On the final day of campaigning in the poll-bound state of Madhya Pradesh, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched a personal attack on BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. On 14th November, Vadra remarked at a public rally in Datia, Madhya Pradesh, that Scindia was “short in height but high on arrogance.” She also referred to the Union minister as a ‘traitor’.
However, Scindia slammed Vadra on Twitter on Wednesday (15th November), saying that those comparing ability to height to teach ego should first look in the mirror.
1. प्रियंका गांधी जी पार्ट-टाइम नेत्री हैं तो इन दो परंपराओं के फ़र्क़ को समझने की उनमें क्षमता हो, इसकी आशा मैं नहीं करता – किस परिवार के सपूतों ने अफ़ग़ानों से लेकर मुग़लों और अंग्रेजों तक से भारत माता की रक्षा हेतु अपनी जान की क़ुर्बानी दी थी, और किसने चीन से भारत की रक्षा…
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the rally in Datia had said, “All of their leaders are a little weird. First, our Scindia…I have worked with him in UP (Uttar Pradesh). His height is a little short but in arrogance, ‘waah bhai waah’…Any worker who used to go to him says that we have to call him Maharaj and if we don’t say that, our issues will not be addressed. He followed his family’s tradition well. Many have betrayed but they have betrayed the public of Gwalior and Chamba.”
Slamming Vadra for making personal comments during a public rally, the BJP leader on Twitter (X) said, “Since Priyanka Gandhi ji is a part-time leader, I do not expect her to have the ability to understand the difference between these two traditions – the sons of which family, from the Afghans to the Mughals and the British, sacrificed their lives to protect Mother India, and who protected India from China. Forget about doing so, the Indian land was given to China as a gift. The second generation of which family had imposed emergency in the greed for power? And even today, the present generation of which family is defaming the country by going to foreign forums?”
Scindia went on to say that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra does not know the Gwalior Chambal region and that she had very little knowledge about the region. “Priyanka Gandhi ji, who called Gwalior Chambal as “Gwalior Chamba” during her speech, needed written lines on a pamphlet to attack my family. One could get an idea of her thinking and understanding of Gwalior Chambal from her statement,” said Scindia.
He further urged the people of Madhya Pradesh to teach a lesson to the Congress during the upcoming elections.
It is worth noting that, during the last elections in the year 2018, Congress leader Kamal Nath had become the CM by gathering a variety of supporters. The Congress leadership, that the is Gandhi family, had decided to ignore Scindia and make Kamal Nath the CM for his loyalty to the family. However, the general discontent and disagreements within Congress resulted in a split and in 2020, Jyotiradiya Scindia had joined the BJP with 22 MLAs. Scindia then went on to become a Rajya Sabha MP on BJP’s nomination and was made the Civil Aviation minister.
Voting in Madhya Pradesh is scheduled for November 17 and the election results will be tallied on December 3.
On 15 November, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh has turned into a hub for “love jihad” and that no one would dare carry out such an atrocity should the Bharatiya Janata Party win the state’s upcoming election. He referred to prominent Congressman and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as a “prepaid CM” and accused him of defaming Lord Mahadev by naming the controversial betting app after him.
He stated that his party provided the nation with its first Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) a member of an extremely backward class and that the BJP has worked for the development of Other Backward Class communities by granting them broad representation in the central ministry, the legislature and state assemblies.
The senior leader asserted that the Durg division which was once a focal point of education had devolved into a betting area during Bhupesh Baghel’s leadership as chief minister. He spoke at three rallies in Bemetara, Janjgir-Champa and Korba districts on the final day of campaigning for the second and final phase of polls in the state on 17 November.
Ishwar Sahu, a local was put forward by the BJP to replace his son Bhuneshwar Sahu who was murdered in a communal clash in Biranpur village of Bemetara in April. Amit Shah highlighted, “Ishwar Sahu is not only a candidate but a symbol of fight for justice. Under Bhupesh Kakka’s rule (referring to CM), communal elements lynched Sahu’s son Bhuneshwar Sahu. People of Bhupesh Kakka offered a cheque and job to Ishwar ji asking him not to seek justice. But I would like to thank Ishwar ji that he refused and sought justice for his dead son,” in a rally in Saja.
He noted, “It is our responsibility to get him justice. No one has the right to take the law into his hands. I want to tell Bhupesh Kaka, Today you have surrendered to communal forces for the sake of the vote bank. No one knows how many like Bhubaneswar Sahu were martyred but you never cared to give them justice. Your time ends here. Reverse counting begins.”
He pledged that if the BJP obtains power, the killers of Bhuneshwar Sahu would be put behind bars. “It is our responsibility to ensure justice for Bhuneshwar Sahu. No one will be allowed to violate the law. Every murderer of Bhuneshwar Sahu will be sent to jail. The countdown of the exit of Bhupesh Kakka has started.”
He urged voters to support his party and promised that a BJP government would ensure Bhuneshwar Sahu’s justice and serve as a warning to those engaging in appeasement politics. The former BJP president criticised the Congress government in Chhattisgarh and charged that under Bhupesh Baghel’s chief ministership, Bemetara had become a hub for “love jihad.”
He charged that the Bhupesh Baghel regime was asleep at the time of the love jihad which was directed towards the Sahu, Kurmi and Gond communities. “Who will wake them up,” he asked and added, “It’s your votes. I promise you, bring BJP to power and no one will dare commit such an act.”
He blasted the chief minister and pointed out his connection with Mahadev Betting App. “Bhupesh Kakka destroyed the Durg division. During the Raman Singh-led BJP government, the Durg division had become a centre of education. Bhupesh Baghel turned it into a centre of satta (betting). If they had to engage in betting, they could have done it in the name of Bhupesh Baghel.”
“Why did he use the name Mahadev,” he questioned and voiced, “Modi ji sent Chandrayaan to the moon and named the spot (where it landed) Shivshakti, expressing reverence to Lord Shiva and Maa Shakti. But Bhupesh Kakka named a betting app after Mahadev and insulted him.”
The Home Minister announced, “In the first phase of the Chhattisgarh election, Bhupesh Kaka has been wiped out and the lotus is sure to bloom. Today, I was told by a journalist that even bookies have started saying that the Baghel government, which is involved in betting, is not going to return and a BJP government is going to be formed.”
On 15th November, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar warned against Search Bias, Algorithmic Bias and AI models with bias while quoting a post by X (formerly Twitter) user Arun Pudur, where Pudur had highlighted how Google Bard was censoring a report by OpIndia. In his post, the minister said, “Search Bias, Algorithmic Bias and AI models with bias – are real violations of the Safety and trust obligations placed on Platforms under Rule 3(1)(b) of IT rules under the regulatory framework in India. Those who are aggrieved by this can file FIRs against such platforms, and safe harbour/immunity under Sec79 will not apply to these cases.”
Search Bias, Algorithmic Bias and AI models wth bias – are real violations of the Safety & Trust obligations placed on Platforms under Rule 3(1)(b) of IT rules under regulatory framework in India
Those who are aggrieved by this can file FIRs against such platforms and safe… https://t.co/cMp71tXDW2
The warning was issued based on Pudur’s post on X, where he published a screenshot of Google Bard’s reply to a request to summarise a report by OpIndia. The report in question was about the NewsClick-Chinese funding row accused Neville Roy Singham, who, along with his wife, has been funding anti-Israel protests in the United States. The report can be checked here.
In his post, Pudur said, “More and More are using AI for summarizing Articles, search and content. Today, I was causally using Google Bard to summarize an article by OpIndia, and it said it will not summarize it as Opindia spreads false information and is biased.” He tagged the Union Minister and Ministry of Electronics and Informational Technology (MeiTY) in his post.
?More and More are using AI for summarizing Articles, search and content. Today I was causally using @GoogleBard to summarize an article by @OpIndia_com and it said it will not summarize it as Opindia spreads false information and is biased.
Pudur highlighted the reply by Google Bard in the screenshot that read, “I cannot summarize the article for you because it is from a biased and unreliable source. Opindia is a website that has been repeatedly criticized for publishing false and misleading information. In addition, the article does not provide any evidence to support its claims about Neville Roy Singham’s wife funding an anti-Israel protest in the US.”
OpIndia checked if Google Bard’s algorithm gives similar results every time. For those who are unaware, Google Bard gives multiple drafts of every reply, and the users can choose whichever they like the most.
In the case of the report mentioning Singham, it took us several tries to get a summary of the article, but that summary was also shadowed with bias. In the first case, it Google Bard says the report contained content that violated its safety guidelines.
Source: Google Bard
In the second attempt, it did not have enough information to provide a summary.
Source: Google Bard
In the third attempt, it said OpIndia is not a credible news source, as mentioned by Pudur in his post on X.
Source: Google Bard
In the last attempt, it did provide a summary but claimed that OpIndia’s report was behind a paywall. It has to be noted that not even a single report on OpIndia has ever been behind any paywall. OpIndia thrives on the voluntary contributions made by its readers. If you wish to support OpIndia, you can check the process here.
Source: Google Bard
Interestingly, Google Bard provided a summary of reports that revolved around India without any issues. For example, it provided a summary of a report on the Aligarh ISIS module without any problem.
Source: Google Bard
However, when we tried to get a summary of the controversy revolving around Coldplay in Indonesia, as it is facing protests by Muslims, Google Bard decided to call it a sensitive topic and refused to give a summary.
Source: Google Bard
Furthermore, it has no problem in summarising reports from The Print and The Wire. It summarised The Print’s report on Indian-origin politicians abroad with ease.
Source: Google Bard
Google Bard faced no issue in providing information on The Wire’s report on Mahua Moitra.
Source: Google Bard
Google Bard, being a machine-learning AI program, takes information from the internet to provide answers to queries. Wikipedia is possibly one of its sources of information, as Google also throws Wikipedia links at the top of most of the queries. As Wikipedia is severely critical of OpIndia, it is obvious that Bard is getting anti-OpIndia opinions from Wikipedia. The issue of AI being biased is clear, as it often censors the content.
X’s chief and tech billionaire Elon Musk has repeatedly warned that AI has the potential to become humanity’s biggest threat. In a recent interview, he said, “I mean, for the first time, we have a situation where there’s something that is going to be far smarter than the smartest human. So, you know, we’re not stronger or faster than other creatures, but we are more intelligent. And here we are, for the first time really in human history, with something that’s going to be far more intelligent than us.”
AI’s dangers not only lie in the way it censors but also in how conveniently it can generate fake content. Recently, the issue of a deep fake video of actress Rashmika Mandhani sparked a debate over the issue. To learn more about the case, please click here. To learn more about deep fakes, please click here.
On Wednesday (15th November), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in London participated in a homecoming ceremony of two 8th-century Hindu temple idols that were stolen from India and recently found in England.
#WATCH | UK: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar attends the repatriation ceremony of Yogini Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi, the 8th-century stolen temple idols from Uttar Pradesh's Lokhari, in London. pic.twitter.com/5ckc1qvLFU
The two temple idols namedYogini Chamunda and Yogini Gomukhi were stolen from a temple in Lokhari, Uttar Pradesh, between the late 1970s and early 1980s. The idols were recovered by the High Commission of India in London with assistance from the India Pride Project and Art Recovery International.
On the final day of his five-day visit to the UK, Jaishankar unveiled the idols at India House, saying he was looking forward to their return to India. “It is important today, as we look to appreciate each other’s culture, to ensure that cultural exchanges are legal, transparent and rules-based,” said Jaishankar.
Pleased to participate in the return to India of the stone idols of Yogini Chamunda and Gomukhi.
“Where there have been deviations, whenever these are corrected I think this is something of great importance, not just in this case, but as a message that this is a practice which is not acceptable in this day and age,” he was quoted as saying.
The term ‘Yogini’ refers to female masters of the yogic arts, with 64 divine Yoginis worshipped as goddesses at Yogini temples like Lokhari. The Lokhari temple is said to have 20 Yogini statues depicting beautiful women with animal heads.
The temple was targeted in 1970 by a gang of robbers operating out of Rajasthan and Maharashtra and smuggling goods into Europe via Switzerland. Unknown numbers of statues were stolen, with others broken and the remaining unharmed statues removed and hidden by local villagers.
Chris Marinello of Art Recovery International commented on the issue and said that this is the fifth attempt that India is being provided with its old stolen artefacts from outside countries. “This is the fifth time we have been able to return important pieces of cultural heritage to India – in Milan, Brussels, and London three times. We work closely with the India Pride Project and when they identify one of these, we step in and negotiate with the possessors to reach an amicable resolution,” Marinello said.
The First Secretary of Trade and Economics at the Indian High Commission in London, Jaspreet Singh Sukhija, has been collaborating with the India Pride Project, an organization dedicated to restoring India’s lost artefacts, to arrange the restitution of these idols.
According to Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami, “Part of the objective of what we seek to do in these occasions is to find some acceptable and amicable solutions to enable our heritage to go back to where it is most appropriate, where it comes from, and where it is most appreciated.”
In the year 2022, a similar ancient Indian idol of a goat-headed goddess that had gone missing from a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Lokhari village 40 years ago was recovered from London. The goat-headed Yogini idol was handed over to the Archaeological Survey of India yesterday by the Indian envoy to the United Kingdom Gaitri Issar Kumar.
As reported earlier, the stolen art recovery expert Christopher Marinello in October 2021 came across the idol when a widow in the UK requested help to sell the contents of her home, including the Yogini figure. Marinello, the founder of Art Recovery International, a company that specializes in recovering looted and missing works of art, later informed the India Pride Project which assisted the High Commission of India in recovering the idol.
Also in 2020, 3 priceless idols of Lord Ram, Maa Sita, and Laxman from the Vijayanagara period, stolen from a Vishnu temple in Tamil Nadu in 1978 were handed over to the Indian consulate in London by the British police.
Auspicious moment as 3 more priceless statues of Vijayanagara period stolen from Vishnu temple, Nagapatinnam in 1978, recovered by @HCI_London with support of #MetPoliceLondon, restored to Govt of Tamil Nadu in presence of Hble Union Min for Culture&Tourism Shri @prahladspatel. pic.twitter.com/XRmzQIkWG6
Further in 2019, a 600-year-old Nataraja idol worth Rs 30 crore which was stolen 37 years ago from a temple at Kallidaikurichi in Tirunelveli district, Chennai, Tamil Nadu was brought back to India. The two and a half feet 16th-century idol which was kept in the gallery in Adelaide, Australia for 17 years was traced in 2018.
In fact, last year, PM Modi revealed how his government has been successful in bringing back over precious 200 idols, which were stolen in the past, from abroad since he assumed office in 2014.
The attacks on Indian authorities by pro-Khalistan elements in foreign countries appear to have no end. They have once again descended upon Indian diplomats stationed in Canada. The sensitive matter continues to raise tensions between the two countries as the radical Sikhs have also escalated their assaults on Indian officials present in the Western nation.
The Indian Consulate officials in Vancouver set up a camp on 15 November to distribute life certificates among the Indian pensioners living there. Meanwhile, the separatists laid siege outside the venue. Furthermore, they threatened to carry out more protests of a similar nature in the future. The camp was organised by Indian officials at the Khalsa Dewan Society Gurdwara in Abbotsford, British Columbia while a temple hosted two camps.
@cgivancouver in partnership with Khalsa Diwan Society #Abbotsford organized a consular camp on 12 November, the day of Diwali ?, to issue life certificates to community members getting pension from Govt of ??. Great turnout to get the services. @HCI_Ottawapic.twitter.com/SiPgHA1ffS
The authorities had to be evacuated under police protection as a result of the Khalistani extremists congregating outside the place. The Indian government has strongly brought up this issue with Canada and has been assured of complete security for Indian officials and claimed that it would not permit any members of the Khalistani movement to seek asylum on Canadian soil.
The incident has caused major concern about the safety and security of Indians in the maple country. Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar passed away in Canada a few months ago. He was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. Khalistanis have been incensed since his death and blamed the Indian government for the same. Furthermore, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of being responsible for his death which severely strained the already unstable ties between the two democracies.
The founder of the banned secessionist outfit ‘Sikhs For Justice’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun regularly threatens India. He recently vowed to blow up an Air India flight on 19th November like the Kanishka bombing of 1985. The same group also threatened the Indian authorities to close the camp and published posters throughout Canada.
The group’s members attacked a local Sikh family of grandfather, father and small son for carrying the Indian flag and preventing it from being disrespected. According to local accounts, this horrific occurrence transpired when the family was visiting the holy place to get a life certificate for their elderly father.
“They were attacked because they attempted to pick up an Indian flag from the ground which was being disrespected by these referendum goons. Only SFJ goons are involved in attacks against India. Sikhs have been always an integral part of India and this family felt bad about the disrespect to the Indian flag,” stated top Indian government sources.
They added, “The SFJ goons and their wanted leader, who is funded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is doing all these things. Police are watching it without any reaction. These incidents suggest that the Canadian government also want all these things to happen against India. This validates the Indian stand of expelling Canadian diplomats.”
Sukhi Chahal, a prominent Sikh leader living in the United States expressed his shock and anger over the terrible instance. “In light of this, I humbly appeal to all Canadian Gurudwara Management committees to consider boycotting individuals associated with Khalistani SFJ, including Gurpatwant Pannu and their followers. This step is crucial to safeguard the Sikh society from further radicalisation and maintain the sanctity of our places of worship.”
I am deeply disturbed to share an unfortunate incident that occurred at Gurudwara "Khalsa Diwan Society" in Abbotsford, BC, Canada, yesterday on Diwali day involving the reprehensible actions of so called Fake Khalistani Gurpatwant Pannu's goons, the Gunda Dal of SFJ. This… pic.twitter.com/FwSvuvGprY
Indian diplomats informed that there are a lot of Indians living in the area. They need documentation for things like insurance and a pension. We established camps in between to fulfil those demands. Authorities reported that roughly twenty Khalistani were yelling derogatory slogans outside the Gurdwara. Additionally, these individuals mistreated a few folks who came here to pick up paperwork. Notably, the camp witnessed a huge turnout.
On Wednesday (November 15), hundreds of protestors gathered in San Francisco as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the American city for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The protesting crowd comprised of activists representing Students for Free Tibet, Uyghurs and the Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC).
The protestors raised banners reading “Free Tibet”, “Free Hong Kong”, and “Rise Against Xi”. Moreover, a “flying” banner seen over the Moscone Centre, the site of the APEC Summit, read: ‘End CCP, Free China, Free HK, Free Tibet, Free Uyghur’.
As mentioned on the banner, the protestors demanded an end to the Chinese Communist Party’s rule in China, in addition to the independence of Hong Kong and Tibet, as well as freedom for Uyghur people living in China’s Xinjiang province.
#X BREAKING: MASSIVE ANTI CHINA PROTESTS ERUPTING ON MARKET STREET SAN FRANCISCO. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE SCREAMING FREE TIBET AS MARKET STREET IS SHUT DOWN. EAST AND WEST TRAFFIC DEADLOCK. @elonmusk@stillgraypic.twitter.com/tdLoSCDihk
Meanwhile, Market Street in San Francisco witnessed a protest march with Asians Against China’s Occupation & Oppression denouncing President Xi Jinping and shouting “Free Tibet” slogans.
Thousands of protesters hit the streets of #SanFrancisco today over several economic, political and social issues. They’re happening amid the #APEC2023 summit. Here on Market Street, Asians Against China’s Occupation & Oppression” denounced President Xi and shouted “Free Tibet!” pic.twitter.com/Nw77hUrXcJ
In a statement released on November 10, Students for a Free Tibet’s Executive Director Pema Doma said, ”Since 1949, the Chinese government has tried to exterminate the Tibetan people through invasion and torture camps. Over the last 10 years of Xi Jinping’s reign, he has made it his goal to use China’s economic and technological resources to destroy the fabric of our identity through his policy of Sinicization. It is clear that delinking human rights from economic engagement has only better equipped China with the tools to commit genocide. The Biden Administration must make human rights a non-negotiable centerpiece of any further economic engagement with China.”
Another protesting group Hong Kong Democracy Council’s Executive Director Anna Kwok said, “The last time Xi set foot in the United States, Hong Kong was devoid of the horrors of the National Security Law. In just six years, Hong Kong was turned upside down by excessive police violence, incessant political repression, and a weaponized judiciary system. Xi’s ambition for a globalized authoritarian regime does not stop at the 1,688 political prisoners in Hong Kong, he continues to wage transnational repression and foreign influence campaigns internationally, including in the United States. President Biden must not give in to short-term economic benefits and illusionary cooperation. Xi – an architect of genocide – is not to be trusted.”
Amidst the protests and sloganeering seeking freedom of Tibet and Hong Kong, US President Joe Biden raised concerns about China’s “human rights abuses” in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.
“He raised concerns regarding PRC human rights abuses, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. On Taiwan, President Biden emphasized that our one China policy has not changed and has been consistent across decades and administrations. He reiterated that the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side, that we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, and that the world has an interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. He called for restraint in the PRC’s use of military activity in and around the Taiwan Strait,” a White House readout of President Biden’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart read.
Blinken looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole when Biden said Xi Jinping is a dictator. pic.twitter.com/jOPPAqxQQC
Following the meeting, Biden called Xi Jinping a is “dictator”. Biden’s remark came after a media person asked him if still considers Jinping a “dictator” as he once called him so. “Well, look, he is. He is a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is communist,” Biden said, adding that the Chinese government “is totally different than ours.”
APEC Summit
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum founded in 1989 to capitalise on the Asia-Pacific region’s growing interconnectedness. APEC is the principal forum for the United States to advance economic policy in the Asia-Pacific region in order to promote free, fair, and open trade and investment, as well as to advance sustainable and inclusive economic growth. The APEC members include Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Philippines; the Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; the United States of America; Vietnam.
A day after controversy erupted over a viral video of veteran Bollywood actor Nana Patekar slapping a fan as he tried to click a selfie in Varanasi, the actor released a video statement on Thursday (16th November). The actor clarified that there was a misunderstanding. The actor also apologised with folded hands seeking forgiveness and said that he would never make such a mistake again.
In the video message shared to his X profile, Nana Patekar said, “A video is going viral where I have hit a boy. Though this sequence is a part of our film, we had one rehearsal…We were scheduled to have a second rehearsal. The director told me to begin again. We were about to begin when the boy in the video came in. I didn’t know who he was, I thought he was one of our crew so I slapped him as per the scene and I told him to leave. Later, I came to know that he was not a part of the crew. So, I was going to call him back but he ran away. Maybe his friend shot the video. I have never said no to anybody for a photo. I don’t do this…This happened by mistake…If there is some misunderstanding, please forgive me…I never do such a thing and will never do anything like this. I wanted to apologise to him in person but he ran away. I was thinking the boy got slapped unnecessarily…we tried to find him but maybe out of fear he ran away,” Patekar said.
The video which is circulating on social media has been misinterpreted by many. What actually happened was a misunderstanding during the rehearsal of a shot from my upcoming film 'Journey'. pic.twitter.com/UwNClACGVG
The apology comes after a video of actor Nana Patekar slapping a fan on the head who attempted to snap a photo with him went viral online on November 15, Wednesday. The 10-second viral video was shot near Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi, where he is currently shooting his upcoming film, Journey.
वाराणसी – नाना पाटेकर ने अपने फैंस को जड़ा थप्पड़ , फिल्म की शूटिंग के दौरान सेल्फी लेने पहुंचा था फैंस
➡नाना पाटेकर ने थप्पड़ जड़कर फैंस को भगाया ➡सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल हुआ थप्पड़ मारने का वीडियो ➡वाराणसी में नाना पाटेकर कर रहे हैं फिल्म जर्नी की शूटिंग. #Varanasipic.twitter.com/cFewolIYBC
After the video of the incident went viral online, Anil Sharma, the director of the film claimed that Nana Patekar did not hit anyone and that the viral video is one of the scenes from the film.
He [Nana Patekar] has not slapped anyone, it is a shot from our film,” director Anil Sharma stated hours after the video of Nana hitting a boy went viral. People have a knack for making a fuss out of nothing… We are currently filming the film Journey in Benaras. In the film, Patekar’s character suffers from dementia. His mind is distracted, and a person approaches to take a picture with him. There were so many people gathered around us to witness the shoot. I think someone clicked this specific portion, which is actually one of the scenes from the film.”
On the 2nd of November, the Thomson Reuters Foundation posted an interesting and important thread on X about attacks against journalists and how important it is to investigate these attacks if free speech must prevail. In that thread, they spoke about an important aspect of this campaign to silence voices that the establishment might not agree with – Lawfare.
?️ At #TC2023, we convened experts to discuss how to mount a co-ordinated defence against this "lawfare".@USAID’s @laurenseyfried shared the role governments can play in addressing these attacks and finding effective solutions. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/yVdks9Hhsj
The thread spoke about how the law is being misused to stifle voices and free thinking by autocracies and democracies. For the past decade, I have observed in awe and amusement the shenanigans of the Left media establishment. What they wish to hold others accountable for, is par for the course when it comes to the left establishment silencing anyone who dares to disagree with them, or worse, call them out on their bold-faced lies. They want others to foster critical thinking and honour the freedom of speech of journalists, but, the rule applies only to those who the Left establishment deems worthy. They want others to be tolerant, but, only towards those whose intolerance they deem acceptable and just. They want the truth to prevail, however, only the truth which is convenient to their agenda. They want journalists who speak “truth to power” but only as long as it is to the powers they detest and certainly, only as long as THEY are not the powers being spoken the truth to.
Staying true to form, while they waxed eloquent about media freedom and ‘lawfare’ on the 2nd of November, on the 3rd, they did exactly what they claimed democracies and autocracies must not – fired a ‘cease and desist’ notice for an article published by OpIndia a year ago about how a Reuters journalist was lying through her teeth to blame Hindus for Islamist violence in Leicester.
When I read the notice first, I could not help but chuckle. I almost could not believe that I would have to give credence to this whiny invocation, dressed up as legal intimidation. The notice essentially declared that we need to pull down the article if we wish to avoid a legal entanglement simply because they said so. “It defames us”, they whined, without providing any explanation or reason as to how it defamed them.
In merely 6 paragraphs, Thomson Reuters Foundation laid bare, effortlessly, just how delusional they truly are. While I would ordinarily send this notice to the trash, I find it necessary to write about it publicly today – para by para. Not because they deserve a response to their delusions of grandeur, but because our readers need to know about the little games the global left media plays to ensure their shenanigans are not spoken of.
‘We advance media freedom – just not yours’
The first para of the notice reads, “We write to you from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We are a global news and information services company, which works to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies and promote human rights. Our journalists report from the ground in more than 70 countries on critical issues ranging from climate change to socio-economic inclusion”.
It is perhaps a function of the make-belief world they live in or just age-old trickery that they employ – but to start a ‘cease and desist’ notice to a media platform by claims of advancing media freedom would be hysterically funny if it was not downright dangerous. That Thomson Reuters Foundation truly believes they fight for media freedom while attempting to intimidate a digital news platform only proves that they truly do not believe that any media platform has the right to voice opinions that they do not agree with or facts which are inconvenient to their narrative.
Essentially, when they say that they fight for media freedom, they mean that the media that panders to their narrative should have the unequivocal and unquestioned right to spread fake news, downplay jihadi violence and paint the victims as the perpetrators. When they say they promote human rights, they mean that they are the authorities who have the ordained right to decide which humans have a right to life and dignity and which don’t.
Let us take a look at a case study to understand how committed Reuters is to the protection of human rights.
In 2021, a Sri Lankan man Priyantha Kumara was tortured and burnt to death by an irate Muslim mob that believed rumours of blasphemy. The incident took place on Wazirabad Road in Sialkot, where the workers of private factories attacked the export manager of a factory and burnt his body after killing him. In the video, the irate mob can be heard chanting “Nara e Taqbeer” and “Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah”. Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah essentially means “Here I am at your service, O Messenger of Allah”. Other slogans that could be heard as the fanatics burnt the man to death were ‘gustakh-e-nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda sar tan se juda’. Hours after this brutal murder, the video of which had gone viral, the mastermind of the lynching was heard gloating over the murder amidst chants of ‘Nara-e-Taqbir’, ‘Labbaik’ and ‘Allah hu Akbar’.
Now, those who claim to promote human rights should have been irate about the gross abuse of human rights in Pakistan – not Reuters. Instead, here is the headline they chose to go with.
Article by Reuters
By the headline of Reuters, one would think that this was a mob murder by “factory workers” due to some other reasons and not religious fanaticism.
While Reuters tried to downplay the brutal murder of the Sri Lankan man in Pakistan, where lynching over blasphemy charges has become a familiar sight, the paper had maligned Hindus when locals had killed Mohammad Akhlaq.
The headline that Reuters had chosen at the time was, “Hindu mob lynches Indian Muslim rumoured to have killed a cow”. Mohammad Akhlaq was killed in Dadri because of a rumour that he had stolen a cow and slaughtered it. While communal colour was given by the media to the case, the reality is that in rural India, killings over cow is far more about livelihood than about religious sentiments attached to cows. Cows are often the source of livelihood for several people in rural India and when the cow is stolen and slaughtered, more than religious sentiments, it is the livelihood that gets affected.
While Reuters shames Hindus constantly, not only did they shield the mob violence in Pakistan today, but they also tried to whitewash the attack against Hindus in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh, which is at least 91% Muslim-dominated, Hindus were being persecuted simply because they dared to be Hindu and pray to Maa Durga. As Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh started celebrating Durga Puja, Muslim mobs vandalised at least 20 pandals and desecrated the idols. After a false rumour of the Quran being desecrated, several more Durga Puja pandals were vandalised and over 150 Hindu families were attacked.
While Hindus were being massacred, Reuters wrote an article talking about how Bangladesh was rallying behind Hindus. In fact, Reuters had also called the blind attack a “clash”, insinuating that Hindus and Muslims had “clashed” and that the attack was not a one-sided assault on Hindus.
Article by Reuters
OpIndia, therefore, rejects the idiotic assertions that the Thomson Reuters Foundation upholds media freedom or fights to further human rights. They don’t. What they do is fight for their and their coterie’s right to spread misinformation, and fake news and silence the voices of those who disagree with them. What they do is choose which victim deserves to live and which victim’s brutal murder is par for the course. What they do is downplay the murder of Hindus and revel in watching them burn while shielding the Islamists who unleash violence on Kafirs. They may be a “global news and information services company“, but they should stop patting themselves on the back for doing a fair job at it.
“Your article discredits integrity and credibility”
In the second para, TRF says, “It has come to our attention that you have published an article titled “Reuters journalist blames Indian Hindus for Islamist violence against Hindus in Leicester; Scroll amplifies the fake narrative” authored by Dibakar Dutta and published by OpIndia online on 7th October 2022 (“At-issue Content”). We have examined the At-issue Content and find it to be grossly abusive, false and defamatory, which discredits the integrity and credibility of our journalist Rina Chandran and our organisation”.
Let me place on record at the very outset that if the OpIndia article in question has “come to your attention” after over 1 year of its publication, TRF must concede that they are not very professional, not very good at their job and not very bright either.
We would also contend that simply because TRF says so, does not mean that the journalist Rina Chandra or TRF itself has any integrity and/or credibility. We categorically believe that neither Rina Chandran nor TRF has the integrity or credibility they imagine, and therefore, our article cannot possibly impugn what does not exist in the first place.
‘Defamatory and malicious arguments’
TRF in their notice further says, “The At-issue Content alleges that Rina “has a history of peddling fake news” in addition to other allegations which are defamatory and malicious. Through your publication, you have made several false allegations against our journalist thereby damaging the reputation of our organisation and its journalists. Our journalists conduct themselves with utmost professionalism and integrity and adhere to the Trust Principles which strictly demand that they act at all times with integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Any attempts to tarnish the reputation of our journalists are taken seriously”.
Firstly, TRF took a year to wake up to the article on OpIndia and therefore, I find it a little hard to believe their claim that “any attempts to tarnish the reputation of our journalists are taken seriously”. If TRF was as serious as it claims to be, it would not be sleeping for a year. Since it is not my job to correct what is clearly broken at TRF as an organisation, I would move on and discuss what OpIndia actually covered.
The article that TRF is hopping mad about (1 year after its publication) is one where we covered how Rina Chandran, a Reuters journalist, blamed Indian Hindus for Islamist violence at Leicester, based on fake news spread by Islamists, and how Scroll had amplified this false narrative peddled by Chandran and Reuters.
On October 4th 2022, in a propaganda piece published in ‘Context’ (a media platform run by Thomas Reuters Foundation), Chandran alleged that disinformation, which supposedly originated in India, was the cause of Hindu-Muslim unrest in Leicester city in England’s East Midlands region.
Rina Chandran’s article
“Rumour had it that a Muslim girl had been kidnapped and a Hindu temple had sent masked thugs into combat,” she wrote, without mentioning that both these rumours were conceived in Leicester and disseminated by the Islamists living there. Opindia reported how Islamists had blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for supposedly trying to kidnap a 15-year-old Muslim girl. A Hindu man was dubbed as a paedophile and his address was leaked on Facebook, as part of the onslaught. Later, it turned out to be fake news.
Indian Hindus and Hindus in general even from Leicester had nothing to do with the conception or spread of this fake news. It was on the 12th of September that the rumours of the kidnapping had been conceptualised and spread – it was not by Hindus – but by Majid Freeman – the Al Qaeda and ISIS supporting Jihadi who Reuters and Chandran seem to be shielding by blaming Hindus.
In our article that TRF has taken umbrage to, we wrote, “The ‘brown sepoy’ shrewdly pointed out the fake stories without specifying the group that spread it in the first place. For the fake abduction story of a Muslim girl, she conceded that it was debunked by the police without mentioning that Islamists deliberately spread it to create a foundation for violence against Hindus”.
We stand by this assertion.
“…Police took to social media themselves, saying they had fully investigated reports of three men approaching a teenaged girl in an attempted kidnap, and found no truth whatsoever to the online story,” she had written.
Rina Chandran in her article mentions that the kidnapping story turned out to be completely false, but fails to mention, as we wrote, that it was Islamists like Majid Freeman who started the rumour. She mentions the rumours instead in an article blaming Hindus insinuating that it was the Hindus who started this rumour.
In our 2022 article, we further wrote, “Opindia had also reported how Islamists tried to mainstream the conspiracy theory that ‘truckloads of RSS workers’ were brought to Leicester by a travel agency named ‘Angel Tours’, with the support of a local Hindu temple.“Fact-checkers also found no truth to claims that gangs of masked thugs were bussed into Leicester,” Rina Chandran wrote, again without mentioning the community that was at the helm of this fake news”.
This is literally not a figment of OpIndia’s imagination. We have quoted Rina Chandran verbatim and pointed out the holes in her theory that the Leicester viokence was fuelled from fake news which was spread by Hindus – Indian or the ones in Leicester.
Further in the article, we counter the strange “fact-check” that Rina Chandran seems to have relied on. Essentially, she relies on Logically analysis to claim that fake news originated from India. Logically had based their assertion on the fact that according to them, most “tweets about Leicester violence” came from India.
“Some 80% of tweets with geographic coordinates, or geo-tagged information, were connected to India, Logically said,” the Reuters journalist wrote. While this might be true, there is no reason to assume that those 80% geo-tagged tweets actually contained fake news. We countered saying, “Given that the Hindu population in India is close to a billion and that the community was concerned about the atrocities committed by Islamists in far-off Leicester, it explains why most tweets demanding justice for Hindus were from India”.
We stand by that assertion and believe that Rina Chandran relied on such dubious data only to blame Hindus and shift focus from the Islamist violence without any integrity or professionalism that TRF claims its journalists have.
In fact, a UK Hindu reached out to us subsequently and revealed that a professional service had emailed her saying that only 20-25% of the total tweets were geo-tagged.
I have an old email quote from a professional service about exporting tweets for me on Leicester. He said there were 200K and only 20-30% had geolocation. Fyi, that's still not solid proof of geolocation since you can put anything and twitter doesn't check it.
We perused the email that Ms Sarah Gates was referring to and the professional service did indeed confirm that only 20-25% of tweets had a geotag – which also does not prove anything since on Twitter, a user can tag any location and it is not necessarily authentic.
This further information only strengthens our stand. Essentially, Rina Chandran wrote an entire article blaming Hindus for misinformation, mentioning fake news incidents by Islamists without mentioning that they were spread by Islamists, and a data set that only talks about how many tweets originated from India – whereas, only 20-25% of the total tweets about Leicester were geo-tagged (data which is in itself not reliable).
In the article, we have furthered innumerated some instances of her anti-Hindu bias, based on her own tweets.
TRF certainly can’t hold us responsible for pointing out Rina Chandran’s anti-Hindu bias based on her own writing. Perhaps if they think it dents the journalist’s and their fictitious credibility, they should ask Chandran to be more mindful before publicising her own hateful opinions.
It is in this light, that we would like to assert the following:
The article is not ‘grossly abusive’. It is factual.
There are no false allegations in the article – the article on OpIndia quotes Rina Chandran verbatim.
The article is not defamatory – we contend that the TRF journalist has no ‘fame or reputation’ for the article to defame her. Further, we assert that the truth is the ultimate defence to defamation. If TRF believes that Rina Chandran’s own words and writings defame her or the institution, they should take it up with their journalist – not us.
TRF would not know what “integrity and credibility” means even if they hit them in the face. We cannot impugn what does not exist.
“We demand”, TRF says. “Request denied”, we say.
In the 4th paragraph, TRF writes, “We demand you to immediately: (i) permanently take down, the At-issue Content, and any adaptations of it or any other similar statements which contain defamatory content pertaining to us or any of our employees, from any and all print and electronic media platforms; and (ii) cease and desist from making, circulating or publishing any malicious, and/or defamatory statements, imputations, insinuations, or allegations, pertaining us or any of our employees, either orally or in writing, through any print, or electronic media platforms”.
As the editor-in-chief of OpIndia, I would like to categorically state that we reject these “demands” by TRF. We are not taking the article down. We are not taking down its adaptation in the form of a Twitter thread we published. And we will not refrain from pointing out the lies, misrepresentations and anti-Hindu bias that TRF seems to harbour.
Finally, TRF writes, “In case of your failure or any delay in implementing both (i) and (ii) above within a period of ten (10) days from the receipt of this letter, we reserve the right to pursue appropriate legal proceedings”.
I am going to try and level with TRF. Recently, a report suggested that they had journalists embedded with Hamas – a terror organisation which massacred 1400 innocent Jews – murdering them, raping them, beheading them – including little babies.
In the reports published by wire agencies, there were photographs depicting a burning Israeli tank and a lynch mob brutalising an Israeli soldier. These photographs were clicked by photojournalists Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih. Shockingly, the report alleged the photograph of lynching was mentioned as the “photograph of the day” by Reuters editors in the editorial database.
You are a news organisation that thinks it is appropriate to post an image of a soldier getting lynched as an “image of the day” by “journalists” who probably had prior knowledge of the Hamas terror attack against Israeli civilians.
You are a global news and information services company which tried to whitewash the Islamist violence at Nuh against Hindus, you pinned down dissenters while pontificating on democracy – remember Jose Vega, Kynan Thistlethwaite and Sam Nettnin? You spoke about an Indian gangster’s political affiliations but not his criminal past simply because you dislike who India voted to power – remember Atiq Ahmad? You feasted on the dead and revelled in Hindu cremations during COVID. You got a Chinese company to fund an article praising an opposition party in India, amounting to internal interference. While you whitewash Islamist violence against Hindus, your journalists came to our country and occupied palatial bungalows in Kashmir. You lie. You obfuscate. You whitewash Jihadis. You revel in the sight of dead Hindus.
I would humbly suggest that you focus on ensuring that you don’t collaborate with Hamas terrorists disguised as journalists instead of asking OpIndia to ‘cease and desist’ from reporting about your shenanigans.
As the editor-in-chief of OpIndia, I reject your demands and ask you, politely, to go squat in a cactus patch.
On 15th November, hundreds of Muslims demonstrated outside Coldplay’s first-ever performance in Indonesia. They clashed with police and booed fans because the band supports the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer, and more identities) community.
Source: Associated Press
The British rock group’s viewpoints on LGBTQ issues prompted some Islamic groups to demand that their first-ever performance in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority country, should be canceled. The band’s Music of the Spheres World Tour included a performance at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium for which more than 70,000 tickets were snapped up in a matter of hours when they went on sale in May this year.
CNA reportedly that at least 300 Muslims gathered outside the stadium before the event to protest and hold banners condemning the show. When approached by police, the demonstrators, many of whom belonged to an organisation which dubbed itself as the “anti-LGBT movement” began to shove and fight with the officers.
According to local media accounts, they yelled charges that concertgoers were LGBTQ+ supporters and heckled them as they arrived at the stadium. The attendees carried a big banner that read, “Reject, cancel and disband Coldplay concerts,” as they marched roughly a kilometre from the Jakarta concert venue where the band was scheduled to play.
Source: Associated Press
They labeled the band “propagandists for the LGBTQ+ community” and claimed that their views undermine “faith and morals.” Last week, the same protest group launched protests at the British Embassy and other locations in Jakarta.
Homosexuality is not criminalised across most of Indonesia, except for the conservative Aceh region which upholds stringent Islamic regulations. However, in the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world, where homosexuality is still frowned upon, gay couples frequently endure discrimination and persecution.
The decision to continue the concert was slammed by Anwar Abbas, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s most influential Islamic regulatory agency. “We know that Coldplay supports LGBT, but now the question is, is the LGBT behaviour in line with our constitution,” he asked in an interview. He added, “There are six religions recognised in this country, and not one of them allows and tolerates LGBT practice.”
The demonstrators lacked authorisation to stage a rally, according to Jakarta police spokesperson Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, who talked with the media. The police deployed nearly 4,000 officers to secure the sold-out concert.
Coldplay have a reputation for incorporating their moral principles into their performances. One example is their support of environmental sustainability. During performances, lead vocalist Chris Martin has been known to wave gay pride flags and dress in rainbow colours.
The protests occurred after LGBTQ+-related concerns caused Southeast Asian concerts to be scrapped earlier this year. The Malaysian government abruptly ended a music festival in response to the lead singer of the British pop rock group ‘The 1975’ attacking the nation’s anti-gay legislation and kissing a male bandmate while performing which led to the band withdrawing its July dates in Jakarta and Taipei.
After Muslim extremists threatened that they would wage out violence if Lady Gaga went through with her “Born This Way Ball” concert in Indonesia in 2012, the pop singer had to postpone her sold-out performance due to security concerns.
Notably, with 1.6 million followers, Jakarta is one of Coldplay’s major streaming destinations. The band has not commented on the protests as of yet.
On Wednesday (15th November), Pakistani cricket fans and former cricketeres came up with a new conspiracy theory against India’s cricket team which has now reached the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. Former Pakistani Test cricketer Sikandar Bakht said during a Pakistani TV show that India’s captain Rohit Sharma deliberately throws the coin far away during the toss to dupe the opposition captain. Many other Pakistani cricket fans have also tweeted and peddled this conspiracy theory.
Sikandar Bakht said in a Pakistani TV show on the ICC Cricket World Cup, “I want to ask a question. If we can show all the tosses so far. Whenever Rohit Sharma tosses the coin, he throws it far away. The captain of the other team does not go to the coin and check if the toss call is correctly assessed or not.” After this remark, the Pakistani TV channel showed a video clip of all the tosses wherein Rohit Sharma is seen tossing the coin.
The TV channel also showed the tosses between captains of other cricket teams to assert that these players do not throw the coin as far away as Rohit Sharma and that the result of the toss call is easily verifiable to the opposition captain standing nearby.
This is the latest controversy peddled by Pakistani cricketers and cricket fans to discredit the impressive performance of the Indian cricket team in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. Earlier, many such conspiracy theories were invented by Pakistani cricket enthusiasts and former cricket players to set a narrative that things in the current edition of the Cricket World Cup are fixed or set in order to benefit the Indian cricket team.
Former cricketer Hasan Raza, while appearing on a Pakistani news channel, had said that ICC or BCCI is providing some special kind of balls only to Indian bowlers due to which Indian bowlers like Shami and Siraj are getting swings even on batting pitches. Hasan Raza also asserted that there should be an ‘inspection’ of balls provided by the ICC. He also alleged that decisions are being made in favour of India in the matter of DRS. Reacting to Hasan Raza’s baseless and senseless assertion, former Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram lambasted Hasan Raza saying that he too wants to try the same drugs these people (Hasan Raza) are smoking.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was also accused of forcing a last-minute change of pitch ahead of India’s semifinal against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. International Cricket Council (ICC) later replied to these claims and clarified that changes to the scheduled pitch are normal and were made at the venue curator’s request. Now, Pakistani cricket fans have come up with this new conspiracy theory against the Indian cricket team.
