On the 7th of January 2022, the Supreme Court will hear a plea that seeks a court-monitored probe into the Prime Minister’s security breach when he was on his visit to Punjab on Wednesday, January 5. A bench headed by CJI NV Ramana will hear the case on Friday.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, who brought the petition before the SC bench has been asked to give a copy of the petition to the Punjab government.
The petition contends that it must be ensured that what happened is not repeated. Advocate Singh urged the bench to take up the plea and in response to his request, the Supreme Court will hear the same on Friday.
What actually happened in the courtroom?
The bench headed by the CJI Ramana asked the petitioner Maninder Singh what he expected the court to do in this matter. Singh said that such an incident is a very serious lapse and the security breach is unacceptable. Considering the political situations in Punjab, there must be a probe monitored by the court into the police arrangement and law and order situation, the advocate argued. He further added that it was necessary to ensure that no such incident occurs again.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government formed a high-level team to probe the security lapses during the Prime Minister’s visit to Punjab on Wednesday. It is a two-member committee that includes Justice (Retired) Mehtab Gill of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Anurag Varma, Principal Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs and Justice. The committee will submit its report within three days.
Meanwhile the President of India has also expressed his concern over the incident of security breach that happened in Punjab. The PM met the president briefly earlier today.
Called on Rashtrapati Ji. Thankful to him for his concern. Grateful for his good wishes, which are always a source of strength. @rashtrapatibhvnpic.twitter.com/g6Unl8WCJJ
The convoy of Prime Minister Modi was blocked by political protesters on a flyover on the way to Hussainiwala in the Ferozepur district of Punjab, where he was to visit the National Martyr’s Memorial and subsequently address a public meeting. Later yesterday, it had also become evident that Punjab police, which itself was seen enjoying a tea party with the protesters who blocked the roads, has been complicit the security lapse that endangered the PM.
The Union Home Ministry had stated that the Punjab Police was given all details and the convoy had started only after confirmation with the DGP. The Punjab Police had failed not just in securing a clear path for the PM’s convoy but had also failed to provide an alternative route.
A video has gone viral on various social media platforms showing AIMIM UP President Shaukat Ali arguing at the hotel reception in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The video claims that a ‘Hindu hotel’ declined a room to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.
Owaisi was in the city on January 4, 2022, to address a political rally ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Hotels in UP refuse to give Owaisi a room thanks to his inflammatory communal politics always threatening Hindus and almost always abusing Yogiji and Modiji. Contd.. pic.twitter.com/eLqy1TkdhA
In the 2.20-minute video, AIMIM Uttar Pradesh president Shaukat Ali can be seen exchanging a heated conversation with the person sitting at the hotel reception and thereafter leaving the premises with his party members. Shaukat Ali, who looks visibly angry, speaks on the phone while leaving the premises. After a while, the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is seen walking into the hotel. He is seen waiting at the reception area for some time before he sits in his car and leaves the premises.
The video has been circulating with claims that the people of the likes of the AIMIM chief are being denied rooms in the ‘Hindu hotel’ in Uttar Pradesh because of their anti-Hindu stand. Many media houses like Lucknow Hindi news shared the video, which was then circulated widely on the microblogging site.
Vernacular media outlets LiveHindustan and ABP Newsalso reported how the party members had booked the room earlier for the AIMIM members but when Owaisi arrived at the hotel named Drive-In 24 in Moradabad, the hotel authorities denied him a room.
What is the truth
The Hindustan report quoted the hotel manager Vipul as saying that according to the guidelines, they need prior approval before allotting rooms to any political figures. “We operate within the confines of the law. I am ready to give the room once I receive authorization”, said the hotel manager as per the report by Hindustan, who was quoted as further saying that the hotel does not believe in any kind of discrimination.
OpIndia spoke with a hotel employee named Arvind Singh Katheria, who claimed to have looked into the arrangements for the entire AIMIM team, which was said to have stayed in the hotel from January 4 to 6. He refuted the news that has been circulating in media that Owaisi was denied a room in the hotel. Katheria, on the contrary, confirmed that Asaduddin Owaisi was allotted a room immediately on his arrival on January 4 and had a very pleasant stay at the hotel and personally thanked the hotel staff before he checked out on January 6.
Narrating the sequence of events, Katheria said the Owaisi had arrived at the hotel and after checking in, he immediately left for a meeting. Some people who had accompanied him checked in later in the evening.
Divulging further details, the hotel staff said that as per protocols, whenever any VIP guest arrives, the LIU team needs to be informed in advance so that their security arrangements can be made.
According to him, if a member of any political party checks into a hotel, a letter must be issued in advance to the district magistrate’s office, which would then alert the hotel and make the necessary security arrangements for the team. The hotel had not received a letter from the district magistrate’s office since it had not been forwarded to them by the AIMIM team in advance.
“We were awaiting a response from the office of the district magistrate when the AIMIM state president Shaukat Ali got agitated. He demanded that the rooms be made available to them immediately. We only asked them to wait for a little. Their check-in was done before we even received the letter from the district magistrate’s office. Only some formalities were left, as it is a matter of security and we cannot take any chances.
At this point, one of the AIMIM members started spreading rumours that the hotel had denied him a room, leading to the rumour that the AIMIM chief had been denied a room in the hotel over religious discrimination.
This was a small issue that was blown out of proportion and misrepresented. Soon after, rumours circulated that Asaduddin Owaisi had been denied a room, which Arvind Singh Katheria said was “totally false and unsubstantiated.”
“He (Owaisi) was very pleased with our services and thanked the hotel employees personally before checking out today (January 6)”, Katheria added.
AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi, who has taken to the communal route to fight the upcoming state assembly elections, was on a two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh as a part of his election campaign. Interestingly, Owaisi had kickstarted his campaign for Uttar Pradesh 2022 state elections from Ayodhya claiming that the “Muslims of UP will win” and since then he has given several inflammatory speeches, instigating Muslims to choose an Islamic leader and not rely on the ‘Dallas’ of other political parties.
The Uttar Pradesh police had on September 9, registered two FIRs against the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi in connection with his public meeting in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki. The Hyderabad MP had been booked on charges of attempting to disturb communal harmony, flouting Covid norms and disrespecting the national flag.
Owaisi, who is eyeing to make inroads in Uttar Pradesh by wooing the Muslim vote bank, had delivered a communally charged speech in which he, despite clarifications from authorities of the Mosque being an illegal structure, tried to provoke the Muslims by making references to the razing of a mosque in the Ram Snehi Ghat tehsil in May this year.
A Bengaluru school has got involved in a major controversy after one of its teachers allegedly forced students to say Islamic prayers as punishment. Reportedly, a math teacher in Orchid International School forced students to pray in the name of Allah for failing to solve a problem, and also instructed them to keep silent about the matter. However, the school, which has campuses in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad, has denied the allegations.
The matter of what some are calling ‘Education Jihad’ came to light when Vikram Simha, a furious parent, recorded a video of her daughter who said that she was forced to pray in the name of Allah at Orchid International School, BTM branch, Bengaluru. The girl in the video that went viral on social media, said that her teacher asked the Hindu students to make a bowl shape of their hands and pray. “The Math problem was confusing, we weren’t able to crack that problem. So the teacher told us to pray to Allah. Despite telling her that we are Hindus and we are not supposed to pray to Allah, she scolded us and made us make a bowl shape with hands and pray”, she said.
According to the girl, the teacher said that Allah is a better god, and asked them to pray to Allah.
a teacher named Sarika Rana from @Orchids_School BTM Layout, Bengaluru is has forced kids to Pray to All@ claiming All@h is a better god.@swati_gs@ShefVaidya
Blatantly denying the fact, the Bengaluru school in its official statement said that the child in the video was lying and that the teachers at school don’t promote the practice of religion. “We talked to the parent. No such instance occurred in the Math class as the teacher focused only on her subject and never said anything about the religion in the class”, it said after what it called a thorough investigation.
The statement by the Orchid International School reads-
“The management swiftly conducted an intense investigation to find that the teacher also does not practice the religion alleged to have been promoted. The allegations made by the child and the parent are baseless. We have checked the CCTV footage of the class and have also spoken to other children. They all have denied the happening of any such incident”, the statement read.
It has further called the act of making a bowl shape with hands as the act of eye palming exercise. “It is a Two Minutes Eye Exercise conducted during online sessions, which is intended to help the children rest their eyes due to the screen time,” the school said. It is pertinent to note that the school has locked its official Twitter handle after Vikram Simha came up with yet another video with his daughter revealing the actual truth.
Vikram Simha says the school didn’t allow his daughter to speak-
The parent in response to the statement by school management said that it was not entirely true. “It is correct we had a conversation with the school authorities (Principal and their legal team), but they refused to let my daughter speak about the incident happened in the class”, he said.
Posting yet another video with his daughter, Vikram Simha noted that Mrs Manjula, the Principal of the BTM Branch school at Bengaluru, refused to listen to the child. The girl in the next video, again fearlessly spoke about her teacher named Sarika Rana teaching the students that ‘Allah is a better God’.
Further, refuting to the eye exercise claims made by the school, the daughter said that she did not get confused over the act of making a bowl shape with hands to be the Two Minutes Eye Exercise. “We rub our hands and place them on our eyes in the exercise. But the teacher made us make a bowl shape of our hands and pray to Allah”, she showed into gestures.
The frightened kid clearly calls out the Teacher’s name as Sarika & her shameless Wahhabi campaign in spite of kids telling “We are Hindus!” So stop this makeover & accept it & take action against the Teacher. We are not fools to believe your stupid PR.pic.twitter.com/jh18QwySayhttps://t.co/RTSLbljTTr
Several BJP leaders and activists have come up in support of the child and demanded strict action against the school and the communal teacher. However, it seems that the city police has not taken cognizance of the issue yet.
The Orchid International School that is managed by St Theresa Educational Cultural and Social Development Society, which was earlier in news in October 2014 for sexual assault on a 4-year-old kid. According to the reports, the staff was being questioned in the case of assault on a minor girl in the school campus in the city.
ANI reported that the Delhi Police, IFSO special cell has arrested the main conspirator behind the derogatory app that targeted Muslim women from Assam.
Earlier, the Mumbai Police, acting on the social media outrage over the derogatory app, had arrested one 21-year-old named Vishal from Bengaluru and an 18-year-old named Shweta from Uttarakhand. In earlier media reports, Shweta was named as the ‘primary’ accused. Another person named Mayank Rawal was also arrested later.
Some reports have stated that the person arrested is named ‘Neeraj Bishnoi’
On social media platforms, a person named ‘Giyou’ had claimed that he had created the app. Details regarding the Delhi Police operation and the person arrested are awaited. This is a developing story.
In a major blow to rebel BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, the Delhi High Court has rejected his plea against the proposed disinvestment of Air India by the govt of India. Reportedly, a bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh of the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea where he had challenged the sale of Air India to the Tata group alleging irregularities in the process.
Breaking: Delhi High Court DISMISSED Subramanian Swamy’s plea challenging disinvestment of Air India.@Swamy39#AirIndia
Confirming the development, Subramanian Swamy tweeted that he will consider moving Supreme Court against the High Court order after the same is uploaded by the court. At present the Delhi HC informed about the dismissal of the petition orally and the detailed order is being uploaded on the high court website soon.
The Delhi HC dismisses my WP on Air India. But reasoned Order is being uploaded. After reading that we shall decide on going to SC
After hearing all the concerned parties, the High Court had reserved the order in the case on January 4th. Petitioner Subramaniam Swamy had alleged in the plea that the bid process for disinvestment in the debt-ridden national carrier was arbitrary, corrupt, malafide, unconstitutional and against the public interest. He had also alleged that the entire process was rigged in favour of Tata Sons.
The Rajya Sabha MP had sought to revoke all actions and decisions related to the Air India disinvestment process. He had also sought CBI investigation into the role and functioning of authorities in the process, saying that a detailed probe report should be submitted to the court.
However, he had clarified that he is not against disinvestment, but only against the process used in the process under which Tata Sons was selected as the winning bidder. “I am in the favour of disinvestment. I have always believed in the idea of the open market,” he had told High Court.
According to Swamy, the other bidder in the process, SpiceJet, was actually not eligible to bid as an insolvency process for the airline is ongoing in Madras HC, and therefore Tata was the only bidder, and the bidding can’t take place in such a situation.
However, the centre had opposed the plea, saying that disinvestment is a policy decision. Appearing for Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that Air India is in continuous losses, and the govt can’t afford more losses. Tata Sons had also opposed the plea, saying the winning bidder is a 100% Indian company.
In October last year, Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, was selected as the winning bidder to acquire loss-making Air India. The EV quote by Talace was Rs 18,000 crores, which includes debt of Rs 15,300 crores and a cash component of 2700 crores.
Anupama Jha, a Noida based journalist of Republic Bharat was attacked by a group of people in the city of Ferozepur, Punjab on January 5th. This is on the very same day when the Congress-ruled state of Punjab made a seemingly deliberate attempt to endanger Prime Minister Modi’s security by allowing the protesters to block the Prime Minister’s convoy during his visit to the state.
PM Modi was to hold his first election rally in Ferozepur yesterday but could not reach the location as farmers staged a demonstration to block his cavalcade in the city.
Anupama Jha, who was in Ferozepur to cover the scheduled rally, shared a video on social media of her car being attacked at around 11:30 in the night yesterday. She said that not even the journalists were safe in Punjab now. “Someone pelted stones and my car and I am severely injured. Does Congress have a say in this”, she captioned the video.
The video shared by the journalist shows that she immediately informed about the attack to the authority and the media.
Condemning the attack, BJP’s Alok Awasthi said that nobody can be safe in the state of Punjab, not the Prime Minister and not the journalists. Also, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit criticised the Congress-ruled state saying that the law and order machinery had completely collapsed in Punjab. “It’s a free for all situation for anti-nationalists”, he added.
— Alok Awasthi आलोक अवस्थी (@aalok_aawasthii) January 6, 2022
Security breach in Punjab, PM Modi gets stranded for 20 minutes
Earlier on the 5th of January, in a major security lapse by the Punjab government, PM Modi’s convoy was deliberately endangered by the Punjab Police. The PM was on his way to the National Martyr’s Memorial in Hussainiwala when the PM’s vehicle was stopped by a group of political protestors.
The Home Ministry has stated that the details of the PM’s travel and route were shared with the Punjab government and the convoy had started only after due confirmations by the Punjab Police. In a major security lapse, a group of protestors were allowed to block the PM’s convoy for over 20 minutes, causing a dangerous lapse in the security of the nation’s PM.
Soon after the major security lapse, Congress leaders and workers had started celebrating, hailing how the ‘protesting farmers’ successfully forced the PM to go back. Congress’ social media head Gaurav Pandhi has almost admitted that the blocking of the PM’s convoy was a deliberate act and the state government headed by the Congress party was aware of the protests.
The Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash that killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and 13 others on December 8 , 2021, was caused by ‘loss of situational awareness’ on the part of pilots due to the bad weather, the investigation has revealed.
As per reports, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh who headed the tri-service inquiry into the crash shared details of the inquiry with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on January 5.
The inquiry report is learnt to have pointed out that there was a sudden appearance of a thick cloud cover creating a situation of ‘loss of situational awareness’ for pilots Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan and Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh.
They had decided to fly through the thick cloud before the landing at the Wellington helipad. It hit a cliff and crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu seven minutes before its scheduled landing. Wellington is located in a topographic bowl and often has a slight fog cover. Due to cloud, pilots heading to and from the Wellington helipad are asked to follow the visual flight rules means ‘see and avoid.
Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, and 12 others lost their lives when the Mi-17V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force they were flying in met with an accident in the Nilgiris. Rawat was heading to the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington to attend a programme.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manvendra Singh explained to the defence minister that the crash was a case of Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT).
CFIT explains a situation when the pilot out of the loss of situational awareness, unintentionally hits an obstacle —ground, mountain, tree, or water body — despite being in full control of his helicopter or aircraft.
The IAF is yet to make out a statement whether standard operating procedures were compromised while flying the chopper or there was an ‘error of judgment’ on the part of pilots who were rated under ‘master-green’ category, signifying their top rating in terms of flying and experience.
The tri-service inquiry also analysed the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of the ill-fated Mi-17 V5 beside a video of the last moment of flying filmed by some tourists. No distress call was made by pilots to the ground stations when the chopper entered the cloud cover.
The inquiry report has also suggested changes in protocols and standard operating procedures for VIP flights. It said that the pilots of such flights should be a mix of master-green and other categories to ensure they seek help from the ground stations if required, the report stated.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, the leader of the terrorist group Sikhs For Justice, has released yet another incendiary video in which he threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that Khalistanis are ready to secede Punjab from India. Pannu often uploads incendiary videos to his YouTube channel in order to incite Sikhs in Punjab to oppose India.
In this video, he is heard declaring that the Free Khalistan Referendum movement began on January 5 and that the people of Punjab have begun their journey toward freedom.
Drawing PM Modi and the Indian government’s attention towards his incriminating speech, Pannu said that the Free Khalistan Referendum campaign began on January 5 when ‘Tirange wale (Indians)’ fled from Punjab to Delhi, while ‘Khande and Kesri wale (Sikhs)’ forced India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to flee Punjab.
Further issuing veiled threats to the Indian government, the banned terrorist organisation chief said that Punjab has taken the first steps toward independence. Punjab’s people have made their decision today. Modi and his government should pay attention, he said adding, that when “Indira had arrived with arms, they had returned the favour” (referring to the former PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination).
He added, “You all came to instil fear in Punjab, but the people of Punjab forced you to return home quietly.”
He further said that the Khalistan Referendum movement is based on votes rather than bombs and they would use this power of votes to free Punjab from the clutches of India. Pannu added that Punjab has decided that the referendum in Punjab will be held at the time when Assembly elections would be taking place in Punjab in 2022 and any political party that stands against Kesari, whether it is the Congress’s Channi, Sidhu, the BJP, or the ‘Jhadu wale (AAP),’ they would be imprinted with the Khanda.
“Those who support Tiranga must leave Punjab and relocate to Delhi”, Pannu added.
ISI-backed Khalistan ideologue Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of the banned organization Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has always indulged in provocating Sikh individuals living in India especially those who agree with the Khalistani movement. The SFJ chief, who has been coordinating referendum votes in the United Kingdom and other countries, has repeatedly stated in his previous speeches that the SFJ would hold a referendum in Punjab during the 2022 Assembly elections.
In another video released on January 11, Pannu asked Sikh youths to hoist the Khalistani flag on India Gate and remove the Indian flag from India Gate as well as from every corner in Delhi. Pannu declared an award of USD 2.5 lakh for anyone who hoists the Khalistani flag on India gate. He further threatened the Indian government, saying that if peaceful protests were not allowed, the Sikhs would not hesitate to join the armed insurrection.
In fact, two days before the Golden Temple lynching on December 18, Pannu, who was, last year in September, booked for issuing assassination threats to former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, wrote to Pakistan PM Imran Khan seeking his intervention in the Referendum and ‘Fall of Delhi’. Pannu had written to Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, to support SFJ to “Free Punjab” and form “Khalistan”.
India’s vaccination drive has been reliant on two ‘Made In India’ vaccines, which are Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. While SII’s Covishield is developed by Oxford AstraZeneca, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been developed indigenously and has been India’s success story in the vaccination drive so far.
Since the Indian government granted approvals to Covaxin, a number of media houses, media persons and politicians have been busy peddling blatant falsehoods and misinformation against the indigenously developed vaccine that has proven its efficacy and is now approved by the WHO too.
Recently, Bharat Biotech had shared a list of recent media reports from Indian media outlets that have spread misinformation, and sometimes blatant lies to create confusion regarding the vaccine. The company ‘fact-checked’ those lies one by one.
‘Fact-check’ by Bharat Biotech
Fake claims and misinformation by Moneycontrol
Bharat Biotech listed an article by Money Control dated 29 December 2021 that claimed Bharat Biotech’s ability to provide vaccine doses for 10 crore Indians in the 15-18 age group is doubtful.
Bharat Biotech stated that they have provided crores of doses in the last 11 months of the vaccination campaign and the vaccination drive for the 15-18 age group will also be carried out through several months.
Another statement in the article claimed that they had a ‘botched up’ attempt to revive the Haskins Veterinary Institute in Gujarat and their tech transfer efforts so far have been unsuccessful.
Bharat Biotech stated that they are carrying out tech transfer projects with 3 companies, one is already manufacturing and the company mentioned by Moneycontrol does not exist.
Further, Moneycontrol had claimed in a misleading statement that Bharat Biotech is one of the few companies that has experience of trials in the ’18 odd’ age group.
Bharat Biotech reminded them that they have been carrying out clinical trials on children in the 2-18 age group.
Fake statements and misinformation by Times of India
In a TOI article dated 25 December 2021, it was claimed that private hospitals in Bengaluru have over 5.5 lakh doses of Covaxin that are ‘expired’.
Bharat Biotech stated that they have data and the current number of ‘expired’ doses stands at less than 1 lakh.
Fact-check by Bharat Biotech
False claims by Deccan Herald
In an article dated 5 January 2022, Deccan Herald had claimed that “the confidence of parents have been shaken by the low sample size of human clinical trials, and the confusion regarding extension of shelf life of the Covaxin doses’.
Bharat Biotech clarified that they have conducted clinical trials on over 26,000 people so far and their findings are published in internationally peer-reviewed journals. Further, the extension of shelf life has been granted by CDSCO in a very transparent manner after data on shelf life was submitted. The company has also communicated the same in the public domain and the government of India has granted shelf life extension to both Covishield and Covaxin based on data submitted by the respective companies.
The DH article further stated a blatant lie claiming that Bharat Biotech has taken back over 90% of the six lakh ‘expired-label’ doses in Bengaluru.
Bharat Biotech stated that the company maintains data on doses supplied and available and Bengaluru’s hospitals did not have six lakh ‘expired-label’ doses. The number was less than 1 lakh.
False claims by The Wire
The Wire, in an article on 29 December 2021 had claimed, “The virologist said currently there is currently no data available on the immune response generated by Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech stated that the data on the immune response generated by Covaxin has been published in several reputed international peer-reviewed journals through 2020 and 2021. The data on booster doses has been submitted to the authorities.
The company stated that the above mentioned false statements by media outlets are just a few examples of the number of false claims and misinformation shared by many publications against their vaccine and company. They have added that they will continue to ‘fact-check’ the false claims.
They requested the media organisations to be responsible in their reportage, adding that news articles on medicine, science, vaccines and pharmaceuticals etc have to be based on actual scientific facts and data, not on ideological, political or financial leanings.
On the 5th of January, a serious and deliberate security breach in Punjab led to the convoy of PM Modi being blocked for over 20 minutes by protestors at a flyover about 30 km away from Hussainiwala. The BKU, which took responsibility for the protests went on the record to confirm that the PM’s route information was leaked, according to Times Now. While the nation was shocked and demanding accountability from the Congress government in Punjab, The Quint wrote an elaborate article downplaying the security lapse and lying in the process.
The Quint published a report, written by its “journalist” Aditya Menon, headlined, “PM Modi’s Punjab Visit Cancelled: 2 Angles to the Fiasco – Security & Politics”.
In the article, Menon lied blatantly to downplay the seemingly deliberate security lapse that led to PM Modi being stuck for 20 minutes not too far away from the Pakistan border.
Aditya Menon, in The Quint article, cited an incident from 2017 to claim that at the time, PM Modi’s convoy was stuck in traffic for 2 hours, however, claims that his life was threatened had not been made. The article was shared on Twitter with this very claim by the author Aditya Menon and the official handle of The Quint.
Tweet by The Quint journalist
Other assorted “liberals” like Rohini Singh also shared the claim to downplay the serious security lapse in the security of the Prime Minister and attempted to shield the Congress government in Punjab.
Tweet by Rohini Singh, The Wire journalist
Rohini Singh, a journalist with The Wire, quoted the tweet by Aditya Menon and said that “Noida channels” were vilifying ordinary citizens by claiming that there was a threat to PM Modi’s life. She said the fact that PM Modi’s convoy was “stuck in Noida for over 2 hours” was a “very important point” and that the rest of the media was trying to showcase “Punjabis as anti-national”.
In the report, The Quint had said that while in 2017, PM Modi was stuck for 2 hours in traffic, nobody had claimed that his life was under threat, thereby insinuating that the media and other citizens raising questions against the Congress government were doing so because they harboured some sort of hatred for Punjabis.
What The Quint had published
Essentially, by picking up this incident and lying about it, Aditya Menon wanted to say that the outrage over PM Modi’s security detail breach was mainly owing to the fact that it happened in Punjab and when something far more serious had happened in Uttar Pradesh, there was no outrage over the security breach.
However, the truth is far from it.
In 2017, PM Modi’s convoy was stuck in traffic only for 2 minutes, not 2 hours as claimed by The Quint.
At that time, Indian Express had reported how two cops had been suspended after a security breach that led to PM Modi being stuck in traffic for 2 minutes.
Indian Express article
The two policemen who were suspended had taken a wrong turn as a result of which PM Modi’s cavalcade had been stuck in traffic for merely two minutes.
There is a fundamental difference between what happened in Noida in 2017 and what happened in Punjab.
In 2017, the security breach was a result of a mistake by the policemen and not because the state government had deliberately failed to clear the route that the PM was taking to travel. In Punjab, however, the situation was extremely different.
Yesterday, it was evident that Punjab police was actively involved in blocking the convoy of PM Modi in Ferozepur as videos had gone viral, in which Punjab police were seen enjoying tea with protestors while the convoy was stuck not so far from them.
Another shocking revelation was made by a local witness who is also one of the so-called farmer protesters which clearly indicates that the agitators blocking the road already knew the route taken by the PM to reach the destination. This is a clear confirmation of the leaking of the sensitive information which was supposed to be limited to none other than the Punjab police and local administration. Moreover, while the Punjab police said that they tried but could not remove the blockade, the protester informed that police didn’t make any attempt in that regard, the protestors were not asked by the cops to clear the route.
On being asked if anyone tried either by talks or force to make the protesters leave the site clear the roads, the protester said, “Had the police even tried to do so, they were well aware what would happen to them. Because we farmers were already outnumbering the police. The number of police force was simply not sufficient to make the farmers move. Earlier, Modi’s fans were also trying to pass from here; but they too were not allowed to. Because we were knowing that if they pass ahead, they will certainly do something. We already knew that Narendra Modi will be passing from here only. We were knowing that he has some rally or program planned ahead in Ferozepur and farmers did not want him to reach there.”
The allegations that the Punjab government deliberate leaked info also stems from the fact that the Punjab CM had held a press conference and made several contradictory statements that showed how he was trying to skirt the issue. Further, the BKU, farmers organisation, had admitted to Times Now that details of the route the PM was taking was leaked to the protestors.
In fact, right before the security breach of the Prime Minister, the protesting farmers were seen attacking buses and BJP workers.
The Quint deliberately ignores the fundamental difference between the 2017 incident and the security breach from yesterday. Further, they blatantly lied about the duration of the security breach in 2017 to prove that 20 minutes was not too long for the cavalcade of the PM to be stuck only a few kilometres away from the Pakistan border because it was stuck for 2 hours in 2017.
The lies peddled by The Quint was pointed out by several Twitter users as soon as it was published.
Activist Anshul Saxena had taken to Twitter to point out how The Quint had lied in their report.
To defend PM's security breach in Punjab, The Quint spread fake news that in 2017, PM's convoy was stuck in traffic for over 2 hours in UP's Noida.
Fact is PM's convoy was stuck in traffic for 2 minutes.
After this, The Quint quietly deleted the tweet where they had shared the report on Twitter.
Deleted tweet by The Quint
The report by The Quint has been updated as well. In the report, they have removed the “2 hours” lie, however, they have retained the comparison they made to the 2017 incident thereby, continuing to peddle their agenda with the false equivalence.
Updated report by The Quint
In comparing the current situation with the 2017 incident, The Quint is only proving that they are trying to shield the Congress government in Punjab but downplaying the security breach itself. Also, The Quint is attempting to insinuate that the government and others questioning this security breach are doing so because they are predisposed against Punjab and the people of Punjab.
Aditya Menon of The Quint had employed exactly the same tactic while defending Sharjeel Imam’s speech, calling to cut off Assam from the rest of India
In 2020, The Quint’s journalist Aditya Menon, infamously known for passing off an image from Syria as from Kashmir, attempted to rationalise Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam’s secessionist and violent remarks by equating them with the ISI propaganda of blockades imposed in Kashmir by Hindu organisations in 2008.
Watering down Imam’s dangerously secessionist speech, Menon argued that the former JNU student had simply asked for a “chakka jam or a blockade of the highways and railways leading to Assam”. However, in his pursuit to defend Imam, Menon cunningly drew a parallel with the Amarnath agitation in 2008 when Hindu organisations had allegedly blocked Jammu-Srinagar highway. Menon stated that if that wasn’t considered sedition, then Imam’s call to block the roads and railways leading to Assam should not be considered separatist either.
The first one is concerning the distortion of Imam’s incendiary speech. Menon cleverly ignored the reference to “Chicken Neck” that was raised by Imam in his speech. Imam categorically stated that Chicken Neck, a narrow stretch of land of about 22 kilometres located in the Indian state of West Bengal, that connects India’s northeastern states to the rest of India, with the countries of Nepal and Bangladesh lying on either side of the corridor, ‘belongs to the Muslims’ and exhorted them to take hold of the area to cut-off Assam and the North-East from the rest of India.
Basically, the article exonerates Imam of all allegations and mentions that if at all he is guilty of anything, it is just ‘intellectual arrogance’. It adds that the only punishment for that is ‘debate and more debate’.
In this incident, Menon similarly exonerated the protestors of all the violence they had perpetuated, in the past and in the present. He forgets about the 26th January violence, the numerous murders and rapes during the farmers protest and also, the attack on buses and BJP workers on the day that PM Modi’s security detail was breached.
The second aspect is about the false equivalence Menon tries to invoke in order to legitimise Sharjeel’s subversive assertions. The Amarnath blockade, which Menon refers to, in order to justify Sharjeel’s inflammatory remarks, erupted on May 26, 2008, after the central government ordered the transfer of approximately 99 acres of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board(SASB) in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims.
The decision was fiercely opposed by Muslims dwellers in the Valley, with organisations such as JKLF spearheading the protests and which saw participation from separatist leaders such as leaders Shabir Ahmad Shah, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC). Pressurised by Muslim protest, the government revoked the land transfer order.
This did not sit well with the Hindus who felt offended by the government’s back-pedalling. At least 35 Hindu organisations staged a protest along the Jammu Srinagar highway demanding restoration of land to Hindus. Hindu outfits such as Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested outside the Kashmir House in Delhi against the revocation order issued by the government.
However, Menon did not feel the need to apprise his readers about the background that led to the protests staged by Hindus. In fact, Menon went ahead to falsely claim that Hindus blocked the Jammu-Srinagar highway, cutting off Kashmir from the rest of India. But, to Menon’s chagrin, this theory of “blockade of Kashmir” is patently false as the Government of India, the Army, the District Administration, SASB unequivocally repudiated the allegations of the blockade and called it a myth.
In fact, no Hindu groups had rejected India’s constitution or praised Jinnah either.
Denying any blockade, the BJP too denounced the theory of blockade as “a lie perpetuated by the ISI”, of which there was no compelling evidence, and asserted that the people of the Valley were being misled with false propaganda, abetting the nefarious designs of separatists.
In the current incident too, Aditya Menon employs the same sophistry where he ignores the difference in context between the 2017 incident and the current security breach in Punjab and lies about the details to exonerate the protestors and the Congress government.
