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Bihar: Over 500 state-run schools in Muslim-dominated areas in Seemanchal observe weekly offs on Friday

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Over 500 state-run schools in Muslim-dominated areas in Seemanchal observe weekly offs on Friday

For years, more than 500 government schools in Bihar’s Seemanchal area, which has a sizable Muslim population, have been observing Friday as their weekly off instead of Sunday, despite no official mandate to that effect. This practice has been followed by the schools located in the eastern part of Bihar which include districts of Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar, and Purnia

According to the 2011 Census, the eastern part of Bihar has a Muslim population varying from 30 percent to 70 percent. The Jokihat block of the Araria district houses most of these schools, with 229 out of 244 government schools having their weekly break on Friday. Confirming the figures, Shiv Narayan Suman, the Jokihat block education officer (BEO) said that observing weekly off on Fridays is a very old practice in the region.

Meanwhile, Araria district education officer (DEO) Raj Kumar while speaking to Hindustan Times said, “Almost all the schools falling under Jokihat block are closed on Friday. There is no government directive though to this effect”. Purnia has 200 such government schools whereas Kishanganj has 19. While education authorities claimed ignorance of any government edict demanding weekly Friday leave, teachers believe the practice began nearly a decade ago on the orders of local Muslim leaders.

“In 2014, JD-U leader Mahmood Asraf (now deceased) forced the government schools in his Meenapur panchayat under Baisi block of Purnia district to shift the weekly off from Sunday to Friday,” a government school teacher was quoted who also added that the officials of the education department never opposed the proposal.

While Kishanganj DEO Subhash Kumar Gupta joined Araria district DEO in claiming that observing weekly offs on Friday was a usual practice in Bihar despite no official mandate to that effect, Mumtaz Ahmad, block education officer (BEO) of Balrampur stated that the Bihar government had issued a letter in this regard in 2010 and since then these schools have declared Friday off.

However, Bihar’s education minister, Vijay Kumar Chowdhary, seemed to be unaware of the situation. “Once we receive formal notice from the district involved,” he continued, “We’ll respond by the applicable procedures.” Also, BJP opposed the observance of weekly off on Friday and said that rules suitable to one religion cannot be allowed as per the Constitution.

“India is a secular country and making rules to suit one’s religion is not permissible under the Constitution. If the schools are closed on Friday to suit Muslims, Hindus may demand to close the schools on Tuesday. This kind of practice should not be promoted for religious appeasement,” said BJP state spokesperson Nikhil Anand.

Some Jharkhand government schools have lately been in the news for similar Islamisation as the schools in Bihar. Several state-run schools were reported to have made changes in response to the demands of the local Muslim community. Schools in districts of Jamtara and Dumka were discovered to be having weekly offs on Fridays instead of Sundays.

Notably, Arabs in the middle east are slowly transitioning from Friday as the weekend to Sunday as the weekend, however, the situation is totally opposite in some Indian states.

Correcting fake news or reinforcing victimhood narrative? TNM edits its interview with Mohd Zubair that said he stayed in an AC room in jail

OpIndia Staff
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Correcting fake news or reinforcing victimhood narrative? TNM edits its interview with Mohd Zubair that said he stayed in an AC room in jail

The News Minute (TNM) recently published an interview of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who was recently granted bail in over half a dozen cases filed against him in Uttar Pradesh over sundry charges, ranging from defaming Hindu seers to spreading fake news and others. 

However, curiously, the article was updated soon after it was published as readers highlighted how the Alt News co-founder lived in relative comfort as against the grim victimhood narrative weaved by leftist ideologues who insinuated that Zubair was being mistreated and subjected to harsh conditions during his stay in jail.

The report published in The News Minute, an organisation known for its leftist bent and whose senior leadership make no bones about their support for Alt News and Mohammed Zubair despite numerous instances of them peddling fake news, said Zubair was kept well in jail during his stay in Delhi Police custody. The article said he was kept in an Air Conditioned room by the Delhi Police. 

Source: TNM

But hours later, the article replaced the reference to an air-conditioned room with just a “room”. The below-attached image is a snippet from the updated report where the “AC room” is changed to just “room”. 

TNM updated its report, removing reference to AC room

The removal of reference to an air-conditioned room could mean only two things—either The News Minute edited the article because it reported fake news about Delhi Police keeping Mohammed Zubair in an AC room—or it harmed the victimhood narrative that it seeks to create for the Alt News co-founder after his 24 days in police custody. 

Given that The News Minute article is published in an interview format and entails answers provided by Zubair, it is highly unlikely that it contained wrong information about the type of room in which the Delhi Police kept the Alt News co-founder. 

Therefore, considering that the answers published in the report are presumably verbatim what Zubair told them, it is likely that the article was edited to remove the reference to his stay in AC room during the Delhi Police custody to reinforce the victimhood narrative that the left-leaning media organisations meticulously built following the arrest of Alt News co-founder last month for hurting religious sentiments after his past Hinduphobic tweets and FB posts had gone viral on the internet. 

Mohammed Zubair arrested for hurting religious sentiments

Mohammed Zubair was arrested on June 28 by the Delhi Police for hurting religious sentiments via derogatory social media posts targeting Hinduism. He was booked under Sections 153A and 295 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was based on a tweet by Twitter user @balajikijaiin where the user had shared a screenshot of an old tweet by Zubair in which he had mocked Lord Hanuman. In the tweet, @balajikijaiin had tagged the Delhi Police and asked them to take action against Zubair for hurting the sentiments of Hindus with his derogatory post against Lord Hanuman.

Earlier in June, past Hinduphobic posts mocking Hindu Gods and Goddesses by Zubair had surfaced on social media, raising questions on his “newfound” love to expose hate-speech. Apparently, days before his Hinduphobic tweets and social media posts had gone viral on the internet, Zubair had dog whistled against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for defending her faith during a Times Now debate, resulting in Islamists baying for her blood and culminating in at least three deaths over ’blasphemy’.

Kerala: RSS worker dies after attack by CPIM cadres, state police claims ‘heart attack’ as the cause of death

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: RSS worker dies after attack by CPIM cadres, state police claims ‘heart attack’ as the cause of death

On Monday, July 25, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, identified as Jimnesh, died in the Panunda area of Kannur district in Kerala after an attack by CPI(M) cadre against RSS swayamsevaks in the locality a day ago.

The RSS worker, along with his colleagues, was returning back after attending a Gurudakshina festival organised in Panunda on Sunday when a clash had broken out between them and CPIM cadres. The RSS workers were injured in the scuffle and were rushed to a private hospital in Thalassery where Jimnesh reportedly died in the early hours of Monday.

Following Jimnesh’s death, members of the RSS said that the 32-year-old Karyakarta died after being brutally thrashed by CPI(M) cadres during the clash that took place on the previous day. He was rushed to the hospital with his fellow workers, who too were injured in the assault. According to reports, the doctors started Jimnesh’s treatment immediately after he was admitted, but it was apparently too late. Jimnesh died while undergoing the treatment.

The Kerala police, that reached the hospital on getting the information, sent Jimnesh’s body for post-mortem. According to initial reports, the cause of death is said to be internal bleeding. However, the Kerala police claimed that the RSS worker died due to a heart attack and not because of the assault.

The police further said that the doctors informed them that the marks on Jimnesh’s body were consistent with those discovered when CPR was performed on him. The doctors, as per the Kerala police, confirmed that there were no injuries on the victim’s body. Therefore, there is nothing suspicious about his death, it added.

The police claimed that Jimnesh had accompanied his brother Jishnu to the hospital, who was injured in the Sunday clash between CPI(M) and BJP workers. According to the police, while waiting in the hospital, he suffered a heart attack and became unconscious and later died in the early hours of Monday.

However, according to RSS, Jimnesh along with other workers namely, A Adarsh, his brother PV Jishnu, T Akshay, and KP Adarsh, were seriously injured and were admitted to a private hospital in Thalassery on Sunday. The RSS workers were attacked by CPIM goons when the former was returning back after attending a Gurudakshina festival organised in Panda on Sunday.

While the Kerala police are maintaining that Jimnesh died due to a heart attack, the BJP and RSS members have planned to take out a procession march taking Jimnesh’s body to his house. They have accused CPI(M) goons of his murder.

BJP district president N Haridas, who visited the injured RSS workers alleged that the CPI(M) is deliberately trying to create problems in the region where there is a peaceful atmosphere. He alleged that Jimnesh was beaten up at the incident site and the internal injuries could have led to his death. He demanded a proper inquiry by the police into the death of Jimnesh.

Notably, earlier, the CPIM cadres had also attacked T Akshay’s home and destroyed the flags and other decorative items prepared by the RSS workers for the Gurudakshina festival.

West Bengal SSC Scam: ED recovers mysterious black diary from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee, shocking details of bribes surface

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal SSC Scam: ED recovers mysterious black diary from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee, shocking details of bribes surface

On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that it recovered two black journals from the residence of Arpita Mukherjee in Kolkata which bears the details of the alleged School Service Commission (SSC) fraud in West Bengal. One of the journals recovered from Mukherjee’s Diamond City South apartment has all the details of the West Bengal government’s department of higher education and school education.

According to reports, the black diary has 40 pages which consist of entries about the illegal appointment of teachers against bribes, collection of cash, and other details. The ED mentioned in the court on Monday that the journal entries will be crucial in prosecuting West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his close assistant Arpita Mukherjee in the alleged recruitment scam.

The ED officials also confirmed that they found admit cards of Group D staff employees at Mukherjee’s apartment. This evidence, the ED said, could help them understand the active involvement of the accused Partha Chatterjee in the scam. The ED on July 22 recovered cash of more than 20 crore rupees and 20 mobile phones from Mukherjee’s house. The money is allegedly the profits of the SSC Scam, according to a statement from the central agency. The ED also conducted a raid on the properties of West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee as part of an investigation in this case.

The action was taken months after the Calcutta High Court ordered the CBI to look into the recruiting scandal involving Group “C” and “D” employees, Assistant Teachers of classes 9th to 12th, and primary teachers. The ED is probing matters involving the unlawful recruitment of non-teaching personnel, teaching staff, and primary school teachers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

Chatterjee and Mukherjee were arrested last week and have been detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till August 3. The Calcutta court also ordered medical examinations of both arrested defendants after every 48 hours. Reports mention that the Court further directed the ED not to question Arpita between the hours of 9 pm and 6 am.

The West Bengal Teacher’s recruitment scam, more commonly referred to as the SSC scam, looks into the recruitment process conducted through the State Level Selection Test (SLT) conducted by SSC from 2014 to 2016. Candidates who appeared for the State Level Selection Test (SLST) exam had alleged that many candidates who secured fewer marks ended up with higher ranks on the merit list. They further stated that the candidates who were not on the merit list were also sent appointment letters.

Also, in the year 2016, multiple allegations of corruption cropped up regarding the recruitment of Group C and Group D employees in secondary and higher secondary schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. The matter came to light in March this year after irregularities were noticed in the recruitment process of teachers in the state government schools.

19 Rajya Sabha MPs including 7 from Trinamool Congress suspended for creating ruckus during daily proceedings, House adjourned

OpIndia Staff
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19 Rajya Sabha MPs including 7 from Trinamool Congress suspended for creating ruckus during daily proceedings, House adjourned

19 opposition Rajya Sabha members have all been suspended for the rest of the week for entering the House improperly and shouting loud slogans. Trinamool Congress MPs Sushmita Dev, Dr Santanu Sen, and Dola Sen are among those suspended from the Rajya Sabha. Nadimul Haque, Abir Biswas, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Mohammad Abdullah, AA Rahim, and Kanimozhi have also been suspended.

The MPs were suspended for violation of Parliamentary rule 256. Aam Aadmi Party and TMC members stormed the Well while brandishing flags and yelling anti-government slogans. For the second time the same day, Question Hour was unexpectedly postponed for around 15 minutes due to an uproar from opposition members on a range of topics.

The Opposition camp protested and chanted slogans during Question Hour. Even when Deputy Chair Harivansh asked the dissidents to return to their seats and allow the House to operate, opposition members brandishing banners continued to yell slogans. The Deputy Chairman reminded the members several times that carrying placards is against the rules, parliamentary norms, and convention.

Around a dozen opposition MPs had gathered in the well when the House reconvened at 12:20 PM. Harivansh urged them to go back to their seats, but they persisted in raising signs and protesting. The deputy chairman, however, chose to proceed with Question Hour. But later, the house was adjourned for the day.

There has been almost little activity during the first week of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which started on July 18. This is because opposition MPs have continued to demonstrate with loud sloganeering and banner displays both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Madhya Pradesh: ‘Neki Ki Diwar’ NGO collects clothes for actor Ranveer Singh, calls his nude photoshoot ‘mental garbage’

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: ‘Neki Ki Diwar’ NGO collects clothes for actor Ranveer Singh, calls his nude photoshoot ‘mental garbage’

Days after Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh’s nude photoshoot for a magazine cover went viral on social media, an NGO ‘Neki Ki Diwar’ from Indore, Madhya Pradesh has begun a campaign to collect clothes for the actor. Staging protest against the photoshoot they have installed a box asking the civilians to drop clothes for the actor.

According to the reports, the box installed by the NGO features a photograph from his photoshoot with a bizarre tagline ‘manasik kachra (mental garbage)’. The video of the campaign went viral over social media on July 26 where people could be seen gathering around the box and dropping clothes for the Bollywood actor.

Reportedly, Ranveer’s photoshoot has also landed him in legal trouble after an application was filed on Monday with Mumbai Police seeking registration of an FIR against the actor. The application mentioned that the actor had hurt the sentiments of women through his nude social media photos.

The complaint was filed by an officer of an NGO situated in the east Mumbai neighbourhood of Chembur at the Chembur police station. The complaint further claimed that the actor had disrespected the modesty of women through his images. The complaint requested that the actor be charged under the Information Technology Act and certain sections of the Indian Penal Code.

After the photoshoot, actor Ranveer had said to the Paper Magazine that it was easy for him to be physically naked as earlier he had given best performances. “It’s so easy for me to be physically naked, but in some of my performances I’ve been damn f**king naked. You can see my f**king soul. How naked is that? That’s being actually naked. I can be naked in front of a thousand people, I don’t give a sh*t. It’s just that they get uncomfortable”, he had said.

Ranveer had executed the photoshoot for Paper Magazine last week. While some of his Bollywood friends praised him for his courage and the photographs, netizens trolled him for blatantly showing off his body parts. The video of the NGO collecting the clothes for the actor is also doing the rounds on social media.

‘US Consulate paid the rent of Imran Khan’s house for 8 years’: Senior Pakistan journalist Mohsin Baig

OpIndia Staff
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‘US Consulate paid the rent of Imran Khan’s house for 8 years’: Senior Pakistan journalist Mohsin Baig

Senior Pakistani journalist and a close friend of outgoing PM Imran Khan, Mohsin Baig, recently dropped a bombshell when he revealed that American Consulate paid the rent of Khan’s house for 8 years. 

Speaking on a Pakistani news channel, Baig said, “I am saying this on national television, and he can sue me if he wants to, but I want to tell you all that Imran Khan has been fooling people in the name of an American conspiracy. The American Consulate used to pay his house rent for eight years. He is the real American agent.

He further added, “If Imran thinks I am a liar, he should file a defamation suit against me. He is a liar.”

Imran Khan fuels ‘foreign conspiracy’ theories to delegitimise protest against his government and undermine new regime

The revelation came months after Imran Khan had alleged US involvement in dethroning his government. Khan had claimed ad nauseam that Donald Lu, assistant secretary of the US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, met Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington in March and told him that Khan should be dismissed from power in the no-confidence vote.

However, the United States vehemently denied the allegations levelled by Khan, stating that it had no role in the churning brewing inside Pakistan, where legions of disenchanted youth took to the streets protesting against Khan’s government amid a severe financial crisis gripping the country.

Weeks later, Khan lost the no-confidence vote on April 10, resulting in his removal from the post of Prime Minister. Following the no-confidence vote, the opposition parties nominated Shehbaz Sharif, who was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan a day later.

However, in his bid to return to power, Khan has continued pushing anti-America conspiracy theories, asserting that there was American involvement in deposing him from the office of Prime Minister and that the current government headed by Sharif was a stooge of the United States.

‘Will remain independent and not join any party’: Yashwant Sinha snubs TMC after losing Presidential election

OpIndia Staff
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‘Will remain independent and not join any party’: Yashwant Sinha snubs TMC after losing Presidential election

On Tuesday (July 26), former TMC leader Yashwant Sinha snubbed the Mamata Banerjee-led party and announced that he has no intentions of joining any political party.

The development comes days after Sinha lost out to Draupadi Murmu in the 2022 Presidential elections. While dismissing all ‘rumours’ about joining hands with the TMC, the 84-year-old vowed to remain independent.

He told PTI, “I will remain independent and will not join any other party…Nobody has spoken to me; I have not spoken to anyone. Yashwant Sinha, however, informed that he was in touch with a TMC leader in a personal capacity.

Unsure about his political journey ahead, he said, “I have to see what role I will play (in public life), how active I will be. I am 84 now, so these are issues; I have to see how long I can carry on.”

In June this year, he resigned from the Trinamool Congress to fight the Presidential elections. He said, “I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC.”

“Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” Sinha had tweeted.

The 84-year-old had earlier served as a Union Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led-BJP government. He quit the party in 2018 and defected to the TMC ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Vidhan Sabha polls.

The political turncoat had earlier tried to rationalise his decision of switching parties. He claimed that there used to be politics of consensus during the Vajpayee era while it has been confined to conflict during the tenure of PM Narendra Modi.

Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra to skip Commonwealth Games 2022 due to an injury incurred during World Athletics Championships

OpIndia Staff
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Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra to skip Commonwealth Games 2022 due to an injury incurred during World Athletics Championships

India’s ace Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will not be participating in the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022 to be held in Birmingham due to a minor injury. The Commonwealth Games 2022 is scheduled to begin on July 28, 2022 and will conclude on August 8, 2022. Neeraj Chopra had gone into the history books after becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in track & field events as he won the Gold Medal in the Javelin Throw event at the Tokyo Olympics. 

“Neeraj Chopra will not take part in Commonwealth Games 2022. He is not fit as he got injured in the finals of the World Athletic Championship. He informed us about this,” Rajeev Mehta, Secretary General of the Indian Olympic Association confirmed to news agency ANI on Tuesday (July 26).

According to reports, the star javelin thrower suffered a minor injury when competing at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 in Eugene on Sunday (July 24) and took the decision of staying away from the upcoming Commonwealth Games subsequently on Monday (July 25) after undergoing an MRI scan.

Neeraj Chopra won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. His best throw was 88.13 meters, which he had registered in his fourth attempt. Anderson Peters of Grenada won the gold with the best throw of 90.54 meters, and Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic won bronze with a best throw of 88.09 meters.

With this medal, Chopra became the first Indian man and second Indian to win a medal at World Athletics Championships. Before him, long jumper Anju Bobby George had won a bronze medal in 2003.

Neeraj had won the maiden gold for Indian athletics in Tokyo Olympics last year. After shooter Abhivan Bindra, who had won gold in 2008 in Beijing Olympics, Neeraj was the second Indian to win an individual gold at the Olympics, and first one to do it in track & field events.

VP candidate and Congress leader Margaret Alva spreads fake news that her MTNL phone is blocked after making calls to ‘friends’ in BJP: Details

OpIndia Staff
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VP candidate and Congress leader Margaret Alva spreads fake news that her MTNL phone is blocked after making calls to ‘friends’ in BJP: Details

Opposition VP candidate and Congress leader Margaret Alva took to Twitter on Monday, July 25, to claim that the public sector telecom service provider MTNL has diverted her calls, suspended her KYC details, and sent her a notice after she made a few phone calls to her ‘friends’ in BJP. It is interesting that the Congress politician chose to feign ignorance despite the Delhi police and PIB having repeatedly issued warnings about a KYC fraud that has been targeting MTNL users.

Although all the details are in the public domain, the Congress leader Tweeted on July 25, taking a dig at the BJP government in the center, “After speaking to some friends in the BJP today, all calls to my mobile are being diverted and I am unable to make or receive calls. If you restore the phone, I promise not to call any MP from the BJP, TMC, or BJD tonight.” She shared a screenshot of the message she claimed to have received from the public sector telecom service provider MTNL asking for her KYC details.

Congress leader Margaret Alva has been contacting important members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), such as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai after the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha lost the Presidential election to NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu by a wide margin.

Meanwhile, following the Congress leader’s fake claims, MTNL replied making it sufficiently clear that they never ask for the e-KYC on WhatsApp/SMS/Call etc. “Alert by sending messages to all GSM customers to avoid such type of EKYC SMS/WhatsApp/Calls as it may lead to some kind of fraud, hence you are requested to ignore such E-KYC messages,” read the Tweet posted by the public sector telecom service provider.

BJP also hit out at the Congress leader for spreading fake news. “Why should anybody tap her phone? Let her call anybody, we’re confident about what the result of the VP election will be. Why should we do this? These are childish allegations. She’s a senior person & she should not make such allegations,” Union minister Pralhad Joshi was quoted as saying by ANI.

Notably, the Delhi police had been repeatedly alerting users about the potential scam wherein fraudsters are duping customers by sending messages and asking to verify their numbers owing to Know Your Customer (KYC) issues almost a week back.

On July 19, Delhi Police warned people against a WhatsApp message that misuses MTNL’s name and logo. Sharing a screenshot of the fraudulent message in circulation, Delhi police Tweeted, “Beware! There is a sharp spike in fraudulent incidents wherein @MTNLOfficial’s name & logo are being used to commit cyber fraud. Mobile customers receive WhatsApp messages from miscreants on the pretext of KYC updation to retrieve confidential information.”

MTNL had also re-Tweeted the Delhi police’s Tweet.

In fact, the Delhi police have been shooting out such warning messages since the month of May. On May 21, the Delhi police cyber-crime cell posted a Tweet, warning users how fraudsters are sending fake messages claiming that their SIM cards will be blocked if they do not call on the phone numbers given in the message.

“You may receive a fake SMS claiming your SIM will be blocked due to KYC issues. These have numbers on which people are asked to call,” Delhi police wrote in the post, also sharing screenshots of sample messages that the fraudsters are sending to dupe customers.

Not only the Delhi police, but even Press Information Bureau (PIB) posted a Tweet, that too on May 29, 2022, warning users about the MTNL KYC scam.

It is nearly impossible to think that the Congress leader was oblivious to all these warnings sent to MTNL users, and wrote her tweet out of pure ignorance given the fact that the Delhi police and PIB have been issuing warnings about the potential scam for the past two months. Margret Alva, who is going all-out to challenge Jagdeep Dhankar, the governor of West Bengal and the NDA’s nominee for vice president, likely saw an opportunity to criticise the BJP leadership prior to the vice presidential elections by claiming that her phone has been purposefully blocked because she has been contacting NDA politicians to garner votes.

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