On 11th May 2022, in a Modi Story, Home Minister Amit Shah was seen describing the sensitive and caring nature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The video went viral on social media as it was shared by Twitter handle of Modi Story which is now well known for sharing people’s memories with the Prime Minister. Among many such stories, the story shared by Amit Shah in one of his speeches is reaching many people as it unfolds an unseen side of Narendra Modi’s personality.
In a Twitter post, the Twitter account of Modi Story says, “Ever heard of a Prime Minister interrupting an important meeting to cater to the needs of a hungry bird! Union Minister Amit Shah recalls a Modi Story, which is untold unheard of, highlighting Modi’s concern for each and every being.”
Ever heard of a Prime Minister interrupting an important meeting to cater to the needs of a hungry bird!
Union Minister @AmitShah recalls a #ModiStory which is untold unheard of, highlighting Modi’s concern for each and every being.
In this video, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Sensitivity and concern for smallest and inconsequential persons is a peculiarity of Narendra Modi’s nature. About the Prime Minister of the nation, I would like to present a small example. An important meeting was in progress. I was the party president at that time. The meeting was going on in Modi Ji’s office. A peacock appeared and it started striking its beak against the glass wall. This went on for 2-3 minutes. Modi Ji then rang the bell. He called someone from the staff and told him, that this peacock has not been fed today. Please give it some food. It seems hungry. The Prime Minister of India is concerned about this during such an important meeting, and this shows how sensitive he is as a person.”
‘Modi Story’ was launched by Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni, Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter, to gather inspiring moments from PM Modi’s life. The initiative aims at bringing forth Narendra Modi’s remarkable life narrative through the eyes of individuals who have got a glimpse of his life.
According to the website modistory.in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been at the root of the making of New India. He has inspired the common Indians to come together, aspire for greatness and carry in the spirit of ‘we the people’. “There are many people, from far and near, who have caught a glimpse into Modi’s life, his intent, integrity, and intensity. They came away inspired, keen to infuse the same ‘can do’ spirit in everyone. Modi Story’ is about such voices”, the website reads.
It adds that the initiative is about raising the collective voices and telling people’s contributions to the making of a New India. “If one Modi can give the country new momentum, imagine a nation with thousands of such inspired individuals”, the website said further inviting stories from individuals in written, video, or audio format.
Renowned Bengali writer Ratna Rashid Banerjee has returned a prestigious award to the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy in protest against the institution’s decision to honour West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with a literary award.
“As a writer, I feel humiliated by the move of conferring the literary award to CM. It will set a bad precedent. Statement of Academy, praising relentless efforts of CM in field of literature is a mockery of truth”, she said on returning her award by the Paschimbanga Bangla Academy on May 10.
WB| As a writer I feel humiliated by the move of conferring literary award to CM. It will set a bad precedent. Statement of Academy, praising relentless efforts of CM in field of literature is mockery of truth: Author Ratna Rashid Banerjee on returning her award by Bangla Academy pic.twitter.com/E8MTdvvkXL
She wrote to the institution on Tuesday and mentioned that by honouring WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Academy has not only set a condemnable example but has also insulted all people who are dedicated to Bengali literature. The writer was awarded the Annada Shankar Ray Memorial Award in 2019, the memento of which she will now send back to the Academy’s office.
Reportedly, Anadiranjan Biswas, a member of the general counsel of the Sahitya Akademi also resigned from the national institution’s Bengali advisory board after Paschimbanga Bangla Academy decided to laud CM Mamata Banerjee with a literary award. “Sheer insult has been caused to Bengali poetry in Kolkata. Earlier also, it has been observed by me that whims, caprices, nepotism, and ‘pick and choose’ theory are ruling the contemporary Bengali literature in Kolkata,” Biswas said on May 10.
On May 9, on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore’s 161st birth anniversary, the Bangla Academy honored the chief minister with a special award for her relentless contribution to Bengali literature. At the ceremony, the education minister and Bangla Academy chairperson Bratya Basu said that a host of leading litterateurs had chosen Mamata for the inaugural award.
“The award the chief minister received will be given away once in three years to people from the non-literary world who have made a significant contribution to literature”, Basu said at the even accepting the award on behalf of CM.
Ratna Banerjee is a retired official of the state education department and has penned several books on various genres ranging from poems and novels to folklore. Her works on traditional songs sung during marriage ceremonies of Bengali Muslims and those on Bengal’s culture are widely recognized. She has written more than 110 books that are displayed every year at the stall at the Kolkata International Book Fair.
On Sunday, a couple in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar moved court against their son and a daughter-in-law and accused them of harassing them domestically and mentally. They have demanded either a grandchild or compensation of Rs 5 crore from their son and daughter-in-law.
According to the reports, the couple named Sanjeev Prasad and Sadhana Prasad got their son Shrey Sagar married to Shubhangi in the year 2016. They sent them to Thailand for their honeymoon but were mentally harassed every time they asked for a grandchild. “They were wedded in 2016 in hopes of having grandchildren. We didn’t care about gender, just wanted a grandchild”, said father Sanjeev Prasad.
I gave my son all my money, got him trained in America. I don’t have any money now. We have taken a loan from bank to build home. We’re troubled financially& personally. We have demanded Rs 2.5 cr each from both my son & daughter-in-law in our petition: SR Prasad, Father pic.twitter.com/MeKMlBSFk1
He also said that it had been six years since his son’s marriage and that the duo (his son and daughter-in-law) were deliberately keeping them away from the pleasure of having a grandchild. Meanwhile, mother Sadhana Prasad added that Shrey Sagar is their only son and that she had fulfilled all his demands since his childhood.
“We did everything for our child. We raised him in the best possible manner. We spent Rs 35 lakhs and sent him to the USA for his pilot training course, and spent extra Rs 20 lakhs for his posh lifestyle. Also, we bought an Audi car for him and his wife. The car cost us a loan worth Rs 65 lakhs. We got him married in the year 2016 so that he could continue our family name. But it’s six years and they are not fulfilling our wish”, she added.
She accused her daughter-in-law of mentally harassing her for asking for a grandchild. “We are troubled financially and personally. We have taken a loan to build house. We have demanded Rs 2.5 cr each from both my son and daughter-in-law in our petition”, the father added.
Advocate AK Shrivastava stated that the case portrays the truth of society. “We invest in our children, make them capable of working in good firms. Children owe their parents basic financial care. The parents have demanded either a grandchild within a year or compensation of Rs 5 crores”, he confirmed.
This case portrays the truth of society. We invest in our children, make them capable of working in good firms. Children owe their parents basic financial care. The parents have demanded either a grandchild within a year or compensation of Rs 5 crores: Advocate AK Srivastava pic.twitter.com/uH04Q8jEua
A suit has been filed in the court against Shrey Sagar and Shubhangi under the relevant sections of domestic violence. The third ACJ SD court has issued a summons and has sought a report from the local officers by May 17.
As the Russia-Ukraine war rages and a lot of discussions, blaming and shaming goes on around the word ‘Nazis’, a story of deceit and cunning lies buried. The history of World War II is a testimony of how one ideology, sold with high doses of ultra-nationalistic, racist opium, caused one of the largest genocides of history. The Nazis were defeated, and stripped from power by the collective forces of the Western world, but did the ideology really die?
While the USA has made a lot of movies and written a lot of stories on how it defeated Nazism and rescued the world from the evil called Hitler, in reality, their actions after the war were a little less glorious. After defeating the Nazis in Germany, the USA went to great lengths to bring some of the most prominent Nazis home and spent a considerable amount of money and efforts to rehabilitate them, because they wanted the Nazis’ weapons and their skills. The secret US government operation that carried out this task was named ‘Operation Paperclip’.
American journalist Annie Jacobsen in her book ‘Operation Paperclip’ has mentioned that not one or two, not 10 or 12, but as many as 1600 of Hitler’s best scientific and technological minds were brought to the USA under the secret program.
When and how ‘Operation Paperclip’ began
Operation Paperclip began in the last days of WWII, around May 1945. The scientists hired by the USA were not just mere token Nazis who just took orders to protect their work and earn their livelihoods. Many of them were from Hitler’s close circles, dedicated members of the Nazi party, and some even belonged to the ultraviolent factions within the party. Many of them even had faced trials for their crimes, but eventually were smuggled to the USA and had their records wiped clean, so they could continue their work of weapons development for the US government.
When the Allies started combing the European countryside looking for caches of German weapons, they were shocked to see the level of sophistication and advancements made by the Nazi scientists in developing weapons of mass destruction, chemical warfare, bioweapons, and military technology, Jacobsen writes. There were caches of nerve agents, bioweapons like bubonic plage and a range of other technologies that the ambitious powers, starving to dominate the world, just could not leave behind. What followed was a competition between the USA and the Soviets to grab those weapons and tech.
Dr Eugen Haagen, one of the most notable names in the fields of biological science and vaccines at those times, had reportedly worked in close coordination with Hitler’s Reich Research Council led by Herman Goring, at the University of Strasbourg. There, they tested pathogens on healthy prisoners captured and sent by the Nazis. Haagen was ‘missed’ by the US government because he had chosen to work with the Soviets after the war. But two of Haagen’s team members, Dr Kurt Blome, the Deputy Surgeon General of the Third Reich, and Surgeon General Walter Schreiber were immediately sought by US officials and eventually brought to work in the USA, Annie’s book narrates.
Kurt Blome had admitted to running horrific medical experiments on healthy prisoners. Reports indicate that his area of expertise included ‘inducing’ cancer in healthy individuals through viruses, and infecting prisoners with diseases like Typhus. The US government sent germ warfare specialists from Camp Detrick, Maryland, to interview Blome. He worked for the US government for years, on programs that are ‘classified’.
Dr Kurt Blome, image via Wikimedia
Schreiber, though taken by the Soviets at first, was soon tracked down by the CIA and was brought to work in Texas. However, the bad publicity around his horrific war crimes was so great that he was eventually sent to Argentina.
V-2 rocket and space tech, brought by Nazis who deserved the death sentence
The V-2 rocket was considered the most advanced weapon of its category at that time. The 46-feet long rocket could carry up to 2000 pounds of explosives and was capable of travelling at speeds 5 times the speed of sound, unprecedented in the 1940s. No Allied weapon was able to match it and Europe was praying that it never falls on one of their cities.
The lead scientist of the German rocket program was Major General Walter Dornberger, a close associate of Himmler. The physicist who oversaw the V-2 rocket development was Wernher Von Braun. Dornberger was notorious for using slaves in his workshops and fields and had reportedly worked hundreds of slaves to death. The V-2 rockets caused thousands of deaths in England. Eventually, Walter Dornberger was arrested by the British forces and was tried for war crimes. However, Wernher Von Braun had been taken to the USA and he had specifically asked for Dornberger. So the USA brought Dornberger too, who soon started making V-2 missiles for the Americans.
Dornberger later worked for years at the Research and Development wing of Bell Aircraft Corporation. He helped the USA by developing the world’s first surface to air nuclear missile and even the space shuttle. The war criminal, who had starved thousands to death in labour camp lived a very successful and privileged life to a ripe old age.
Wernher Von Braun, who had also starved and overworked tens of thousands of slaves in labour camps, and was a decorated, celebrated star of the inner circle Nazis, eventually went on to develop ballistic missiles and space satellites for the USA. He was made the director of the Marshall Space Flight Centre and played a crucial role in developing the Saturn V rockets. He was given the National Medal of Science in 1975.
Some other prominent Nazi war criminals that the USA made its own
Some of the other prominent names in Operation Paperclip were Reinhard Gehlen, one of Hitler’s chief intelligence officers who oversaw the brutal torture and interrogation of prisoners, and was recruited by the USA for the information he had on the Soviets. He was reportedly paid millions of dollars under a 1949 contract by the CIA and helped create a network that eventually smuggled over 5000 Nazis away from facing trial and jail time in Germany.
Otto Ambros, a chemist who was tried at Nuremberg, was granted clemency with USA’s help and was brought to work in the USA in the US military’s chemical Corps. Theodor Benzinger, Siegfried Knemeyer, Kurt Debus, Hubertus Strughold are some of the other prominent names.
The JIOA and Pentagon
When the Allied forces began to find a large number of Nazi scientists, the US government put up the JIOA (Joint Intelligence Objective Agency) at a specialised office in the Pentagon. The JIOA carried out the recruitment of the Nazi scientists and their placement in various programs under the US military and CIA. For some ‘top level’ scientists who were too close to Hitler, the US government created special operations for them to work in US facilities in occupied Germany.
US President Truman had in September 1946 officially approved Operation Paperclip, in secret, and had expanded it to include over 1000 Nazi scientists. Later reports and documents have revealed that over 1600 Nazi scientists were brought in, their crimes were whitewashed and they were given a new life to work for the US government.
The allies had held the Nazi scientists at two luxurious locations, the first was the Palace Hotel in Luxembourg that was named ‘Ashcan’, and the second facility was the Crane Mountain Castle in Hesse, Germany, codenamed ‘dustbin’.
In later years, as the media started breaking the reports of the US government helping the Nazis through Paperclip, to avoid public condemnation, the USA initiated investigations against many Paperclip scientists over their links to the Nazi party and war crimes. However, not a single scientist was ever found guilty. Only one scientist, Georg Rickhey, had to face a formal trial and he too, was acquitted.
In the initial days, after the first Nuremberg executions, when some media reports highlighted the US efforts to bring home Nazis, the US government had even run a propaganda program, telling the public that ‘these silver-haired men with American jackets’ were not members of the Nazi party but good men with families who can bring prosperity to the USA.
The Soviet version of Paperclip
Soviet Russia and the USA were engaged in a fierce competition since the WWII days that would eventually be called the Cold War. While the Allied forces hunted in areas of Europe under German control, the Soviets had their own version of Operation Paperclip going on. As per reports, Operation Osoaviakhim is said to have siphoned off over 6000 German scientists and their family members from the Soviet-controlled areas of Germany to employment and rehabilitation in the Soviet Union.
Conclusion
While the term Nazi has been vilified and hated for understandable reasons, powerful nations looking to advance their ambitions of global dominance had not shied away from benefitting from the Nazi ideology and its products. The sheer number of Nazi collaborators taken away and the amount of efforts, money and politics invested to whitewash their crimes shows how the lofty ideals of justice preached by the West are just hollow gimmicks employed to hide their ruthless endeavours to dominate the world.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole has accused its coalition partner NCP of “backstabbing” by siding with BJP in the Bhandara Zilla Panchayat elections.
Taking to Twitter, Nana Patole tweeted in Marathi saying, ‘After extending a hand of friendship, NCP is backstabbing us. They are constantly working against us. We will definitely ask them about it.’
मैत्रीचा हात पुढे करून राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस ही भारतीय राष्ट्रीय काँग्रेस पक्षाच्या पाठीत सुरा खुपसण्याचे काम करीत आहे. आमच्या विरोधात त्यांच्या कुरघोड्या सातत्याने सुरू आहेत. याचा जाब आम्ही त्यांना नक्कीच विचारू!#Gondia#Bhandara#Congress#Election#ZillaParishadElections
In 2-2.5 yrs, NCP took away some of our party members. It forged alliance with BJP for Gondia Zilla Parishad. If we want an enemy, we want someone who is openly an enemy. If they backstab while being beside us, they will be asked questions: Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole pic.twitter.com/hcSsxux072
Speaking to the media, Maharashtra Congress Chief lashed out at Sharad Pawar’s NCP, saying that in the last 2-2.5 yrs, NCP took away some of the party members and forged an alliance with BJP for Gondia Zilla Parishad.
“If we want an enemy, we want someone who is openly an enemy. If they backstab while being beside us, they will be asked questions,”
Patole’s comments have come in response after NCP and BJP had joined hands to defeat Congress’ candidate for ZP president and vice president.
However, the Congress party managed to win the Bhandara ZP president post after Patole secured the support of a rebel BJP faction. Congress party got the support from BJP leader Charan Waghmare’s faction.
After the disputed structure of the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, there is also a demand for a survey of the Taj Mahal. Several organisations are of the view that the 20 closed rooms of the Taj Mahal should be opened, claiming that they contain idols of Hindu gods and goddesses. A petition has also been filed in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in this regard. Meanwhile, PDP Chairman and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti gave a big challenge to the BJP over the Taj Mahal.
Mehbooba Mufti said, if they have the courage, then convert the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort into the temple, then see how many people will come to India to see them. She said, “It is unfortunate that the BJP is not able to provide jobs to the people. It is not able to control inflation. The country’s assets are being sold. Today, our country is lagging behind Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. But these people don’t care about it.”
अगर इनमें दम है तो ताजमहल, लाल किले को मंदिर बनाकर दिखाएं फिर देखते हैं कि कितने लोग इस देश को देखने के लिए यहां आएंगे: PDP प्रमुख महबूबा मुफ्ती
Mehbooba Mufti further said, “The things that have remained during the time of the Mughals, such as the Taj Mahal, the mosques, the forts, etc. They want to spoil them. They are after these buildings. It is futile. So, for distraction, people are being sent behind Muslims. It includes mosques, the Taj Mahal & others. Instead of getting back money from the people who escaped the country after looting it, they want to contort the properties built during the Mughal era.”
So, for distraction, people are being sent behind Muslims. It includes mosques, the Taj Mahal & others. Instead of getting back money from the people who escaped the country after looting it, they want to contort the properties built during Mughal era: Mehbooba Mufti pic.twitter.com/22oFhkGUg3
The Hanuman Chalisa was recited by members of some Hindu organizations near the historic building Qutub Minar in Delhi on Tuesday 10th May 2022. During this time, Hindu organizations protested and demanded that the Qutub Minar be renamed Vishnu Stambha. The ‘United Hindu Front’ has appealed to rename the Qutub Minar Vishnu Stambha. The United Hindu Front said that the Qutub Minar is actually the Vishnu pillar. The minaret was constructed by demolishing 27 Jain and Hindu temples.
This is not the first time that Mehbooba Mufti has made such statements. Attacking the central government is her usual practice. Besides, on many occasions, she also makes controversial statements. A few days ago, she had said that it was necessary to talk to Pakistan to establish peace in Kashmir. She even said that nothing is going to happen by increasing the army deployment in the Kashmir Valley.
Mehboob Mufti also gave controversial remarks on article 370
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had threatened at the time of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that if anyone removes article 370 of the Constitution, Jammu and Kashmir will be separated from India. Mehbooba Mufti had also threatened that whoever tries to remove article 370 and 35-A, his hands will be chopped off.
On Wednesday, Shireen Abu Akleh (51), a senior journalist at Al Jazeera, was shot dead amid gunfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank. She was reporting on a raid in the city of Jenin, which has seen intensified army raids in recent weeks.
The death, however, prompted the Palestinian National Authority (PA) and Al Jazeera Media Network with a fresh set of munitions to attack Israel, which has demonstrated little tolerance for armed attacks carried out by Palestinian terrorists and has been quick in mounting military operations to neutralise the threats.
Al Jazeera claims Israeli army “assassinated” Shireen Abu Akleh
The Al Jazeera Media Network condemned the incident and said in a statement that the killing of the journalist was a violation of the international laws and norms. Calling Abu Akleh’s death a heinous crime, the Qatar-based news organisation said, “We hold the Israeli government and the occupation forces responsible for the killing of the late colleague Shireen”. The statement also called on the international community to hold the Israeli occupation forces accountable for their ‘intentional targeting and killing’ of Abu Akleh.
´Wake up Shireen’. Thé moment Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was pronounced dead after being shot by Israel forces while reporting in Jenin, thé occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/YxRI5Ga60p
Akleh on May 11 was accompanied by Shatha Hanaysha, a reporter who was travelling in the same vehicle as Abu Akleh. Hanaysha said that the journalists at the scene were being pinned down by the snipers.
“They were deliberately targeting the journalists as we were trying to film the army raid. If they were not really willing to kill some of us, they could have started shooting before our arrival in this narrow area. I see this as a clear assassination of journalists”, she said. However, she did not elaborate on how she arrived at the conclusion that the snipers were from Israeli forces and were ordered to take journalists down.
She also added that Shireen was intentionally killed as she was shot in the face, an area of her body that was not protected. Ali al-Samoudi, the Al Jazeera journalist who was similarly injured while covering an Israeli army operation, claimed that Israeli forces deliberately targeted the journalists. “We were going to film the Israeli army raid, and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave or stop filming,” he said while implying that violence in volatile regions is often preceded by an advance warning.
Journalists pouring over the death of Shireen Abu Akleh (Image source- Middleeasteye.net)
The Palestine Journalists Syndicate also propped up its efforts to target the Israeli forces. It alleged that the Israeli forces were fully responsible for the crime and stated that Shireen Abu Akleh’s death was a clear assassination perpetrated by the Israeli Army. It called for the protection of the journalists from what it claimed to be “continued incitement and killing practised by the Israeli occupation and all components of the occupation.”
Israeli Army denies involvement in the killing of Al Jazeera journalist, says Palestinian gunmen killed her
Meanwhile, the Israeli army denied having deliberately targeted the journalist. The army confirmed that it had conducted an operation in the Jenin refugee camp but said that it had not targeted the journalists at the scene. The Israeli Foreign Ministry further stated that the initial investigation of the event revealed that the journalists were hit by the Palestinian gunmen. “Palestinian terrorists, firing indiscriminately, are likely to have hit Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla”, the Israel Foreign Ministry tweeted.
This morning, in Jenin, terrorists heard saying: “They’ve hit one, they’ve hit a soldier, he’s laying on the ground”
But no IDF soldier was injured in Jenin
Palestinian terrorists, firing indiscriminately, are likely to have hit Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqla pic.twitter.com/nXNbVJrnkC
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 11, 2022
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also issued a statement on May 11 and said that it is likely that the Palestinian gunfire killed the Al Jazeera reporter. “According to the information we’ve gathered, it appears likely that armed Palestinians – who were indiscriminately firing at the time – were responsible for the unfortunate death of the journalist,” Bennett said in a statement.
The UN Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, also condemned the incident and called for an immediate and thorough investigation. “I strongly condemn the killing of Al Jazeera’s reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot with live fire this morning while covering an Israeli security forces’ operation in Jenin, in occupied West Bank,” Wennesland tweeted.
(2/2) My deepest condolences to her family & wish a speedy recovery to her fellow journalist, injured in the incident. I call for an immediate and thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. Media workers should never be targeted.
The Al Jazeera report mentions that Shireen Abu Akleh was a professional and persevering journalist. The last message she sent to her team was at 6:13 am in the morning. “Occupation forces storm Jenin and besiege a house in the Jabriyat neighbourhood. On the way there, I will bring you news as soon as the picture becomes clear”, the message read.
Haryana Board of Secondary Education has launched new history books for class VI to class X. The class IX textbook has sparked controversy as it blames the alleged appeasement policy of Congress of Partition of India in 1947. The book has been uploaded to the board’s website. Published in Hindi, the book talked about the Partition of India in Chapter 8.
Section four named “Congress’ appeasement policy” under “The reasons of Partition of India” the book reads, “The Congress wanted to collaborate with the Muslim League against the British government. The Lucknow Pact of 1916, the Khilafat Movement of 1919 and the Gandhi-Jinnah talks in 1944 were examples of the appeasement policy. It encouraged communalism. Mohammed Ali Jinnah was wooed again and again, and due to the undue importance he got, he started opposing Congress regularly. The condition of the country was downgrading every day. Communal riots were happening in the country, and Muslim League was behind them. Congress was sure at that time to maintain peace in the country, it was essential to agree to the demand of partition.”
Source: BSEH
It further read, “A question is still needs to be answered. If the partition was necessary to ensure peace between the two countries, why hasn’t the peace been established even today.”
Board Chairman Prof Jagbir Singh, however, maintained that Congress leaders were eager to assume power. He said that is why they had agreed to the partition. Singh argued, “Had they agreed to share power with Jinnah, the country wouldn’t have had to face Partition as he (Jinnah) died soon thereafter.”
Veer Savarkar and RSS founder KB Hedgewar also found space in the history books. Prof Singh said, “It’s more important to mention that he was sentenced to imprisonment for two births and suffered atrocities.” He added, “There was a need to change history books as earlier they were more focused on the Mughals and the Britishers. We have added how Haryana contributed to the freedom struggle.”
In the Class X book, the Indus Valley Civilisation has been renamed as ‘Saraswati Indus Civilisation’. Associate Prof Ramesh Kumar from Government College, Bilaspur (Yamunanagar), the main coordinator for the books, said, “We are not undermining the Indus Valley Civilisation. It’s only that a number of new sites emerged alongside erstwhile Saraswati river.”
Source: BSEH
Opposition fumed over the textbook
Former Chief Minister of Haryana and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda rejected the changes in the textbooks and called it politicisation of education. He said, “They should have taught how the Congress’ struggle led to Independence.”
Locket Chatterjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s MP from Hooghly in West Bengal, has been vocal about the violence perpetrated by Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons in West Bengal. Before becoming an MP in 2019, she was active in Bengali cinema. She has also mastered many dance styles. Locket Chatterjee, who is currently serving as the General Secretary of the Bengal BJP, had also been the chief of the party’s women’s cell in the state. Speaking to OpIndia, she expressed her views on the latest situation in the state and the post-poll violence there.
Question: Before the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, there were many reports of violence, and BJP workers were found murdered. But, did the party have any idea that the same violence would continue even after the election results came out?
Answer: Win and loss is a part of the election process. It is not that we have come down from 3 seats to zero. Our seats went from 3 to 77. It was a big achievement for us and we emerged as a big party in the state. After this, the whole scenario was shown as if the TMC has won unilaterally. The violence that followed after the elections across the state, caused 4 lakh people to be displaced.
People had to flee to distances as far as Assam, Odisha, and Delhi. They are not returning out of fear, because so many cases have been registered against them that they will be put in jail on their return. After all, they also have families and children. Their children have to study, but they can’t even take the exams. Women had to flee with their children taking whatever utensils or money they could have with them. Some of the women were pregnant. Even they had to leave their homes in such a situation. They were kept in our camp. Months later, some of the women returned home. Such plight of women under the rule of a woman chief minister is unfortunate.
Question: Eight persons were burnt alive and killed in Rampurhat in Birbhum. Such incidents have taken place during the rule of the Left. Even then the monks were burned alive. What difference do you see between the CPM and TMC regimes?
Answer: Mamata Banerjee’s government has gone way ahead of the Communists in terms of violence. Both are the same. The CPM ruled for more than three decades, followed by a decade of Mamata Banerjee. Atrocities happening today are three to four times harsher than what used to happen in the time of CPM. Whatever people used to be in power in those days, the same people have now joined the TMC. They are the people who commit violence.
Question: Nowadays, there is talk of demography changes. There have been incidents in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh where illegal Muslim immigrants are being deliberately settled. Similarly, in West Bengal, there are reports of increasing hatred towards Hindu in areas like Murshidabad. What reason do you think is behind it?
Answer: We have seen that they (illegal immigrants) used to live in small pockets, but now they are being picked up and settled everywhere. They are being brought from Myanmar and Bangladesh and they are being settled here. Rohingya Muslims have been given Aadhaar cards. They are being given not only government documents like voter ID cards but also houses. Such people are being brought across the border.
The reason is vote bank politics. They can’t trust Hindus, that’s why they do politics of appeasement. They trust Muslim voters, that’s why Muslims are brought from outside of India illegally and settled here. Such people fly back to Bangladesh after committing crimes here. All of them are involved in cow-smuggling and sand-smuggling. Their reach extends to Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. At the same time, atrocities are being committed against Hindus. Hindus were also attacked on Ram Navami. A similar incident took place in Bankura.
Question: A procession of Hindus was attacked in Howrah. Similarly, in Bankura, the only mistake of the Hindus was that they were passing in front of the mosque. 17-18 Hindus were arrested. Where do you see the police and the administration standing in this?
Answer: When the Muharram procession comes out from the front of the mosque, will they dare to arrest the Muslims? They won’t have the courage. In West Bengal, such a cycle of appeasement is going on that Muslims are getting all the facilities, let alone arrest for committing a crime.
Question: Before the West Bengal by-elections, reports were being spread that there was a rift between Locket Chatterjee and the BJP. It was also being said that you were not put on the list of election campaigners. Please make this clear.
Answer: All these things are fake. These people know that the BJP is a family and the biggest family belongs to us. I’m doing the job I’ve been given. I’m a member of this family. Even in the Bhawanipur by-election, when Mamata Banerjee had fought and Babul Supriyo had left the BJP, such things were said. We do the work assigned by the party. I worked in Uttarakhand for 6 months because I was given the responsibility there. We have been trained in that way only. It is the TMC’s strategy that they speak like this to get votes. We march towards our mission and we ignore the opinions of others.
Question: Apart from your political career, you have also had a good career in films. Films in the South are earning thousands of crores of rupees nowadays. Nationalism was shown in ‘RRR’. Similarly, West Bengal also has its own local cinema. No one from the entertainment industry has raised any voice on the violence that has taken place there; Mithun Chakraborty and Yash Dasgupta who had joined the BJP, are exceptions though. Why so?
Answer: The film industry of West Bengal is completely under the control of the Trinamool Congress. I used to be a part of it too. When my career was at its peak, I entered politics. I had no idea then that I would lose my work. I too have a family, and everyone has to take the responsibility for the family. At that time, everyone came together and destroyed all that I had created. Whenever someone joins BJP, they tries to leave him jobless. They attack his bread and butter so he leaves the party. I was boycotted for 4-5 years. I still don’t get work. Well, I don’t have time anymore. The Mamata Banerjee government has control over there. If someone praises the government, he will get work. Opponents are removed. That is why the Bengali film industry is not moving forward. When there are no democratic rights, how can good films be made? There is violence in Bengal and they will show that there is no such thing, then who will watch that film?
Question: In Uttar Pradesh, if even a small incident happens in one district, there is a lot of hue and cry in the media. Rahul Gandhi reaches the BJP-ruled states. However, despite so much violence in West Bengal, that level of coverage is not seen in the national media. Why so?
Answer: We always raise the issue of violence in West Bengal at the national level. In Parliament also, we have raised our voice. There too TMC MPs try to suppress our voice. From there, things come in the national media. But, even more things from West Bengal should be reported. There are incidents happening in West Bengal one after the other, but there has been continuous work to hide and suppress them. That’s why these things don’t come up in the national media.
Question: When you meet the people in your constituency, what do they say?
Answer: The people want change, but due to fear, the common people are not able to say this in public. BJP workers are also scared as they are implicated in false cases. They are arrested. Even the benefits of central schemes (e.g., Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) for BJP supporters are withheld and all the benefits are given to TMC people. They get the benefits of many schemes at once. People have their own families, they have to take care of them too. But, in 2024, people will show that Bengal wants to move forward under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
Question: What is the BJP doing as an organization for the victims and displaced people of West Bengal violence?
Answer: We’re doing a lot for them. Those whose houses were ransacked are being helped by the party. There are many people who have been given shelter by the BJP government and workers in Assam. We are also helping them in their legal battle.
Question: There are many Communists who were targeted by the TMC for their violence. Congress workers are also suffering. But big leaders like Prakash Karat or Rahul Gandhi are not raising their voices for the suffering workers of their own party. What reason do you see behind it?
Answer: The Congress and the CPM are on a platform with the TMC. In West Bengal also, all of them are together. They have only one intention – to remove Modi. Those who do good deeds and move ahead, all others target them. The same is happening with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There were many scams in Congress, and Narendra Modi fought to bring them to the fore. He did demonetization, which curbed black money. Because of these decisions, these leaders are after him. PM Modi is taking the country ahead.
Two lawsuits were filed against Rutgers University last month alleging that it artificially boosted its rankings by using a dubious agency to hire MBA graduates and place them into “sham positions at the university itself”.
According to the reports, the lawsuits accuse the Rutgers University business school of padding numbers of earning a better reputation among their potential students. The two lawsuits have been filed by the same law firm, McOmber McOmber & Luber.
One of the suits filed alleged that supervisors punished an employee for trying to highlight the irregularities.
On April 8, Deidre White, the school’s current human resources manager filed a lawsuit against the school in Superior Court, alleging that Rutgers hired unemployed students in its MBA program through Adecco Employment Services, a temporary agency.
In turn, the school would offer a “kickback” to Adecco, and the hiring data would be reported. The lawsuit described the jobs as “sham positions”.
The suit also said that the scheme aimed to boost the school’s ranking with crucial media outlets like US News and World Report and Financial Times. Last year, Rutgers University’s Business school was ranked first among public business schools in the northeast by Bloomberg Businessweek.
Rutgers Business School would claim that its graduates would obtain a job much sooner than others using such dubious data, as per the reports.
In her petition, the staff member said that she tried to stop the alleged scheme from taking place. However, the supervisors retaliated by creating a hostile work environment. She claimed that the university denied her support staff, increased her workload, including assigning her to a major project, and denied her a promotion and a raise.
The suit further alleged that Melissa Rivera, one of the defendants, began to post White’s position as available. The suit also said that retaliation was taken when White took medical leave to address a medical condition.
Student accuses Rutgers University of faking employment
Another lawsuit against Rutgers is filed by an MBA student charging that the business school violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by allegedly creating fake jobs for graduates simply to boost its US News and World Report program rankings.
Budet, a 33-year-old resident of Atlantic City, alleged that Rutgers reported false data and made misleading claims in its marketing materials, falsely asserting that unemployed students were gainfully employed in full-time MBA-level jobs.
“The fraud worked. In 2018, the very first year of the scheme, Rutgers was suddenly propelled to, among other things, the No.1 business school in the Northeast region of the United States. But Rutgers Business School was undeserving of its high rankings, having obtained this and other ranking positions through deceit,” said Budet’s attorneys in a complaint filed in US District Court in New Jersey.
The lawsuit claimed that the students became the victim of Rutgers’ fraudulent and deceptive business practices and paid premium tuition but received an education less than what they expected given the flawed rankings.
“This was a massive fraud on Rutgers’ prospective students,” the complaint charged, estimating at least 100 others could become parties to the lawsuit.
“For (Rutgers), ensuring each graduate student received a meaningful education is of little importance. Their focal point is ‘rankings’, ’employment rates,’ and other crucial statistics that keep students flocking to Rutgers under the guise that it will, or could, land them a highly coveted, highly paid job,” the complainant said.
Rutgers University and Hinduphobia:
Last year in March, Rutgers-Newark University had stoked a massive controversy by supporting controversial ‘historian’ Professor Audrey Truschke by whitewashing her anti-Hindu remarks and Hinduphobic views as ‘academic freedom’.
The controversy broke out after several Hindu students of Rutgers University had written a letter to the university in reaction to ‘historian’ Audrey Truschke’s attempts to sell Hinduphobic fiction in the name of ‘history’.
In its petition, the group of Hindu students studying at Rutgers-Newark pointed out that Audrey Truschke tried to trivialise and downplay the Hindu genocide committed by the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. The students who initiated the petition were miffed with Truschke’s continuous vile and bigoted opinions against Hindus.
Instead of addressing the concerns of Hindu students, Rutgers University had backed Audrey Truschke and whitewashed her vile and bigoted anti-Hindu remarks as ‘academic freedom’. However, the Hindu students’ intensified the protests against the university for their open support of Hinduphobic elements.
Later, the university had to backtrack on the issue and apologise to the Hindu community for failing to communicate properly, causing misunderstanding.
