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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann in panic mode as State has only four months left to utilise ₹8,000 crore out of ₹11,000 crore granted by Centre

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann in panic mode as State has only four months left to utilise ₹8,000 crore out of ₹11,000 crore granted by Centre

On Wednesday (December 6), Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asked the administrative officials how they propose to prevent the unused funds to the tune of ₹8000 crores allocated to the state from lapsing. It is worth noting that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has only utilised Rs 3000 crores out of ₹11000 crore worth of grants made by the centre to various departments in the current fiscal year. The state govt has been unable to spend the balance ₹8000 crore so far.

CM Mann held a meeting at his residence with the administrative secretaries of all departments. According to an Indian Express report, the chief minister questioned how the authorities planned to avoid ₹8,000 crore from being turned back to the Centre.

The report said that the secretaries informed CM Mann that they would be able to use the funds within the next four months of the current fiscal year since tenders for the majority of the works had already been opened and that, in many cases, work was already underway.

“He asked the secretaries to pull up their socks and expedite projects where this money is to be spent. The meeting was called by the CM to push the secretaries to utilise the grants as soon as possible,” IE quoted a source as saying.

The secretaries told the CM that they were not getting central funds under several schemes. The officials also reiterated that with the Centre not yet clearing the Rural Development Fee (RDF), the repair work of rural roads, damaged by the floods, was badly hampered.

The health department conveyed that the grants meant for health schemes were also being stopped by the Centre due to the state government calling its health centres as Aam Aadmi Clinics. It is worth noting that Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh also made similar assertions last month saying that the Centre has withheld Rs 621 crores as part of the National Health Mission funds to the state. He claimed that the centre is not releasing funds since the state government has named its ‘Mohalla Clinics’ as Aadmi Clinics.

The centre, however, had said that the AAP government’s actions were a violation of the branding norms regarding the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (Ab-HWCs) scheme. It is also worth noting that the AB-HWC is formulated with a 60:40 contribution ratio by the Centre and the State.

Reportedly, CM Bhagwant Mann has summoned another meeting for Thursday to discuss with the secretaries about the funds that have been withheld by the Centre. It is said that the Punjab chief minister will now prepare a strategy on how to obtain such funds from the Centre. Notably, the Punjab government has already petitioned the Supreme Court against the Centre’s refusal to give Rural Development Fund (RDF) amounting to Rs 5,637 crore. On one hand, the Punjab government is locking horns with the Centre over funds on the other it has around Rs 8000 crore of centre allocated funds unutilised.

Kerala: Hadiya’s father approaches HC fearing his daughter, who converted to Islam to marry a PFI Islamist, is detained by her husband

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Hadiya’s father approaches HC fearing his daughter, who converted to Islam to marry a PFI Islamist, is detained by her husband

On Friday (8th October), Hadiya’s father, KM Asokan, whose marriage to a Muslim man and conversion to Islam caused a national uproar, petitioned the Kerala High Court, claiming that his daughter is being unlawfully detained by her husband, Shafin Jahan, and some of his associates.

In his plea, Asokan stated that the Homeo clinic Hadiya was running had closed and that he had been unable to contact her over the phone for the previous month.

In order to present Hadiya in court, he has thus requested the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. “Whenever the petitioner called the detenu for the last month, the detenu has not received any calls and on many occasions, the mobile phone was switched off.

On 3rd December, the petitioner went to the clinic and found it was closed. The neighbours told the petitioner that they didn’t know about the same. Now the petitioner apprehends that she has been moved to the illegally custody of the place and control of the respondents 3 and 4. Now the detenu is in the illegal custody of the persons under collusion and connivance of the 4th and 6th respondent. So the detenu is to be released at the earliest,” the petition said.

The petition may initiate the second phase of Hadiya legal proceedings, which began in 2017. The initial controversy erupted five years prior. Hadiya, originally named Akhila, is a 31-year-old Keralan woman who converted to Islam and then got married to a Muslim, Shafin Jahan. Shafin Jahan was an active member of the PFI-affiliated Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Asokan has previously petitioned the High Court with a similar habeas corpus plea.

Asokan filed a similar habeas corpus petition with the Kerala High Court in 2016, claiming that Jahan had unlawfully detained her. In 2018, the Kerala High Court Division Bench’s ruling that had dissolved Hadiya and Shafin Jahan’s marriage was overturned by the Supreme Court, allowing Hadiya to live with her husband.

Asokan asserts that his daughter opened a homoeo clinic following her marriage to Shafin Jahan, having earned a Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine & Surgery (BHMS).

The clinic was close to A S Sainaba of Malappuram, Sathyasarani Educational and Charitable Trust, and Markazul Hidaya. Asokan used to call his daughter and occasionally visit the clinic because he was worried about her well-being.

Hadiya recently told her mother that she was no longer in a relationship with Shafin Jahan and didn’t know where he was when Asokan’s wife asked for their daughter to go with her.

Asokan hasn’t been able to get in touch with his daughter for the last month because she constantly turns off her phone. When he visited the clinic on December 3, he found it closed and that Hadiya’s whereabouts were unknown to the neighbours. Asokan now worries that his daughter is being held against her will by people connected to Shafin Jahan and Sainaba, and he believes there may have been collusion and complicity in this.

Asokan has expressed worries about his daughter’s safety, claiming that the people keeping her might be associated with the banned terrorist organization, the Popular Front of India. Representing the petitioner, Advocate C Rajendran asked the court to order Hadiya’s production in order to obtain her release.

Recently, during the release of the Bollywood movie named ‘The Kerala Story’, it had come to the fore that Hadiya had remarried a man from Thiruvananthapuram. However, she had not disclosed his identity fearing media publicity. According to CASA( Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action) it was PFI workers who initiated the remarriage and allowed Hadiya to move away from Jahan’s life.

Those who do not know history should not say certain things: Himanta Biswa Sarma after Kapil Sibal claimed that Assam was part of Myanmar

OpIndia Staff
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Those who do not know history should not say certain things: Himanta Biswa Sarma after Kapil Sibal claimed that Assam was part of Myanmar

Senior Supreme Court advocate Kapil Sibal has sparked a controversy by claiming that Assam was originally part of Myanmar. He made the comment yesterday, 7th September, in Supreme Court while opposing petitions challenging Section 6A of the Citizenship Act. A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 provides a different cut-off date for immigrants to be considered illegal immigrants. As per this, all foreigners who entered Assam on or before 25th March 1971 will be granted Indian citizenship, against the cut-off date of 19th July 1949 for the rest of the country.

While arguing against the petitions, Kapil Sibal said that history of Assam is complicated as it was part of Myanmar which was later handed over to the British. Sibal also claimed that migration to Assam can’t be mapped, as ‘no migration can ever be mapped’.

He said, “If you look at the history of Assam, it is impossible to figure out who came when. Assam originally was a part of Myanmar, and it was way back in 1824 after the British conquered a part of it. A treaty was entered into and that is how Assam was handed over to the British.

Kapil Sibal added, “you can now imagine the amount of movement of people that took place in the context of the then British empire. And if you jump to 1905, you will have partition of Bengal, under which East Bengal and Assam became one and Bengali language was being taught in schools where there was large scale opposition. The interaction and absorption of Bengali population in Assam has a historical context.”

However, while it is true that the British had clubbed Assam with East Bengal after dividing Bengal, which was revoked later, Assam was never a part of Myanmar ‘originally’, as Kapil Sibal submitted in the Supreme Court. Myanmar occupied Assam for a brief period of time, before handing over the territory to British India in 1826.

Burmese army had invaded the Ahom kingdom in Assam several times between 1817 and 1826, and at that time Assam was not under British India at that time. During the last part in that period, the Burmese army occupied Assam for a few months. However, as the Burmese Army reached the India’s borders, the British government decided to prevent escalation of any danger to the empire.

This led to the first Anglo-Burmese war from March 1824 to February 1826, which the British won. Signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marked the end of the war, under which Myanmar ceded control of Assam and Manipur to British government, along with Rakhine (Arakan), and the Taninthayi regions. This is how Assam and Manipur became part of British India.

Myanmar controlled Assam and Manipur during the war, during a very volatile situation, a period marked horrific atrocities by Burmese army on civilians. But this does not mean that Assam was ‘originally a part of Myanmar’. Assam, previously known as Pragjyotishpur and Kamrup, is being ruled by local rulers for thousands of years, and the state, along neighbouring states, are part of the greater Indian culture from pre-historic times.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma slammed Kapil Sibal for the comments, saying that if he does not know Buranji (history), he should not talk about it.

When asked about the comment, the CM said, ‘Those who do not have any knowledge of history should not speak some things. Assam was never a part of Myanmar, during Ahom regime people of Myanmar had a clash with Assam, and Assam was occupied by Myanmar for around one to one and a half month. I have not seen data showing that Assam was part of Myanmar at any time’.

Assam minister Pijush Hazarika said that Kapil Sibal has been poorly briefed, responding to the comments made in the Supreme Court. He said that Sibal presented a “left liberal view that tends to alienate North East by conjuring such theories.”

“At no point of Assam’s history, we were part of Myanmar. From times of Mahabharat & before, we have firmly been an integral part of Bharatvarsh,” Hazarika said.

This was not the only controversial statement the former Congress leader made in the court. He also said during his submission that people have fundamental right to move to one country to another. None other than the Chief Justice of India countered him saying that it is not correct, and there is no such fundamental right.

CJI D Y Chandrachud said that there is right to move within the country, not across countries. The CJI also reminded him that this right is not available to non-Indians.

‘Souls of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping’: The Left ecosystem suffer a meltdown after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha

OpIndia Staff
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‘Souls of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping’: The Left ecosystem suffer a meltdown after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha

TMC’s Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Lok Sabha after the Ethics Committee tabled its report on her corruption and bribery. She was expelled after the tabled report was debated and a vote was sought from MPs. Soon after Mahua Moitra’s expulsion, the left-liberal ecosystem in politics and media started reacting with tears and rants. From BSP MP Danish Ali saying Gandhi must be weeping to so-called neutral journalists getting goosebumps, every reaction from this clout represented the meltdown they had after the action against the now-former TMC MP.

Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali said, “What is this? The dignity of the parliament house was breached on the night of 21st September when Ramesh Bidhuri abused me. Soul of Gandhi and Ambedkar must be weeping today.”

TMC MP Saugata Roy said, “A sitting member (Moitra) was expelled from Parliament without being given a chance to defend herself. All principles of natural justice were clouted. BJP by animal majority voted a member out just because she spoke about industrialist Adani and his relations with Prime Minister Modi.”

TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “They tried to suppress the voice of opposition. Would not you listen to the one who is accused of so many severe allegations? This never happens. Parties of the I.N.D.I. alliance came together against this decision. It is a huge day for us.”

Following the expulsion, Mahua Moitra, known for her tedious and boorish monologues in the parliament, launched another noisy rant outside the Parliament as an ex-MP. Speaking to the media with Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi standing behind her, Mahua Moitra screamed that there was no evidence of any cash or any gifts being taken by her.

She even brazened out sharing her login credentials with Darshan Hiranandani, stating that there is no rule specified against sharing login credentials. She then shouted that an MP sharing her credentials with a businessman so that he could pose questions targeted at his rival business entity is not wrong, because MPs are there to raise questions on behalf of the public anyway.

Resharing the video of her rant on X, Arfa Khanum Sherwani quoted her sentences and said that she got goosebumps to see Mahua Moitra speak like that. Sherwani posted, “I am 49 years old. I will fight you for the next 30 years. Inside the parliament, and outside on the streets. We are going to come back and we are going to see the end of you. Goosebumps!”

Saba Naqvi posted from her X handle, “Without due process and being given a chance to defend herself Mahua Moitra is expelled. Shameful.”

Notably, Mahua Moitra was given a fair opportunity to present her side in front of the ethics committee of the parliament. However, the left-liberal ecosystem kept spreading the lie that she was denied a chance to defend herself. This is because Mahua Moitra reportedly requested to speak on behalf of her party during the discussion after the report of the committee was tabled in the house, but she was denied.

India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai posted from his X handle, “So a 104-page ethics committee report is tabled in Mahua Moitra case at noon; at 2 pm, a ‘debate’ is scheduled within two hours of the report being tabled. An hour later, the TMC MP is formally expelled by voice vote without being given a chance to speak or any of the MPs having even a chance to read the report in any detail and respond. No cross-examination of key witness Darshan Hiranandani. Natural justice anyone? When the issue is as serious as the expulsion of an MP, surely there is a need for a fair hearing and due process, no? Think.”

Earlier today, the Ethics Committee report probing ‘Unethical Conduct’ of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra in the “cash for query” case that was tabled in the Lok Sabha recommended that Moitra “may be expelled” from the Lok Sabha and called for an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the central government in a “time-bound manner”. 

Moitra is facing a CBI inquiry over serious allegations of corruption, and bribery where she has herself admitted that she had given her login credentials to businessman Darshan Hiranandani to pose questions on her behalf, questions that were related to Hiranandani’s business interests and were targeted to his rival Adani Group. Hiranandani has admitted to paying cash, lavish gifts to Moitra, and having access to her Lok Sabha login credentials.

Palanpur, Gujarat: Mehndi Hussain kidnaps 15-year-old Hindu girl, rapes her after taking to different locations

OpIndia Staff
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Palanpur, Gujarat: Mehndi Hussain kidnaps 15-year-old Hindu girl, rapes her after taking to different locations

Cases of atrocities on Hindu minor girls have been on the rise in Gujarat for some time now. In another such case, a Hindu minor girl was raped in Palanpur, Gujarat by accused Mehndi Hussain, who runs a driving business. On Monday (4th December), he abducted the 15-year-old victim in a car and took her to different cities and raped her. In this case, the victim’s mother lodged a police complaint and the police have registered charges under relevant sections of POCSO Act and initiated action.

According to reports, the victim is a resident of Garh Panthak in Palanpur. Hailing from a very poor family, she was helping her family financially by working in a catering service where she served food. During this time, she came in contact with the accused Mehndi Hussain Jamusha Fakir. On 4th December 2023, Mehndi Hussain lured her and abducted her in his car.

Mehndi Hussain picked up the girl in his car on the pretext of getting her new clothes. After this, he took her to different cities like Ahmedabad, Morbi and Junagadh. During this time, he raped the 15-year-old girl multiple times. Mehndi Hussain dropped the girl near her house on 7th December and went absconding.

When the mother of this minor girl came to know about the incident, she complained about the accused at the Garh police station. OpIndia contacted the Garh police station in Palanpur for further details on the matter. The officer on duty said, “The age of the Hindu minor girl is just 15 years, 11 months, and 26 days. Based on the complaint lodged by her mother, the police have registered a case under sections 363,366,376(3), 376(2)(L) of the IPC and POCSO. The accused is currently absconding and will be arrested very soon.” CPI Deesa is further probing the case.

System at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty is evil: Rabbi quits the institution’s antisemitism board

OpIndia Staff
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System at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty is evil: Rabbi quits the institution’s antisemitism board

On 7th December, prominent rabbi David Wolpe announced his resignation from the Harvard antisemitic board following the “painfully inadequate testimony” provided by the university’s president Dr. Claudine Gay on Capitol Hill. He informed about the decision through a long social media post on 8th December in which he stated, “As of today I have resigned from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard. Without rehashing all of the obvious reasons that have been endlessly adumbrated online, and with great respect for the members of the committee, the short explanation is that both events on campus and the painfully inadequate testimony reinforced the idea that I cannot make the sort of difference I had hoped.”

He made further observations and mentioned, “Still, there are several points worth making. I believe Claudine Gay to be both a kind and thoughtful person. Most of the students here wish only to get an education and a job, not prosecute ideological agendas, and there are many, many honourable, thoughtful and good people at the institution. Harvard is still a repository of extraordinary minds and important research.”

The rabbi denounced the antisemitic mindset festering inside the world-renowned academic institution which “belittles or denies the Jewish experience.” He pointed out, “However, the system at Harvard along with the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty, the ideology that works only along axes of oppression and places Jews as oppressors and therefore intrinsically evil, is itself evil. Ignoring Jewish suffering is evil. Belittling or denying the Jewish experience, including unspeakable atrocities is a vast and continuing catastrophe. Denying Israel the self-determination as a Jewish nation accorded unthinkingly to others is endemic and evil.”

David Wolpe added, “Battling that combination of ideologies is the work of more than a committee or a single university. It is not going to be changed by hiring or firing a single person, posting on X, or yelling at people who don’t post as you wish when you wish, as though posting is the summation of one’s moral character. This is the task of educating a generation, and also a vast unlearning. Part of the problem is a simple herd mentality, people screaming slogans whose meaning and implication they know nothing of, or not wishing to be disliked by taking an unpopular position. Some of it is the desire to achieve social status by being the sole or greatest victim. Some of it is simple, old-fashioned Jew-hatred, that ugly arrow in the quiver of dark hearts for millennia.”

He also referred to the Miracle of Hanukkah and wrote, “In this generation, outside of Israel, we are called to be Maccabees of a different order. We do not fight the actual battle but we search for the cruse of oil left behind. Remember the oil was to last one night, but lasted eight which means there were seven nights of miracle. But of course, the first night was the greatest miracle because the motivation to light the initial candle, to ensure the continuity and vitality of tradition in each generation, that is the supreme miracle.”  

“Dispute but also create. Build the institutions you value, don’t merely attack those you denigrate. We are at a moment when the toxicity of intellectual slovenliness has been laid bare for all to see. Time to kindle the first candle. Create that miracle for us and all of Israel,” he highlighted while encouraging the Harvard students.

The first hearing on “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism” took place in the United Nations Washington DC, on 5th December (local time). Congresswoman Elise Stefanik questioned the presidents of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard and UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) about the growing number of antisemitic incidents on their campuses during the session.

According to their codes of conduct, Presidents Elizabeth Magill of UPenn, Sally Kornbluth of MIT and Claudine Gay of Harvard University declined to denounce the calls for the annihilation of Jews made on their campuses as bullying or harassment. The legislator pressed the university presidents again to respond with a simple “yes” or “no” to the question of whether advocating for the extermination of Jews would be against the university’s anti-bullying and harassment policies. However, they replied with reluctance and ambiguity as well as continuously stressed that it depended on the context which attracted widespread criticism after which they issued clarifications.

Claudine Gay claimed, “There are some who have confused a right to free expression with the idea that Harvard will condone calls for violence against Jewish students. Let me be clear: Calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community, or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.”

The Harvard president’s statement on the varsity’s social media profile was interestingly community-checked with a note that conveyed, “While under oath before Congress, the President of Harvard stated that condemning antisemitism and calls for genocide of Jews ‘depends on the context’ as opposed to being simply wrong.”

High priest to lead the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is a descendant of priest who presided over the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

OpIndia Staff
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High priest to lead the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is a descendant of priest who presided over the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

86-year-old Vedic scholar Laxmikant Mathuranath Dixit is expected to preside over the consecration ritual of the Ram Lalla idol at the Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January, marking a landmark confluence of heritage and modern relevance. He is a Varanasi native and reportedly descended from the distinguished Kashi scholar Gaga Bhatt of the 17th century who headed the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj around 350 years ago in 1674, which was a momentous occasion in Indian history that represented the creation of Hindavi Swarajya, an autonomous Maratha state.

More than 40 scholars from Kashi and 121 from all branches of the Vedas throughout India are scheduled to be guided by him during the solemn idol consecration ceremonies from January 16 to January 22. The learned man responded, “It is because of the blessings bestowed on me by the legendary saints and seers of Kashi that I have been assigned the responsibility of supervising the consecration of Ram Lalla. I will perform my duties with the blessings of Lord Ram,” in an interview.

The scholar’s son, Sunil Laxmikant Dixit stated that his father’s areas of expertise included yajna, consecration, Srauta which is a Sanskrit word rooted in Sruti or that which is heard and Smarta which is based on Smriti, a particular collection of Hindu literature among other rites and rituals. “My father’s study of the Vedas and rituals was under the supervision of his uncle Ganesh Dixit Javji Bhatt. He completed his studies in Shukla Yajurveda at Sangved Vidyalaya and took up teaching in the same institution.

Mathuranath Dixit proclaimed, “Our roots are in Jeur village near Solapur in Maharashtra. Our ancestors moved to Kashi and dedicated their lives to the study of Hindu traditions and rituals.”

Laxmikant Mathuranath Dixit and other priests are conducting a series of religious ceremonies as part of the meticulous preparation of the consecration procedures which are scheduled to begin on 16 January. These customs which culminate on 22 January when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to carry out the rites commemorating the consecration of the Ram Lalla idol include Sarva Prayashchit homam, Dashvid Snan, Jalyatra, Tirth and Kalash Pujan as well as Kalash Yatra.

Three idols of Ram Lalla are being made in Ayodhya, and the religious committee of the temple trust is tasked with picking the finest among them. The idols of Lord Ram are believed to be almost finished and are 90% concluded. The idols depict the diety’s child form. One idol is made with stone from Rajasthan and two are made from stones brought from Karnataka, the finishing touches will require around a week. Earlier, a stone was brought from Nepal, and later stones were also brought from Odisha and Maharashtra to carve the idol, but those were found not suitable. The sanctum sanctorum and the temple’s ground floor are already in a highly developed state of preparedness.

Among the several ceremonies leading up to the consecration, one of the main ones on 21 January is the immersion of the idol of Ram Lalla in water from sacred rivers and well-known Hindu pilgrimage destinations which is collected in 114 urns. On 22 January in the afternoon, there will be Devpranpratishtha (consecration) rites. The idol will be brought from 8 a.m. to noon to the sanctum sanctorum. Pran-Pratishtha of Ram Lalla will be observed on 16 January and the principal rituals will be performed on 22 January by Lakshmikant Dixit.

After visiting the Vice President of Vishva Hindu Parishad Champat Rai in September, the Kanchi Kamakoti Shankaracharya despatched a team of scholars, including Laxmikant Mathuranath Dixit and Acharya Ganesh Shastri Dravid to Ayodhya to determine the dates of consecration.

Notable individuals who have been invited to the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple include actors Arun Govil and Dipika Chikhlia who played Lord Ram and Goddess Sita in the hit TV series ‘Ramayana,’ industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Ratan Tata, cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan among other actors.

Over 7,000 guests comprising 3,000 VIPs have received invites from the Ram Mandir Trust. There will also be an invitation sent to the families of the karsevaks who lost their lives in the temple movement. Further invitees consist of 4,000 seers, writers, journalists, scientists, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) president Mohan Bhagwat, yoga guru Ramdev and esteemed figures from all around the nation.

After expulsion from Lok Sabha, Mahua Moitra gets back to screaming, repeats ‘Bh*dwa, Kat*a’ rant, says will fight BJP even in the gutter

OpIndia Staff
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After expulsion from Lok Sabha, Mahua Moitra gets back to screaming, repeats ‘Bh*dwa, Kat*a’ rant, says will fight BJP even in the gutter

TMC’s Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Lok Sabha after the Ethics Committee tabled its report on her corruption and bribery. She was expelled after the tabled report was debated and a vote was sought from MPs. After Moitra’s expulsion by the Lok Sabha, Opposition leaders, including Congress MPs, staged a walkout.

Following the expulsion, Mahua Moitra, known for her noisy rants in the parliament, launched another noisy rant outside the Parliament as an ex-MP.

Speaking to the media with Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi standing behind her, Mahua Moitra screamed that there was no evidence of any cash or any gifts being taken by her. She even brazened out sharing her login credentials with Darshan Hiranandani, stating that there is no rule specified against sharing login credentials. She then shouted that an MP sharing her credentials with a businessman so that he could pose questions targeted on his rival business entity is not wrong, because MPs are there to raise questions on behalf of the public anyway.

Moitra then claimed that she was thrown out of the Lok Sabha because the Modi government wanted to hush up the ‘Adani issue’. Repeating her allegations against the Adani Group, she said that they have ignored the ‘13,000 crore coal scam’ but have chosen to harass a single woman MP.

Mahua then claimed that Adani is buying all ports and airports of the country, but the government is only focusing on throwing her out of the Lok Sabha.

Moitra then brought up Ramesh Bidhuri calling Samajwadi MP Danish Ali ‘K*twa and Bh*dwa’, and claimed that it was persecution of minorities.

Mahua stated that she will keep fighting the Modi government. She then quoted lines from the National Anthem and said that the BJP doesn’t have Punjab, Sindh, Dravida, Utkala, and Banga. She added that she would fight the Modi government even in the gutter.

It was interesting to see that Mahua Moitra was shouting at the top of her voice before dozens of journalists, having her statement telecast live all over the country, but was screaming that the Modi government is ‘shutting her up’.

US: New Mexico State sues Meta after probe finds Facebook promoting sexual content to minors, recommending handles of predators

OpIndia Staff
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US: New Mexico State sues Meta after probe finds Facebook promoting sexual content to minors, recommending handles of predators

The Southwestern State of New Mexico in the United States has filed a civil lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday (5th December), reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

An investigation conducted by the office of New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez found that sexual content is being recommended to minors on both Facebook and Instagram. It also discovered that accounts of underage users are being promoted to child sexual predators.

The civil lawsuit read, “Meta has allowed Facebook and Instagram to become a marketplace for predators in search of children upon whom to prey.” The office of the New Mexico attorney general pointed out that Meta prioritised its advertising revenue and thus left minor users vulnerable to abuse.

It squarely blamed Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg for aggravating risks to children using Facebook and Instagram. As per the report by The Wall Street Journal, the New Mexico attorney general’s office set up Facebook and Instagram test accounts for 4 ‘fictional children’.

And it used ‘adult birth dates’ for some of the accounts to mimic the behaviour of some underage users. One of the accounts was named ‘Issa Bee’. An AI-generated photograph of a child was used as the Display Picture (DP). The birth year was registered as 2002.

The account was used to create posts about ‘losing her baby tooth’ and ‘experiencing the first day of 7th grade.’ The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office noticed that Meta began recommending sex content to the account.

It also received explicit messages and pictures of genitalia from other users at least 3-4 times per week on the messenger app. Potential sexual predators also sent invite requests to the account to join private chat groups and watch sexual content involving children and adults.

Similarly, other test accounts created by Raúl Torrez’s office saw Meta recommending a handle, posting adult pornography, despite the age of the user being marked as 13 years old.

The civil lawsuit pointed out that underage users who showed interest in sexual content on Facebook were approached on the platform by sexual predators. Interestingly, the test accounts were allowed to join dating groups on Facebook without the need for age verification.

The Office of the Attorney General found that those groups were often administered by adults. It highlighted how the ‘minor’ test accounts were inundated with follower requests from adults, who also solicited sex in exchanged for money.

This is contrary to the claims by Meta that it prevents ‘malicious’ adults from contacting children. One of the minor accounts that joined a ‘job seeking group’ was approached by a man requesting participation in child pornography for a specific price.

There were also attempts by sexual predators to convince the minor users to join prostitution. Despite flagging the sexually inappropriate content through Meta’s reporting systems, the tech giant reviewed the content and declared that it was ‘acceptable.’

In the lawsuit, the Office of the New Mexico attorney general pointed out criminal cases in the State where sexual predators used Meta Platforms to groom and recruit 100s of underage victims for human trafficking.

While speaking about the civil lawsuit, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez told WSJ, “The features of the platform itself are not engineered in a way to prevent this matchmaking from likely predators and likely victims…“I incorrectly assumed, like a lot of parents, that a big, well-funded company like Meta would not have allowed itself to become an alternative venue for that activity.”

Response of Meta on the lawsuit

In a statement, Meta said, “We use sophisticated technology, hire child safety experts, report content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators.”

Earlier in a Facebook post on 6th October, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg had vowed to protect kids using the platform.

“I’m particularly focused on the questions raised about our work with kids. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the kinds of experiences I want my kids and others to have online, and it’s very important to me that everything we build is safe and good for kids,” he had said then.

In June this year, Meta claimed to have created a child-safety task forced to crack down on pedophilic accounts on Instagram. According to an investigation conducted by WSJ, the number of users and groups trading child pornography has increased on Meta’s platforms.

In its defence, the social media giant has claimed to have removed 16000 Facebook groups in this regard. Earlier in October 2023, a total of 41 US States filed a lawsuit against Meta for misleading the public about the dangers of its platforms for the youth.

Left parties not running inter-faith marriage bureaus: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan after cleric accuses communists of helping Muslim women marry Hindu men

OpIndia Staff
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Left parties not running inter-faith marriage bureaus: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan after cleric accuses communists of helping Muslim women marry Hindu men

On 7th December, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared that no one could prevent a young man and woman from getting married if they decided to do so out of love for each other regardless of their caste or religious beliefs. His statement came in light of the accusation made by a popular Islamic leader Nasar Faizy Koodathai that the ruling Left party in the southern state was promoting inter-faith marraiges.

According to the chief minister, parents on both sides or in both families have always rejected these kinds of unions however that hasn’t stopped them. He stated that the SFI (Students Federation of India) which is the student wing of the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and the DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India) which is the Left party’s youth outfit were not acting as “inter-caste marriage bureaus.”

He asserted, “Such changes are happening in the state in accordance with the times and no organisation or the government is doing anything to bring about these changes. If a young man and woman like each other and decide to get married, no one in the world can prevent that. If someone thinks they can prevent it, they need to realise it is not possible,” while responding to the queries regarding the charges levelled by the Islamic scholar.

Reverse Love Jihad: Controversial statement made by the Islamic leader

On 6th December at the community meeting in Kozhikode, Nasar Faizy Koodathai, secretary of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham which is the youth wing of the powerful Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama held CPI-M responsible for the promotion of interfaith marriages among the Muslim women. He claimed that the party along with its youth and student divisions are supporting the ‘abduction and marriage off to non-Muslims’ of Muslim girls. He cautioned his community to ‘beware’ of these kinds of instances and advised them to be on the lookout for the party’s ‘tactics with the label of secularism.’

He alleged, “Some people believe that marriages between Muslim and Hindu communities are secularism. They are widely promoting interfaith marriages. Even the party leaders are supporting this and party offices are being used for this. Young Muslim women are being ‘abducted’ with the support of SFI, DYFI and CPM and married off to non-Muslims. Mahallu committees should be vigilant against those trying to destroy the identity of Muslim women, and they should join hands to fight the denouncement of religion.” Interestingly, the Islamic outfit is associated with the Indian Union Muslim League, a political ally of the Kerala Congress.

This is the first time a prominent Muslim figure connected to the powerful group of Sunni Muslim clerics has spoken out against interfaith unions in a state. Kerala is particularly infamous for multiple Love Jihad occurrences against Hindu women. Muslims have been exposed by Hindus repeatedly for engaging in the abhorrent practice. The Catholic organisations there have also voiced grievances on numerous occasions regarding incidences of love jihad in which Christian females are singled out, seduced and eventually converted to Islam.

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