In an act of brazen Hinduphobia, Khalistani extremists, presumably in the United Kingdom, poured gau mutra on the Indian flag and asked PM Rishi Sunak to drink it, a video of which has gone viral on the internet.
Khalistani extremists pour Gau Mutra on the Indian Flag and ask UK PM Rishi Sunak to drink it
In the undated video, a Khalistani extremist is seen sprinkling gau mutra over the Indian flag and derisively asking the UK PM Rishi Sunak, who has been unapologetic about his Hindu roots, to have it if he wants to drink it.
While when the video was shot and uploaded on the internet is not yet known, it is worth noting that the clip surfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the wake of Canada’s allegations against India over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau had alleged that the Indian government had authorised the killing of Nijjar, touching off an escalating diplomatic row between Ontario and New Delhi. India has rejected the allegations.
But the tensions between the two countries have brought to the fore the chronic issue of Khalistani terrorists finding safe havens in Western countries that pontificate the world over fighting terrorism while turning a blind eye, and sometimes actively sheltering anti-social elements involved in secessionist activities in their native countries.
Nijjar, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, with a Rs 10 lakh cash reward on his head, was shot dead on June 18 by two unidentified shooters outside a gurudwara in Surrey. He was the Khalistan Tiger Force’s (KTF) commander. Months later, Trudeau claimed that India had authorised the killing, without offering supporting evidence to back his claim.
In a strongly worded statement, India said that Canada’s claims appeared to be “politically motivated” and urged the Trudeau government to crack down hard on terrorists and anti-India elements operating on its soil. As a result of the diplomatic blockade over Nijjar’s murder, India has now suspended visa services for Canadians.
The incident also reflects the alarming rise in Hinduphobia in the West, with Khalistani extremists, Islamists, and their intellectual supporters routinely indulging in ridiculing, dehumanising, and demonising Hindus to promote their vested interests.
Hours after a Catholic Christian priest joined the BJP on 2nd October (Monday), the Bishop of Idukki Mar John Nellikunnel suspended the priest from pastoral duties in Mankuva church, Kerala. The religious body claimed that the suspension was temporary as further action against the priest would be taken later.
FLASH: The Diocese of Idukki has taken action against Catholic priest Fr. Kuriakkose Mattam for his affiliation with the BJP.
In response to his BJP membership, the diocese issued a press release announcing his temporary suspension from his role as vicar of Mankuva church.…
A press release issued by the diocese on Monday night stated, “Fr Kuriakose Mattam has been removed, temporarily, from the post of vicar (priest) of Mankuva church.” It is important to note that a diocese refers to an area that contains a number of churches, for which a bishop is responsible. Simply put, dicose is the territorial jurisdiction of a bishop.
The chairman of the media commission of the Idukki diocese Fr. Jins Karakkat stated that the priest joined the BJP without the permission of the bishop. Fr. Karakkat said, “As per the canon law and the Catholic Church rules priests cannot join any political party.”
Earlier, the bishop of the diocese, under the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, had convened an emergency meeting after it it learned that one of their priests had defied church rules and taken membership in a political party. As per media reports, the bishop will appoint a commission to inquire about the incident.
Regarding this, media head Fr. Karakkatt added, “Commission members will collect details from the priest and parish members. After the commission submits its report, the Church will take further steps.”
The development comes after a Catholic priest of the Syro-Malabar Church formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. Reportedly, in a historic first, 73-year-old Fr. Kuriakose Mattam, the vicar of St. Thomas Church in Mankuva which comes under the jurisdiction of Idukki diocese, took the primary membership of the BJP on 2nd October.
The priest Mattam received his party membership from KS Aji who is the president of BJP’s Idukki district unit. Aji also shared photographs from the event on his social media platforms.
BJP district president Aji said, ‘‘As part of the membership campaign, we contacted the priest and the priest sought to join and work for the party. The joining of Fr. Mattam indicates that the Christian sympathy is with BJP.”
Wearing a saffron shawl, Fr Mattam asserted that he does not think BJP was an anti-Christian party. He added that the BJP has never been out of bounds for the Christians of Kerala.
Regarding his decision to join the BJP, he said, “It is essential for our times that people of all faiths should come together. I hope to get more opportunities to work together.”
Before the church suspended him, Fr Mattam had been serving as the parish priest of St Thomas Church, Mankuva for the last three years and he had two more years until retirement.
On Tuesday, 3 October, India directed Canada to withdraw dozens of ambassadors from the country, escalating a crisis sparked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks that New Delhi may have been involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh who was a wanted terrorist in India.
According to the Financial Times reports, Ottawa has been advised by New Delhi that it must repatriate approximately 40 diplomats by October 10. India also is planning to strip diplomatic immunity for diplomats who continue to stay after that date. Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said the total should be reduced by 41, the report said.
After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently claimed that the Indian government was behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the diplomatic relationship between New Delhi and Ottawa reached a low point. Nijjar, a terrorist in India, was shot down outside a Gurdwara parking lot in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on 18 June this year.
During a discussion in the Canadian Parliament, Trudeau said that Canada’s national security officials had cause to think that “agents of the Indian government” killed Nijjar, who was also the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. However, India has categorically denied the charges, calling them “absurd” and “motivated.”
Meanwhile, the report by Financial Times indicated that India though rejected the claims, didn’t completely deny its involvement in the case. “India did not admit involvement in the murder but did not deny the claim, according to people familiar with the meetings. The Indian government said it had rejected the allegations,” the report quoted.
It said that Trudeau’s assertion in the Parliament came after weeks of secret diplomacy with India failed to win India’s cooperation in the police investigation into Nijjar’s murder. “The murder was also the focus of Trudeau’s meeting with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi at the G20 when the Indian side flatly refused a request for cooperation. In earlier meetings, India had even urged Canada to halt the inquiry,” it said.
Like most of the other Western publications, the Financial Times has shifted the burden of proving India’s involvement in the killing of Nijjar from Ontario to New Delhi, blaming India for being responsible for not denying the allegations convincingly enough for the West’s liking and Trudeau’s failure to furnish evidence that buttress his claims. It, nevertheless, reflects the innate racism of the West toward the Oriental world, especially toward India, as it continues to be governed by one of the most powerful governments that the country has seen in over three decades, catapulting it towards the milestone of becoming the third largest economy while being among the fastest growing nation in the present.
Notably, last week, India’s EAM S Jaishankar said that the said incident was not consistent with India’s policy. The EAM had accused Canada of extending support to the Sikh separatists and targeting India over the case.
Addressing a press conference in Washington DC, Jaishankar said freedom of expression should not extend to incitement of violence. He was hinting at the Khalistani terror activities that have often targeted Indian embassies in Canada.
“I flagged here (in the US), and I flagged this to the Canadians as well. We are a democracy. We don’t need to learn from other people what freedom of speech is about, but we can tell people this, we don’t think freedom of speech extends to incitement to violence. That to us, is the misuse of freedom, that’s not defence of freedom,” the EAM reportedly said.
Nijjar, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, with a Rs 10 lakh cash reward on his head, was shot dead on June 18 by two unidentified shooters outside a gurudwara in Surrey. He was the Khalistan Tiger Force’s (KTF) commander.
In a strongly worded statement, India said that Canada’s claims appeared to be “politically motivated” and urged the Trudeau government to crack down hard on terrorists and anti-India elements operating on its soil. As a result of the diplomatic blockade over Nijjar’s murder, India has now suspended visa services for Canadians.
Recently, on September 25, the Indian Government also announced that it was in the process of cancelling the registration of over a dozen Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders for carrying out pro-Khalistan activities and anti-India propaganda.
On Friday, 29th of September, the house of one of the Bajrang Dal workers was attacked by a mob of Islamists in Pune city of Maharashtra. The victim Hindu worker has been identified as Suraj Chakradhar. The Islamists attacked the victim’s house and also abused the female members of the house. The crowd is said to have attacked Suraj for allegedly stopping Maulana’s car during Ganpati Visarjan.
Suraj, on the other hand, had videotaped the incident in which everyone gave way to the vehicle that belonged to the Maulana. Suraj’s complaint is yet to be investigated by the police. Suraj told OpIndia that he was the target of extremists because he has been vocal for cow protection and against love jihad.
This case comes from the Manchar police station region of Pune’s Ambegaon region. Suraj’s motherfileda police report on Monday, 2nd October, 2023. According to the complaint, a gathering of 150 to 200 Muslims gathered at his residence on 29th September.
The enraged crowd had arrived at Suraj Chakradhar’s residence but Suraj, by chance, was not at home. As they couldn’t find Suraj, the mob started messing with the women present in his house. Suraj’s mother reports that during the incident, a Muslim mob threw stones at their house. They smashed the doors and abused the women in the house.
Additionally, the mob inquired as to whether Suraj was associated with Bajrang Dal. “Wherever he is found,” Suraj’s mother was told, “his hands and legs will be broken.” This video has also gone viral on social media.
Mob including hundreds of Islamists led by PFI members launched an attack on the residence of Hindu activist Suraj Dharam in Manchar, Pune, Maharashtra.
Attackers have been identified as Riyaz Jamadar, Israr Pathan, Azam Momin, Qayyum Pathan among others. pic.twitter.com/Qn81NPovTS
Suraj’s mother has also named a few people from the crowd. The accused whose names have been mentioned in the complaint copy are – Riyaz Jamadar, Israr Shahbaz Khan Pathan, Azam Momin, Qayyum Pathan, Meeran Anees Inamdar, Aaqib Rehman Attar, Aman Rehman Attar, Mohammad Sartaj Ali Jamadar, Tarbez Mukhtar Qureshi, Danish Siraj Momin, Tauqeer Mohammad Matin Jamadar, Adnan Mohammad, and Javed Shaikh.
The complaint additionally mentions Mohammad Sabir Rizwan Ali Syed, Irfan Tahjan Mandal, Azhar Siraj Momin, Atiq Wasim Inamdar, Uzef Wasim Inamdar, Asif Khan, Zia Ahmed Imtiaz Jamadar, Rehan Rizwan Inamdar, Shahbaz Ali Inamdar, Saqlain Sarfaraz Inamdar, Mohammad Fazal Shaikh.
Suraj’s mother stated in the complaint that a Ganpati immersion procession was taking place outside their house at around 11:50 PM the day before the incident, on September 28. Eventually, several people tried to crush the crowd by ramming a four-wheeler through the middle of the procession.
The Hindu procession participants, on the other hand, gave way to the Muslim vehicle without a struggle or disagreement. Regardless, after a while, members of the Muslim community assembled at the police station to file a complaint against those involved in the Ganesh Visarjan Yatra. OpIndia has a video in which Hindu organisations freely give way to the vehicle of the Muslim community.
Suraj’s mother has requested police protection, claiming that her entire family faces a threat. In addition, after reviewing the CCTV and video of the incident, she expressed hope that harsh action would be taken against all of the perpetrators.
Suraj, the Bajrang Dal worker, was approached by OpIndia seeking information on this case. Suraj stated that his home is in a Muslim-dominated area. He stated that he has long been a target of Islamists due to his views on matters such as love jihad and cow slaughter.
Suraj told us that he had gone to get medicines for his ill mother during the attack. He says that if he had been discovered at home, a crowd of Muslims would have undoubtedly attacked him because the attackers were shouting slogans about his murder. According to Suraj, many outsiders were also included in the crowd that came to his house.
On 3rd October, the Gujarati daily ‘Divya Bhaskar’ published a report in its Ahmedabad edition claiming four youths attacked a Muslim man and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. As per the report, a Muslim youth from the Madhupura area of Ahmedabad was attacked by four Hindu youths, in which the victim got seriously injured.
Source: Divya bhaskar
Divya Bhaskar stated that 20-year-old Ali Talib Hussain, a native of Uttar Pradesh, lives with his brother Mohammad Sheharoz Talib Hussain in Madhupura, Ahmedabad. Ali filed a complaint with the Police in which he alleged that on the evening of 1st October, he was at home when his brother Sheharoz came and informed him that he had a dispute with some people and 3-4 men had come to attack him. Furthermore, reports suggest that Sheharoz was severely injured in the attack, after which Ali took him to the hospital.
Divya Bhaskar claimed that the Hindu youths forced the Muslim youth to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, which led to a physical confrontation.
OpIndia’s investigation revealed Divya Bhaskar’s version was misleading
OpIndia investigated the matter and found that the version presented by Divya Bhaskar was inaccurate. Speaking to OpIndia Police Inspector N Dharusa, who is investigating the matter, said that the Hindu youths did not force the Muslim youth to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. There was a misunderstanding between the two groups that led to the confrontation. However, there was no religious angle to the matter.
Furthermore, the Police said there was a language gap between Hindu and Muslim youth. Two Hindu youth have a habit of greeting everyone with Jai Shri Ram. The Muslim youth thought they were speaking to him, which led to an altercation. There was a misunderstanding as he only understood Hindi and the Hindu youths were speaking in Gujarati.
As the situation escalated, they got into a physical confrontation, leading to a Muslim youth sustaining injuries in the face. The Police categorically denied any religious angle to the matter and said that the claims of mob lynching were false.
Though the Muslim youth claimed he was beaten up for not chanting Jai Shri Ram in his complaint, the police investigation is still not completed. However, Divya Bhaskar presented as if the version in the complaint was 100 per cent true, which was misleading.
On 3rd October (Tuesday), Congress leader Udit Raj joined other I.N.D.I. alliance leaders in making anti-Sanatan (also known as Hindu Dharma) remarks. While speaking to ANI, he claimed that Sanatan Dharma is nothing. He alleged that people have been fooled in the name of Sanatan but it would not continue any longer.
According to Udit Raj, if there is anything that is Sanatan it is the caste system (Jati). Speaking against Sanatan Dharma, the I.N.D.I. Alliance leader, Udit Raj ranted, “Sanatan is nothing. If there is Sanatan, there is caste…They have been fooling us and trying to get our votes on the name of Sanatan. Now, they won’t be able to do it any longer.”
#WATCH | Delhi: Congress leader Udit Raj says, "Sanatana is nothing. 'Sanatana hai toh jaati hai, jaati hi shaaswat hai, Sanatana kuch nahi hai.' They have been fooling us and trying to get our votes on the name of Sanatana…" pic.twitter.com/7FP8oDPcGl
The Congress leader inquired if everyone was Sanatani, why some castes got reservations and quotas. Trivialising Sanatan Dharma, he equated it with the caste system and claimed that Sanatan is the same as caste.
Udit Raj added, “If everyone is ‘Sanatani’, why do only some castes get reservations and preferences in jobs? Why is there inequality among people? Sanatan and caste are one thing.”
He made this remark while responding to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s comment given a day earlier. Notably, on 2nd of October (Monday), UP CM Adityanath addressed the concluding session of ‘Shrimad Bhagwat Katha Gyan Yagya’ which was held at the Gorakhnath temple.
Speaking at the event, UP CM said, “Sanatan Dharma is the religion of humanity, and any attack on it will put entire humanity in danger.” Asserting that Sanatan Dharma is the only religion, he added that the rest of the religions are all “sects or methods of worship”.
Earlier on 13th September, Yogi Adityanath stated that Sanatan Dharma is the national religion of the country. He expressed regret that certain Indian citizens continue to deride the Sanatan Dharma which has long been persecuted.
Prior to that, on 7th September, UP CM had lambasted leaders of the I.N.D.I. alliance for brazenly attacking Sanatan Dharma and giving hate speeches against the Hindu religion. In a scathing attack, the Chief Minister referred to those leaders of I.N.D.I. Alliance as “political parasites” and categorically stated that when Ravan could not destroy Sanatan Dharma with all his arrogance, how can “political parasites” do so?
These statements come in the wake of a spree of hate speeches by leaders of the I.N.D.I. Alliance who have brazenly derided Sanatan (Hindu) Dharma by equating it with diseases.
The attacks on Sanatan Dharma escalated after the speech given by the son of Tamil Nadu CM, Udhayanidhi Stalin. Speaking at “Eradicate Sanatan Conference”, the DMK leader said, “Mosquitoes, dengue, flu, malaria, corona – we should not oppose these things. They’ve to be eradicated completely. The same is the case with Santanam (Hinduism). Our first work should be to abolish/eradicate Sanatanam instead of opposing it.”
Since then, many more DMK, Congress, VCK, SP and CPI(M) leaders have given deplorable anti-Sanatan remarks.
In a scathing attack on the BRS in Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that state Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) wanted to join NDA to seek BJP’s support after the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections but he refused the offer due to “deeds” of the ruling dispensation.
Addressing a rally here, PM Modi told the gathering that he is going to tell a secret he has not spoken so far.
“When BJP won 48 seats in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election, KCR needed support. Before this election, he used to welcome me at the airport, but later suddenly he stopped doing so,” the Prime Minister said.
“KCR came to meet me in Delhi…he started telling me that the country is progressing under your leadership, and said that he wanted to join NDA. He also asked me to extend support to him. I told him (KCR) that due to his deeds, Modi cannot associate with him,” he added.
The Prime Minister said the BJP cannot deceive the people of Telangana. NDA is led by the BJP.
“I refused (him) entry to NDA,” PM Modi said.
He said that the 48 seats won by the BJP in the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in December 2020 are the “start of the process to change the fate of Telangana”.
The Prime Minister said that K Chandrashekar Rao again approached him and told him that he was going to hand over all “karobar” to his son KT Rama Rao (KTR) and “sought my blessings”.
The Prime Minister said he told KCR that it is a democracy and his successor will be decided by the people of Telangana.
“Are you a king who will decide?” the Prime Minister asked.
Referring to KCR not coming to his functions, PM Modi said that the “corrupt” cannot sit in his company and “are running (away)”.
PM Modi said if BJP comes to power, it will “expose corruption” of the BRS government.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
The Delhi Police has raided the homes of at least eight journalists associated with NewsClick. The case is related to the acceptance of crores of rupees in funding from China to write and speak against India and spread Chinese propaganda. Since the matter is related to journalists, particularly the leftist media gang, it has been linked to “freedom of the press” online.
Renowned senior journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai even started questioning the police saying that police did not have any warrant or FIR for the raids conducted at the homes of journalists/writers and the confiscation of their mobiles and laptops. Linking everyday news like police raids with democracy, Rajdeep asked, “Since when did journalists become enemies of the state?”
A journalist of Rajdeep’s stature needs to merely make one or two phone calls to find out whether or not the police had warrants or FIRs to search the houses of journalists associated with NewsClick and confiscate their electronic gadgets etc. He didn’t do that. In order to create a buzz on social media, he gave incomplete information.
The only thing that can be said about the question “Since when did journalists become enemies of the state?”, one can answer it with the following
1.) How is propaganda done by taking money?
2.) How can propaganda be done by paying money?
3.) How can China spread its message, its politics, its diplomacy by paying salaries to the people of India in the name of a content company?
4.) If Indian people work in a Chinese company and take salary from there, will they start writing and speaking against their own country?
Whatever questions Rajdeep and journalists like him are raising, I have the answer for them.
I have worked for two different Chinese companies for about four years (from 2016 to last month of 2019). Both the companies were related to content. The work was related to news. All the employees who wrote and spoke at both places were from India. There was not a single Chinese person in the editorial team. The reason behind giving such details is because the next line is shocking. Of course, all of us in the editorial team were Indians, but the editorial policies came from Beijing. We all had to work according to an Excel sheet.
What was there in that Excel sheet?
Be it any topic related to content, news, media – instructions were written in detail. Be it porn, nudity or obscenity – all instructions came from Beijing only. Be it economy, foreign policy, corporate world – the editorial policy was decided by the team from Beijing.
Let us understand with a small example. After the initial hiring, our then-editor decided that topics like banking/corporate/insurance etc. would fall within the economy category. The Indian media largely follows this.
The Chinese team could not understand this, nor could it explain its arguments to us. After this, they called the entire team (Hindi-English) to Beijing at a huge expense, gave everyone a month’s training and explained that there would be a corporate parent category, which would look after the economy/banking/insurance etc.
After this entire episode, the Chinese management understood that if they wanted to run a content-related office in India, it would be difficult to manage it from Beijing. After this, two to four Chinese people started living permanently in our Gurgaon office. They would arrive on visa.
There came a point in time when Chinese faces were more visible in our office than Indian faces. Among these, one to two were always those who had done Hindi courses either from some university in China or from some institute in India. They did not prepare Hindi content because they did not have the required qualification but they were always in the office. Can’t say for certain but can speculate that maybe they were there to listen to our conversation!
The Chinese who lived in the office had a fast typing speed. They always kept chatting with the team in Beijing. From there, the instructions given in Chinese were translated into English and Hindi in Gurgaon and added to the Excel sheet. Even if it was broken English or Hindi, they would do this practice. The Indian team did not have the right to edit it.
What not to do – an Excel sheet for this too
The Excel sheet I talked about above was used to instruct how something had to be done, but that was not all. It is also important for the leftist journalists/writers, who compare “freedom of press” in communist countries like China with India and whine about it in India, to know that there was an Excel sheet which listed the subjects that were not to be written and spoken about. Not only this, as a news aggregator, it was also our job to hide the news coming from any channel/website related to these topics.
What were those topics which the Chinese management did not want to show the public?:
Any anti-China news
News related to Arunachal Pradesh
Any news about Dalai Lama
News related to Tibet
Any news from Taiwan
Hong Kong news
News and photos of Tiananmen Square and the rebellion there
No sexy photo/video of Chinese actresses
After all, at whom were the Chinese companies targeting a particular type of content as part of their propaganda? They were targeting the people of India. By taking news from the Indian media houses, these companies spread their work against India through their apps. All those working for these companies were Indians, including me. Don’t know about the others, but for me, salary was the only reason behind this.
Now let us go back to the news about NewsClick. Let us go back to that mindset which believes that – “Since when did journalists become enemies of the state?” The editorial policy that I discussed above, based on which I earned my salary for 4 years, were/are the editors of NewsClick working on similar lines or are they truly the harbingers of “freedom of the press”?
What kind of Tibet-related news being run in NewsClick and why is Kashmir in it?
Why only one news on Arunachal Pradesh in NewsClick?
Guage the nature of news related to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in NewsClick.
Why is there no news about or related to Dalai Lama on NewsClick?
I have selected just four news topics and posted their screenshots above. The number of news published on NewsClick on Tibet, Dalai Lama, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Arunachal Pradesh etc are all clear from just four screenshots. Zero news on Dalai Lama, only one news on Arunachal Pradesh, only four news on Tibet (including Kashmir, Sikkim, America included as part of editorial policy) and only five news on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) (including Hurriyat, photos of China, Indian Army, Kashmir etc).
What do these four screenshots show? They show that the editorial policies which were guided by Beijing from 2016 to 2020 (until the Chinese app was blocked) have continued in 2023 as well. This is clear from the news published on NewsClick.
Chinese companies enslave their employees; instead of thinking and understanding, they not only expect you to take direction from Beijing but also force you to believe them. They silence you with the argument that “they know better than you”. In whichever country these companies operate, they ignore the laws of that country and violate the rights of its citizens.
Rajdeep or journalists/writers like Rajdeep who cry about “freedom of press” despite taking their salaries, should ask the question as to how PoK which is Pak-occupied Kashmir becomes “Pak-administered Kashmir”. What’s more, the same media gang awards the so-called gold medal of journalism to BBC, whose editorial policy states “Pak-administered Kashmir”.
After all, what kind of mentality is it wherein Indian people working in Indian offices start accepting the terminology coined by the British or the Chinese as per their editorial policy? The answer to this which Rajdeep or the media gang may not know or pretend not to know, is – salary; the answer is – writing for a price.
PS: I am a former employee of a Chinese company. Just like I once was at Aaj Tak, Navbharat Times, Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran. Neither have I ever disclosed business data related to any Indian company, nor will I disclose the same about any Chinese company. Therefore, the entire article has been written within the editorial policy. Those policies which can cause harm to the country, are harmful.
After conducting extensive raids on around 30 locations related to NewsClick and people associated with it, the special cell of Delhi Police sealed the main office premises of the Leftist news portal on Tuesday, 3rd October.
Delhi Police Special Cell officials seal the office of 'NewsClick' in Delhi.
After the sealing, the promoters and staffers of NewsClick will have to approach the court to get the premises back. Since 6 am in the morning, extensive raids have been going on in multiple premises. Laptops, phones and other gadgets have also been seized by the Delhi Police.
Earlier, it was reported that a fresh case has been registered under UAPA against NewsClick over receiving suspicious funding from China.
As part of the investigation, editor of NewsClick Prabir Purkayastha and writers Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and Urmilesh were brought to the special cell offices in the national capital today.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, teams of the Delhi Police special cell & Mumbai police conducted searches at the residence of activist Teesta Setalvad.
The raids are being conducted on a case registered on August 17 under UAPA and other sections of IPC, which include UAPA, 153A of IPC (promoting enmity between two groups), and 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy).
It is pertinent to note that NewsClick has been under the scanner for illicit foreign funding since the year 2021 – when Abhisar Sharma was working for the portal as well. Teesta Setalvad and Gautam Navlakha were also accused of taking funds form China that were obtained through newsClick.
Earlier on August 22, the Delhi High Court issued notice to news portal NewsClick’s Editor in Chief Prabir Purkayastha on a plea filed by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EoW), seeking direction to vacate its interim order asking the probe agency not to take any coercive action against the news site, news agency ANI reported.
The investigation conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) unveiled that an overseas fund amounting to Rs. 38.05 crores was deceitfully injected into NewsClick over a span of three years.
After the ED investigation in 2021, an investigation by the New York Times in August 2023 uncovered an ecosystem of activist organisations, non-profits, shell corporations, and their intimate ties to China and Chinese propaganda. Notably, Neville Roy Singham is at the heart of this network. The article read, “What is less known, and is hidden amid a tangle of nonprofit groups and shell companies, is that Mr Singham works closely with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda worldwide.”
On Tuesday (3 October), Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann admitted that his government has increased the loan burden of the state. He informed that his government has raised loans worth Rs 47,107 crore in just 18 months of its tenure. He also urged Governor Banwarilal Purohit to convince PM Modi to not collect repayment of loan (moratorium on debt repayment) for at least the next five years.
Additionally, Punjab CM Mann also asked the Governor to take up the issue of Rural Development Fund (RDF) with the Prime Minister.
Bhagwant Mann said, “I would also urge upon you (Governor) to convince Hon’ble Prime Minister to not only release the pending RDF but also accord a moratorium on debt repayment of the State for at least 5 years.”
Punjab CM Bhagwant Maan writes to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, giving details of the increase in debt by his Government.
Bhagwant Maan writes, "I would also urge upon you to convince Hon'ble Prime Minister to not only release the pending RDF but also accord a moratorium… pic.twitter.com/5WeQ3WmHlr
Notably, he made this announcement while replying to the Governor’s letter in which he had sought details of the Rs 50,000 crore loan that the Mann-led AAP government had raised during its tenure.
In his reply letter, Mann claimed that nearly 57% of the loan had been spent only to repay the interest on loans inherited by the previous state governments. He noted that an additional Rs 47,107.6 crore was added to the debt, out of which, Rs 27,016 crore were spent on debt servicing.
CM Mann’s letter to Governor (Image Source – ANI)
(Image Source – ANI)
According to Mann’s Demi Official (DO) letter, the AAP government borrowed Rs 47,107 crore while it ended up spending Rs 48,530 crore during its tenure in the state.
As per the details furnished in his letter, from April 2022 to August 2023, the net addition to the Punjab’s debt had been Rs 47,107.6 crore. This includes market loans, loans from NABARD, externally aided project loans and long-term loan under Special Assistance for Creation of Capital Assets.
The Punjab CM added that the government has recorded an increase in receipts. He added that the additional receipts have helped immensely in making value-accretive investments and initiating payment of arrears and unpaid dues.
After giving details regarding loan and expenditure, CM Mann urged the Governor to “convince Hon’ble Prime Minister to not only release the pending RDF but also accord a moratorium on debt repayment of the state for at least 5 years”.
In his letter, he argued, “This will provide much-needed relief to the strained financial position of the state and would give some fiscal elbow room to your government to accelerate the growth of revenue and the pace of the development.”
