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‘Will explode the schools if they don’t convert to Islam’: Fifteen schools in Bengaluru get bomb threat, police dismiss it as ‘hoax message’

OpIndia Staff
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‘Will explode the schools if they don’t convert to Islam’: Fifteen schools in Bengaluru get bomb threat, police dismiss it as ‘hoax message’

Pandemonium erupted across the compounds of at least 15 schools scattered throughout Bengaluru as administrative staff members received emails warning of explosive devices planted within their institutions, capable of detonating at any moment. Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda stated that numerous anti-sabotage teams meticulously combed through the school premises and discovered no signs of any suspicious objects.

“At present, it appears to be a hoax message. We will conclude the search operation shortly. Nevertheless, we urge parents not to panic,” he remarked, further noting, “Similar emails were sent by miscreants to numerous schools in the city last year as well,” stated the top cop.

A sense of anxiety swept over numerous parents, teachers, and guardians. Some schools relocated students to nearby playgrounds or secure locations, while a few others requested parents or guardians to promptly retrieve their children.

The police, accompanied by the bomb disposal squad, hurried to the schools and initiated search operations. According to sources, the email, purportedly sent by a terrorist organization, issued a threat to detonate explosives in the schools unless they converted to Islam.

Bengaluru Bomb Text

Times Now reported the content of the email received by Bengaluru schools. The threat email is reproduced verbatim below:-

“There are explosive devices on the school grounds 

On November 26 martyrs in the way of Allah killed hundreds of idolaters

It is truly powerful to hold a knife over tens of millions of thin gulps of kafirs He falls and falls

Hundreds of Mujahideen flooded the war area in anticipation of martyrdom in the way of Allah You are the enemies of Allah we will kill you and your children

You have a choice to become our slaves or to accept the true religion of Allah Temples

Your idols

From Buddha to infinity

They will fly apart from our explosions

Bismillah, we will spread the true religion of Allah to the whole of India

And we sent predators at you

Already flying to immerse yourself in the Taj

Bismillah tomorrow it will become the capital and thousands of Zionists all over the world dead

Convert to Islam or die under the weight of the sword of Islam

When you meet with non-believers, you chop off their heads

Chop off their heads and chop off all their fingers

Fight all the polytheists just as they fight all of you

Allahu Akbar”

Karnataka Dy CM DK Shivakumar and LoP R. Ashok visit schools to reassure parents

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition R. Ashok visited the schools to reassure parents and pledged to take stringent action. This marks the second occurrence of schools receiving such a hoax mail. Home Minister G. Parameshwara also vowed strict measures against the perpetrators, stating, “We have implemented all precautionary measures, and parents should not be alarmed. The cybercrime police are actively working to trace the culprits through their IP addresses.”

Meanwhile, several schools that did not receive any threat emails have also dismissed children from classes due to the concerns expressed by anxious parents.

Past instances of Bengaluru schools receiving bomb threats

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that panic has gripped Bengaluru schools over alleged bomb threats. Earlier this year, in January 2023, the Karnataka police informed that the National Academy for Learning (NAFL) in Bengaluru had received a bomb threat over email. It was later revealed that the email was sent by a minor boy who studied in a different school and issued a fake bomb threat ‘fun’.

In this case, the police took the minor boy from school and handed him over to the State Juvenile Justice Board. According to police, the boy was identified using the IP address used to send the threat email, and when questioned, he stated that he did it for fun. He told police that he obtained the school’s official email address through a Google search.

In April 2022, the city was rocked with a similar case of fake bomb threats made to schools, touching off panic and anxiety among nervous parents. Though the threats were hoaxes, the Bengaluru police had registered a case under the Information Technology (IT) Act 66 (F).

The police had then said that they were treating the case extremely seriously as it created panic and hysteria among the school administrations, students, parents and general citizenry, despite disrupting educational activities.

Uttar Pradesh: RSS workers face attack while traveling to Mathura for an institute’s opening ceremony, six arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: RSS workers face attack while traveling to Mathura for an institute’s opening ceremony, six arrested

A group of bikers ambushed a bus carrying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Karyakartas (workers) on their way to the Deen Dayal Cow Science Research and Training Center inaugural ceremony in Mathura startling the passengers, reported the Organiser. Stones were thrown at the bus by the assailants first who then proceeded to target the RSS workers both physically and verbally on 27 December.

The situation became more heated and turned into a full-fledged fight after some young men arrived brandishing sticks and rods. Several people are still at large, however, police have managed to arrest six accused after the incident. On the night of the instance, bikers started hurling stones at the bus carrying the members from RSS who were travelling towards Mathura from a nearby post office.

The bikers verbally abused the RSS workers and forced the vehicle to halt when they arrived at the Mandi Committee. Shortly afterwards, a mob was assembled and many of them were holding sticks and rods after which a fight ensued between them and the people inside the four-wheeler. The latter then called the authorities and six of the persons engaged in the altercation were apprehended by the police when they arrived at the area in response to the distress call.

As it turned out, the attack was planned under the false impression that the RSS bus was transporting guests for a wedding celebration. According to Station Officer Sanjay Tomar, an Islamnagar resident who had been assaulted at a wedding in Pakbara earlier that year told his family about the incident. The attackers believed that the perpetrators behind the instance were in the vehicle which was going to Noorpur. They confused the RSS bus for a wedding party bus and commenced the assault, as reported by Organiser.

Sanjay Tomar further revealed that RSS District Head Udayveer Tyagi has lodged a case against the head of Pipila village, along with his brother and nephew and alleged their involvement in the assault. The charges are being filed under different legal sections based on the complaint and efforts are being made to capture the remaining individuals who fled the scene.

Although the specifics are still pending confirmation, the nabbed offenders would be subject to legal actions throughout the ongoing inquiries and initiatives are undertaken to arrest the fugitives.

From introducing IPC 295a to Sharia in NIT Srinagar: Indicative list of how perennially outraged Islamists have their halal-certified cake and eat it too

OpIndia Staff
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From introducing IPC 295a to Sharia in NIT Srinagar: Indicative list of how perennially outraged Islamists have their halal-certified cake and eat it too

The life of Prathamesh Shinde, a 4th year engineering student studying at NIT Srinagar, took a drastic turn on Tuesday (28th November). A mob of frenzied Islamists accused Shinde of committing ‘blasphemy’, carried out large demonstrations and chanted murderous slogans against him.

Chants of ‘Sarr Tan se Juda (STSJ)’, ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Naara e Takbeer’ reverberated across various institutes in Kashmir. Contrary to the claims made by the Islamist mob, Shinde did not make any remarks that could be deemed ‘insulting’ even by Islamists.

The student from Maharashtra had merely shared a video of Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas terrorist Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who was seen criticising Prophet Muhammad and Islam. Hamas has killed 1400 Israeli civilians so far, which resulted in a large-scale Israel-Hamas war.

Although the remarks were not made by Prathamesh Shinde, Islamists latched onto the fact that he shared the video on his Instagram story. They, of course, did not have the temerity to speak against Mosab Hassan Yousef, knowing well that his criticism could not be done bereft of his identity as the son of a Hamas terrorist.

As such, the victim of this lynch mob became a Hindu boy from Maharashtra. The Islamists took to the streets in protest of ‘blasphemy’ and coerced the State machinery into submission. The college administration rusticated Prathamesh Shinde from NIT Srinagar for one year.

The police too gave in to the ‘Islamist street veto’ and booked the 4th year engineering under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riots).

Islamists, who took to the streets to make the allegations of blasphemy, openly called for killing Prathamesh Shinde.

“Our Prophet Our Honor…Our love for the Prophet is our Faith…Any dishonour to him is a call for your murder. Do you think you can live peacefully after committing blasphemy,” a radical Muslim remarked.

“Look here…We are ready to sever your head from the rest of your body,” he announced without any fear of law. Shinde has been the recipient of numerous threats from Islamists, baying for his blood. However, no action has been taken against the Islamists.

Exercising the power of ‘street veto’ and subsequent success

This is in line with a tried and tested model of taking the State hostage using violence as the ransom. With their innate ability to mobilise in large numbers in the name of religion, Islamists have been able to mould laws to their advantage.

A helpless State apparatus thus finds itself at the crossroads between ‘law and order’ and ‘vote bank politics.’ More times than not, it gives in to the might of Islamist street veto in a shameless display of political opportunism, which renders the common people vulnerable to attacks from lynch mobs.

The case of Prathamesh Shinde is no different. The stringent action taken by the college administration and the police subsequently against the engineering student clearly shows that the Islamist street veto has yet again reigned supreme.

This was despite the fact that Prathamesh Shinde did not make any remarks against any religion on his own accord and had merely shared a video on his Instagram story. The high-handedness of the State and NIT Srinagar has added to the false impression that the Hindu man is complicit in ‘blasphemy.’

They have necessarily thrown him to the wolves, fearing an overreaction from fanatic Muslims. The circumstances have now left Shinde and his family at the mercy of Islamists, who do not shy away from violence, murders and destruction.

India’s political history is replete with examples where Islamist mobs have not only elicited inaction from local governments but successfully forced their writ on Central governments. The result has been favourable to upholding Sharia laws in a ‘constitutionally secular’ country.

1. Section 295A in the Indian Penal Code

The first substantial achievement for Islamists came with the inclusion of Section 295A in the Indian Penal Code, which deals with deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs.

The genealogy of Section 295A has its roots in 1927 when a book called ‘Rangeela Rasool’ was published in response to continuous provocation by the Islamists mocking Hindu Gods and Goddesses.

Hindus, who refused to take the insult of their faith lying down, decided to give Islamists back in the same coin. They launched a pamphlet titled ‘Rangeela Rasool’, a satirical take on the domestic life of Mohammed.

The pamphlet elicited a sharp reaction from the minority community of then undivided India on the grounds that it allegedly contained demeaning passages about the founder of the Islamic faith.

The opposition to the pamphlet swelled and metamorphosed into widespread protests, with Islamists at the time hitting the streets and demanding the arrest of its author and the publisher. Mahashay Rajpal, the publisher, was initially arrested but was later acquitted by the court.

This naturally raised the hackles of the Islamists who have been demanding capital punishment for him for having hurt their ‘religious sentiments’. In several places, riots broke out after provocative speeches given by religious leaders.

Al-Jamiat an official arm of the Jamiat-Ulaima-i-Hind warned in an article that “under sharia the punishment for insulting the prophet is death and it is legally permissible to kill those who insult the prophet”.

The street protests and demonstrations witnessed after Rajpal’s acquittal forced the British Government of the day to enact a specific law against causing insult to religious feelings, resulting in the insertion of Section 295A in the Indian Penal Code in 1927.

However, despite winning the concession in the form of the inclusion of Section 295A in the IPC, Islamists remained resentful toward Mahashay Rajpal, for ‘Ghustake Rasool ki Ek hi saza, sar tan se juda’, and two years later, in 1929, a 19-year-old Islamist named Ilm ud din stabbed him to death.

2. The infamous ‘Shah Bano’ case

In 1986, the Indian state headed by Rajiv Gandhi set a dangerous precedent of capitulating to Muslim hardliners. The Mohd. Ahmad Khan vs. Shah Bano Begum & Others case and the subsequent legislation passed by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1986 is often remembered as a pivotal moment in India’s political history.

It all started when Shah Bano, the 62-year-old Muslim woman, filed a petition in court in April 1978 demanding maintenance from her divorced husband Mohammed Ahmad Khan, a renowned lawyer in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Shah Bano’s husband Khan divorced her by uttering triple talaq later in November stating he was not obliged to pay her any maintenance as she is not his wife under Islamic law.

The two were married in 1932 and had five children — three sons and two daughters. Shah Bano’s husband had forced her to move out of the residence three years before, after living with Khan and his second wife.

Shah Bano, who went to court against her husband, filed a claim for maintenance for herself and her five children under Section 123 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

In August 1979, Shah Bano won the maintenance case in the local court, which ordered Khan to provide her with the maintenance of Rs 25 per month. However, Khan contested the claim on the grounds that the Muslim Personal Law in India required the husband to only provide maintenance for the iddat period after divorce.

Years later, Shah Bano filed another plea seeking revised maintenance in Madhya Pradesh High Court. In April 1985, in a historic judgment, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Shah Bano and upheld the decision by the High Court stating that she was entitled to be paid for maintenance by her husband.

Islamists, having commanded the art of using street violence to their advantage once again pulled the arrow of violence and intimidation out of their quiver. Large-scale protests were launched, with Muslim fundamentalists describing the judgment as an attempt to undermine the Muslim Personal Law.

The Muslim hardliners, and clerics pushed the then Rajiv Gandhi government, elected in 1984, to pass the Muslim Women (Protection on Divorce Act), 1986. This law overturned the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Shah Bano case.

The 1986 Muslim Women (Protection on Rights of Divorce) Act diluted the Supreme Court judgment and allowed maintenance to a divorced woman only during the period of iddat, or till 90 days after the divorce.

The Muslim Women Act in 1986, virtually pitted women’s individual rights against the rights of a religious group and the latter with their street veto power were capable of enforcing the law over a weak, minority appeasing government led by Rajiv Gandhi.

3. The Satanic Verses

In 1989, author Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ stirred massive controversy after outrage swept among the Muslim community over the content of the book that they said was blasphemous.

Muslim critics of ‘The Satanic Verses’ accused Rushdie of portraying Islam as a “deceitful, ignorant, and sexually deviant religion”, sparking transnational uproar and widespread protest from the Muslim community.

India, with one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, was also affected by the ripples caused by Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. Giving in to the Islamists, India, which preened itself on being a bastion of democracy and free speech, became one of the first countries in the world to ban The Satanic Verses.

The Home Ministry of India had then recommended Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government that the publication and sale of the said book could cause a riots-like situation in India, advising it to ban the book to maintain communal harmony in the country.

The Home Ministry anticipated violent reaction from the Muslim community over ‘The Satanic Verses’ and preempted them by recommending the Centre on banning the book.

The Rajiv Gandhi government accepted Home Ministry’s recommendation and announced a ban on the book, months before the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Even ‘moderate Muslims’ within the Congress party such as former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, who is an Oxford graduate, justified and defended the ban on the book.

The episode underscored the Indian government’s cowardly surrender to the rioting Islamists, fearing whom it deemed acceptable to ban a book without proper scrutiny, as alleged by Salman Rushdie years later.

In his memoir, Joseph Anton, Rushdie writes that The Satanic Verses “was not examined by any properly authorised body, nor was there any semblance of judicial process”, before the Indian ban was enacted, and that “the ban came, improbably enough, from the finance ministry, under section 11 of the Customs Act, which prevented the book from being imported.”

Several Islamic nations undid the initial ban on the book, but India continued to enforce the ban, fearful that the removal of the ban could trigger Islamist violence, ultimately forcing the government into imposing the ban again.

Nevertheless, the entire episode underlined the shocking pusillanimity of the Indian government by allowing radical extremists to influence its decisions and undermine its longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and secularism.

4. Enactment of Places of Worship Act of 1991

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the late 1980s and early 90s was married with violence and riots as the Muslim fundamentalists took to the streets to oppose the Hindu side’s demand for the reclamation of the disputed site of the Babri structure, where they said a Ram temple existed before Mughals brought it down.

As the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak, the Islamists once again resorted to deploying violence as a strategic tool to pressurise the government into granting them concessions.

Consequently, the Narasimha Rao govt at the centre brought a new law with a motive to prevent Ram Janmabhoomi-like reclamation movements by Hindus in India. This law was the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991.

The statement of objects and reasons of this act reads as, ‘An Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto’.

The act declares that the character of a place of worship freezes on 15 August 1947, meaning if a place of worship is a mosque as on 15 August 1947, its character is that of a mosque even if it was originally a temple.

It provides for punishment if any person changes or attempts to change the character of any place of worship of one religious denomination or section thereof into another section of the same denomination or other.

The act provides for abatement of any suits or proceedings in any courts in the country relating to disputes about the character of places of worship already pending at the time of commencement of this act.

It also prohibits any suits or proceedings that may be instituted after the commencement of this act. Ram Janmabhoomi dispute had been excluded from the purview of this act.

5. Calcutta Quran petition

An application was filed on March 29, 1985, under Article 226 (power of the High Court to issue some writs) of the Indian Constitution by advocate Chandmal Chopra and one Sital Singh, asking the Calcutta High Court to direct the government to ‘forfeit’ every copy of the ‘Quran’.

The petition argued that every copy of the Quran is ‘liable to be forfeited’ under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Section 95 (Power to declare certain publications forfeited) when read with Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings).

It argued that Muslims have been exploiting the laws so far to ban books critical of Islam. Chandmal Chopra and Sital Singh cited direct verses from the Quran, calling for violence against the ‘infidels’. 

The matter initially came up before Justice Khastgir J of the Calcutta High Court. Far from dismissing the application, as one would expect today, the learned Judge had entertained the application.  She also issued notice to the contending parties.

Communist Party of India (Marxist), Jamait-e-Islami and Kerala Muslim Association of Calcutta were soon up-in-arms. A ‘Quran Defence Committee‘ was set up to strengthen the movement.

The CPIM-led-West Bengal government claimed that the petition was filed with malafide intent and that such a petition has never been filed in Indian history. The Congress-led-Union government also sided with the Left and opposed the plea.

With mounting political pressure, Justice Khastgir dropped it from her list and sent it to the Court of Justice Satish Chandra. On the advice of state Advocate-General S.K. Acharyya, the matter was transferred to the Bench of Justice Bimal Chandra Basak, who dismissed the petition on May 17, 1985.

The Islamist opposition thus ensured that the Court could not rule on the tenets of Islam.

6. Nehru-Liaquat Pact

The Nehru- Liaquat pact of 8th April, 1950, also known as Delhi Pact attempted to address the issue of refugees moving across the newly-constructed and largely fluid borders.

The pact promised near-secular safeguarding of rights of the minority in India, East and West Pakistan. While the secular constitution of India kept its part of the promise, it was odd for India to have believed the applicability of the same in the freshly-created State of Pakistan.

Liaquat Ali Khan who signed the Delhi Pact with Nehru assuring safeguarding the minorities (Hindus, Sikhs and Christians) in his new nation was the framer of Objective resolutions which proudly proclaimed Pakistan to be a theocratic Islamic state.

These Objective resolutions became the unalterable foundation for the multiple iterations of the Constitution which came about in Pakistan, each more orthodox and anti-minority than the previous one.

So in a way, Nehru-Liaquat pact ensured full-fledged Muslim appeasement in ‘secular’ India while Hindus and other religious minorities faced marginalisation and ostracism in Pakistan.

A lesson to remember: Islamism and violence

The above instances (merely indicative and not exhaustive) have been the result of the State’s weakness to the tyranny of street hooliganism.

Having understood its effectiveness over the past few decades, Islamists are now using it regularly to terrorise common people, dog-whistle against them online, and threaten their livelihood and survival. The case of BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma perfectly fits the context.

She found herself at the centre of a raging storm after Islamists, egged on by the likes of AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, issued multiple threats against her and her family for expressing her views on Prophet Muhammad and Islam.

Sharma was part of a debate panel on Times Now, discussing the finding of Shivling in the Gyanvapi complex and the subsequent mockery of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses that followed in the wake of the discovery.

In response to the contempt and scorn poured over Hindu Gods and Goddesses, BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma asked them to refrain from insulting Hindu Gods and cited Islamic scriptures and Holy Quran for substantiating her remarks on Prophet Muhammad and Islam.

Zubair shared an incomplete video of the debate, touching off Sar Tan Se Juda protests all over the country. While Islamists went on a rampage on the streets in many cities across the country, it was essentially Mohammed Zubair who was responsible for kindling a fire that had gone on to assume uncontrollable proportions.

Nupur Sharma received support from the likes of Kanhaiya Lal (Udaipur), Umesh Kolhe (Amravati), and others. And so, Lal was a marked man the moment he came out in support of Nupur Sharma. Islamists, provoked by Mohammed Zubair, dished out death threats to him for what they considered an unpardonable sin committed against Prophet.

And days later, the Hindu man was killed for something as trivial as just sharing a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma. A similar fate befell Umesh Kolhe, a chemist living in Maharashtra’s Amravati, who was murdered by four Muslim assailants while he was returning from his pharmacy on the night of June 22, 2022. 

Opindia had reported in details cases of murders and assaults faced by the Hindu community for extending their support to the former BJP spokesperson.

Lahore, Pakistan: Thieves dressed as police officers rob lakhs of rupees from Indian Sikh family visiting Nankana Saheb

OpIndia Staff
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Lahore, Pakistan: Thieves dressed as police officers rob lakhs of rupees from Indian Sikh family visiting Nankana Saheb

Robbers disguised as police officers stole from an Indian Sikh family in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab state, on 30 November. Police informed that on 29 November, after returning from Gurdwara Janamasthan Nankana Sahib, Kanwal Jeet Singh and his family who had traveled from India to join the celebrations for the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev went shopping at Liberty Market in the Gulberg neighbourhood of Lahore. 

Police spokesperson, Ehtasham Haider informed PTI, “When the Sikh family came out of a shop two robbers in police uniform stopped them and looted cash and jewelry at gunpoint.” He added that the robbers took away 250,000 Indian rupees and 150,000 Pakistani rupees from the family.

The policeman proclaimed, “A Deputy Inspector General Police held a meeting with the Indian Sikh family and assured them that the robbers would be arrested and their loss be compensated.” 

Many people congregated in the vicinity following the incident and went with the Sikh family to the local police station. The Gulberg police station house officer notified his superior when the people arrived there.

As the case gathered attention, the interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi of Punjab took cognisance. He ordered the immediate capture of the perpetrators responsible for the heist and stressed the need for their swift identification using CCTV footage.

The caretaker chief minister declared that the occurrence of looting a Sikh family in a place like Gulbarg was a serious breach of security and demanded that the accused be brought to justice within 48 hours.

Notably, more than 2,500 Indian Sikhs are currently in Pakistan for the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary on 27 November. About 3000 Sikh pilgrims from India were granted visas by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to attend the event which was set to take place in their country from 25 November to 4 December.

MSNBC takes Mehdi Hasan’s show off air as ratings tank and his pro-Islamist rants get few takers: Here is the full story

OpIndia Staff
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MSNBC takes Mehdi Hasan’s show off air as ratings tank and his pro-Islamist rants get few takers: Here is the full story

Ratings and rundown, both don’t seem to be agreeing with MSNBC’s Leftist-Islamist TV presenter Mehdi Hasan. The left-leaning American news channel has decided to take Hasan’s weekend show off air including from the streaming service Peacock.

Mehdi Hasan will now be able to spew his ‘kafirphobic’ rhetoric only as an on-camera analyst and fill-in host. While the decision is being reported as part of a major shakeup in MSNBC’s programming schedule, “The Mehdi Hasan Show” was the one that got the axe owing to low ratings.

Mehdi Hasan is being replaced by Ayman Mohyeldin for the one-hour-long Sunday programme. Reports citing sources claim that the show and even the channel altogether has witnessed a sharp drop in ratings.

Reports claim that the MSNBC is “cutting costs like crazy” and that this was a “good excuse” to remove the British-born anchor’s face off of its screens.

“I think they thought (Hasan’s) point of view was a little too out of the mainstream if you know what I mean,” The New York Post cited a source.

Mehdi Hasan, who is famously and outrightly anti-Hindu and anti-India, has been toeing the pro-Hamas line in his coverage of Israel-Hamas war.

Hasan has falsely accused the Israeli forces of bombing the ah-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and compared Israel’s crackdown on terrorist group Hamas to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hasan is known to corner his panellists who do not agree with him and his views and does not shy away from peddling his former employer, Al Jazeera’s narrative, even as he works for the American channel MSNBC.

This fact perhaps dawned on the channel only when the ratings dipped abysmally low particularly after the 7th October attack by Hamas terrorists against Israel.

According to Semafor, which first reported the development, Hasan’s on-air dramatics and holier-than-thou theatrics “never translated into ratings successes on the weekend or during fill-in appearances on primetime shows”.

The New York Post reported that Hasan’s ratings have been “steadily declining over the past two months” according to ratings agency Nielsen. He reportedly averaged 617,000 viewers for his show on 1st October, six days before the terrorist attack on Israel.

Since then, “The Mehdi Hasan Show” has failed to achieve more than 500,000 viewers. On 12th November, the viewership hit an all time low with a mere 37,000 viewers in the 24-54 demography and 411,000 total.

MSNBC has no one but the Hamas apologist to thank for giving the CNN and Fox News an edge. Notably, the development comes before the 2024 US Presidential elections.

Meanwhile, MSNBC boss Rashida Jones said that the decision was part of a revamp plan ahead of the 2024 elections. “As Decision 2024 ramps up, the show will provide thoughtful analysis and coverage on the state of our country from three trusted voices familiar to the MSNBC audience,” Jones said.

The new weekend line-up at MSNBC will include a two-hour morning show called “The Weekend” which will feature former Biden-aide Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele.

Moreover, reports claim that after the 7th October attack by Hamas on Israel, MSNBC has “quietly taken three of its Muslim broadcasters out of the anhors chair”. These include Mehdi Hasan, Mohyeldin and Ali Velshi. However, the channel has denied the charge.

Mehdi Hasan’s Islamist record

The TV presenter, who is of Indian descent, joined MSNBC in 2020 after working for Al Jazeera and The Intercept. Recently, a video from 2009 went viral once again on social media showing Hasan referring to non-Muslims as ‘animals’ and likening homosexuals to ‘paedophiles’.

He was heard saying, “Once we lose the moral high ground we are no different from the rest, of the non-Muslims, from the rest of those human beings who live their lives as animals, bending any rule to fulfill any desire.”

Hasan had apologised for his remarks in the video in 2019 but he continues to demonise Hindus, India and anything related to the two.

In April 2022, the MSNBC anchor went on a tirade against PM Modi and cast aspersions on India’s secularism.

He equated Hindu Nationalism in India (a nation that was divided on religious lines) with white Supremacy in the West, which is an ideology based on race. His sinister agenda was to equate Hindutva with Anti-Semitism.

Mehdi Hasan had also been involved in gaslighting Hindus by suggesting that he differentiates between the good and bad ones – a classical troupe used by Hinduphobes who claim ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Hindutva’ are different. In reality, they do not make any such distinction.

In April this year, Hasan faced accusations of plagiarism in connection with an article he authored endorsing the idea of parents resorting to physical discipline for their children.

Lee Fang, an investigative journalist with The Intercept, accusing Hasan of “passing off others” reporting as his own, at times without any citation at all.

‘India remains a strategic partner’: US govt clarifies while asserting that they are taking Pannun assassination plot case ‘very seriously’

OpIndia Staff
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‘India remains a strategic partner’: US govt clarifies while asserting that they are taking Pannun assassination plot case ‘very seriously’

On Thursday, November 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken remarked on the charges against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a “foiled plot” to murder Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun saying that Washington takes the allegations “very seriously.” He added that the Indian government’s decision to probe the matter was “good and appropriate”.

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Blinken said that the US government has raised the matter directly with the Indian government in the past weeks.

Asked about the US charging an Indian national in murder for hire scheme targeting a Sikh separatist, Blinken said, “With regard to India, first, this is an ongoing legal matter. So you’ll understand I can’t comment on it in detail. I can say that this is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian Government in past weeks. The government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that’s good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results.”

Meanwhile, when asked about the indictment of an Indian national in a ‘plot-to-kill’ Khalistani terrorist Pannun, White House official John Kirby said on Friday that India remains a strategic partner of the US and that the US will continue to work to improve and strengthen the partnership with India, but the allegations of the assassination plot are very serious.

“India remains a strategic partner and we are going to continue to work to improve and strengthen that strategic partnership with India. At the same time, we take this very seriously. These allegations and this investigation take it very seriously. And we’re glad to see that the Indians are too by announcing their own efforts to investigate this. And we’ve been clear that we want to see anybody that’s responsible for these alleged crimes to be held properly accountable,” Kirby said.

This comes after US Justice Department filed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate a US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.

The US Justice Department has claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by U.S. authorities, according to prosecutors.

As reported earlier, Gupta is currently in custody and has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Czech authorities had arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic.

Lucky Ali gets upset with Netizens suggesting how he can travel to Palestine, giving him a detailed itinerary, after he tweeted that he wanted to go

OpIndia Staff
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Lucky Ali gets upset with Netizens suggesting how he can travel to Palestine, giving him a detailed itinerary, after he tweeted that he wanted to go

Popular singer Lucky Ali tweeted on 30th November that he wished to travel to Palestine. “InshaAllah I want to go to Palestine :)”, he tweeted.

It is pertinent to note that the tweet by Lucky Ali came not as a response to any tweet, but was a tweet without context. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that he was alluding to the Israel-Hamas war and the retaliation by Israel after Hamas’ terror attack, killing over 1500 innocent Israeli citizens.

Interestingly, while Lucky Ali got called out for not condemning Hamas’ terror attack earlier but now tweeted that he wishes to go to Palestine, several Netizens also gave him suggestions on how he could reach Palestine.

Physician who goes by the handle @theskindoctor on X (previously Twitter) also tweeted to Lucky Ali giving him precise help on how he could Palestine. He wrote on 30th November, “There is an Egypt Air flight tommorow 11.20 am from Delhi to Cairo. From Cairo there are buses and taxis that take 5-6 hours and go directly to the Rafah crossing border. At Rafah crossing, Egyptian police will enquire about the purpose of visit, check your possessions and documents. You will then be transferred to Gaza. Hope this helps”.

By all account, the physician was merely responding to Lucky Ali on how he could fulfil his expressed desire to travel to Palestine.

Instead of using the suggestion and travelling to Palestine, Lucky Ali seems to have got offended. He responded to the physician on the 1st of December asking him to heal himself.

As soon as Lucky Ali responded, several netizens pointed out that @theskindoctor13 had merely given him a way to fulfill his own wish. One user responded with, “Lucky Bhai.. U asked this for urself..”.

Another pointed out that perhaps Lucky Ali had dropped his travel plans to Palestine since he was scared.

Others suggested that instead of getting angry, Ali should be thanking @theskindoctor13 for making a ‘beautiful itinerary’ for him.

Before Lucky Ali got upset about getting a specific itinerary helping his travel plans to Palestine, several netizens had called him out for his empty rhetoric and activism. @rahulroushan had mentioned how there was no need for him to say “Inshallah” for going to Palestine when he could simply buy a ticket and get there.

Many also pointed out that while Ali was tweeting about going to Palestine, he had not once condemned the terrorist attack by Hamas which claimed the lives of hundreds of women, children and innocent Israelis in one of the most barbaric attacks.

While others pointed out that Lucky Ali never once said in the past that he wishes to go to the Indian border and fight to protect this country from external threats despite India giving him and his father all the fame and success that he has today.

They pointed out that perhaps his heart bleeds for Palestine because of his love for Ummah. Ummah is the universal Muslim brotherhood. The belief is rooted in the fact that Muslims believe that their loyalty lies with the Islamic community over the country that they might reside in.

Pertinently, several Muslim handles came to the defence of Lucky Ali. One Saif tweeted that “Muslims around the world wish to go to Palestine to visit Masjid Al Aqsa which is a holy site for us. Lucky Ali expressed the same desire”. He blamed “RW trolls” for communalising the tweet by Ali.

Interestingly, however, none of the Muslim trolls could explain why Lucky Ali tweeted about his desire to go to Palestine now, amid the Israel-Hamas war. They also did not explain why he did not mention the Al Aqsa mosque if his tweet was truly only about visiting the holy shrine and if so, why he got upset when netizens kindly directed him on how he could reach his desired destination.

7th October terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel

On 7th October, Hamas terrorists launched an all-out attack on Israel from the sea, land, and air. At least 5,000 rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza and tunnels were used to breach the Israeli terroritory and butcher Israel civilians particularly in the border villages of Israel. A music festival hosting more than 200 people was turned into a slaughter ground with many women raped, mutilated and abducted to Gaza.

At least 1,300 people including some foreign nationals, babies, women and senior citizens died in the attacks. More than 200 were abducted to Gaza. The footage shared by the IDF from side the Al Shifa hospital is from the day of the attack.

While Telangana was busy with elections, Andhra Pradesh took over half of a dam: Details

OpIndia Staff
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While Telangana was busy with elections, Andhra Pradesh took over half of a dam: Details

In a late-night operation, the Andhra Pradesh government reportedly took over half of the Nagarjunasagar Dam on the Krishna river, and released water to its side. As per reports, Andhra Pradesh now ‘occupies’ half of the dam and has barricaded the occupied half.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have been fighting over this dam since Telangana state came into existence in 2014.

The incumbent government under CM K Chandrasekhara Rao has complained to the Krishna River Management Board, the authority responsible for the management and water flow of the dam between the two states.

As per reports, in a dramatic move, about 400 police personnel were sent with a group of irrigation officials in a midnight operation to ‘occupy’ half of the dam. They took control of 18 of the 36 gates of the dam. Upon learning of the move, when some Telangana officials arrived with local cops, they were told that the Andhra police personnel and the irrigation officials were there on orders of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The Telangana cops then came back.

Ambati Rambabu, the minister of water resources in the Andhra Pradesh government, has shared a post on X, saying water will be released from the Nagarjunasagar dam to meet the drinking needs of the people of his state.

X post by Andhra water resources minister

Reports have mentioned that AP officials were not allowing vehicles to pass without checking Aadhar cards and state addresses. A similar attempt at ‘occupying’ the dam was also made 3 years ago, but it was thwarted, Telangana officials have informed.

As of now, the Andhra Pradesh government has provided separate power lines for the regulator gates under their control. They are releasing 10,000 cusecs of water. The Telangana CM’s office has informed that the AP cops and officials have even damaged some CCTVs and broke down an automated gate at the dam. Telangana government is saying that Andhra officials must have planned for the operation for several weeks.

As per the Andhra Reorganisation Act, Telangana was given the control and supervision of the Nagarjunasagar Dam, while Andhra Pradesh was given the control ver the Srisailam Project. The Nagarjunasagar Dam and the Srisailam Project are joint storage facilities meeting the power generation, irrigation, and drinking needs of the 2 states.

‘Execute Hamas terrorists including my father, no exceptions’: Son of Hamas terrorist asks Israel to not go easy on Hamas with negotiations. What he said

OpIndia Staff
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‘Execute Hamas terrorists including my father, no exceptions’: Son of Hamas terrorist asks Israel to not go easy on Hamas with negotiations. What he said

Son of a senior Hamas terrorist, Mosab Hassan Yousef has urged Israel to kill his own father along with other Hamas terrorists in its custody. Yousef has called on Israel to set a deadline for Hamas to release the remaining hostages it kidnapped in the 7th October terrorist attack.

Taking to X, the author of “Son of Hamas” wrote, “After the successful release of the most vulnerable group of hostages, Israel must give Hamas a timeframe to release the remaining hostages. If they fail Israel must execute Hamas mass murderers in Israeli prisons. No exception, Sheik Hassan Yousef is included.”

He said that Hamas has been waging psychological warfare, blackmailing everybody, using children, infants and babies, using human shields, committing genocide and still playing the victim card.

“They want to release thousands of mass murderers back to the streets in return for the Israeli hostages. Israel cannot afford this, humanity cannot afford this. Because putting mass murderers back on the streets means the death of many other innocent people,” Yousef said in a 10-minute 32-second-long video message posted on X.

He added that criminals, savages and terrorists must be punished and cannot be rewarded for their violence. “Hence Israel must not compromise,” he said.

Adding that he understands that Israel had to compromise in the past week to release innocent civilians, he said that the remaining hostages, especially soldiers, those who failed to defend themselves and defend civilians when they were captured “should be treated as war prisoners”.

Yousef said that Israel must shift its priority from a hostage rescue mission and take an offensive approach focused on eradication Hamas.

He said, “Now, we have children, and infants back home to safety and this is great progress. But we cannot go on like this. Hamas is going nowhere and if we continue to negotiate with them, they will continue to stretch this negotiation taking us into a rabbit hole that will never end. Their goal is to get away with their crime.”

He said that Israel has thousands of Hamas members in prison and it must use this card. “Israel must use Hamas savages in prison to pressure Hamas leadership everywhere to release hostages. We have mass murderers in prison who have privileges and human rights.”

“Prisoners like Ibrahim Hamid, Abdullah Akbar Kudi must be sentenced to death and Hamas must have a time frame to return the hostages and if they do not do so, Israel must execute top Hamas leaders in prison. When I say execute top Hamas leader I mean no exception. That includes my own father, the co-founder of Hamas movement. In this war there is no exception,” Yousef said.

Yousef said that he made a mistake till 15 years ago when he saved his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef’s life many times. “I was going against evolution. He was supposed to die for his actions. I saved his life and here we go, things did not change, things got worse.”

Yousef also opnely called out Qatar alleging that it is a safe haven for Hamas and that it should not be considered a mediator as they facilitate Hamas’s activities by shielding the terrorist group’s leadership on their soil.

He said that Qatar should also be given a deadline of a month to expel all Hamas leadership from its soil and “if Qatar does not obey, Israel is not under any obligation to not carry an attack on Hamas on its soil”.

On 31st October, Mosab Hassan Yousef lauded Indians and praised the Hindu community for rallying against Hamas terrorists.

“Hindus have no problem, Christians and Jews also co-exist. So why does the violence only come from Islamists? I don’t have a problem with the rest of the world. Indians have no problem. Christians, Jews, we all co-exist. It is the need to eradicate Hamas and any other Islamist movement. We have to say it very clearly and loudly. Religious terrorism is not accepted,” he said in an interview with an Indian channel.

Yousef is a descendant of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas. He is known for writing books named ‘Son of Hamas’ and ‘Preach the Word Prophecy Conference’.

For his efforts to assist the Shin Bet in thwarting terror attacks during the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, he was dubbed “Green Prince”, which is also the title of a 2014 documentary based on his autobiography. The 45-year-old Ramallah native vividly recalls Hamas’s inception in 1986.

On 7th October, Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched a land-air-seak attack on Israel killing at least 1,300 people including some foreign nationals and abduction more than 200 Israelis. Women were raped, children were beheaded, entire families were brutalised, bloodied and eventually killed.

The terrorists recorded the heinous act on body cameras and the videos viral across social media whilst celebrating the attacks. On 21st November, Israel agreed to a temporary ceasefire to the war it has launched on Hamas, in order to enable the release of Israeli hostages.

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