A Traffic police officer, who is posted at the Trinity circle area in Bangalore was rewarded by the Bangalore police after he decided to stop the convoy of the President Pranab Mukherjee in order to allow an ambulance to pass.
On Saturday, the convoy of the President, who was in the city to inaugurate Bangalore Metro’s Green Line, was heading towards the Raj Bhawan. At the same time Sub Inspector M.L. Nijalingappa noticed that an Ambulance was trying to find way to reach a hospital near HAL.
He acted promptly and gave directions to allow the ambulance to pass through the crowded road. This act of his soon went viral and he was applauded by various citizens:
Wow, Salute Bengaluru traffic police cop who stops President of India convoy to make way for ambulance, wins hearts https://t.co/vhaEHIqRom
It was also noticed by the authorities who proceeded to award and commend him:
PSI Sh Nijlingappa is rewarded for deftly allowing the ambulance before the 1st citizen of India. @blrcitytraffic gives way to ?, do you? pic.twitter.com/KoI2nap14N
Such a step by the police is extremely welcome after the city had earned a notorious reputation for pandering to the VVIPs in the past. There used to be regular reports [1][2] of Ambulances getting stuck in traffic at various intersections in order to allow the convoy of the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs to pass.
After a similar incident had again taken place in February, the Chief Minister had assured that such incidents would not be repeated in the future. The promise somehow turned out to be true after after a few days the convoy of the CM was stopped in order to let an Ambulance pass.
Now the incident on Saturday does seem to indicate that the previous incident involving the CM was not a one off tokenism but seems to have resulted in a sincere effort to reform.
The Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government has managed to notch another controversy after appointing a Muslim as the head of the Tarkeshwar Temple’s board. The Mamata government had recently announced a grant of Rs 5 crore and also constituted a temple development board to oversee the development of the temple and its nearby areas.
The Mamata Government chose to appoint West Bengal’s state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim as the Chairman of the board. This ended up upsetting many with BJP leader Subramanian Swamy stating that as the board of a temple is a religious matter, there isn’t a scope of a person from another religion to interfere. He has also announced his intention to seek legal recourse if the Mamata government didn’t withdraw its appointment.
Not just the decision of the Mamata government to possibly try and interfere into the temple affairs is being deemed controversial, but the choice of the individual Firhad Hakim too is raising eyebrows.
It turns out that the state minister is no stranger to controversies. In April 2016, while the Assembly elections in West Bengal were underway, Firhad Hakim had created a huge uproar after describing his Kolkata Port constituency as ”Mini-Pakistan” to the Dawn newspaper of Pakistan. The Dawn correspondent had also apparently concurred with his statement after observing many signboards in his constituency to have been written in Urdu.
A few days before that controversy, he was also embroiled in the Narada sting operation. The sting operation carried over a period of 2 years had shown 12 TMC leaders and ministers including Firhad Hakim taking bribes in exchange of favours.
His name has also cropped up in the infamous Saradha chit fund scam after allegations about his role were made by Asif Khan a former aide of ex-Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
Yesterday we had reported how the whole Gorkhaland situation has thrown Darjeeling and the nearby areas in turmoil after being virtually shut down due to incidences of violence, which have reportedly led to the deaths of three Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha activists and also resulted in a life threatening injury to a security personnel.
The demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland was reportedly triggered by the fact that Bengali had been made a compulsory language in all the schools in the Hills even though Nepali is considered as the local lingo. Initially this ‘Bengali imposition’ had resulted in peaceful protests but it soon escalated to the present violent situation.
Now though things looks far from unraveling as the situation keeps getting trickier both on the diplomatic and the security front. Internet services are reportedly suspended to stop spread of violence.
Initially talks were scheduled on Monday between the representatives of the Center, Bengal government and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. But they ended up getting postponed indefinitely at the ‘request’ of the West Bengal government. This might be dubbed as an opportunity lost as the contentious issues like the imposition of the Bengali language can easily be straightened out via talks.
Furthermore, during the talks, both the center and the state together could have provided assurances like ushering in greater investment into the state, providing better infrastructure and facilities to the residents among others which could have gone a long way in pacifying the various stakeholders in the hills.
A spanner also seems to have been thrown by the fact that Mamata Banerjee chose to go on a visit to Netherlands on Monday to address a United Nations meet. Even though it was reported that her ministers were monitoring the situation, the absence of the number one at such a critical juncture might raise a few wary eyebrows.
Things might also out to be tricky on the security front as even though an uneasy calm prevailed, the security forces have also had to contend with angry agitators, some resorting to violence, since the start of the protest. The agitators though have avoided a conflict with the army as it holds a special place in their hearts.
It now remains to be seen if the establishment manages to draw a peaceful conclusion to the whole affair, as unlike the conflict situation in Kashmir, the protesters here are not demanding a separate country but want a separate state which according to them might serve their interests in a better way.
The CBI decided to pay a visit to Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain’s residence earlier today, and this caused quite a flutter in the media and political circles of Delhi:
CBI team reaches Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain’s residence. More details awaited.
Initially it was perceived that the situation was the similar to the CBI raid of Kejriwal’s office in December 2015, but there was no such cause to worry for the AAP minister. The CBI, as it turns out, had merely paid a visit to Satyendra Jain’s home in order to seek clarification from his wife regarding a money laundering case in which he is involved.
Also there was no element of surprise in that visit (which a raid brings) and the CBI had actually asked his wife to choose a time and place of her convenience for a meeting and the visit was a result of her intimation.
Satyendra has long been embroiled in a hawala case. In January he had received an IT notice from an Additional Commissioner based in Delhi regarding this matter. The CBI too had registered a preliminary inquiry against Satyendra Jain in April.
According to allegations against him, companies like Paryas Infosolutions, Indo Metallmpex, Akinchan Developers, Ideal Estate, and Manglayatan were used to buy lands in and around Delhi from 2010-14 using hawala money.
We had earlier reported how there were reports of Satyendra Jain having substantial shares in companies named Prayas, Indo, and Akinchan but they were transferred to his wife in 2015 after he became the minister. This seems to be the reason why the CBI wanted to meet his wife today.
It was reported that these companies used to send cash to their Kolkata counterparts who then under the pretext of buying the shares in the former companies, would send back the amount using legal means. It was reported that using these means the companies laundered about 16.39 crores from 2010 to 2014 and about Rs 4.63 crore in 2015-16.
Even though today’s visit was merely a routine affair with the CBI actually asking for an appointment from Mr. Jain’s wife, the AAP’s associates decided to spread false news in order to possibly play the victim card and were also aided in this regard by retweets from Kejriwal:
A street in Kasaragod district of Kerala has been named after Gaza, the disputed strip of land between Israel and Egypt that forms part of Palestinian territories.
According to reports, the road adjacent to Juma Masjid in Thuruthi ward of Kasaragod municipality in Kasaragod district was named as Gaza Street last month. It was inaugurated by Kasaragod district panchayat president AGC Basheer. Municipality funds are believed to have been used to construct the street. Municipal authorities, however, claim that they are clueless about the naming of the street.
Municipal chairperson Beefathima Ibrahim maintains that she does not have any knowledge about such a street under her jurisdiction. Kasaragod municipality opposition leader P Ramesh, who belongs to the BJP, said, “There is a deliberate attempt to change the names of various areas in Kasaragod. When such matters come to the municipal council, there will be a debate and if the name is not of public acceptance, it will be rejected. For the same reason, many such names are not brought to the attention of the council.”
Gaza in Kerala
Reports suggest that there is also a club named Gaza Street near Chemnad of Kasaragod.
Suresh Kumar, a local BJP leader, said that Kasaragod is under the threat from terror outfits that have been functioning silently. Kumar alleged that many small unknown radical groups have raised their heads in the recent past in this Kerala district in the recent past.
Kasaragod is the district where communal fissures are widening during the present CPM rule. Intelligence agencies suggest that dreaded terror outfit Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are making inroads to this Kerala district.
Intelligence agencies are currently looking at the possible radical influence behind the naming of the Gaza Street.
It could be noted that Kasaragod district has been under the radar of Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) following reports that 21 youth went have gone missing since 2016. 17 of the 21 missing youth belong to Kasaragod district. Relatives of the missing youth fear that they might have joined the ISIS in Syria or Iraq. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the State Assembly that the missing youth are suspected to be in the ISIS camps in Syria or Afghanistan.
In a surprise move, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind has been declared as the NDA’s Presidential candidate by the BJP president Amit Shah. The decision on the name of the 76-year-old Kovind, a senior Dalit leader, for the top post was made at the meeting of BJP Parliamentary Board – the party’s highest decision making body – chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier today. Kovind is likely to file his nomination on June 23.
Addressing a Press conference in New Delhi, BJP president Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has communicated the decision to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Born on 1 October, 1945 in Paraunkh village in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Nath Kovind is a prominent Dalit leader. He is a B.Com graduate and LLB from Kanpur University.
A lawyer by profession, Kovind had enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1971. He had practised in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for about two decades. Kovind had worked as a central government advocate in Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979. He worked in the Central Government Standing Counsel of the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. In 1978, he was the Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court.
Kovind worked as the national president of BJP Dalit Morcha from 1998 to 2002. He also worked as the president of the All-India Koli Samaj.
Kovind has served as the national spokesperson of the BJP. Kovind was elected to Rajya Sabha from UP for two consecutive terms – 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. On 8, August 2015, Kovind was appointed as the Governor of Bihar.
Many cricket fans and sports lovers in India were disappointed last night after India put up a disastrous performance against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final and lost the match by a whopping 180 runs.
This loss in the final compounded by the fact that it was against Pakistan, caused a lot of understandable grief among Indians. Reports came out which claimed how people in India were setting fire to posters, chanting slogans against the team and even crying on the streets as a response to the painful defeat.
While this was transpiring, people in Kashmir and a few other areas of the country were instead busy bursting fireworks in order to celebrate Pakistan’s victory over India. Various news outlets reported how there was an atmosphere of jubilation in various parts of Kashmir following Pakistan’s victory.
It was reported how youths in Srinagar burst crackers, flurried Pakistani flags and even chanted anti-India slogans. The youths didn’t stop at that and even threw stones at various security posts after which the authorities had to use tear gas to disperse them.
One anti-India Hurryat leader too decided to add fuel to the fire:
Fireworks all around, feels like an early Eid here. Better team took the day. Congratulations team #Pakistan
— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) June 18, 2017
He though was promptly condemned:
A suggestion @MirwaizKashmir why don’t u cross the border? U will get better fireworks (Chinese?), Eid celebs there.I can help u wid packing
Incidentally Kashmir wasn’t the only Indian territory plagued by anti-India rhetoric. There were also reports of fireworks erupting in areas adjoining the Aligarh Muslim University. There fireworks reportedly started after Pakistani batsmen scored well and firecrackers were burst after each Indian batsman got out. This prompted the city administration to act quickly and they sent RAF and PAC forces in order to quell the situation after India’s loss.
Various twitter users too claimed [1][2][3] that they had heard similar fireworks being burst in areas near their homes and reacted in fear and disbelief.
It remains to be seen how the authorities react to the whole episode as even though it was just a game of cricket, the worrying trend of so many ‘Indian citizens’ brazenly celebrating the victory of a hostile nation in order to possibly provoke or show their antipathy for India cannot be brushed under the carpet.
Last week we had reported how some journalists spread half-truths deliberately to prove some sort of “Hindu intolerance” or “fringe groups” when they claimed that a group of men had beaten up a Muslim woman forcing her to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in Nagaur district of Rajasthan.
The truth was that the men had even forced to her to chat “Allah” as many times as they asked her to take Hindu gods’ names, however the “Allah” part was conveniently ignored by many journalists. We also showed how the Hindustan Times journalist, who was among the first ones to make it ‘viral’ on Twitter, wanted to make it religious and political.
We had also highlighted, quoting local media sources, that the incident was criminal in nature with no religious angle, because the men suspected the woman to be part of a gang that had allegedly been cutting hairs of people, especially of women, in the region in the darkness of night. The gang was also rumoured to be making people unconscious and loot their belongings after cutting their hairs.
However, all this was ignored – despite the whole incident being captured in a video clip and link to local media reports – and some insisted that the crime was communal in nature. Among those attacking OpIndia for pointing out this aspect was a reporter with the leftist propaganda blog Scroll, who came up with this creative interpretation of the video:
The above tweet was re-tweeted by hundreds of people, but now the Scroll reporter seems to have deactivated the account (at the time of writing this report).
His lie and spin was obvious as anyone with normal hearing ability and Hindi comprehension can hear that men were not saying “kaun allah” (Allah, who?) but “bol allah” (say Allah!). The same claim was repeated by many others who tried to insist that this was a communal incident and the men were trying to force a Muslim woman to chant Hindu religious slogans – in line with the “fringe Hindu groups on the loose” narrative..
One indeed may wonder as to why someone will force anyone to chant both “Allah” and “Ram” unless they are “secular terrorists”, but as our report had indicated, it was a case of these men trying to intimidate a woman whom they suspected of being part of a criminal gang. Our initial understanding was that they used this tactic just to intimidate and humiliate her by forcing her to say anything that came to their mind.
This has been confirmed – with more details that put the incident in proper context – with follow up reports from local media as well as the English media outlets.
A Dainik Bhaskar report has indicated that this fear about a gang operating in the area and surreptitiously cutting hairs and nails of people, especially of women, is now spreading far and wide in the area. The locals suspect that these are some black magicians who have come from outside the region. One person even claims that not only his daughter’s hairs were cut, the unknown miscreant tried to draw a trishul (trident) on her belly.
It is clear that the locals don’t suspect any “Muslim” gang to be involved in it as such a gang won’t go on drawing trishul on bodies of alleged victims. This whole incident appears similar to the child kidnapping rumours of Jharkhand, where locals suspected outsiders of kidnapping their children. They ended up killing a few innocent Muslims and Hindus due to the rumours and suspicion, and even back then, some journalists had tried to paint the killings as religiously motivated and tried to link it with “cow vigilantism” as happened in this case. Hopefully the police will act soon on these rumours lest Jharkhand type situation arises.
Apart from this, the confessional statements of two men, who were arrested based on the video evidence, also confirms that they were not motivated due to some religious hate or prejudice.
“You lose your mind when you are afraid, and you do not realise what you are doing,” one of the arrested men is quoted as saying in a report by The Indian Express. The man, 25-year-old Prakash Meghwal said that he had seen images of women with their hair shaved on WhatsApp and thus he was afraid of the people who were doing this (cutting hair and looting people).
Prakash and other men had apparently asked the poor woman if she was part of any group. The woman, whose identity is not yet known, was reportedly mentally unsound and she nodded in affirmative. This made the men believe that she was part of the group indulging in this black magic and crime. Most probably, to ascertain if she was a “witch”, they forced her to utter names of Gods as witches are not supposed to utter them.
The men now admit that superstition and fear drove them to commit the horrendous act of beating up a helpless woman. Their families too claim that the arrested men had got nothing to do with any religious or political group and they were taken in due to such unfounded fears prevalent in the region.
“The media is portraying him like a dacoit but we are really simple people – you can see our home…. We love everyone: Hindus and Muslims…we love (people from) all castes. We have no political affiliation either,” 65-year-old father of Prakash lamented.
The arrested men are now repentant and want to apologise to the woman if she is found. Meanwhile administration has said that they will keep an eye and punish people who are spreading this information about a black magician gang cutting hairs and looting people.
Amidst all this, the incident has once again exposed how a section of media is hell bent upon inventing theories to back up their agenda of “fringe groups” and “cow vigilantism”. For them, facts are not sacrosanct. And Scroll appears to lead this pack. Read about this other journalist from Scroll, who loves inventing facts.
This was a rare occasion in Indian politics. President President Pranab Mukherjee hosted lunch for an unlikely guest – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat – in the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday.
This was not for the first time that President Mukherjee has met Bhagwat. It could be noted that Bhagwat had called on the President in 2015 to exchange Diwali greetings.
But certainly it was for the first time that the President invited a RSS Sarsanghchalak as a revered guest to the Raisina Hill, exchange thought and had a lunch with him.
Both Rashtrapati Bhavan and RSS sources maintain that the luncheon was planned over a month ago. “It was a courtesy meeting as President Mukherjee will demit office next month. There was no agenda, no political talk,” a source in the Rashtrapati Bhawan was quoted as saying.
The meeting came ahead of the presidential election. Mukherjee is on his way out and is scheduled to demit office of the top job on 25 July.
The meeting came on a day two senior Union Ministers — Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu — drove to 10 Janpath, the official residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and later met CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri to reach a consensus over the Presidential candidate.
The President-RSS chief meeting, which has surprised many and triggered speculations in the political circle, is loaded with strong messages.
But it is highly unlikely to suggest that Mukherjee would be a consensus candidate from the government and the opposition. Even though the government is making a move to build a consensus over the Presidential candidate, it is doubtful that a consensus will ever be reached with the opposition on the Presidential candidate.
Moreover, the BJP – which has a clear edge in the Electoral College – will likely to push someone from its own rank for the top job. It could also be mentioned that Bhagwat’s name was also proposed by BJP’s ally Shiv Sena. Those who understand the functioning of the RSS know that the RSS chief will never contest the Presidential election. “I work in the Sangh. I don’t want to go there. I won’t accept it even if I get the offer,” Bhagwat had said. Obviously, this meeting won’t change things.
The RSS is the largest volunteer organisation in the world which stands on the foundations of service, sacrifice and patriotism. The luncheon meeting of President Mukherjee with RSS chief underlines the growing acceptance and recognition of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India’s political and administrative lexicon.
A tall leader, a revered politician and a visionary statesman, President Mukherjee understands the contribution of the RSS in nation building. This despite the fact that President Mukherjee is originally a Congress man and his party brands the RSS as “communal”. Through this exclusive meeting with the RSS chief, President Mukherjee has indirectly proved that the Congress’s notion on RSS is wrong.
The picturesque hill station of Darjeeling has in recent days been a witness to less than picturesque scenes after numerous protesters have taken to the streets in order to renew their demand for a new state of Gorkhaland.
Fresh demands for a separate state were triggered after reports of Bengali being made a compulsory language for all schools in the hills. The opposition to this ‘Bengali imposition’ was reported to be peaceful initially, but the state administration is now being accused of ignoring the grievances of people by engaging with the Gorkha activists over their concerns.
Around 16th June, there were already signs of situation worsening after there were reports of alleged Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists setting a Panchayat office and a Health Center ablaze in areas nearby Darjeeling. This though has been strongly refuted by the GJM MLAs, who have accused the TMC government of turning a peaceful political movement into a law and order situation. They have also claimed that outsiders were indulging in this arson and it had nothing to do with GJM activists.
There were already signs of this being a far more serious issue after security agencies had reportedly recovered large arms caches from various parts of the protest torn areas. However, Gorkha activists claim that their traditional weapons such as khukri are being claimed as ‘arms cache’.
Amid all these, tourism, which is the main income for the people over there, has taken a huge hit. The revenue loss has possibly been compounded by the fact that the month of June usually means peak tourist season.
Now there are serious questions being raised about the manner in which the situation is being tackled by the West Bengal government. There have been reports of GJM activists dying due to police firing.
According to local news outlets, so far 3 protesters have died and 15 have been gravely injured. A few users also took to twitter with pictures of alleged bullets shells they managed to pick up:
This whole situation though hasn’t only taken its toll on the protesters. There have also been reports of central paramilitary force assistant commandant battling for his life after having his throat slashed by agitators. There have also been reports of a few police officers too getting injured due to gunshots aimed at them.
Now in order to sort out the whole mess, the government has called all the hill parties for talks on 22nd June at Silliguri. Even though Mamata Banerjee has categorically stated that she won’t allow any division of Bengal, it remains to be seen if some sort of agreement can be worked out which would allow normalcy to return to the hills.
