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Pakistan: Hindu and Christian children being forced to convert to Islam and girls being forced to marry older Muslim men, says NCRC report

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Hindu and Christian children being forced to convert to Islam and girls being forced to marry older Muslim men, says NCRC report

A report from Pakistan’s own National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) has exposed the serious and long-standing discrimination faced by children from minority religions, especially Christians and Hindus in the country.

The study, titled “Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions in Pakistan,” paints a worrying picture of bias, neglect, and abuse, and urges the government to take immediate action. But many doubt whether this call will lead to any real change.

According to a report by Christian Daily International, the minority children in Pakistan face “severe challenges”, that are part of a wider, ongoing pattern, not just isolated cases. Problems like forced religious conversions, child marriages, and child labour, often in bonded or slave-like conditions are a daily reality for thousands of Christian and Hindu children.

One of the most disturbing findings is that young girls from minority communities are still being kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam, and married to much older Muslim men. The report says victims have “few legal options” because of bias in the system, weak law enforcement, and huge social pressure.

The report also discusses the number of Christian and Hindu children trapped in bonded labour, particularly in brick kilns or farm work. Such families are already caught in the cycle of poverty and discrimination, and little has been done by the government to safeguard them or end the cycle.

The NCRC is demanding immediate reforms legislation to safeguard against forced conversion and child marriage, education policies that accommodated all religions, and effective enforcement of child labour laws. But the Commission’s chairperson, Ayesha Raza Farooq, admits progress has been very slow because of “fragmented efforts, lack of coordination, and limited political will.”

Pirbhu Lal Satyani, the NCRC’s representative for minority rights in Sindh, said this study maps out the many layers of vulnerability these children face. He described them as “the most marginalised,” facing “stigma, stereotyping, and structural exclusion.”

The evidence is clear. The abuse and neglect of minority children is not a rumour, not an exaggeration, it’s documented by the country’s own institutions. The real question now is whether Pakistan will take action to protect these children, or continue to turn a blind eye.

Uttar Pradesh: Hindu organisations look to reclaim the temple site in Fatehpur, they say that the tomb there is a temple site

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Hindu organisations look to reclaim the temple site in Fatehpur, they say that the tomb there is a temple site

An ancient tomb in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh was desecrated on Monday, 11th August, by members of a Hindu organisation. The medieval-age monument was constructed above an ancient temple. Now, the Hindus are trying to get it back by protesting around the tomb. The vandalism has seen the police intensify their deployment in the area, and barricades have been erected to lock down the contested site.

The building is situated in Abu Nagar, Rediya locality of Sadar tehsil. In government land records (Khasra number 753), it has been described as Maqbara Mangi and is regarded as national property. Members of the Math Mandir Sanrakshan Sangharsh Samiti and BJP activists stated that the place was initially a temple of Thakurji and Lord Shiva, dating back more than a thousand years.

Hindus are protesting by waving saffron flags, shouting religious slogans, and encircling the tomb. The protest gained steam after BJP district president Mukhlal Pal stated that the location, which has been identified as the tomb of Nawab Abdus Samad, was an old temple that had been modified over the years.

Pal said that lotus patterns and trident motifs within the building established it as a temple. He blamed former authorities for turning it into a mosque and promised not to let what he termed “temple encroachment.”

He said prayers would be performed at the site despite the administration’s opposition and invited followers to assemble at Puri Thakur Dak Bungalow for a march and prayer.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad member Virendra Pandey supported these statements. “The place was dedicated to Lord Bholenath and Shri Krishna,” he said, citing religious symbols, a temple well, and a circumambulation path. They were going to clean the place for Janmashtami on 16th August, he added. He also attacked the administration for not listening to their pleas despite earlier intimation.

Speaking to the media, Fatehpur District Co-convenor of Bajrang Dal, Dharmendra Singh, said, “We will offer prayers here at noon. The Administration will not be able to stop us. In the Hindu religion, no one can take away our right to offer prayers. It is our temple, which they are referring to as a tomb.”

Meanwhile, National Ulama Council national secretary Mo Naseem criticised the vandalism. He described it as an effort to rewrite history and incite communal tensions. Naseem stated that the site has graves centuries old and is listed in government records. He questioned if the same objection would now be raised against every mosque and tomb in the country. He threatened that his organisation would call protests if the 11th August programme proceeded.

Pakistan’s Asim Munir threatens Mukesh Ambani: From Adani to Ambani, how US backed elements are trying to target India’s industrialists – with the tacit support of Rahul Gandhi

Amit Kelkar
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Pakistan’s Asim Munir threatens Mukesh Ambani: From Adani to Ambani, how US backed elements are trying to target India’s industrialists – with the tacit support of Rahul Gandhi

The spectacle of Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir, in full rhetorical overdrive at a private dinner in Tampa, Florida, reveals us far more than it seems at first glance. In what should have been a harmless diaspora meet-and-greet, Pakistan’s most powerful man, a uniformed madrasa-bred jihadi who effectively controls Islamabad’s foreign and security policy, turned the evening into a sermon of bile, nuclear threats, and religiously-charged warnings against India, once again proving Pakistan has gone to the dogs, with its reins in the hands of deluded Islamic supremacists and not men of character.

But the truly chilling moment came when Munir shifted from the familiar Pakistan Army playbook of spewing venom against India and boasting imaginary victory to targeting an individual, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries. Here, the tone moved from geopolitical rivalry to something personal and insidious: an explicit invocation of Quranic imagery to threaten a private Indian citizen whose only “crime” is building one of the most successful companies in Asia.

The Ambani threat: Surah Al-Fil and economic warfare

Munir proudly recounted that during the recent Four-Day War, he had authorised a social media post pairing Surah Al-Fil, the Quranic chapter describing the destruction of an enemy’s war elephants by divine intervention, with Ambani’s photograph.

“Ek tweet karwaya tha with Surah Fil and a picture of [industrialist] Mukesh Ambani to show them what we will do the next time,” he bragged.

In Islamic tradition, Surah Al-Fil is a story of overwhelming, almost miraculous destruction. By juxtaposing this imagery with Ambani, Munir wasn’t making a poetic point, he was issuing a coded, religiously loaded threat. And it wasn’t just bluster about missiles and dams; it was an explicit signal that Pakistan could try to strike at India’s economic core by targeting its business elite. This wasn’t a Field Marshal speaking; it was an Islamic Mullah peddling vitriol against one of India’s most successful businessman.

He went further:

“We’ll start from India’s East, where they have located their most valuable resources, and then move westwards.”

This is economic targeting wrapped in military threat, cloaked in theological symbolism. It marks a shift in Pakistan’s propaganda from attacking India’s territorial integrity to trying to sabotage its financial ecosystem.

From missiles to metaphors: India, a shining Mercedes and Pakistan, a dump truck

Munir’s Mercedes-versus-dump-truck analogy was another attempt to paint Pakistan as a “spoiler” power capable of inflicting damage on a far stronger neighbour.

“India is shining Mercedes coming on a highway like Ferrari [sic], but we are a dump truck full of gravel. If the truck hits the car, who is going to be the loser?”

The metaphor is telling. In his mind, Pakistan’s ability to self-destruct while causing collateral damage is not a bug; it’s a feature. And Ambani, representing the “Mercedes” of India’s corporate success, fits perfectly into this target profile.

Economic decapitation as a strategy

This is where Munir’s outburst connects with a larger pattern: anti-India forces, both domestic and international, have long recognised that undermining India’s business champions is an effective way to slow its rise.

India’s corporate giants: Ambani’s Reliance Industries, Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, Tata, Infosys, Wipro are not just companies; they are engines of GDP growth, employment, technological innovation, and global influence. Discrediting or damaging them doesn’t just hurt shareholders; it dents national confidence, slows infrastructure growth, and narrows fiscal room for strategic investments.

Munir’s playbook to intimidate the industrialists who fuel India’s rise dovetails eerily with the political strategy of one Indian politician: Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi’s long war against India’s economic champions

For a long time now, Rahul Gandhi has obsessively targeted Ambani and Adani in speeches, Parliament, and on foreign tours, often using Ambani-Adani jibe to strike a resonance with the masses and insinuate that the current regime in India is a ‘suit boot ki sarkaar’. Though the charge has never struck, much like his diatribe against Rafale Deal and other issues, what began as rhetorical jibes (“Modi-Adani-Ambani nexus”) has now evolved into something darker: actively amplifying foreign attacks on Indian companies, sometimes at moments of high geopolitical sensitivity.

The Adani hit job and the Hindenburg web

In early 2023, US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report on the Adani Group, accusing it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The allegations, which the Supreme Court of India later found unsubstantiated, came just days before Adani was to finalise the $1.2 billion acquisition of Haifa Port in Israel, a strategic move welcomed by the Israeli government.

According to an unverified but widely-circulated report attributed to Sputnik India, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad believed the timing was no coincidence. Mossad allegedly traced a web of communications suggesting coordination between Hindenburg, certain Western activist networks, Chinese economic interests, and a “key face from India’s opposition dynasty”: Rahul Gandhi.

The report even claimed Mossad hacked into Sam Pitroda’s servers (Pitroda being the head of the Indian Overseas Congress) and found incriminating exchanges discussing how to maximise the political fallout from the Hindenburg allegations.

While the full veracity of these claims remains to be proven, the circumstantial alignments, from Gandhi’s rapid and sustained public amplification of the Hindenburg report to his meetings with known Soros-funded activists, have raised eyebrows in Indian security circles.

Soros, OCCRP, and the NGO nexus

The Open Society Foundations of George Soros have openly declared a desire to see regime change in India. Soros-funded projects include the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which published follow-up reports against Adani.

Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 US visit saw him share a stage at the Hudson Institute with Sunita Vishwanath, co-founder of “Hindus for Human Rights”, an outfit notorious for anti-Hindu rhetoric and funded by Soros’s network. This was no coincidence. Soros himself, at the Munich Security Conference, made no secret of his hope that Adani’s troubles would weaken Modi politically.

It’s here that the overlap with Asim Munir’s strategy becomes glaring. Soros, Hindenburg, OCCRP, all push narratives aimed at discrediting India’s corporate champions. Munir openly fantasises about physically or economically “removing” them. Rahul Gandhi obligingly echoes and legitimises these talking points inside India.

Rahul Gandhi’s call for US intervention

However, the most brazen episode came when Rahul Gandhi tweeted that PM Modi could not stand up to US President Donald Trump because of an ongoing US investigation into Adani, hinting that Washington should use this “leverage” against India. The most shocking part was the timing of the insinuation, which came bang in the middle of an ongoing escalation between India and the United States as Trump kept imposing successive waves of tariffs, apparently to force India into signing an unfair trade deal with America.

While India stood its ground and refuse to cave under pressure, it showed how the Leader of Opposition was willing to use a tricky geopolitical situation for the nation to his political advantage.

This was no less than a political dynamite: an Indian opposition leader inviting a foreign power to use a corporate investigation as a pressure tactic against his own country’s Prime Minister.

At precisely the moment Washington was trying to force India into an unequal trade deal and threatening tariffs of up to 25% on Indian goods, Gandhi was effectively handing them a tool to coerce New Delhi. From Pakistan’s point of view, this is perfect alignment: the enemy’s internal politics doing the work you hoped to achieve through coercion.

Munir and Gandhi: Using different routes to reach the same destination

On the surface, Asim Munir and Rahul Gandhi could not be more different. One is a career soldier who rose to the top of a military dictatorship’s food chain; the other, a dynastic politician in a democracy.

Both Asim Munir and Rahul Gandhi, though operating from entirely different positions, ultimately contribute to a similar outcome: undermining India’s economic backbone. Munir seeks to delegitimise India’s corporate champions like Mukesh Ambani through overt threats, destruction imagery, and religiously-charged intimidation, while Gandhi chips away at them politically by relentlessly vilifying industrialists and echoing or amplifying hostile foreign reports.

In doing so, both risk eroding investor confidence, knowing that jittery markets and wary global investors can slow India’s growth, stall expansion plans, and weaken its strategic leverage. They also attempt to leverage foreign powers for this purpose: Munir by courting Western capitals and diaspora audiences with anti-India rhetoric, and Gandhi by nudging the US and its allies to pressure New Delhi under the pretext of “investigations” or “human rights” concerns.

The psychological component

Munir’s targeting of Ambani is not just about calling for an economic attack against India; it is also about creating fear. If Indian business leaders begin to feel that their prominence makes them targets of not just political attacks but transnational threats, they may be more cautious in backing large national projects or investing in risky but strategically vital sectors like defence manufacturing or 5G infrastructure.

Pakistan, on the other hand, is a basket-case, surviving on western alms and paralysing its public with brute force, most evident with the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he rebelled against the Pakistan Army. What Munir has successfully executed in Pakistan is what he is urging his loyal “pious Muslim followers” to try with Ambani: create a fear psychosis and break the back of India’s economy.

Gandhi’s rhetoric, on the other hand, amplified by media outlets aligned with anti-India lobbies, serves a similar purpose domestically: it paints business-government cooperation as inherently corrupt, thereby disincentivising bold investments in national projects.

Operation Sindoor’s resounding success and India’s economic boom sends Asim Munir into a full-blown religious frenzy

It is no coincidence that Munir’s nuclear threat came hours after the Indian Air Force Chief revealed damaging costs, including five fighter jets and a likely AWACS aircraft, inflicted on Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. The Indian Navy was also well-prepared to take down Karachi Port. Still, it was restrained by PM Modi after the Pakistani DGMO came begging for a truce along the Line of Control and the International Border. The recent declaration runs against Pakistan’s fake narrative of giving India a bloody nose during the conflict and undermines the already diminishing credibility of Asif Munir and his country’s defence forces.

Another factor that may have played an instrumental role in pushing Munir towards regurgitating a jihadi bile is the realisation that India is poised to become an economic powerhouse in foreseeable future. Moreover, India’s rise in the last decade has been fuelled as much by private enterprise as by state policy. Reliance’s Jio revolutionised telecom and digital infrastructure. Adani’s port and energy projects have bolstered connectivity and supply chains. Tata’s acquisitions and tech expansion have raised India’s global profile.

To strike at these players, whether through Pakistani missile threats or coordinated global smear campaigns, is to attack India’s growth engine.

What Munir signalled in Tampa is that Pakistan sees this clearly. What should trouble Indians even more is that an influential domestic political leader appears to be running a parallel playbook, willingly or otherwise.

Convergence of Munir’s threats and Gandhi’s rhetoric should alarm patriotic Indians

This convergence between Pakistan’s military leadership and India’s internal political opposition on the economic front should set off alarm bells in New Delhi’s policy and intelligence circles. The response must be clinical, multi-layered, and unequivocal.

To safeguard its economic sovereignty, India must adopt a multi-pronged approach. Strategic communication should be used to expose and counter foreign propaganda targeting its corporate sector, while simultaneously highlighting the indispensable role these companies play in national development.

Legal safeguards must be strengthened to crack down on foreign-funded disinformation campaigns, with strict punitive measures for domestic actors who knowingly aid such efforts. Business diplomacy should proactively involve India’s corporate leaders in global strategic outreach, making them harder targets for international smear operations. Needless to say, security of such potential targets should be strengthened. Finally, political accountability is essential, all parties must draw an unequivocal red line against inviting foreign economic coercion, ensuring that partisan politics never compromises national economic security.

Rahul Gandhi is still below 60. He may well have a chance to govern the country a decade later if he course-corrects. But desperation to depose a democratically elected out of office based on cooked-up allegations of cronyism is not only wise political move; it also threatens to India’s economic growth trajectory.

Asim Munir’s Tampa dinner speech was more than a moment of diplomatic indiscretion; it was a declaration of intent. By explicitly invoking Mukesh Ambani alongside Quranic imagery of destruction, Pakistan’s army chief made it clear that India’s economic powerhouses are now squarely in his crosshairs.

Rahul Gandhi, through his relentless vilification of Ambani and Adani and his willingness to amplify foreign attacks on them, ends up advancing the very outcome Munir desires: a weaker, more hesitant, less confident India on the global stage.

It’s said that politics makes strange bedfellows. In this case, the bedfellows may never meet, but their strategies, intentionally or not, are pulling in the same direction. And that should concern every Indian who understands that economic strength is the bedrock of national security.

Air India debunks Congress leader KC Venugopal’s ‘harrowing journey’ claim over Air India Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi flight diversion

OpIndia Staff
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Air India debunks Congress leader KC Venugopal’s ‘harrowing journey’ claim over Air India Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi flight diversion

An Air India flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi was diverted to Chennai following a suspected technical issue and weather conditions along the route on Sunday, August 10.

A political storm has erupted over the incident after Congress leader KC Venugopal, who was onboard the flight, claimed that he and other MPs onboard experienced a “harrowing journey”. However, the Congress leader got fact-checked by Air India.

Vengugopal said that while he, along with multiple other MPs, experienced a “harrowing journey” after AI 2455 flight from Trivandrum to Delhi experienced turbulence, leading to a precautionary landing in Chennai. He said in a post on X that while a landing was attempted for the first time, another aircraft was already present at the same spot, and the pilot’s “quick decision” to pull up at the last second saved the passengers. 

“Air India flight AI 2455 from Trivandrum to Delhi – carrying myself, several MPs, and hundreds of passengers – came frighteningly close to tragedy today. What began as a delayed departure turned into a harrowing journey. Shortly after take-off, we were hit by unprecedented turbulence. About an hour later, the Captain announced a flight signal fault and diverted to Chennai. For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, until a heart-stopping moment during our first attempt – another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway. In that split second, the Captain’s quick decision to pull up saved every life on board,” Venugopal said.

“The flight landed safely on the second attempt. We were saved by skill and luck. Passenger safety cannot depend on luck. I urge @DGCAIndia and  @MoCA_GoI to investigate this incident urgently, fix accountability, and ensure such lapses never happen again,” he added.

Responding to the claims made by KC Venugopal, Air India said that no aircraft was present on the runway during that time, that standard protocols were followed, and diversion being done as a precautionary measures and their pilots are well trained to handle such situations. 

“Dear Mr Venugopal, we would like to clarify that the diversion to Chennai was precautionary due to a suspected technical issue and poor weather conditions. A go-around was instructed by Chennai ATC during the first attempted landing at Chennai airport, not because of the presence of another aircraft on the runway. Our pilots are well-trained to handle such situations, and in this case, they followed standard procedures throughout the flight. We understand that such an experience can be unsettling and regret the inconvenience the diversion may have caused to you. However, safety is always our priority. Thank you for your understanding,” Air India replied under KC Venugopal’s X post. 

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday released a statement on the diversion of Air India flight and said that the diversion was due to bad weather and the crew suspected a weather RADAR malfunction. The flight circled over Chennai to burn extra fuel and it aborted first landing attempt at Chennai as instructed by ATC after a departing Gulf Air flight reported debris on runway. 

Upon landing, the engineering inspection found no deficiency but as a precautionary measure, the radar transreceiver of the aircraft was replaced, the DGCA said in a statement today. 

“On 10.08.2025, Air India A320 aircraft VT-TNL was scheduled to operate flight AI2455 (Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi) with a scheduled time of departure as 19:15 IST. Due to the late arrival of aircraft from Delhi (Weather Diversion +consequential+commercial), the aircraft departed Thiruvananthapuram at 20:04 IST, i.e. with a total delay of 49 minutes,” the statement read.

“Crew observed that the weather information depicted on the weather RADAR was not accurate, suspecting weather RADAR malfunction diverted to Chennai,” DGCA added further in its statement. 

“To avoid an overweight landing and burn extra fuel, the aircraft with the ATC clearance orbited 25NM northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes (from 21:25IST to 22:08IST). After the aircraft was cleared for approach Runway 25 at Chennai, at 2219IST, the aircraft was instructed to carry out a missed approach by ATC as departing Gulf Air flight GFA053 Chennai -Bahrain reported debris on the left side of the runway,” read the lines of the statement.

As a precautionary measure, DGCA said that “Apron control carried out an inspection of the runway, and nothing was observed. The aircraft was given landing clearance and landed safely at 22:39 IST. During the engineering inspection, no deficiency was observed. However, as a precautionary measure, the WX radar transreceiver was replaced with a serviceable one.”

DGCA statement

Despite the authorities clarifying the facts of the incident, Congress leader KC Venugopal remains adamant and even went on to accuse Air India of lying. “There should be an inquiry into the issue. An unfortunate incident happened yesterday. It was announced by the pilot that there was another aircraft on the runway when we were going to land. I spoke to DGCA as well. Let them have an inquiry. Air India is lying…” he said.

Meawnhile, BJP leader Amit Malviya said that if venugopal’s claims are proven false, he should be put on a no-fly list. 

“This is extremely serious. If senior Congress leader KC Venugopal claims an Air India flight had to abort landing in Chennai because another aircraft was on the runway and the airline immediately contradicts him, then one of them is misrepresenting facts. Aviation safety is paramount, and social media posts from supposedly responsible people cannot go unscrutinised. If the allegation is true, Chennai ATC and Air India have much to answer for. If not, Mr Venugopal should face consequences, including being put on a no-fly list for spreading falsehoods,” Malviya wrote on X.

Minister in Congress-ruled Karnataka questions why party did not raise objections to draft list when it was prepared, puts ‘vote chori’ propagandist Rahul Gandhi in tough spot

OpIndia Staff
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Minister in Congress-ruled Karnataka questions why party did not raise objections to draft list when it was prepared, puts ‘vote chori’ propagandist Rahul Gandhi in tough spot

Karnataka Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna has stirred up debate in his own party by openly questioning why the Congress stayed quiet about alleged voter list manipulation when it was in power. His comments came just days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of helping in “vote theft” during the last Lok Sabha elections.

According to the media reports, Rajanna said the voter rolls used in those elections were prepared when the Congress government was in charge. “If there were irregularities, why didn’t anyone speak up then? Why were we silent?” he asked, making it clear that he was challenging his own party colleagues.

“When the draft list was being prepared, wasn’t it our responsibility to check it?” KN Rajanna asked.

While Rahul Gandhi has been vocal now about “vote theft,” Rajanna expressed disappointment that nothing was said earlier. “These irregularities happened right in front of us. Staying silent back then is shameful for all of us. We should admit this and make sure we are more alert in the future under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership,” he said.

Rajanna also reacted to news that Rahul Gandhi reportedly went to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence instead of complaining directly to the Election Commission. “I don’t know the details. After the Bengaluru event, I went straight to Tumakuru. I’m not aware of what happened after that,” he clarified.

Rajanna’s unusually frank statements have created a stir in the Congress, raising questions about whether the party has been careful enough in monitoring the electoral process and about how open members can be about mistakes made under their own watch.

Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” remarks 

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi has recently accused the Election Commission of contributing to the creation of fake voters. At a press conference on Thursday, 7th August, he produced statistics from Karnataka’s Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency, saying that several voter entries in the voter list had “house number 0” and that numerous voters were listed at the same address. He called it a major conspiracy to steal elections in favour of the BJP.

However, when local Booth Level Officer (BLO) Muniratna was asked about it, he explained that the house in question was a rental property where tenants kept changing every year. No single family had stayed there permanently for the past 14 years. Many tenants, often migrant workers, had used their rental agreements to get voter IDs but later moved away without changing their registered address.

According to Muniratna, the list of people who no longer lived at that address had already been sent to the Election Commission, and their names will be struck off.  “These occupants are typically job seekers working as security guards, housekeepers, or domestic helpers. After acquiring voter IDs, many vacate the premises, but their names remain on the electoral rolls,” as per the India Today report. Although they were no longer residing there, they frequently kept their voter IDs listed at the old address so that they could continue to vote in elections.

This resulted in many voter IDs listing the same address, but it did not imply that everyone of them was residing there simultaneously or that there was any systematic fraud.

Despite this, Rahul Gandhi claimed that over one lakh votes in Mahadevapura out of a total of 6.5 lakh were either duplicates or linked to fake addresses. He presented these figures as proof of “vote chori” and argued that the BJP benefited from such irregularities.

Pakistan sinks to a new low, blocks supply of clean water, gas, and newspapers to Indian diplomats stationed in the country

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan sinks to a new low, blocks supply of clean water, gas, and newspapers to Indian diplomats stationed in the country

Pakistan has been humiliated internationally following India’s “Operation Sindoor” as it sustained heavy losses during the conflict, leading it to sink even lower. Unable to confront India on the battlefield, the country has turned to crude tactics to express bitterness following its own incompetence and failures.

Islamabad has now resorted to targeted restrictions on basic services for Indian High Commission employees, escalating tensions between the two sides. According to senior government officials, the action was “deliberate, premeditated, and in breach of the Vienna Convention,” reported News18.

The development followed the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty as well as the successful military operation executed by New Delhi. Pakistan’s move is a part of a pattern of “petty retaliation” planned by its intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to interfere with the living and working conditions of Indian diplomats in Islamabad, according to senior government officials.

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) reportedly installed gas pipelines on the grounds of the Indian High Commission, however the supply has been purposefully stopped. Pakistani officials have told local gas cylinder sellers not to supply to Indian personnel. The vendors previously sold vital cooking and heating fuel earlier to the Indian mission.

As a result, diplomats and their families have been compelled to look for expensive and limited alternatives on the open market, frequently without success.

Furthermore, the harassment is not limited to fuel only. All outlets in Islamabad have been told not to supply mineral water to the Indian High Commission and its contracted supplier of clean drinking water has been prohibited from delivering. According to sources, this has caused quite a bit of inconvenience for the employees because the tap water in the area is unsafe to drink without thorough filtration.

Newspaper suppliers have also been instructed to completely cease providing publications to the mission in an effort to further limit the flow of information. Indian officials interpret the measure as an intentional strategy to deny regular access to print media to the staff and restrict their knowledge of local events, news and stories.

According to official sources, these acts undermine the already precarious foundation of India-Pakistan relations in addition to violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which ensures the secure and dignified operation of embassies. The action is viewed as a continuation of Islamabad’s long-standing policy of applying pressure in unconventional and non-diplomatic ways rather than directly negotiating.

The 2019 Pulwama attack and the Balakot airstrikes that followed have put an end to India and Pakistan holding high-level bilateral discussions. “Operation Sindoor”, which dealt a serious blow to terrorists based in Pakistan, and Modi government’s resolute action to uphold the terms of the Indus Water Treaty in its favour have further choked the Pakistani lifeline and infuriated it causing new tensions in recent months.

Kerala: 23-year-old Christian woman commits suicide after being pressurised by her boyfriend Ramis and his family to convert to Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: 23-year-old Christian woman commits suicide after being pressurised by her boyfriend Ramis and his family to convert to Islam

The family of 23-year-old Christian girl Sona Eldos from Kothamangalam, Kerela has made serious allegations against her muslim boyfriend Ramis and his family after the girl committed suicide on Saturday, 9th August, in Kochi district of Kerala.

They said Sona was pressurised to convert to Islam for marriage and was subjected to harassment.

According to a report by News 18, Sona and Ramis, a native of Paravoor, fell in love during college. Later, Ramis’s family told her she would have to leave the church and convert to Islam if she want to marry him. Sona had reportedly agreed at one point, but her family says she was still treated cruelly.

Her brother told News18 that after their father passed away 40 days ago, the family had planned to hold the wedding for a year. However, he said that Ramis took Sona to his house, where she was locked in a room and beaten in the presence of family and friends.

The brother also claimed that in the past, Ramis had been involved in immoral activities but Sona had forgiven him. On the day of the incident, she was reportedly told again to register the marriage and change her religion. When she refused, Ramis told her she was “better off dead.”

Sona’s brother said she left a note saying she was being forced to convert to Islam. Soon after, she took her own life.

The family has called for a thorough investigation into the case, saying Sona’s death was the result of mental torture and religious pressure from her boyfriend and his family.

Why is Mamata Banerjee scared of SIR in Bengal, and vocal against action on illegal immigrants? Research paper says there may be 1 crore+ excess voters in her state

Shraddha Pandey
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Why is Mamata Banerjee scared of SIR in Bengal, and vocal against action on illegal immigrants? Research paper says there may be 1 crore+ excess voters in her state

The Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar has opened a Pandora’s box, exposing how illegal voters backed by forged documents and political patronage have infested Indian democracy. The Election Commission of India uncovered over 60 lakh unverified voters during the SIR exercise in Bihar. However, the opposition parties have stirred a political storm, claiming that the SIR exercise is a ‘conspiracy’ to disenfranchise a specific group of voters, especially Muslims.

First, RJD and Congress opposed the SIR exercise and raised questions over the integrity of the ECI, claiming that it is functioning at the behest of the BJP. Now, they are crying hoarse over the SIR findings as well as the nationwide crackdown on illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

Notably, a research paper by professors from the prestigious IIM institutions had already cautioned about the same and indicated that there are more than 70 lakh bogus voters in Bihar.

Interestingly, the drive disclosed that 35 lakh people were either untraceable or had permanently relocated, 22 lakhs were labelled as deceased, and 7 lakh voters were enrolled in multiple locations, while about 1.2 lakh forms are pending.

What started as ECI’s efforts to weed out fake voters from the electoral roll in Bihar has renewed the vigour of the ongoing anti-illegal immigrant campaign across several states.

Predictably, the drive to detect, detain and deport illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslim immigrants has anguished the ‘secular’ political parties in the country.

Mamata Banerjee ‘reminds’ BLOs that they work for the state government, not the ECI

Amidst a crackdown on illegal immigrants in Haryana and other states (BJP ruled) and the SIR in Bihar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose government has been accused of aiding illegal infiltration to increase its vote bank, has opened a front against the BJP.

CM Banerjee, who once vowed to never allow implementation of the NRC in West Bengal, has repeatedly been attacking the Modi government over the detention of suspected Bangladeshi and Rohingya illegals, claiming that they are Bengali migrants.

The West Bengal Chief Minister has ‘reminded’ the Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are presently undergoing training for summary revision by the Election Commission of India, that they work for the state government and not the ECI. She said authoritatively that the names of voters should not be excluded from the electoral process arbitrarily.

Addressing an administrative meeting in Birbhum in July this year, CM Banerjee said, “The ECI takes over only after the poll dates are announced. Until then, and even after that, the administration lies with the state government. You are employees of the state government. Do not harass any individual needlessly.”

Her supposed ‘reminder’ for BLOs came across more as a threat. Further casting aspersions on the integrity of the Election Commission and accusing the body functioning at the behest of the BJP, Banerjee said, “The (voters’) list is being prepared by people sitting in Gujarat. An agency of the BJP is doing this. I know its name. You will see chhau dance (a tribal dance) and face the music of drums and conch shells if you dare to strike off names from the voters’ list in Bengal. I won’t allow the NRC to be implemented and set up detention camps till I am alive.”

West Bengal is the state with the highest number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living with forged documents and local help

Apparently, the Trinamool Congress supremo fears that if and when a Special Intensive Revision is conducted in West Bengal, lakhs of fake voters, especially illegal immigrants who have obtained forged documents, would be weeded out. It is not a secret that West Bengal is among the states with the highest numbers of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. In the last three years, 2688 Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended and sent back to Bangladesh.

On 8th August, the TMC government sought a ‘clarification’ from West Bengal Chief Election Officer (CEO) over reportedly writing to the Election Commission of India that the state is “ready” to undergo the SIR exercise. Last week, the ECI published the 2002 SIR voters’ lists for 293 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) except one. 

Notably, the last SIR in West Bengal occurred in 2002, forming the foundation for the 2004 electoral roll. It is, thus, highly likely that an SIR will be conducted in West Bengal later this year. It is notable here that updating the electoral roll and crossing out mistakes, deceased persons, and other discrepancies is one of the basic duties of the Election Commission.

While a ‘secular’ government (read Muslim-appeasing) in West Bengal is already ‘reminding’, ‘threatening’ and is outraged over the possible SIR exercise in the state, electoral roll inflation in the politically and communally charged state is real.

Research paper by IIM professors finds 1 crore excess voters in the 2024 West Bengal electoral roll

The findings of a research paper tiled: “Electoral Roll Inflation in West Bengal: A Demographic Reconstruction of Legitimate Voter Counts (2024)”; authored by Dr. Milan Kumar, Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam and Dr. Vidhu Shekhar, Assistant Professor at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta, reveal that the 2024 electoral roll of West Bengal may include approximately one crore excess voters, recording an inflation of whopping 13.69%.

The research paper published on 7th August 2025, relies on official data from electoral rolls, census, and civil registration systems, to estimate the surviving voters from the 2004 base roll, additions through new cohorts (1986-2006 births), and adjustments for net permanent migration. The researchers employed a conservative methodology at each stage.

“We assume full registration among all eligible youth, apply high survival probabilities, and model migration based on decadal trends rather than recent acceleration. This allows us to generate a lower-bound estimate of the legitimate voter population. We then compare this figure to the official electoral roll published by the ECI for 2024,” the research paper states.

Highlighting its central finding that West Bengal’s 2024 voter list may contain more than one crore excess entries, representing a 13.69% inflation over the estimated legitimate electorate, the IIM professors raised concerns that such massive discrepancy, and its potential to affect electoral outcomes in a highly competitive state, “the implications for electoral integrity are significant.”

The research presents the empirical estimates of the legitimate voter population in West Bengal as of 2024, in three stages: (i) estimation of survivors from the 2004 roll, (ii) additions from new voter cohorts born between 1986 and 2006, and (iii) adjustments for net permanent migration. The researchers then synthesised the results to compute the estimated surplus in the electoral roll.

The 2004 electoral roll recorded 4.74 crore registered voters. The research disaggregated this population into six age groups and applied age-specific 20-year survival rates, using Census 2001 data. These projections yield an estimated 3.74 crore surviving voters from the 2004 roll.

Further, the researchers estimated that approximately 3.01 crore newly eligible individuals would have enrolled between 2004 and 2024.

The research then proceeded to estimate permanent outmigration and in-migration using Census 2001 and 2011 data. The analysis found that West Bengal experienced a decline in the absolute number of immigrants between 2001 and 2011.

Using Census 2001 and 2011 data and extrapolating via CAGR, the researchers estimated net permanent outmigration from West Bengal to be 17.86 lakh individuals during this period.

The researchers then combined all components to synthesise the data and to arrive at the final estimate of the legitimate voter population in West Bengal in 2024. The number of 2004 Registered Voters stood at 4,74,37,431. Deceased from 2004 cohort -1,00,37,743. The number of New Voters (1986–2006) is 3,00,93,512. Meanwhile, Net Migration estimates stood at -17,86,350.

The analysis states that the estimated number of legitimate voters (2024) is 6,57,06,849, while the number of voters per the official electoral roll (2024) is 7,61,24,780. This marks an estimated surplus of 1,04,17,931 voters, which in percentage translates into 13.69%.

The research emphasises that its final findings are a lower-bound estimate and the actual inflation may be significantly higher.

“These results imply that approximately 1.04 crore names, or 13.69% of the 2024 electoral roll, may not correspond to legitimately registered resident voters in the state. As noted throughout, our assumptions deliberately overestimate the legitimate count, suggesting that actual roll inflation may be even higher,” the research paper reads.

It further points out that a massive surplus of over 1 crore names raises questions over the credibility of electoral administration in the Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal. The report stresses that the scale of over-registration exceeds the margin of victory in numerous constituencies and “creates scope for fraud, impersonation, and political manipulation.”

“The study suggests an urgent need for tighter integration of electoral data with civil registration databases, Aadhaar, and interstate migration records. Algorithmic checks for implausible entries, such as centenarian clusters or multi-located registrations, coupled with quarterly demographic audits, could significantly improve roll accuracy and restore voter confidence,” the research paper reads.

The research also recommends an urgent Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal and other states, which have not had one in the last two decades, saying that a fresh SIR would enable door-to-door verification, linkages with death records, and targeted purging of inflated pockets at the constituency level.

Senior Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao detained after foreign trip, was a front-runner for the next foreign minister’s post

OpIndia Staff
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Senior Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao detained after foreign trip, was a front-runner for the next foreign minister’s post

Senior Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao was detained as soon as he returned from a foreign tour in late July 2025. According to the Wall Street Journal report, 61-year-old Liu Jianchao was detained for questioning by Chinese authorities after returning to Beijing. The reason for his detention remains unclear. 

According to reports , Liu has been the head of the Communist Party’s International Liaison Department since 2022, which maintains relations with foreign political parties. He has visited more than 20 countries and met more than 160 global leaders. His meeting with former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought him into the forefront as the next foreign minister.

Notably, China’s State Council Information Office and the Communist Party have not commented on the action . Experts say the action could be a sign of strict discipline and internal changes in China’s diplomacy. It is believed to be the biggest diplomatic investigation since the removal of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang in 2023. 

In July this year, Liu had slammed the United States’ defence defence chief, accusing him of “inciting confrontation and conflict” by calling on American allies to bolster their militaries to counter China.

Liu led a CPC delegation that attended the Liberation Movements Summit in South Africa on 28th July. His detention comes ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit scheduled to take place from 31st August to 1st September. 

All voters have been verified and checked: Muzaffarpur district administration fact checks ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai who was trying to claim Bihar SIR is done “hastily”

OpIndia Staff
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All voters have been verified and checked: Muzaffarpur district administration fact checks ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai who was trying to claim Bihar SIR is done “hastily”

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign by the Election Commission in the election-bound state of Bihar has been relentlessly targeted by the opposition and its ecosystem. From threatening to boycott the elections to labeling the process as voter fraud, various allegations have been directed at the EC by the anxious leaders of the Mahagathbandhan and their supporters.

Notably, these accusations have been repeatedly debunked by the relevant authorities. Nevertheless, this controversy doesn’t seem to be subsiding any time soon.

Now, India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai quoted a Dainik Bhaskar report to assert that the entire procedure is being conducted in a rushed manner.

Sardesai wrote, “We need a ‘purification’ of electoral rolls but a hastily done revision is not the solution,” on social media. He also lauded the media outlet for its “fine reporting” and for being the only “Hindi mainstream newspaper consistently raising the issue.”

The report was published on 10th August concerning polling station number 370 in 94-Muzaffarpur assembly, stating the presence of several voters at the same residential address.

However, the Muzaffarpur district administration swiftly countered Rajdeep’s attempt to question the crucial campaign. “Concerning the aforementioned report, it is important to note that in the Draft Roll of SIR 2025, there are 629 voters registered at polling station number 370 (which was polling station number-293 prior to the rationalization of polling stations)”, they stated

“Within this group, serial numbers 82 to 350 are listed under house number 27. In the most recent voter list published on 07.01.2025, before SIR 2025, the total number of voters at this polling station was 686, with serial numbers 97 to 384 recorded solely under house number 27,” Muzaffarpur administration further conveyed and highlighted that the house number assigned to voters in the electoral list is provisional and notional.

The administration mentioned that it is not derived from the actual house number or the voter’s identification number. There is no connection to the family and during the special intensive revision only the verification of eligible voters was conducted. They further said that the house number appears in the electoral list prior to the intensive revision. No alterations of any sort have been made to the house number during the drive.

The authorities further added, “It is noteworthy that in the final submission electoral list dated 07.01.2025, the voters in the specified house number of this polling station was similar and no objections were raised by the voters concerning this matter during the special intensive revision.”

The SIR drive is designed to eliminate fraudulent voters and ensure that only eligible individuals retain the right to participate in elections. Members of various political parties have also been invloved throughout the process.

According to the updated list, around 65 lakh names have been struck off the rolls in the state. The struck-off names primarily consist of deceased persons or those who could not be located at their registered addresses. But what’s surprising is the large-scale deletion of names in some districts, particularly in Muslim-dominated Kishanganj. Here, a record 1.45 lakh names have been removed from the list. This amounts to an astonishing 11.8% of the district’s total voter base. It can easily tip an election in which even a 4–5% margin can make a difference.

On 3rd August, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed that it has received 941 claims and objections related to Bihar’s draft electoral roll. However, not a single complaint out of the 941 has been filed by any political party including the Indian National Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).


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