly stated that women should dress more appropriately so that they don’t draw unknown attention.
  • During the run up to the Lok Sabha election when PM Modi’s humble ‘tea seller’ background was highlighted, Naresh Agarwal had stated that a tea seller could never become a good Prime Minister.
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