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Special liking for Hamas, Umar Khalid, ‘liking’ anti-Hindu Tweets and abusing PM Modi: Meet Parveen Shaikh, Principal of prestigious Somaiya School, Mumbai

OpIndia Staff
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Special liking for Hamas, Umar Khalid, ‘liking’ anti-Hindu Tweets and abusing PM Modi: Meet Parveen Shaikh, Principal of prestigious Somaiya School, Mumbai

The ramifications of the Israel-Hamas war have sadly, not been limited to the Middle East. The tremors of that war have been felt even in India, with several Islamists coming out of the woodworks, revealing themselves as terror sympathisers. Several elements have come out in the open to justify the brutal terror attack by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians calling it legitimate resistance.

It is pertinent to note that in October 2023, Hamas and several Palestinian civilians crossed over to Israel and launched a brutal terror attack where they murdered over 1300 civilians and kidnapped 100s. The terrorists who attacked Jews raped women, beheaded men and mounted unimaginable horrors even on babies.

After OpIndia received a tip, we realised that one of those Hamas sympathisers is a woman entrusted with the education of thousands of unsuspecting children, based on her social media activity.

Parveen Shaikh is the Principal of The Somaiya School, a reputed private educational institute in the Vidyaviyar area of Mumbai. She has been associated with the school for 12 years, of which 7 years were spent as the Head of the institute.

Shaikh holds MSc and MEd degrees and has been in education for more than two decades (according to the educational institute’s website). The Somaiya School has received several awards during her tenure as the Principal.

Based on the inputs received by OpIndia, we began investigating the social media handles of the school Principal, in-charge of the education of thousands of children.

At the very outset, we found that Parveen Shaikh does not frequently post online. A large part of her social media activity is confined to X (formerly Twitter), where she goes by the username ‘@ParveenShaikh1’. It is reasonable to believe that it is her real account because she has been tagged by her organisation using this username.

Schoolutions Podcast had also tagged her using the same username. Similarly, SIMHA TISS, a part of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, had also tagged her in June 2020.

When one looks at the profile of Parveen Shaikh, on the face of it, it looks like an innocuous account with not much activity, except posts about her achievements and the achievements of her school, like this one.

Tweet posted by Parveen Shaikh

The Principal of The Somaiya School has a total of 239 followers and 241 posts, the majority of which are focused on the achievements of her educational institute.

If one looks at her tweets, the ones that she has published on her own, one gets the impression that she is just an educationist, however, the real story is revealed when one looks at her replies and likes on X.

Her most recent ‘liked’ post is by X handle Sulaiman Ahmed, listing the countries which voted in favour of admitting Palestine into the UN. This is perhaps one of the least harmful tweets that she has liked since supporting Palestine itself is no crime. However, it is interesting to note that the tweet itself is by Sulaiman Ahmed – a man who regularly runs propaganda against India and Hindus.

Another tweet that Parveen Shaikh liked on the 12th of April gives us a better insight into her ideology. Shaikh liked a post by anti-semite and fake news peddler Jackson Hinkle which hailed the children and grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh – who were neutralised by Israel for being Hamas terrorists. He called their death ‘martyrdom’, thereby revealing that he believes Hamas is ordained by Allah do heap atrocities against Jews.

Shaikh regularly ‘likes’ statements issued by Hamas in support of their ‘resistance’ against Israel. One should bare in mind that the Hamas and its sympathisers have terms to 7th October massacre of innocent Jews as ‘resistance’.

In one post she liked, a Twitter handle

The post had an animated image of a man in a black cape, holding an assault weapon. The caption prayed for him to be blessed by Allah. When we clicked on the tweet to find out what this tweet was in reply to, we found that the original tweet was hailing a Hamas terrorist – Hamza Hisham Amer. Amer would kill Israelis with RPGs in civilian clothing. He has been hailed across the board by Islamists and Hamas terrorists.

Another post liked by Shaikh says “Resistance is not terrorism”. This post essentially legitimised the 7th October terror attack calling it ‘resistance’ and not ‘terrorism’.

While calling the 7th October massacre ‘resistance’, Shaikh also liked a statement by Hamas which denied that their “fighters” raped women during the 7th October “battle”.

The Hamas statement she liked read:

We reject the occupation’s lies about cases of rape, which aim to distort the resistance and cover up the image of its humane and moral dealings with detainees. We strongly reject and denounce the alignment of some Western media outlets with the misleading Zionist campaigns that promote unfounded lies and allegations aimed at demonizing the Palestinian resistance, the latest of which is the allegation that resistance members committed “sexual violence” during the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle on October 7. We consider this misleading campaign to be part of a series of lies spread by the Zionist propaganda machine, whose claims have been proven false, especially the falsehood of beheading children and targeting revelers at the concert in the Re’im settlement, and not the least of which is the lie of using Al-Shifa Medical Hospital for military purposes. The Nazi Zionist occupation seeks to spread rumors and lies against the resistance in a desperate attempt to cover up the image that the world saw of the humane and moral dealings with detainees and their good care among the resistance men, which a number of released detainees testified to, despite the occupation’s attempts to cover up and obscure it. We call on all media outlets and agencies to be careful not to fall into the trap of the occupation’s lies and tendentious propaganda, and to verify every information, to protect the truth and preserve the sanctity of the media message.

The statement is laden with lies – which is what one would expect from Hamas. The fact that they targeted partygoers at the Nova Music Festival is not a lie and neither is it a lie that women were raped. There are multiple survivor testimonies and images/videos that show the truth. Further, the fact that Shaikh likes a statement which calls the 7th October massacre a ‘battle’ itself reveals her sympathies with the murder, rape and torture of innocent civilians by Jihadis.

Another tweet she liked claimed that Hamas was not evil.

Her Hamas sympathies and that she believes what Hamas did on 7th October is right is clear from the fact that a day after the massacre, she liked a post standing with Palestine.

Not just Hamas, Parveen Shaikh supports Islamists in India too

Parveen Shaikh has a long history of simply ‘liking’ tweets that seem to conform to her worldview. In 2021, only a month after the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots, Parveen Shaikh liked a tweet by Sharjeel Usami, another accused, calling the entire Hindu society ‘radicalised’.

In April 2022, Shaikh liked a Tweet which blamed Hindus for Ram Navami violence and painted Muslims as the victims. In truth, it was the Muslims who had unleashed violence against Hindus in 2022 on Ram Navami. OpIndia itself documented several such attacks spanning over 5 states.

She also liked tweets extending support to Islamist Umar Khalid, the main conspirator of the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots.

Shaikh is also a fan of Zakir Naik.

Anti-Hindu tweets

Shaikh has also liked several anti-Hindu tweets.

She also liked a particularly insidious video where a child is heard talking about how going to the Temple only brings misery and poverty.

The video can be watched here:

Interestingly, she follows a troll account named ‘Rants&Roasts (@Sydusm)’ and engages with its vicious rhetorics.

OpIndia found a vile tweet by Parveen Shaikh, wherein she was seen suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a ‘dog’ (made crystal clear with terms such as ‘tommy’ and ‘fetch’) eager to retrieve a ball on the command of Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. And this was just the tip of the iceberg of disturbing social media behvaiour.

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

In a tweet posted in February 2022, the ‘educationist’ was seen claiming that the Indian Prime Minister loves ‘roleplaying’ after he wore a turban and addressed a large gathering of the Sikh community. “Why does he not join the film industry?” Parveen Shaikh had tweeted.

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

The Principal of The Somaiya School was seen insinuating that PM Modi is a ‘fraud’, ‘evil’ and enabler of ‘genocide.’

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

In a tweet posted in April 2021, she was seen calling the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister ‘modern-day firaun’ – an embodiment of ‘evil’ as per Islamic scriptures.

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

Parveen Shaikh was also seen endorsing the wearing of a Hijab in government schools, even though religious attire is not an essential practice and the uniform is a reasonable restriction on the Right to Freedom of Religion.

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

In a tweet posted in June 2022, Parveen Shaikh was seen claiming that Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan ‘sold his soul to the devil’. The latter had asked the Indian government not to entertain foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs.

Screengrab of the tweet by Parveen Shaikh

Besides abusing PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and nationalist journalists, Parveen Shaikh was seen endorsing the narrative of Gaza-based terror outfit Hamas.

Parveen Shaikh was also seen endorsing anti-Semitic tweets, making genocidal references to Jews and calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel.

Screengrab of the tweets liked by Parveen Shaikh

While Shaikh likes anti-Hindu tweets, she defends or obfuscates almost all criticism of radical Islam. The ‘educationist’ was seen engaging in whataboutery to dismiss genuine questions over the collective silence of the pro-Palestinian activists on the plight of women under the Taliban regime.

Screengrab of the tweet posted by Parveen Shaikh

There are several other worrisome tweets that Parveen Shaikh seems to have endorsed through her likes. She appears to be not just pro-Hamas but has also extended support to Indian Islamists. One has to wonder if The Somaiya School has a social media policy and the management monitors who they are recruiting to educate the children.

One defence in her favour could be that one usually says that ‘liking’ a tweet does not mean endorsement. However, as we have shown, Parveen Shaikh has ‘liked’ similar tweets for many years now. She has also responded to several such tweets which lend credence to the theory that she perhaps endorses all the tweets that she likes consistently. If she was using her ‘likes’ as a way to simply save tweets without endorsing them, she perhaps would not be ‘liking’ pro-Hamas, pro-Islamist, and anti-Hindu tweets consistently over the years.

OpIndia has written to Parveen Shaikh, seeking her response to her concerning social media activity and potential influence on vulnerable children. However, no response was received even after 24 hours. The article will be updated if she chooses to respond to our query.

Kerala police book Manorama for peddling fake news against EVMs: When will they book ‘liberal’ portals and commentators who peddled the same lie

Rukma Rathore
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Kerala police book Manorama for peddling fake news against EVMs: When will they book ‘liberal’ portals and commentators who peddled the same lie

A case has been registered by the Kerala police against online media platform Manorama for disseminating false information regarding poll workers and electronic voting machines ahead of polling for Lok Sabha elections in the state. The outlet reported a story claiming that electronic voting machines located in the capital district have malfunctioned, according to the case filed at the City Cybercrime station in Thiruvananthapuram. The report further claimed that there was a disagreement between lawmakers and election officials on the matter.

An official post by the Kerala Police read, “A case has been registered against an online channel for spreading fake news that electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in Thiruvananthapuram district were faulty and that there was a dispute between election officials and politicians. The FIR was registered at the Thiruvananthapuram City Cyber Crime Police Station. The action was taken on a complaint filed by the district collector seeking legal action. Following the legal action, the news was withdrawn from the online channel.”

It further added, “An FIR was registered at Thiruvalla police station in connection with the derogatory remarks against the chief electoral officer and the accused was traced and mobile phones seized. Strict action will be taken against those who spread misinformation and hate in society in connection with the general elections and those who are spreading propaganda in a way that insults womanhood. Cyber patrolling has been put in place around the clock to detect and take legal action against all kinds of cyber attacks.”

Notably, the same news was picked up by the leftist ecosystem and used to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party and further exploited to cast aspersions on the EVMs. The News Minute published a dubious report on 18th April with the title “VVPATs print extra slip with BJP lotus symbol during mock polls in Kerala” which is still accessible to the readers. The story was also tweeted by Dhanya Rajendran, the Editor-in-Chief of the communist propaganda website, from her official X (formerly Twitter) account.

Citing the same report, advocate Prashant Bhushan who now acts more like a hardline conspiracy theorist in his attempt to undermine the BJP, asked for 100% verification of the VVPAT slips during the Supreme Court hearing on 18th April. The Supreme Court then ordered the Election Commission to look into the situation. Judges Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta’s bench directed, “Mr Maninder Singh (ECI Counsel), please crosscheck it.”

Anticipatedly, there are no formal complaints against any of them. The News Minute hasn’t even bothered to remove the phoney report while spreading fake news with unabashed impunity. Similarly, Prashant Bhushan’s outrageous query was entertained by the apex court rather than facing consequences for distributing misleading information.

What was the claim

On 17th April, Onmanorama claimed that four Electronic Voting Machines in Kasaragod, Kerala, had mistakenly registered votes in favour of the BJP during a mock poll. The ludicrous accusations were submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) by CPIM leader M V Balakrishnan and the agent of Congress candidate Rajmohan Unnithan, Nasar Cherkalam. Furthermore, they wanted the “erring” voting devices to be replaced.

The article read, “Nasar Cherkalam said the BJP’s lotus was getting extra votes during the commissioning of the machines for the polling stations in Kasaragod Assembly Constituency. He also pointed out that the Congress’s ‘hand’ symbol was smaller than other symbols on the voting machines and asked the officials to change it. The officials tested 20 machines at a time. When all 10 options on the EVMs were pressed one time each, the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) gave two votes to the BJP in four machines. When the BJP’s lotus was not pressed, the same four erroneous VVPAT units gave one vote to the party, said Nasar Cherkalam.”

The allegations were then reproduced by other outlets like the News Minute.

Election Commission clarifies

“These news reports are false. We have verified the allegation from the district collector and it appears that they are false. We will submit a detailed report to the court,” countered Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas. Maninder Singh, the Election Commission’s counsel mentioned in the top court that over 118 crore votes have been cast in India since VVPATs were implemented. 4 crore VVPAT slips were tallied during this period, and the Commission only received 25 complaints, all of which were later resolved.

The reports claimed that the VVPATs were printing extra votes for BJP, while the fact is that during testing, first diagnostic slips were printed along with the first vote pressed. This extra slip didn’t contain any candidate’s name and symbol and is just a diagnostic slip to ensure that the printing function is working properly. But the media reports and opposition parties used it to spread the fake news of ‘extra slip for BJP’.

“Confusion was caused when it was alleged that during the mock poll conducted as part of the commissioning in Kasaragod constituency, additional VVPAT slips came out. The fact is that at the time of printing of test ballot slips after symbol loading, some machines were taken to the commissioning table without having taken the full print of VVPAT test slips. When the machine is restarted at the next commissioning table, the symbol of the first candidate was printed along with a standardization slip/first diagnostic slip which was supposed to be printed in the previous session,” declared Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul in Kerala. He emphasized that every electronic voting machine utilized in the state’s Lok Sabha elections is safe and error-free.

Bharat Electronics Ltd, which manufactures EVMs remarked, “The incomplete symbol loading which had happened in four VVPATs in Kasaragod could have occurred due to disconnection of the cable or by moving the VVPATs to the next stage before completion of prints.”

Opposition and its love-hate relationship with the EVMs

The Congress party and other opposition parties have a love-hate relationship with the electronic voting machine (EVM). While they are quick to criticize the machine when they fail to grab the seat of power, they don’t raise any questions when the machine counts the majority of votes in their favour and they win in Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh or any other state. It’s interesting that the Election Commission even dared them to demonstrate that electronic voting machines are flawed and susceptible to hacking, but predictably, they would rather trade rhetorical jabs than accept the challenge.

“We are in our 60s. We all know what happened when there were ballot papers; you may have, but we have not forgotten,” even the highest court came down heavily while hearing pleas seeking cross-verification of the votes cast with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and raised doubts about the petitioner’s claims about the feasibility of the physical counting of votes given the large population of India. The arguments made by attorney Prashant Bhushan to switch back to paper ballots for voting instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs) could not persuade the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta.

However, the opposition and their propagandists masquerading as journalists, lawyers and whatnot persist in their unrelenting assault on EVMs and their claims that the BJP is somehow manipulating the machines to win elections. They consistently devise the most ridiculous responses to support their charges, which only serves to embarrass them and repeat the never-ending loop with unwavering conviction.

Kerala will vote on 26th April and the results of the Lok Sabha election which started on 19th April will be out on 4th June.

Hamid Mir misinterprets Modi’s urban naxal as ‘Arab nasal’: A manifestation of Pakistan’s growing anxiety over India’s ties with Arab nations

Paurush Gupta
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Hamid Mir misinterprets Modi’s urban naxal as ‘Arab nasal’: A manifestation of Pakistan’s growing anxiety over India’s ties with Arab nations

During his election rally in Rajasthan’s Barmer, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the ‘Urban Naxal’ jibe while launching an attack on the Congress party, its election manifesto, and Rahul Gandhi’s promise of ‘Wealth Redistribution‘. While these remarks have intensified political developments in India, a video of leading Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir is circulating on the internet. In the video, he is seen misquoting PM Modi and claiming that he said ‘Arab Nasal’ and not ‘Urban Naxal’.

In the clip of his show which has now gone viral on social media and attracted widespread criticism, he can be heard attributing wrong words to PM Modi and coming up with a bizarre theory to create a wedge between India and Middle East countries. 

The recent incident started when PM Modi described the Congress as supporters of ‘Urban Naxals’ to slam the grand old party for advocating an ultra-leftist agenda of redistributing people’s property and wealth if it comes to power. It’s important to note that the term ‘Urban Naxal‘ was coined and is commonly used by the BJP, its allies, and non-leftist groups to refer to sympathisers, supporters, and collaborators of Naxalites who operate in “urban areas” such as the media, academia, and intelligentsia, as opposed to engaging in armed warfare in rural regions like Naxals.

However, in his show, Mir ‘comprehended’ the word ‘Urban Naxals’ as ‘Arab Nasl’ – which means Arab race. Further in the video, he peddled another blatant lie alleging that PM Modi described ‘Muslims as (Ghuspatiyas) illegal migrants’ which is far from the truth. PM Modi actually criticised Congress and the opposition for their lenient stance on illegal migration, regardless of religion.  

Nonetheless, Mir continued further by lamenting that several Arab nations have conferred their highest honours on PM Modi. While detractors of PM Modi, BJP, and radical Islamists around the world try to paint an anti-Muslim stance on the Indian government, the country’s diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern countries have deepened further. Incidentally, their erstwhile balanced or tilted relations with India viz-a-viz Pakistan have skewed further in India’s favour, prompting Pakistan to cry foul and peddle falsehoods to strain India-Middle East relations. 

Several netizens trolled Hamid Mir and questioned his competence as a political commentator regarding India’s political affairs, especially since he failed to recognize ‘Urban Naxals,’ a commonly used term in India’s political discourse. Some also criticised Pakistan, suggesting that such attempts are habitual for the country to remain ‘relevant’.

An X user wrote, “Pakistan making a desperate effort to stay relevant. Arab Nasal is exactly what the Muslims of the sub-continent are not. They have been told this multiple times but ‘maante hi nahi’ (they don’t understand).” 

However, some argued that the prominent political commentator, Hamid Mir, must have been aware of the term. They added that he deliberately misquoted PM Modi at the behest of ISI to propagate their false narrative regarding the Modi government’s alleged anti-Muslim stance and to damage India’s relations with the Middle East.

One X user tweeted, “Hamid Mir perhaps knew it but he plays in the hand of ISI, they hate Arab nations’ closeness with Modiji. While he gets conferred with the highest civilian awards, Pakistan doesn’t even get the alms from them. Hence, a deliberate ploy to spoil relations. Some Pakistanis masquerading as Arabs will quote-tweet him too.  Maybe a news in one of the pliant media houses there.”

India’s deepening relationship with Muslim-majority Arab nations is a source of nervousness for Pakistan

Far from acknowledging his mistake, Mir doubled down on what now appears like a deliberate misinterpretation of ‘Urban Naxal’ in a malicious bid to imperil India’s deepening relationship with the Arab countries. Since the last two decades, most notably in the last 10 years of the Modi government, India has moved remarkably in forging strategic, cultural, and business ties with the Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East. India has emerged as an important partner for the Gulf nations in a global order that is in flux, partly because of tensions between the US and China, the Russia-Ukraine war, and in the wake of a pandemic that brought the entire world to its knees. 

In such challenging times, India’s increasing capacity, economic growth, liberal business policies, and political leadership demonstrating a will to build key partnerships with like-minded countries in the Middle East have certainly rankled many in India’s neighbourhood, especially Pakistan, who see India’s rising global profile as a threat to its very existence. The fact that the Islamic countries have entered into a meaningful relationship with India has caused deep resentment among Pakistanis after their founding fathers, at the time of India’s partition, had pompously declared to build a country that would lead the Islamic world. 

Instead, Pakistan is almost a failed state and is teetering on the edge of an imminent financial collapse. The social structure of the country, too, has deeply suffered from the ongoing conflict and economic cataclysm, with terrorism spreading its roots like never before and sectarianism flourishing unchecked. The sorry state of Pakistan, with a growing India that has replaced Pakistan in forging bonds with Arab countries, has naturally engendered feelings of resentment among Pakistanis, including the likes of Hamid Mir, who are so viscerally jaundiced against India that they refuse to allow facts inform their convictions.

Despite being repeatedly informed that PM Modi uttered ‘Urban Naxal’ and not ‘Arab Nasal’, Mir has dug his heels in, refusing to acknowledge his mistake and doubling down on his misinterpretation. His obstinance, nevertheless, reflects the frustration and helplessness that an average Pakistani feels as the relationship between India and Muslim countries in the Gulf deepens, offering New Delhi greater strategic depth in a host of domains, including crude oil, Kashmir, and more. 

Congress is not new to inheritance tax, it had imposed the ‘death tax’ for over 3 decades before abolishing in 1985, P Chidambaram repeatedly suggested re-imposing it

Paurush Gupta
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Congress is not new to inheritance tax, it had imposed the ‘death tax’ for over 3 decades before abolishing in 1985, P Chidambaram repeatedly suggested re-imposing it

In a redux of his infamous ‘Hua to hua’ remark, the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor Sam Pitroda stroked a political firestorm after he suggested a US-like inheritance tax in India as a way to redistribute wealth. As per the Congress leader, under this tax regime, more than half of the Wealth of a citizen will be grabbed by the government once a person dies leaving only the remaining portion with their bereaved family. 

Hitting back at the controversial suggestion, PM Modi charged Congress with over-burdening Indians with taxes and rampant loot. He added that Congress’ motto is – Congress ki loot, Zindagi ke sath bhi, Zindagi ke bad bhi. Consequently, the widespread criticism and condemnation of the Inheritance tax plan forced Congress and Pitroda to distance themselves from the controversial idea. 

However, while Congress and its leaders have claimed that they have no such plan to impose an Inheritance tax, it becomes pertinent to note that previous Congress governments had imposed the Inheritance tax, called estate duty in India, for over three decades. Additionally, apart from Sam Pitroda who pitched the idea today, only to distance himself from it hours later, the UPA government was reportedly planning to re-introduce the failed policy measure nearly two-and-a-half decade after it was scrapped for ‘not achieving its intended goal’. Further, its senior leader P Chidambaram had also suggested imposing it through his articles as recently as March 2023. 

History of Inheritance Tax

Previously in India, there was a tax called Estate duty (colloquially called the Inheritance tax) which was imposed on assets or property that was transferred to legal heirs after the death of the property owner, irrespective of whether they were children or grandchildren of the deceased person. However, since 1985 when it was scrapped, Indians don’t have to pay any inheritance tax. 

Before it was scrapped, the tax system required executors of the deceased’s estate to pay a strikingly high “estate duty,” which could be as high as 85% of the value of inherited property in the highest slab, as per the Estate Duty Act of 1953.

The Congress government enacted the Estate Duty Act in 1953 claiming that it wanted to address economic inequality by introducing the estate duty tax. This tax system was progressive in nature meaning that the rate of tax imposed would get higher as the slab of the property value rose. However, the tax rates increased drastically and realtors were charged up to 85 percent for estates valued over Rs 20 lakh. It applied to both immovable and movable properties, regardless of their location, that were inherited by successors upon an individual’s death.

While the assets passed on to legal heirs could be seen as gifts since they were received without any payment, no gift tax was applied. This was because the Income-tax Act of 1961 excluded inherited assets or those received through a will from the definition of gifts.

To prevent tax avoidance, the law included measures against actions like giving gifts just before death or within two years prior. The estate duty law faced widespread criticism as it was too complicated, and led to more lawsuits and administrative costs.

Furthermore, there were concerns about double taxation as assets were subject to taxation twice: first, through wealth tax during the property owner’s lifetime (which was abolished by the Modi government in FY 2016 and onwards), and then through estate duty upon their demise. Additionally, estate duty collections were drastically less than the Congress government expected due to issues such as asset concealment and ownership of benami properties.

However, in 1985, the Rajiv Gandhi govt abolished it as it was believed that the tax had not achieved its intended goal of creating a more equitable society and reducing wealth disparity.

Act repealed just before the transfer of Indira Gandhi’s estate

Notably, the law was repealed just before the execution of Indira Gandhi’s will, transferring her estate to her grandchildren Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi. The former prime minister had left her entire estate, valued at about $175,000, to her three grandchildren. In the will signed in 1981, Indira Gandhi had appointed her son Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi as executors of the will. The will was published after Rajiv Gandhi presented it at a court to certify it.

The will was published on 2 May 1985 and then executed after Rajiv Gandhi govt abolished the Estate Duty Act in his first budget, with effect from 1 April 1985. A report from 2 May 1985 said, “Under a finance bill that took effect April 1, all death duties in India have been abolished and no inheritance tax will be assessed on the Gandhi estate.”

Interestingly, the report used the term ‘death duty’, signifying that inheritance tax is basically a death tax, where people have to pay tax for dying.

UPA government had mulled about re-introducing the failed policy measure for years

As per media reports from mid-2011, the then Home Minister P Chidambaram had pitched for higher taxes on luxury products and “imposing inheritance tax”. According to media reports, Chidambaram had expressed these views at the full Planning Commission meeting headed by the then PM Manmohan Singh, alluding to the fact that the UPA government was mulling re-introducing this contentious tax system. During the UPA era, the Planning Commission headed by PM Singh was responsible for deciding the policies for the country.  

(Snippet from Media report from May 2011 when the UPA government mulled about imposing an Inheritance tax)

The then HM Chidambaram was quoted saying, “We are really underestimating our capacity to raise resources, especially tax resources. Since non-plan expenditure is difficult to contain, the tax-GDP ratio must be raised, especially by taxing conspicuous consumption and imposing inheritance tax”. Media reports back then had reported that his remarks might pave the path for the (re-)introduction of inheritance tax in India in the future.

However, this was not a one-off incident where the UPA government strongly mulled about imposing an Inheritance Tax again. Evidently, in November 2012, the media reported that then FM P Chidambaram had called for a debate on the need for an inheritance tax in India.

(Snippets from November 2012 media report)

In February 2013, an official statement said that during pre-budget consultations, the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram held discussions with ‘some economists’ who recommended the implementation of a death tax, also known as an inheritance tax.

Post-2014, senior Congress leader and Former UPA Minister, Chidambaram had written extensively on multiple occasions suggesting that an Inheritance tax should be imposed on Indians.  

Notably, in April 2022, he wrote an article in the Indian Express (Archived link). In the article, he criticised the Modi government for lowering Corporate tax, abolishing Wealth tax, and not contemplating the Inheritance tax. He lamented, “Wealth tax had been abolished and an inheritance tax was not even contemplated.” 

(Excerpt from the Indian Express Article written by Congress leader P Chidambaram)

Similarly, in his article in the Indian Express in March 2023 (Archived Link), while talking about ‘Redistribution of Wealth’, he lamented that the government has kept agricultural income outside the tax net and didn’t impose an inheritance tax. 

(Excerpt from the Indian Express Article written by Congress leader P Chidambaram)

He expressed disappointment stating, “There is, in practical terms, no wealth tax. There is no inheritance tax. Agricultural income is outside the tax net. Gifts to relatives are not taxable. Consequently, wealthy individuals find it easy to redistribute their wealth and income among close family members.”  

Teacher recruitment scam: West Bengal govt moves SC challenging HC order cancelling over 23,000 recruitments

ANI
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Teacher recruitment scam: West Bengal govt moves SC challenging HC order cancelling over 23,000 recruitments

The West Bengal Government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court decision that declared the entire panel of 2016 School Service Commission teachers’ recruitment null and void, cancelling all appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff.

“Vide the Impugned Order, the High Court, based oral submissions, without any affidavit on record, has proceeded to in a cursory manner, direction to cancel all appointments of teachers and non-teaching staff, in utter disregard to the fact that the same will lead to a huge vacuum in the State Schools, unless new selection process is completed by the SSC, especially when the new academic sessions is on its brim, leading to the students being adversely impacted,” the petition, moved by West Bengal Govt, said.

The plea was filed through advocate on record Astha Sharma. The plea said that Calcutta HC decision to set aside the selection process affects nearly 23,123 teaching and non-teaching staff in the State of West Bengal.

The High Court had directed the persons who had been appointed outside the panel, after expiry of the panel as also those who submitted blank OMR sheets but obtained appointments, must return all remunerations and benefits received by them to the State exchequer along with interest calculated at 12 percent per annum.

“The High Court failed to appreciate the ramification of cancelling the entire selection process leading to straightaway termination of 23,123 teaching and non-teaching staff from service with immediate effect, without giving sufficient time to the Petitioner State to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a stand-still. That even though as per the CBI enquiry report and the affidavit by the SSC irregularity in appointments were only found for 4,327 teachers and non-teaching staff, the Impugned Order on its own wisdom strikes at the legal and valid selections of 23,123 teachers, which was not found to be riddled with any anomaly as per the chargesheet filed by CBI concluding the investigation,” the petition said.

West Bengal govt said that the High Court further mechanically directed that the SSC shall undertake a fresh selection process in respect of the declared vacancies involved in these selection processes preferably within a fortnight from the date of declaration of results of the ensuing elections, without considering that, till the aforesaid process is completely by the SSC and actual appointments are made pursuant thereto, the Schools in the Petitioner State will be seriously understaffed which will severely affect the students in such schools.

“In an unfortunate turn of events, the issue pertaining to the creation of the conditional supernumerary posts was not raised before the High Court, and at no stage was the state govt called upon to respond to the allegations, either before the Single Judge, Division Bench or the Special Bench which passed the Impugned Order. This lack of opportunity being granted to the petitioners not only vitiates the principles of natural justice, where the petitioners are being condemned without placing their stand on record, but further transgresses the issues which the high court was seized upon to adjudicate and further disregards the proceedings pending before the Supreme Court where the very issue arises and has been stayed by this Court,” WB Govt said.

This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

I.N.D.I. Alliance discussing ‘1 year PM post’ for each big leader if they manage to defeat Modi: Report

OpIndia Staff
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I.N.D.I. Alliance discussing ‘1 year PM post’ for each big leader if they manage to defeat Modi: Report

The I.N.D.I Alliance never managed to declare a PM face before the election and the leadership of the alliance was always under question as to who would be the PM of the country if the motley coalition of Opposition political parties managed to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

As per a report in ANI, it has been discussed among the top leaders of the I.N.D.I. Alliance partners that if they manage to defeat the BJP and somehow win a majority of the seats, they would choose leaders among them to hold the PM post for 1 year each, so that no major partner of the alliance gets upset.

ANI quoted sources privy to the top-level negotiations ongoing among the I.N.D.I. Alliance partners, saying that a ‘one year each’ formula may be decided upon in the eventuality of victory, so none of the top leaders of the largest parties are left out.

The I.N.D.I. Alliance partners could never finalise a seat-sharing formula either, in most Indian states, not just their PM face. Mamata Banerjee got upset with the Congress and left the alliance, and has TMC candidates contesting all 42 seats in Bengal. Similarly, CPM’s Annie Raja is challenging Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad, and in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti has also left the I.N.D.I. Alliance.

However, the sources cited by the ANI report further mentioned that the current differences and upsets can be easily forgotten if the I.N.D.I. Alliance secures a majority in the Lok Sabha elections.

“Everything is being discussed threadbare. We have to start our ground game now. The country cannot have a situation where the I.N.D.I. Alliance is not sure of who will lead the country in the case of a post-BJP scenario”, the sources said.

In defence of Islamists and Khalistanis: How US State Dept’s Human Rights report on India whitewashed Umar Khalid, Kappan, Nijjar and others

Anurag
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In defence of Islamists and Khalistanis: How US State Dept’s Human Rights report on India whitewashed Umar Khalid, Kappan, Nijjar and others

On 22nd April, the United States State Department released Country Reports on Human Rights Practices including India. The summary of the report talked about the violence in Manipur between 3rd May and 15th November. However, the detailed report has several aspects that need to be discussed specifically where the US State Department conveniently supported the likes of Umar Khalid, Atiq Ahmed, Siddique Kappan and others without devaluing into details why they were jailed.

The arrest of Umar Khalid

The Human Rights Practices report described Umar Khalid as a “student and human rights activist”. As the report was written before Khalid withdrew his bail plea from the Supreme Court, the last update in the report mentioned that his bail was adjourned till January 2024. The report claimed, “His bail hearing was repeatedly delayed since his arrest in 2020 under the UAPA. International and local activists demanded Khalid’s release, noting he had been arbitrarily detained without trial since 2020.” The report, however, failed to mention that seven out of fourteen adjournments in the Supreme Court were sought by Khalid’s counsel. Furthermore, as he has withdrawn his plea from the Supreme Court, the matter was listed at the Sessions Court and the matter is subjudice. Also, as the bail plea is under consideration, the trial in the matters he was booked is getting delayed.

Coming to Umar Khalid’s history, it has to be noted that he is the son of a former banned terrorist organisation SIMI, which his counsel forgot to tell the court. Furthermore, Khalid was booked in the larger conspiracy leading to the anti-Hindu Delhi Riots of 2020. During the bail hearing, the Public Prosecutor categorically told the court that Khalid has a habit of creating narratives in media and online. The prosecutor presented evidence as WhatsApp chats with several celebrities, media houses and activists where Khalid sent them links to share on social media and they obliged.

Furthermore, the prosecutor pointed out that while Khalid is in jail, several media houses and activists are running campaigns to set a narrative in his favour in media and on social media to affect the judicial proceedings. Interestingly, the US State Department has done the same thing amid his ongoing bail plea.

Accusations against George Soros presented as ‘antisemitism’

In a bizarre move, the report represented accusations against George Soros as ‘antisemitism’. It is a known fact that billionaire George Soros is anti-India and funds media houses, NGOs and other organisations to target Indians, BJP and Hindu leaders. 

The Human Rights Practices report read, “Government officials made public statements and released social media posts alleging certain opposition political party figures and diaspora leaders were connected to George Soros, playing on an antisemitic conspiracy theory of an “all-controlling Jewish individual” who was influencing events in the country. On October 6, the BJP’s official X account posted an edited image depicting Rahul Gandhi being controlled by Soros.” 

This statement in the report is not only factually incorrect but shows how less the US knows about India and its internal affairs. Or the case may be the opposite and the US is trying to create differences between the Jewish community and India. Soros is no one’s friend, especially since he is NOT India’s friend. He has to be treated as a threat to the country without referring to his religion. On the other hand, India has always supported the Jewish community. India stood tall with Israel after the horrific terror attack by Hamas on 7th October. Just because India, Indians and Indian leaders talked about India’s interests and raised questions over George Soros’s intentions against India, that does not mean there is antisemitism in the country.

The murder of Atiq Ahmed

The Human Rights Practices report described Atiq Ahmed as a “convicted prisoner and former parliamentarian from the Samajwadi Party accused of being a mobster”. Atiq Ahmed was not just a mobster. He was a former gangster with 102 cases filed against him including those of threats, murder attempts and kidnapping. The gangster act was brought against him a total of three times. Even while incarcerated in different jails in Uttar Pradesh, he held meetings and ran his criminal empire. The initial complaint was filed against him in 1979. Not only Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, who was mentioned in the report, had 52 cases including planning the conspiracy leading to the murder of Umesh Pal and the murder of Raju Pal.

Arrest of Siddique Kappan and Atikur Rahman

The report described Siddique Kappan as a “Kerala-based journalist” It talked about how he was detained while going to Hathras, Uttar Pradesh to cover the alleged gang rape of a Dalit woman in 2020. “Kappan and Rahman, both Muslims, were arrested and charged with sedition and provisions under the UAPA for allegedly promoting religious enmity between different groups,” the report read.

Siddique Kappan was arrested by the UP Police on October 5, 2020, when he was proceeding to ‘cover’ the Hathras case where a 19-year-old Dalit woman had died. He was arrested along with three other persons, under stringent sections of UAPA and sedition charges for attempting to create a caste conflict in the state amidst the Hathras case controversy.

Apart from Kappan, Siddiqui of Nagla in Muzaffarnagar, Masood Ahmed of Jarwal in Bahraich district, and Alam of Kotwali area in Rampur district were arrested. All the four arrested four had connections with the radical organization Popular Front of India (PFI) and were planning to cause caste-based unrest in the state, the police had stated.

The government in the Supreme Court had stated that Siddique Kappan was an office-bearer of the now-banned Islamist organization Popular Front of India(PFI) and was on his way to Hathras pretending to be a newspaper journalist from a Kerala-based outlet called ‘Tejas’ that was closed in 2018.

Nowhere does the Human Rights Practices report mention how Kappan was connected to a banned terrorist organisation. Furthermore, it completely ignored the fact that reportedly Kappan directed the PFI hit squad to kill BJP leader Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Verma for foiling PFI attempts during the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots. According to a report published on March 19, 2024, by a local Malayalam media outlet Janmabhumi, Siddique Kappan, infuriated by the BJP leader’s efforts that thwarted PFI members’ attempts to target Hindus during the 2020 anti-Hindu riots in Delhi, reportedly ordered the now arrested Popular Front of India (PFI) Hit Squad Commander Kamal KP, a native of Malappuram, to kill Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Verma. The order was given during a meeting held at the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) controlled Green Valley Academy at Manjery in Kerala’s Malappuram district in September 2020. Detailed OpIndia’s report on the matter can be seen here. 

On 22nd April, the United States State Department released Country Reports on Human Rights Practices including India. The summary of the report talked about the violence in Manipur between 3rd May and 15th November. However, the detailed report has several aspects that need to be discussed specifically where the US State Department conveniently supported the likes of Umar Khalid, Atiq Ahmed, Siddique Kappan and others without devaluing into details why they were jailed.

Murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar

The Human Rights Practices report uses Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder to propagate that the Indian Government engaged in transnational repression. It read, “On September 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government was investigating allegations of a link between Indian government agents and the killing of a Sikh Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom the Indian government alleged and designated as a terrorist, and who advocated for the creation of an independent Sikh state called Khalistan. The Indian government denied any involvement.”

It is essential to note that while Trudeau accused India of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the country failed to produce any credible evidence of the same. Furthermore, Canada is a known safe haven for terrorists, Nazis, gangsters and criminals. Canada honoured a war criminal in its House of Commons in the presence of the Prime Minister! Canadian government apologised and the speaker resigned after the backlash.

India has been seeking extradition of several criminals who took shelter in Canada but the Canadian authorities failed to provide any assistance. India even sought the extradition of Nijjar multiple times. Notably, Nijjar entered Canada on a fake passport disguised as a Hindu. His citizenship was denied multiple times but for some reason, it was granted a few years before he was killed probably in a gang war. India has categorically denied any involvement in any such actions on the foreign land. OpIndia’s detailed reports on Hardeep Singh Nijjar can be seen here.

Accounts of IAMC and HfHR withheld in India

The Human Rights Practices report further used the Government of India’s decision to block accounts of organisations like Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) and the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) on X as examples of transnational repression. The report did mention the reason for the association of HfHR with Soros but in a very questionable tone as if the Indian government “conspired” against these organisations as they were “working to advance human rights and religious freedom”.

OpIndia has detailed reports on both organisations and how they work against India. The Indian Americal Muslim Council has links [pdf] 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 Jamat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group. In the past, it had reportedly collaborated with and even paid money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom). IAMC had been caught spreading fake news and misinformation to further the Islamist cause in India. It had also been slapped with the UAPA in 2021.

OSINT handle ‘Disinfo Lab’ had earlier informed that the HfHR was actively promoting the misleading narrative of ‘Hindu Vs Hindutva’. The same organisation was also seen endorsing the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference. As per Disinfo Lab, HfHR was formed in the year 2019 by Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and the Organization for Minorities of India (OFMI).

Interestingly, the three organisations had formed another outfit called the Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA). As per an article in The Hindu, the Alliance for Justice and Accountability had been at the forefront of leading demonstrations against the visit of PM Modi to Houston on September 22, 2019. Sunita Vishwanath, the co-founder of ‘Hindus for Human Rights’ had also tried to create hysteria and panic among Indian Muslims about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2019. She is also the co-founder of an organisation named ‘Women for Afghan Women’, which is funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF)/ Open Society Institute (OSI).

In July 2023, BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani questioned Rahul Gandhi for his alleged connections to IAMC’s president Tazeem Ansari and said Ansari has connections with Jamaat-e-Islami. “Even in Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka, the Global Vice President of the Open Society Foundation funded by George Soros was found accompanying Rahul Gandhi. What is extremely distressing is the link with the Islamic Circle of North America. Those in the public domain who will research how the registration process for NRI interaction with Rahul Gandhi in New York ensued will find the contact of Tazeem Ansari – he has an organisational link with Jamaat-e-Islami,” Irani said. 

Demolition of illegal houses in Nuh following anti-Hindu violence

The Human Rights Practices report mentioned that there were “communal clashes” between Hindus and Muslims in Haryana on 31st July and 1st August. After the “clashes” local authorities demolished houses in “a Muslim-majority district, claiming homes were used by perpetrators of communal violence and were built illegally on government land”. The demolition was stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As the report talks about human rights, let’s discuss the Nuh violence. On 31st July, Hindus, under the banner of Vishva Hindu Parishad, were scheduled to take out a Shobha Yatra or procession in Nuh, Rajasthan. Islamists attacked Hindus in the temple, in the city and anywhere they could find a Hindu. Shops were burnt down, bullets were fired, stone pelting took place and several devotees and police personnel lost their lives or sustained serious injuries. Islamist mobsters not only attacked innocent, unarmed Hindus but also slit the throat of one of the devotees identified as Abhishek. US State Department’s report on Human Rights FORGOT that Hindus HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS too. Our detailed coverage of Nuh violence can be checked here.

The World Press Freedom Index report by Reporters Without Borders

The Human Rights Practices report also mentioned the World Press Freedom Index 2023 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to state that “press freedom is in crisis in the world’s largest democracy.” Interestingly, in May 2023, OpIndia explained how the Press Freedom rating of India at 161 out of 187 was faulty. RSF released its annual Press Freedom Report, in which it put India at 161st position out of 180 countries. As per RSF, India slipped 11 ranks in 2022. Interestingly, according to RSF, Pakistan’s press freedom index has improved. From 157th rank in 2022, Pakistan has acquired the 150th position in the list. The same goes for Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, which got its rank improved from 156 to 152.

One of the most bizarre points RSF put in its report is about the money the government of India spends on advertisements. RSF claimed the central government is spending more than 130 billion rupees (Rs 13,000 crores) or 5 billion euros a year on ads in the print and online media alone.

OpIndia had filed an RTI seeking information on the ad spent by the central government on different platforms, including print, outdoor advertisements, social media, radio and television. As per the reply sent by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India, the actual figures are nowhere close to what RSF has claimed.

According to the reply sent by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the central government spent only Rs 26.44 crore on television ads and only 1.33 crore on social media ads in the financial year 2022-23. Notably, ad spending has decreased significantly since the Modi government came to power in 2014. The maximum amount the government has spent on television ads was Rs 280.77 crores in FY 2016-17.

Throughout its report on India, RSF made several claims that were nowhere close to reality. RSF claimed Reliance Industries Group led by Mukesh Ambani owns more than 70 media outlets. They also pointed out good relations between Ambani and PM Modi. The claim does not stand strong as it is based on a 2019 statement by Mukesh Ambani where he had said Reliance Industries owned 72 television channels, which includes all genres of channels and not just news channels, with around 800 million viewers.

This includes News18 branded TV news platforms like CNN Worldwide, CNN-News18, CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN, CNBC Awaaz and more. Other than news channels, it also includes an entertainment portfolio under Viacom18 Media which is the parent company of 50 channels. All these are entertainment channels and do not have any “media outlets” as mentioned by RSF. Reliance’s Jio platform is also a source of news for its subscribers but that is more of an aggregator rather than owner of the channels or media outlet.

RSF used data from different years to claim that 1/3 of COVID-19-related deaths of media personnel were from India. RSF linked a report of Dhaka Tribune from June 2021 that noted 1,500 media persons died of Covid worldwide. Dhaka Tribune used data from the Press Emblem Campaign.

RSF claimed the Indian government misbehaved and unlawfully arrested media persons who covered farmer protests. Interestingly, they mentioned the time when Twitter handles of media persons were suspended for sharing fake news about violence. They included the case of The Wire’s Siddharth Varadarajan was booked for reporting the death of a protester. Not to forget, even after repeated clarification from the Police and the doctor who did an autopsy of the deceased, Varadarajan continued to share fake reports about the death of the protester. It must be noted that The Wire was forced to remove multiple reports related to Tek Fog and Meta as they were based on false evidence. This report of RSF was published in 2021 and appeared in the 2023 ranking.

They also mentioned the arrest of so-called journalist Siddique Kappan who was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for allegedly plans to instigate the public during the Hathras case in 2020. Details revolving around Kappan can be read here. RSF also linked a report where it extended its support to propaganda journalist Rana Ayyub. Notably, Ayyub is known for making false claims on international platforms. She is accused of financial fraud. The case against her is sub-judice. Recently, she downplayed gangster Atiq Ahmed’s crimes at a UNESCO event.

The raids on BBC

The Human Rights Practices report also mentioned the Income Tax Department’s raid on BBC. The report claimed it took place after the screening of a controversial documentary falsely accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having a role in the 2002 Gujarat Riots when he was Chief Minister of the state. Notably, the Supreme Court has already given a clean chit to PM Modi in the matter. Despite the court orders giving a clean chit to PM Modi, BBC went ahead and released the documentary and then claimed suppression of media after the Government acted to ban the documentary in India. 

In short, the Human Rights Practices report by the US State Department is no less than a witchhunt against India. Several cases were mentioned without context and represented as if India was losing its status as a democratic country.

Is Congress eyeing to snatch the inherited properties of only Hindus? Read how the party has promised they will never touch Muslim personal laws

Amit Kelkar
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Is Congress eyeing to snatch the inherited properties of only Hindus? Read how the party has promised they will never touch Muslim personal laws

Even as Congress finds itself cornered over its ill-conceived wealth redistribution scheme, popularised by senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, another controversy has erupted after the Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor, Sam Pitroda, suggested that a US-like inheritance tax should be brought in India.

Pitroda while explaining the inheritance tax claimed that in the US, 55% of the wealth is grabbed by the government when a person dies and the rest goes to the family, suggesting that Congress can bring a similar policy under its wealth redistribution promise.

“In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has $100 million worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45% to his children, 55% is grabbed by the government. That’s an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair. In India, you don’t have that. If somebody is worth 10 billion and he dies, his children get 10 billion and the public gets nothing…,” Pitroda said on Wednesday.

“So these are the kinds of issues people will have to debate and discuss. I don’t know what the conclusion would be at the end of the day but when we talk about redistributing wealth, we are talking about new policies and new programs that are in the interest of the people and not in the interest of super-rich only,” he added.

Pitroda’s statements instantly went viral, with several social media users and politicians, including those from the BJP, criticising the Congress party for what they consider to be a larger part of the ‘wealth redistribution’ scheme Rahul Gandhi has been vigorously advocating in his numerous public rallies. 

In the face of severe backlash and its potential ramifications on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress distanced itself from Sam Pitroda’s comments on inheritance tax. Pitroda himself, too, back-pedalled from his stand, claiming that he had used inheritance tax only as an example during his conversation on TV and that his comments were twisted “out of context” by Godi media—a pejorative term that left-leaning supporters and ‘intellectuals’ use for media organisations that confront them with uncomfortable questions.

Congress party’s historical stance on inheritance tax

While the Congress party and Sam Pitroda would have us believe that his statements on inheritance tax were just off-the-cuff remarks, history tells us that Congress had long been toying with the idea of imposing taxes on inheritance. 

In 2012, the then Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, urged for a discussion on the necessity of implementing an inheritance tax in India, questioning whether enough focus has been given to the concentration of wealth among a select few. 

Speaking at the Dr Raja J. Chelliah Memorial Lecture hosted by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), Chidambaram emphasised the importance of addressing the issue of wealth accumulation in the hands of a minority. 

“Have we neglected the growing concentration of wealth in a few hands? I remain cautious about broaching the topic of intergenerational fairness and thus, the implementation of an inheritance tax,” the Finance Minister stated, encouraging institutions like NIPFP to engage in a thorough debate on the matter.

A year before that, in 2011, P Chidambaram had floated the idea of imposing an inheritance tax as a part of the government’s attempt to raise the tax-GDP ratio. 

Therefore, to claim Pitroda’s views on inheritance tax are his personal opinion is nothing but an attempt to brush aside the harsh reality that the Congress party had been actively mulling over introducing inheritance tax as early as 2011, three years before Modi came to power in 2014. 

Though the financial ramifications of such a tax, considered in isolation, cannot be overstated, what makes it even more dangerous is the Congress party’s historical stand on other issues that have the potential of causing grave social implications for the country. Congress has long opposed the Universal Civil Code and passionately championed the Muslim Personal Law. The Muslim Personal Law governs among other things inheritance-related matters for Muslims in India.

The Muslim Personal Law Board was established under Indira Gandhi’s leadership, which went directly against the letter of Article 44 of the Constitution, which demanded a uniform civil code. And since then, the Congress on various occasions has quite eloquently extended its support to the Muslim Personal Law Board, often citing secular principles of the country when its critics pointed out the irony of its existence in a secular republic. The party has staunchly opposed any suggestions put forth over the implementation of the UCC in the country and has been a vociferous defender of personal laws. 

In fact, in the 2024 election manifesto or Nyay Patra, as the Congress leaders call it, the party has promised “freedom for personal laws”, meaning minorities can have their own laws to govern their communities. The inclusion of freedom of personal laws attracted fierce criticism, with many criticising Congress as a political party that has extended its support to Sharia Law in India.

Congress party’s past stand on inheritance tax and support for Muslim Personal Laws indicate they are eyeing Hindu properties only

Taken together, it offers a grim outlook. On one hand, Congress leaders are rooting for the imposition of an inheritance tax in India while on the other, the party has made it clear it won’t touch personal laws, including Muslim personal law, which governs all the Muslims in India. According to the Muslim Personal Law, inheritance received by a Muslim falls directly under its purview, and they are alone the competent authority to govern it.  

This, in essence, would mean that if inheritance tax is introduced in the country before the passage of the UCC Bill, Hindus will stand to lose their inherited property and assets to the government, while it will have no impact on the Muslims as they fall under the ambit of the Muslim Personal Law. 

Is the Congress party aiming to seize inherited property and assets from Hindus while allowing Muslims to retain them? Judging by their past stance on inheritance tax and the longstanding support for Muslim Personal Law, which governs inheritance-related matters for Muslims, it does indicate that Congress is considering appropriating only Hindu properties and assets, which could then be used to fund Rahul Gandhi’s “redistribution” project among minority groups.

Sheikh Shahjahan seen crying in custody: Sandeshkhali criminal in tears during court appearance, BJP mocks saying ‘swag has disappeared’

OpIndia Staff
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Sheikh Shahjahan seen crying in custody: Sandeshkhali criminal in tears during court appearance, BJP mocks saying ‘swag has disappeared’

Former All India Trinamool Congress (AITC or TMC) goon Sheikh Shahjahan broke down while meeting his family from inside a police vehicle following a court appearance in Basirhat Sub-Divisional Court on 23rd April. The Sandeshkhali strongman was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days in connection with sexual assault and land grab cases against him.

Central Bureau of Investigation officials in Basirhat produced him in front of a local court where he spotted his wife, daughter and supporters through the window of the van as he was leaving and started crying. He reportedly told his family to “pray to Allah” and the scene was captured on camera as he wiped his tears. He is currently being held at Kolkata’s Presidency Jail after being transported there from Basirhat.

Notably, the footage showed how the present state of affairs contrasted sharply with the time the TMC leader strolled proudly as cops followed him after his initial arrest. The stark difference was also pointed out by Bharatiya Janata Party IT cell chief Amit Malviya who took to social media to mock the man and warned that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee won’t be able to protect anyone “when the law catches up to them.”

He stated, “The swag has disappeared. Mamata Banerjee’s poster boy, rapist Sheikh Shahjahan is weeping like an inconsolable child. Criminal Anubroto Mondal is in jail. This is the fate that awaits the likes of Saokat Mollah, Jehangir Khan and others, who have unleashed a reign of terror across Bengal. No one will come to save them when the law catches up. Not Mamata Banerjee for sure. She couldn’t even save her ministers. The clock is ticking.”

Sheikh Shahajahan enjoyed strong patronage in the TMC and rose to the status of ‘Betaj Badshah‘ from a mere truck driver and has engaged in various illegal activities since 2006 including the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party members. However, as a precautionary measure against potential legal action, he has consistently surrounded himself with influential individuals. He grabbed national headlines after he perpetrated an attack on Enforcement Directorate officials on 5th January this year.

Sandeshkhali Horror

Hundreds of women from Sandeshkhali staged a protest on 8th February this year, over the land grab, unpaid wages and sexual harassment committed by Sheikh Shahjahan and his two assistants, Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar. The women stormed the premises that he had unlawfully acquired and destroyed Shiba Prasad Hazra’s chicken farm. Additionally, they encircled the Sandeshkali police station and made demands for the trio’s quick arrest. The village experienced three days of unrest.

The cops watched in silence as the TMC thugs retaliated. The police themselves mistreated the women in multiple instances. It had been revealed that the party leaders had been abusing the locals sexually for a considerable amount of time. The TMC leadership expelled Uttam Sardar from the party for six years in an effort to appease the irate Sandeshkhali residents. On 10th February, the suspended TMC leader and Zilla Parishad member was subsequently taken into custody in the vicinity of the Sandeshkhali police station.

TMC politician Shibu Prasad Hazra was apprehended by the police on 17th February for allegedly stealing land and abusing women in Sandeshkhali. The main offender, Sheikh Shahjahan, who had been at large for 55 days was eventually taken into custody by the authorities on 29th February 29 in Minakhan, North 24 Parganas district following widespread protests and the involvement of the Calcutta High Court. The TMC administration had initially refused to hand him over to the Central Bureau of Investigation but was forced to comply after the high court intervened.

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