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‘…Just because a Muslim ruler might rape her?’ Swara Bhasker reiterates her ‘felt like vagina’ crap open letter on the Jauhar scene of Padmavat at an IIC event

Shraddha Pandey
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‘…Just because a Muslim ruler might rape her?’ Swara Bhasker reiterates her ‘felt like vagina’ crap open letter on the Jauhar scene of Padmavat at an IIC event

“Murakh Hriday na chet ko, jau guru milahin Biranchi sam”. This couplet by Goswami Tulsidas means that a foolish heart does not gain wisdom even with a master as great as Lord Brahma. Such has been the story of Bollywood entertainer Swara Bhasker, who had stirred a row in 2018 with her “I felt like reduced to a vagina” open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the maker of the film Padmavat, over the Jauhar climax. Despite being told why her assessment of Jauhar was wrong, Swara Bhasker has reiterated her retarded take on Jauhar.

Swara Bhasker suggests Rajput women should not have committed Jauhar, as rape by Muslim rulers would not have meant the end of their lives

Speaking at the India International Centre event in Delhi on 31st August, Swara Bhasker recapped her 2018 open letter to film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Bhasker described watching hundreds of Rajput women, led by Rani Padmavati (portrayed by Deepika Padukone), walk into the fire in red as a visually spectacular, musically anthemic and emotions-heavy sequence that left her feeling “reduced to a vagina”.

“I was watching this…all these women committing Jauhar…I was like, you know, if, god forbid, been a rape survivor, what would this film tell me? I would feel like a coward. That I didn’t kill myself to save my honour. Is that what you want to tell in a society like ours, where I feel like anyway there’s a rape epidemic? Is this what you want to tell our survivors? That you don’t deserve to live. That if you were actually honourable before rape, you would have killed yourself,” Swara Bhasker said.

“Are we saying that rape is the end of a woman’s life? I was particularly disgusted over the close-up scene of a pregnant woman’s belly, and she is heading towards the massive funeral pyre…you’re telling that the foetus that might be female doesn’t deserve to be born because she might be raped by a Muslim ruler? I was so mad. I came out…I wrote that letter, but The Wire made ‘felt like vagina’ its headline…” Bhasker added.

Swara Bhasker was wrong about Jauhar then, is wrong now

Swara Bhasker’s remarks are a reiteration of her 2018 open letter that contended that film Padmavat treats Jauhar as the honourable and dharmic choice rather than a ‘tragedy’. She describes the spectacular and courageous depiction of Jauhar by Rajput women as ‘glorification’ of a ‘misogynistic practice that somehow denies women individuality and personhood, in addition to the denial of the right to live after rape.

Bhasker made a 14th-century practice driven by necessity, about presentism and genital politics.

There is no doubt that a rape survivor has the right to live and live with dignity in society. Nobody expects a rape survivor to or forces them into committing Jauhar or self-immolation. The Jauhar climax of Padmavat did not send any message to the rape survivors in present times to commit self-immolation or kill themselves.

If we analyse Jauhar not with a reductive understanding but with a complete understanding of the context, then and only then would one be able to comprehend that Jauhar was not a regressive practice stripping women of their right to live.

Jauhar was not a random ‘purity’ ritual. Hindu women committed Jauhar during sieges when Rajput Hindu men had fallen against barbaric and bloodthirsty Islamic invaders like Alauddin Khilji. For Islamic barbarians, rape and sexual enslavement of non-Muslim women was a way of boasting religious dominance over Kafirs persistent humiliation of the faith of Kafirs, Hindus in this context.

For Rajput women, the alternative was capture by invading Islamic fanatic armies, repeated mass rapes, enslavement in harems, forced conversion to Islam, and total stripping of their individuality and dignity, if they managed to survive the horrific cycle of repeated rapes.

What even makes Swara Bhasker think that Khilji’s campaigns were some polite occupations, that Islamic barbarians would take Kafir women as war booty in accordance with the Islamic concept of Maal-e-Ghanimat, rape them once, and then tell the rape survivors that ‘see we raped you, but this is not the end of your life’?

In fact, Rajput women not committing Jauhar and letting Muslim barbarians led by Alauddin Khilji would have amounted to them being reduced to a vagina. From the medieval era of Islamic invasions, destruction and rapes, to the present times wherein the fifth- or sixth-generation descendants of Hindus forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim invaders continue to harbour the dream of bringing back the era of enslaving Hindu women, throwing them in harems as concubines.

OpIndia has reported earlier how a section of Muslim men openly uses various social media platforms to express their rape fantasies involving Hindu women and even Hindu goddesses. They create images showing Hindu women wearing explicit religious markers like Sindoor, Mangalsutra, Bindi, Om tattoos or lockets, in intimate positions with Muslim men wearing Islamic skullcaps.

The online Muslim perverts pick images and videos of those actresses who have portrayed Hindu Goddesses in TV dramas based on the Mahabharat, Puranas or Ramayana, with their religious-sexual degradation-laden captions.

This Islamist mindset that women are mere objects for sexual pleasure and infliction of humiliation on Kafirs and their faith is what actually reduces women to just a vagina.

However, one cannot expect a performative ‘feminist’ like Swara Bhasker to criticise or question the Islamist mindset that reduced women, be it in the medieval era of Islamic invasions or modern times, to mere objects, rather, a vagina.

In 2024, Swara Bhasker and her Muslim husband Fahad Ahmed met Islamic cleric Sajjad Nomani, who publicly declared that sending girls to schools and colleges alone is forbidden (Haram) in Islam. The Taliban-loving maulana also opines that Muslim girls were somehow giving up on purdah and modesty and urged parents not to send their daughters to schools and colleges.

Rajput women embracing death of their choosing over the fate of being reduced to a sex slave of a foreign barbarian and losing their bodily autonomy was, as Bhansali rightly described, an act of war. Swara Bhasker or any ‘feminist’ treating this difficult but necessary choice as ‘nothing more than patriarchal vagina-policing’, its either indifferent to the civilisational stakes that Hindus in that time actually faced, or harbours a fetish for sexual enslavement.

Film Padmaavat released in 2018, would Swara Bhasker enlighten the world about how many rape survivors have since, watched the movie and committed Jauhar or self-immolation?

In contemporary times, the ISIS has been doing to Yazidi women what Islamic barbarians like Khilji wanted to do with Rajput women in the 14th century. During the 2014 Yazidi genocide, the Islamic terrorists belonging to the ISIS subjected Kafir Yazidi women to systematic, widespread sexual violence, enslavement, and torture.

There are documented accounts from aid workers and survivors indicating significant spikes in suicides among rape survivors and displaced women as they could not withstand the physical and psychological trauma inflicted by the horror they endured.

In the book The Last Girl by an ISIS survivor Nadia Murad, she described her experience as a “slow, painful death – of the body and soul”. Murad recounts that she was subjected to repeated rapes, humiliation and torture, including her body being burnt with cigarettes. She also mentions that many women captives killed themselves.

During the Yazidi genocide, numerous Yazidi women and girls chose to take their own lives, either by hanging, slitting their wrists, or jumping from buildings to escape impending rape, perpetual torture, and sexual slavery. Would Swara Bhasker sermonise to Yazidi women that the continuous cycle of rape and torture by ISIS Jihadis is not the end of their lives? Would she call their decision to embrace death over dying slowly and painfully in instalments every day ‘cowardice’?

Back in 2010, Tunisian street vendor Tarek al Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest police harassment, corruption, and the seizure of his cart. Bouazizi was not a coward; he knew that he lacked the resources to wage a fight against his oppressors alone. He thus chose the path of self-immolation in public to awaken the hibernating conscience of society. While Bouazizi died outside a government building due to self-immolation, he lit the fire that triggered the Arab Springs. If Bouazizi was a coward, by Swara Bhasker’s logic, would the European Parliament award him the Sakharov Prize posthumously in 2011? Would she turn his sacrifice into a paralogistic debate about his right to live?

A film about 1303 Chittor is not going to restart Jauhar in 2026. Swara Bhasker’s ‘vagina-only’ rhetoric is disgustingly reductive and is aligned with the broader Islamo-leftist pattern of critiquing the response of Hindus to Muslim atrocities as bigger problem than Muslim atrocities themselves. Basically, horrific action by Muslims is not subjected to criticism and scrutiny, but courageous self-defence by Hindus is labelled ‘misogynistic’, ‘cowardice’, ‘regressive’ and whatnot.

Honour, community survival, religious identity, and refusal of Hindu women to become trophies are not synonymous with being reduced to just a vagina. In fact, reducing the entire decision of committing Jauhar to genital ownership reflects the very objectification Swara Bhasker claims to oppose.

While suicide by any means is not encouraged in present times for rape survivors or anyone, in an era where Islamic barbarians weaponised sex slavery as a means of asserting religious dominance and humiliating enemies, Jauhar was not ‘cowardice’; it was not an escape, but a protest that demanded sacrifice.

The medieval era was not like modern times wherein women have the option to approach the police and seek legal remedy against their rapists; they lived in an era of siege warfare, wherein the fall of their dynasty in a war against Islamic barbarians meant total executions, destruction, plunder, subjugation, religious conversions, and mass rapes. Applying 21st-century individualist feminism to a medieval-era siege warfare-resulted decision is totally anachronistic.

Hypocrisy comes naturally to performative feminists like Swara Bhasker. In 2021, she wrote an op-ed for The Hindu wherein she described the 2013 film Ranjhana as an “unapologetic celebration of crazy love”, even as the film glorified stalking and destructive one-sided obsession and portrayed the stalker, Kundan, as a tragic hero.

India International Centre and its knack for platforming Hinduphobic Islamo-leftists

The India International Centre has long been in controversy over platforming notorious Hinduphobes and Islamo-leftists. Although the India International Centre, Delhi, is an NGO, it has been heavily supported and involved with the Indian Government since its inception in 1958 (Nehruvian-Congress era of politics).

Interestingly, the India International Centre was founded & funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation & Rothschild Foundation are partners in many projects. 

The IIC’s  ‘About’ section lists its past and present Presidents, Vice Presidents, Life Trustees and Trustees mostly belonging to the elite coterie of ‘Lutyens’ and Khan Market cabal. The NGO hosts an annual C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture on the birth anniversary, which is 14th January, in memory of its Founder President, C. D. Deshmukh.

In 2022, the IIC invited  MK Rasgotra, who was the Foreign Secretary during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, who secured the release of accused Warren Anderson. Ironically, he spoke on “Foreign Policy: Past and Future”.

In 2018, the IIC invited  Rohinton F. Nariman, who passed incorrect remarks on the Rig Veda & termed Babar and Akbar as secular. He spoke on, hold your breath, “Great” Contemporaries: Akbar, Suleiman I and Elizabeth I.” OpIndia has earlier reported on Nariman’s anti-Hindu comments over the years.

Back in 2012, the IIC invited judge B. N. Srikrishna, whose Srikrishna Report on Bombay riots of 1992-93 dragged on for more than 5 years and blamed the Shiv Sena as being largely responsible for it, to deliver a “Beyond Federalism” speech.

In fact, the IIC’s President Shyam Saran himself is a well-known Congress supporter & Nehru dynasty loyalist. In 2020, he criticised Prime Minister Modi for attending the Ayodhya event in an article in the Business Standard newspaper.

In 2023, Shyam Saran invited the infamous “distorian”, Romila Thapar, for a C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture on “Our History, Their History, Whose History?” It claimed that there was some ‘current crisis that has engulfed the teaching and writing of history as reflected in the new syllabuses for educational institutions of all levels’.

Unsurprisingly, back in July 2021, when an IIC member, Dr Daksh Lohiya, requested that a colloquium be hosted by Indic scholar Sandeep Balakrishna to mark the centenary of the Moplah massacres, but lo & behold, the IIC refused to allow it even as a ‘private event’.

From Mohammad Habib to Romila Thapar: How Marxist ‘historians’ whitewashed Muslim Separatism and India’s communal history to blame Hindus

Arvind Singh
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From Mohammad Habib to Romila Thapar: How Marxist ‘historians’ whitewashed Muslim Separatism and India’s communal history to blame Hindus

Marxist historiography in India emerged to defend the idea of Muslim separatism. It grew alongside the demand for a separate Muslim homeland. The Muslim League under Mohammad Ali Jinnah argued that if Muslims were not given a state of their own, the Hindu majority would sweep them away after the British left India. After the partition, over 3.5 crores of Muslims were left in India. Either they lacked the means to move from across India to Pakistan, or they did not want to leave their hearths and homes, built by their ancestors. Roughly 75 lakhs of Muslims left India for Pakistan. 

The partition did not solve India’s Muslim problem. However, it provided a springboard for Marxist historians. They became their spokespersons. They tell us that those Muslims who did not migrate were as much Indians as their Hindu neighbours, thereby repudiating the two-nation theory. By this logic, the concessions given to them should not be withdrawn as a reward for their staying back. 

The Congress party had made several compromises with Muslims to avoid being labelled a Hindu party. In 1937, for example, the party decided to chop off three stanzas from Vande Mataram, because Muslims found the verses sacrilegious. However, the effort to attract Muslims was unsuccessful. The 1937 and 1946 provincial elections showed that Muslims favoured the Muslim League rather than the Congress.

The failed compromises made towards Muslims to win them over to the Congress during colonial times persisted in independent India, and the very ideas that fuelled Muslim separatism received constitutional recognition. Vande Mataram should have been restored in its entirety, but the song continued in truncated form, with the same argument that Muslim sentiments were frayed by the full song. 

Muslims continued to have their way, both in colonial India and in free India. The competitive compromises became a test of secularism. 

As these events were unfolding, Marxist historians were quietly laying the groundwork to justify the concessions made to Muslims. Mohammad Habib of Aligarh Muslim University had turned to Marxism after the Anglo-Soviet Pact of 1941. Previously banned communist literature was allowed to enter India, and Habib was among the early influential converts. He was the first to propound the notion (Sultan Mahmud of Ghazanavi, 1927) that Muslim rulers of medieval India razed temples out of avarice and greed and that they had no religious duty to do so. 

Habib was a friend of the Nehrus. He was a protégé of Motilal Nehru, as the Swaraj Party had roped him in to contest the 1926 elections from a reserved constituency. The ideas Habib set out in his 1927 monograph on Mahmud were echoed in Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India (1945), where he described Mahmud as ‘far more a warrior than a man of faith’, interested in ‘encouraging cultural activities’, and, if he broke temples, it was mainly ‘to carry off building materials’ to his home town to erect big buildings. 

After Nehru became prime minister, he relied on Marxist historians to justify his pro-Muslim policies. However, merely criticising colonial and nationalist historians was not enough; Marxist historians needed to develop theories to support their claims. Nehru had given them ample clues. The first praxis was to demand that class become the organising principle in India with socialism as a state goal. 

In his presidential address to the Indian History Congress (1947), Habib called upon historians to use their pens to fashion a society based on class:  

Most writers of Indian history in the past, it has to be frankly confessed, have belonged to the ‘bourgeois culture group’, and this fact has inevitably coloured their vision. Modern works on Indian history (show) their attitudeof uncriticall adulation towards the higher classes… The tendency towards socialism will gain in weight and volume as with every succeeding year the working classes strive to come to their own. The historian must not fail to do his duty (to lead India) to the shrine of her new-found, classless God.

The notion of class was as academic as it was political. Historians and leaders such as Nehru have increasingly argued that a class-based society had fewer fault lines, for poor Muslims and poor Hindus had more in common with each other than with an affluent Hindu. This would also help Hindus to seek more common ground with Muslims, and the horrendous past of Islam in India would pose no hindrance. 

The second praxis is to explain Muslim presence in India after the partition. Romila Thapar took the lead here. She accused colonial historians of painting a bleak communal situation in India to perpetuate their stranglehold. In her essay, Communalism and Ancient India History (1969), she says: 

The creation of Pakistan did not, however, solve the problem for the communal historian. The Hindu communalist still has to contend with the reality of Muslim culture. Hence the attempt to either belittle its importance or emphasise its foreignness.

According to her view, the past was not negative; Muslim rulers generally did not demolish temples. While there were some exceptions, things were mostly fine. Muslim governance rarely affected ordinary people’s lives. If Muslim rulers are criticised, it should also be noted that Hindu rulers destroyed temples and places of worship of other faiths. So, Hindus must not complain, for they themselves had blood on their hands. 

Accusing Hindus, especially nationalist leaders, for the partition is the third praxis. Therefore, they insisted that it was Hindus who had cornered Muslims so much that they felt staying back in India would annihilate their culture and religion. It was Hindus who were originators of the two-nation theory, and the demand for Pakistan by the Muslims was an attempt to escape the inevitable Hindu rule. These historians plucked statements from Bankim, Tilak, Savarkar, and the shuddhi movement, and amplified them to provide cover for the prime accused. 

Right after the British took over India, half a dozen orthodox Muslim organisations sprang up with the singular aim of weaning Muslims away from the social corruption that had become ingrained in them through their contacts with Hindus, and of driving away the new colonisers to hark back to the golden age of Islam in India. Syed Ahmed Khan chiefly put these orthodox concerns in language the British could understand. 

There is plenty of literature to support the claim that the idea of Muslim separatism dates to the 1870s. But these documents, which contain unmistakable evidence of the Muslim skulduggery, have been hailed by Marxist historians as a colonial ploy to divide Hindus and Muslims. 

A general survey of Marxist historiography in India substantiates that it has unabatedly offered its services to Muslim fundamentalism. The indomitable Sita Ram Goel has rightly (Stalinist Historians Spread the Big Lie, 1993) described their alliance: 

Islam has never learnt to argue its case with facts and logic. All through its history, it has relied on the sword and street riots. In India, it used the sword for several centuries. After the loss of its political power, it has relied on street riots. The weapon has yielded and continues to yield rich results. It is, therefore, not an accident that Islam in India has always left it to Stalinists to argue its case.

The author’s latest book, India’s Rogue Historians (2026), explores Marxist historiography with reference to the Ram Janmabhoomi.

From free college tuition for Muslim girls to a ₹100 crore fund for Waqf and Christian properties, is Tamil Nadu’s TVK government replicating the disastrous Congress-AAP freebies model?

Shraddha Pandey
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From free college tuition for Muslim girls to a ₹100 crore fund for Waqf and Christian properties, is Tamil Nadu’s TVK government replicating the disastrous Congress-AAP freebies model?

The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party swept the Tamil Nadu state assembly elections earlier this year, defeating the incumbent Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. The party led by actor-turned-politician Chandrashekhar Joseph Vijay, popularly known as Thalapathy Vijay, promised politics and policies different from conventional political parties; however, just four months in power, the CM Vijay-led government appears to be following the disastrous path of freebies and appeasement.

Free tuition for Muslim undergrad girls, Waqf scholarship expansion: Vijay government resorts to Muslim appeasement

The Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, erstwhile Aam Aadmi Party-ruled Delhi, and the AAP-ruled Punjab perfectly exemplify how unrealistic freebies exacerbate economic crisis, empty the state exchequer, and overburden the state with high debt. Despite the present cases, the TVK government led by CM Joseph Vijay is announcing religion-specific schemes.

On 27th August, the Minister for Minorities Welfare A M Shahjahan announced that the state government will cover the full Under-Graduate tuition fees for Muslim female students admitted under the government quota in government, government-aided, and self-financing colleges.

For this, the ministry has made an initial allocation of ₹20 crore.

Minister A M Shahjahan also announced the expansion of the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board scholarship for Muslim girls, from Classes 1-8 to Classes 9-10 at ₹2,000 per year. The scheme is expected to benefit 41,384 Muslim schoolgirls at a cost of Rs 8.28 crore.

A M Shahjahan said, “To further promote higher education access in the capital, the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board will establish a new dedicated Minorities Women’s Arts and Science College in Chennai with a starting grant of Rs 2.45 crore. The state will set up a Rs 100 crore revolving fund to offer interest-free loans aimed at developing income-generating assets such as commercial complexes and marriage halls on Muslim Wakf and Christian religious properties”.

An announcement has also been made about a ‘minorities’ women’s college in Chennai through the Waqf Board, with an initial grant of ₹2.45 crore.

Questions are rightly being raised: are only Muslim girls in need of financial support for their education? Are all Hindus in the state too rich to require state financial aid for the education of their daughters?

Why is the Vijay government providing full tuition fee support only for Muslim girls under the government quota rather than a means-tested expansion of higher-education support for all the girls regardless of their religion?

Why do Muslims get special treatment based on faith, while Hindus and others don’t? Doesn’t this mean that Muslims are being rewarded for being Muslims and the State is incentivising conversion to Islam in a way? Doesn’t this sort of religion-based policymaking amount to the State recognising Islam as a preferred religion, if not an official State religion?

It won’t be surprising if in the near future the government starts rewarding Muslim ‘minorities’ for even attending college.

A significant portion of the state’s wealth comes from Hindu taxpayers and temples. And yet, Hindus are neglected in such welfare schemes merely because of their faith and population size.

TVK government announces ₹100 crore revolving fund for Waqf and Christian properties, Waqf Board HQ construction

The Vijay government in Tamil Nadu has also announced a ₹100 crore interest-free revolving fund for loans to develop income-generating assets like marriage halls, commercial complexes, etc. on Muslim and Christian properties.

In addition, the state government will also construct a new headquarters for the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board at an estimated cost of ₹40 crore.

Moreover, reports say that the administrative grant for the state Waqf Board will be raised to ₹5 crore.

TVK’s expensive one-gram gold ring poll promise for babies born in government hospitals to add a new burden to the state exchequer

The most expensive promise made by TVK in its election manifesto was to give 8 grams (one sovereign) of gold to babies born in government hospitals. After forming the government, CM Vijay has crafted the Thaimaman Thanga Mothiram scheme to give a 1-gram 22-carat gold ring to eligible newborn babies of state residents, delivered in government hospitals.

This expensive freebie will be provided with an annual allocation of ₹756 crore for roughly 4.42 lakh rings. Applying from 22nd June 2026, the birthday of CM Vijay, and it will be formally launched on 15th September.

Vijay government dropped Chennai’s second airport

Portrayed as the ‘super CM’ and the ‘real-life Shivaji Rao from Nayak film’ in Instagram reels, CM Vijay is too busy squandering state funds to appease Muslims that he is apparently indifferent to the fact that Tamil Nadu’s overall debt stands at ₹13.18 lakh.

Recently, the Vijay government cancelled the Parandur greenfield airport project that was advanced under the previous DMK government even as land acquisition was already underway. With this, the TVK fulfilled its poll promise to the protesting farmers.

Notably, Chennai is in dire need of a second airport because passenger traffic and cargo movement are increasingly outpacing the capacity of the existing Chennai International Airport in Meenambakkam.

Currently, the Chennai International Airport handles about 30 million passengers every year. While future upgrades can raise capacity to around 35 or 55 million passengers, it would only be a medium-term fix.

Industrial growth and increasing travel demand will fully saturate the current facility in the near future. Thus, there is a serious need for a second airport.

By cancelling the Parandur airport project, which advanced to the stage of land acquisition after years of planning and clearances, CM Vijay essentially pushed Chennai’s second-airport project back to the initial site-selection phase.

Calling the cancellation a “setback that further delays Chennai’s quest for a world-class airport”, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India’s (CREDAI) Chennai chapter said that Chennai is at risk of losing big investments, industrial relocation and talent to other competing hubs which already have better aviation infrastructure.

While the Vijay government has confirmed that the second airport project has not been fully abandoned and a search for an alternative site is ongoing, finding an alternative site, its feasibility tests, land acquisition, and environmental clearances from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) would take years before the construction could even commence.

White paper on Tamil Nadu Electricity Board’s health revealed ₹2.47 lakh crore outstanding debt, yet TVK says freebies shall be dolled out uninterrupted

In late June 2025, the   Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister CTR Nirmal Kumar released a white paper on the condition of the state’s electricity board. The document stated that Tamil Nadu’s power sector carries an outstanding debt of Rs 2.47 lakh crore.

The total debt of Tamil Nadu’s power sector has exceeded Rs 2,47,130 crore. This accounts for 77.6% of the total debt accumulated by Tamil Nadu’s public sector undertakings, the white paper states.

The power sector-specific white paper was released days after the TVK government released a broader white paper revealing that the state overall debt stands at Rs 13.18 lakh crore.

Despite the massive debt burden, the TVK government said that there will be no electricity tariff hike and that the electricity scheme for farmers would continue.

This came despite the government’s own admission that the state’s power distribution company, the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TNPDCL), is facing a “persistent monthly structural” cash shortfall of ₹2,500, which results in the annual liquidity gap of about ₹30,000 crore, financed via short-term borrowings, delayed payments to power purchase counterparties, and deferred capital expenditure.

Free cylinders, bus travel for women and more: For TVK, freebies are the way

In late August 2026, CM Joseph Vijay announced three free LPG cylinders a year for every family with an annual income below ₹2.5 lakh, under the Annapoorni Super Six scheme. While the scheme is likely to benefit 1.30 families, it will cost the state exchequer over ₹4,000 crore annually.

Moreover, the Tamil Nadu CM also announced free bus travel for transgender persons. CM Vijay also expanded the scope of the ‘Vettri Payana Thittam’ scheme for women. Now, women will not only be allowed to travel for free on ordinary buses but also on Express, LSS and Deluxe services.

Tamil Nadu’s financial health is deteriorating, but the Vijay government is prioritising freebies and appeasement

In June this year, the TVK government released a financial white paper. It covered the period from 2021-2022 to 2025-26. The document revealed that the total debt of Tamil Nadu has reached ₹13.18 lakh crore, including ₹10 lakh crore in direct state borrowings and ₹3.18 lakh crore in public sector undertaking (PSU) liabilities.

The per capita burden has also risen, with every Tamil Nadu resident effectively carrying a debt share of nearly ₹1.29 lakh.

Meanwhile, direct state debt has also nearly doubled from ₹5.13 lakh crore in April 2021 to about ₹10 lakh crore by March 2026.

The state’s revenue deficit, as per the white paper, has also hit a record high of ₹78,324 crore, making up to nearly 2.2% of the GSDP. In addition, the annual interest payments crossed ₹67,050 crore, surpassing the state’s total capital expenditure.

Despite the alarming numbers, the Vijay government is prioritising freebies and Muslim appeasement.

Indifferent to the struggling economy and an emptied state exchequer, the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh promised free electricity, monthly financial assistance for women, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, government jobs and several subsidy-based schemes.

Following the initial chest thumping, now the situation for the government is such that it is trapped in the spiral of borrowing, higher charges, reduced subsidies or new taxes and cess. The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh called on even Hindu temple trusts to contribute funds towards welfare schemes. A notification encouraged temple trusts to provide money for programmes including the Mukhyamantri Sukh-Aashray Yojana and Mukhyamantri Sukh Shiksha Yojana.

After Congress’s ‘Khatakhat’ model of freebies destroyed the economy, the Himachal government is inventing unique cesses and taxes.

Similar is the state of affairs in AAP-ruled Punjab wherein outstanding liabilities have crossed ₹4.5 lakh crore, a debt-GSDP ratio around 44-46%, one of the highest in the country; in addition, the state is also struggling with revenue and fiscal deficits, and surging debt-servicing costs.

While Punjab’s plunge into the bottomless quagmire of economic crisis cannot solely be blamed on the AAP government, despite the financial challenges and dependence on borrowing, the AAP government doled out several freebies, including 300 units of free electricity.

Besides freebies, the AAP government in Punjab has also been accused of squandering taxpayers’ money, essentially the funds from the state exchequer for needless advertising and even for AAP’s electoral victory marches. Now the situation is such that the AAP government is struggling to clear even the Dearness Allowance of state employees and is playing delay tactics.

Tamil Nadu also runs a structural revenue deficit, with a massive share of its revenue already going to salaries, pensions, and interest. With new recurring commitments, be it gold rings or minority freebie packages, the Vijay government is overburdening the state.

While the TVK might give political justifications, including compulsion to fulfil poll promises, today’s freebies will tomorrow create an unbearable financial burden for the state’s future generations.

The Grand Mufti of India cites Quran to defend confinement of Muslim women to homes: Will Rahul Gandhi ‘smash patriarchy’ in the Quran too?

Jinit Jain
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The Grand Mufti of India cites Quran to defend confinement of Muslim women to homes: Will Rahul Gandhi ‘smash patriarchy’ in the Quran too?

Rahul Gandhi has discovered a new political vocabulary: “Break the cage” and “smash the patriarchy.”

The Congress leader recently told a gathering of young women in Pune that women do not belong to their fathers, husbands or sons, but belong to themselves. He attacked what he called the “Manusmriti mindset” and argued that women must be free to build identities independent of men.

It is a superficially legitimate argument. Women should have agency. They should be free to study, work, participate in public life and determine their own futures.

But there is an obvious question that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party would rather not answer:

Does this principle apply only when patriarchy can be associated with Hinduism?

Because Kerala has now presented Rahul Gandhi with precisely the sort of test that political slogans are supposed to withstand.

Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliyar, one of Kerala’s most influential Sunni clerics and the tenth Grand Mufti of India, has defended the appalling proposition that women should remain confined to their homes and should not enter the public sphere. He explicitly attributed this position to the Quran and defended the purdah system as a means of preventing what he described as “great destruction.”

He even compared women to gold ornaments that need to be kept safely inside a box.

This was not some anonymous social-media account making an inflammatory post. This was a prominent religious scholar publicly defending a restrictive interpretation of women’s place in society.

And it came days after the Kanthapuram faction of Samastha directed Islamic institutions to ensure that Muslim women and girls do not participate in programmes on stages or in public spaces alongside men.

So where is Rahul Gandhi?

Where is the “smash the patriarchy” campaign?

Where is the lecture about women belonging to themselves?

Where is the demand that women should not be treated as possessions whose movements need to be controlled by men?

The silence is striking precisely because Gandhi has made women’s autonomy and opposition to patriarchal social structures a central part of his recent political messaging.

When discussing Manusmriti, Gandhi was categorical. He described its alleged prescription of women’s subordination as shameful and said the fight was against the mindset that seeks to control women and confine them.

But when a Muslim cleric makes an extraordinarily similar argument about restricting women’s public participation, and explicitly invokes Islam and the Quran, the Congress ecosystem suddenly becomes considerably more cautious.

That is where the charge of selective feminism becomes difficult to dismiss.

Congress’ glaring duplicity exposed

There is an important distinction that needs to be made.

Criticising a regressive interpretation of a religious text is not an attack on every person who follows that religion. Nor does opposing a cleric’s prescription for women require insulting Muslims or denying their right to practise their faith.

In fact, genuine reform requires precisely the opposite: treating Muslims as citizens capable of engaging critically with interpretations of their own religious traditions.

If Rahul Gandhi is justified in criticising Manusmriti over purportedly discriminatory provisions against women, then he should also raise his voice against provisions or verses in the Islamic text that the Grand Mufti of India is citing to defend confinement of women within the four walls of their homes.

In essence, the same intellectual standard that applies to Manusmriti should apply to the Quran when an Islamic cleric cites it to justify keeping women confined to their homes.

Otherwise, “smash patriarchy” begins to look less like a universal principle and more like a political weapon selectively deployed against one religious tradition.

And this is where Congress has a credibility problem.

The party frequently speaks the language of constitutional rights, women’s empowerment, secularism and social reform. Yet when the subject enters the politically sensitive terrain of Muslim personal law or conservative religious authority, its instinct has historically been far more cautious.

The Shah Bano episode remains the most obvious example. After the Supreme Court’s 1985 judgment in favour of maintenance for Shah Bano, the Rajiv Gandhi government enacted legislation in 1986 following intense opposition from sections of Muslim leadership. The episode remains one of the most consequential examples of the Congress party struggling to reconcile its commitment to reform with the demands of organised religious constituencies.

This is precisely why Congress cannot simply dismiss questions about its approach to reform within Muslim society as an attempt to “target Muslims”.

Reform is not targeting a community. Refusing to reform because a community’s religious leadership may be offended is.

Why is Manusmriti fair game, but religious conservatism within Islam treated with kid gloves?

The question Rahul Gandhi needs to answer is remarkably simple.

If a text or its interpretation is being used to tell women that they cannot be independent, should he oppose it?

If the answer is yes, then the principle cannot depend on the religious identity of the person citing the text.

If a cleric says women should stay inside their homes because “the Holy Quran says so”, a politician who has just made “smashing patriarchy” a political rallying cry should have something to say about it.

He could simply say:

No religious interpretation should be used to deny women their constitutional rights, freedom of movement, education, employment or participation in public life.

That would be entirely consistent with the argument he made in Pune.

But that is precisely the uncomfortable part.

It would require Congress to confront conservative Muslim clerics rather than merely invoking women’s rights when criticising Hindu texts.

The Congress’ secularism problem

There is a larger political pattern here.

For decades, Congress has presented itself as the party of secularism. Yet its version of secular politics has often involved treating religious communities differently depending upon the political consequences of confronting their conservative leadership. Minorities, especially Muslims, have often been treated with kid gloves, with Congress leadership often turning a blind eye to Islamic radicalism or contextualising crimes when committed in the name of Islam.

That is not secularism. It is political risk management.

A genuinely secular party should be willing to tell every community the same thing: your faith is your private right, but the Constitution is the common framework within which everyone lives.

If a Hindu priest says women should not work, challenge him.

If a Muslim cleric says women should not appear in public, challenge him.

If a Christian cleric makes a similarly regressive claim, challenge him.

The standard should be the same.

Otherwise, the woman whose freedom is supposedly being defended becomes secondary to the identity of the person restricting her.

And that is the ultimate irony.

Rahul Gandhi has told Indian women that they are not the property of their fathers, husbands or sons. He has urged them to reject a mindset that seeks to confine them and control their choices.

But, he cannot summon the same courage to call out the Grand Mufti of India who has relegated Muslim women to second-class citizens of the country.

A Muslim woman deserves precisely the same freedom.

Not a watered-down version of it.

Not freedom subject to the approval of a religious committee.

Not freedom that disappears whenever a cleric invokes scripture.

If Rahul Gandhi genuinely believes that women belong to themselves, he should have no difficulty saying so when the woman in question is Muslim and the person restricting her freedom is invoking Islam.

That is simply applying the same feminist principle to everyone.

And if Congress is unwilling to do that, people are entitled to ask whether its commitment to “smash patriarchy” is really about women, or whether, once again, electoral arithmetic decides which patriarchy is acceptable to criticise.

Letter for Umar Khalid, hate against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat: Who is anti-India US representative Jim McGovern?

Shraddha Pandey
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Letter for Umar Khalid, hate against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat: Who is anti-India US representative Jim McGovern?

From India to the US, the Islamo-leftist cabal is rattled by the New York visit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat. Khalistani terrorists and ‘liberal’ outfits like USCIRF to Democrat politicians, in the last few weeks the Islamo-leftist coterie has demanded US sanctions on the RSS, vilified Mohan Bhagwat and churned out Muslim victimhood propaganda. One of the key politicians to back this anti-RSS/Mohan Bhagwat campaign is Jim McGovern.

On 31st August, Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district representative, Jim McGovern, published an X post amplifying a propaganda article authored by former USCIRF chairs Stephen Schneck and Nadine Maenza. Jim McGovern claimed that RSS contributed to making discrimination and violence against religious ‘minorities’ mainstream in India.

Demanding accountability from RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat, Jim McGovern wrote, “Former USCIRF Chairs @StephenSchneck & @NadineMaenza are right: The Hindu nationalist RSS helped make discrimination & violence against religious minorities mainstream in India. Its chief, Mohan Bhagwat, should face accountability—not be given a platform to foment hatred.”

Stephan Schneck, Nadine Maenza, and the anti-India USCIRF

Notably, Stephan Schneck and Nadine Maenza are notorious anti-India propagandists, who contributed to several dubious reports published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

As USCIRF Commissioner, Stephan Schneck amplified the erstwhile Canadian Trudeau Government’s falsehoods that India was involved in transnational repression, particularly the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

In 2023, Schneck said that India’s purported part “in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States was deeply troubling” in 2023. He added, “We call on the Biden administration to acknowledge the Indian government’s perpetration of particularly severe religious freedom violations and designate it as a country of particular concern (CPC).”

Later, Canada admitted that it had “no evidence” against India or the Indian government in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Similarly, Nadine Maenza, the former Vice Chair of the USCIRF, has also demonstrated her anti-India leanings through her work during her time in the USCIRF and afterwards. Maenza had aggressively pushed for designation of India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC) during her vice chairship in the USCIRF.

During her tenure, Islamist lobbying against India was rampant. Maenza regularly attended anti-India and anti-Hindu events organised by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).

Source: DisInfo Lab’s X handle

The Indian American Muslim Council is reported to have links with the banned Islamic terror outfit, Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Besides, the Indian American Muslim Council has ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) through its founder Shaik Ubaid. The IAMC is a Jamaat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group.

The IAMC is also accused of collaborating with and even paying money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF. OpIndia has reported on how the IAMC frequently publishes disinformation to peddle Muslim victimhood propaganda against India. The Indian government slapped the IAMC with the UAPA in 2021.

Predictably, the IAMC also backed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his mayoral candidacy. Mamdani, a notorious Hinduphobe, had recently lamented not having the authority to cancel the RSS Chief’s event in the city.

During Nadine Maenza’s tenure as USCIRF Vice Chair, the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable, an informal alliance of NGOs working closely with the USCIRF, became a hub of anti-India elements.

The IRF Roundtable’s India Working Group was headed by IAMC Advocacy Director Ajit Sahi, HfHR’s Raju Rajagopal, and FIACONA’s John Prabhudoss.

Notably, HfHR was formed in the year 2019 by two Islamist advocacy groups: the IAMC and the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI). The three organisations had formed another outfit called the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA), which, alongside IAMC, had been at the forefront of leading demonstrations against the visit of PM Modi to Houston on September 22, 2019. HfHR ran Facebook ads to promote previous USCIRF reports.

HfHR chief Sunita Vishwanath, who was pictured alongside Rahul Gandhi, had tried to create hysteria and panic among Indian Muslims about the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Meanwhile, FIACONA, or the Federation of Indian Christian Organizations in North America, has also been involved in fabricating data on atrocities on Indian Christians and is based in the United States. Founded by one John Prabhudoss, the factually incorrect annual reports by FIACONA, riddled with data duplication and other anomalies, have been cited in several news articles to suggest the increasing marginalisation of the Indian Christian community.

Interestingly, in 2022, Nadine Maenza was awarded by Justice for All for “Advocacy for all, especially Muslims.”

Notably, Justice For All is a Chicago-based NGO, which was recently at the forefront of the anti-RSS and Mohan Bhagwat campaign in the US. The Islamist outfit founded by Pakistani-origin Abdul Malik Mujahid, who had links to the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, even launched an online campaign that urged people to put pressure on the US government to bar Bhagwat from entering the United States.

It is unsurprising that the USCIRF, a US bipartisan body dominated by explicitly anti-India elements, churns out propaganda reports every year, pushing the same ‘Hindu nationalism’, ‘democracy under threat’, ‘Muslim persecution’ bogey, to malign the Modi government, the RSS, and India’s global reputation.

More recently, the USCIRF, helmed by a Pakistan-born American Islamist, Asif Mahmood, actively contributed to the sinister Islamo-leftist campaign in the US to stop RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s Madison Square event.

Jim McGovern: The US politician consistently involved in anti-India activism

Representing Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district, James Patrick McGovern, commonly known as Jim McGovern, is more invested in championing Islamo-leftist causes related to India than his own country.  McGovern has long been spewing venom against the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that violates the limits of constructive criticism. McGovern has on multiple occasions claimed that human rights, religious freedom, and democracy are deteriorating under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.

McGovern’s CAA disinformation

In January 2022, Jim McGovern, who co-chairs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, addressed a Special Congressional Briefing called to commemorate India’s 73rd Republic Day.

Jim McGovern claimed that the Modi government has been promoting ‘Hindu nationalist’ policies even as no welfare schemes or any initiative has been launched in over a decade of PM Modi’s government, which exclusively benefits Hindus.

McGovern also claimed that religious freedom and human rights were backsliding. He also amplified the false and alarmist narrative peddled by the Indian Islamo-leftists that the Citizenship Amendment Act, when combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) proposal, would institutionalise discrimination against Muslims. This briefing was attended by Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India.

Amusingly, this briefing was organised by a coalition of 17 US-based ‘rights’ organisations, including IAMC, HfHr, Sikh Coalition, among others. Most of these organisations have earned notoriety by peddling anti-Hindu and anti-India narratives and indulging in lobbying activities in the US to undermine American Hindus.

“For the first time in 2019, a law was passed that links citizenship to religious identity. There is every reason to fear that this change, combined with the proposal for a National Register of Citizens institutionalizes discrimination against Muslims,” McGovern said.

Relying on the Muslim victimhood propaganda fed by the IAMC and other Islamo-leftist outfits, McGovern peddled alarmist disinformation against the CAA, even as the CAA had a connection with the NRC and had nothing to do with Indian Muslims. 

Jim McGovern lied about the FCRA license cancellation of a Christian organisation founded by soul harvester ‘Mother’ Teresa, backed USCIRF recommendation to label India as ‘Country of Particular Concern’

McGovern had also framed the Modi government’s decision to refuse renewal of the foreign-funding license for the Missionaries of Charity, the Christian organisation founded by ‘Mother’ Teresa, as “discrimination against Christians”.

This blatant lie came even though the denial of FCRA license renewal was not an act of discrimination but because the organisation failed to submit some necessary documents. Within days of submitting complete documents, the license was restored.

Backing the USCIRF recommendation for designating India as a “Country of Particular Concern”, McGovern asserted, “The concern about discrimination based on religious identity [was] so great that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular Concern.”

McGovern criticised India’s UAPA law, but never demanded relaxation of anti-terrorism laws in the US

Jim McGovern also criticised the UAPA and other strict anti-terrorism laws enacted by the Modi government, falsely claiming that such laws are ‘misused’ to target journalists, activists, attorneys, and other civilians.

“This kind of misguided anti-terrorism legislation is not the sign of a healthy democracy. We cannot be silent when measures are taken that discriminate against whole populations or when inflammatory language is used that could incite violence against those populations,” McGovern said in condemnation of the so-called ‘targeting of journalists, activists and other dissenters, under the UAPA and other such laws.

McGovern’s comments came in complete neglect of the fact that journalists, activists, and any civilian, for that matter, are not immune to prosecution over anti-national activities. Those booked under the UAPA and other stringent provisions were not targeted for their journalistic work or activism but for alleged involvement in activities jeopardising India’s national security and/or territorial integrity.

Jim McGovern is a blue-eyed boy of the IAMC and extended Islamo-leftist coterie

In 2016, the IAMC testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington, DC, at the hearing titled ‘Challenges & Opportunities: The Advancement of Human Rights in India.’ McGovern echoed the IAMC’s propaganda about discrimination against religious ‘minorities’. McGovern, however, never questioned IAMC’s own lies with the banned Islamic terrorist outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and LeT ties.

McGovern cried hoarse over abrogation of Article 370 and 35A

Back in 2019, when the Modi government repealed Article 370 and 35A, discontinuing Jammu and Kashmir’s “special status”, McGovern claimed that India was indulging in “massive human rights violations by detaining politicians, restricting ground access to journalists, and using ‘brute force’ against protestors.”

McGovern was joined by Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky, and Lloyd Doggett in co-sponsoring a House resolution “Urging the Republic of India to end the restrictions on communications and mass detentions in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible and preserve religious freedom for all residents.”

Jim McGovern advocated for designating India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’

In June 2025, the IAMC-founded HfHR group member Ria Chakrabarty advocated for designating India as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom. At that time, Jim McGovern came out in support of Khalistani separatist terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, who repeatedly threatened violent attacks against India. He claimed that India orchestrates ‘transnational repression’. The Democrat leader made mention of the anti-India activities of Khalistanis and projected the situation as India ‘persecuting’ Sikhs.

McGovern signed letter demanding ‘fair trial’ for 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi Riots accused Umar Khalid

In January 2026, 8 US lawmakers signed a letter to the Indian government demanding bail and a free trial for Umar Khalid, the accused mastermind of the 2020 anti-Hindu Delhi Riots. Jim McGovern was a signatory of this trashy letter alongside rabid anti-India Islamist Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Pramila Jayapal, Jim McGovern, Jamie Raskin, Chris Van Hollen, Peter Welch, Jan Schakowsky, and Lloyd Doggett.

While Umar Khalid’s case is sub judice, the US lawmakers gave their own verdict on Khalid, declaring him innocent. They demanded that Umar Khalid be released from jail.  They claimed that the anti-CAA protests were ‘peaceful’ and even painted Muslims as the victims of the anti-Hindu riots in 2020.

Jim McGovern even called the CAA, the provision to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Islamic or Muslim-majority neighbouring countries, “fundamentally discriminatory” merely because the law excludes Muslims. McGovern, however, failed to explain how Muslims can be persecuted in Islamic countries for being Muslims.

The letter amplified the Indian Islamo-leftist propaganda that Umar Khalid has been deliberately stuffed in jail without a trial for years. However, Contrary to the false narrative peddled by Islamo-leftists to garner support and sympathy for Umar Khalid, OpIndia has reported earlier that out of the 14 adjournments in 2023 and 2024, 7 delays and adjournments were sought by Umar Khalid himself. It therefore becomes evident that the withdrawal was certainly not due to the famed “delay” in the hearing. While the Islamo-leftists in India and abroad continue to cry ‘injustice’, it is the alleged failed forum shopping attempts of the accused’s lawyer that have Khalid rotting in jail for so long.

Clearly, Jim McGovern is a part of the global Islamo-leftist coterie actively pushing anti-India narratives and contributing to the manoeuvers to tarnish India’s image by relying on fake Muslim victimhood propaganda, ‘minorities under threat’ bogey, and turning a blind eye to the religious hate-driven anti-Hindu crimes.

Sergio Gor briefed Marco Rubio: Family of US mercenary Matthew VanDyke seeks US diplomatic intervention for his return to ‘home’, read what they said, and about VanDyke’s ‘NGO operations’

Shraddha Pandey
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Sergio Gor briefed Marco Rubio: Family of US mercenary Matthew VanDyke seeks US diplomatic intervention for his return to ‘home’, read what they said, and about VanDyke’s ‘NGO operations’

The family of Matthew VanDyke, the US mercenary who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March 2026, has sought an “urgent” US diplomatic intervention to secure his release. On 30th August, the Sons of Liberty International issued a statement in which it said that VanDyke’s family demands a US diplomatic intervention, claiming that VanDyke’s health is deteriorating.

Family of Matthew VanDyke seeks US diplomatic intervention alleging ‘illegal detention’, denial of treatment at a private hospital, and communication with family

The Sons of Liberty International (SOLI) portrayed Matthew VanDyke as a mere US citizen and NGO director, who remains under “illegal detention” by the Indian authorities. VanDyke’s family and SOLI lamented that the US mercenary, currently lodged in Tihar Jail, was allegedly denied prescription medicines and frequent communication with his family.

“Family of Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, United States citizen, NGO director, seek urgent US diplomatic intervention after his illegal detention at Kolkata airport on March 11th, and transfer from NIA headquarters April 6th with an injured leg, diminished eyesight, as well as being denied his prescription meds, and communication with family. Presently detained at Tihar jail 8/9,” the statement reads.

Further, the SOLI statement highlights the Delhi Court denied VanDyke’s request for treatment at a private hospital and communication with his family in the US. It further lamented the court decisions denying both his request for treatment and communication with family.

The statement plays the emotional victim card for better impact, repeatedly emphasising VanDyke’s supposed physical weakness and denial of regular communication with his 80-year-old mother.

“Advocates Rohit Dandriyal and Rohit Gour, his legal counsel, applied to the Delhi Court for Matthew’s medical treatment at a private hospital and for proper communication to be established with his family, who reside in the U.S.. His mother who is over 80, was only allowed a 5-minute emergency call with him months ago! However, the Delhi Court denied both application requests on June 1st alleging foreign government communications. Matthew was too weak to stand or walk during a court appearance, and utilizes a wheelchair to meet with his attorneys,” the statement adds.

US Ambassador Sergio Gor spoke to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about Matthew VanDyke

The statement posted on VanDyke’s X account also claims that the US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, “briefed” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri about VanDyke’s case during Rubio’s May visit to India. It also mentioned VanDyke’s hunger strike inside prison.

“Ambassador Gor previously briefed Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary Rubio on Matthew’s situation during his visit to Delhi, India May 24-26,” the statement reads.

Matthew VanDyke’s family is actively lobbying the US power circles, including Congressional offices, and the State Department to secure his release from Tihar Jail and return to the US.

“Matthew’s mother Sharon Van Dyke, and Gia Santos spokesperson for the family visited DC June 1-3 and again July 8/9th to speak with Congressional offices, and the State Department. Judicial custody extension is through Sept 8th. The family seeks urgent US diplomatic intervention. It is time to bring Matthew Van Dyke back home,” it adds.

“This is a humanitarian emergency for our family. Matthew has spent his life documenting human suffering and supporting people in crisis. We are pleading for his safe return home,” VanDyke’s mother said.

Source: VanDyke’s X handle

Matthew VanDyke is not in Tihar Jail for being an NGO director or US citizen

While SOLI and VanDyke’s family portray him as a mere NGO director ‘illegally detained’ by Indian authorities, Matthew VanDyke is under judicial custody due to his involvement in a plot to recruit and train anti-India elements to commit acts of terrorism against the country.

VanDyke was nabbed alongside 6 Ukrainian citizens on 13th March after they entered Mizoram without valid permits and reached Myanmar illegally. They contacted banned organisations associated with militancy and provided them with weapons, including drones and other terrorist hardware, along with training.

VanDyke and other arrested accused persons brought a huge consignment of drones from Europe through India. The investigation revealed that all the accused had entered India on valid visas but reached Mizoram without the mandatory Restricted Area Permit (RAP).

The NIA revealed that these foreigners acknowledged being in direct touch with the militants brandishing AK-47 rifles during interrogation. The probe agency disclosed that a party of 14 Ukrainians travelled to Guwahati and then Mizoram after landing in India on tourist visas. They trained ethnic militias, entered Myanmar illicitly and helped supply drone consignments from Europe to networks connected to armed groups.

VanDyke and other perpetrators have been charged with criminal conspiracy and other offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as the matter remains under investigation.

Matthew VanDyke is not a mere NGO director; he is a trained mercenary

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1981, Matthew Aaron VanDyke had been a prisoner-of-war in Libya as he had joined the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi. Before becoming a combatant and trainer in multiple conflicts, VanDyke worked as an adventurer-filmmaker.

He went on solo cycling expeditions across North Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco to Syria and Turkey, becoming the only American citizen to cross Libya by motorcycle under dictator Muammar Gaddafi. For some time, VanDyke lived in Iraq, embedded as a war correspondent with American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

VanDyke also completed a 2010 Iraq-Iran-Afghanistan motorbike trek with photographer Daniel Britt. It was footage from these trips that formed the basis of VanDyke’s award-winning documentary, Point and Shoot (2014). VanDyke was detained over 20 times, all this while in Iraq, and was even accused by Iran of espionage.

When the Libyan Civil War broke out, VanDyke joined the rebellion against Muammar Gaddafi in addition to filming it. After fighting alongside rebel troops, he was taken prisoner by Gaddafi’s government and held in solitary confinement for almost six months before making his way back to the front lines. VanDyke was paraded by the Gaddafi regime on state television.

He was accused of being a CIA-linked American spy and carrying CIA-provided espionage-related equipment.

Between 2012 and 2014, Matthew VanDyke stayed in Syria’s Aleppo, wherein he filmed an award-winning short documentary “Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution”. This self-financed documentary was made with the motive to garner global support for anti-Assad rebels.

In 2014, Matthew VanDyke formed the Sons of Liberty International after his friends, American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, were executed by ISIS. Operating as a licensed 501(c)(3) non-profit, SOLI is essentially a private security contracting company.

The SOLI admittedly provides supplies, military training, and consulting services at no cost to “vulnerable populations” facing terrorist groups and authoritarian regimes. The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (NPU), an Assyrian Christian group battling ISIS, were trained by SOLI during its first deployments in Iraq.

Both Matthew VanDyke and SOLI have been actively training, advising, and supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia.

“I can bring in 10 or 20 of my guys, and we can train thousands of Ukrainians very quickly and very competently. And we can also train Ukrainians to become trainers themselves, so that Ukraine can tap into all the manpower it has. Because they’re not allowing men of military age to leave the country, they have a reserve of millions of potential soldiers, but they have no way to train them,” VanDyke told Newsweek.

VanDyke had also claimed to have participated in America’s regime change operation in Venezuela.

OpIndia reported earlier about VanDyke’s social media footprint, his deep ideological support rooted in his profound belief in Christianity, for the ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) in Myanmar, and anti-Ayatollah activities in Iran.

VanDyke’s footprints have been traced in Ukraine, Venezuela, the Philippines, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania, Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, Spain and now towards Myanmar, through India.

There is an unmissable pattern, Matthew VanDyke has his footprint in almost all the countries where the American government has had significant foreign policy interests, with Ukraine being the highest priority theatre.

VanDyke’s presence in Myanmar also aligns with American foreign policy interests. The Myanmarese military junta, Tatmadaw, has the military and diplomatic backing of Russia and China, and Russia also supplies oil to Myanmar. In such a case, the US needs to back anti-junta elements to drain Russia of its resources to force the Kremlin into discontinuing its war against Ukraine.

Reports say that Matthew VanDyke failed a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) polygraph many years ago. VanDyke denies his CIA links; however, his activities in countries America has geopolitical interests in indicate that VanDyke is not a clean NGO director as his family and mercenary outfit, Sons of Liberty International, claim.

OpIndia has reported extensively on how the US mercenary Matthew VanDyke worked closely with the CIA and MI6 front.

Muslim gangs forcing non-Muslim inmates to convert to Islam in UK prisons: The unchecked Islamisation of Britain

Shraddha Pandey
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Muslim gangs forcing non-Muslim inmates to convert to Islam in UK prisons: The unchecked Islamisation of Britain

A significant section of Muslims globally pursues a self-imposed imperative of converting as many non-Muslims to Islam as possible. From terrorism, rape jihad, brainwashing, to coercion, the jihadist Muslims employ every means, no matter where they are, to ‘spread’ Islam. In recent decades, the prisons in the United Kingdom (UK) have become a hotbed of jihadist training camps and forced conversion of non-Muslim prisoners.

The main target of Muslim jail gangs is reported to be White British men, who are being forced by Muslim inmates to convert to Islam.

Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary of the Conservative Party, demanded that the Labour government take strict measures to stop the forced conversion menace inside the infamously ‘overcrowded’ UK prisons.

One in five Muslims in UK prisons is White: Increasing Muslim population and gang dominance

The official UK Ministry of Justice data indicates that one in five Muslims in England and Wales prisons is White.  This is around four times the rate of 5.8% in the general population.

As per the data presented by Nick Timothy, the number of Muslim prisoners in prisons in England and Wales has also surged exponentially and accounts for over one in five, 18%, of the prison population, despite making up 6.5% of the general population.

“The percentage of Muslims who are white in our prisons is so vastly higher than in the general population it raises serious questions. We know that experts have warned repeatedly about forced conversions taking place behind bars, driven by Islamic gangs. We need to be honest that something is not right here – Labour must urgently investigate and stamp out forced conversions in prison,” Timothy said.

In his 2022 report, Terrorism in Prisons, Jonathan Hall KC, the UK government’s independent reviewer on terrorism legislation, wrote that the surge in Islamist group activity inside prisons “is concurrent with a dramatic downsizing of prison staffing levels.”

Hall’s probe found that jailed Islamic terrorists act as “self-styled emirs” who control inmates via “leadership and recruitment.” These Muslim terrorists mainly target “vulnerable or lonely prisoners, using guidance, sharing of food or material gifts” and “conversion backed by implicit or actual violence”.

The 2022 report by Hall cites cases of two jailed Islamic terrorists: Usman Khan, who killed two students in an attack at London Bridge, and Sudesh Amman, the Streatham knife attacker. These two had threatened other inmates to pressure them into converting to Islam.

Usman Khan attacked an inmate in 2011 while shouting Allahu Akbar. He used to recite inflammatory poems like “cut off the kuffar’s head”. He even encouraged other non-Muslim prisoners to take up Muslim names, wear Muslim dresses and threatened those who questioned Islamic prayer.

By 2015, Khan led a “bullying gang” and was involved in covert radicalisation, was found with newspaper clippings relating to jihadism, was “known as an influential TACT prisoner and “Emir” involved in extremist bullying and religious preaching in the prison yard, sought to intimidate and organise disobedience towards members of staff, disrupted Remembrance Sunday, and sought to dictate the dietary and washing habits of non-Muslim prisoners.”

The terrorists in UK prisons are “exerting a controlling and radicalising influence on the wider Muslim prison population (including through enforcers, whilst keeping their hands clean); recruitment (in particular of vulnerable or lonely prisoners, using guidance, sharing of food or material gifts), and conversion backed by implicit or actual violence; soliciting or accepting menial tasks (such as cell-cleaning) from lower status prisoners,” the report reads.

Citing the Ministry of Justice data, The Telegraph reports that the number of Muslim chaplains in prisons is increased to 140, surging from 128 in 2023-24, compared with 87 for the Church of England, down from 97 in 2024-25. There are an additional 94 Catholic chaplains, 64 from free churches and 23 described as “Christian”.

The most alarming aspect is the massive rise in the number of white converted Muslims. Their number skyrocketed from 2,767 in 2022 to 3,218 as of June 30, 2025, marking an increase of 16%.

Overall, the number of Muslim prisoners in England and Wales has gone up to 14,037 in 2022 to 16,051 as of June 30, 2025, recording an increase of 14%.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation raised alarms how Muslim dominance and conversion activities inside UK prisons are inflicting detrimental damage on the country’s prison system.

“It is an absolutely outrageous state of affairs in the British prison system. This also poses a very significant national security risk for the United Kingdom. The British government appears to have lost control over its prisons, which have become jihadist training camps. It is very clear that large-scale Islamic migration into the United Kingdom is having a direct impact on crime and public safety in the United Kingdom,” Gardiner said.

Not identifying as a Muslim in many UK prisons meant, denial of protection from violent Muslim gangs

In 2023, Colin Bloom, a British government advisor, published a 159-page independent review, demonstrating how Muslim prisoners were aggressively encouraging conversion of non-Muslim inmates to Islam. The report found that if a new prisoner failed to identify as a Muslim, he was denied ‘protection’ from Muslim gangs, which would then intimidate and assault the new prisoner.

“Failure to identify as a Muslim meant that at best the new prisoner would be denied ‘protection’ from the dominant Muslim gang on that wing, or at worst the new prisoner would be subjected to violence and intimidation from that same gang,” the report reads.

“The 2019 Ministry of Justice report on separating extremist prisoners noted the growing problem of religious extremism across the prison estate, including the ‘aggressive encouragement of conversions to Islam’,” it adds.

In 2021, the report says, Muslims accounted for about 18% of the prison population, up from 8% in 2002. “However, the Muslim male prisoner population in London prisons is reportedly almost 30%, which is considerably higher than the 15% in the general London population,” the 2023 report states.

The report also highlighted that “the phrase ‘convert or get hurt’ was commonly used by some Muslim gangs, and copies of the Quran would be left on the beds of new prisoners.”

the report mentions that the Hindus make up for the lowest levels of prison rates of any religion but have the highest employment rates.

In his 159-page report, Bloom had asserted that “insufficient action” has been undertaken and continues, saying: “There is one burning injustice from which this Government should not shrink, and that is the issue of forced and coercive marriages.

Before this, in 2019, the UK Ministry of Justice published a report in which it found that Muslim jihadist groups in prisons aim at bringing other inmates under the fold of Islam to strengthen their ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ in the prison.

The report had said that about 12847 prisoners in these prisons are Muslims. Out of the total number of prisoners lodged in for charges of terrorism, 90% were Muslims. The preponderance of Muslim detainees led to the formation of groups and gangs within jails, with ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ being a uniting factor for these seemingly diverse and heterogeneous groups of individuals.

The Muslim gangs had three main tactics to assert and retain influence: violence, bullying, intimidation and spreading. Imposing Islam remained the core objective.

As per the UK Justice Minister report, most of the contraband goods circulated in the prisons were attributed to these Muslim gangs. There were varied motivations for people to join groups such as protection, safety, criminality, and power. Brotherhood provided lone vulnerable prisoners with a social setting. Many were proselytised to Islam by the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were often hailed by the gang members as scholars of Islam. The prisoners converted to Islam citing social acceptability and Islam offering them a ‘stricter’ way of life as primary reasons for the same.

Notably, the Islamist outfit Muslim Brotherhood has been banned even in Muslim-majority Arab countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. However, the UK, a ‘secular’ country, has neither banned the outfit nor declared it a terrorist organisation.

The United Kingdom has been grappling with rapid Islamic radicalisation and conversions to Islam. The Muslim Brotherhood has expanded its presence in the UK through students coming to study there and Islamist exiles who fled repression in their home countries. Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisations collaborate with Islamists from South Asia, established to promote the work of Abu A’la Mawdudi and representing Jama’at-e-Islami.

In January 2026, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) slashed funding for its citizens interested in studying in the United Kingdom (UK). The UAE’s decision comes after the UK refused to ban the Muslim Brotherhood.  

With surging Islamic fanaticism and Muslim Brotherhood-type jihadi outfits in UK prisons, the number of forced conversions and violent crimes has also increased.

In January 2025, a Muslim prisoner named Aklakar Rahman, currently lodged at the HMP Belmarsh in London, stabbed a female officer in her head and throat using an improvised weapon.

While carrying out the attack, Rahman yelled ‘kill all kafirs, death to all Kafirs.’ The 38-year-old prisoner also threw a bin at the officer and 2 other key workers at the high-security jail. Rahman was jailed in 2015 for Class A drug offences. He had previously been involved in similar prison attacks. According to a report by The Mirror, the Muslim prisoner had expressed his desire to kill non-Muslim ‘Kafir’ officers.

In September 2022, he was detained in a segregation unit at another prison for trying to radicalise inmates with ‘extreme versions of Islam.’

Despite numerous reviews and investigations indicating the rampancy of forced conversions to Islam in UK prisons, the British government has largely remained nonchalant, and to some extent in denial of the severity of the rot.

“We do not tolerate intimidation, gang activity or faith-based coercion of any kind in our prisons. Prisons and staff act swiftly to clamp down on all threatening behavior from any groups or individuals,” a UK Justice Ministry spokesperson told Fox News.

“Forced religious conversions are not tolerated across the prison estate. In response to the report from the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall, HMPPS [His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service] carried out a review into the influence of faith-based gangs. After the review, HMPPS has improved the ability to identify nascent extremist gang activity and disrupt it before it takes hold via advanced training and data collection,” the spokesperson added.

From prisons to politics: The Islamisation of the UK is going on in full swing while those in power pursue suicidal ‘fight against Islamophobia’

Muslims represent 6.5% of the population in England and Wales, up from 4.9% (2.71 million) in 2011. Alongside a surge in population, Muslims are also expanding their dominance in the UK’s politics, prisons, and neighbourhoods. Their utility as a consolidated votebank is such that the liberal-secular political party, particularly Labour, bends over backwards to appease Muslims.

The mainstream political parties in the UK have inducted Muslims, even radicals masquerading as ‘progressives’, to lead the key institutions across the country. However, in many if not most cases, these Muslim politicians use their power and influence for the benefit of their co-religionists.

In 2025, the Labour Government proposed an Islamophobia definition that introduced vague and undefined concepts like “prejudicial stereotyping”, racialisation of Muslims”, “collective group with set characteristics”, “stir up hatred”, “practices and biases within institutions” that would result in facilitating its weaponisation by Muslims to target non-Muslims.

The most outrageous example of the appeasement of Muslims by British governments was their downplaying of the Pakistani Muslim grooming gangs that targeted non-Muslim girls for rape, conversions, and religious humiliation.

 It was seen how the fears of appearing Islamophobic and racially insensitive prevented UK authorities from effectively acting against Pakistani Muslim groomers/rapists for years, and now the Labour Party, which has adopted the flawed Islamophobia definition, is dismissing those criticising Muslim grooming gangs as “far-right” in an apparent attempt to make the Muslim community sacrosanct to criticism.

OpIndia reported earlier how, in many cases involving Pakistani-Muslim grooming/rape gangs, instead of arresting the rapists, the police ended up arresting the victims and their families. This was commonly due to a failure to probe the grooming part, in most cases a deliberate cover-up to avoid appearing Islamophobic, culturally insensitive and racially prejudiced, with young victims being treated as offenders for small violations while still in contact with their abusers.

For nearly three decades, the fear of being labelled Islamophobic or indulging in ‘racial profiling’ prevented the police from taking decisive action against Muslim rape gangs in the UK. The Labour Party’s political perversion further worsened the situation.

A June 2025 rape gang inquiry report found that 4% of Pakistanis were responsible for 64% of cases of child sexual abuse in the UK’s Rotherham alone.

Despite the presence of evidence that Muslim rape jihadis systematically trapped non-Muslim white and other girls for rape, persistent abuse, and religion-based humiliation, the liberal-progressive power circle in the UK continues to label the critics of these rape gangs as ‘Islamophobic’ and downplay the religious motivations of these crimes, further emboldening the Jihadis.

In March this year, it was reported that the Labour Party councils in Northern England are drawing inspiration from 7th-century Sharia laws and enforcing them in schools.

Labour-run councils in Leeds, Oldham, Tameside and Kirklees have instructed schools against conducting drawing, music and dance classes.

“In a document titled ‘Sharing the Journey’, multiple Labour-run councils have told schools that drawing pictures of humans could be ‘idolatrous’ to ‘some Muslim’ pupils. Music lessons could also conflict with the religious injunctions of Islam,” the report stated.

Muslims have also managed to posit themselves as super citizens in the UK and are operating 85 Sharia courts. These Sharia courts, established to address Muslim issues, are spread throughout England. These courts render decisions on matters such as marriage, divorce, khula, and four marriages. These courts often issue rulings that violate British law.

Secular organisations in England are protesting these Sharia courts. One such organisation, the National Secular Society, has demanded that this parallel legal system operating in Britain be curbed. They say it is affecting the rights of women and children. However, the government has remained silent on the issue.

It’s not unusual for the government and liberal society to remain silent on Islamic fundamentalism in Britain. 

In 2014, it was uncovered how Muslim jihadist groups in the UK were trying to take control in some schools and impose Sunni Islam. The report had found evidence of “sustained and co-ordinated agenda to impose upon children in several Birmingham schools the segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline and politicised strain of Sunni Islam”.

While this revelation had alarmed Britons in 2014, over the years, the influence and dominance of Muslims in the UK has increased to such an extent that Sharia-compliant norms are being self-imposed in many schools under the garb of “sensitivity and awareness around faiths and beliefs”.

Coming back to prisons, recently UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood justified her controversial early-release scheme, saying she had little choice but to free killers, rapists and child sex offenders because prisons in England and Wales were running out of space.

Prisons, politics, schools, demography, and society in general, the UK is undergoing unannounced Islamisation while those supposed to stop this are busy inventing unique methods to accommodate Jihadist intransigence in the name of secularism and inclusivity.

Rahul Gandhi portrays himself as messiah of Dalit community; Karnataka’s Rs 89 crore Valmiki Corporation scam exposes Congress hypocrisy

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi portrays himself as messiah of Dalit community; Karnataka’s Rs 89 crore Valmiki Corporation scam exposes Congress hypocrisy

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is portraying himself as the saviour and champion of the Dalit community while Congress-ruled Karnataka is allegedly looting money earmarked for Dalits. Across public platforms and party briefings, the Leader of Opposition has been attempting to position himself as a crusader against social inequality and systemic oppression, taking every opportunity to accuse the ruling party and Hindu society at large of persistent bias against Dalits. 

However, this grandstanding stands in stark contrast to the actions unfolding within his own party’s governance framework. While high-sounding speeches are delivered from podiums in the national capital, millions of rupees designated specifically for the welfare, economic assistance, and upliftment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are being siphoned off and diverted for political gain in the Congress-led Karnataka government.

Rahul Gandhi’s claims on ‘discrimination’ against Dalits

During a Congress party briefing in Delhi on 29th August, Rahul Gandhi spoke at length about caste discrimination in India, focusing particularly on conditions in North India. He claimed that despite modern advancements, deep-rooted discrimination against Dalits continues to persist in both cities and rural areas. 

Attempting to illustrate his point with everyday occurrences, Gandhi alleged that caste-based division is visible even at roadside tea stalls. “There are two types of cups in tea shops,” Gandhi said, explaining that one is a reusable glass cup while the other is a disposable paper cup. He claimed that Dalits are regularly served tea in disposable paper or plastic cups, while members of the general public are given reusable glass cups.

Continuing his address, Gandhi cited several other examples to highlight what he described as the harsh reality of the Dalit experience in contemporary India. He claimed that in many rural pockets, Dalits are systematically barred from using common village wells and are forced to dig separate wells for their own water needs.

He further alleged that Dalit children are routinely targeted in schools and made to clean toilets instead of focusing on their education. To emphasise the threat of violence faced by the community, Gandhi added that Dalit grooms sometimes have to wear helmets during their own wedding processions just to protect themselves from stone-pelting by upper-caste groups. Calling these instances “the reality of India” and particularly “the reality of North India,” Gandhi insisted that such oppressive practices remain widespread in both rural and urban landscapes.

Crafting narratives vs. ground realities

These statements point to a recurring pattern where Rahul Gandhi tries really hard to build a new narrative every other day, sometimes after giving a speech on women and showing himself as a performative feminist, and at other times spreading unverified claims about alleged discrimination against Dalits. 

This political strategy relies on creating emotional flashpoints and positioning the Congress leadership as the sole defenders of marginalised groups. Yet, behind this constant narrative-building, the reality in states governed by his own party tells a drastically different story. 

While public rhetoric focuses heavily on social justice, the actual administrative machinery in Congress-ruled Karnataka has been embroiled in major corruption scandals involving funds meant for the very communities Gandhi claims to champion. In Karnataka, a senior cabinet minister had to resign for damage control after being named as the primary accused in massive financial irregularities within the state’s tribal welfare corporation.

The resignation of B. Nagendra and ED findings

The political fallout reached a boiling point when Karnataka Cabinet Minister B. Nagendra on Friday, 28th August, resigned from his post amid intense pressure over ₹89-crore irregularities in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation. 

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) formally named the MLA and former Scheduled Tribal Affairs Minister as the primary accused and chief conspirator behind the multi-crore financial fraud. According to investigative agency documents, Nagendra masterminded the entire operation, using his ministerial influence to unauthorisedly transfer the corporation’s bank account to a specific branch on MG Road in Bengaluru. 

The probe reveals that he orchestrated the siphoning, layering, and diversion of approximately ₹89.63 crore through his personal staff, close associates, and private entities. Crucially, agency findings revealed that around ₹20 crore of the siphoned cash was funnelled directly to manage and fund political campaigns during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Amid absolute political outrage, intense protests by the opposition BJP and JD(S), and a CBI charge sheet seeking his prosecution, Nagendra submitted his resignation from the Karnataka Cabinet. His resignation came right ahead of a planned 10-day padayatra by the opposition from Raichur to Bellary over the financial irregularities.

Inside the Valmiki Corporation scam

The Valmiki Corporation scam represents a major financial fraud in Karnataka, involving the illegal diversion and siphoning of ₹89.63 crore out of ₹187 crore pooled from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC). 

Founded in 2006 in Bengaluru, the corporation was established to uplift the socioeconomic status of Scheduled Tribes in Karnataka by running critical welfare schemes, including self-employment loans, microcredit, land purchase assistance, and irrigation facilities. Instead of reaching tribal beneficiaries, these funds were layered through hundreds of shell accounts, IT companies, and a cooperative credit society.

The multi-crore scam unravelled following the tragic suicide of 52-year-old accounts superintendent Chandrasekaran P. on 26th May, 2024. He left behind a detailed six-page suicide note exposing the immense pressure he faced from top management and senior officials to execute unauthorised, illegal money transfers exceeding ₹80 crore. Following his death, an FIR was registered, leading to the suspension of officials and subsequent investigative action by state and central agencies.

Findings by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the ED showed that around ₹88.62 crore was illicitly transferred from the corporation’s official account at the Union Bank of India, MG Road branch, to unauthorised accounts created in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by an accused named Satya Narayana Verma. 

The funds were routed through over 170 secondary accounts, including the First Finance Credit Cooperative Society in Hyderabad, before being physically withdrawn. More than 20 people have been linked to the scam, with 14 arrests made, including bank officials, corporation executives, and former minister Nagendra, who was arrested by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in July 2024. The agency noted that Nagendra even attempted to destroy mobile phones to obstruct the probe. 

Selective silence on Karnataka looting

Despite the overwhelming evidence and legal actions surrounding the looting of tribal funds in Karnataka, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has suddenly become vocal for the upliftment of Dalits, remains eerily silent on what his own government is doing in the state. 

While he travels across the country giving lectures on caste oppression, he has not uttered a single word of condemnation regarding the siphoning off of ₹89 crore meant for Scheduled Tribes under his party’s rule. This silence reveals a stark double standard: vocal outrage when alleging societal bias in non-Congress states, but absolute mute spectator status when his own minister is arrested for embezzling funds meant for vulnerable tribal communities to fund election campaigns.

Lok Sabha LoP is also spreading lies on untouchability

Rahul Gandhi is not only trying to portray himself as the champion of Dalits; he is also actively spreading lies and making false claims of untouchability to stoke social tension. A prime example occurred recently when Gandhi alleged that an act of untouchability was committed against Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a Dalit, following a Congress rally in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Gandhi claimed that after Kharge attended the event on 8th August, a ‘shuddhikaran’ (purification) Havan ceremony was performed at the venue by BJP workers on 10th August to clean the stage simply because a Dalit leader had stepped on it. Gandhi demanded the lodging of an FIR under the SC/ST Act against the organisers.

However, these claims were completely debunked by Ankit Pal, a Hindu Dalit man belonging to the Valmiki community and a member of the Shri Ram Seva Dharmarth Nyas, the organisation that actually performed the ceremony. Speaking to the media on Sunday, 30th August, Pal rejected the allegations of untouchability made by Rahul Gandhi and the Congress machinery. 

Pal clarified that the venue is a traditional cultural stage where Ram Lila is held, and that after the political rally, it was left littered, dirty, and scattered with urine-filled bottles. Furthermore, he pointed out that Islamic slogans were raised during the political event on a stage meant for religious functions. “Look, I had made this clear through your channel that the shuddhikaran havan was performed because a political programme was held on that stage… And through that stage, slogans of ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ were raised, as we saw in the videos we received. So, the havan was performed there for its shuddhikaran…” Pal stated. 

His testimony confirmed that the Havan was performed by a Dalit-led religious trust to clean up the physical mess and restore the religious sanctity of the stage, completely exposing the Congress party’s narrative as a fabricated story.

The strategy behind the Dalit narrative

The persistent effort to manufacture false incidents of discrimination while ignoring actual financial exploitation points to a clear political objective. By constantly highlighting caste fault lines and spreading unverified claims of untouchability, Rahul Gandhi aims to divide the broader Hindu vote bank into fragmented categories of General, SC, ST, and OBC. 

Instead of offering genuine developmental solutions or accountability in governance, this strategy relies on creating a sense of perpetual grievance among marginalised communities. By convincing these groups that they are under constant threat from the majority population, the leadership attempts to secure a dedicated vote bank through fear and division, all while turning a blind eye to scandals like the Valmiki Corporation scam, where actual Dalit and ST welfare funds are looted.

Who is Kajal Sheikh, TMC goon and sand mafia kingpin who was snubbed by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in Birbhum

Dibakar Dutta
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Who is Kajal Sheikh, TMC goon and sand mafia kingpin who was snubbed by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in Birbhum

On Saturday (29th August), West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited the Birbhum district, prayed at the Tarapith, and held an administrative meeting in Rampurhat. The local Trinamool Congress MLA from the Hasan constituency, Kajal Sheikh aka Fayezul Haque, was also present at that gathering (as per protocol).

Since then, social media has been rife with claims that Adhikari interacted with the notorious TMC MLA and was somehow planning to rehabilitate him into the BJP or the Ritabrata Banerjee-led TMC faction.

The disinformation came days after Kajal Sheikh resigned from the post of Zilla Parishad Sabhadhipati (Chairperson). Earlier, several members of the Trinamool Congress moved a no-confidence motion against him at the Zilla Parishad.

Nonetheless, his presence at the official event sparked intense speculations about alleged acceptance of his antics by the BJP and Suvendu Adhikari in particular.

But a careful persual of the videos from the administrative meeting in Rampurhat shows a starkly different picture. While it is true that Kajal Sheikh stood behind Suvendu Adhikari during his press briefing, it is evident that the Chief Minister had avoided him throughout the meeting.

This was despite multiple attempts by the TMC leader to strike a conversation with Adhikari. It is highly unlikely that Kajal Sheikh will ever find refuge in the BJP (as some people are speculating online).

About 10 days earlier, BJP State President Samik Bhattarcharjee pointed how how Kajal Sheikh is considered a ‘miscreant‘ by his own party. “Who is Kajal Sheikh? Will our State be remembered for this kind of a man?”

It must be mentioned that the TMC MLA had initially joined the Ritabrata faction but later moved away after his arch rival Anubrata Mondal went to that side.

Their rivalary goes decades back, with each striving to control the illegal multi-million rupee businesses of riverbed sand extraction and quarry stones in the Nanoor region and greater Birbhum district.

A 2016 report by the India Today reads –

“The sand mafia was once close to the Left parties, now it has become a battleground for two TMC satraps.One of the alleged warlords, Kajal, is the younger brother of Sheikh Shahnawaz, the face of the Trinamool in the region from 1998 to 2000, when the party was struggling to get a toehold in this red bastion. On July 27, 2000, Shahnawaz and Kajal planned the first-ever village takeover operation in Nanoor.

It was a fierce and bloody skirmish, since declared a ‘black day’ by the TMC. Kajal, with the backing of Shahnawaz, now the MLA from Ketugram in Burdwan, started dabbling in illegal sand mining and gradually took control of all 10 ghats in Nanoor’s lower belt. Gone underground for the last seven months, today he has arrest warrants out against him in 43 cases, including murder.”

Screengrab of the India Today report

Ahead of the 2016 election, Kajal Sheikh was accused of working for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and facilitating the defection of more than 3000 Trinamool Congress workers. But within 3 years, his dynamics with the party supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew changed.

In May 2019, he was elevated to the position of Nanoor’s block executive President, much to the dislike of TMC leaders Anubrata Mondal and Firhad Hakim.

Posters of Kajal Sheikh and Abhishek Banerjee outside TMC offices in 2023, image via Anandabazar Patrika

Around the time of the 2023 Panchayat election, Kajal Sheikh was prominently featured in posters pasted outside TMC party offices from Bolpur to Nanoor. It was clear that he was increasingly being favoured over the likes of Anubroto Mondal by the high command.

A year later, Sheikh’s security cover was upgraded to the Y+ category, which elated many of his supporters.

In April 2026, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek was seen campaigning for Kajal Sheikh from the Hasan Vidhan Sabha constituency, which the latter eventually won.

It is clear that Kajal Sheikh has been politically opportunistic, which is evident from his dwindling affiliations. But this does not mean that the BJP unit of Bengal will take him in as one of their own. This became crystal clear from Suvendu Adhikari’s recent snub in Rampurhat.

Kajal Sheikh has been instrumental in the 2021 West Bengal post-poll violence during which more than a dozen BJP workers were killed. OpIndia had compiled 40 such incidents.

As per a report by Organiser, a BJP worker who was raped during the post-poll violence had named Kajal Sheikh as one of the TMC leaders who were involved in mobilising the mob that attacked her family and publicly humiliated her.

Even after the 2026 West Bengal election, Kajal Sheikh was named as one of the TMC leaders who directed violence against BJP workers in Birbhum.

Between 2008 and 2016, multiple cases involving murder, attempt to murder, rioting, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, and possession of explosives were registered against the Trinamool Congress leader.

Even until last year, Kajal Sheikh was threatening the Modi government with street violence and fearmongering about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in his constituency.

“If the citizenship of anyone from Birbhum is revoked, then the foot soldiers of Trinamool Congress (Maa-Mati-Manush) won’t remain silent. This is a conspiracy by the BJP. I will tell all BJP leaders to remain prepared. SIR can take place the way it is designed. But if the voting right of anyone is taken away, then there is trouble awaiting your fate.”

This dog-whistle from a man with a history of violence against his rival BJP workers and leaders is evidence enough that he will not be entertained by the State unit of the BJP.

Those who are outraged over Kajal Sheikh being in the same frame as Suvendu Adhikari must understand the context of the setup and stop believing in conspiracy theories.

What is the Sonia Gandhi memoir controversy? As Congress plays ‘victim card’, publisher sets the record straight

Shriti Sagar
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What is the Sonia Gandhi memoir controversy? As Congress plays ‘victim card’, publisher sets the record straight

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming memoir, ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, was scheduled for international release on 10th November through Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. However, the book has now become the centre of a political controversy after Penguin Random House India clarified that it is not the publisher of the memoir in India.

The clarification came on Friday, 28th August, after reports said Penguin Random House India had decided not to publish the book in India following the discrepancies in the fact-checking process. 

Congress leaders have since alleged that the publisher was being pressured by the BJP to drop the memoir or seek changes in it. Penguin, however, has given a different explanation, saying that fact-checking and recommendations to authors are a normal part of the publishing process and that it had remained “willing and keen” to publish the book.

Congress alleges BJP pressure over Sonia Gandhi’s memoir

The controversy began after Penguin Random House India said it was not the publisher of ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’ in India. The development came days after Alfred A. Knopf announced the international publication of the memoir.

Congress leaders quickly questioned the decision and alleged that the publisher was facing pressure because of the political content of the book. Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot asked why the Indian arm of Penguin would not publish the memoir when the book was being released internationally by its global imprint.

“Penguin Worldwide is ready to publish Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji’s upcoming book worldwide in its original form, but Penguin Random House India wants changes made to launch it in India. After all, what is the reason or what pressure is there, that what is being published across the world cannot be published in India?” Gehlot wrote on X.

Despite the clear reason from the publisher, Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi also criticised Penguin’s clarification and described it as a “weak statement”. He pointed to books such as Exam Warriors and books about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) being published by Penguin India and alleged that the publishing house was now afraid of the ruling party.

“Such a weak statement. Penguin India is more than happy to publish ‘Exam Warriors’ and several books on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India,” Gogoi wrote.

Congress Seva Dal chief B.V. Srinivas also attacked the publishing house, accusing it of compromising its editorial independence. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, meanwhile, called the decision a matter of “grave concern” and questioned whether it had been taken independently, indirectly feeding into the Congress’s victim narrative that the BJP was behind the decision. 

Congress leaders have also claimed that some passages concerning China, the RSS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies were among the portions discussed during the manuscript process. 

Penguin Random House India said book is not factually ready to be published

Amid the political allegations, Penguin Random House India issued a clarification on X, explaining its position. The publishing house said that it is not the publisher of the book in India.

The publisher explained that, as part of its normal publishing process, it is both its “prerogative and its responsibility” to fact-check material and provide authors with recommendations that are considered to be in the best interests of their books.

Fact-checking, according to Penguin, is therefore not an unusual step or an indication that a book is being politically blocked. The publisher said such checks and editorial recommendations are part of the normal process before a manuscript is published.

More importantly, Penguin said that throughout its discussions over the book, it remained “willing and keen” to publish the memoir. This directly challenges the Congress narrative that the publishing house simply refused to publish the book because of political pressure.

Publisher says fact-checking is part of the normal process

The key issue in the controversy is therefore the distinction between fact-checking a manuscript and refusing to publish it.

Penguin’s explanation is that it reviewed the material, carried out fact-checking and gave recommendations to the author. The company has not said that the memoir was permanently rejected or that it was unwilling to publish it. Instead, it has maintained that it was interested in publishing the book.

This means that the publisher’s explanation does not establish the Congress allegation that the BJP pressured it to drop Sonia Gandhi’s memoir. 

BJP rejects Congress’ allegations

The BJP has rejected the Congress allegations of political pressure and accused the party of trying to create a narrative of fear around the memoir. BJP national spokesperson C.R. Kesavan said Congress leaders were trying to “spin stories and manufacture a false narrative of fear” over the book. He also called the allegations “not merely ironic; they are glaringly hypocritical”.

Kesavan questioned the issue at the centre of the controversy and asked, “The moot point in the context of Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s memoirs is: which portions of her memoir warranted fact-checking and why so?”

The BJP has argued that if a publisher itself says fact-checking is a normal part of the publishing process, then the focus should be on the portions that required verification rather than on allegations of political pressure.

BJP leader Ajay Alok also attacked the Congress over the controversy, saying the issue was not about a publisher “bowing down” but about whether the contents of the memoir could be verified. “It’s not a matter of bowing down. It’s a matter of shame that even in writing a book you are not placing facts and figures. That’s why publishers are not ready to publish it. Because verification has to be done, credibility has to be maintained,” he said.

Telangana BJP president N. Ramchander Rao similarly argued that the request for fact-checking raised questions about the claims made in the memoir. He said the controversy showed why readers would also need to examine the claims made in the book carefully.

BJP leader Amit Malviya also took a sarcastic dig at the controversy, questioning why a memoir written by Sonia Gandhi herself required fact-checking.

“It is rather amusing that Penguin Random House India felt the need to fact-check Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, a book authored by Sonia Gandhi herself,” Malviya said. He added that Penguin had described fact-checking as a normal part of publishing and had said it remained “willing and keen” to publish the book.

Malviya then asked what exactly required verification, saying, “What exactly needed fact-checking — the author’s memories, or the blurred line between fact and fiction?”

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