Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in poll-bound Rajasthan’s Ajmer district and will offer prayers at the Brahma temple in Pushkar today. The rally comes as a celebration of the completion of 9 years by the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre. After reaching Rajasthan PM Modi will offer prayers at the Prajapati Brahma Temple, visit the ghats and later he will address a public meeting in Ajmer’s Kayad, according to party leaders.
Rajasthan is slated to go to Assembly polls this year, BJP’s focus will be on 45 assembly seats in 8 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state. This is the sixth program of PM Modi in Rajasthan in the last eight months.
According to Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, lakhs of people and workers will gather in this meeting from 45 assembly seats in eight Lok Sabha constituencies including Ajmer and Jaipur.
This BJP event comes soon after the Congress held discussions with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in the national capital on Monday night ahead of the assembly polls later this year.
PM Modi will launch “Maha Jansampark” by addressing a public meeting in Ajmer, Rajasthan. Under this Maha Jan Sampark, scheduled to be held from May 31 (today) to June 30, extensive public programmes will be done across the country after the completion of 9 yrs at the Centre.
Over 51 huge rallies, public meetings at more than 500 places, and over 600 press conferences in over 500 Lok Sabha and 4000 Vidhan Sabha constituencies will be conducted along with over 5 lakh distinguished families will be contacted.
Sharing details of the programme, which is the largest outreach in BJP’s history, party national general secretary Tarun Chugh, coordinator for the programme, said, “A total of 288 top BJP leaders and 16 lakh party workers will interact with voters at ten lakh booths and 144 clusters covering all Lok Sabha seats to deliver the message of achievements in nine years of the party’s rule at the Centre.”
“As part of the campaign, party leaders will meet 1,000 eminent families per Lok Sabha segment, and conduct 51 mega rallies across India, along with seminars with teachers, social media influencers and other distinguished citizens,” Tarun Chugh said while addressing a press briefing.
Enlightened Conference will be organized in all Lok Sabha with intellectuals. This program will also be organized on June 25, the anniversary of Emergency Day, in which a documentary will be shown on how Congress destroyed democracy.
Door-to-door public meetings will be undertaken from June 20 to June 30, in which all the leaders, office bearers and workers including Union ministers and national office bearers will participate.
As part of the campaign, a two-wheeler tour, spanning eight days, in the assemblies across the country will also be conducted. During the 8-day district-level two-wheeler Yuva Yatra in more than 4,000 Vidhan Sabhas, programs like Nukkad Sabhas, sports competitions, and felicitation of young achievers will be organized at the main places of the city, villages and mohallas.
PM Kisan Nidhi Beneficiaries will be contacted and meetings will be held with the presidents of various farmer producer organizations. Village Chaupal will be organized at mandis with SPO village head sarpanch under Gram Chaupal Gram Sabha will be organized with unorganized labourers.
A Tribal Gaurav Yatra Morcha is also on the cards, which will contact the beneficiaries of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes across the country. Tribal Gaurav Yatra will be taken out at the district level, and programs will be organized under the program of the day including Lord Birsa Munda, which will be organized with the representatives of Scheduled Tribes.
Beneficiaries of the backward class will be contacted at the booth level. In this program, direct contact will be made on all the 10 lakh booths of the country, and 10 crore people of India will be connected with this program.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On May 30, propagandist posing as ‘fact-checker’ and co-founder of AltNews Mohammed Zubair yet again shared a cropped video of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader K Annamalai, to satisfy his vested interests. Sharing a tweet by AltNews ‘journalist’ Abhishek in which he had claimed that Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Annamalai said BJP worker Jadeja helped CSK win, Zubair supported the false claims. In the 9-second video shared by Abhishek, only one line said by Annamalai was there without any context or background of the entire conversation.
In the 9 second cropped video, K Annamalai is heard saying that “Who made CSK win is a BJP Karyakarta. Jadeja is a BJP Karyakarta, his wife is a BJP MLA and he is from Gujarat”.
The insinuation of the video shared by the AltNews team, including Zubair, was that Annamalai, a BJP leader, was crediting a sporting win to BJP saying that cricketer Jadeja was a BJP karyakarta, his wife is a BJP MLA and that he was from Gujarat. To anyone listening, it would appear that Annamalai unilaterally credited a political party for a sporting victory. However, the truth was far from it, which is often the case when it comes to Mohammad Zubair and his cabal. The video used to mock Annamalai, who is a rising star in Tamil Nadu against the ruling party, DMK, which liberals support, was a clipped and edited one which did not show the true picture.
The truth behind the video
In a longer version shared by Netizens, it gets clearer that Annamalai was not claiming credit for the cricketing win of CSK. Annamalai was discussing Chennai Super Kings’ win at the Indian Premium League on News18 with its anchor Devapriyan R. During the discussion the anchor asked him about DMK’s claims that CSK’s win was a ‘victory of Dravidian model against Gujarat model’ that was a clear attempt of the Tamil Nadu’s ruling party to make the match a topic of politics. Several DMK supporters had used a similar line of thought on social media to attack BJP.
Annamalai when D stock journalist tried to claim CSK win as victory of Dravidian model: "Let me tell you. The man who scored the winning runs for CSK is a BJP Karyakarta, his wife is a BJP MLA from Gujarat.
Responding to the comments, Annamalai pointed out that the winning runs in the match were scored by Jadeja whose wife is a BJP MLA from Gujarat and the player himself is a BJP Karyakarta. He said, “The man who scored the winning runs for CSK is a BJP Karyakarta, his wife is a BJP MLA from Gujarat. There were more Tamils in Gujarat Titans than in CSK. But we are proud of CSK for Dhoni. So tell your DMK ministers just like Jadeja, BJP Karyakartas will win 2024 TN as well”.
LKFC @zoo_bear sharing cropped video to spread misinformation against @annamalai_k ji.
DMK crony first provoked by stating that CSK win is a victory of Dravidian model against Gujarat Model.@annamalai_k ji replied, “The man who scored the winning runs for CSK is a BJP… pic.twitter.com/ryS66jaDJx
It is clear from the longer video that K Annamalai was not claiming credit for the CSK win in cricket. He was, in fact, countering the DMK’s assertions about claiming credit for the cricketing victory. Therefore, Zubair and his gang at AltNews essentially blamed K Annamalai for what DMK was claiming, thereby shifting the blame for the arrogance of DMK to BJP leader Annamalai.
“Fact-checker” Abhishek ‘laughed’ at rebuttals
Interestingly, when netizens repeatedly called out Abhishek for spreading misinformation and sharing cropped videos, he did not delete the tweet. Instead, he laughed at the rebuttals and called them “BJP’s footsoldiers”. He wrote, “Even IT cell footsoldiers can’t deny that he said so. Come better prepared next time.”
Even IT cell footsoldiers can't deny that he said so. Come better prepared next time. 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/CjzmlY2lAf
Furthermore, he shared a tweet by Tamil Nadu BJP where what Annamalai said as a response to the journalist was used as a quote. However, it is pertinent to note that here the case is not what Tamil Nadu BJP is using as a quote but what AltNews and its journalists are doing. They are using a cropped video without context to defame BJP’s top Tamil Nadu leader Annamalai who is gaining popularity in the state putting a dent on DMK’s hold in politics. The fact is that it was the journalist who asked a question about DMK claiming credit, that Annamalai responded by saying that these people are BJP, but ‘we celebrate some team even though there are no Tamils, and we celebrate because of Dhoni etc’.
Interestingly, AltNews is not the only one spreading misinformation about Annamalai. News portal The News Minute also published a misleading headline on the matter. In a report titled “‘BJP karyakarta helped CSK win’: Annamalai on Jadeja’s heroics in IPL final” while the portal has complete details of what made Annamalai say so, the headline told exactly similar to what Alt News journalist had said.
Source: Twitter
The same goes for The Indian Express, Financial Express,The Lallantop and others. All these portals have the same misleading headlines with a clear explanation of what happened during the interview.
Source: The Indian Express, Financial Express, Lallantop.
Alt News’ Zubair shared a cropped video of Nupur Sharma
Alt News, especially Mohammed Zubair, has a history of sharing cropped and edited videos to spread anti-BJP and anti-Hindu propaganda. In May 2022, Zubair shared a cropped video of then-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma where she was replying to Tasleem Ahmed Rehmani’s derogatory comments on Bhagwan Shiv. Zubair used the cropped video to attack Sharma and made it look as if Sharma insulted Prophet Mohammed.
His video led to nationwide violence and Sharma was eventually suspended from BJP. Hindus including Kanhaiya Lal from Rajasthan and Umesh Kohle from Maharashtra were killed for supporting Sharma. She is still living under threat to his life while Rehmani, who instigated Sharma during the debate, is roaming free without any burden on his conscious.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday conducted raids at about 25 locations in Karnataka, Kerala and Bihar in the Popular Front of India (PFI) Phulwarisharif case.
The raids were still underway at the premises of suspects linked to the conspiracy which pertains to the involvement of PFI and its leaders and cadres in violent and unlawful activities, who had assembled for that purpose in the Phulwarisharif area of Patna. Earlier, six persons were arrested and several incriminating articles and documents related to PFI were seized in the instant case which was initially registered on July 12 last year at Phulwarisharif police station in Bihar’s Patna district and re-registered by the NIA on July 22 last year.
On February 4-5 this year, the NIA also searched eight locations in Bihar’s Motihari and arrested two people who had arranged weapons and ammunition to carry out the killing. Those arrested were identified as Tanveer Raza alias Barkati and Md Abid alias Aryan.
The NIA then said that recce had already been conducted to execute a target and that the arms and ammunition had been handed over to a PFI Trainer, Yakoob, who had been conducting Training Sessions for PFI cadres.
A few days back, Yakoob, the PFI trainer, had posted a derogatory and inflammatory Facebook video post, which was aimed at disturbing peace and communal harmony, the agency said.
“Other users of Facebook had commented and trolled this post abusively. The absconding accused Yakoob and two arrested accused had identified some of them and had conspired to execute the killing of the targeted person,” the NIA had said earlier.
With the earlier arrests, the NIA had said a PFI module planning targeted killing and disrupting communal harmony has been unearthed and busted.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On Tuesday, May 31, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, a Kolkata-based businessman and a close aide of Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee (nephew of Mamata Banerjee), following a 12-hour-long questioning in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam in West Bengal.
According to ED authorities, Bhadra, who is popularly known as ‘Kalighat-er Kaku’ (Kalighat’s uncle) was arrested because he refused to cooperate with investigating officials and dodged their questions.
“He did not cooperate with our officers during today’s questioning. We tried a lot to get answers to some relevant questions connected to the jobs scam,” an ED official said.
ED has claimed to have uncovered his connections to three companies and suspected these organisations were used to launder crores of money. Moreover, during earlier raids on his home, ED authorities recovered documents. His residence in Behala was raided by ED on May 20.
He had testified before the CBI on March 15 regarding his alleged participation in wrongful appointments made in several state-run and state-aided institutions in the state.
According to an Indian Expressreport, “Abhishek Banerjee’s mother, Lata Banerjee is a director in a firm run in the name of Bhadra, who claims to be an employee in Banerjee’s office.”
Abhishek Banerjee is said to be a partner in the company Leaps & Bounds Private Limited, which manufactures packaged mineral drinking water.
Taking to Twitter BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal state assembly reacted to Sujoy Krishna Bhadra’s arrest saying that “No one will be spared. The high and mighty will go to jail. Time is ticking.”
“The long arm of law is finally reaching towards the masterminds & the biggest beneficiaries. No one will be spared. The high and mighty will go to jail. Time is ticking,” Adhikari tweeted. He also shared images claiming Bhadra’s alleged links with TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee.
— Suvendu Adhikari • শুভেন্দু অধিকারী (@SuvenduWB) May 30, 2023
The Trinamool Congress did not respond to the arrest but speculated that it was done to shift attention away from the only Congress MLA, Bayron Biswas joining the TMC.
“Only one Congress MLA, Bayron Biswas, joined the TMC yesterday.” The news shocked the opposition coalition of the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress. “Perhaps this arrest was made to divert attention from that narrative,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
“This is so funny that they are finding a link between Bayron Biswas and the ED probe,” claimed Lok Sabha MP and West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The TMC is a corrupt party. Biswas is technically still a Congress MLA.”
Sujan Chakraborty, leader of the CPI(M), remarked, “I am surprised that if an employee of (Banerjee) can own three companies and have crores of rupees, I wonder how much property and money his employers have.”
So far, the ED has arrested West Bengal’s former education minister Partha Chatterjee, and several others for their suspected role in the multi-crore scam.
In relation to the investigation, the CBI has also arrested TMC MLAs Jiban Krishna Saha and former West Bengal Board of Primary Education president Manik Bhattacharya.
What is the Bengal Teacher SSC recruitment scam?
The West Bengal Teacher’s recruitment scam, more commonly referred to as the SSC scam, looks into the recruitment process conducted through the State Level Selection Test (SLT) conducted by SSC from 2014 to 2016.
The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) announced in 2014 that teachers would be hired at state-run schools in West Bengal through the State Level Selection Test (SLST), which is when the alleged scam first surfaced. In 2016, the hiring process got underway. At that time, Partha Chatterjee was the Minister-in-Charge of the West Bengal Department of Higher Education and School Education. Nevertheless, a number of complaints were submitted to the Calcutta High Court citing irregularities in the hiring procedure.
The petitioners alleged that many examinees who got lesser marks ranked high on the merit list. Several claims also surfaced regarding the receipt of appointment letters by some applicants who weren’t even on the merit list.
On Saturday, May 27, the Maharashtra Police filed an FIR against one individual identified as Akram Patel and 4 other unidentified persons for brutally beating 2 Sikh minors leading to the death of one of them. The FIR has been filed under sections 302, 307, 341, 143, 147, 148, and 149 of the Indian Penal Code and section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951. No sections of POCSO have been added though.
. The victims were accused to be thieves and were attacked by Akram and 4-5 other unidentified persons on May 27. The incident is said to have happened in the Tadkalas region of Parbhani district.
As per the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia, the two minors, Arunsingh and Kripalsingh, were accompanied by one of their relatives identified as Gorasingh Dudhani. The three had gone to catch pigs at 3 am on May 26. They found no pigs and were blocked by Akram and 4-5 other men while they were returning to their homes. The accused persons are said to have blocked the victims near the Idgah.
The victims were brutally beaten with iron rods by the accused men resulting in severe injuries. “They poured spicy chutney into our eyes. They also broke our left arm and left leg. Later, one of them asked Akram regarding action to be taken against us. Akram then ordered saying ‘Maro salon ko (kill them)’. One of them then hit an iron rod on Arunsingh’s head and also beat Kripalsingh in his intestine. Kirpalsingh was also hit by the rod on his head after which he became unconscious,” Gorasingh Dudhani mentioned in the FIR.
He also said that they cried and yelled after Akram and other men started beating them. “Many people gathered around. They also asked Akram to stop beating us and call the police instead but to no avail,” he continued.
The victims were, after some time, taken to the government hospital in Parbhani where doctors declared Kirpalsingh dead. The other two persons, Gorasingh and Arunsingh are believed to be serious and are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Reportedly, while Gorasingh mentioned in the FIR that he and two of his relatives were attacked by the accused, he failed to mention the reason behind the attack. Team OpIndia contacted Gorasingh’s relative to know the truth. He said that the victims were beaten by the accused after they thought that these minors were thieves.
Complaint lodged by one of the victims (Copy obtained by OpIndia)
“Our children did nothing. We keep animals and nurture them. That day, these three went looking for the pigs but didn’t find any. On their way back, they were accused of theft by some people and were brutally beaten. One of them has died. The other two are serious at the hospital,” Gorasingh’s relative confirmed.
Team OpIndia also tried calling the Tadkalas Police Station but no information could be obtained. The report will be updated once additional information has been obtained. The FIR has been filed under sections 302, 307, 341, 143, 147, 148, and 149 of the Indian Penal Code and section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951.
A passenger on a Delhi-bound Air India flight was handed over to security personnel for “unruly behaviour” with crew members during the flight.
An Air India spokesperson said the passenger continued with “the unprovoked, aggressive behaviour” after the plane landed in Delhi. The airline has reported the matter to DGCA.
“A passenger on our flight AI882, Goa to Delhi, on May 29, 2023, behaved in an unruly manner. The said passenger verbally abused the crew members and then went on to physically assault one of them on board. On landing at Delhi airport, the passenger continued with the unprovoked, aggressive behaviour and was handed over to the security personnel We have also reported the incident to the regulator,” the spokesperson said.
“Safety of our crew and passengers is of utmost importance to us and we strongly condemn this unruly behaviour of the passenger. We will offer all support to the affected crew members,” the spokesperson added.
Delhi Police and CISF have also been informed of the incident.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), attacked Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s late-night news conference on Sunday, May 28, accusing him of covering up the worst forms of torture and harassment of women detained by “the fascist government”.
“The interior minister’s news conference has left no doubt that the PTI women workers have been subjected to inhumane treatment in jail,” the former prime minister said as he addressed the nation through a video link.
Imran pleaded with the nation’s highest court to take immediate action in response to reports of rape against female party members and supporters who were detained after the riots on May 9.
In a news conference, the interior minister Sanaullah said that intelligence services had heard a discussion indicating that the PTI was preparing two distinct actions that would be carried out simultaneously. He termed these actions as ‘dramas’ and claimed that the recording showed that the PTI was preparing an operation at a specific property. Additionally, he said that the intercepted communications suggested a “rape act” would be carried out and blamed on law enforcement.
The former prime minister responded to the press conference by saying Sanaullah was trying to cover up and anticipate the horror stories about to break in the media. “If there were any doubts about women being mistreated in jails, this press conference from this certified criminal should remove all such doubts. We are also getting distressing reports of rape in the confines of detention,” he said.
Khan expressed his deep concern and claimed that a very disgusting occurrence had taken place. He highlighted that the administration was concerned about the inevitable backlash that would occur once the imprisoned women were ultimately released.
The PTI leader emphasised that women in Pakistan had never seen the kind of degradation the party is seeing now. “It is almost a year since May 25 when a large number of PTI leaders and workers were roughed up by law enforcement agencies, the government has been violating the sanctity of ‘chadar and char dewari’ (a metaphor used to emphasise women’s dignity and one’s protection inside the four walls of the house),” he said.
He emphasised how the PTI leaders, employees, regular people, and even women and children were degraded. “Their homes are being pulled down. Businesses are shut down, and everything is being done to terrorise and instill fear among people”, he said.
He emphasised that PTI is the only political party to actively encourage women’s engagement in the political process and draw sizable numbers of women and families to public rallies. “Unfortunately, an attempt is being made to roll back this positive trend by creating fear among women which will be a great loss to the country,” he said adding that such tactics were witnessed during the dictatorial rule.
“Today, I, on behalf of the nation and Pakistan’s biggest party, appeal to the 15 judges of the Supreme Court that the entire country is looking towards you. History will remember your role. Till now it seems you are slowly conceding your power and losing your freedom against the powerful. It doesn’t seem to us you are capable of taking a stand against the powerful,” the PTI chairman said.
Imran Khan alson requested a judicial investigation into the May 9 riots from the Supreme Court in order to identify those in charge of the looting and burning.
“It is the job of the courts to carry out an investigation and find out the culprits. We will fully help you. I will tell you to punish those who were responsible, but side by side, 25 people were martyred and hundreds were shot. Where in the world are peaceful protests shot at and then there is no investigation,” he was quoted as saying.
On May 9, the country of Pakistan witnessed massive chaos and ruckus after PTI chief Imran Khan was arrested. The PTI workers protested all over the nation and also targeted the country’s military institutions. Several of the demonstrators, including women, were imprisoned and there are still hundreds of individuals behind bars. Imran Khan asserted that these arrested PTI women workers were being ill-treated and raped in the jails.
The heinousness involved in the gruesome murder of 16-year-old Sakshi by her ‘friend’ Sahil in Delhi’s Shahbad dairy neighbourhood has shaken the consciousness of the country. In the murder, which was caught on CCTV camera, Sakshi was stabbed over 20 times and then her head was crushed using a boulder by Sahil. Her parents said that Sakshi was stabbed so many times by Sahil that her intestines were bulging out of her body.
Another CCTV video has now surfaced, revealing that Sahil was not alone when he committed the crime. It showed that he had arrived at the crime scene well before committing the heinous crime. Sahil was seen in the video interacting with another youth and watching something on a phone before walking away in the opposite direction. This CCTV footage, shared by the news agency ANI, was reportedly captured just minutes before Sahil murdered Sakshi.
#WATCH | Delhi | CCTV visuals show accused Sahil in the Shahbad Dairy area, before he murdered the 16-year-old girl, on 28th May.
According to reports, the youth seen with Sahil in the CCTV footage was his friend named Akash. Akash was standing with Sahil waiting for Sakshi. The police are now interrogating Akash to know what he was doing at the crime scene minutes before the murder.
Eyewitness says Sahil was accompanied by his gang members when he killed Sakshi
Meanwhile, an eyewitness has told police that Sahil was not alone when he stabbed Sakshi but was accompanied by other of his gang members who stood nearby and witnessed him kill Sakshi. According to the eyewitness, the onlookers could do nothing to protect the deceased teenager because they were afraid of the gang.
The eyewitness stated that he had previously seen Sahil and his gang members consuming drugs on multiple occasions. On the day of the murder, he said, his gang members were keeping an eye on him from a short distance away from the crime site.
Exclusive- साक्षी हत्याकांड में बड़ा खुलासा। आरोपी साहिल की पहचान करने वाले चश्मदीद ने कैमरे पर बताया।
“चाकू से गोदते वक़्त अकेला नहीं था साहिल, पूरा गैंग साथ था।
Notably, besides Akash, the police have identified five other Sakshi and Sahil’s friends who are being questioned alongside the accused Sahil. The Delhi Police are questioning Praveen, Sakshi’s ex-boyfriend, whose name was tattooed on Sakshi’s arm. Praveen is now in Jaunpur, UP.
The third person who is being questioned is Neetus, Sakshi’s close friend. The police said that Sakshi was living with Neetu for a few days. Neetu is married and her husband is currently held in Tihar jail due to a crime. Neetu knew Sakshi for the past 3-4 years and Sahil for the past 7-8 months.
Additionally, the Police are also questioning Aarti. She was the last person to meet Sakshi before she was killed. Along with these five people, the police are questioning one Jhabru, Sakshi’s friend. According to reports, Jhabru had threatened Sahil that he would kill him if he did not stop chasing Sakshi, the police quoted Sahil as confessing during his interrogation. Jhabru resides in the JJ colony in Shahbad Dairy.
Notably, Delhi Police have also said that they have been looking into the victim and Sahil’s Instagram accounts. Some of Sahil’s posts on Instagram revealed that he was friends with numerous girls. His chats with many girls have come to the fore which has revealed that Sahil was in a relationship with multiple girls at the same time. Police said there is a possibility that upon discovering this, Sakshi expressed may have her desire to end her relationship with Sahil and avoid any further communication with him, which is why Sahil decided to kill her.
Sahil, post his arrest, has, however, shown no remorse for the heinous crime he committed. According to police, he could not answer some of the questions posed to him. And so, cops believe that he is trying to mislead them.
‘Fearing anyone other than Allah is considered Shirk by us’: Video that Sahil uploaded on Instagram
Interestingly, when OpIndia started searching for his Instagram account we came across one of the stories that he chose to add to his “Instagram Highlights.” The story was a video (reel) of a man walking with a gun. The video was posted by one ‘Sameer6000’, which was in turn added to his stories by Sahil Khan (Sarfaraz). This story was posted as recently as 16th February by Sahil.
The background voice in the video says, “Aur hum, Allah ke siva kisika darr Shirk samajhte hai” (we consider fearing anyone other than Allah a shirk).
Shirk, as a concept in Islam means the sin of idolatry or polytheism (i.e., the deification or worship of anyone or anything besides Allah).
In the picture of his arrest shared by ANI, Sahil, who stabbed Sakshi over 20 times and brutally murdered her, was seen wearing a Kalava (a sacred Hindu thread) on his wrist. Sakshi and Sahil were reportedly in a relationship and had an ugly fight a day before the murder. The victim was on her way to attend a birthday party of her friend’s son when Sahil stopped her and started attacking her with a knife. In the brutal attack, Sahil kept stabbing the victim repeatedly and later picked up a concrete block to crush her head.
Police to prove ‘love jihad’ angle
Interestingly, Sakshi’s friend has now revealed that Sakshi believed Sahil was a Hindu. With the story by Sahil that points towards his staunch Islamic views and the fact that he was wearing a Kalava while getting arrested coupled with the revelation by Sakshi’s friend, there is now a need for the police to investigate whether a religious motive was involved in the murder by Sahil. After this revelation by Sakshi’s friend, the police have claimed that they will investigate the Love Jihad angle too.
On May 30, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed nine years in office. On this day in 2019, PM Modi took oath as the head of the state for the second consecutive term. In these nine years, Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre has achieved many milestones and delivered on many manifesto promises. There were unprecedented challenges in between like the Covid-19 pandemic that put the country’s progress on hold for a few months but the country bounced back with flying colours, thanks to the strong leadership at the centre.
9 years of unwavering dedication to the nation’s growth.
I invite everyone to visit this site https://t.co/jWxyZLPPcU to get a glimpse of our development journey. It also gives an opportunity to highlight how people have benefited from various Government schemes. #9YearsOfSeva
In these nine years, the Modi government has made sure to put out the numbers in real-time via several dashboards across departments and ministries. OpIndia had a look at the manifestos of 2014 and 2019 to check the achievements of the government based on the promises made by the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections as well as the challenges faced by the country.
Abrogation of Article 370 and annulling Article 35A
In its manifesto, BJP talked about its commitment to the abrogation of Article 370 and the annulment of Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. The promise was fulfilled in less than three months after coming back to power in 2019. On August 5, 2019, the Government of India announced the abrogation of Article 370 and annulled Article 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. With the decision, the government also transformed Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory and separated Ladakh to form another UT ruled directly by the central government. Since the abrogation, Jammu and Kashmir has seen rapid development in several sectors.
Source: BJP Manifesto
Ram Mandir and the development of holy sites
BJP talked about its commitment to building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the development of holy sites across the country in its manifesto. Cultural development was an important part of the BJP’s manifesto. On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Hindu Paksha and gave disputed land to Hindus to build Bhavya Ram Mandir. Without wasting any time, the government of India formed the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust.
A special donation collection drive was initiated by the trust to collect funds for the construction and Hindus across the globe participated in it. On August 5, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the Bhoomi Pujan of Ram Mandir and the construction of the Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya started. The Mandir will be open to the public in January 2024.
Furthermore, after PM Modi took charge, several projects to develop, renovate and rejuvenate sacred Hindu sites and other religious sites have commenced that include the development of Kedarnath, Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Mahakal Corridor, and more. As the PM won the election from Varanasi, he has worked extensively on the development of the holy city.
The Covid-19 challenge
One of the biggest challenges faced by the country during the second term of PM Modi was the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 started spreading in India in early 2020. In March 2020, the Government of India decided to impose a nationwide lockdown to control the spread. Though it contained the virus to some extent, the second wave hit India hard. We lost over 5,00,000 lives to the pandemic and thousands lost their livelihood. The direct and indirect impact of the pandemic on the people showed how unprepared our health sector was.
India did not have testing centres, sufficient ICUs, and not even made-in-India PPE kits. By the time pandemic hit India, we were importing a lot of products including PPE kits from China. As the pandemic originated in China, its supply chain suffered badly. As per reports, there were only 2.75 lakhs PPE kits available at that time in the country.
There was no time to find another source and the government of India pulled its sleeves right on time. From manufacturing almost zero PPE kits, India became a PPE manufacturing giant in the coming months. GoI worked on a war footing to ensure hospitals, doctors, healthcare workers, and frontline workers get the required supply of PPE kits. Within two months of the nationwide lockdown, India developed its own PPE kits. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Textile worked together with the industry to ensure seamless supply.
A similar case was with the N95 masks, hand sanitisers, and other products. India not only maintained supply for the local market but also exported and gifted products to other nations in need.
While capable minds across industries worked to ensure supply to the healthcare sector did not get hampered, the scientists in India worked extensively to create an indigenous vaccine. Simultaneously, the Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the country, started manufacturing the Covishield vaccine in India. Covishield was developed by AstraZeneca. The indigenous vaccine Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech was ready in record time.
There was a lot of pressure on the Indian Government to allow vaccines by Pfizer but owing to the conditions put on the table by the company, GoI decided not to go for it.
India also developed a state-of-the-art CoWIN platform to track the Covid-19 vaccination drive in real time. So far, 220.66 crores doses of vaccine have been administered in India. Over 95.19 crore people have received two doses of the vaccine and over 22 crore people have received a precautionary third dose. There are still 261 vaccination centres active across the country out of which 191 are being run by the government and 70 are private.
Covid-19 vaccine stats. Source: MoHFW
Another shock that India received was the lack of medical oxygen during the second wave of Covid-19. The government took it as a lesson and the result came in the form of around 2,500 oxygen plants commissioned at government hospitals across the country by October 2021.
The advancements in the health sector
In the last nine years, the Government of India has worked extensively to improve the health sector in the country. When PM Modi took charge in 2014, there was only one fully operational AIIMS and six semi-operational AIIMS. Under the leadership of PM Modi, the government of India worked extensively on increasing the number of AIIMS across the country so that people can get the best medical care at affordable rates in their own states.
At present, apart from Delhi AIIMS, there are six fully operational AIIMS which are Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh. Ten AIIMS in Raebareli, Gorakhpur, Mangalagiri, Nagpur, Bathinda, Bibinagar, Kalyani, Deoghar, Bilaspur, and Rajkot are semi-operational where MBBS classes and OPDs are running. At Guwahati, Jammu, and Madurai AIIMS, MBBS classes have commenced. Awantipora, Manethi and Darbanga AIIMS are under construction. With operational, semi-operational, under construction, and newly announced AIIMS, the total has reached to 22. In March 2022, PM Modi said all 22 AIIMS will be fully operational by 2025.
Furthermore, the number of medical colleges has increased by 70 percent. There were 387 medical colleges in 2014, while in 2023, the number increased to 660.
The BJP-led central government launched a flagship healthcare scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna’ to ensure universal healthcare coverage for poor families. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, which covers health records in digital form via Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts, made it possible to provide medical care to the needy.
Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) has also played a vital role in enabling the marginalised section of society to access high-quality generic medicine. Under the scheme, over 9,000 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJKs) have been opened by the Government of India that provide generic medicines up to 70 percent cheaper than the market price.
These shops sell around 1,800 medicines and 280 surgical instruments at affordable prices. Similarly, AMRIT pharmacies have around 5,000 drugs, stents, implants and surgical disposables, and other consumables at up to 60 percent lesser prices compared to the general market. Not to forget, Jan Aushadhi Kendras sell sanitary napkins at just Re 1 making them easily accessible to women from marginalised backgrounds.
GoI has supported AYUSH and its off-shoot Ayurveda Aahara extensively to provide holistic healthcare facilities to the people of India. For women, several projects were started and pushed forward since PM Modi came to power. Programs like Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN), Mission Indradhanush (MI), PM POSHAN scheme, and other programs have provided women and children with better care during pregnancy and after birth. Maternal care was an important part of BJP’s manifesto and the government under the party has worked extensively in the field.
So far the government has created over 38 crore ABHA accounts. Over 18 crore patients have received care under the AYUSH doctrine. Over 3.9 crore pregnant women have received medical care under PM Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan. Over 9.55 lakh TB patients have been adopted by Ni-Kshya Mitras. Over 5.65 crore mothers and children have been protected because of Mission Indradhanush. Programs like e-Sanjeevani have marked the 11 crore milestone of teleconsultations.
LPG connections more than doubled in nine years
When the Modi government came to power, only 14.52 crore households had access to LPG connections. The government started Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to expand its reach and save women from harmful emissions. By March 2023, the number of LPG connections stand at 31.36 crore which means that in just nine years, the government has more than doubled the LPG connections. LPG coverage in India rose from 62% in 2016 (launch of the scheme) to over 104% in 2022.
The education Sector
In its manifesto, BJP talked extensively about improving the education sector. Digitisation of books and online courses has been a landmark decision of the Modi government. Under the present government, the education sector saw a lot of changes.
New Education Policy 2020 aimed at shifting the focus to providing a breeding ground for foundational thought from the very beginning. Notably, around 400 NCERT books have been digitised and are available for free to download. The government has opened new IITs and IIMs to provide students with better chances at higher education at affordable prices. Around 350 new universities have been established since 2014.
As per the data available, 43 percent of the universities and 61.4 percent of the colleges are now located in rural areas. Modi government opened 7 IITs and 7 IIMs since it came to power in 2014. When PM Modi took charge in 2014, there were 723 universities in the country and the number now stands at 1,113. Furthermore, there were 38,498 colleges in India in 2014 which has increased to 43,796 in 2023. That means, in just nine years, new 5,298 colleges have been built in the country which would not have been possible without Government’s intervention.
The road infrastructure
For any country to progress, road infrastructure holds the utmost importance. The government emphasised extensively connecting the country via the road network. India has around 63.73 lakh kilometres of road network which is the second largest in the world. In the last nine years, using a corridor-based National Highways development approach, the construction of roads has increased from 12 KM a day in 2014 to 29 KM a day in 2021-22.
GoI has also concentrated on building border infrastructure. Notably, in the last five years alone, the GoI has built over 13,525+ KM of roads connecting borders.
Connecting rural areas to cities improves connectivity and helps in the transportation of goods between the two sides. Keeping in mind the importance of rural connectivity, GoI has built over 3.28 lakh KMs of rural roads since 2014 under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. In the 2019 manifesto, BJP talked about connecting rural areas to the cities under Rural Road Upgradation Programme and worked extensively to fulfill the promise.
Digital revolution
There was a time when the opposition laughed at the Modi government’s plan to bring the digital revolution into the banking sector. No one believed when the government aspired to see roadside vendors using digital transactions. With commitment and one step at a time, the Modi government made it possible and emphasised extensively improving digital infrastructure.
From Jan Dhan Accounts to Aadhar connectivity, promoting Rupay cards and UPI, the Modi government’s initiatives helped in increasing digital transactions. In its manifesto, BJP talked about promoting and increasing digital transactions which it did. To put things in perspective, there were 21 banks linked to UPI in August 2016 and the number of digital transactions stood at 0.09 million worth 3.09 crores. In April 2023, 414 banks are connected to UPI.
Furthermore, the Modi government emphasised Direct Benefit Transfer or DBT under which monetary benefits were directly transferred to beneficiaries’ accounts. In nine years, the government has transferred over 29 lakh crores under different welfare schemes cutting out middlemen and plugging leakages. The government has saved over 2.23 lakh crores by transferring funds through DBT.
Saubhagya and Har Ghar Jal
Two important missions under the Modi government, named, Saubhagya and Har Ghar Jal have benefitted crores of Indians. Over 8 crore households have benefitted from Jal Jeevan Mission and received tap water connections. Over three crore households have been electrified under Saubhagya Yojana ensuring 99.9 percent coverage of electricity. Both schemes were part of BJP’s manifesto.
Other important achievements of the Modi government in nine years
BJP aimed at improving the lives of farmers in the country. Under welfare schemes like Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), GoI has provided free food grains to over 80 crore people. Food subsidy amounting to a total of Rs 4.04 lakh crore has been released to the states. Rs 14.48 crore has been released to FCI. The free food grains scheme under NFSA that started during Covid has been extended till December 31, 2023.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Urban) has resulted in an 800 percent increase in Urban Houses. Records suggest over 8.04 lakh houses were completed between 2004 and 2014 under the scheme. 2015 on wants, over 74 lakh houses were constructed.
Rs 7,558 crore+ worth of loans has been sanctioned under Stand Up India to SC/ST communities.
Rs 5,182 crores have been disbursed in 42.87 lakh accounts under the PM SVANidhi scheme.
Over 48.9 crores of Jan Dhan Accounts have been opened.
Over 4 crore houses have been sanctioned under PM Awas Yojana.
Over 28.90 crore unorganised workers are now registered on E-Shram Portal.
Over 11 crore toilets have been constructed.
Over 33.48 crore people have been enrolled under PM Suraksha Bima Yojana.
Over 27.7 crore collateral-free loans have been sanctioned under Mudra loans.
Welfare schemes for farmers including short-term collateral-free loans, pension schemes for old farmers, subsidised seeds, and fertilisers are some of the benefits this government has brought on the ground. Furthermore, the soil card, Fasal Beema Yojna and Kisan credit card have helped crores of farmers across the country.
Monday (May 29), the country woke up to the shocking news of the brutal murder of a minor girl identified as Sakshi by her ‘friend’ Sahil in the Shahbad dairy area of Delhi. In the murder, which has been caught on CCTV camera, Sakshi was stabbed over 20 times and then her head was crushed using a boulder by Sahil. Her parents had said that Sakshi was stabbed so many times by Sahil that her intestines were bulging out of her body.
Delhi police have arrested the accused, Sahil in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district.
In the picture of his arrest shared by ANI, Sahil, who stabbed Sakshi over 20 times and brutally murdered her, was seen wearing a Kalava (a sacred Hindu thread) on his wrist. Sakshi and Sahil were reportedly in a relationship and had an ugly fight a day before the murder. The victim was on her way to attend a birthday party of her friend’s son when Sahil stopped her and started attacking her with a knife. In the brutal attack, Sahil kept stabbing the victim repeatedly and later picked up a concrete block to crush her head.
Interestingly, Sakshi’s friend has now revealed that Sakshi believed Sahil was a Hindu.
Now, another CCTV footage has emerged, uploaded by ANI, that shows Sahil lurking at the very spot where he murdered Sakshi before the murder was committed.
#WATCH | Delhi | CCTV visuals show accused Sahil in the Shahbad Dairy area, before he murdered the 16-year-old girl, on 28th May.
In the video uploaded by ANI, one can see Sahil talking to a friend and waving his hands about. After his conversation, Sahil is seen leaving the area. This footage is from before Sahil murdered Sakshi in the same spot where he is seen in the video.
If one examines the video closely, it seems that Sahil was not wearing a Kalava in this video, which is CCTV footage of moments before the murder took place.
Here are some stills from the video (This is a slideshow, please click next to view all images):
Still images from CCTV footage
Still images from CCTV footage
Still images from CCTV footage
Still images from CCTV footage
Still images from CCTV footage
While the CCTV footage is certainly not crystal clear and it is extremely dark in the video, from all the images and angles of the video footage, there are indications that Sahil was not wearing a Kalava moments before murdering Sakshi.
From the timestamps of the two video footages uploaded by ANI, it is evident that there were only a minute before Sahil proceeds to murder Sakshi, therefore, it is unlikely that he left from this area, wore a Kalava and then murdered Sakshi.
While this video footage indicates that Sahil was not wearing a Kalava while murdering Sakshi, the picture of Sahil’s arrest prominently shows that he is wearing one on his wrist.
Images of Sahil after he was arrested
Sahil was arrested on the 29th and the murder took place on 28th, therefore, he clearly had enough time to wear a Kalava in the meantime.
Now, the argument that can be made is that Sahil always wore a Kalava and maybe removed it while murdering Sakshi. To confirm, we checked Sahil Instagram profile for the images and reels he had uploaded of himself.
We found 2-3 images where he was indeed wearing a Kalava.
Instagram pictures of Sahil wearing Kalava
Instagram pictures of Sahil wearing Kalava
Instagram pictures of Sahil wearing Kalava
However, there were only these images where he seem to be wearing a Kalava. Most of his images were where he was not wearing one.
Image of Sahil taken from his Instagram account
It is, therefore, evident that Sahil only wore a Kalava rarely and mostly when he was in a group of friends.
This gives rise to several questions and theories.
The most obvious question is – why did he wear a Kalava after murdering Sakshi?
There are a couple of theories that could explain the move. First and foremost could be to evade the police by misrepresenting his identity. After he murdered Sakshi, it was obvious that he would be identified and his family spoken to. It would be revealed that he was a Muslim man whose name of Sahil Sarfaraz. Therefore, he could have thought that wearing a Kalava would hide his identity, portray him as a Hindu and therefore, he would be able to evade arrest.
That, however, would not explain why he wore a Kalava sometimes even earlier, as evidenced by his Instagram pictures.
It is pertinent to remember that Sakshi’s friend testified on camera that Sakshi believed that Sahil was actually a Hindu. It is entirely possible that Sahil used to wear a Kalava when he would be out with friends, including Sakshi, to misrepresent his identity and pretend to be a Hindu. Given that there are hundreds of cases where Muslim men trap Hindu girls by pretending to be Hindu, this could be a real possibility, coupled with the testimony of Sakshi’s friend.
Wearing a Kalava after murdering Sakshi would serve as a shield to hide his real intentions since he may have believed that his Muslim identity would be hidden. Pertinently, OpIndia discovered a video that Sahil had uploaded on his Instagram profile where the video showed a man carrying a gun with the VoiceOver saying that fearing anyone other than Allah was considered Shirk in Islam – from which we can conclude that Sahil did follow Islam rather staunchly.
These, however, are a matter of speculation and the truth can only be revealed after a thorough investigation. It is to be kept in mind that the police are not only investigating if the murder of Sakshi was premeditated, since Sahil purchased the knife 15 days ago, but are also investigating the Love Jihad angle after the testimony of Sakshi’s friend.
