A cour in Argentina on Wednesday made public an important document in the death case of soccer legend Diego Maradona. The Court ordered eight people including the doctors, nurses, and psychologists who were taking care of Maradona before his death to appear for trial. The eight people have been accused of homicide.
According to the reports, the Court released a 236-page document to question the active or unwitting behaviours of all the accused which contributed to the death of Diego Maradona. Maradona who was considered one of the greatest soccer players in history died on November 25, 2020. He was 60.
Wow – this is a crazy story with a turn I did not expect!
This is after the medical board which was appointed in the year 2021 to investigate the death case revealed that the medical team that was looking after the soccer legend’s health acted in an inappropriate, deficient, and reckless manner. The doctors and the nurses have been accused of homicide which means taking life with intent.
The accused have been identified as Leopoldo Luque who was Maradona’s neurosurgeon and personal doctor, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, psychologist Carlos Diaz, nurses Gisella Madrid, and Ricardo Almiron, their boss Mariano Perroni and doctors Pedro Di Spagna and Nancy Forlini.
While the eight have denied the allegations, a lawyer for Maradona’s sons, Mario Baudry has stated that the soccer legend was in a helpless condition during the time of his death. “As soon as I saw the cause, I said it was a homicide. I fought for a long time and here we are, with this stage completed,” Baudry was quoted.
The Argentine prosecutors have launched an investigation at the properties owned by Maradona’s doctors and accused nurses. If found guilty, the accused may face an 8 to 25 years of prison sentence under Argentinian law.
On June 22, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) filed draft chargesheet against actress Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik and others in connection to the drug case linked to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The submission was made before a special court by special public prosecutor Atul Sarpande. He said the prosecution had maintained charges against all accused in the charge sheet filed before the special court. Special judge V G Raghuwanshi heard the case.
In the draft chargesheet, the prosecution has proposed to charge Showik and Rhea for the consumption of narcotic substances. Also, it was proposed to charge them with procurement and paying for narcotic substances for the deceased actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
In a statement, Sarpande said the court was scheduled to frame the charge, but some of the accused had moved discharge applications, delaying the process. The court has said it would frame charges once the discharge pleas are decided. During the hearing, Rhea, Showik and other accused were present in the court.
The court has posted the matter for further hearing on July 12. Rhea is currently on bail after staying in custody for over a month following her arrest in the case in September 2020. Her brother and others were also listed as accused in the case over alleged consumption, possession and buying of drugs. Most of the accused are currently on bail.
The case against Rhea and others was filed by the investigating agency following the death of 34-years-old Sushant Singh Rajput. He was found dead in his apartment located in Bandra on June 14, 2020. The case of his death was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Rhea was accused of abetment of suicide. Later NCB also initiated an investigation after it was found that the deceased actor, Rhea and others had consumed narcotics. Enforcement Directorate has also initiated a separate investigation. Rhea and the other accused have been questioned by the investigation agencies multiple times in the case.
The Indian American Muslim Council, a radical Islamist group that has alleged links with banned terror organizations such as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and has a long history of lobbying against India, has distributed cash prizes to ‘journalists’ from The Wire, News Minute, Newslaundry and other publications for furthering its cause.
In its annual Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism (HRRF) Awards, the IAMC, which claims to be the “largest advocacy organization of Indian Muslims in the US” and often advocates for Sharia courts and peddles misinformation against India has declared prize money worth lakhs for some of its favourite ‘journalists’.
The shortlisted names for various cash prizes included Shahid Tantray of The Caravan Magazine, Aishwarya S Iyer of Scroll, Ismat Ara from The Wire, Sumedha Mittal from The Caravan, Naomi Barton from The Wire, and Priyanka Thirumurthy of The News Minute and Akanksha Kumar of Newslaundry etc.
In the ‘best media organisation’ award, the Islamic terror-linked organisation had listed the portals like The Scroll, Newslaundry, Maktoob media, Article 14, and ‘Mooknayak’.
Popular Twitter handle The Hawkeye had shared the screenshots of the various shortlisted names.
Its a payout day?. Jamat-e-Islam arm, fake news propaganda wing IAMC’s project “HRRF Journo Award” is distributing cash award 50K to 1L.
Guess what! IQ no bar. Manaf’s sister also got one?.
The winners have now been announced in various categories.
In the ‘Best text reporting on human rights and religious freedom’ category, the winner is Newslaundry’s Akanksha Sharma, whose highlighted stories were mostly about the UP conversion racket mastermind Umar Gautam.
IAMC’s cash price winner from Newslaundry, screenshot from IAMC website
In the video story category, the winners were Priyanka Tirumurti from News Minute and Shahid Tantray from Caravan magazine.
screenshot from the IAMC website
One Syed Shahriyar from a UK-based magazine is the winner in the best photo category.
The Wire’s Ismat Ara, who was recently viral on social media for her ‘story’ of a tea seller named Manaf, who allegedly hurried to take her to buy sanitary pads when she suddenly got her periods, is one of the winners in the ‘young journalist of the year’ category, along with Scroll’s Aishwarya S Iyer.
All the awards have been given to media stories that peddle the cause of Islamist, pro-Pakistani narrative that claims Muslims in India are being terrorised under the Modi government.
Article 14 and Mooknayak are the winners in the best media organisation category. US-based journalist and producer of the show ‘Democracy Now’ Amy Goodman was the keynote speaker at the award event, while British journalist Yvonne Ridley said “India has become one of the dangerous places for journalists to write critically about certain aspects of India including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi”, in her speech, as per the IAMC website.
What is IAMC and what does it do?
The IAMC is a Jamat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group. In the past, it had reportedly collaborated with and had even paid money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom). A detailed report by Disinfo Lab has exposed its links with terror outfit Jamat-e-Islami.
IAMC founder Shaik Ubaid and member Abdul Malik Mujahid have headed the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the US front for Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan. According to DisInfo Lab, ICNA has established links with Pakistan-based terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rasheed Ahmed, who heads the IAMC currently was the former executive director of the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA). IMANA’s director of Operations is Zahid Mahmood an ex-Pak Navy official.
IAMC had been caught spreading fake news and misinformation to further the Islamist cause in India. It had also been slapped with the UAPA in 2021.
UAPA on IAMC
Tripura Police has put UAPA on 102 entities regarding recent violence, including on Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)
IAMC was quick to play victim.
What IAMC didn't tell is its relations with Pan-Islamist networks- Jamaat, & terror-linked groups.
On June 23, three more Shiv Sena MLAs have reached Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, Assam, where Eknath Shinde, the rebel leader of the party, is holed up. Shinde had been staying in Surat earlier with other rebel leaders of the party and flew to Guwahati on June 22. In a statement, Shinde has called the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) alliance between Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena an ‘unnatural alliance’.
#WATCH | Assam: Three more Shiv Sena’s rebel MLAs reach Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati amid political instability in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/AkYfw15nhV
Reportedly, four other MLAs, Chandrakant Patil, Yogesh Kadam, Manjula Gavit and Gulabrao Patil, reached Guwahati late at night on Wednesday. The exact number of MLAs supporting Shinde remained unclear. Notably, Shinde claimed on Wednesday that 34 MLAs from his party supported him and passed a resolution to reinstate him as leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party. The announcement by Shinde came a day after he was removed from the party leadership post.
Amid the political stir, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray has left his official residence ‘Varsha’ along with his family members. The reports of him leaving the official residence came hours after he issued a statement that he was ready to step down from CM post if the rebels return to Mumbai and asks for his removal. He said, “If any MLA wants me to not continue as the CM, I am ready to take all my belongings from Varsha Bungalow (official residence of the CM) to Matoshri.”
In the resolution signed by the rebels, it was stated that the ideology of Shiv Sena was compromised in the last two years. They also expressed their dismay over alleged ‘corruption in the government’ referring to the cases of Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh who are currently lodged in jail.
The whole political unrest in Maharashtra started after reports of cross-voting during MLC elections, where the BJP won five seats despite lacking enough numbers in the assembly. Eknath Shinde, along with other rebel leaders, went untraceable after the results. Later it was reported that the rebel leaders of Shiv Sena were lodged in a hotel in Surat from where they shifted to Assam.
The Delhi police have arrested 4 members of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, for arson outside BJP President JP Nadda’s house. According to reports, the NSUI members were protesting against the Agneepath scheme and Rahul Gandhi’s questioning by ED in the National Herald scam.
According to reports, the accused were identified as Sagar Preet Hooda identified the suspects as Jagdeep Singh (30), NSUI’s national delegate, Sarvottam Rana (25), NSUI’s Chandigarh state general secretary, Pranav Pandey (26), NSUI’s national co-ordinator, and Vishal (28), NSUI’s general secretary. While the 4 NSUI workers have been arrested, other accused have also been identified and attempts to nab them are underway by the Delhi Police.
On the 21st of June, at around 4:30 PM, 8-10 people had gathered outside the Moti Lal Nehru Marg residence of BJP President JP Nadda. The gathered mob started sloganeering against him and the BJP, but soon, this “protest” by Congress workers turned violent. The NSUI members took two Khakhi shorts, wrapped them on a stick and set it on fire.
“They threw the burning shorts over the security room and at the gate of the house, but this attempt was thwarted by the residence’s staff on duty,” said Sagar Preet Hooda, special commissioner of the Delhi Police (law and order), according to a Hindustan Times report. According to the CCTV footage recovered by the police, 10-12 people had reached the location in 2 separate vehicles, one registered in Rohtak, Haryana and the other in Bijnaur, Uttar Pradesh. After gathering the footage, raids were conducted at the residences of the NSUI members and arrests were made.
“During the course of the investigation, exhibits were lifted from the spot for scientific examination and footage of CCTVs installed outside the place of the incident was examined. It was captured in the footage that about 10-12 people had come there in two vehicles which were found to be registered at Rohtak, Haryana and Bijnaur, Uttar Pradesh,” Special Commissioner said.
A case has been registered under IPC sections 188/146/147/149/278/285/ 307/436/120-B – this includes attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and rioting.
It is pertinent to note that earlier, the police had given a statement, elaborating how Congress members had violated prohibitory orders and protested in violation of the permission they had got.
According to the special commissioner of Delhi Police (law and order), on June 20, an application was received from the Secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC), for grant of permission to hold a ‘Satyagraha’ at Jantar Mantar. “The programme was to be held against the ‘Agnipath’ scheme and the appearance of Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi before the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The permission was granted subject to the condition that only 1,000 party workers will be allowed at the protest site. But instead of holding the dharna at Jantar Mantar, the protestors assembled at AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road and marched out in the form of a procession in violation of the prohibitory orders promulgated under section 144 CrPC in force,” he had said.
On June 22, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) member and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kuljeet Singh Chahal moved a resolution to remove Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the council and declare his seat vacant as per regulations. Chahal cited his absence from council meetings for four months as the reason for the resolution. On the other hand, Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena ordered the removal of three Delhi Government officials who were appointed to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office over corruption charges.
Resolution in NDMC against CM Kejriwal
Reports have quoted unnamed officials present at the meeting saying the chairman has decided to table Chahal’s resolution for the next meeting for discussion and voting. During the Wednesday meeting, CM Arvind Kejriwal was also present. Chahal had submitted a copy of the resolution on Monday, and the proposal was signed by four other NDMC members as well.
Chahal cited Section 8(2) of the NDMC Act, 1994, which suggests, “if during three successive months, a member is without permission of the council, absent from all meetings thereof, the council may recommend the central government that seat of such member may be declared vacant”. CM Kejriwal is the ex-officio member of the NDMC and MLA of the New Delhi constituency. For any council member, it is compulsory to seek permission from the board if he or she cannot attend the meeting. However, Kejriwal allegedly did not take permission and skipped meetings for straight four months from December 2021 to March 2022.
Chahal said in the resolutions, “Therefore as per the provisions of section 8 of the NDMC Act, the council may recommend to the central government that the seat… may be declared vacant with the recommendation to initiate further necessary action accordingly.”
In a statement, Chahal said, “I have also sought a recommendation from the law department, and they have also sent a report saying it is legally possible to declare a seat vacant… So, in the next meeting, the voting will take place and then it will be recommended to the central government for a final decision on the matter.” He added, “No one is above the law.”
In a report by the law department, it was stated that as per the NDMC Act, the council has the power to send recommendations to the Central Government to declare a seat vacant if the member fails to attend meetings for the prescribed time without taking permission from the council.
Notably, a similar matter had come up earlier in front of the council. CM had attended two meetings after the issue was raised by an NDMC member.
LG ordered the removal of three Delhi Government officials
On June 22, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena ordered the suspension of three Delhi Government officials who were deployed in CM Kejriwal’s office over corruption charges. Three officers that have been suspended are CMO Deputy Secretary Prakash Chandra Thakur, SDM Vasant Vihar Harshit Jain and SDM Vivek Vihar Devendra Sharma.
As per reports, these officers were removed based on the corruption charges for allegedly selling government land to private entities. Just two days before the suspension of these three officials, two assistant engineers of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) were also suspended. It was found that there were lapses in the construction of flats built for Economical Weaker Sections (EWS) in Kalkaji Extension, after which the action against the engineers was taken.
Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde gave his reaction after the statement issued by Maharashtra’s chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on the political crisis that Shiv Sena is facing. Eknath Shinde has refused to compromise on the issue of Hindutva and expressed his strong objection to the alliance of Shiv Sena with the Congress party and NCP. Eknath Shinde said that this is an unnatural alliance.
Shinde said that only the alliance partners are benefitting from the MVA alliance, and Shiv Sena has suffered from it.
Eknath Shinde shared his reaction on his Twitter handle. He wrote, “Only the partner parties in the alliance are benefitted by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government whereas the Shiv Sainiks are being crushed. While the allies are becoming stronger, Shiv Sena party and the Shiv Sainiks are systematically weakened.”
१. गेल्या अडीच वर्षात म.वि.आ. सरकारचा फायदा फक्त घटक पक्षांना झाला,आणि शिवसैनिक भरडला गेला.
२. घटक पक्ष मजबूत होत असताना शिवसैनिकांचे – शिवसेनेचे मात्र पद्धतशीर खच्चीकरण होत आहे. #HindutvaForever
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 22, 2022
In his subsequent tweet, Eknath Shinde wrote, “It’s essential to get out of the unnatural alliance for the survival of the party. It is very important to take some decision in the interests of the Maharashtra state.” Eknath Shinde has used the hashtag #HindutvaForever in his tweet.
३. पक्ष आणि शिवसैनिक टिकविण्यासाठी अनैसर्गिक आघाडीतून बाहेर पडणे अत्यावश्यक.
— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 22, 2022
Meanwhile, four more Shiv Sena MLAs have reached Guwahati in the same hotel where Eknath Shinde and other Shiv Sena MLAs and independent MLAs are staying. The four MLAs joining the rebels include Gulabrao Patil, Manjula Gavit, Yogesh Kadam, and Sanjay Rathod.
Interestingly, according to a report by Sarkarnama, Sanjay Rathod leaving for Guwahati has left Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in a great shock. Till last night, Sanjay Rathod was with Shiv Sena. He was even seen in Aditya Thackeray’s car on 21st June in the evening. But on 22nd June, he left first to Surat and then went to Guwahati. Sanjay Rathod was the Forest Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghado government and he was removed from the post after rape allegations were leveled against him. He was underground for a few days. While Nawab Malik, accused of money laundering and dealings with the underworld terrorists is still in the cabinet, Sanjay Rathod who was made to resign from the minister’s post was not happy in the Shiv Sena party.
Gulabrao Patil is the water supply minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. He, while talking to Lokmat, said that he had suggested the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray break the current alliance with Congress and NCP, and make an alliance with BJP again and form the government. He said, “Along with Eknath Shinde, many Shiv Sena MLAs in the state are willing to form a Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government. To avoid the vertical split in the party, I and some other MLAs requested chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to give a thought to this suggestion. But, he did not take any decision on this. Moreover, all the MLAs are now going with Eknath Shinde. So, I decided to go with them because it is in the best interests of Shiv Sena. We all are in Shiv Sena and we will be in Shiv Sena.”
Gulabrao Patil was in Mumbai till 10 am on 22nd June 2022. At around 12 noon, he left for Surat with independent MLA Chandrakant Patil. He was supposed to stay at Surat on 22nd June 2022 the whole night. But, he left for Guwahati much earlier than expected and reached there to join the rebel MLAs.
On Wednesday, After the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by minister Eknath Shinde moved to Guwahati from Surat, the group has now passed a resolution to name Eknath Shinde as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party. While 34 Shiv Sena MLAs have signed the resolution, Shinde has claimed that he is backed by 46 MLAs including 40 MLAs of Shiv Sena.
In the resolution, the leaders have unanimously stated that they are with Eknath Shinde and that they were unhappy over allying with the corruption-tainted parties Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
In the Maharashtra Assembly of 288 members, Sena had 55 MLAs in the House, before Eknath Shinde’s revolt. With 53 members of the NCP and 44 MLAs of the Congress, the strength of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition was 152. With the magic halfway number of 145 members to form a government, uncertainty has loomed over MVA’s fate after the great Shinde rebellion.
Given that Shiv Sena has 55 members in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Eknath Shinde however needs the support of 2/3rd MLAs of his party i.e. in total 37 MLAs backing him to avoid being penalised under the anti-defection law.
What is the anti-defection law?
The Anti-defection law attempts to control, limit or punish the defection of legislators from one party to another after the elections for forming the government. The law permits legislators or elected representatives to join another political outfit under certain conditions.
The law was brought in the Tenth Schedule of the 52nd amendment to the Constitution of India during the Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1985. The move came after the need to stabilize the deflection of leaders from one party to another during cases of political compromise to form a government. In 2003, during the 91st amendment to the Consitution, provisions to disqualify defectors and bar them from becoming ministers were added.
It was during the 1967 General Elections, that out of 3,500 members that were elected to legislative assemblies of various states and union territories, around 550 subsequently defected from their original parties. Among rising sentiment to tackle the defection problem, a committee was formed under Congress leader Yaswantrao Chavan to assess the situation. However, it was only after Rajiv Gandhi secured a majority in 1984 that he brought the first anti-defection bill. It came into being in 1985.
The law recognizes two kinds of defections when it comes to elected representatives – one in which members voluntarily give up membership of their party and the other in which an independently elected member joins a political party. Paragraph 4 of the law categorically states that disqualification of elected members would not account if a merger with a new political party happens with 2/3rd of the members from the original party.
Hence in the current scenarios, for the Shinde group to avoid disqualification of its members, it should have more than 2/3rd of elected Shiv Sena MLAs i.e. 37 out of 55 total MLAs.
According to the law, the Chairman or the Speaker of the respective legislative house is the final decision-making authority in case of any disqualification due to defection arises. In this way, the law upholds the legalization of the defection of MLAs under certain conditions. However, it does not limit court intervention in such cases under articles 32, 226, and 137 of the Constitution.
If Eknath Shinde successfully manages to have the backing of a total of 37 MLAs in this scenario, he could successfully lead the rebellion in the Shiv Sena. However, the final authority in this matter would be the acting speaker in the Maharashtra Assembly, if any disqualification of defected MLAs takes place.
On June 21, Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced former Governor of Jharkhand Draupadi Murmu as its Presidential candidate for the upcoming elections scheduled for July 18, 2022.
A tribal leader from Odisha, Murmu has held several key positions throughout her illustrious political career, including the post of Jharkhand Governor which she served from 2015 to 2021. Besides being the first woman Governor of Jharkhand, she is the first woman and tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed a governor in an Indian state.
However, as the news of Murmu being nominated as a Presidential candidate made its way, the left-leaning liberals on social media websites appeared stung by the prospect that a leader from the marginalised community is almost on the verge of becoming the President of the country, and made gross insinuations against her candidature. However, behind judgments that might suit one’s own politics, lies the story of a self-made woman, who is all set to occupy the highest position of the republic.
But that did not deter left-wing supporters on social media, especially on Twitter, from making insinuations against the tribal leader in what appeared as nothing but an egregious attempt to undermine her candidature. Some Twitter trolls glossed over her humble beginnings by deriding her as a ‘Sanghi’—a reference often used by the leftists against those who do not conform to their worldview. Below are examples of not just how liberals are suffering a meltdown over the nomination of a tribal woman leader but how low they can plunge to undermine their ideological rivals.
Screengrab of a Tweet from Abhishek Singh
By demeaning Murmu’s RSS roots, an attempt to obfuscate her tribal identity was being carried out. Going further, another Twitter user wrote that it is ‘unfortunate’ that India’s first tribal president is the choice of a ‘conservative’ party. While BJP was merited to give representation to a tribal woman, Murmu was called a ‘puppet of RSS’. The user further wrote that Murmu would do no good for the ‘Adivasi’ community.
Screengrab of a Tweet from Deepika Singh
In this case, it could be seen that Ambedkarites/Periyarites who are perplexed at seeing Murmu as a Presidential candidate cannot target her given her tribal background. However, she is robbed of her agency of having a political ideology independent of the caste identity politics and supporting the Hindu Nationalist BJP. Droupadi Murmu, who worked towards the upliftment of the tribal community in Odisha, also served and led various positions at the BJP’s ST Morcha since 2002. But for the self-proclaimed supporters of Ambedkar and custodians of caste identity politics, she was just a ‘Sanghi’ who deserved their contempt and scorn.
To the left/Congress-oriented political analysts, individual representation of Murmu being selected for President did not matter much. Because as an individual, Murmu has been a longstanding BJP member and has worked for the tribals inside the RSS ecosystem. Hence casting aspersions upon her Presidency, that she would not do much for the community even before she has filed a nomination is a lowly yardstick to hold.
Screengrab of a Tweet from Anurag Minus Verma
While some called the move a ‘token representation’, Congress’ Puducherry handle went further to call Draupadi Murmu a ‘dummy’. It is imperative to ask why did it then take Seventy-five years for a tribal woman to rise to the highest office if the representation of the marginalised was so easy to achieve. To put things in perspective, the BJP-led NDA’s 2017 Presidential candidate was Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit and the 2014 Prime Ministerial candidate was Narendra Modi, an OBC by caste category.
Screengrab of a Tweet from INC Puducherry
This reality of ideal representation for all sections of the society under the Narendra Modi government since 2014, has rattled the lazy leftist notion of the saffron party as a clique of Brahmin-Banias. With the elevation of Droupadi Murmu, not only her political and administerial credentials have been credited, but her humble background of starting from a tribal family in Odisha has also been acknowledged.
Screengrab of a Tweet from Raghav Chopra
Screengrab of a Tweet from Laxman Yadav
Another way, in which Draupadi Murmu’s calibre is being contested is because of her affinity to the RSS. While her tenure is even yet to start off, the scrutiny is over her political affiliations with the BJP, ‘despite’ being a tribal woman. Many individuals on Twitter conflated this with the tenure of APJ Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind.
Droupadi Murmu, a self-made individual with a politics of her own, is reaching the highest office in the country only while being in the BJP for long years. While her identity matches with those who play politics over the SC/STs, her ideology doesn’t. For a woman to be judged over motivated preconceived notions, even before she proves her mettle could only be accounted as misogyny of the worst kind, on the part of commentators.
Meanwhile, the nation gears up to see its first tribal woman becoming not just the President of this republic, but also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu is expected to file her nomination for the Presidential elections on June 24, 2022.
On Wednesday, the SIT investigating the Kanpur violence that erupted on June 3 over the alleged ‘blasphemous’ remarks made by ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, arrested one Mukhtar Baba for funding the violence. Mukhtar Baba is the owner of a restaurant named ‘Baba Biryani’ in Kanpur and is also accused of feeding free food to the rioters as a consideration of violence.
According to the reports, Mukhtar Baba had funded accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi’s Kanpur-based NGO named Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Fans Association. He was on the radar of SIT and Kanpur police since the violence as his name had come up during the interrogation of the already arrested accused in the case.
The Kanpur Police on June 21 nabbed Mukhtar Baba who was absconding since June 3. Joint Police Commissioner Anand Prakash Tiwari confirming Mukhtar Baba’s arrest said that his name had cropped up in crowdfunding. “He is being taken into custody and interrogated”, Tiwari was quoted.
Reports mention that Mukhtar Baba, on the day of violence had also fed the rioters and stone-pelters with Biryani. However, his son Mahmood while talking to Opindia refused to accept the claims. Some of the local leaders meanwhile reported that Baba Biryani is illegally built on land that actually belongs to a temple and that Mukhtar and his accomplices had been plotting violence for a long time to maintain their illegal occupation.
According to the government records, the land on which the restaurant stands today belongs to the Ram-Janki temple. The fact surfaced when the state administration was tracing all the illegal properties owned by the enemies under the Enemy Property Act. Ram Janki Trust property was first gifted by a Pakistani Aabid Rehman to Mukhtar Baba’s mother who by will transferred it to her son. The main temple and 18 other Hindu shops were razed down to establish the present Biryani restaurant.
Till 1980s there used to be regular worship in Ram Jaanki Temple. Reportedly, the Kanpur administration has issued notice to Custodian, Enemy Property for clarification as it is not clear how Ram Jaanki Temple Trust property turned into Enemy Property ostensibly owned by a Pakistani in last 40 years.
Kanpur Violence
Days after BJP Spokeswoman Nupur Sharma received death threats for allegedly committing ‘blasphemy’ against Prophet Muhammad, severe violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district with Islamists giving a call for a shutdown in the area to protest against Sharma. The protest turned violent as hundreds of Islamists joined the protest after the Friday prayers and began pelting stones at the Police and the civilians.
The Police later arrested more than 40 miscreants in the issue and razed down illegal properties owned by prime accused Hayat Zafar Hashmi and his associates. The Police also found incriminating chats from Hashmi’s phone and probed his bank accounts to trace the funds received from the Gulf countries to allegedly back the violence.
