Three weeks after Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera whined about being overlooked for Rajya Sabha nominations, the party has now decided to give him a consolation prize.
On Saturday (June 18), the All India Congress Committee announced his immediate appointment as the Chairman of Media and Publicity in the new Communications Department of the party.
In a press release signed by the party’s General Secretary KC Venugopal, it noted that the appointment of Pawan Khera has been made with the approval of interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Screengrab of the press release of the All India Congress Committee
“Hon’ble Congress President has approved the appointment of Shri Pawan Khera as the Chairman of Media and Publicity in the new Communications Department, with immediate effect,” the press release read.
It must be recalled that Pawan Khera had earlier expressed disappointment after he was sidelined for the Rajya Sabha nominations. The party had favoured Imran Pratapgarhi and Randeep Surjewala amongst others for the Upper House of the Parliament over Khera.
After Congress Party released a list of its ten candidates from seven states for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, in a cryptic tweet, Pawan Khera wrote in Hindi, “My penance must have been lacking somewhere”.
Later, he posted a tweet and sounded apologetic about his earlier remarks.
“Of course, I have ambitions and I sometimes get disappointed. I’m a human being, after all. But, once the party takes a decision, I will fight to the hilt to defend that decision. And I will try and be a better congressman. That’s the way I look at life and ambition,” he had tweeted.
Of course, I have ambitions and I sometimes get disappointed. I’m a human being, after all. But, once the party takes a decision, I will fight to the hilt to defend that decision. And I will try and be a better congressman. That’s the way I look at life and ambition. https://t.co/UUGmU0thjV
In place of Khera, who was one of the contenders for the seat from Rajasthan, Congress chose Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik, and Pramod Tiwari. Surjewala, who contested 2019 Haryana state assembly elections, lost his Kathial seat to a BJP candidate.
However, looks like the Congress party is now trying to placate Pawan Khera by offering him the post of the Chairman of Media and Publicity in the new Communications Department of the party.
Pawan Khera was not the only Congress leader disappointed with the Rajya Sabha nominations, Nagma Morarji had also expressed her unhappiness after being overlooked, but she is yet to get any reward for her ‘tapasya’
Amid the ongoing violent protests in various parts of the country against the recently announced Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces, now the farmers are going to join the protests. Former leader and spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union Rakesh Tikait has declared that farmers will also join the protests against this scheme. Professional protestor Rakesh Tikait said that the farmers will start their protests on 30th June 2022.
Rakesh Tikait said, “We will go to the district collector’s office on June 30 to register our protest against the Agnipath scheme. There will be agitations. We will give our memorandum there. We all will be there and we will take our next decision there only. We will do it just the way the youth wishes it to be. We will do it in a peaceful manner. We completely back the youth on this issue.”
Rakesh Tikait further said, “Is there any job which is meant just for four years? Four years job is just a mirage. Can MPs and MLA pass a resolution that they will fight an election only once and won’t contend again after completing one term? Why don’t they bring any such rule? And there should be no pension for the MPs and MLAs too. Will that be fine? Should there term also be reduced to four years? Let’s keep it five years as it is now. But can a resolution be passed that a person can contend the election only once? And that no one will get a pension? If it happens so, then we will also give a thought that a political leader is also going to work for only four years. This will not be accepted in this country. The country is ruled by the Constitution of India and not by their whims.”
Rakesh Tikait added, “We will take a march from here. There are many other issues to be addressed. Sugarcane is one of them. Haryana farmers are due to get 100 crore rupees. Another issue is that of the transport subsidy in Uttarakhand. We are also covering water, health, and education.” Rakesh Tikait also threatened of registering a case against a recently published book. He alleged that according to that book the protesting farmers were supporting Khalistan.
On Tuesday (June 14), the Indian government, along with the chiefs of the three armed forces, launched the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of youth in the armed forces. The new recruits under the scheme will henceforth be known as ‘Agniveer’.
Soon after, scores of armed forces aspirants took to the streets and destroyed public property under the pretext of peaceful protests and demonstrations. While demanding a rollback of the government scheme, they vandalized public property, burnt trains, and brought life to a standstill across the various Indian States.
India has seen a hectic and horrible fortnight. As the nation struggled to step out of the dark, demonic shadows of the global pandemic, crooked politicians worked overtime to create a civil-war like situation on the ground. An interview of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in London claiming India to be a tinder-box waiting for one spark to burn the whole country down marked the end of a brief lull after the Farm Laws were taken back by the Prime Minister, after months of mob violence and mayhem.
Be that as it may, the danger of enemies for any nation is only as serious as the propensity of the people to attack their own nation at the behest of them is. Unfortunately, the current breed of desperate politicians would have made the job easier for any foreign forces wanting to destabilise India. Any gap in violent riots between protests against Nupur Sharma and protest against Agnipath scheme launched to offer an exceptionally good offer for non-graduate students was dutifully covered by the rioting minions of Rahul Gandhi who went around protesting on the streets immediately after the Friday violence in the name of blasphemy was unleashed by the Islamist. The moment Gustaakh-e-Rasool (Insult to the Prophet) armies were removed from the streets, Gustaakh-e-Rahul (Insult to Rahul) fanatics hit the roads.
The Congress leaders created mayhem, the national capital was thrown out of gear simply because an official investigating agency, the Enforcement Directorate, called Rahul. Sonia Gandhi promptly was detected with Covid and hospitalised. The interesting thing here is that while the Congress Chief Ministers of two States and other state cadres were moved in to protest, there was not even a pretence to project the image of spontaneous street protests.
The whole sham was planned by the first family of the Congress and everyone stated so without any shame or hesitation. It was as if questioning the man who is not even Chief of Congress is an act of blasphemy. The general theme being that owing to the illustrious lineage of Rahul Gandhi, the nation even when it has reasons to suspect corruption, must not ask question and should rather surrender and acquiesce with a sense of eternal gratitude towards the family. Some even funnily put out the posters claiming Rahul Gandhi to a descendant of Mahatma Gandhi. Never in the recent history, a clerical error about the surname of one Mr. Feroze Ghandy would have created such moments of historic buffoonery in the life of any modern nation.
Dr. Ambedkar had spoken in his speech in the Constituent Assembly about such silent servitude that Congress demands from the whole nation, merely on account of the good name of his ancestors. On 25th of November, 1949, Dr Ambedkar had said in his speech in the Constituent Assembly, now famous as ‘Grammar of Anarchy’, quoting Irish Leader Daniel O’Connel –
‘No woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty.’
This one statement is so powerful that it takes away the air behind the whole argument that the Government cannot rightfully even investigate a matter of corruption because it involves the first family of Congress which has illustrious history. Coming to the current leadership of the Congress, their brushes with corruption charges are not new. We are not even going back the very old history of Jeep scam and Revolver scams under Nehru (even Jairam Ramesh, a Congress Loyalist concedes in his book ‘A Chequered Brilliance’ that there were intermediaries, they were old acquantances to Krishna Menon and that Commissions were paid. After this Nehru, wound up Parliamentary Committee investigating the matter, brought Menon into cabinet and made him Defense Minister, where he ingloriously presided over India’s lone Military defeat of the century, in 1962), rather limit ourselves to the current Congress leadership only.
While Sonia Gandhi has been largely projected by the Congressmen and allied media as someone above human failings like greed, ambition etc., such claims are based on the assumption of short public memory (after all, when Manmohan Singh was projected as a totally apolitical man, who remembered his role in granting money to Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, created within a month of Rajiv Gandhi’s death and his failed electoral foray in Delhi). The first family of Congress has largely been expert in such convoluted, complicated financial deals and money-making schemes.
Maruti was one such scam which came out in open during Emergency, and since it was emergency no one wrote about it then out of fear and later out of greed. Late Journalist Vinod Mehta wrote in much detail about it in his book ‘The Sanjay Story: From Anand Bhavan to Amethi’. By 1974, when to the whole India and even to Sanjay it was clear that the cheapest car is not going to happen, Sanjay moved into selling Cement and Steel which he got for setting up the plant as scraps in open market. Remember those were License-raj days and it wasn’t allowed to sell these commodities in open market. The names of fake companies to make money started coming out. It was also not that this was done out of desperation on account of failure to launch Maruti. The net was woven before even Maruti, the car company was registered. A Private Limited company called Maruti Technical Services (MTS) came into being before Maruti, the car maker was launched to siphon the funds. Gandhi family owned 99 percent shares in MTS. It had Sanjay Gandhi together with three other Gandhis as partners, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. A person called Shroff was the Motilal Vora of this deal. Sanjay had invested 1.25 Lakhs in this subsidiary company and put in 100 rupees in Maruti when it was launched.
Sonia Gandhi was appointed as Managing Director of MTS with a monthly salary plus one percent in net profit and other perks as compensation. A 20-year engagement was formalised between MTS and Maruti for providing consulting services to Maruti, in return of 2% of net annual value of sale. An upfront amount of five lakhs was paid to MTS for offering as per the contract – the supply of expertise for design, manufacture and assembly of cars’. The entire investment of Sanjay Gandhi was recovered in few months and within one year, the hollow organization of four members was sitting on an appreciation of 150 Percent on their investment.
By 1975, author explains, that MTS had made around 10 Lakhs (it was 1975, remember), and created another firm, Maruti Heavy Vehicles (P) Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary with MTS of Sanjay, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka holding 59% stake. MHV again was supposed to pay 2% for consulting which miraculously enabled MHV to produce goods worth Rs 16 Lakhs with machinery worth Rs 12,331 (The Sanjay Story, Vinod Mehta). Rajiv Gandhi then claimed that Sanjay got papers signed by Sonia, but then the money was flowing and no one has denied that. Vinod Mehta confidently pointed towards the current Gandhi family being accomplice to this complicated scam.
So we know, this creation of a web of companies in which nothing gets made, nothing gets sold and still people make money is not new.
This AJL, Young India and National Herald story is not a new one and has been played before by the family. National Herald was a news paper started by Nehru in 1938 in London. Contrary to the popular belief, Associated Journal Limited, which in the beginning ran National Herald, had ownership spread across 5000 freedom fighters. Nehru placed Feroze Gandhi at its helm as a kind of rehabilitation of his son-in-law, post-independence.
The editorial team resented this and by the time Feroze resigned National Herald, it was already in losses. In 2008, the paper had a debt of Rs 90 Crores. In 2010, Gandhi family formed a Young India Ltd., a Not-for-Profit, which promptly acquired National Herald and with it, all its assets. The dealings in this case are even more messier than the Maruti-MTS saga. Using the identity of National Herald as a media organisation, lands were allotted, those lands were pledged to borrow loan from banks, to obtain Rs 120 Crores in order to build a 9 story building in Bandra (East), Mumbai.
The numbers are mind boggling, and the web is complex. Two things are certain, things are not straight and those involved have a crooked history. This landlord mindset of lack of accountability has gone for too long as we did not question Nehru as to why Menon was rehabilitated but also elevated to the Defence minister out of gratitude pushed on to the citizen of India. if one is to believe Ambedkar and his detailed analysis of the fund Congress raised as Tilak Memorial Fund, this waywardness and arbitrary utilisation of public funds by the party has gone way too long. But that is the story for some other day.
Pressing for bail for AAP leader Satyendar Jain, senior advocate N Hariharan on Saturday, June 18 stated before a Delhi court that the Delhi minister has ‘sleep apnea’ and that he should be granted bail on medical grounds. Satyendar Jain was sent to judicial custody on June 13 on completion of his ED custody in connection with a money laundering case filed against him by CBI in August 2017. The court has, however, refused to grant him bail.
Jain’s counsel also told the court that he has cooperated with the agency at every stage and no more custody is required. He submitted that the AAP leader meets the triple test for bail as he is not a flight risk and also the evidence is mostly documentary in nature and cannot be tampered with. Jain’s counsel also told the court that witnesses have never raised the allegation of threat.
The Delhi Court’s Special Judge Geetanjali Goel, however, reserved her order on the bail plea on June 14. “Bail application is dismissed,” the judge said on Saturday, June 18.
Interestingly, prior to this, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had notified the trial court on Tuesday, June 14, that during questioning, Delhi minister and AAP leader Satyendar Jain claimed that he lost his memory owing to the effect of Covid.
According to the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju who is appearing on the behalf of ED in court, Satyendar Jain made the assertion that he lost his memory after being faced with papers pertaining to his involvement in trusts that received money from hawala operations.
The AAP minister’s ED detention had already been extended till Monday, June 13. The bail hearing for Jain was set for Tuesday, June 14. The court had heard Satyendar Jain’s bail application on Tuesday, June 14 and reserved its decision until June 18 and today too, the court refused to grant bail to the AAP leader.
AAP leader Satyendar Jain charged with money laundering
On May 30, the ED arrested Satyendar Jain under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On May 31, the trial court remanded him to the custody of ED. ED raided the residence and other places associated with Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Minister Satyendra Jain on June 6 and 7. Following the raid, the agency confiscated Rs. 2.85 crore in cash and 133 gold coins weighing 1.80 kg in total.
Satyendar Jain was charged with money laundering in August 2017 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Based on the FIR made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the ED initiated a criminal case against the AAP leader, alleging that Jain could not explain the source of income received by four firms in which he was a stakeholder. From 2010 to 2014, the firms allegedly laundered Rs 16.39 crores in cash.
The Home Ministry authorised the prosecution of Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in matters including disproportionate assets and money laundering in November 2019. Under the PMLA, 2002, the Enforcement Directorate temporarily attached immovable assets worth Rs. 4.81 crore owned by Akinchan Developers Pvt. Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, and others in April of this year. The move was taken in connection with the case filed against AAP minister Satyendar Jain, his wife Poonam Jain, and others for disproportionate assets and money laundering.
On the occasion of his mother Heeraben’s 100th birthday, PM Modi wrote a heartfelt note in which he expressed joy and gratitude at the beginning of his mother’s centenary year and shared memories of his younger days, spent with his parents and siblings in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
“Maa…this isn’t a mere word but it captures a range of emotions. Today, 18th June is the day my Mother Heeraba enters her 100th year. On this special day, I have penned a few thoughts expressing joy and gratitude,” tweeted PM Modi while sharing his deeply felt thoughts dedicated to his mother on her 100th birthday.
Maa…this isn’t a mere word but it captures a range of emotions. Today, 18th June is the day my Mother Heeraba enters her 100th year. On this special day, I have penned a few thoughts expressing joy and gratitude. https://t.co/KnhBmUp2se
The Prime Minister began his note by paying tribute to all mothers. He spoke about the importance of a mother in a child’s life. “Mother – is not just any other word in the dictionary. It encompasses a whole range of emotions – love, patience, trust, and a lot more. Across the world, irrespective of country or region, children have a special affection for their mothers. A mother not only gives birth to her children, but also shapes their mind, their personality, and their self-confidence. And while doing so, mothers selflessly sacrifice their own personal needs and aspirations,” wrote the PM.
He wrote that it is a mother’s penance that shapes a good human being. Her love instils human qualities and empathy in a child, opined the Prime Minister, adding, “A mother is not an individual or a personality, motherhood is a quality. It is often said that the Gods are made according to the nature of their devotees. Similarly, we experience our mothers and their motherhood according to our own nature and mindset.”
He wrote how today he feels extremely happy and fortunate to share that his mother is entering her hundredth year. Even though she entered the 100th year of her life, she is still the same, said the prime minister, adding that age may have taken a toll physically on her, but she is as mentally alert as ever.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that he owes everything he is today to his parents
In his blog, the Prime Minister remembered his father who would have completed his 100 years last week if he was alive. He also recalled his grandmother’s early death due to the Spanish Flu pandemic and how his mother grew up without the comfort of her mother’s lap.
PM Modi went on to say that he owes everything he is today to his parents. “I have no doubt that everything good in my life, and all that is good in my character, can be attributed to my parents. Today, as I sit in Delhi, I am filled with memories from the past,” PM Modi wrote, as he reminisced about his childhood days in Gandhinagar with his family.
“In Vadnagar, our family used to stay in a tiny house which did not even have a window, let alone a luxury like a toilet or a bathroom. We used to call this one-room tenement with mud walls and clay tiles for a roof, our home. And all of us – my parents, my siblings and I, stayed in it. My father made a machaan from bamboo sticks and wooden planks to make it easier for Mother to cook food. This structure was our kitchen. Mother used to climb on the machaan to cook, and the entire family would sit on it and eat together,” PM Modi recalled.
Talking about how his parents never let their financial woes affect him and his sibling’s childhood, the PM wrote, “Usually, scarcity leads to stress. However, my parents never let the anxiety from the daily struggles overwhelm the family atmosphere. Both my parents carefully divided their responsibilities and fulfilled them.”
PM Modi pens downs his mother’s qualities that inspired him
PM Modi then went on to pen down his mother Heeraben’s qualities, stressing how hardworking and meticulous she was in her younger days and continues to be the same. “I can fill many reams of paper recalling anecdotes about Mother’s focus on cleanliness,” wrote the Prime Minister, sharing how her focus on cleanliness is evident even today.
The PM’s blog also had a special mention of how his mother had a deep respect for those involved in cleaning and sanitation. “I remember, whenever someone would come to clean the drain adjacent to our house in Vadnagar, Mother wouldn’t let them go without giving them tea. Our house became famous amongst safai karamcharis for tea after work.”
Whenever a Sadhu visited our neighbourhood, Mother would invite them to our humble home for a meal. True to her selfless nature, she would request the Sadhus to bless us children rather than asking anything for herself. She would urge them, “Bless my children so that they are happy in others’ joys and empathetic in their sorrows. Let them have bhakti (devotion for the Divine) and sevabhav (service to others),” PM Modi wrote, describing his mother.
“Today, many years later, whenever people ask her if she is proud that her son has become the country’s Prime Minister, Mother gives an extremely deep response. She says, ‘I am as proud as you are. Nothing is mine. I am a mere instrument in the plans of God’,” the PM added.
“I remember another incident. When I became the Chief Minister in Gujarat, I wanted to publicly honour all my teachers. I thought that Mother had been my biggest teacher in life, and I should also honour her. Even our scriptures mention that there is no bigger guru than one’s mother – ‘Nasti matr samo guruh’. I requested Mother to attend the event, but she declined. She said, ‘See, I am an ordinary person. I may have given birth to you, but you have been taught and brought up by the Almighty.’ All my teachers were felicitated that day, but for Mother,” recalled PM Modi.
PM Narendra Modi went on to recall how his mother not only respected others’ choices but also refrained from imposing her preferences. “In my own case especially, she respected my decisions, never created any hurdles, and encouraged me. Since childhood, she could feel that a different mindset grew inside me,” he said.
“If I look back at my parents’ lives, their honesty and self-respect have been their biggest qualities. Despite struggling with poverty and its accompanying challenges, my parents never left the path of honesty or compromised on their self-respect. They had only one mantra to overcome any challenge – hard work, constant hard work”, the PM added.
Whenever I look at Mother and crores of women like her, I find there is nothing that is unachievable for Indian women: PM Modi
The PM also shared several pictures and anecdotes from his younger days in his blog post. He recounted how he used to wash dirty clothes at a pond in his childhood. “I used to really enjoy swimming in the local pond. So, I used to take all the dirty clothes from home and wash them at the pond. The washing of clothes and my play, both used to get done together,” he said.
“In my Mother’s life story, I see the penance, sacrifice, and contribution of India’s matrushakti. Whenever I look at Mother and crores of women like her, I find there is nothing that is unachievable for Indian women. Far beyond every tale of deprivation, is the glorious story of a mother, far above every struggle, is the strong resolve of a mother… I have never been able to muster the courage to write at length publicly about your life until now… I bow at your feet,” the PM concluded, giving her his best wishes as she started her birth centenary year.
Prime Minister Modi visited his mother on her 100th birthday during his official Gujarat visit, washed her feet, and took her blessings
Earlier in the day, visuals had emerged of PM Modi paying a visit to his brother’s residence in Gandhinagar in Gujarat to celebrate his mother’s 100th birthday with her. Before the PM left his mother’s Gandhinagar residence, PM Modi washed his mother’s feet and sought her blessings.
PM Modi then performed aarti with his mother in the Mandir placed in the house and offered her prasad. He then adorned his mother with a garland of roses and a shawl. Visuals show PM Modi sitting on the floor next to his mother and spending some quality time with her before he left the house for other engagements. The meeting lasted for less than half an hour.
Days after violent protests broke out in different parts of India over the newly launched Agnipath recruitment scheme, the Gandhi dynasts have warned that it could end up like the ‘farm laws’.
In a tweet on Saturday (June 18), Congress scion Rahul Gandhi remarked, “For the past 8 years, the BJP has insulted the values behind the concept of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.” He claimed that he had pre-empted the rollback of the farm laws.
While taking potshots at Veer Savarkar, he dubbed the Indian Prime Minister as ‘Maafi Veer.’ Rahul Gandhi added, “In the same breadth, PM Modi will have to apologise to the youth of this country and withdraw the Agnipath scheme.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Rahu Gandhi
Similarly, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra resorted to fear-mongering and creating hysteria among the armed force aspirants.
She claimed, “Try to understand the pain of the youth from rural areas, who are preparing for recruitment in the Indian army. There has been no recruitment for the past 3 years.”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra further alleged, “The youth are in a state of despair. They have bruised their feet in preparing for armed force recruitment. They are waiting for the results of Air Force. The government has snatched their admission, rank, pension and recruitment.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Priyanka Gandhi
Journalist Pallavi Ghosh informed that on Sunday (June 19), the Congress party will conduct a satyagraha against the Agnipath scheme at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Congress to have ‘ satyagraha’ against agnipath scheme tomorrow – all senior leaders to join .. at jantar mantar
From the tweet of Rahul Gandhi, it becomes clear that the Congress party is going to hold the government to ransom so as to compel it to withdraw the Agnipath scheme. During the farmers protest, the country witnessed the extensive use of street power by the ‘farmer protestors’ that forced the Indian government to roll back the farm laws.
Given that no Congress leader has so far condemned the orgy of violence that has taken place in the garb of protests, it is evident that the party is hopeful that the street power of the protestors will again put the government under the spotlight.
With no fresh narrative to offer to the Indian citizens, the Gandhi siblings are banking on the Agnipath recruitment violence to revive their dwindling political relevance and reclaim their party’s hegemony as a principal opposition party.
The benefits of the Agnipath scheme
One of the grievances of the armed force aspirants is that only 25% of the Agniveers, recruited under the new scheme, will get the opportunity to continue for a full term. Many have also cried foul over the lack of pensionary benefits.
The early exit option for Agniveers will leave them with a SevaNidhi fund of ₹11.71 lakh and the ability to start a new career, get priority selection in police services, government agencies, and PSUs.
Apart from that, Agniveers will also get a non-contributory Life Insurance Cover of Rs 48 lakh for the duration of their engagement period in the Indian Armed Forces. During the period of service, the recruits will learn various military skills, including discipline, physical fitness, leadership qualities, courage and patriotism.
Although around 25% of the recruited Agniveers will be enrolled in Armed Forces as regular cadres post the four-year service, all candidates can apply on a volunteer basis to enrol in the regular cadre.
In association with IGNOU, the Armed Forces will provide graduation degrees to Agniveers that will help them if they want to go for higher studies after completion of four years of service.
On Saturday, the Aligarh Police released photos of protesters who stoked violence in Tappal area, torched a bus and a police post in Jattari amid massive protest against the Agnipath recruitment scheme for armed forces.
This is a day after the miscreants protesting against the Agnipath scheme ransacked properties and pelted stones in Aligarh. They disturbed the law and order in the area further by setting the police post Jattari on fire. The SSP and other police officers strived to save themselves as the violent protesters continued to pelt stones and glass bottles at them.
#Agnipath Scheme Protests: #Aligarh Police have released images of those who were allegedly involved in violent activities.
Releasing the photographs of the violent mob, Aligarh police also announced reward for those who identity them. The identity of people who identify the miscreants will be kept confidential, the police have assured.
Following the union government’s unveiling of the Agniveer scheme in cooperation with all three armed forces, throngs of ‘youth’ protesters rushed to the streets and vandalized public property under the guise of ‘protests’ and marches. So-called armed forces aspirants damaged public property, set fire to trains, and brought life to a standstill in various Indian states.
In Uttar Pradesh, violent protests were executed in Varanasi, Firozabad Amethi, Ballia, Mathura, Agra, and several other areas. The rioters raised slogans against the scheme and demanded its repeal. They set a bogey of an empty train on fire and also vandalized a few other trains in Ballia, Firozabad, and Varanasi. The protesters also reached the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway and damaged the buses on the way. Reportedly, four buses were damaged due to stone pelting on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, and eight vehicles were set ablaze on the Yamuna Expressway. Protesters also set a coach of an empty train on fire in Ballia, where police lobbed teargas shells to disperse them and took 100 people in custody.
The UP Police on June 18 registered 6 FIRs against the miscreants and arrested around 260 people from various parts of the state. Of 260, 109 people were arrested in Ballia, 70 in Mathura, 30 in Aligarh, 27 in Varanasi Commissonerate, and 15 in Gautam Buddha Nagar Commissonerate.
According to UP Police, protests took place at 17 places across the state, including Ballia, Aligarh, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Varanasi.
Reportedly, yesterday a video also went viral over the internet in which some protestors could be heard saying that if the government doesn’t repeal the scheme, they will become terrorists instead of joining the army. “Agar Sarkar Kanoon Wapis Nahi Legi To Majburi Me Hum Aatankwadi Ban Jayenge (If the government doesn’t take this back, we will become terrorists in helplessness), a fellow protester said.
The government June 14 launched the Agnipath scheme for the recruitment of youth in the armed forces. Those who get enrolled in the armed forces under this scheme would be called Agniveers. The enrollment under the scheme will be open for both men and women for four years, including the training.
The State of Bihar is witnessing unprecedented violence and vandalism by armed force aspirants over the announcement of the Agnipath recruitment scheme by the Indian government.
Influential Youtubers and coaching institutes from the State are adding fuel to the fire of unrest and chaos by weaponising misinformation and inciting aspirants to take to the street in protest.
A prominent journalist named Manish Kashyap, associated with Sach Tak News, was seen provoking students by falsely claiming that recruitment for the Agnipath scheme will be done through private agencies.
“First, the Modi government sold the State-owned companies and realised that the youth were not objecting to their actions. Now, they are pushing to make the institute of armed forces, a private entity,” he had claimed in a Youtube video.
Kashyap further claimed, “The recruitment for 4 year period will be done by a private agency. They will then hire you for a year, on completion of your service in the army, and then kick you out.”
एक #Youtube वीडियो में यह दावा किया जा रहा है कि आने वाले समय में अग्निपथ के तहत होने वाली आर्मी भर्ती किसी प्राइवेट एजेंसी के द्वारा की जाएगी।
SK Jha, an educator who boasts of 6.8 lakh subscribers on Youtube, was seen fear-mongering students and asking them to emulate the JP Andolan of 1974. It may be recalled that Jayprakash Narayan had mobilised students in Bihar and held demonstrations against the misrule of the Bihar government.
“India is going through another JP Andolan. There is a fire in youth. You keep recruitments shut for 4 years and then bring a scheme, which has no head and tail…I don’t support this scheme,” he announced.
“Whoever has given the idea of this scheme to the government, I will make his effigy and burn it down… The State is under fire. We had given you the responsibility. Do your duty,” he further warned.
Jha continued with his provocation, “You have betrayed the children, who aspire to become a soldier after watching the movie Border…Those sitting in power today must know that we can remove you from your position too.”
Another educator named Kajal, associated with Future Times coaching, also misled the students through a Youtube video. She claimed that the Indian government changed the definition of youth and narrowed it down to individuals between 17.5-21 years of age.
She also claimed that the youth recruited under the Agnipath scheme will be akin to a ‘short tour’. “You are brainwashing children,” she asserted. The educator also accused the Indian government of comprising security over petty politics.
It must be mentioned that the State of Bihar had witnessed violence over tests conducted by the railway recruitment board. Many coaching centres, including that of Khan Sir, had come under the scanner for inciting violence. About 400 unidentified people were booked for destroying railway property.
Demands of students and violent protests against Agnipath scheme
One of the grievances of the armed forces ‘aspirants’ is that only 25% of the Agniveers, recruited under the new scheme, will get the opportunity to continue for a full term. Many have also cried foul over the lack of pensionary benefits.
Some of the students have also complained that the recruitment in the Indian army was halted for a period of 2 years due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. They claim that their future will be shrouded in obscurity with the implementation of the new scheme.
“It takes us 3 years to prepare for Indian army exams. We prepare for 3 years and get to serve only 4. What is there for us after we retire? The government is saying that we will get to join the IT sector. What will I do? Become a security guard. Is that what I am preparing for?” said a protestor on News 24.
In a bid to hold the State to ransom and force the government to withdraw the Agnipath scheme, the students resorted to violence and vandalism. Damage to private and public property and large-scale arson attacks were observed in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
The grim law and order situation, created by the ‘armed forces aspirants’, forced former Army General VK Singh to rule that they are unfit to become part of the Indian army.
A contractual employee of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad has been arrested for passing confidential defence information on India’s missile development to an alleged ISI operative in Pakistan through social media. The 29-year-old accused, identified as Dukka Mallikarjuna Reddy alias Arjun Bittu was arrested from his residence in Triveni Nagar, Balapur, Hyderabad during a joint operation by the Special Operations Team, LB Nagar Zone, Rachakonda, and Balapur police on June 17, Friday.
The arrest was made under the supervision of Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat, Additional Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu, LB Nagar DCP Sunpreeth Singh, DCP (SOT) K Muralidhar and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Operations Team, Rachakonda.
“On June 17, 2022, on credible information, the Sleuths of Special Operations Team, LB Nagar Zone, Rachakonda in a joint operation with Balapur Police, arrested the contractual employee of Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL) who has shared the highly secured and confidential information of DRDL-RCI Complex through social media to a suspected ISI female handler which is prone to create harm to national integrity and security,” a statement issued by the police read.
Reddy has been booked under sections 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3 (1) (C), 5 (3), 5 (1) (A) of Official Secret Act-1923 at Balapur Police Station of Rachakonda Police Commissionerate. His two mobile phones, a SIM card, and a laptop have also been seized by the authorities.
Pakistan’s ISI operative honey traps Hyderabad DRDL employee under the pretext of marriage
According to reports, Reddy was working on a classified advanced naval system programme at the defence lab’s RCI complex in Balapur, Hyderabad. He updated his job status with DRDL on Facebook in March 2018. Two years later, in March 2020, he was contacted by a Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) handler using the name Natasha Rao. She introduced herself as a UK Defence Journal employee whose father served in the Indian Air Force before relocating to the United Kingdom.
Natasha Rao alias Simran Chopra alias Omisha Addie befriended Reddy on social media and then honey-trapped him under the pretext of love and marriage, and asked him to leak sensitive information about the DRDL-RCI Complex.
According to reports, Reddy kept transferring confidential defence details to the ISI handler until December last year, but he became suspicious when Natasha changed her Facebook profile name to Simran Chopra and stopped chatting with him. During the investigation, the police found that Natasha had also sought the bank account details of Reddy, but they are yet to confirm if she transferred money from the account or not.
Several cases of honey trapping have emerged in recent times
On September 13, 2021, an investigation team of CIA-3 Ludhiana and Counter-Intelligence Ludhiana arrested one Jaswinder Singh over alleged links with a Pakistani spy who identified herself to him as Jasleen Brar from Bathinda. As per Paramjit Singh, Ludhiana Police Commissioner, Jaswinder has been accused of providing access to Indian defence personnel to the spy.
In June 2021, Delhi Police arrested a 40-year-old man for impersonating an Indian Army Officer. He revealed during interrogation that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) was trying to honey trap him as they considered him to be a real officer.
In January 2021, Rajasthan CID in a joint operation detained the husband of a former sarpanch, identified as Satyanarayan Paliwal, based on intelligence input. As per the reports, he was honey-trapped by the women’s wing of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI. During his interrogation, Paliwal confessed that he had shared confidential documents on social media.
In fact, in the wake of the sensational arrest of the BrahMos engineer in the year 2018 for allegedly spying for Pakistan, the Intelligence Bureau had issued a high alert against the hostile neighbour’s ‘honeytrap’ strategy, which is prevalent in India. The alert had stated that Pakistan’s ISI has been utilizing good-looking Chinese and Pakistani girls to lure and set the trap on high-ranking officials and those involved in dealing with sensitive information.
A show-cause notice was issued when complaints surfaced that a senior traffic police official was blocking a section of a road in Kochi, Kerala, for his morning walks. Locals allege that when the cop went on his morning walk, the road next to the Queen’s Walkway was shut to motor vehicles.
According to reports, Assistant Commissioner of Police Traffic West, Vinod Pillai, walks to the Queen’s Walkway every morning. The said part of the road is blocked on Sundays from 6-7 AM to allow youngsters to cycle and practice skating. However, the officer is said to have closed the road for his morning stroll all along the week.
After the event was uncovered, authorities stated that Queen’s Walkway in Kochi is a popular path for morning walkers and joggers and that barricades are usually erected to protect them. According to residents, the route has been closed for the past three days, making routine travels challenging.
Source: India Today
Children are being forced to board buses from the opposite side of the road, where traffic is also diverted, according to social media photos. A red traffic barrier was installed in the middle of the road, while another image showed a school bus and a parent instructing children on the opposite side.
Source: India Today
Dog walking controversy in Delhi’s Thyagraj stadium
It’s worth noting that a similar issue recently occurred in Delhi, which drew widespread attention from people around the country. As reported earlier, athletes and coaches were compelled to complete training before 7 p.m. in order to allow Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Revenue) Sanjeev Khirwar to walk his dog at the Thyagraj Stadium in the evening. As a result of the disruption to their training, numerous athletes were forced to relocate to the Sports Authority of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where floodlights remain on after 7.30 PM.
Following significant condemnation, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) transferred the official and his wife. The Amit Shah-led MHA reassigned IAS officer Sanjeev Khirwar from Delhi to Ladakh on Thursday (May 26), while his wife Rinku Dugga was transferred from Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh.
