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‘No one can stop us from correcting history’: Amit Shah encourages scholars to free Indian history from distortions

OpIndia Staff
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‘No one can stop us from correcting history’: Amit Shah encourages scholars to free Indian history from distortions

On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah encouraged scholars to conduct studies and write about 30 great Indian civilizations and 300 soldiers who fought valiantly for the motherland. He said that no one can stop rewriting of history to free it from distortions.

“I often come across complaints that our history has been distorted and tampered with. These allegations could be true. But who stops it from being corrected now? Who stops us from writing the correct history now,” the Minister said while speaking at the event that was organised to mark the 400th Birth Anniversary of Ahom general Lachit Barphukan in Delhi.

He hailed the Ahom general and said that North East would not have been part of India if Veer Lachit Barphukan had not fought for it. “He protected not only Northeast India but entire Southeast Asia from religious fanatic Aurangzeb,” he said.

Shah urged researchers, historians, and students to recognize 30 great civilizations in Indian history that governed for more than 150 years in any part of the country, as well as 300 warriors who demonstrated exemplary courage in fighting for the country’s independence and conducting extensive study and writing about them.

“If we do this, we will see that the true history of India will be established and the lies will end spontaneously. In India, we now have a government that supports any endeavour to promote the country’s glory. We will work towards reviving India’s glorious history,” Shah said at the event organised by the Assam government.

Shah stated that a country that does not take pride in its magnificent history and does not draw inspiration from its ancestors would never be able to establish a bright future for itself, better citizens, or a golden future.

The minister said Barphukan fought the Saraighat fight in difficult conditions by bringing together many tribes and using local resources to create tiny weaponry and boats to take on the powerful army headed by Ram Singh of Amer. “The Mughal army did not have that iota of patriotism and dedication for the country that Barphukan and his soldiers had. This was a victory of patriotism. They won and not only secured the sovereignty, culture and heritage of Ahom but also saved entire Southeast Asia from religiously fanatic invader Aurangzeb,” he said.

He said that the foreign invaders from Delhi could never have the confidence to enter Assam again after this shattering setback. He went on to say that the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Borphukan reveals a fresh chapter in Indian history in which Assam kings battled Muslim invaders of different ages and preserved their motherland’s sovereignty.

Assam was attacked 22 times by Muslim invaders between 1206 and 1671 but could not remain under Muslim rule for long due to its people’s unwavering desire for freedom, Shah said. He stated that the Northeast’s culture had survived due to this mindset. Its magnificent location, language, culture, clothing, music, and food have all remained unaffected by foreign influences.

He said that everyone, whether Akbar or Aurangzeb, Qutb ud-Din Aibak or Iltutmish, Bakhtiyar Khalji or Iwaz Khali, Muhammad bin Tughluq or Mir Jumla, had been defeated in Assam by the heroism of Ahom Kings. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, former Chief Justice of India and Rajya Sabha MP Ranjan Gogoi were among those who were present at the session along with Home Minister Shah in Delhi on November 24.

Author Vikram Sampath faced online attacks and ridicule for his objective account of Veer Savarkar’s life

Shah’s assertion comes at a time when many Indian historians have come under attack from the left intelligentsia for refusing to toe the established version of decades-old distortionists who peddled a coloured version of India’s history to promote their agenda. For instance, famous author and historian Vikram Sampath was subjected to ridicule and attack for publishing his seminal work on freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, one of the earliest proponents of Hindutva ideology, long maligned by the Congress party for political purposes.

Even before his treatise on Savarkar was out in the market, Congress supporters and trolls attacked the author and accused him of whitewashing history with his prejudice for the leader. However, undeterred by criticism, Sampath went ahead with his books on Savarkar and provided an accurate account of the freedom fighter’s life, dispelling sundry notions that erstwhile historians had promoted to jibe with the political ideology of the time.

Delhi Vigilance Directorate recommends probe into ₹1300 crore scam in construction of classrooms by AAP government

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Vigilance Directorate recommends probe into ₹1300 crore scam in construction of classrooms by AAP government

In a major shocker to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi AAP government, the vigilance directorate has recommended a detailed investigation by a specialized agency into the alleged irregularities and corruption by the Kejriwal government in the construction of 2,405 classrooms in 194 government schools in Delhi. 

The Delhi government’s vigilance directorate has submitted the report about the alleged scam to the chief secretary. The Delhi vigilance directorate (DoV) has also recommended “fixing responsibilities” of the Education Department and PWD officials involved in the alleged mishandling amounting to nearly Rs 1,300 crore.

The Vigilance Directorate recommended that the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) consider its findings, as well as responses from the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Delhi government’s Education Department.

The Central Vigilance Commission had outlined “grave irregularities” in the Public Works Department’s (PWD) construction of over 2,400 classrooms in Delhi government schools in a report dated February 17, 2020.

Notably, the CVC sent the report to the Delhi government’s vigilance directorate in February 2020, requesting comments on the matter. However, the AAP government did not take the report seriously until August this year, when Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the Chief Secretary to investigate the delay and submit a report.

Highlighting the findings of the DoV report, the Central Vigilance Commission in its report said that other than several procedural lapses and violation of rules and manuals to tamper with the tender process, the DoV report outlined the “role of private agencies/persons namely ‘M/s Babbar and Babbar Associates,’ who despite not being appointed as a consultant, attended an important meeting held on June 21, 2016, in the chamber of the then PWD Minister and influenced the Minister for post-tender changes done in the work contracts in the name of ‘richer specifications’ resulting in additional financial ramifications of Rs 205.45 crore.”

The report further states that extra-constitutional persons/agencies were dictating terms to government officials, and the entire administration at both, policy and the executive level was implementing their directions. This goes in clear violation of the Transaction of Business Rules (TBR), 1993, and other rules and guidelines. Such an approach will result in “administrative anarchy and chaos.”

Notably, in April 2015, CM Arvind Kejriwal directed the construction of additional classrooms in Delhi government schools. The PWD was tasked with building 2405 classrooms in 193 schools. It conducted a survey to determine classroom requirements and projected a total requirement of 7180 equivalent classrooms (ECR) in 194 schools, nearly three times the requirement of 2405 classrooms.

On August 25, 2019, CVC received a complaint about irregularities and cost overruns in classroom construction. Without calling a tender, the construction costs increased by up to 90% in the name of “richer specifications.” The Delhi government approved a Rs 500 crore cost increase without a tender.

As per the observations of the CVC investigation report, tenders were floated for the works that were originally proposed and approved, but the awarded contract value later differed by 17% to 90% due to “richer specifications.”

Consequently, the cost increased to Rs.326.25 crore, which is 53% more than the tender award amount.

“With an additional expenditure of Rs 37 crore, 1214 toilets were built in 194 schools, compared to the requirement of 160 toilets. The Delhi government counted toilets and projected them as classrooms. In 141 schools, only 4027 classrooms were built. The sanctioned amount for these projects was Rs.989.26 crore, and the total tender value was Rs 860.63 crore, but the actual expenditure was Rs 1315.57 crore. No new tender was called, but the additional work was completed. A number of works were left unfinished. Serious violation of the GFR, the CPWD Works Manual, and the CVC Guidelines,” the CVC report said.

Club Q shooter claims he is ‘non-binary’, Wokes who claimed gender identity must be respected and trusted, start to doubt his identity

OpIndia Staff
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Club Q shooter claims he is ‘non-binary’, Wokes who claimed gender identity must be respected and trusted, start to doubt his identity

On Tuesday (November 22), the primary suspect in the Colorado Springs nightclub (Club Q) shooting, Anderson Lee Aldrich, submitted before a court that he identified as a non-binary.

As per reports, the 22-year-old Aldrich went on a killing spree at an LGBTQ club named ‘Club Q’ on the intervening night of November 19-November 20. The mass shooting in Colorado left 5 people dead and injured 26 others.

According to The Daily Beast, the accused alleged before the court that he is non-binary. His lawyers claimed in a filing, “Anderson Aldrich is nonbinary.. “They use they/them pronouns, and for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich.”

Wokes lose their mind after gender identity ruins narrative

Wokes, who had been promoting a culture of self-declaration of gender without the need for verification, was caught in their ideological mess. They had time and again reiterated to ‘respect’ pronouns and identify individuals as per their whims and fancies.

As such, wokes took to Twitter to strip the mass shooting accused of his ‘non-binary status.’ PhD student Derek Pederson claimed, “Anderson Lee Aldrich claiming to identify as non-binary in Court seems like it is just a way to get hate crime charges dropped. The guy is religiously Mormon and has been reported to be very homophobic by neighbours.”

Another woke Twitter user alleged, “Anderson Lee Aldrich is a cishet male. He is claiming to be non-binary in order to troll. He has a history of homophobia and transphobia all the way up to aiding in anti-LGBT genocide.”

Far-left outfit, Antifa, supporter Gregory Hatfield said, “Anderson Lee Aldrich’s lawyers are lying when they say he is non-binary. Nope. They are trying to avoid a hate crime charge and going the route of mental illness. They are also setting it up for MAGA to say one of us killed the LGBTQ community.”

Another Twitter user claimed, “Don’t waste your time on debates about the gender identity of the Club Q shooter—it’s irrelevant. What is relevant is that the shooter committed what is obviously a patriarchal hate crime meant to instill fear in the LGBTQ community. Let’s stay focused on that.”

One Crowbar alleged, “Beyond absurd to think that the Club Q shooter claiming to be non-binary is anything other than a final mocking gesture toward queer people & a shallow attempt at a “gotcha” about accepting everyone’s gender identity. how is this being debated or taken seriously anywhere on earth”

One Miles Vorkosignc concluded that the mass shooter was mocking non-binary individuals by falsely pretending to be one of them/

While the natural tendency of such individuals is to put the onus of mass shootings on white supremacy, the self-identification of Anderson Lee Aldrich as a ‘non-binary’ posed a serious threat to the narrative.

Gender Identity politics has been one of those most controversial subjects in the USA in the recent years. Wokes in the US have attempted to alter basic biologically accepted facts and introduced the world to a host of made up pronouns and gender identities. For example, they truly believe that a biological male can simply wake up one day and claim to be a woman – that claim of his gender identity then entitles him to participate in women’s sports, use women’s washrooms and basically, be treated as a woman by the society – no questions asked. The wokes have repeatedly branded those who question such toxic politics as fascists. A non-binary individual would essentially mean that the shooter is claiming to belong to the LGBTQIA+ spectrum – claiming that they are neither male, nor female and therefore, they get to pick their own pronouns.

In this case, the wokes, who have long advocated that every gender identity must be automatically considered the absolute truth and must not be questioned, seem to be questioning the gender identity of the shooter, who claims to be non-binary. They claim that he might be pretending to be one just so he does not get charged with a hate crime given that the ones who were shot at belonged to the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. This only goes to prove that the Left-woke ecosystem is terribly hypocritical when it comes to its dangerous identity politics. Essentially, they want gender identity to be believed without question, however, in this unfortunate case they refuse to believe the gender identity of the shooter because it hurts their set narrative that only the “right wing” of the west is perpetrating violence against the LGBT community.

Judicial overreach? Every constitutional lacuna is not for the Judiciary to fill: Why contempt accused Prashant Bhushan’s latest petition is problematic

Saket Suryesh
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Judicial overreach? Every constitutional lacuna is not for the Judiciary to fill: Why contempt accused Prashant Bhushan’s latest petition is problematic

The Constitutional Bench is sitting to hear on the matter of the process of selection of Election Commissioners. There are multiple Petitions filed which have been clutched together as the SC bench sat down to hear the concerns and in effect, a strong lawyers’ lobby including Prashant Bhushan, an SC lawyer charged a couple of years back with the Contempt of Court, wants the Judiciary to tread into the space of another Constitutional body.

The plea made by Prashant Bhushan, an ex-leader of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and now a collaborator of Rahul Gandhi’s Congress is that not only the Judiciary should look at the appointment of the current Election Commissioner, rather should also become a party to the selection of another constitutional body. This request of Bhushan is made on the premise that while the integrity of the Executive, that is, the parliament cannot be depended on, the Judiciary is above board, and their presence in the hypothetical committee will ensure the right selection. Bhushan who held an extremely derogatory view of the same judiciary until recently when he was reprimanded and charged with contempt, has now become a convert who believes that only the Judiciary is a constitutional body which is honest and above the board. 

While the decision is yet to be taken, a request to intervene when there is no incident of irregularity has been presented by the petitioners is strange. If the public statements of one of the SC Judge, Shri K M Joseph is to be considered, it is easy to chance a guess about the direction in which he leans. Recently on the subject, he said that it is not always that we get someone totally neutral as TN Sheshan in the Election. The fact remains while much has been said about the inertness and lack of enthusiasm of previous Election Commissioners, we do not have many cases which could indicate the lack of integrity on the part of the Commission.

Even in the case of Navin Chawla, charged earlier by the Shah Commission which was looking at excesses during the Emergency imposed by the Congress Government, no charge of lack of integrity could stick. Charges against the Judiciary which wants to get into the appointment process, on the ground that it is clean and incorrigible have, on the other hand, been quite common. From the inside, there have been instances like the resignation of Justice HR Khanna when he was superseded at the orders of Indira Gandhi, then PM, for taking an anti-establishment stand. 

While as a government officer, an election commissioner is supposed to submit the details of their assets to their organisation, the Judiciary, on the other hand, has been reluctant to do the same. The executive which currently is charged with electing an Election Commissioner has to mandatorily declare the assets of the candidate when it approaches the people every five years to get re-elected. A bill to this effect (The Judges (Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Bill, 2009) was brought in 2009 by the Congress-led UPA Government and presented in Parliament. It was opposed by Late Shri Arun Jaitley, not so much on the idea but the hidden dishonesty of the bill.

The bill, while mandating the Judges to disclose their assets and liabilities, hid within clause 6 of the bill a provision where such disclosures were not to be made public. This was a sharp contrast to the position of the Courts in the Representation of People Act, where they not only mandated the disclosure of assets and liabilities of the contestants in elections but also made public disclosure a part of the fundamental rights of the electorate. While the same Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution was used, here for the judges, the disclosures were made exempt from public scrutiny.

The left also opposed it on the ground that it placed the Judges above the constitutional duties and obligations of people holding high offices. Ram Jethmalani also pointed to this exceptionalism and said ‘it creates a suspicion in the public mind that the judiciary is seeking favour from the executive. The favour being that you put us on a higher pedestal than any other public servant in the country. Let other people’s assets be disclosed, but not ours. He further added, brutally, This bill is a conspiracy in corruption. The bill was shelved. In August 2009, however, the Judges in a full court meeting resolved that the assets will be declared and disclosed to the public. In America, all judges have to disclose their assets to the public under The Ethics of Government Act of 1978 and the Judicial Code of Conduct passed in 1995. 

In India, Judiciary had gone into a huddle and came out with a resolution in 1997, wherein it was made mandatory for SC Judges to disclose their assets to Chief Justice. As it turned out, it remained mandatory only in name, and much as the cosy elite club called collegium opaquely appointing judges, there was no one to call out this honourable farce of honourable men.

As per a 2021 report on The Leaflet, out of 723 Judges across High Courts and Supreme Court, 105 have declared their assets, at one point or other. The Supreme Court which is hearing the petition casting aspersions on the Elected Executive appointing the Election Commission, has one of the worst records in the matter, with only two out of the thirty-three Judges having disclosed their assets and liabilities (December 2021). This shows how the convention of internal governance has failed for the judiciary itself when it tries to wade into the recruitment of other constitutional bodies. Already the Judges are a part of the appointment panel of the Chief of CBI and Enforcement Directorate. This has not reduced the changes of partisanship made on them. The process of appointment of higher Judiciary through a collegium system is anyway under a cloud.

This matter of the collegium system and its opacity also came up in the debate now happening in the Supreme Court regarding the appointment process of the Election Commission. I have written earlier on the unconstitutionality of the Collegium system and how it is nothing but Judges coming together and taking away the powers which were bestowed on the elected President of India by the makers of our Constitution. In the SC hearing, the Government side quoted another senior SC Lawyer and said this power of the Executive was usurped by the Judiciary. 

During the Constituent Assembly debate, on the 15th of June, 1949, the Election Commissions structure was debated and Dr BR Ambedkar placed the Chief Election Commissioner in the equivalent position as a Judges of the Supreme Court, as far as her removability is concerned. Article 289 of the draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly debate which became Article 324 spoke about the appointment of the Chief Election Commission as to be done by the pleasure of the President, subject to any law made on this behalf by Parliament. The last part was added by Dr Ambedkar when the lack of process and too much fluidity made the framers of the constitution fearful. However, that the elected Parliament shall be officiating over the changes in appointment rules was unambiguously mentioned. In 2012, Sri LK Advani too wrote to the then-PM Dr Manmohan Singh about some sort of collegium system for the appointment of CEC. 

Going by the way, how regarding the appointment of judges, Constitution envisaged appointment by President, on the advice of CJI, as the former may deem fit; the recommendatory role of CJI became obligatory to the President and eventually the President herself was turned into a rubber stamp of the Collegium, merely to sign on the decisions of the Collegium. On the question of what the Constitution said about it, the Judges proclaimed that the Constitution is to be interpreted the way we tell you to interpret in the Third Judges Case. Regarding the primacy of CJI on the matter of appointment (over the President) and the Constitutional position on this, the bench declared that the relevant provisions of the Constitution including the constitutional scheme must now be understood and implemented in the manner indicated herein by us. In short, the judiciary told all the members of the Constituent Assembly led by Dr. Ambedkar to go and fly kites. 

With so many inglorious chapters in the history of the Judiciary in Independent India, it is incumbent on the Judiciary to clean its act, while allowing the EC to clean up its own as per the will of the people, that is the guidelines laid down by the elected Parliament. The Government took the position that in terms of security of compensation and tenure has been ascertained in 1991, after Dinesh Goswami report. Regarding specific laws to be framed, it was argued that during the CA debate it was clearly decided that if and when this becomes a headache, it is the Parliament which needs to frame the law defining the rules of appointment of the EC, respecting the Will of the People.

At one point, the Bench even suggested pursuing the direction of the Third Judges case under Article 142, which was used by the Court to create a law, much like the creation of Collegium, circumventing the CA clearly mentioning that it is the Parliament which is to make the law if that appears to be needed. The Government explains that the Article only allows the court to address the lacuna in law when it has significant national and social implications and cannot be used wantonly to usurp the law-making powers of the elected parliament. This is one of the most important factors to be considered when unscrupulous men like Prashant Bhooshan use reports by even more unscrupulous men like John Dayal to use the Courts to create a parallel government. Simeon Baldwin writes in his book The American Judiciary- ‘It cannot be law if its provisions contravene rules laid down by the Constitution of the State to restrict the legislative power. This is a concern that the Judiciary should also consider instead of using Article 142 as what the bench called in the hearing on 23rd November 2022 as Brahmaastra. 

Every constitutional lacuna is not for the judiciary to fill. There are some silences which are to be filled by the voice of the people who send their elected representatives to the Parliament. The founding fathers of our constitution, therefore, left it that. Let us not second guess that and create a dictatorship of the unelected.  

UN Committee calls for probe into brazen human rights abuse against Muslims in Xinjiang under the Chinese government

OpIndia Staff
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UN Committee calls for probe into brazen human rights abuse against Muslims in Xinjiang under the Chinese government

A UN committee Thursday, November 24, acting under its urgent action procedure, demanded that China investigate all allegations of violations of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) including torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, forced labour, enforced disappearances, and deaths in custody, as soon as possible.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) also called on China to release all individuals arbitrarily detained in the XUAR, whether in so-called Vocational Education and Training Centres (VETCs) or other detention facilities.

The UN Human Rights Office stated in a statement that the Committee encouraged the State party to immediately cease any harassment and reprisals against Uyghur and other ethnic Muslim communities, the diaspora, and those who speak out in their defence, both domestically and internationally.

It urged Beijing to offer meaningful and effective remedies and reparation to victims of human rights violations, particularly Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslim populations.

The committee also recommended that China conduct a thorough review of its legal framework governing national security, counter-terrorism, and minority rights in the XUAR to ensure full compliance with its obligations as a party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Furthermore, it urged the State Party to properly implement its 2018 recommendations, as well as the Committee against Torture’s 2015 Concluding Observations and the UN Human Rights Office’s assessment of human rights issues in the XUAR of August 2022.

‘Xinjiang police files’ reveal gross human right violation against Muslims Uyghurs

The UN committee has raised concerns about the content of the ‘Xinjiang police files’ that were leaked in May this year. It revealed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Xi Jinping is involved in brazen human rights abuse against Muslims in Xinjiang. 

According to the reports, the Chinese government has detained Uyghur Muslims in the concentration camps which China terms ‘vocational skills education and training centres’. At these centres, Uyghurs are brainwashed to be ‘trustworthy persons’ for the Communist government.

The matter came to light when the ‘Xinjiang police files’ were published by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation with cooperation from 14 media outlets from 11 countries. The files gave the world an inside view of China’s ‘re-education camps’ and the ‘prison-like’ conditions that Uyghurs are made to face.

According to the report, some of the photographs of the 2884 detainees of the ‘re-education camp’ show guards standing by, armed with batons. It refutes Chinese claims that there is no coercion at these camps. The report also mentions that many of them have been detained for no reason or for unsound reasons. The Xinjiang Police Files further contain another set of documents that shows detainees photographed in the prison-like surroundings of these ‘re-education camps’ that China insists are ‘vocational schools’.

Blindfolds, handcuffs, and shackles mandatory for ‘students’ being transferred between facilities or even to hospitals, backed with an extreme level of physical control are a common sight. The documents further show Chinese authorities treating the ‘students’ as they usually treat the detainees in the detention centres. They also run the indoctrination centres at these camps, again making no differentiation between the camps and the prison.

China slams UN Committee’s demand for a probe into gross human rights violation in Xinjiang by the Chinese Govt

China, meanwhile, lashed out Thursday at the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination over its demand for an immediate probe into Xinjiang-related issues. Hours after the statement that called on China to immediately probe all allegations of human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur, Liu Yuyin, spokesperson for the Chinese mission to Geneva, said that the ‘so-called’ decision is “based on disinformation fabricated by Western countries and anti-China separatist force.”

“Some Western countries, out of the scheme of containing China by using Xinjiang-related issues and associating with anti-China separatists, have long been fabricating and spreading Xinjiang-related lies and rumours, coercing and manipulating multilateral human rights institutions to take actions, in an attempt to smear China, undermine the stability of Xinjiang and curb the development of China. As one of the human rights treaty bodies, the CERD should have carried out its work in an impartial and objective way, and conducted constructive exchanges and dialogues with State Parties. However, the CERD is now driven by certain forces, abuses its so-called “Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures” without seeking communication or clarification with the Chinese government, forcibly adopts the so-called decision, stigmatizes China based on disinformation, and reduces itself to the political tool of the West.”

India invites Egypt President El Sisi as Chief Guest on Republic Day: Govt’s efforts to strengthen political, military relations with Cairo

OpIndia Staff
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India invites Egypt President El Sisi as Chief Guest on Republic Day: Govt’s efforts to strengthen political, military relations with Cairo

On Thursday, India invited Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the Chief Guest on Republic Day on January 26 next year, as part of New Delhi’s endeavours to improve and strengthen its political and military relations with Cairo. The invite to Egyptian President El Sisi is also viewed as India’s outreach to the continent and to the country which is Africa’s second-largest economy. Both countries commemorated the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year.

According to the reports, the red carpet reception for President Sisi indicates that Delhi-Cairo connections will gain special emphasis in the coming months and years. Dr S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh both visited the nation earlier this year. During their travels, both ministers met with Egypt’s President, with Jaishankar delivering a personal message from Prime Minister Modi to him.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Cairo in September was regarded as a crucial gesture, as both countries expanded military ties. During his visit, he met with his Egyptian counterpart, General Mohamed Zaki, and an MoU in the defence sector was inked. Both leaders also agreed to focus on cooperative training, defense co-production, and equipment maintenance. Reportedly, Egypt also is interested in acquiring Tejas fighter planes from India.

The country was also welcomed to the India-Africa Defence Dialogue and the IOR Defence Ministers’ Conclave, which took place in October on the margins of the 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. There has been one strong collaboration between the Indian and Egyptian air forces, including efforts in the 1960s to jointly build a fighter aircraft. From the 1960s to 1984, IAF pilots also mentored  Egyptian pilots. Egypt often offers transit services to IAF and Indian Navy aircraft traveling to and from Russia, Europe, and the United States.

In September 2016, President Sisi had visited India. Sisi also met PM Modi in October 2015 at the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi. Both leaders also had met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York the same year.

The North African country has also been invited by India to the G20 summit, which will be held in New Delhi in September 2023. This is the second time the Modi government has invited an African leader to celebrate Republic Day. India has been eager to strengthen connections with Africa, and the next India-Africa summit, which was conducted in 2015, might also take place next year. 

Egypt has long been one of India’s most significant African commercial partners. Despite the Covid pandemic, trade volume dropped only a little, to US $ 4.5 billion in 2019-20 and US $ 4.15 billion in 2020-21. During the Russia-Ukraine crisis, India also had supplied wheat to the country.

Prior to the crisis, Egypt imported about 80% of its wheat supply from Russia and Ukraine. In April of this year, the Egyptian Cabinet declared that India had been added to the list of recognized nations that can export wheat to Egypt, putting an end to a long-standing non-tariff barrier.

Notably, Egypt has never been invited to India’s Republic Day commemorations since 1950. India has welcomed its most guests from Asian countries (36), followed by Europe (24), Africa (11), South Africa (6), North America (2), and Oceania (1). Since PM Modi assumed office in 2014, India has invited US President Barack Obama (2015), French President Francois Hollande (2016), UAE’s Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2017), all ASEAN leaders (2018), South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa (2019), and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro (2020).

However, no republic guests were invited in the previous two years (2021 and 2022) due to the COVID pandemic. This year, India wanted to invite all Central Asian leaders, but the plan got thwarted by COVID spread. Boris Johnson, the then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was invited as a guest in 2021, but Britain was dealing with the COVID issue at the time. This year’s republic day will be presided over by new Indian President Draupadi Murmu.

Shraddha murder: Aftab Amin Poonawala used multiple weapons to dismember Shraddha Walkar’s body

OpIndia Staff
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Shraddha murder: Aftab Amin Poonawala used multiple weapons to dismember Shraddha Walkar’s body

Disturbing details in the Shraddha Walker murder case are emerging one after the other. It has now been reported that the accused Aftab Amin Poonawala used multiple weapons to dismember the body parts of his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar.

ANI citing sources within the Delhi police has reported that Aftab admitted to using multiple weapons to sever Shraddha’s dead body after murdering her in their rented flat on May 18. Delhi Police have recovered five large knives which have now been sent for forensic examination.

The Delhi police recovered parts of a skull and some bones from a forest area last week and are currently undertaking searches at the Bhayandar Creek, where the accused may have disposed of vital evidence in the case.

Aftab has recently undergone a polygraph test at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Rohini. The reports of the test are yet to be released. 

According to an FSL expert, the polygraph examination “is a non-invasive technique used to reveal hidden information from criminals.” He went on to say that the next step would be to “access and discover the confined information in the narco test.” These tests begin with obtaining consent from the subjects, followed by a pre-test interview. Following the polygraph test, the subjects will undergo a medical examination, and the narco test will be administered after they have received a fitness certificate.

A Delhi court ordered the police to complete the narco-analysis test within five days and warned them not to use any third-degree measures. The polygraph examination will be followed by the narco test. Notably, Aftab has consented to a narco test. Notably, during the police interrogation, Aftab gave contradictory statements, prompting Delhi Police to conduct the narco test. The Delhi Police approached the court and sought permission to conduct the narco test. 

On November 14, the Delhi Police solved the six-month-old murder case and arrested Aftab Amin Poonawala for murdering his live-in partner, and then chopping her into 35 pieces. Aftab executed the murder on May 18 and stored her body parts in the refrigerator. He then disposed of the body pieces in Delhi’s Mehrauli forest during the next 18 days. Aftab was arrested based on the complaint filed by Shraddha Walkar’s father on November 10. 

The accused has been arrested and a case under IPC section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence committed) have been registered. Further investigations into the case are underway.

West Bengal: Hindu students wear ‘Namabali’ after school allows Hijab wearing students entry, asks Hindu students to respect ‘dress code’ to ‘diffuse tension’

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Hindu students wear ‘Namabali’ after school allows Hijab wearing students entry, asks Hindu students to respect ‘dress code’ to ‘diffuse tension’

On Tuesday (November 22), a scuffle broke out between two groups of students over wearing religious attire to school. The incident took place at the Dhulagori Adarsha Vidyalaya in Sankrail in Howrah city of West Bengal.

As per reports, some female Muslim students wore hijabs to school on the previous day and were allegedly allowed entry by the school authorities. This irked the Hindu students of the educational institute, who protested against the preferential treatment meted out to the Muslim students.

On Tuesday, five Hindu students wore saffron scarves (Namabali) and assembled near the school gate. They demanded entry into the classrooms in line with the decision of the school to entertain Hijabi girls.

The protesting students found support from other Hindu classmates who questioned the discriminatory attitude of the authorities. Meanwhile, a clash broke out between pro-Hijab and pro-Namabali students who were present on the campus.

Reportedly, they threw blows at each other and vandalised the school property. When the teachers failed to bring the situation under control, they called in the police and Rapid Action Force (RAF). No student was injured during the scuffle and no formal complaint was registered in the case.

After the situation was pacified, a meeting was convened between the local administration, guardians of the students and the managing committee of the Dhulagori Adarsha Vidyalaya.

School ‘diffused’ tension by asking students to follow dress code: Police

While speaking about the matter to Hindustan Times, a police officer said, “The pre-board exams were going on Monday when some students went to the school wearing hijab.”

“Seeing them, another group of students demanded that they be allowed to wear Namabali. The school authorities diffused the tension by asking students to follow the dress code,” the cop added.

The officer informed, “The school authorities informed police. The police did not enter the school first as it was an internal matter. But later officers of the local police station went inside to bring the situation under control.”

The protest against wearing of Hijab in school and the subsequent scuffle led to the cancellation of the Class XII pre-Board history examination. Similarly, another exam scheduled for Wednesday (November 23) was also postponed.

Pro-hijab ‘protests’ turn violent, bombs hurled at school in Murshidabad

In February this year, local Muslims resorted to violence against the authorities of Bahutali High School for asking the girl students not to wear hijab or burqa inside the class. The incident took place in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

As per reports, the school headmaster had asked the girl students not to wear hijab or burqa to school. The headmaster Dinbandhu Mitra had also warned them that their name would be removed from the school registry if they failed to comply with the rules.

After the headmaster asked the students to follow the uniform guidelines, the girls informed their parents, who staged a protest in front of the school and created a blockade.

The Muslim mob went on a rampage and threw bombs at the school. In response, the police had to use tear gas, resort to lathi-charge to bring the situation under control.

Mangaluru blast: Islamic Resistance Council claims responsibility, says ‘Hindutva temple’, a bastion of ‘saffron terrorists’ was their target

OpIndia Staff
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Mangaluru blast: Islamic Resistance Council claims responsibility, says ‘Hindutva temple’, a bastion of ‘saffron terrorists’ was their target

A shocking detail in the Mangaluru auto rickshaw blast case has emerged, a lesser-known Islamist terrorist outfit Islamic Resistance Council (IRC) claimed responsibility for the blast on November 19. 

The Islamist group has said that one of its ‘Mujahid brothers’ Mohammad Shariq attempted to blow up a ‘Hindutva temple’ in Kadri.

“We, the Islamic Resistance Council (IRC), would like to convey this message: One of our Mujahid brother Mohammed Shariq attempted to attack the Hindutva Temple in Kadri (in Dakshina Kannada district), a bastion of the Saffron terrorists in Mangaluru,” said the message, which went viral on social media.

According to the post, Shariq successfully escaped despite being wanted and chased by state intelligence agencies and mounted an attack.

The Mangaluru Police ADGP Alok Kumar has stated that the police are verifying the authenticity of the note issued by the so-called Islamic Resistance Council, as well as the alleged outfit’s background and activities.

Notably, the said Islamist outfit has threatened ADGP Alok Kumar too. 

“To those who are celebrating the arrest of the brother, especially ADGP Alok Kumar, we say, “Your joy will be short-lived, and you will soon reap the fruits of your oppression.” We’ve got you in our sights, and it’s just a matter of when, not if, we’ll get to you.”

On November 19, an auto-rickshaw exploded in Mangaluru, Karnataka’s coastal town. The accused terrorist Mohammed Shariq was carrying a pressure cooker, and police found that there was an improvised explosive device (IED) inside the cooker which exploded. Shariq had hired the auto-rickshaw posing as a passenger.

Gelatin powder, circuit boards, tiny bolts, batteries, mobile phones, wood power, aluminium multimeters, cables, mixing jars, pressure cookers, and other components required to build explosives were found by the FSL team. One mobile phone, two fake Aadhaar cards, one fake pan card, and one FINO debit card were also recovered by the forensic experts.

On November 20, the Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) took to Twitter to announce that the explosion was not an accident but an ‘act of terror.’

“It’s confirmed now,” said the Director General of Police (DGP) in a tweet, “The blast is not accidental but an act of terror with the intention to cause serious damage. Karnataka State Police is probing deep into it along with central agencies.”

The findings, in this case, are similar to those in the Coimbatore blast case, in which an LPG cylinder exploded inside a car. On October 23, a 25-year-old man died in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, when an LPG cylinder in a vehicle exploded in the communally sensitive Kottaimedu region.

Family of Dalit sisters raped and killed in Lakhimpur left to fend for themselves, stuck making rounds of court, cheques from UP Congress bounce: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Family of Dalit sisters raped and killed in Lakhimpur left to fend for themselves, stuck making rounds of court, cheques from UP Congress bounce: Details

On September 14, 2022, two Dalit sisters were raped and killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district. Junaid, Sohail, Arif, Hafiz, Chhote, and Karimuddin were arrested in the case. The charge sheet in the case was filed in 14 days, but now it has come to light that the victim’s family has been left to fend for themselves after that.

Sandhya Dwivedi of Dainik Bhaskar spoke to the victim’s family and reported on the matter in detail. According to the report, the cheques given by Congress leaders to this family in the name of help at that time have either bounced or been rejected due to a sign mismatch. The family also said that the help promised by the administration has also not been provided to the victim’s family.

Not only this, the family is getting tired of making the rounds of the court, having gone there 45 times in the last 2 months. Questions of the lawyers of the accused and the court proceedings have also caused mental agony to the family. According to the report, the victim’s mother was asked questions like ‘whether the girls were dressed or not?’, ‘how torn were the clothes?’, ‘where exactly were they torn from?’ etc, upsetting her.

The cheques provided by Congress bounced

The victim’s family was promised help by several politicians and organizations at the time of the incident. Cheques were given to them as financial assistance. According to the report by Dainik Bhaskar, Congress MLA Virendra Chaudhary gave a cheque of Rs 1 lakh and the UP Congress Committee gave a cheque of Rs 2 lakh. However, the cheque received from the Congress party bounced. Congress MLA’s cheque was rejected due to a sign mismatch. Similarly, a cheque of Rs 1 lakh from Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena president Amit Jani has also bounced.

Dainik Bhaskar’s report has quoted UP Congress leader Siddharth Trivedi as saying that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible. When OpIndia spoke to former Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Singh Lallu in this regard, he denied having any information. Amit Jani told OpIndia that his cheques got wet in the rain. He said that he had later called the victim’s family and asked them to take the cash. He said he is hurt as the victim’s family took this matter to the media.

Lakhimpur administration’s promises to the family

The Lakhimpur administration had also promised financial assistance of Rs 16 lakh to the victim’s family at the time of the crime. They were also assured help in the form of a house and a job. But Dainik Bhaskar has quoted the victim’s family as saying in its report that these promises have not been fulfilled. OpIndia contacted the office of Lakhimpur Kheri’s District Magistrate IAS Mahendra Bahadur Singh in this regard. The DM’s office asked us to seek information from ADM about this case. The ADM, unaware of the information in this regard, asked us to contact him later. We will update this report as soon as we get the information from the ADM office.

Dainik Bhaskar’s report mentions that the UP government had promised to punish the culprits within a month. The charge sheet was also filed in 14 days, but the hearing in the case is still going on. Sometimes the transfer of the judge and sometimes the accused being minors has slowed down the hearing. Meanwhile, the victim’s family is tired of making the rounds of the court.

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