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Minnesota’s Somali-linked scams drain US taxpayers of a sum rivalling Somalia’s GDP: Read how the welfare system was gamed in a multi-billion-dollar fraud

Rukma Rathore
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Minnesota’s Somali-linked scams drain US taxpayers of a sum rivalling Somalia’s GDP: Read how the welfare system was gamed in a multi-billion-dollar fraud

With around 80,000 residents, Minnesota hosts the biggest Somali diaspora in the United States. Many of them are refugees from the civil war that has raged in their native nation since 1991. They moved to Minneapolis and its suburbs, enticed by meatpacking jobs, Lutheran charity networks, and a more generous welfare system than others.

Notably, anti-India Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is also of Somali descent. However, the community has often come into the spotlight following significant scandals that erupted concerning Minnesota’s social programmes. An astounding $9 billion is the anticipated overall damage, which is close to Somalia’s entire GDP.

It was also determined that of the 98 defendants indicted and over 60 convictions in significant fraud cases across the state, 85 are either Somali Americans or of Somali heritage.

The truth comes to light

On 27th December, the issue surfaced after Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old YouTuber, exposed the pervasive fraud at childcare centres run by Somalis using publicly accessible data from the Minnesota Department of Human Services. These facilities had received millions in government subsidies, but the footage showed deserted playgrounds, blacked-out windows, closed doors at licensed daycares and angry employees who screamed or ran away when confronted.

A woman even yelled, “Don’t open up, it’s ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).” A neighbour also attested that no kids had been spotted there in eight years. Shirley stated, “This could be the largest fraud scandal in US history,” during his investigation. He pointed out that federal and state funding were diverted to businesses that had negligible or no operational history.

The places that were authorised to look after dozens of kids seemed empty during the day. Shirley’s guide, David, a local researcher who reported having been stabbed during his own inquiry, assisted him in recording $110 million in dubious payments. “I would drive by these childcare centres in the middle of the day, and there were never any kids there. That’s when I started asking, where are these children?” David remarked.

Shirley maintained that these centres received annual payments of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and in some instances, millions, even though they didn’t appear to be functioning. Additionally, abuse within home healthcare programs and non-emergency medical transport services was revealed in the video.

According to the YouTuber, officials knew about the suspicious activities but did nothing about them. Vice President JD Vance and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk both shared the footage.

The alarming reality sparks inquiry and outrage

The explosive disclosures in Shirley’s video resulted in major backlash against the administration, including Democrat Governor Tim Walz, after which an investigation was launched. On 29th December, federal agents were in Minnesota conducting a probe into the matter. ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were present in Minneapolis.

A video of officers walking “door to door” at suspected fraud locations was made public by Homeland Security. It wrote, “The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and arrests when abuse is found.”

“Our agents are conducting a massive operation to identify, arrest, and remove criminals who are defrauding the American people at daycares, healthcare facilities, and other suspected sites. We will not stop until we’ve rooted out this rampant fraud plaguing Minnesota,” Homeland Security vowed in another post.

The agency promised to deliver results under the leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem. A law enforcement official mentioned that Shirley’s video had a role in the increase of DHS (Department of Homeland Security) agents in Minneapolis, including visits to about thirty companies, reported CNN.

FBI director pledges to eliminate fraud schemes

The Federal Bureau of Investigation director also took to social media to address the issue. He informed, “The FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota. However, even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.”

He further highlighted a $250 million scam in Minnesota that concluded in multiple charges. “The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions. Defendants included Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool, each charged for roles ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy,” Patel noted.

Patel emphasised, “The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing. Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigration officials for possible further denaturalisation and deportation proceedings where eligible.”

SBA ends funding for Minnesota

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has also taken action to halt the grant from entering Minnesota in response to the critical development. “This administration will not continue to hand out blank checks to fraudsters – and we will not rest until we clean up the criminal networks that have been stealing from American taxpayers,” SBA chief Kelly Loeffler announced.

Earlier in December, a federal prosecutor suggested that at least half of the approximately $18 billion in federal monies that have been used to support 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been pilfered, and the majority of the accused are Somali Americans. “The magnitude cannot be overstated. What we see in Minnesota is not a handful of bad actors committing crimes. It’s staggering, industrial-scale fraud,” voiced First Assistant US Attorney Joe Thompson.

The fresh action ensued as 57 Minnesotans were found guilty after years of inquiry that started with the $300 million corruption at the charitable organisation “Feeding Our Future,” which was at the centre of the biggest COVID-19-related scam in the nation. The perpetrators misused a state-run, federally sponsored program designed to feed children.

Meanwhile, Tom Emmer, majority whip in the United States House of Representatives, charged, “Well, it’s amazing to me that a 23-year-old journalist, a YouTuber who’s now got over 80 million views on this video, found more in a matter of hours than Governor Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General, have found in 7 years.”

The history of the scam extends to 2014

There has been widespread fraud in Minnesota involving taxpayer-funded day care since at least 2014. The scammers stuffed carry-on luggage with up to $1 million each to smuggle out of the country. Tens of millions of dollars of cash flew out of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport roughly a decade ago, per a report in Fox 9. Minnesota taxpayers lost $100 million annually as a result.

The passengers left with a total of $84 million in 2016 and an additional $100 million the following year, marking an enormous rise. The amount travelled to Dubai, the Middle East and other locations. According to sources, MSP lost over $100 million in cash in 2017.

As of 2018, the state was probing potential fraud by dozens of companies suspected of obtaining millions of dollars in payments from the government for bogus childcare services. The state began to crack down on such scams in 2014. Ten companies were the subject of ongoing investigations at the time.

Millions of dollars in stolen funds have reportedly been moved to Somalia and ended up with al-Shabab, a terror group connected to al Qaeda, according to federal counterterrorism sources. A source unveiled, “The largest funder of al-Shabab is the Minnesota taxpayer,” according to the New York Post.

“It’s welfare fraud, it’s all about the daycare,” Glen Kerns quoted sources. He is a veteran Seattle police detective and served on the FBI’s joint terrorism task force for fifteen years. The extent of the rot was illustrated when Fozia Ali, who was under investigation for wire fraud and the misappropriation of public funds, took the oath as a member of the Hopkins Park Board.

The state’s food program, autism program and the Housing Stabilisation Program are considered to have lost at least $300 million, $220 million and $302 million, respectively. The scammers used the money to purchase expensive honeymoon trips to the Maldives, luxurious vehicles including Mercedes and Porsches, and even a suite at a Minnesota Timberwolves game in addition to shipping the illicit proceeds overseas.

President Trump lashes out at the Somali community in the U.S

President Donald Trump has been candid about his disapproval of Ilhan Omar and the Somali community. “Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia are completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota. Somalian gangs are roving the streets looking for prey as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone,” he outlined on the evening of Thanksgiving eve. He also attacked Governor Tim Walz for not taking any action and termed Omar as “the worst Congressman/woman” in the country and even talked about her controversial past including marriage.

“I wouldn’t be proud to have the largest Somalian – look at their nation. Look how bad their nation is. It’s not even a nation. It’s just people walking around killing each other. Look, these Somalians have taken billions of dollars out of our country. Billions and billions,” Trump later outlined.

“Those Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country,” he further stated. “Go back to your own country and figure out your constitution. All she (Omar Ilhan) does is complain about this country, and without this country, she would not be in very good shape. She probably wouldn’t be alive right now. Somalia is considered by many to be the worst country on Earth. I don’t know. I haven’t been there, I won’t be there anytime soon, I hope,” the president added.

The Trump administration intends to deploy additional federal agents to Minneapolis with the authority to target Somalis, especially those who have final deportation orders.

BL Santhosh is right: Bengal is a civilisational battle. Here’s why the land of Netaji must be saved from TMC’s appeasement, with a volatile Bangladesh next door

Shraddha Pandey
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BL Santhosh is right: Bengal is a civilisational battle. Here’s why the land of Netaji must be saved from TMC’s appeasement, with a volatile Bangladesh next door

India, that is Bharat, is a civilisational state. Home to diverse social, religious, ethnic and linguistic communities, India, despite its modern nation-state outlook, has its roots in the Hindu civilisation and cultural continuity. The Indic civilisation has been under constant threat from foreign invaders and colonisers. Bengal, which has been the cradle of the Indian renaissance, is crumbling under the burden of TMC’s appeasement politics. Recently, BJP leader BL Santhosh declared that the coming West Bengal assembly election is a “civilisational battle”.

At the recently held ‘Sagar Manthan’ program in Goa, BJP’s organisational secretary, BL Santhosh, declared that the assembly election in West Bengal is not a mere battle for power but a civilisational battle.

“Bengal is not a political battle, it’s civilisational. We look at it in the same way. To save India, we have to save Bengal. That will not be our 19th or 20th state…to save India from a big demographic challenge, we want to win Bengal, and we will win Bengal because of your blessings,” he said.

Predictably, the BJP leader’s remarks have irked the ruling Trinamool Congress. The TMC leaders have criticised Santhosh’s remarks, saying that his remarks are divisive and that somehow India’s civilisation faces a threat from the BJP itself.

TMC’s Shashi Panja claimed that for the last decade, the BJP has undermined India’s foundational values, including pluralism, tolerance, and freedom, replacing them with hatred, cultural dominance and intimidation.

Amusingly, while the TMC government appeases Muslims in the state and the sitting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proudly declares that she is fighting against “Kafirs”, TMC MP Sagarika Ghosh invoked Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, and Swami Vivekananda to highlight Bengal very civilisation that TMC’s politics threatens.

While political violence is not a TMC-exclusive phenomenon in West Bengal, the state has seen its worst form under over a decade of Mamata Banerjee’s rule. Muslim appeasement, rapid demographic alteration, illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims via the porous Indo-Bangladesh borders and anti-Hindu activities coupled with economic downslide have defined the Mamata era in West Bengal. It is said that demography is destiny, and no civilisation can prevail and thrive if this ‘destiny’ is corrupted or dangerously modified.

Why West Bengal must be saved from TMC for the Civilisation to be saved

Such was Bengal’s intellectual and philosophical richness that it was said that “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow.” Bengal is the sacred soil that gave the country gems like Bankimchandra Chatterji, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. However, in the contemporary political scenario, this civilisational goldmine is being reduced to a barren and gloomy desert by the Mamata regime.

For over three decades, the Communists ruled West Bengal; their Marxist ideology resulted in driving out big companies and investments. The communists stripped the state’s people of numerous jobs these industries could have generated, a better life, prosperity and dignity. Besides, mocking Hindu Dharma was also a core aspect of their ideological-political agenda.

Mamata Banerjee was a sharp, critical voice against the CPIM. When she came to power in the state in 2011, it was expected that Banerjee would heal the wounds West Bengal suffered under the communists. However, Mamata Banerjee only scratched the wounds and sprinkled salt over them, but also inflicted new injuries.

In around 14 years of the reign of “Didi”, over 6,668 companies have migrated out of West Bengal. Afghanistan is known as the “graveyard of civilisations”. Under the TMC rule, West Bengal has become a “graveyard of industries”.

While the people of West Bengal are already grappling with unemployment, the TMC government abolished all the policies implemented from 1993 to 2021 to attract industries, ensuring that businesses will not get any concession on setting up industries in the state, whether in the form of land or electricity prices.

Such is the condition that despite being the fourth most populous state in India, West Bengal has only a 3.5% share in India’s industrial output. It is estimated that over 22 lakh to 30 lakh Bengalis have moved to other states as migrant workers, because of a shortage of employment in their home state.

As per the latest CAG report, West Bengal’s debt-to-GSDP ratio now touches 33.7%, one of the highest in the country. In over a decade of Mamata Banerjee’s rule, West Bengal has witnessed a sharp jump in its debt burden. 

In addition, West Bengal also falls into the category of 11 states that are using borrowed funds to finance routine expenditure, such as salaries, subsidies, and administrative costs, rather than creating assets that could improve the state’s financial health in the long run. Scams, syndicate raj and consequent migration of workers is crippling West Bengal’s economy, while the only flex TMC is left with is having a woman as the state’s Chief Minister.

The question arises: If economic growth is not the TMC government’s priority, what is? The answer is simple: Clinging to power through appeasement politics and political high-handedness is TMC’s modus operandi. Basically, TMC replaced Marx with Muslim appeasement. In a slogan, TMC’s rule is about ‘Maa, Maati and Manush’, in reality, it is ‘Mamata, Muslims and Menace’.

OpIndia has reported several incidents wherein the state government demonstrated its blatant favouritism towards Muslims and disdain towards Hindus. It was reported last year that a Durga Mandir was found blocked and barricaded in Kaliachak town in Malda district of West Bengal. The development came a day before the Islamic month of Muharram. Before this, CM Mamata Banerjee imposed restrictions on the immersion of Durga idols in 2016 and 2017 to make way for Muharram processions. 

TMC’s Muslim appeasement is not confined to suppressing Hindu rights and doing special favours to its Muslim votebank; it extends to blatant support to the Islamisation of West Bengal. Last year, TMC leader and a Cabinet Minister in the state government, Firhad Hakim, derided non-Muslims as ‘unfortunate’ and openly called for their religious conversion to Islam. “Those who were not born into Islam were born with misfortune. If we can give them Dawat (call for proselytisation) and bring Iman (Faith) in them, then we will make Allah happy. We need to spread Islam among non-Muslims. If we can bring someone on the path of Islam, then we will prove to be true Muslims by ensuring the spread of Faith,” said Firhad Hakim, who is also Mamata Banerjee’s close aide.

The TMC leader getting a free hand to insult non-Muslims and openly advocate for the state’s Islamisation should not be a surprise, given CM Mamata Banerjee herself has on many occasions declared her political adversaries as “Kafirs” or infidels as per Islam, and that she is fighting against them.

In Mamata’s Bengal, a TMC MLA, Hamidul Rahman’s alleged close associate, Tajemul Haque alias JCB, holds an ‘Insaf Sabha’, and brutally assaults a woman in public, and the TMC MLA justifies this Taliban-style flogging by saying that there are some ‘codes’ in a ‘Muslim Rashtra’. 

Another question here would be, why do ‘secular’ political parties go for a Muslim appeasement tactic when there are other religious communities too, with significant populations? Why not Hindu appeasement? This is because Muslims are arguably the only community who vote as a religious community; they think about elections from a religious perspective, consider voting out parties not coddle them as almost a religious duty. No other community trades their vote for religious benefits or dominance; the others largely consider local issues, governance, economy, inflation and other regular issues while voting.

Thus, Muslim appeasement is an effective tactic to consolidate votes, and since the influential section of the community has somehow mastered the art of being the extremists and victims of extremism at the same time, ‘secular’ parties go to any extent to have their backing.

This extent stretches to even allowing demographic change in the state. It is reported that West Bengal has nine districts presently that are Muslim majority, compared to three that were predominantly Muslim both before and after independence.

 In districts like Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, and North and South 24 Parganas, the Muslim population grew at a higher rate than the Hindu population. For this reason, the Hindu share in these districts declined. Even the Hindu population declined by over 1% in some districts, much higher than the national average. With a change in religious demography, a lifestyle change, the look of the localities, politics and overall functioning of an area alter. Shifting demographics determine local politics, school education, festival management, and land disputes. The inorganic Muslim population surge in once Hindu-dominant districts essentially indicates the eventuality of the erasure of Hindus and the civilisation there.

Hindus are now minorities in large parts of their own homeland, courtesy TMC’s state-sponsored vote engineering. While Hindus are forced to leave their state and work in other states for a livelihood, they are replaced by Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators.

Any attempt to diffuse the demographic time bomb is met with sharp opposition from the TMC. OpIndia reported earlier about the Mamata regime’s scathing criticism of the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. When the SIR began in Bihar, thousands of names of illegal voters emerged, and the ‘secular’ parties, including TMC, claimed that the BJP is targeting minorities (read, Muslims). When authorities launched a crackdown on Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslim infiltrators illegally residing in various Indian states, the TMC government claimed that Bengali Muslims are being targeted and invoked ‘Bengali Asmita’ (Bengali pride).

During the ongoing SIR in West Bengal, it was recently revealed that since the last SIR in 2002, registered voters in the state have increased by 66% from 4.58 crore to 7.63 crore. Out of the 10 districts in the state which have experienced the alarming rise in the number of voters, 9 districts border Bangladesh.  The minimum increase in the number of voters is over 70% with the highest percentage of increase crossing 100%. Uttar Dinajpur has witnessed the highest spike in the number of voters at 105.49%, followed by Malda at 94.58%. As discussed earlier, the Muslim population in these districts has increased inorganically and abruptly, indicating that a deliberate demographic shift is being pulled off.

When the security agencies and the Central government want to prevent the influx of Bangladeshi illegals into India via a 2,217 km porous Indo-Bangladesh border, the TMC government shows reluctance in cooperation. Earlier this year, it was reported that the TMC government did not agree to provide land for fencing 600 kilometres of area, which allowed several illegal immigrants to enter India. In December 2024, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari accused the West Bengal government of not cooperating with the Border Security Force (BSF) in curbing infiltration.

Even when the state government approves the land acquisition for border fencing, the district officials are found to be causing delays in the disbursal of funds. Besides, when the Modi government brought the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindu and other non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring Islamic or Muslim-majority countries, Mamata Banerjee and her party, linked it to the NRC and Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to fearmonger that somehow Muslims will be singled out, their citizenship will taken away, and they will be dumped in detention centres.

This fearmongering politics triggered violence back then, and the ultimate target in such Islamist violence, be it during anti-CAA agitation or the anti-Waqf Bill protests, is Hindus.

In Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal, political violence, particularly after elections, be it assembly elections or panchayat elections, is almost ritualistic. The Trinamool Congress workers often attack workers from opposition parties, indulge in booth capturing during elections, and target voters who did not vote for TMC. Be it Islamist-orchestrated violence or TMC-unleashed post-poll violence, the casualty is always Hindus.

Before BL Santhosh, Assam BJP leader and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also called the impending Assam state elections a “civilisational battle”. CM Sarma’s remarks stemmed from the rampant menace of demographic change in the state. Illegal Muslim immigrants expelling tribals and local Hindus to settle there, illegal encroachment of land and properties, as well as assertion of Islamic religious dominance, have been highlighted by the Assam Chief Minister.

The BJP government in the state has been working relentlessly to free lands from illegal encroachments by illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya settlers and prevent demographic change. The state government has been detecting, detaining and deporting Bangladeshi and Rohingya illegals from the state.

Earlier, CM Sarma warned that the rate at which the Muslim population is increasing in the state, Assam would make it a Muslim-majority state by 2041. In fact, the entire northeast is grappling with a rapid shift in the religious composition of the population. This is alarming. A seemingly slow but certain death of the Indic civilisation sans timely policy interventions.

What is happening in Bengal becomes even more concerning when we look at a chaotic Bangladesh, where lynching of Hindus for being Hindus, desecration of their temples by Muslims has become a disturbing ‘normal’.

Ever since the forced ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power and her country in August 2024, the persecution of Hindus and other non-Muslim communities, and Islamisation of the country, have been ongoing in full swing. The 5th of August 2024 marked the tearing apart of the semi-torn secular fabric of the Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Since Hasina’s ouster, Rabindranath Tagore’s and Satyajit Ray’s ancestral properties have been vandalised by Islamist and India-hating mobs. Muslim mobs in Bangladesh attack cultural, religious, and historical sites. The visuals of mobs vandalising the statue and residence of Bangladesh’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, made it clear that the Islamist-dominated post-Hasina Bangladesh will cut off its secular roots.

Under Muhammad Yunus’s leadership, Islamists are erasing their secular history and mainstreaming Islamist anti-Hindu and anti-India viewpoints by groups which were earlier dismissed as fringe. Once the civilisational battle is lost and a civilisation collapses, the Islamist adversary gets on with the task, erasing even the memories of the fallen civilisation.

Even the Islamists in Bangladesh claim to be ultra nationalist and true protectors of Bangladeshi interests. However, crushing of the media, systematic targeting of political adversaries, glorification of anti-India ‘activists’, crackdown on music and cultural events, appeasement of Islamist populace and unchecked killings of Hindu minorities, and forced mass resignation of Hindu employees, indicates, that secularism, plurality, tolerance and other such cliches are used only till the ultimate power grab, be it via street veto, political conspiracy, a gradual demographic shift or through a combination of these. What follows is a full-blown erasure of the existing civilisation and establishment of Islamist anarchy.

India’s West Bengal is vulnerable to cross-border influences and infiltration. A restive Bangladesh under Islamist dominance may fuel communal tensions in the state. While it took only a few months to turn Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Hasina’s somewhat secular and economically sound Bangladesh into a full-fledged Islamist dominated mess, the way demographic change, rising Muslim population and dominance as well as a systematic suppression of Hindu rights is unfolding in West Bengal, the state is indeed in a civilisational crisis and the coming elections, which the BJP calls a civilisational battle, will see the BJP fighting to save the civilisation while the TMC will defend its empire.

India has boarded the ‘Reform Express’, 2025 marks decisive shift towards next generation reforms and Viksit Bharat: PM Modi

Narendra Modi
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India has boarded the ‘Reform Express’, 2025 marks decisive shift towards next generation reforms and Viksit Bharat: PM Modi

India has emerged as the centre of global attention. This is due to the innovative zeal of our people. Today, the world sees India with hope and confidence. They appreciate the manner in which the pace of progress has been accelerated with next-generation reforms, which are cross-sectoral and amplify the nation’s growth potential.

I have been telling many people that India has boarded the Reform Express.

The primary engine of this Reform Express is India’s demography, our young generation and the indomitable spirit of our people.

2025 will be remembered as a year for India when it focused on reforms as a continuous national mission, building on the ground covered over the past 11 years. We modernised institutions, simplified governance, and strengthened the foundations for long-term, inclusive growth.

We moved ahead decisively…with higher ambition, faster execution and deeper transformation. The reforms have been about enabling citizens to live with dignity, entrepreneurs to innovate with confidence and institutions to function with clarity and trust.

Let me cite a few examples of the reforms undertaken.

GST reform:

  • This reform has boosted consumer sentiment and demand. Sales have grown in the festive season.
  • A clean two-slab structure of 5% and 18% has been implemented.
  • The burden has been eased on households, MSMEs, farmers and labour-intensiVE sectors.
  • The purpose is to ensure dispute reduction and better compliance.
Source: Narendra Modi/LinkedIn

Unparalleled relief for the middle class:

  • In a first, individuals earning up to Rs. 12 lakh a year faced no income tax at all.
  • Obsolete Income-tax Act of 1961 has been replaced with the modern and simple Income Tax Act, 2025.
  • Together, these reforms mark India’s move towards a transparent, technology-driven tax administration.

Boost to small and medium businesses:

  • Definition of “small companies” has been expanded to include firms with turnovers up to Rs. 100 crore.
  • Compliance burdens and associated costs for thousands of companies will get reduced.

100% FDI Insurance reform:

  • 100% FDI permitted in Indian insurance companies.
  • This will give a fillip to insurance penetration and security for the people.
  • Apart from enhanced competition, it would offer better insurance choices and improved service delivery for the people.

Securities Market Reform:

  • Securities Market Code Bill has been introduced in Parliament. It will enhance governance norms in SEBI, also enhance investor protection, reduce compliance burden and enable a technology-driven securities market for a Viksit Bharat.
  • Reforms will ensure savings thanks to reduced compliances and other overheads.

Maritime and Blue Economy Reforms:

  • In a single Parliament session, the Monsoon Session, five landmark maritime legislations were passed: the Bills of Lading Act, 2025; the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2025; the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2025; the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025; and the Indian Ports Bill, 2025.
  • These reforms simplify documentation, make dispute resolution easier and reduce logistics costs.
  • Outdated Acts dating back to 1908, 1925 and 1958 have also been replaced.
Source: Narendra Modi/LinkedIn

Jan Vishwas…Ending the Era of Criminalisation:

  • Hundreds of outdated laws have been scrapped.
  • 71 Acts have been repealed through the Repealing and Amendment Bill, 2025.

Boosting Ease of Doing Business:

  • A total of 22 QCOs were revoked across synthetic fibres, yarns, plastics, polymers, and base metals, while 53 QCOs were suspended in various steel, engineered, electrical, alloy, and consumer end product categories, covering a broad spectrum of industrial and consumer materials.
  • This will increase India’s share of apparel exports; lower production costs in diverse industries like footwear, automobiles; ensure lower prices for domestic consumers for electronics, bicycles and automotive products.

Historic labour reforms:

  • Labour laws have been reshaped, merging 29 fragmented laws into four modern codes.
  • India has created a labour framework that secures the interests of workers while boosting the business ecosystem.
  • The reforms focus on fair wages, timely payment of wages, smoother industrial relations, social security and safer workplaces.
  • They ensure greater female participation in the workforce.
  • Unorganised workers including contract workers are brought under the ESIC and EPFO expanding the coverage of formal workforce.
Source: Narendra Modi/LinkedIn

Diversified and expanded markets for Indian products:

Trade deals inked with New Zealand, Oman and Britain. These will add to investments, boost job creation and also encourage local entrepreneurs. They reinforce India’s position as a trusted and competitive partner in the global economy.
The FTA with the European Free Trade Association, comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, has been operationalised. This marks India’s first FTA with developed European economies.

Source: Narendra Modi/LinkedIn

Nuclear Energy Reforms:

  • The SHANTI Act is a transformational step in India’s clean-energy and technology journey.
  • Ensures a strong framework for the safe, secure and responsible expansion of nuclear science and technology.
  • Enables India to meet the rising energy demands of the AI era, like powering data centres, advanced manufacturing, green hydrogen and high-technology industries.
  • Promotes the peaceful application of nuclear technologies in healthcare, agriculture, food security, water management, industry, research and environmental sustainability, supporting inclusive growth and improved quality of life.
  • Opens new pathways for private sector participation, innovation and skill development. Creates opportunities for India’s youth to lead in frontier technologies and next-generation energy solutions.

This is an opportune moment for investors, innovators and institutions to partner with India, to invest, innovate and build a clean, resilient and future-ready energy ecosystem.

A Landmark reform in Rural Employment guarantee:

  • Viksit Bharat- G RAM G Act, 2025 Rozgar Guarantee framework raises employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days.
  • This will result in increased spending towards strengthening village infrastructure and livelihoods.
  • The aim is to turn rural work into a means to ensure higher incomes and better assets.

Education Reforms:

Bill has been introduced in Parliament.

  • Single, unified higher education regulator will be established.
  • Multiple overlapping bodies like the UGC, AICTE, NCTE will be replaced with the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
  • Institutional autonomy will be strengthened, with innovation and research boosted.

What makes the reforms of 2025 significant is not only their dimension but also their underlying philosophy. Our Government has prioritised collaboration over control and facilitation over regulation in the true spirit of a modern democracy.

These reforms were designed with empathy, recognising the realities of small businesses, young professionals, farmers, workers and the middle class. They were shaped by consultation, guided by data and anchored in India’s constitutional values. They add momentum to our decade-long efforts to move away from a control-based economy to one that operates within a framework of trust, keeping the citizen at its core.

These reforms are aimed towards building a prosperous and self-reliant India. Building a Viksit Bharat is the polestar of our development trajectory. We will continue pursuing the reform agenda in the coming years.

I urge everyone in India and abroad to deepen their bond with the India growth story.

Keep trusting India and investing in our people!

This article was written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on LinkedIn and has been republished here with due credit. The original article can be read here.

Congress govt in Karnataka rushes to appease illegal squatters, compensates them with cash, govt houses after clearing encroachments

Aditi
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Congress govt in Karnataka rushes to appease illegal squatters, compensates them with cash, govt houses after clearing encroachments

In a blatant attempt to appease land grabbers, the Karnataka Congress government on Monday (29th December) announced compensation and alternate housing after they were removed from the government land in a demolition drive in the Kogilu in the northern part of Bengaluru during a demolition drive.

Facing political backlash for the demolition drive carried out in Waseem Layout and Fakir Colony on 20th December, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that he directed Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan to provide alternate housing to encroachers. “Keeping humanitarian concerns in mind, I have directed officials to identify eligible families who lost shelter and submit the list within two days. After discussions with Deputy Chief Minister Shri @DKShivakumar(DK Shivakumar), Housing Minister Shri @BZZameerAhmedK (Zameer Ahmed Khan), and local MLA Shri @krishnabgowda (Krishna Byre Gowda), we have decided to provide alternative houses at Baiyappanahalli, barely 7 km from Kogilu,” CM Siddaramaiah wrote on X on Monday.

He said that the displaced encroachers will be provided government-built houses at Baiyappanahalli at heavily subsidised prices. “About 1,087 government-built houses are available there. Each house costs around ₹11.20 lakh. Beneficiaries will receive substantial State and Central subsidies. General category families will receive subsidies up to ₹8.70 lakh, and SC/ST families up to ₹9.50 lakh. The remaining amount will be provided as a small, verified loan,” the CM. Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan has been directed by Siddaramaiah to ensure that the displaced families can move into the new houses by 1st January after the verification process.

Relief to encroachers on “humanitarian grounds”

Siddaramaiah said that the displaced families were occupying the government land illegally, and yet the state government has decided to provide them with alternate housing on “humanitarian grounds.” The demolition drive was carried out at Konglu’s Waseem Layout and Fakir Colony by the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited to clear encroachments for a proposed solid waste processing unit. However, the legit demolition drive stirred a political controversy after Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan criticised the Karnataka government’s action, describing it as “brutal normalisation of the bulldozer raj”.

Subsequently, a review meeting was held by CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar with officials. After the meeting, the relief measures, including alternate housing under the Ashraya scheme, the CM’s one lakh housing scheme and up to ₹5 lakh compensation, were announced. “I have asked officials of the revenue department and the GBA to prepare a list of people who do not own land or houses so that alternative arrangements can be made. They will also be eligible for financial assistance,” Siddaramaiah said after the meeting.

Kerala CM created a political issue: Siddaramaiah

CM Siddaramaiah admitted that his government’s compensatory action was influenced by the Kerala CM’s remarks against the demolition. He accused CM Vijayan of turning the demolition drive into a political issue and added that his government was compelled to announce the relief measures. “While the state govt does not intend to encourage such illegal constructions on govt land, the Kerala chief minister turned this into a political issue. So we had to act,” Siddaramaiah said.

Justifying the demolition drive, CM Siddaramaiah said that “inhumane conditions” prevailed in the vicinity of the area, where around 15 acres were being used as a landfill and leachates or contaminated liquids were found in the groundwater. Around 167 sheds were reportedly cleared in the area after issuing multiple notices.

Disciplinary action against erring officials

In addition to that, he announced disciplinary action against officials who allowed encroachment on the government land. “To set a precedent, we will initiate disciplinary action against officials who were on duty when these encroachments began in 2021. These encroachments could not have happened without the knowledge of the tahsildar, shirestadar and village accountants,” the CM added. Siddaramaiah warned of strict action in future if encroachment happens on the government land. “If govt property is encroached upon, local officials will be personally held responsible and face disciplinary and administrative action,” he added.

‘They sent my brother’s severed head to Akhilesh Yadav in a briefcase’: Neeraj Mishra’s brother breaks silence before OpIndia on the 2004 Kannauj horror

OpIndia Staff
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‘They sent my brother’s severed head to Akhilesh Yadav in a briefcase’: Neeraj Mishra’s brother breaks silence before OpIndia on the 2004 Kannauj horror

The chief of the Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, is attempting to project himself as a supporter of Brahmins. However, his real face has been revealed repeatedly, and his purported affection for the community is marred by violence.

Many might not recognise the name Neeraj Mishra from Kannauj. He was the individual who once confronted Akhilesh. Afterwards, his decapitated body was discovered within a day. Neeraj’s sibling, Munish Mishra, in a conversation with OpIndia, openly accused Akhilesh of his brother’s murder.

Neeraj’s severed head has never been found

The incident dates back to 5th May 2004, during the polling for the general elections in the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency of the state. Akhliesh, the son of the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, was the candidate from the Samajwadi Party, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party was represented by Ramanand Yadav. This marked Akhilesh’s inaugural general election after he had just returned from his studies in Australia.

During the polling, the situation unexpectedly turned tense at the polling booth of Baba Haripuri Inter College located in Kasava village of the Chhibramau area of Kannauj. A fierce argument erupted between BJP and SP workers regarding booth capturing, which swiftly escalated into violence. Meanwhile, BJP booth president Neeraj Mishra suddenly went missing.

On 6th May, his torso was discovered in the Ishan River, but his head was never located. Neeraj was from Kasava village and was assigned to the same polling booth where the altercation took place. A prolonged legal battle followed against the accused in this murder case. The court eventually sentenced the perpetrators to life imprisonment, but over time, all of them were granted bail.

The victim’s family asserted that people linked to the then Member of Parliament arrived at the polling station with the aim of capturing it. Neeraj objected, but an altercation transpired between the two sides, and he pushed a leader during this time. Afterwards, the leader’s associates forcibly abducted him, and his headless corpse was located the next day.

Akhilesh Yadav orchestrated the murder: Munish Mishra

Munish Mishra conversed with OpIndia’s Arpit Tripathi regarding the tragic murder of his brother. During the discussion, he stated, “Akhilesh is behind the decapitation of my brother.” He then elaborated, “There was a polling booth located in Kasava village, where Neeraj served as the BJP’s booth agent. The residents from nearby Yadav villages would come to vote there previously, but it has since been removed.”

Munish recounted the entire event thoroughly and disclosed, “Akhilesh, following the looting of polling booths in Batela, Jafrabad and nearby regions, arrived in Kasava with a convoy of 25 to 30 vehicles. A presiding officer was treated disrespectfully, prompting a reaction. Akhilesh struck a man as a display of authority. My brother objected to this, leading to a dispute between them.”

I want Neeraj Mishra dead or alive

Munish pointed out, “The matter intensified as the prince (Akhilesh) felt offended that someone had dared to touch him. He was accompanied by the police force, the CEO and Inspector Umashankar Yadav.” He recalled how a furious Akhilesh had called Mulayam Singh and yelled, “I want Neeraj Mishra, dead or alive.”

Munish further informed, “Once the polling concluded in the evening, the SP workers began to create chaos. They vandalised the home of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) worker who tended to our farm. His mother was there, and they mistreated her in front of other women. These workers inserted a fan rod into her vagina.” He added, “Afterwards, an SP worker was killed in the shooting. Neeraj had no connection to that instance whatsoever.”

SP workers brutally killed Neeraj: Munish Mishra

Munish unveiled, “Subsequently, they attacked our residence. Neeraj fled towards the tube well. He was by himself, defenceless, and the police surrounded him. He was apprehended by the cops and then delivered to the SP workers. They dragged Neeraj towards their village, mercilessly beating him en route as he was savagely and ruthlessly assaulted to death.”

Munish specifically identified Ashok Yadav, Avnish Yadav, Ram Sharan, also known as Munnu Singh, Pappu Singh, Sunil Yadav, and Ram Vilas Yadav as the men responsible for the murder. “They were Akhilesh’s closest aides and were on contact with him via phone. No one in the vicinity dared to oppose them due to the presence of the entire district police force. The Circle Officer instructed the inspector to dispose of the body, assuring that they would handle everything, after the murder,” he mentioned.

“These individuals beheaded him, kept the head to appease Akhilesh and discarded the body into the river. The SP workers attempted to seize the body upon its discovery. They wanted to make it disappear so that the case could be closed. The head remains missing to this day. It was reportedly sent to Akhilesh in Lucknow inside a briefcase. We pursued the case for a decade, and in 2014, Ashok, Avnish, Munnu, Pappu and Vilas received life sentences,” Munish informed.

Munish continued to receive threats and was even falsely implicated in multiple cases throughout the court proceedings. He added that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reached out to him and provided him with a security guard after taking office.

Read the report in Hindi here.

NYT writes fantasy fiction on RSS , equates the organisation with some ultra-powerful ‘secret society’ that is running India: Read how the Leftist media’s habit of fearful Nazi-labels are detached from reality

Anurag
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NYT writes fantasy fiction on RSS , equates the organisation with some ultra-powerful ‘secret society’ that is running India: Read how the Leftist media’s habit of fearful Nazi-labels are detached from reality

On 26th December, the New York Times published an article titled “From the Shadows to Power: How the Hindu Right Reshaped India”. The aim of publishing this particular piece, authored by Mujib Mashal and Hari Kumar, is simple. It is not just a critical piece on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) but a downright attempt to vilify the largest Hindu organisation working tirelessly for the betterment of society.

The article constructs a work of ideological fiction that portrays the RSS as a shadowy, near-omnipotent “far-right” secret society, in other words, the “illuminati” of India. If the article, or, as a matter of fact, other such articles published by the NYT or other Left-liberal media houses, are to be believed, the RSS has “infiltrated” India’s institutions and is quietly dismantling the country’s secular republic.

Source: NYT

The issue is not that the NYT or any other media outlet criticises the RSS. It is well within their rights to question organisations that operate in India and influence the political landscape of the country. However, the issue is how it is being done. The loaded language, selective history, and insinuations that have replaced evidence, everything that these articles contain showcases a familiar Left-liberal narrative. It is a narrative that treats Hindu self-organisation itself as something inherently sinister, as if Hindus are the ones blowing themselves up, and the secular fabric of the country, while chanting religious slogans.

‘Far-right’ as a shortcut, not an explanation

The article published by the NYT repeatedly brands the RSS as a “far-right Hindu nationalist group”. It is a term borrowed wholesale from Western political vocabulary and applied without contextual explanation. The concept of the far-right is completely different in India and in Western countries. In India, the RSS is neither a political party nor a clandestine militia. It is a volunteer-based cultural organisation that has existed openly for a century.

Source: NYT

Yet “far-right” is used as a conclusion, not an analytical category. Once the Western concept of the far-right is applied to an Indian organisation, it absolves the writer of the responsibility to engage with Indian social realities. Everything that follows, from mass mobilisation to ideological influence, is automatically framed as extremism.

Nazi labels without saying ‘Nazi’

The New York Times article does not explicitly use the word “Nazi”, nor does it directly equate the RSS with Hitler or the Third Reich. That omission is deliberate. Instead, the article relies on implication and association, drawing repeatedly from fascist era imagery to guide readers towards a particular conclusion.

It states that early RSS leaders “openly drew inspiration from the nationalist formula of Fascist parties in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s” and references MS Golwalkar’s writings in connection with Hitler’s treatment of Jews. These historical references are not explored as part of a balanced inquiry but are used to anchor the present day RSS to the moral weight of European fascism.

Source: NYT

The language employed throughout reinforces this framing. Terms such as “shadowy cabal”, “secret society”, “paramilitary discipline”, “supremacy”, and “infiltration of institutions” mirror the standard vocabulary Western media uses when describing authoritarian movements.

By avoiding explicit labels while saturating the narrative with fascist tropes, the article creates moral suspicion without making a direct charge. This technique offers plausible deniability while still achieving its intended effect, framing Hindu social organisation itself as something inherently dangerous.

From political organisation to imagined ‘secret society’

RSS leaders, even when they venture into politics, give public speeches. They do not hide their association with the RSS. Those who lead the RSS locally organise open conclaves and operate daily shakhas in neighbourhood parks. This is not a secret but a well-known aspect of the organisation. In fact, anyone can attend these shakhas, irrespective of their association with the organisation itself.

Despite this clarity, the NYT insists on describing the organisation as “shadowy” and “secretive”. The authors never try to present a contradictory view or attempt to look at the organisation through an unbiased lens. The contrast between what the article presents and what the organisation really is never gets resolved throughout.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never concealed his RSS background. He has always called himself a “worker” of the organisation. Senior ministers, chief ministers, MPs, judges, civil servants, and professionals have openly acknowledged their association with the Sangh.

Despite this, the RSS is presented as a secret society, the “illuminati” of the Indian political and social landscape. This is not how secret societies operate. Members of secret societies are prohibited from talking about their association. As it is said, “The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club”. In the same way, the foremost rule of being a member of a secretive society is that you do not talk about it, not like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who openly attends RSS events.

The discomfort of the NYT appears to stem not from secrecy, but from the sheer scale of the organisation. The RSS is large, disciplined, decentralised, and culturally embedded. For a Western liberal worldview accustomed to NGO-driven activism and elite gatekeeping, an indigenous volunteer network that does not seek approval is unsettling.

‘Infiltration’ without evidence

One of the allegations made in the article is that the RSS has “infiltrated” institutions such as the judiciary, police, media, and academia. This is a serious allegation. However, it is made without any evidence. There is no documentary proof, no command structure, no directives, and no financial trail demonstrating such capture.

Instead, the authors present ideological proximity and organisational overlap as evidence of subversion. By that logic, Left-leaning academics who have dominated Indian universities for decades would also qualify as an “infiltration”. Pro-Naxal ideologues ruling academia for decades can be seen as Urban Naxals ruining the Indian education system from its roots. However, when such allegations, which are actually true, are raised, Left-liberal ideologues claim an attack on free speech.

The word “affiliate” is repeatedly used by the authors as a convenient device. Any act by any group vaguely aligned with Hindu causes is folded into the RSS universe without establishing organisational responsibility.

Recycling fascism and Gandhi without legal closure

As is customary in Western coverage of the RSS, the article revisits alleged fascist inspirations of early Sangh thinkers and again invokes Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Notably, Indian courts exonerated the RSS as an organisation decades ago. However, outlets like the NYT carefully stop short of that legal conclusion and ensure that the insinuation lingers in their narrative. It is convenient to claim that the RSS was behind Gandhi’s assassination without engaging with the judicial outcome, as it fits the narrative.

This is not historical inquiry. It is narrative maintenance. The RSS has been permanently framed as morally suspect, regardless of judicial findings, because absolution would disrupt the story.

Bulldozers without chronology

Then comes the Uttar Pradesh section. It also follows a familiar template. Since Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand monk who governs the most populous state in the country, took charge, Western media has tried to build a negative image around him.

Source: NYT

The entire episode has been selectively constructed around the “I love Mohammed” poster controversy, which led to communal unrest in parts of the state. What the article omits is that the situation quickly escalated into public disorder, making it the chief minister’s responsibility to restore law and order and act against those who attempted to provoke communal violence.

At the same time, questions were raised in Western media over flower petals being showered on Kanwariyas, who were undertaking a peaceful religious pilgrimage across states. Police action in Uttar Pradesh has consistently followed incidents of law and order breakdown. In cases such as Gyanvapi and the Sambhal mosque, rioters attempted to create unrest along communal lines, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s decisive intervention prevented a local disturbance from turning into a wider conflagration.

Bulldozers, arrests, internet shutdowns, and police action are presented as religious repression without explaining the events that triggered the state response. When Yogi Adityanath took charge, the law-and-order situation was in the worst possible condition. Riots and communal tension were common. Gangsters dominated many areas. However, when Yogi Adityanath assumed office, he made it clear that law and order was his priority, and since 2017, much has changed in that regard. Even bulldozer action takes place only after it is evident that the building is illegal and linked to criminal activity.

Yet, in the article, law enforcement is stripped of chronology and converted into ideological persecution. Governance becomes authoritarianism by default, and popular support is dismissed as mob mentality.

When charity becomes fascist infrastructure

Western and Left-liberal media, including in India, has a habit of framing everything negatively if it is Hindu. In a recent article, The Caravan described schools, hostels, orphanages, old age homes, medical missions, yoga centres, and disaster relief initiatives associated with the RSS as “last-mile” instruments of ideological control. The NYT article in fact cites the Caravan article explicitly.

This framing exposes the deeper anxiety of the Left-liberals. The problem is not the work but the organisation itself. If the same work were done by an NGO linked to Soros or USAID, they would be pouring praise. At that point, criticism ceases to be political and becomes civilisational. Hindu civil society itself is rendered illegitimate.

What really unsettles Left liberal media

The background of the NYT article is filled with unspoken fear. The RSS has succeeded in building institutions that endure across generations without foreign funding, elite endorsement, or ideological conformity to Western liberalism, something no other organisation has managed in India.

The RSS produces cadres, not conferences. It relies on volunteers, not donors. It functions through decentralisation, not bureaucratic grants. The longevity and independence of the RSS are often interpreted as conspiracy because Western and Left-liberal media either do not understand this model or refuse to understand it due to ideological hostility towards Hindus.

Democracy acknowledged, but never respected

The NYT article repeatedly suggests that while Indians vote, the RSS “really” rules. Institutions function but are allegedly “co-opted”. Electoral victories are explained away as organisational manipulation. Such framing allows Western commentators to question Indian democracy without openly saying so.

When political outcomes do not align with their preferences, democracy itself is quietly delegitimised. Since Prime Minister Modi took charge of the Prime Minister’s Office in 2014, Western media has repeatedly suggested that Indian democracy is declining or that India has become an authoritarian state.

Fear masquerading as journalism

There is no doubt that the RSS is open to criticism. If someone believes the RSS has done something wrong, it is their right to question it. Its ideology, politics, and influence merit scrutiny. However, what the NYT has offered in its coverage is not scrutiny. It is a fear narrative constructed through loaded labels, historical shortcuts, and civilisational misunderstanding.

By portraying the RSS as an ultra-powerful secret society and recycling Nazi analogies, the NYT reveals less about India and more about the Left-liberal inability to accept the fact that the Hindu community can self-organise on its own terms.

The RSS has not emerged “from the shadows”. It has always been in plain sight. The real discomfort lies in the fact that it no longer seeks permission to exist.

Was the ‘Dhurandhar’ qawwali ‘Na to Caravan ki talash hai’ written by a Pakistani? No, it was written by Bollywood’s Sahir Ludhianwi for film Barsaat ki Raat

आशीष नौटियाल
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Was the ‘Dhurandhar’ qawwali ‘Na to Caravan ki talash hai’ written by a Pakistani? No, it was written by Bollywood’s Sahir Ludhianwi for film Barsaat ki Raat

The Qawwali “Na to caravan ki talash hai, na to humsafar ki talash hai” used in the Bollywood blockbuster film Dhurandhar is similar to the qawwali filmed in the 1960 Hindi film “Barsaat Ki Raat”.

As per the information available on Apple Music about the official documents and credits of the song, the lyrics were written by Sahir Ludhianvi and composed by Roshan. This qawwali features the voices of several singers and was recorded as a group performance. Its singers included Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Sudha Malhotra, and SD Batish. According to records, this is its first published and widely recognised film version.

Based on this, it is said that the official film origin of this qawwali is linked to Indian cinema and Bollywood. Music labels and film archives clearly list the names of the writers, composers, and singers. Therefore, when questions like “who gets the credit?” arise, they are referring to the 1960 film “Barsaat Ki Raat.”

However, Qawwali is not a classical or individual form but a shared, oral musical tradition, descended from the Sufi tradition, with roots in the Punjab region. This is why some music lovers and historians argue that the melody and sentiment of the qawwali “Barsaat Ki Raat” appear to be inspired by the Lahore-centred Sufi qawwali tradition. Often cited in this context is the qawwali “Na Toh Butkade Ki Talab Mujhe,” sung by Mubarak Ali Khan and Fateh Ali Khan in the 1950s. The song was written by Amir Sabri.

However, there is a crucial distinction here. While the claims of inspiration or cultural similarity can be a matter of historical debate, there is no concrete, published audio or documentation available to prove that the full lyrics of “Na To Caravan Ki Talash Hai” were recorded and released in the same form before 1960. Therefore, similarities are not seen as evidence but as cultural influence. Such influences are common in oral traditions, but documentary evidence is necessary to establish credit.

This song from “Barsaat Ki Raat” is not just a qawwali; it is a 13-minute-long song that begins with the Sufi and Nirgun traditions and progresses to the Bhakti movement. It offers glimpses of Radha-Krishna and Meera, then reaches Buddha’s Bodhi tree, and ultimately becomes a symbol of Christ’s compassion. Due to this, it is considered a cinematic document of the Ganga-Jamuni culture and India’s multi-religious cultural consciousness.

Although Qawwali is extremely popular among music lovers in Pakistan and across the Indian subcontinent, its origin and composition are from India.

The bottom line is that this qawwali may be part of a culturally shared heritage, as Sufi music’s roots predate the modern India-Pakistan border. However, when it comes to the song’s origin, authorship, and credit, available historical and filmic records clearly indicate that its authentic, published, and recognised origin comes from the 1960 Indian film “Barsaat Ki Ek Raat.” This is why, while acknowledging cultural sharing, the current debate often gives official credit to Indian cinema.

Is it just Muslims Vs Christians in Nigeria? Beyond the rhetoric, there is a quiet resource war reshaping Africa

Divyansh Tiwari
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Is it just Muslims Vs Christians in Nigeria? Beyond the rhetoric, there is a quiet resource war reshaping Africa

The story everyone thinks they know

When the first bullets were fired on a Sunday morning in central Nigeria, the church was already packed. The worshippers arrived early. There were still several people standing in the aisles. Men were lowering their heads in prayer, ladies were fixing headscarves, and children were fidgeting. Hymns, scripture, and the well-known beat of a community that had endured far worse than a long sermon were all expected to be part of the ordinary service.

Then gunfire broke through the song. By the time it was all over, the pews were broken, the floor was stained, and families were screaming names into the smoke as they ran outside. 

Tragically, many people are aware of the violence in Nigerian churches, both domestically and through numerous media outlets, and it is nearly always depicted in terms of religion.

The story was written for the whole world in a matter of hours. ‘Islamist militants attack Christian church’, ‘Religious violence escalates in Nigeria’, ‘Christian communities under siege’. The script is familiar. The violence in Nigeria is nearly always presented as a conflict between Islam and Christianity, an alleged long running conflict that takes place in both megacities and African villages. According to this perspective, the nation’s misfortunes are straightforward yet tragic, believers vs unbelievers.

If you stop there, the story appears to make sense. 

However, a much more nuanced picture starts to take shape if you look a bit closer at the locations of the attacks, what lies beneath those bloodied villages, and which foreign players have recently been hovering. Because Nigeria is more than just the most populated country in Africa. It is more than a religiously divided nation. It is becoming one of the planet’s most strategically important locations.

Where there is oil..

Oil, which has long been recognised and exploited, is found beneath its soil. Apart from oil, however, are enormous, undeveloped reserves of lithium, gold, nickel, cobalt, rare earth elements, and other vital minerals that are essential to the technologies altering the world economy. Nigeria is directly in the sights of international rivals vying for influence and access due to its location in this larger resource landscape.

These rocks are not your usual ones. They are the fundamental components of power in the twenty first century. Satellites, renewable energy grids, electric cars, defence systems, and the digital infrastructure that supports contemporary life. Additionally, there are less and fewer places to obtain them worldwide.

China has become a major player in West Africa’s resource frontier, investing billions in mining infrastructure throughout Nigeria, including more than $1.3 billion in lithium processing alone.   

The US has been changing its priorities at the same time. Washington announced a policy shift in late 2025 with the announcement of a new national strategy that prioritises Africa and its vital minerals over the Middle East’s century-old conflict zones.

At the same time, traditional moral language has been restored in American political commentary, particularly in relation to religion. US President Donald Trump openly said that Nigeria poses an existential threat to Christianity, designated the nation as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ due to alleged religious persecution, and even alluded to possible military actions that would be justified as defending Christians.

Violence exists in Nigeria. There is no denying its suffering. However, the narrative that is most frequently given about it can be critically lacking. What if the conflict that everyone refers to as religious has nothing to do with religion? 

The simple story

The narrative of violence in Nigeria appears to the majority of the world as Christians being attacked by Islamists in a long standing religious conflict that has been passed down through the centuries. It is an easy to understand story that can be easily adapted to the actual world.

However, part of the issue is that simplicity. The data gathered by researchers and analysts, along with the realities on the ground, reveal a far more nuanced picture. There is more than just religious violence in Nigeria. There is no simple way to limit it to Islam vs. Christianity. To begin with, Islamist rebels such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have killed Muslims and attacked mosques in addition to targeting Christian communities. 

In addition to militant organisations, Fulani herders and nearby farming communities are frequently involved in violent conflicts, particularly in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Scarce resources such as grazing pasture, water, food, and livelihood are the source of these disputes. The main conflicts are economic and environmental rather than religious, even though they occasionally overlap with religious identities (farmers are frequently Christian, and herders are frequently Muslim).

What’s under the soil

The ground beneath Nigeria’s feet reveals a different picture, one of enormous economic and strategic significance, despite headlines portraying the country as divided along religious lines. Beyond oil and gas, Nigeria has a richness of minerals. The land was recognised for a variety of solid minerals even before hydrocarbons were found. Today, industry analysts, foreign governments, and even global powers are paying attention to unexplored deposits of critical minerals, such as those that power batteries, advanced electronics, renewable infrastructure, and defence systems. 

A wealth of minerals not just oil

Nigeria has an abundance of natural resources, many of which are still underutilised in comparison to their potential. Widely dispersed throughout several states are gold, lead, zinc, coal, limestone, iron ore, barite, bitumen, and marble. Due to its use in energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) batteries, lithium, which was discovered more recently, has been found in a number of locations and has garnered international attention. Coltan, which is made up of columbite, tantalite, wolframite, and similar ores, contains elements like tantalum and niobium that are essential to the electronics and aerospace industries. Copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, tin, and rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for advanced manufacturing, telecommunications, and clean technology. Rare earth elements may even be retrieved from industrial leftovers like coal fly ash, according to emerging studies, suggesting a wider potential than traditional mining data indicates. 

These resources can be found in several different areas. For instance, there are signs of rare earth minerals in Bauchi and Plateau States, gold and columbite in Osun State, gold, nickel, and tin in Kaduna State, and lithium potential in Nasarawa and Kwara. Over 40 different solid mineral kinds have been found in Nigeria overall, according to different geological surveys. Scientists think this number may increase as more research is done. 

Why these minerals matter

The importance of this hidden wealth is strategic rather than scientific. Critical minerals are a class of materials that are essential to many modern technologies, including electric cars, jet engines, wind turbines, and cellphones. These consist of tantalum, niobium, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements.

Lithium, for instance, is essential to battery technology. In defence systems, lasers, and permanent magnets, rare earths are essential. Precision electronics and superalloys both use tantalum and niobium. However, the majority of the world’s supply is concentrated in a small number of nations, particularly China, which also controls the majority of rare earth processing capacity. Western capitals are now gravely concerned about their reliance on overseas supply chains. 

Untapped and underdeveloped

Nigeria’s mining industry has typically generated less than 1% of GDP, despite its potential. The majority of resources are exported unprocessed, with very little value addition and processing taking place at home. This underdevelopment is caused by policy gaps, regulatory ambiguity, infrastructure constraints, and inadequate geological mapping systems rather than a lack of resources. Nigerian analysts contend that changes to legal frameworks, investment incentives, and mineral policy might make the industry a major player on the world stage.

In an effort to retain more value domestically rather than exporting raw resources, the government also proposed new plans in 2025 to increase mining development and beneficiation. 

This is the secret strategic significance of Nigeria. As the world moves towards cleaner energy, more sophisticated electronics, and faster computing technologies, it is racing for vital mineral supply chains. Nigeria has the potential to become a significant hub in this new global environment due to its size, population, geographic variety, and resource potential. Before we look at how international powers, from China to the United States, are changing their foreign policy towards Africa and Nigeria in particular, it is crucial to understand this hidden fortune. 

From colonial extraction to corporate control

European colonisation established the economic underpinnings that continue to influence Nigeria’s resource landscape today, long before world powers started focussing their strategic attention on the country’s minerals.

Nigeria was not a single political entity at all. During the Scramble for Africa, which took place in the late 19th century as European powers divided the continent in an attempt to seize territory and raw riches, what would eventually become today’s borders were drawn. Between the 1880s and 1914, Britain formally took control of the area that would become Nigeria. Through treaties, wars, and the management of trading firms like the Royal Niger Company, it gradually consolidated its dominance. 

Nigeria’s economy was restructured during British control in order to support the industrial engine of the empire. In order to feed British manufacturing and international markets, the colonial state gave priority to the extraction and export of minerals and agricultural products. Cash crops like palm oil, cocoa, groundnuts, and rubber goods that could be transported to Europe at a low cost replaced local subsistence farming and indigenous industry. Local food self-sufficiency was undermined by this system, which also reoriented the economy to meet metropole demands.

As a result, Nigeria’s mineral resources, such as the coal and tin mines on the Jos Plateau, were incorporated into the colonial economic system in a way that benefited foreign interests far more than domestic growth.

Even the discovery of oil, which is arguably the resource most closely linked to Nigeria today, has its roots in colonial economic practices. Multinational corporations were granted special access to Nigerian oil fields both before and after independence, and commercial oil drilling started during colonial rule in the 1930s. From Shell to BP, these businesses rose to prominence in the industry, influencing its economics, contracts, and infrastructure in ways that frequently favoured foreign corporate interests over those of Nigerian communities.

After independence in 1960, this pattern of foreign companies exploiting resources, reinvesting earnings abroad, and retaining operational control persisted. Rather, it changed.

Nigeria inherited resource-export-focused economic systems after gaining independence. Political flags were changed during early autonomy, but many economic incentives and dependencies persisted. After commercial production surged in the late 1950s and early 1960s, oil swiftly became a key component of the national economy. The export-oriented pattern of resource exploitation persisted, but the emphasis shifted away from other minerals. 

Meanwhile, global companies, many of which were Western-based, continued to operate on a large scale. In Nigeria’s oil regions, their impact went beyond economics to include politics, government, and even social aspects. The colonial era resource extraction model had developed into a neocolonial corporate paradigm in which foreign capital, knowledge, and control extracted Nigeria’s wealth while local communities frequently paid the social and environmental costs.

These factors influenced political as well as economic outcomes throughout a large portion of the 20th century, laying the groundwork for ongoing conflicts over regional inequality, environmental degradation, and revenue distribution. 

In other words, colonialism’s extractive logic never really left Nigeria. It just took on a different form. Multinational corporations and foreign governments use contracts, joint ventures, and strategic alliances to exert influence rather than empires deploying soldiers and officials. Although the objectives may differ, profit and geopolitical influence rather than empire, the outcome is quite similar, foreign control over Nigeria’s wealth with little benefit returning to the areas where those resources came from.

It is crucial to comprehend this historical continuity in order to understand why stories of religious conflict frequently mask more fundamental economic factors, which are currently being reengaged with fresh urgency by world powers. 

Why Africa suddenly matters again?

Africa was acknowledged, talked about, and occasionally courted for decades, but it was rarely considered a key component of great power strategy.

That is no longer the case. Africa has quietly and purposefully transitioned from being a development issue to a strategic requirement. There is no humanitarian motivation. It lacks morality. It is material. The world is facing an issue that talks cannot resolve: it is running out of safe access to the minerals that are essential to contemporary economies. Data centres, wind turbines, satellites, missile guidance systems, electric cars, and artificial intelligence technology all rely on a small set of compounds called key minerals. These consist of nickel, tantalum, niobium, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements. 

Additionally, these elements’ worldwide supply chains are dangerously concentrated. Rare earth processing is dominated by China. Important energy corridors are under Russian control. The political climate in the Middle East is still unstable. There is political and environmental opposition to the extraction of lithium in South America. Policy planners increasingly publicly refer to this as a significant materials security crisis. Africa, and Nigeria in particular, has been subtly thrust back into the forefront of global policy due to this catastrophe.

The US pivot that barely made headlines

Washington’s new National Strategy, which was published in late November, signalled a little but significant change in American foreign policy. The new doctrine put Africa’s resource wealth, supply routes, and geopolitical placement into the category of national security priorities, whereas the Middle East had dominated U.S. strategic thinking for decades.

Africa was no longer aid territory, to put it simply. It was now considered strategically important.

Securing access to vital minerals, lowering reliance on Chinese supply chains, extending American influence throughout African resource corridors, and reestablishing security and economic ties throughout West and Central Africa were all highlighted in the document.

Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent, the largest economy in West Africa, and a geological giant perched atop undeveloped mineral riches, presents in our calculation as a keystone nation rather than a precarious one. Nigeria is no longer a challenge for strategy planners. Securing it is beneficial.

China’s head start

The pivot did not occur in a vacuum. By funding infrastructure, obtaining mining concessions, constructing processing facilities, and securing long term supply agreements, China has been establishing the foundation for mineral dominance throughout Africa for more than ten years. Chinese businesses have made significant investments in solid mineral development, gold mining, and lithium discovery and processing in Nigeria alone, gaining early control over future supply streams.

China was already years ahead on the ground when Western leaders started discussing mineral security in public. Western strategy has to be adjusted because of this fact rather than humanitarian concerns. 

Why Nigeria is the prize

Nigeria holds a special place in this new competition for resources. It has a population of more than 220 million. Geographically, it connects West and Central Africa. Its unexplored mineral belts are significant worldwide. Compared to more consolidated states, it has governance gaps that facilitate strategic entry.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest mineral wildcard from a geopolitical standpoint. It is future leverage from a strategic standpoint. From a business standpoint, it symbolises future earnings.

The map that changes everything

If religious hatred were the primary cause of Nigeria’s violence, you would anticipate that its bloodiest areas would be dispersed at random, erupting wherever different belief systems collide. However, the map does not depict that.

Rather, an uneasy pattern starts to show when you overlay Nigeria’s resource belts over its conflict hotspots. In addition to experiencing some of the bloodiest banditry and widespread displacement in the nation, Zamfara also possesses rich gold reserves. Situated on one of the oldest and most productive tin and columbite resources in West Africa, Plateau State has historically been one of Nigeria’s most violent hotspots. There has been an increase in communal violence and displacement in Nasarawa, which is currently gaining attention due to lithium prospects that are vital to electric vehicle batteries. Zones found by geological surveys to contain gold, rare earth elements, and industrial minerals closely overlap with parts of Kaduna, Niger, and Kebbi states that are frequently the target of kidnappings and rural violence.

Nigeria is more than just a country that faces insecurity. This nation is on the brink of a worldwide resource realignment that will shape the course of the next fifty years. By developing domestic industry, processing its own minerals, and using its resources to bolster regional influence, it has the potential to become a continental economic engine. Alternatively, it can turn into a permanently controlled extraction zone that is trapped in unstable cycles that maintain low land prices, shoddy governance, and outside value flow.

Will Nigeria eventually be recognised as the epicentre of a low key, high stakes resource fight that altered Africa’s position in the world, or will it continue to be characterised as a country mired in never ending religious strife? Because if you look past the cross and crescent, the headlines and hashtags, a different picture emerges.

Silent on Muslim perpetrators in Delhi Red Fort terror attack, ashamed over Christmas vandalism: Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s selective outrage exposed

Jinit Jain
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Silent on Muslim perpetrators in Delhi Red Fort terror attack, ashamed over Christmas vandalism: Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s selective outrage exposed

One of the most effective weapons in the arsenal of India’s left-liberal ecosystem is not data manipulation, nor selective outrage alone, but intellectual dishonesty presented as moral superiority. It is a carefully engineered strategy that relies on misleading followers, laundering narratives, and suppressing inconvenient truths, all while claiming the high ground of “constitutional values” and “human rights.”

At its core, this dishonesty performs a crucial function: it sanitises and whitewashes Islamist criminality by reframing violence as context, grievance, or misunderstanding.

A recent episode of ‘The Buck Stops Here’, hosted by Padmaja Joshi, offered a textbook demonstration of this pathology when Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a ‘journalist’ with propaganda rag The Wire, was confronted with a question that disrupted the ideological comfort zone of the left-liberal narrative machine.

The debate itself was merely the setting. The real story was the exposure of how so-called liberals manipulate public opinion by applying moral standards selectively, depending entirely on the identity of the perpetrator and the political usefulness of the outrage.

Isolated incidents of vandalism against Christmas decorations were framed as evidence of “Christians under attack in Modi’s India.” This is familiar territory for India’s self-appointed conscience keepers. Fringe acts by anonymous miscreants are deliberately projected as ideologically sanctioned, inflated into sweeping civilisational indictments, and used to place the entire Hindu society in the dock of collective moral guilt, after which the usual suspects rush in to declare secularism dead.

Selective morality as a political strategy

The left-liberal ecosystem thrives on a rigid binary: Hindus are framed as structural oppressors, Muslims as perpetual victims. Every incident, regardless of scale or intent, is filtered through this lens. Facts are secondary; ideological alignment is everything.

Thus, vandalism of Christmas decorations by fringe elements, criminal acts that deserve unequivocal condemnation, is instantly elevated into proof of “majoritarian fascism” and “genocide.” No investigation is awaited. No proportionality is exercised. Collective Hindu guilt is declared as a moral axiom.

However, when confronted with Islamist terror, especially when it involves educated professionals and ideological motivation, the same ecosystem suddenly discovers nuance, procedural caution, and legal restraint.

This contradiction is not accidental. It is deliberate. And this is what happened when Arfa was asked, in no uncertain terms, to condemn the involvement of educated Muslim professionals in the recent November Delhi Red Fort attack.

Question on Delhi Red Fort attack that Arfa found “funny”

Lawyer and activist Subuhi Khan punctured this hypocrisy by asking a question that exposed the scam at the heart of left-liberal discourse. Referring to the involvement of Muslim doctors in the Delhi Red Fort attack, she asked whether Arfa Khanum Sherwani felt the same collective shame for this act of jihad-inspired violence that she demands from Hindus over vandalism.

Posing a piercing question, Khan pointed out that an educated doctor had executed a fidayeen (suicide) attack operation, calling it “martyrdom.” Khan’s query to Sherwani was simple yet devastating: Did her head “hang in shame” as an Indian Muslim for this act of terror by a community member, just as she expected the majority community to hang their heads in shame for the vandalism of Christmas decorations?

Sherwani’s response was not a condemnation. It was not a moment of introspection. It was a dismissal. “This is a really funny question,” she smirked, repeating the phrase multiple times.

This was not flippancy. It was ideological conditioning on display.

For the left-liberal mind, Islamist terror is not morally central; it is politically inconvenient. It disrupts the victimhood economy. It complicates the narrative fed to followers. Therefore, it must be minimised, proceduralised, or ridiculed.

‘Sub-judice’ for some, summary verdicts for others

When pressed, Sherwani retreated to the familiar refuge of “the matter is under investigation.” This sudden reverence for due process would be admirable if it were not so blatantly selective.

When Hindu activists are accused, the same voices dispense instant moral verdicts. Courts are irrelevant. Investigations are unnecessary. The crime is assumed, expanded, and collectivised.

But when jihad enters the conversation, moral judgment is indefinitely postponed.

This is not legal prudence. It is narrative management.

The left-liberal ecosystem does not oppose violence. It categorises it. Violence committed by the “wrong” side is ideological; violence committed by the “right” side is contextual, accidental, or funny.

Bangladesh: The mask fully off

The intellectual dishonesty becomes grotesque when viewed through Sherwani’s commentary on Bangladesh. When Islamist mobs ousted Sheikh Hasina, Sherwani celebrated the upheaval as a “democratic takeover.”

What followed was predictable: Hindu homes torched, temples desecrated, men lynched. The most horrific example was the recent lyching of Dipu Chandra Das, beaten to death by an Islamist mob over alleged blasphemy.

And yet, the self-styled champions of minority rights were silent.

No outrage. No international campaigns. No lectures on safety of minorities.

Because Hindus, in this ideological framework, do not qualify as victims. Their suffering disrupts the narrative, so it is erased.

Gaslighting the nation and attempting to manipulate public opinion

This is how the left-liberal ecosystem sustains itself and misleads its followers and public at large, not through overt falsehoods alone, but through a steady conditioning of moral instincts. Morality is no longer anchored in actions or consequences; it is redefined around identity. Violence is condemned or excused not based on its brutality, but on who commits it. The act itself becomes secondary to the political profile of the perpetrator.

Collective guilt is imposed selectively. Entire Hindu society is expected to internalise shame for the actions of fringe elements, while collective introspection is aggressively rejected when Islamist violence is discussed. In fact, dissenting voices are suppressed into silence by hurling accusations of ‘Islamophobia’, ‘rising religious hate’, so on and so forth at the mere call of asking Muslims to introspect within over the weaponisation of their faith by terrorists. The same people who sermonise about “societal responsibility” suddenly retreat into hyper-individualism the moment accountability threatens their preferred community.

Extremism, when inconvenient, is hidden behind procedural alibis. The phrase “sub-judice” is deployed not as a legal principle but as a rhetorical shield meant to shut down moral discussion, delay condemnation indefinitely, and exhaust public attention. Due process becomes a tool of deflection rather than justice.

Uncomfortable questions are not answered; they are ridiculed. By branding legitimate concerns about jihad, radicalisation, and terror as “funny,” the ecosystem trains its audience to laugh away dangers rather than confront them. This mockery is not accidental, it is pedagogical. It signals to followers what is permissible to question and what must remain taboo.

Above all, empathy is weaponised. Victimhood is rationed, distributed only where it produces ideological dividends. Suffering that reinforces the narrative is amplified and internationalised; suffering that disrupts it is minimised, contextualised, or erased altogether. Compassion, in this framework, is not human; it is transactional.

Followers are not encouraged to think. They are conditioned to respond. Outrage is pre-scripted, silence is strategic, and moral confusion is sold as sophistication.

The selective outrage that exposes the pattern

This selective morality is not episodic; it is consistent and Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s own record illustrates it starkly. While Sherwani passionately defends the slogan “I love Muhammad” as a benign expression of faith, she has remained conspicuously silent when Hindus were violently targeted for saying “I love Mahadev.”

In September 2025, in Bahiyal village of Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district, a Hindu youth’s social media post declaring devotion to Lord Shiva triggered a brutal, one-sided communal attack. His shop was vandalised and set ablaze, Hindu vehicles were torched, Garba celebrations were attacked, police personnel were assaulted, and a Hindu neighbourhood, comprising barely 80 households, was terrorised by a mob reportedly running into thousands. CCTV footage captured Muslim mobs pelting stones, wielding rods, and selectively destroying Hindu property, while eyewitness videos recorded a Hindu mother crying out in panic for her missing son.

Yet, there was no outrage from Sherwani. No sermons on minority safety. No lectures on constitutional values. Her silence was deafening.

This omission becomes even more telling when contrasted with her defence of Islamist slogans that have repeatedly been accompanied by riots, arson, stone pelting, attacks on police, and open “Sar tan se juda” threats across multiple states. While Sherwani insists these chants are merely expressions of faith, she has never publicly questioned why they are so frequently paired with violence or why posters invoking “war” in the name of religion echo the language once used by groups like PFI, which openly fantasised about annihilating Hindus. From mocking Hindu faith in the past to dismissing documented cases of Love Jihad and defending coverage that shielded Islamist perpetrators of forced conversions, Sherwani’s trajectory reveals not journalistic balance but ideological loyalty.

Taken together, these episodes expose a pattern that cannot be explained away as oversight. They reveal a worldview in which Hindu expression is treated as provocation, Islamist aggression as context, and accountability as optional so long as it threatens the preferred narrative.

Intellectual dishonesty is not a flaw but the foundation of the Islamo-leftist ecosystem

What unfolded on that debate was not a failure of articulation; it was a failure of honesty. The laughter at a question on terror was not arrogance; it was exposure.

Left-liberalism in India today does not operate on universal principles. It operates on exemptions. It does not seek justice; it seeks narrative dominance. And intellectual dishonesty is not a flaw in this system, it is its foundation.

When morality is conditional, credibility collapses. When terror is trivialised, journalism dies. And when followers are misled repeatedly, trust eventually runs out.

The mask did not slip accidentally. It slipped because truth has a way of forcing itself into the conversation, whether the ecosystem likes it or not.

Murder of Tripura student Anjel Chakma in Dehradun, his brother Michael’s statement, police action and the arrest of the accused: All you need to know about the case

Aditi
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Murder of Tripura student Anjel Chakma in Dehradun, his brother Michael’s statement, police action and the arrest of the accused: All you need to know about the case

The tragic death of Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old student from Tripura, after an alleged racial attack has sparked widespread outrage. Protests erupted in different parts of the country, including Dehradun and Tripura, after the news of Chakma’s death broke out. CMs of Assam and Meghalaya, including many prominent voices from North Eastern states have condemned the incident, and sought strictest possible action against the criminals.

On 29 December, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami spoke to Anjel’s father Tarun Prasad Chakma, expressing his deepest condolences and assured the family of strictest possible action against the criminals responsible for the murder.

How the attack happened

Chakma, an MBA student, was critically injured in an alleged racial attack in Dehradun on 9th December. The incident reportedly happened near a canteen where Anjel Chakma and his younger brother, Michael Chakma, had gone to buy groceries. According to Michael Chakma, as he was returning with his brother on a bike, a group of intoxicated men standing near the canteen hurled racial slurs at them, calling them“Chinese and chinky.” Michael got off the bike and objected to the racial remarks. An altercation ensued between him and the group, and they started attacking him. Seeing this, his brother Anjel Chakma came to his defence, but the group of men attacked him too. They hit Michael on the head with a kada (metal bangle) and stabbed Anjel with a knife, leaving him with grievous injuries. Anjel Chakma was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition, where he received medical treatment for around 17 days before passing away on 26th December.

Five accused, including two juveniles nabbed, one accused fled to Nepal

On 10th December, the family of Anjel Chakma filed a complaint with the police. Based on the complaint, an FIR was lodged by the police against unknown persons. Subsequently, on 14th December, the police caught five accused, including two juveniles. Accused Suraj Khwas (22), from Manipur, Avinash Negi (25), and Sumit (25) were arrested, while the two juveniles were sent to a correctional home. A sixth accused reportedly fled to Nepal, and the police are on a lookout for him. A reward of Rs 25,000 has been announced by the police for information leading to his arrest.

According to Pramod Kumar, SP City Dehradun, a non-bailable warrant has been issued against the absconding accused. He said that a murder charge was added in the FIR after the death of Chakma during treatment.

The victim’s family demands justice and punishment for the culprits

Devasated by the unfortunate death of his son, Tarun Prasad Chakma demanded capital punishment for the accused. Tarun Prasad Chakma, a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, said that no parent should lose a child like this. “I want justice. If my child had survived, I would have forgiven the accused. But now, all of them should be given the death penalty. They should be hanged,” he demanded. Condemning the incident, Tarun Prasad Chakma said that such racial incidents should not happen in a country like India. “Children from every corner of India live across the country. Such things should not happen. This issue of racial comments is completely wrong. It should never happen to anyone,” he said.

Protests erupt after Chakma’s death, Tripura CM Saha spoke to Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Protests broke out in Dehradun, Tripura and other parts of the country following Chakma’s death. Students from the Northeast and several student organisations conducted candlelight marches demanding justice for Anjel Chakma. On 23rd December, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes wrote to the Uttarakhand Director General of Police, alleging police negligence in the case.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed grief over the incident and urged Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami to take strict action against the culprits. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma also condemned the racial attack on Chakma and offered condolences to the victim’s family. Speaking about the incident, Tripura CM Manik Saha said that CM Dhami assured him of complete action in the case and justice to the family of the deceased.

People question the racism angle in the case

The incident has sparked massive outrage on social media, with people condemning the alleged racist attack. At the same time, some people are questioning the allegation that the attack was motivated by racism. They claim that one of the accused is from the Northeast (Manipur) and the remaining accused are natives of Uttarakhand so there might be some reason other than ‘racism’. People on social media pointed out that since the victim and the accused are both from the Himalayan region, where people have similar facial features, the allegations of racism do not seem to add up.

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Moreover, incidents of racism in the mountain cities like Dehradun, which accommodate a sizeable Tibetan population, are not very usual. The hilly cities have allowed people from different parts of the country as well as from outside the country to live, earn a living, and even set up places of worship.

The involvement of an accused from Nepal, which was also mentioned by CM Dhami, has also been cited by many. However, the fact remains that a student of Tripura studying in Dehradun was brutally assaulted by multiple accused in Dehradun, resulting in his tragic death. This calls for a strict clampdown on street crimes and general lawlessness that is plaguing many cities across the country.

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