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“Atmosphere of fear was created”: Varanasi judge who ordered survey of Gyanvapi mosque disputed structure says his family is concerned about his safety

OpIndia Staff
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“Atmosphere of fear was created”: Varanasi judge who ordered survey of Gyanvapi mosque disputed structure says his family is concerned about his safety

Ravi Kumar Diwakar, the Civil Judge (Senior Division) of the Varanasi court, said that his family is concerned about his safety due to his ruling ordering the survey of the disputed structure of Gyanvapi mosque. He made these remarks on Thursday 12th May 2022 while ordering the continuation of the survey and videography of the disputed structure in the Gyanvapi mosque premises near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

The Anjuman Intezamiya Masajid Committee had filed a petition opposing the survey inside the mosque, and demanding the removal of the advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra leading the survey team alleging that he is biased. After three days of arguments, the court rejected the plea and ordered that the survey of the premises shall continue. In the order, Civil Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar expressed his own concerns about the safety of his family. The Judge also underlined the anxiety of his family about his safety.

Civil Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar remarked, “An atmosphere of fear was created by making this simple civil case into an extraordinary case. The fear is so much that my family is always concerned about my safety and I am concerned about their safety. Concerns about safety are repeatedly expressed by my wife when I am out of the house.”

He further said, “Yesterday, my mother (in Lucknow) during our conversation also expressed concerns about my safety, and from the news received by the media, she came to know that maybe I am also going to the spot as commissioner and my mother asked me that I should not go on commission on the spot, as it may endanger my safety.”

Varanasi court on Thursday allowed videographic survey of the disputed structure known as ‘Gyanvapi Masjid’ days after the same was halted amid opposition by Muslims. While the team was able to survey the outer façade of the structure, they were not allowed to enter the mosque by Muslims. A large number of Muslims had gathered at the mosque and they had blocked the gates. After that, Varanasi’s Civil Judge (Senior Division) Ravi Kumar Diwakar issued guidelines for the same and added that the survey will now be held and a report to be submitted by May 17. The court also refused to remove advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra in spite of opposition from the Gyanvapi mosque management committee. 

Notably, after stopping the court-directed documentation for the day in Varanasi, a videographer who accompanied the survey team involved in the process had revealed the presence of Hindu motifs including the Swastika, Nandi (bull associated with Shiva), and lotus motifs all over the outer side of the mosque walls.

‘We are the father of your Gods and you bastards don’t allow us to enter the temples?’: Sharad Pawar creates controversy by quoting a poem

OpIndia Staff
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‘We are the father of your Gods and you bastards don’t allow us to enter the temples?’: Sharad Pawar creates controversy by quoting a poem

Nationalist Congress Party’s president Sharad Pawar is in the middle of controversy again. This time he is being criticized for using abusive words while referring to Hindu deities. In a program organized by the Indian Tribal Research and Development Institute at Satara in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar was speaking as one of the guests on 9th May 2022.

In his speech, Sharad Pawar was quoting Jawahar Rathod’s poetry as to how he described his plight of coming from a backward caste. Sharad Pawar said, “We carved the idols and you just kept them inside the temples. And you bastards don’t allow us to enter the temples?”

Sharad Pawar was quoting poet Jawahar Rathod to criticize the priests for allegedly not allowing people from lower castes to enter temples. NCP chief Sharad Pawar further said, “I have to ask you the question that Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh, these Gods we made using our tools like a Chhanni. We are the father of your God because we have made this your God. So Jawahar Rathod has written a poem saying that we will not tolerate the injustice done to us.”

Invoking the reflections of age-old practices of untouchability in the contemporary era, Sharad Pawar went on to indirectly slam the upper castes of the Hindu religion in general. Sharad Pawar is known for particularly targeting Brahmins in Maharashtra. Sometimes he names the community directly. Sometimes he implies through his peculiar words. Sharad Pawar further said, “All I have to say is that this oppression, this tendency to keep people aside is still there in our society. There is a class that does so even today. Under the garb of rituals, traditions, etc. they are injecting the poisonous thoughts of castes and religions in the minds of the people.”

Criticizing Sharad Pawar for this speech, BJP leader Sunil Deodhar tweeted, “NCP chief Sharad Pawar has lost his mental balance & stooped low by abusing believers of Hindu Gods as ‘SAALA’. This failed politician has shown his frustration by saying that I’m ‘BAAP’ of your Gods. He must quit politics before people make him irrelevant.”

Many others on social media are criticizing Sharad Pawar for this statement.

Jammu and Kashmir: Kashmiti Pandit govt employee shot dead by terrorists in Tehsildar’s office in Budgam

OpIndia Staff
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Jammu and Kashmir: Kashmiti Pandit govt employee shot dead by terrorists in Tehsildar’s office in Budgam

In another dastardly incident of targeted killing in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorists have killed a young Kashmiri Pandit named Rahul Bhat at Chadoora in Budgam.

In the incident that took place on May 12, Thursday, two Islamic terrorists fired bullets at Rahul Bhat, who is a clerk in the Tehsildar’s office. Reportedly, the youth was working in his office in the Chadoora area, when the terrorists barged in and opened fire on him at point-blank range. Bhat sustained serious injuries and was rushed to a hospital in Srinagar, where he died a little while later.

The Kashmir Zone Police has tweeted about the incident. They wrote, “#Terrorists fired upon one employee namely Shri Rahul Bhat from #minority community in Tehsildar office Chadoora, #Budgam. He has been shifted to hospital.”

In a subsequent Tweet, the Kashmir police confirmed that two terrorists were involved in the heinous attack who used pistol for the terror act. They also confirmed that Rahul Bhat was immediately brought to SMHS Hospital, Srinagar for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.

Such targeted attacks on Kashmiri Hindus in the Jammu and Kashmir have been on the rise in recent times. On the 14th of last month, terrorists in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir fired upon a civilian named Satish Kumar Singh Rajput.

After the attack, a letter of threat named ‘Letter to kafirs’ had been issued by a terror group named Lashker-E-Islam in the valley. “Leave the valley or face dire consequences”, threatens the letter giving a final warning to Kashmiri Pandits, migrants and ‘RSS agents’. The letter further stated that Kashmiri Hindus will be killed and sent to hell for disobeying their diktat and nobody including PM Modi or Amit Shah will be able to save them.

Similarly, in another case of targeted killing, a Kashmiri Pandit named Bal Krishan was killed on April 4 in Chotigam village, Shopian district. Following the attack, two other Bihar labourers, Patlashwar Kumar and Jakku Choudhary were attacked in Lajoora village, Pulwama district. While no one died, both people were severely hurt.

In October last year, Makhan Lal Bindroo, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit and owner of Srinagar’s most famous pharmacy, was shot dead at his shop.

Two other innocent civilians were also gunned down by terrorists in two different incidents in the city. All three killings were executed in a similar fashion in quick succession. One of the deceased was identified as Virendra Paswan, a native of Bhagalpur district of Bihar who was residing in Alamgari Bazar Zadibal. He was a street vendor by profession who used to sell bhelpuri at the Hawal area of Srinagar.

The third victim was Mohd Shafi Lone, a resident of Naidkhai who was murdered by terrorists in the Shahgund area of Bandipore in North Kashmir. Lone was the president of the local taxi stand.

Singing of national anthem made mandatory for students and teachers in all madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, Madrasa Education Board issues order

OpIndia Staff
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Singing of national anthem made mandatory for students and teachers in all madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, Madrasa Education Board issues order

From Thursday 12th May 2022, singing the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ will be mandatory in all madrassas in Uttar Pradesh. All the teachers and the students of all the madrasas in Uttar Pradesh are directed to sing the national anthem before commencing classes every day. The Registrar of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board, SN Pandey issued an order regarding this on 9th May 2022.

In this order, the register said, “It is to be conveyed about the singing of the national anthem in the morning before the commencement of classes in madrasas, that in the meeting of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board held on 24th March 2022, it was decided that in all the recognized/ aided/ unaided madrasas, from the upcoming academic semester, it will be mandatory for all the students (boys and girls) and teachers to sing the national anthem (starting from ‘Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak Jai He Bharat Bhagya Vidhata’ up to ‘Jai He, Jai He, Jai Jai Jai Jai He’) in a coordinated tone with other prayers before the commencement of classes.”

The order further said, “As you are aware, the annual holiday list announced in madarsas due to the month of Ramadan has holidays from 30.03.2022 to 11.05.2022. Thus, regular classes will start from 12.05.2022. Please take the trouble of ensuring that the above decision of the Board is complied with at the time of commencement of regular classes in each recognized/ aided/ unaided madrasas. You are required to monitor it regularly.”

General Secretary of Teachers’ Association Madaris Arabia, Diwan Sahab Zaman Khan, said that usually Hamd (praises to Allah) and Salam (salutations to Muhammad) are recited at madrassas before the start of classes. While the national anthem was also sung in some madrasas, it was not compulsory. But now it has been made mandatory, he added.

It is notable that singing of national anthem was made mandatory in UP madrasas on 24th March 2022 as the decision was taken in a meeting of the Uttar Pradesh Madrassa Education Board. Several other decisions related to examinations, attendance and recruitment of teachers were also taken by the board in this meeting.

WaPo columnist and donation fraud accused Rana Ayyub dog-whistles using OpIndia report on cattle smugglers, ends up spreading misinformation

OpIndia Staff
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WaPo columnist and donation fraud accused Rana Ayyub dog-whistles using OpIndia report on cattle smugglers, ends up spreading misinformation

The Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub, who has been accused of keeping funds collected for philanthropic work, has taken to Twitter Thursday to dog-whistle about a cow smuggling incident that transpired in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on May 12, using a report published by Opindia earlier in the day. However, in a bid to do so, the controversial journalist landed up peddling fake news.

On May 12, OpIndia reported how three cow smugglers identified as Zeeshan, Saddam and Qasim were apprehended by Ghaziabad Police after a fierce encounter. We reported that the accused were running away after stealing a cow in a Scorpio vehicle. The Police chased them, during which their vehicle collided with a tree. The Police asked them to surrender, but the smugglers opened fire. A constable reportedly got injured. In retaliation, the Police opened fire, and all three cow smugglers were wounded. The cow had been rescued safely.

OpIndia shared the same news report on the microblogging site Twiter on its official handle with the caption “Ghaziabad: Cattle smugglers Zeeshan, Saddam and Qasim shot in police encounter, stolen cow rescued”

Rana Ayyub, the Islamist ‘journalist’ and habitual fake news peddler used the screenshot of the OpIndia Tweet with the caption, “When a right-wing, propaganda website ends up revealing the ugly truth of India”.

As can be seen, OpIndia simply mentioned the word ‘shot’ in its headline not ‘shot dead’. In the report too, we have clearly mentioned in the first paragraph itself that all three cow smugglers were ‘wounded’ in the fierce ‘encounter’ that took place between the police and the accused.

Screengrab from OpIndia’s report published on May 12

Probably, in her haste to malign our website, the WaPo ‘journalist’, without even bothering to open the article, went on to interpret the word ‘shot’ mentioned in the headline as ‘shot dead’.

Many like-minded ‘leftist-liberals’ and Islamists jumped at the chance to play the victim card. In response to Rana Ayyub’s tweet, one Twitter user @TheJadedQueen expressed regret for Indian Muslims, implying that they are the ones who are continually persecuted in today’s India. He Tweeted, Is this just going to be accepted as the norm now… @hrw@amnesty@BorisJohnson@UNHCRUK invariably it’s always Muslim men that are killed over cows… KILLED!?

Image via Twitter

Similarly, one Twitter user @LivedShahid also reacted to Rana Ayyub’s unmindful Tweet by lamenting that Muslims are being persecuted under the pretext of cattle rescue under the Modi regime. Like many of Rana Ayyub’s followers, LiveShahid had assumed that the cattle smugglers have been killed in the encounter which is not true at all.

Image via Twitter

Another Twitter user, @Introvertguy111, noted that authorities were more empathetic to murderers and rapists. He too had assumed that the smugglers were killed by the police.

Image via Twitter

It’s remarkable that none of these social media users bothered to read the OpIndia report before jumping to such a bizarre conclusion. They chose to base their assumptions only on a mindless remark made by the WaPo ‘journalist’, who clearly misinterpreted “shot at in an encounter” as “shot dead”, and ended up propagating fake news.

Also, the bizarre thing is that though the report mentioned that the smugglers had stolen a cow and had shot at police first, injuring a constable on duty, Rana Ayyub used the report and the image of the smugglers lying down to peddle the perpetual ‘Muslim victimhood’ card.

All three smugglers were seen with injuries on their legs, below the knee, clearly indicating that the police, while facing an attack from the criminals, have still been careful not to cause fatal injuries to them.

Maybe Islamists like Ayyub and her supporters believe that criminals should get a free pass to steal someone’s property and shoot at police personnel if they are Muslims. Even so, the Islamists have not bothered to clarify how are the police personnel supposed to check the religion of a speeding group of criminals during a chase.

Rana Ayyub is accused of donation fraud

It may be recalled that Rana Ayyub is the same ‘journalist’ who has been under the scanner for misusing funds, meant for Covid-19 relief work, for personal gains. In February 2022, Enforcement Directorate had attached assets worth Rs 1.77 crore of Ayyub over allegations of violation of provisions of the Money Laundering Act. The ED in its attachment order had said, “Rana Ayyub has cheated the general Public Donors in a pre-planned manner and with the intention to cheat the general public donors”.

The order says that Rana Ayyub’s scam started right from the time she collected the money and started withdrawing it from her savings account of herself and her family members. The ED order further said that a Fixed Deposit amounting to Rs 50 Lakh was booked from her savings bank account through net banking, and opening a separate Current bank account and subsequently, funds were transferred from her savings bank account and the bank account of her sister and father and were not utilize for the purpose for which it was raised by Rana Ayyub.

You can read the details about the allegations of misusing the covid funds collected by Rana here. Ayyub also happens to be a habitual fake news peddler and spreads rampant misinformation to the public, often lying through her teeth.

Financial crisis grips Kerala as the state fails to get loans, Pinarayi Vijayan govt considers deferring salaries of govt employees

OpIndia Staff
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Financial crisis grips Kerala as the state fails to get loans, Pinarayi Vijayan govt considers deferring salaries of govt employees

Kerala, often hailed by the ‘left-liberal’ establishment as the best state in the country, is inching closer to a dire economic crisis that may lead to deferred salaries of government employees, reports Mathrubhumi.

According to the reports, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Communist government in Kerala is facing its worst economic crisis as the state has no funds to provide salaries to its government employees.

Reportedly, Kerala had requested the union government to lend Rs. 4,000 crore to finance their expenditure. However, the union government has not taken a call on whether to lend money to Kerala as the state government is previously accused of ‘miscalculating’ its previous borrowings.

As there are not enough funds, the Kerala government is reportedly considering setting aside almost 10 per cent of salaries for the current month. However, Finance minister KN Balagopal has claimed that such matters relating to deferring salaries are not under consideration at present.

Besides the fund crunch to provide salaries to government employees, the Kerala government is also facing heat from the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) as they protest against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government for failing to provide salaries on time. The KSRTC is in a deep financial crisis, and the trade unions are protesting against the government for the delay in disbursing salary.

The financial situation in Kerala is such that the state government has imposed restrictions on the treasury. The Finance department had issued orders placing restrictions on the treasury from clearing bills over Rs. 25 lakhs.

Union govt has paused funds over miscalculation of its previous borrowings

The union government is delaying the permission to borrow more money considering there are issues in the statements of previous years. The CAG had said that borrowings of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and the Public Service Undertakings should also be accounted for in the government’s balance sheet. But the Kerala government has opposed such a move. The union government has also sought an explanation on the utilisation of the additional loan permitted during the Covid-19 lockdown.

According to the RBI calendar, the state had already made arrangements for borrowing Rs 1,000 crore on April 19, Rs 2,000 crore on May 2 and another Rs 1,000 crore on May 10. However, the union government’s permission was delayed.

As per the Union Finance Ministry, Kerala is eligible to borrow up to Rs 32,425 crore. Usually, this is permitted at the beginning of the financial year itself, in instalments through bonds issued by the Reserve Bank of India and additional loans from banks.

Allahabad High Court rejects petition seeking to open the ‘closed rooms’ of the Taj Mahal, says matter should be left to historians

OpIndia Staff
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Allahabad High Court rejects petition seeking to open the ‘closed rooms’ of the Taj Mahal, says matter should be left to historians

On Thursday 12th May 2022, the Allahabad High Court rejected the plea seeking the formation of a fact-finding committee to research the real history of the Taj Mahal. The petitioner sought directions from the court to open the 22 closed rooms of the Taj Mahal and register the observations to put the controversy around the Taj Mahal to rest.

The division bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi maintained that the prayers of the petitioner are non-justiciable and that this matter should be left to the historians. The court asked the petitioner, “You hold that the structure (Taj Mahal) was not made by Shah Jahan? Are we here to pronounce any verdict? Please don’t take us to the historical facts which you believe.”

Dr. Rajneesh Singh, the media cell chief of the Ayodhya district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party had filed the petition through his counsel advocate Rudra Vikram Singh. In this petition, he had said that the Taj Mahal is an old Shiva Temple which was known as ‘Tejo Mahalaya’.

The court said, “Such debates are meant for drawing room, not for a court of law”. Responding to this, the petitioner submitted, “I make it clear that my main concern is about the closed rooms and we all should know what’s there behind those rooms. Please allow me to go to those rooms and do the research.”

The bench questioned the petitioner, “Tomorrow you’ll come and ask us to go to the chambers of Hon’ble judges of this court?” The bench further said that the petitioner’s request was denied by the authorities due to security reasons and if the petitioner is aggrieved, he should challenge the orders. The petitioner had quoted that he has the right to get information about the Taj Mahal and its locked parts, so there should be a fact-finding committee to study these things. The bench asked, “Where is this right? To get a study conducted?”

UP govt opposed the petition in court

The government of Uttar Pradesh opposed this petition in court. It said that it has a preliminary objection over the territorial jurisdiction of this matter. The government of Uttar Pradesh informed the court that there is already a matter pending before the Agra court in this matter. The bench told the petitioner’s counsel that the court is not convinced by their prayers. The court also asked the petitioner’s counsel if the Ancient Monuments Act 1951 has made any clear declaration that the Taj Mahal was built by Mughals which is challenged by the petitioner in his plea.

The court concluded by saying, “We are of the opinion that the petitioner has called upon us to give a verdict on completely a non-justiciable issue. The issues lie outside the court and should be done by various methodologies and should be left with the historians. It is not for the Court to direct what subject needs to be researched or studied. We are not able to entertain such a petition.”

Shaheen Bagh woman calls Republic TV journalist ‘digital tawaif’: How Liberals celebrate abuse of journalists they don’t agree with

OpIndia Staff
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Shaheen Bagh woman calls Republic TV journalist ‘digital tawaif’: How Liberals celebrate abuse of journalists they don’t agree with

A video is being circulated on social media in which a Shaheen Bagh protester was hackling Republic Bharat’s journalist and called her “Digital Tawaif” (Digital Prostitute). The video was published by YouTube-based news channel The Nation Voice on May 9. In the video, the infamous Shaheen Bagh protester Aiman Rizvi could be seen hackling the female journalist from Republic Bharat. Rizvi is the same woman who had urged Muslims to pray for Home Minister Amit Shah’s death when he had contracted Covid-19 in August 2020.

In the video, the journalist kept requesting Rizvi to leave her alone, but Rizvi kept on staying close to her and abused her. Rizvi said, “The Bulldozer comes here and goes back without taking any action. These Digital Tawaifs of godi media keep waiting to show historic win.”

In another video by the same channel, the female journalist was circled by angry men who came really close to her while verbally abusing her. She kept requesting them to maintain a distance, but the man who was trying to hackle her did not budge. The people standing there kept watching, but no one tried to save her from the abusers. In a statement to Bharat News 91, the man said, “You are saying that you are a woman, and we are trying to create a scene by hackling a woman. If you want to play the woman card, why are you here? Why, being a woman, you came here?”

He further added other women journalists were not being abused by anyone. He said, “These people from Republic have a problem with Muslims. She could not show anything wrong here, which is why she was trying to create a scene.

Liberals celebrate hackling of a female journalist

Liberals seem to be enjoying hackling of a female journalist just because they do not agree with them. Twitter use Natiq Haque wrote, “This woman of Shaheen Bagh drove Bulldozer on the upright anchor of godi media. These people from Republic Bharat have become bells. Wherever they go, people start to ring them.”

Twitter user Naim Chouhan wrote, “Shaheen Bagh showing their worth to godi media.”

In another video shared by Asrar Ahmad, the Twitter user mocked the Republic Bharat journalist for falling down.

Who is Aiman Rizvi?

Aiman Rizvi is a controversial YouTuber and Muslim influencer who often make derogatory videos on Hindus and target BJP leaders, including PM Modi, HM Shah, CM Yogi and others. In August 2020, she wished and urged Muslims to wish for HM Shah’s death when he contracted Covid. She called Covid a conspiracy as no BJP leader had died of the disease. She also called CM Yogi a ‘terrorist’ and claimed that the coronavirus is created as a hype so that they can hide the fact that crores of Muslims are beaten, jailed and killed on Bakri Eid.

‘I did not run away with 8 crore rupees’: Former Congress social media chief Divya Spandana says the story was ‘planted’ in media

OpIndia Staff
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‘I did not run away with 8 crore rupees’: Former Congress social media chief Divya Spandana says the story was ‘planted’ in media

After remaining out of the spotlight for a while, ex-Congress IT cell chief and former MP, Divya Spandana ‘Ramya’ has taken to Twitter to launch a scathing attack on her former colleagues. She has accused them of using media to malign her reputation.

In a Tweet posted on May 12, Thursday, the Kannada actor alleged that fake news has been planted in the media after she quit the party in an attempt to destroy her credibility. She stated that she didn’t run away and regretted remaining silent all this time.

“After I quit, ‘she duped the congress of 8 crores & ran away’ was planted in the news esp Kannada channels in an attempt to destroy my credibility. I didn’t run away. I resigned for personal reasons. I certainly did not dupe the party of 8 crores. My mistake was staying silent,” wrote Divya Spandana.

The former Congress loyalist requested Congress leader KC Venugopal to clear her name in the media regarding reports which said that she had duped the Congress of Rs. 8 crores when she quit the national party.

Divya Spandana’s Tweet was probably in response to 2019 media reports that claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s “most-trusted aide Praveen Chakravarty and Divya Spandana went incommunicado since the day of the general election results after allegedly charging huge sums of money in the name of research.”

The 2019 Times Now report

The Times Now report had further claimed that the Divya Spandana is “said to have received Rs 8 crore for her research and social media drive during the electioneering phase. She is not just missing from the scene but she has also deleted both her Twitter and Instagram accounts.”

‘These opportunists have only backstabbed & tried to suppress me’: Ramya on her ex-party colleagues

In response to her previous Tweet, she further wrote, “If there’s anyone who gave me opportunities & stood by me it’s @RahulGandhi anyone else claiming to have ‘given’ me opportunities is an opportunist. These opportunists have only backstabbed & tried to suppress me. Everything you see on tv is a farce to conceal their devious mind.”

Notably, on Wednesday, the ex-Congress IT cell chief had also alleged that the Congress instructed its workers to troll her on social media for a remark she’d made against Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar earlier in the day.

Taking to Twitter, Ramya alleged that the Congress “circulated” messages amongst its leaders and volunteers to get her trolled.

“So the ‘office’ has circulated these messages among the congress leaders & volunteers asking them troll me. Save yourself the trouble — I’ll do it myself”, Ramya wrote. She attached screenshots of several messages in English and Kannada that were purportedly disseminated to troll her. She also tagged Shivakumar and Congress’ Srivatsa YB, who is currently a member of Rahul Gandhi’s team and was previously the Karnataka Congress’ social media chief, in her Tweet thread.

Earlier in the day, Ramya chastised the Karnataka Pradesh Congress (KPCC) chief, DK Shivakumar for a statement he made on Tuesday against Karnataka’s Higher Education Minister and BJP leader Ashwathnarayan CN alleging that the minister met with Congress leader MB Patil to “seek protection” from being questioned on public platforms in the PSI recruitment scam.

Divya Spandana, the ex-Congress IT cell head and her stint in Congress

Divya Spandana, better known by her moniker, Ramya, also a well-known actor in Kannada and Tamil film industry had taken over as the social media head of the Congress party in the year 2017. During her stint as the party’s social media head, many Congress enthusiast journalists wrote accolades calling her a vintage politician and credited her with singlehandedly reviving Congress’ social media presence.

In 2019, following Congress’ humiliating defeat in the 2019 general elections, Spandana had deleted her Twitter and Instagram accounts citing a “break from politics.” She even ceased speaking with party leaders. She nearly vanished from public view after the Congress announced that none of its leaders would participate in television discussions after a row over her Tweet congratulating Nirmala Sitharaman. She was afterwards fired from her position, as per reports.

During her tenure as the Congress social media head, Congress’ Twitter handle saw a series of slip-ups over the time, which made them the butt of all jokes on Twitter. Besides, like her innumerable other party members, Divya Spandana had often indulged in sharing fake news to malign the BJP government at the centre.

In 2019, Spandana was caught sharing a digitally edited image of German dictator Hitler ‘posing’ like he is pulling a child’s ears to compare him with Prime Minister Modi.

In fact, Congress’s social media team when headed by Divya Spandana use to regularly use morphed images. In the same year, Congress posted a shocking image which mocked the victims of the Pulwama terror attacks and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with a single digitally edited image. This faux pas of Divya followed by various other misadventures had sparked speculation that Spandana was on her way out as Congress IT cell head.

In 2018, Congress IT cell head, Divya Spandana’s name had been cropped up in a charge sheet that was filed in the Congress sexual harassment case, in which a former party worker had accused the right-hand man of social media chief Divya Spandana of molestation at the workplace. She had also alleged that Spandana had not taken any action, but instead had “mentally harassed” her.

China devising new ways to harass and intimidate foreign journalists, says a report by Committee to Protect Journalists

OpIndia Staff
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China devising new ways to harass and intimidate foreign journalists, says a report by Committee to Protect Journalists

The Chinese government is finding new ways to intimidate and bully foreign correspondents, their counterparts in China and their sources by accusing them of “spreading rumours” and “smearing” China, reports Committee to Protect Journalists.

In a report, the CPJ has highlighted how foreign correspondents are usually harassed in China by the Communist Party regime claiming that they spread rumours against China. The CPJ recounts how international journalists were intimidated by the Chinese locals on the instructions of a lower-level organisation of the Communist Party of China.

The report cited the harassment meted out to several international media outlets by citizens on the streets of Zhengzhou for covering severe flooding in the Chinese city in July 2021. The CPJ report suggests that the Henan Communist Youth League, a lower-level official organisation of the CPC, had propped up several citizens to harass journalists on the streets of China for reporting about floods.

Several Chinese nationals had taken to the social media platform Weibo then to post angry posts criticising the BBC’s China Correspondent Robin Brant for questioning government policies after a dozen people died in a train carriage amid the flooding. Over the last few months, many have also received such messages on social media and intimidating calls, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. 

Instead of condemning such attacks on foreign journalists, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had accused Brant of “distorting the real situation of the Chinese government’s efforts to organise rescues and local people’s courage to save themselves, and insinuating attacks on the Chinese government, full of ideological prejudice against and double standards.”

The threats to foreign correspondents covering last year’s flood are just one example of how tough it is for foreign journalists to report from China. The intimidation, trolling, and physical attacks on journalists have been the latest tool in the Chinese playbook.

China jailed the most number of journalists in the world

According to CPJ’s annual prison census, China has detained the most number of journalists globally. According to the report, there are 274 journalists lodged in prisons across the globe this year as compared to 272 journalists imprisoned in 2016.

China has a history of censoring not just the country’s domestic media space, thanks to state-supervised content delivery, but also the global media by way of harassment and intimidation of foreign correspondents working in the country. However, it is often difficult for China to force the foreign media to toe the establishment’s line. Hence, the Chinese government resorts to intimidation and scare tactics to bully them.

As China is more sensitive to its international image, especially after its grave mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are not taking any risks anymore. The Chinese government are now expelling journalists and sometimes refusing to recognise reporters.

“Going after foreign journalists is part of a broad strategy to control all information, including online voices, which has indeed become more challenging for them on all fronts as the methods of communication increase and diversify,” said Beach, who added that it is also part of their strategy to proactively rewrite the global narrative about China, especially with the COVID story.

As part of their latest new tactic, the Chinese-state run news organisations and tabloids, as well as popular anonymous social media users on Weibo, often leak the identities of foreign journalists who “smear and attack China”, calling their coverage “biased” or “dishonest”.

Media outlets cannot publish reports not approved by the Communist party

According to a CPJ report published last year, the Chinese government had imposed restrictions on free speech and the freedom of media outlets to publish reports not approved by the Communist party. The situation is said to have worsened under the Jinping regime as, in 2016, he had directed the state-owned media outlets to have the party name as their family name.

The CPJ attributed the deteriorated situation of journalists in China working with foreign news outlets to the growing hostility in the relations between China with other major countries. In August this year, an Australian news anchor Cheng Lei was detained in China on suspicion of endangering national security. A journalist, Haze Fan, who was working for Bloomberg in Beijing, was detained last week on similar charges. Chinese officials had declared the case an internal affair of China.

Similarly, when NPR’s Beijing correspondent Emily Feng went to Liuzhou in the Guanxi autonomous region in southern China to report about the Chinese delicacy “luosifen” or snail noodles, she was stopped from writing on what was supposed to be a ‘fun’ story. After the story was published, Feng had to face online harassment as she was called “anti-China foreign citizen of Chinese descent” on Weibo.

In December 2021, the Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times described Chinese-born New York Times visual investigative reporter Muyi Xiao as an example of a journalist who uses Western media to “ambush their comrades and motherland from behind.”  

The article attacked Xiao’s work and accused the organisation associated with her of “anti-China” NGOs, accusing Xiao of “lying to her heart” or acting with the ‘zeal of a convert” in her affiliation with them. 

Again, in March 2021, the BBC’s Beijing correspondent John Sudworth had t. leave China, where he had been based for nine years, due to the surveillance, obstruction, intimidation, and threats of legal action against him and his team. Sudworth became a target of online propaganda campaigns for reporting on the origins of Covid-19, Xinjiang’s re-education camps, and forced labour in Xinjiang’s cotton industry. 

During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, foreign journalists faced further harassment as Washington Post China bureau chief Lily Kuo received severe blowback on Twitter over her story on China’s promotion of previously-mocked mascot Bing Dwen Dwen. The trolling was such to the extent that she was forced to make her tweets temporarily private.

“These kinds of nationalistic attacks against people seen as criticising China have happened for years, against journalists, human rights activists, and others, in different ways,” said Sophie Beach, operations and communications manager at the China Digital Times, a US-based media organisation that archives and translates content censored on China’s internet.

During the inaugural session of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, a Chinese official had also assaulted a Dutch reporter Sjoerd den Daas. Daas, a journalist for the Dutch newspaper NOS Nieuws, was doing live coverage for the Winter Games on Friday when a Chinese security guard moved in front of the camera and began to push him away.

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