A case of love jihad has come to light in Bilkha village of Junagadh which has led to tension in the area. A 21-year-old Hindu girl from Bilkha village was lured and taken away by a mid-aged Muslim man Sharafat Qadri who had fled away with another Hindu girl 10 years ago who now has a 6-year-old child from Sharafat Qadri.
According to the information received, the accused Sharafat Hasan Qadri had eloped with a Hindu girl 10 years ago and married her. He again lured and took away a 21-year-old Hindu girl on 22nd June 2022. Sharafat Qadri’s age is almost double than that of the girl. As the news spread, the villagers were enraged. Local Hindu organizations met the SP and gave a memorandum to him. The villagers also observed a tight shutdown to mark the protest against this incident.
In an exclusive conversation with OpIndia, a senior member of the Hindu Jagran Manch of Junagadh district said, “This Sarafat Hasan Qadri is a habitual criminal. He has a history of driving away Hindu girls. Earlier also, we noticed that he had eloped with a Hindu girl whom he had forcibly married. Now he has again taken away another Hindu girl.”
He further said, “We took the entire Hindu community of the village with us to the SP (Superintendent of Police) office and formally informed him of the incident on behalf of Hindu organizations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Bajrang Dal. But so far, the police have not arrested the accused.”
The Hindu Organizations gave a memorandum to the SP.
He added, “This same man Sharafat Qadri had eloped with a Hindu girl 10 years ago. According to our information, he forcefully converted that girl to his religion and married her. We are confirming this right now. We will also lodge a complaint against him in this case as well.”
The members of the Hindu Jagran Manch also said that if the accused is not arrested soon and the Hindu girl does not return safely to her house, all Hindu organizations will come together and call for a ‘Junagadh bandh’ and launch a fierce agitation. In an exclusive conversation with OpIndia, the victim’s father said that he wanted his daughter back at any cost.
It is notable that this is not the first case of love jihad in this area. Similar cases have taken place in the Saurashtra region in the past. This time, the Hindu organizations have warned that there will be aggressive agitations if the girl does not safely return to her home.
On Sunday (June 26), a female Republic Bangla journalist was manhandled by a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker in Bhatpara city in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
The video of the incident was caught on camera wherein the TMC goon could be seen pushing and assaulting the female journalist. Reportedly, the man was miffed at Republic Bangla’s coverage of electoral malpractices in Bhatpara during elections.
The female journalist had spotted a woman who entered the polling booth without an ID card. On confronting her, the woman confessed that she was there to ‘watch over’ the polls. Soon after, the Trinamool Congress worker began heckling the journalist and then launched a full-blown attack.
The journalist held her ground even during the assault. She went back to the accused and confronted him with questions. The TMC goon was seen throwing her microphone on the ground on several occasions. But, that did not deter the journalist from asking the right questions.
By-elections were conducted on Sunday (June 26) in 6 Municipalities of West Bengal including Bhatpara (ward 3), Jhalda (ward 2), Panihati (ward 8), Chandannagar (ward 16), Dumdum (ward 4), and South Dumdum (ward 29).
TMC and their attack on free and fair reporting
In January last year, TMC MLA (Mainaguri) Ananta Deb Adhikari was booked for slapping a local journalist in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. The journalist named Somnath Chakraborty reportedly drew the ire of the MLA after he published news about the MLA’s criticism of the Zilla Parishad.
The TMC MLA, however, denied the allegations and responded, “Everyone should read what the journalist had written and tell me whether it would make me angry or not”.
“The news was published at an event. The MLA confronted me for publishing ‘anti-government’ news and slapped me”, alleged Chakraborty during an interview with Republic TV. An FIR was by Chakraborty against the TMC legislator.
In December 2021, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee tried to lure journalists using advertising money and asked them to publish only positive stories about the government.
People familiar with the Bhojpuri film industry must be familiar with the name Nirahua. As no surprise to them, the reel-life star Dinesh Lal Yadav popularly known as Nirahua has now become a real-life star by winning the Lok Sabha by-poll from the Azamgarh constituency in Uttar Pradesh. This win has strengthened the Bharatiya Janata Party in UP and has given bitter lessons to the Samajwadi Party.
माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी आपके विश्वास, भरोसे और आशीर्वाद के लिए मैं निरहुआ हृदय से आपका आभार व्यक्त करता हूं। मैं आपको वचन देता हूं कि आजमगढ़ की सम्मानित जनता – जनार्दन की उम्मीदों पर खरा उतरुंगा। pic.twitter.com/Gw53CzIr9i
Nirahua was defeated by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but he has exacted payback by defeating Akhilesh’s brother Dharmendra Yadav in Azamgarh.
Nirahua originally belongs to the Birha family of Ghazipur. Nirahua’s debut film was ‘Humka Aisa-Visa Na Samajha,’ but his first release was ‘Chalat Musafir Moh Leo Re’ in 2006. In this film, his name is ‘Nirahua.’ Dinesh Lal Yadav, the son of Kumar and Chandrajyoti Yadav, rose to prominence after starring in the 2007 film ‘Ho Gail Baa Pyaar Odhaniya Wali Se.’ At the time, the songs from this film were popular among the people of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Nirahua joined the BJP on March 27, 2019, but his film career did not end there. In the year 2021, he also released a song in which he supported the construction of the Ram temple. He also included political themes in many of his songs. The action of Nirahua, who had taken Karate training in childhood, was so popular that even his failed films were able to run for three weeks. Within three years of his debut, he had become Bhojpuri’s ‘Jubilee Star.’
During that time, he also performed on stage in Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand. His film ‘Nirahua Rickshaw Wala’ was a smash hit in 2007. Along with this, its songs were a big success.
‘Nirahua Hindustani,’ his 50th film, was released in 2014. The picture was released on multiplexes. In 2016, the UP government honoured him with the ‘Yash Bharti Samman.’ His 2018 film ‘Border’ grossed 19 crores, a record for Bhojpuri films.
Dinesh Lal Yadav comes from a modest household. His father used to work in Kolkata for Rs 3500 a month, which required him to care for 5 children in addition to his wife. Nirahua has a brother and three sisters. He didn’t even have a bicycle back then, so he had to walk for several kilometres. He had a passion for singing and music since childhood, and his inspiration was his cousin Vijay Lal, a well-known Birha singer in the locality.
Nirhua created a reputation for himself among Bhojpuri song-music fans even before entering the film industry, thanks to the success of his 2003 album ‘Nirhua Satal Rahe.’ He stated his assets to be about Rs 6 crore in his election affidavit. He also has a Range Rover and a Toyota Fortuner. In 2019, he also made his OTT debut in ‘Hero Vardi Wala,’ first Bhojpuri online series.
He also appeared in the 2012 film ‘Ganga Devi’ alongside Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan. ‘Nirhua Chalal London’ was the first Bhojpuri film to be shot outside of India in 2018. He also appeared on the 2012 season of ‘Bigg Boss.’ His 2016 film ‘Patna Se Pakistan’ was also a box office blockbuster.
On June 26, two days after its release, controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s song ‘SYL’ was blocked in India by Youtube. The video platform has blocked the song for the Indian audience following a legal complaint by the Government of India. If someone wants to access the song from India, a message appears that reads, “Video unavailable. This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government.”
SYL by Sidhu Moosewala blocked in India. Source: YouTube
The song is available on streaming services
Though the song has been blocked for the Indian audience on YouTube, it is still playing on music streaming services, including Gaana, JioSaavan, Wink Music, Sound Cloud, and others. Notably, it is still available on YouTube Music as well for the Indian audience. It is unclear if the Government of India has blocked only the video version of the song or if the notice was sent to music streaming services as well.
The problematic song has all the elements to attract a ban
The song SYL was released four weeks after Moosewala’s murder. The problematic song has provocative lyrics and visuals. In the song, Moosewala talked about Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh to Punjab. On November 1, 1966, post-independence Punjab was divided into three states, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, on the basis of language.
The song also goes on to warn that if there is no alternative way, then Balwinder Jattana will return. Jattana was the terrorist who killed two senior engineers working on the SYL project in Chandigarh. Affiliated with Babbar Khalsa terrorist outfit, the Ropar resident Jattana killed Chief Engineer and the Superintending Engineer working on the SYL project in 1990. Following the murders, the construction on SYL stopped as the terrorised engineers refused to continue working on it. Jattana was later killed in a police encounter in 1991.
In the text on-screen during the song, Sidhu Moosewala goes on to call the SYL canal the causative agent of the Congress-led pogrom of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. The flag hoisting at Red Fort by a Sikh mob on 2021 Republic Day also finds a place in the video of the song. The video also shows a bomb blast on an animated canal, pushing the idea that violence should be used to stop SYL.
Rebuttal song released by Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma
In a rebuttal to the SYL song by Sidhu Moosewala, Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma has released his own version of SYL in which he expressed his views that the water from SYL is Haryana’s right and no one can stop the state from getting the water as per the agreement.
In the by-polls results of which have been declared today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat making Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua a member of Parliament. Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi, a BJP candidate, also won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat by over 40,000 votes.
Following the results, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “Victory in by-polls have sent an optimistic message regarding 2024 general elections. People have shown their trust in double-engine govt under PM Modi. People have given a clear message to ‘parivarvadis’, casteist & communalist elements.”
Victory in by-polls have sent an optimistic message regarding 2024 general elections. People have shown their trust in double-engine govt under PM Modi. People have given a clear message to ‘parivarvadis’, casteist & communalist elements: UP CM Yogi Adityanath pic.twitter.com/8g1m6nLROo
Dinesh Lal Yadav was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, but this time he has accomplished his retribution by defeating Akhilesh’s brother Dharmendra Yadav in Azamgarh. Both of these victories have increased the Bharatiya Janata Party’s and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s stronghold on Uttar Pradesh.
Popularly known as Nirahua, Dinesh Lal Yadav is a popular actor, singer and producer in Bhojpuri movie industry. He has acted in a large number of movies, many of which are blockbuster hits.
The outcome of this by-election is extremely significant because both Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan abandoned their Lok Sabha seats after winning assembly elections in Karhal and Rampur, respectively. The SP, on the other hand, was certain of winning both seats since Azamgarh has always been a Mulayam family bastion, and the aggression of Azam Khan’s family continues in Rampur.
The counting of ballots began at 8 AM under multi-tiered security for the three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats spanning across five states and Delhi, where by-polls were held on June 23. While the three Lok Sabha seats are in Uttar Pradesh (Rampur and Azamgarh) and Punjab (Sangrur), seven assembly seats are distributed throughout Tripura, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.
Tripura has the most seats with four — Agartala, Jubarajnagar, Surma, and Town Bardowali. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha won the seat from Town Bardowali. This was a critical byelection for Saha since he needed to win to keep his position as chief minister.
Notably, in a severe blow for the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) won the election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. The seat was vacated by Bhawant Singh Mann after he became Punjab CM, and now AAP does not have any MP in Lok Sabha. Durgesh Pathak of the Aam Aadmi Party won the Delhi assembly by-election.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut continues to issue threats to dissident party MLAs led by Eknath Shinde currently staying in Guwahati. In a sensational and disturbing remark, the controversial politician has threatened that the death bodies of the rebel MLAs will return to Mumbai. Speaking at the ‘Shiv Sena Melava’ (party gathering) of workers at Sahisar in Mumbai, Raut went up to say, “40 bodies will arrive from Guwahati and they will be directly sent for post-mortem,” in a remark directed at the rebel Sena MLAs.
Sanjay Raut, 25th June 2022, Dahisar, Mumbai.
“40 dead bodies will come from Guwahati, will send bodies to Vidhansabha. We sent 40 MLAs as a sacrifice to Kamakhya Temple”
On Sunday, Sanjay Raut was speaking at a party gathering in Mumbai’s Dahisar and took my snides at the Eknath Shinde-led rebel group of MLAs residing in Radisson Blu Hotel in Assam’s Guwahati. Raut said, “When bodies of these forty MLAs will arrive, they will be directly sent for postmortem.” After a brief silence after this comment by Raut, a party worker from the audience said, “No sir, we will directly immerse their ashes.” “Yes, we will send them to Chatt Pooja” Raut replied while the audience burst out in laughter.
“In Guwahati, we have sent forty bulls which will be sacrificed. In Assam, there is Kamakhya Devi Mandir – Jadu Tona Mandir, where bulls are sacrificed. We have sent forty bulls from here who will be sacrificed,” Raut saying targeting the Rebel Shiv Sena leaders in Guwahati. He also referred to the Kamkhya Devi Mandir as ‘Jadu Tona’ Mandir.
Raut asked how dare the MLAs are sitting in Guwahati and allegedly conspiring against him. Excited Shiv Sena workers were bursting out in laughter and cheering Sanjay Raut after his hateful remarks. One of the party workers stood up and commented, “Sir In that flock of 40 bulls, there are three buffaloes as well,” in a misogynistic remark levelled at three female Shiv Sena MLAs in the Shinde Camp.
Amidst the grand Shiv Sena rebellion, The Eknath Shinde camp has the support of 38 MLAs, which is more than the required two-thirds of MLAs of the party to defect without attracting the provisions of the anti-defection law. Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has moved to disqualify 16 of the MLAs, citing their absence from party meetings despite whips issued by the party. Recently, there were reports of cabinet Minister Uday Samant also joining the Shinde group, leaving Aditya Thackeray the lone Sena Minister in the MVA government.
Aam Aadmi Party has lost the by-election held for the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. AAP candidate Gurmail Singh was defeated by Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president pro-Khalistani ideologue Simranjit Singh Mann by 5822 votes. With this result, AAP will now have no MP in Lok Sabha.
AAP secured a clear majority in the Punjab assembly elections held in February 2022. After swearing in as the chief minister, Bhagwant Mann had to leave the Lok Sabha seat of Sangrur from where he was elected in the general elections of 2019. In the by-election, AAP gave the ticket to Gurmail Singh while Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BSP) alliance fielded Balwant Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur as the candidate. It is notable that Balwant Rajoana has been awarded the death penalty for his role in the assassination of Punjab’s former chief minister Beant Singh. As pro-Khalistani leader Simranjit Singh Mann, who is the president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), won the by-election, there will now be no AAP MP in the Lok Sabha.
It is notable that Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is not related to the larger party Shiromani Akali Dal. Simranjit Singh Mann got 253154, while Gurmail Singh got 247332 votes in the bypoll. The election had saw low turnaround of 45.30%, against 72.5% turnout seen in the general elections in 2019. 16 candidates had contested the polls, and Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy was in third place. NOTA was in 8th position, which means as many as 9 candidates got less votes than NOTA votes.
In the 2019 general elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won just one of the over 40 seats it fought across nine states and Union territories, although it received its largest vote percentage (18.10%) in the national capital. Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar, Goa, Punjab, Andaman and Nicobar, Haryana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh were the states in which the AAP fielded candidates. However, only Bhagwant Mann, the party’s candidate from Sangrur in Punjab, could win. Mann had defeated Congress contender Kewal Singh Dhillon by a margin of almost one lakh votes. AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in 2014, and while it lost all seven constituencies in Delhi, it finished second.
After claiming the win, Simranjit Singh Mann said, “My priority will be to raise the issue of the poor economic condition of Sangrur, including the condition of farmers under debt. We will work with the Punjab Government.”
Born on May 20, 1945, in Shimla, Simranjit Singh Mann is president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which is the Pro-Khalistan political party. Before winning Lok Sabha elections from Sangrur, he had become MP twice, once from Taran Tarn in 1989 and once from Sangrur in 1999.
While AAP has no MPs in Rajya Sabha now, the party has 10 MPs in Rajya Sabha. Out of them, three are from Delhi and the rest 7 are from Punjab.
On Saturday, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad took so-called activist Teesta Setalvad into custody after an FIR for forgery was registered against her and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code. Setalvad, who under the guise of her activism, was found influencing witnesses in the Gujarat riots case, was booked under IPC 468 (Forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document or record as genuine), 194 (Giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offence) and other sections of the IPC alongside two others.
Teesta Setalvad is accused of tutoring witnesses and making false allegations in several cases related to the Gujarat riots 2002. She had gone all guns blazing in coercing and forcing critical witnesses in the infamous Best Bakery case in which two key prosecution witnesses, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and Zaheera Sheikh had said that they were lured and misguided by Setalvad for giving false testimony.
The Best Bakery case
On March 1, 2002, a small outlet owned by one Sheikh family in Vadodara was attacked and burned down by a mob as part of the violence that fanned after the Godhra train burning. The enraged mob, which was accused of targeting the Muslim owners inside was responsible for the killing of 14 people, who had taken refuge inside the bakery, including three Hindu workers.
A special court in Mumbai charged nine out of the seventeen accused with life imprisonment after the case was moved out of Gujarat. However, it was noteworthy, when two of the witnesses from the family of Best Bakery owners, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh and earlier her sister-in-law, Zaheera Sheikh, appeared before different courts, they had said that they were lured and influenced by social activist Teesta Setalvad into giving false testimony against the accused.
During the long run of the case, taking back her original statements against the accused, Yasmeen Bano sought for her evidence to be recorded again and requested that her appeal to be considered as a petition. This came after the Gujarat High Court in December 2003 ruled in favour of the acquittal of all 17 people accused in the Best Bakery case by the trial court.
When two witnesses from the owner’s family turned hostile
However, in a 2004 ruling, The Gujarat High Court had dismissed the state government’s amended appeal in challenging the acquittal of the accused in the Best Bakery case and for seeking to conduct a trial again. While maintaining that the police failed to record evidence and testimony of key witness Zahira Sheikh, it underlined that the likes of Teesta Setalvad directly attempted to influence the testimony given by Sheikh.
“An attempt has been made by journalists, human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and advocate Mihir Desai to have a parallel investigating agency…that it is not permissible under the law,” the bench observed. In an interview with Aaj Tak, in early July 2003, she confessed, “Hamejaan ki parvah nahi hai kya?” (Will we not care for our lives?) which indicated that she was tutored to talk like this. It appeared that a person truly scared for his life would never talk as openly as candidly as Zahira did on Aaj Tak.
Years after Zaheera turned hostile, Yasmeen Bano Sheikh, her relative, became the star witness in this case. An exact repeat of the Zaheera Sheikh episode took place in 2011. Bano, in April 2011, moved to the Bombay High Court alleging that she was “lured and misguided” into giving false testimony against 17 accused persons by Teesta Setalvad of whom 9 were given life imprisonment in 2006, just like Zaheera Sheikh had alleged that Teesta forced her to name innocent persons as guilty in the same Best Bakery case.
Yasmeen Bano’s confessions
In the petition filed by Yasmeen Bano Sheikh in 2011, it was stated, “Yasmeen gave false deposition against the accused and identified them falsely at the behest and advice of Teesta Setalvad only in the false hope that she (Teesta) would help her financially.” It further claimed that Setalvad had made Yasmeen an instrument to achieve the ulterior goal.
Sheikh’s petition was amidst the pending appeals filed before the Bombay High Court on behalf of nine of the total 17 accused in the Best Bakery Case. In a submitted Affidavit, Yasmeen Bano said, “Teesta Setalvad made me give false testimony in the Best Bakery case by luring and misguiding me. I had written everything in the affidavit submitted to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in June last year.”
While the rest of the Sheikh family, including Zaheera Sheikh, had already turned hostile and alleged that Teesta Setalvad lured them to lie, it was Yasmeen Bano who had become a popular contender against the 17 accused. Yasmeen also stated that her preliminary statements before the trial court were made on the orders of Setalvad.
Yasmeen also revealed that Setalvad, alongside her aid Rais Khan, promised to help her financially and convinced her that she should shift to Mumbai as her life was in danger in Gujarat.
It has been twenty years since 59 Hindus returning from Ayodhya after performing Karseva at the Ram Mandir were burnt alive at railway station in Godhra, Gujarat. Subsequently, riots broke out in the state, hundreds died. However, within 48 hours the army was called in and with curfew imposed, situation slowly got to normal.
Over the years, there are many, many lies that are published about the carnage and riots. All of them have been busted but they are so often repeated that some refuse to accept facts for reasons best known to them. Remember the ‘foetus ripped open and swung on a sword?’ story that invariably comes up every year and is presented as one of the most horrifying truths of Gujarat? The postmortem of the women revealed her foetus was intact. Despite doctor who performed postmortem coming on record to say it, some people refuse to acknowledge the truth.
One more such lie is that the ‘dead bodies were paraded’.
So here is what had happened. On 27th February 2002, an Islamist mob set a train on fire killing 59 people in Gujarat’s Godhra. These people were returning after pilgrimage in Ayodhya. Few hours later, when the train was leaving again, with remaining alive passengers, mob came again to kill them all. Somehow, the train left before attack could take place and those survived. From Godhra, train went to Vadodara and from there to Ahmedabad as per the route of the train.
On 28th February, 2002, during the wee hours of morning at 3:35 am, the bodies of the deceased were brought to Ahmedabad’s Sola civil hospital. Sola civil hospital is on the outskirts of the city in an isolated area. The decision to bring bodies there instead of main civil hospital in Asarwa was to avoid further escalation of communal tension. The Times of India report from that day mentions that the bodies were brought in a convoy of five trucks being piloted by a Police Gypsy.
Small bundles, bodies of children, were handed over to their relatives and the atmosphere was sad. Remains of some victims were placed on ice slabs and they were charred beyond recognition. Emotions were high, obviously, as they saw the disfigured corpses of their loved ones burnt alive. Their fault? They were Hindus on pilgrimage to Ayodhya.
Things to note here:
Bodies were brought in at 3:30 am, not during daytime. They were brought in middle of the night to avoid further escalation of tension. They had to be brought to Ahmedabad because most of the passengers were from Vadodara and Ahmedabad and surely they deserve a more dignified cremation. They were brought quietly without any ceremonial procession, so that further tension is not escalated.
That is one of the first reports on bodies being brought to Ahmedabad. Nowhere it mentions they were ‘paraded’. But eventually someone, somewhere lied, and the lie continues to shame Hindus even in their death.
No parade was done? I know his entire political career is based on falsification of facts, and they have tried to remove videos from Youtube, but this is well documented. The charred remains were handed over to the VHP and Togadia, Bajrangi, Modi made provocative speeches. https://t.co/nZwbmdVEVt
One Subir Sinha, an academician based out of London, on Sunday very confidently said that the politicians tried to remove the videos from YouTube but it is ‘well documented’. He claimed the charred bodies were handed over to the VHP and provocative speeches were made. As we have seen from initial media reports, before the propaganda kicked in, the mood was sombre and bodies were handed over to relatives. In past 20 years, not a single video of ‘dead body parade’ has surfaced. Surely, someone would have evidence somewhere, since the ‘fact-checkers’ of today were busy running propaganda back then. How come they have not released any video evidence?
When someone asked Sinha if he has evidence for the claims he is making on charred bodies being paraded, he shares a link of an article where former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s video made the claim.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Zakia’s petition and accused ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad, one of the co-petitioners, of keeping the pot boiling for years just for their political agenda. These people were playing politics over dead bodies of Hindus.
The Supreme Court has categorically rejected allegations that the post-mortem of bodies was conducted in the open in a railway yard and the bodies were paraded from Godhra to Ahmedabad and called it proof of larger conspiracy, terming them “pure conjectures and surmises” and “devoid of merits”.
So, Sinha cites a ‘source’ to prove that bodies were paraded, the source which is rejected by Supreme Court and he has no video evidence to prove.
Sinha, however, isn’t the only one.
RT "@anumayhem: Reminds me of Godhra when bodies paraded too "BJP parades ashes of Patna blast victims before Modi meets families "
Arent there Video Proof of all this? How Is He Blatantly Lying over here? If Gujarat has No Law & Order Situation then Where was the Police? I believe you had knew of Unrest before hand, So why was there No Curfew when you knew there were Possibilities of Unrest? https://t.co/vTuCSHsHFE
This Twitter user is asking why was Home Minister Shah lying when there is video proof of this. I would really, really like to see the video proof of bodies being paraded.
It is truly unfortunate that not only those Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by an Islamist mob high on revenge for demolition of disputed structure called Babri Masjid, their dead bodies were used and abused by the so-called activists to continue to further their careers.
Hindus are dispensable. But dead Hindus are kept alive and brought back from the dead and used as political pawns to set the country on fire over and over.
On June 26, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced by-poll results for multiple Lok Sabha and Assembly seats across states, including the Lok Sabha seat of Sangrur, Punjab, that fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann, MP from Sangrur became Chief Minister of Punjab. Aam Aadmi Party had given the ticket to Gurmail Singh, who lost the seat to Simranjit Singh Mann of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).
Out of a total turnout of 7,10,825 voters, Mann got 2,52,898 votes while AAP’s Gurmail Singh got 2,46,828 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal’s attempt to win the votes of Khalistani sympathisers by fielding the sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana failed as Simranjit Singh Mann has been a long-time supporter of Khalistan moment himself. Rajoana could not even cross 50,000 votes. There were 1,203 postal votes as well out of which Mann got 256 votes and Singh got 504 votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kewal Singh Dhillon got 66,171 votes, and Congress’s Dalvir Singh Goldy got 78,844 votes. Several factors played a vital role in Simranjit Singh Mann’s victory in Sangrur, including his connection to the late Punjabi actor and Khalistani sympathiser Deep Sidhu. The recent murder of a famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala also factored in his victory as the incident raised serious questions on AAP leadership.
Mann understood how important deceased actor Deep Sidhu and singer Sidhu Moosewala were to the voters. He extensively used their names in his posts on Instagram in the lead-up to the elections. Almost all of his Instagram posts had these two names as hashtags. In fact, Deep Sidhu was believed to be travelling to campaign for Simranjit Singh for the Punjab Assembly elections when he met with an accident and died.
Hashtags #sidhumoosewala and #deepsidhu were extensively used by Simranjit on Instagram. Source: Instagram
Who is Simranjit Singh Mann?
Born on May 20, 1945 in Shimla, Simranjit Singh Mann is the president of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which is a Pro-Khalistan political party in Punjab. He has previously been elected to Lok Sabha twice, once from Tarn Taran in 1989 and once from Sangrur in 1999.
Mann comes from a military-political background. Mann’s father, Lt. Col. Joginder Singh Mann, was a speaker in Punjab Assembly. His wife, Geetinder Kaur Mann, and former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh’s wife, Preneet Kaur, are sisters.
Mann was a Police Officer and served in several important posts since 1967, including ASP Ludhiana, SSP Ferozepur, SSP Faridkot, AIG GRP Punjab-Patiala division, Deputy Director of Vigilance Bureau Chandigarh, Commandant of Punjab Armed Police and Group Commandant of CISF, Bombay. After Operation Blue Star in 1984, he resigned from Police Services.
Simranjit Singh Mann’s political career
In 1989, he contested Lok Sabha elections from Tarn Taran for the first time and won with a comfortable margin. Notably, before the formation of SAD (Amritsar), he was associated with Shiromani Akali Dal till 1991. He had won the Tarn Taran seat in 1989 under the banner of SAD. In 1994, he and other prominent Sikh leaders of Punjab, including CM Amarinder Singh, formed SAD (Amritsar). Mann won his Lok Sabha seat under the banner of SAD (Amritsar) from Sangrur in 1999.
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections, Mann was defeated by AAP’s Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra from the Amargarh seat by a margin of around 7,000 votes.
Simranjit Singh Mann, a Pro-Khalistan leader
Simranjit Singh Mann has a long history of openly supporting the Khalistan movement. He had left Police Services because of Operation Blue Star, which was initiated by the Government of India to eliminate Khalistani terrorists lodged in Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. Reports suggest his party workers raised pro-Khalistan slogans at Golden Temple on Operation Blue Star anniversary this year.
In 2021, while wishing for the new year, he said on Twitter, “May 2021 bring freedom for the Sikh community in form of ‘Khalistan’ that will eradicate social evils such as coercion, discrimination, greed, ego, etc. and restore human values, mutual love, respect, and cooperation.”
On June 6, 2019, he paid tribute to Khalistani terrorist Bhindranwale and wrote, “Paying tributes to Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other martyrs fought with THIS’s army at Sri Akal Takht Sahib on this day. Long live the struggle for Khalistan.”
In 2018, while sharing photographs of security forces deployed on the anniversary of Operation Blue Star, he wrote, “This naked show of force by the Indian state is to show the world how this Hindu state treats the stateless Sikhs. The Hindu state still thinks that machine guns will frighten the Sikhs and keep them away from their peaceful means to carve out the Sikh state of Khalistan.”
On Operation Blue Star anniversary this year, he published a post in which he said, “The Indian Armed Forces surrounded Golden Temple. Without provocation they opened fire at peaceful devotees and killed eight people.”
Post on Operation Blue Star Anniversary. Source: Instagram
Simranjit Singh Mann has openly demanded Khalistan and often spoke about a separate state for Sikhs. Reports suggest he has been arrested over 30 times including over charges of sedition but never got convicted.
