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Bengaluru: Hindu student says Azim Premji University suspended him after targeted harassment and false accusations by Islamists and Leftists

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Bengaluru: Hindu student says Azim Premji University suspended him after targeted harassment and false accusations by Islamists and Leftists

A student from Azim Premji University in Bengaluru has stated that he was harassed and discriminated against over his religious identity of being a Hindu by a student mob. Reportedly, the college administration has expelled him from participating in any further academic activities after he had a brawl with Muslim students over a petty issue.

According to Rishi Tiwari, since his induction into Azim Premji University in 2020 as a post-graduate student of MA Development, he has faced discrimination on the campus for being Hindu. Tiwari has been targeted by professors and other teaching staff at the institute over his alma mater – The Benares Hindu University, Varanasi, for they think it was a bastion of ‘Right Wing’ and his faith Hinduism. OpIndia has accessed the letter drafted by him complaining about the discrimination he has faced, written to the director of the institute.

In the letter, the Tiwari categorically mentions that he was humiliated by students belonging to the Muslim University because he did not compromise on his beliefs and ideology. An incident so happened that a minor spat between him and another student (who happened to be Muslim) was exaggerated as a ‘Hindu v/s Muslim’ issue on the campus. As narrated by Tiwari, he was harassed by the latter over not getting selected while the placement process in the college was on.

‘A spat that resulted in the suspension’, says Tiwari

While Rishi Tiwari was returning to his hostel, a group of students of the ‘Islamist and leftist ideology’ surrounded him, as per the letter. He notes that he was verbally abused and physically attacked by the student mob. While talking to OpIndia.com, Tiwari said, “On May 1, 2022, around 8:45 PM, 8-10 students of Islamist and Leftist idealogy surrounded me. I was verbally and physically harassed by them. The next day around 6 pm on May 2, inside the university campus, some professors and students protested against me, demanding my expulsion from the university.”

The mob in turn claimed that Tiwari threw food on the Muslim student’s face and spat on him, and allegations of physical assault were framed against him. He states that there was a concerted effort to paint him ‘Hindu plaintiff, Islamophobic, Sanghi, and staunch Hindu’. On May 2 itself, a complaint was filed before the Director of the School of Development and he was suspended without hearing his side. After May 2, Tiwari was suspended indefinitely from classes and hostels with immediate effect. Tiwari hails from Ballan village of Banda district of Uttar Pradesh.

Protests staged against Rishi Tiwari at Azim Premji University

A cabal of students had called upon the incident an act of ‘Islamophobia’. The group had started staging demonstrations against Tiwari on the campus. There were incidents of social media abuse through Instagram stories directed at him, over his political ideology.

“The way a group of universities has communalized me, I’m feeling unsafe. Even after this, not a single authority responded, and didn’t even hear anything from my side.” says the student who is in his last semester and was looking forward to getting his degree in the coming months. “Both my degree and my job are in danger. I come
from an economically backward background, and I have the responsibility for my entire family,” he appealed.

‘Targeted for asking questions’

In a colloquium organised by the University last year, French Political Scientist Christophe Jafrellote (who is known for his biased and rose-tinted understanding of Indian Politics) was called as a guest lecturer. According to Tiwari, the session quickly escalated into ‘defaming the BJP government and Hinduism’. Out of curiosity, he and his friend asked a question to Jafrellote. The facilitator of the session then filed a complaint against the students and the university organized a special committee to investigate the matter.

From that very moment, Tiwari and a couple of his friends were blamed for being Hindu and were reduced to being victims of Leftist targeting over their ideology. The students were publically called ‘Sanghi’, ‘spokespersons of the BJP’, and ‘members of BJP IT cell’. “If I’m having faith in my identity and belief in the Hindu religion, it isn’t a crime. Having ideological differences doesn’t mean that I have to pay so much in the form of my degree and job. No justice is being done to me by the university,” he noted.

‘Castigated for celebrating Diwali on the Campus’

According to sources, there is no vacation for any Hindu festival in the academic calendar of the campus. When in November last year, Tiwari and some of his friends celebrated Diwali on the campus, the celebration was called upon to have negatively catalyzed the sentiments of others who don’t believe in the Hindu faith. Rishi Tiwari and his friends were targeted on a repeated basis by a single group, while they were left to be labelled as ‘Sanghi’, ‘BJP people’, and ‘radical Hindus’, as he tells us.

This is a developing story. More updates will be posted further.

The genocide of Yezidis is far from over. It is still ongoing!

Guest Author
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The genocide of Yezidis is far from over. It is still ongoing!

The genocide of the Yezidis began on August 3, 2014, in Sinjar and surrounding areas in northern Iraq. The Islamic State is responsible for the Genocide. In 2016 and 2017, the United Nations announced that the genocide is still ongoing. There was systematic murder and rape, separated into men and women: the men were killed and the boys used as child soldiers, the women and girls were loaded onto buses and older women were killed, and the rest were sold into slavery and systematically raped and mistreated.

According to the UN, over 5,000 Yezidis were murdered and over 7,000 Yezidi women and children were kidnapped. A Yezidi mass grave in the Sinjar region bears testimony to the horrors suffered by the Yezidis at the hands of their Islamist perpetrators. A picture of the grave shows bones of the victims jutting out of the mass grave in which several dozen Yezidis were buried after being massacred.

Mass grave in Sinjar bears testimony to the horrors inflicted on Yezidis

The current number of Yezidis in Iraq is estimated to be more than 700,000 people spread over three main regions: Sinjar(Shingal), is the largest Yezidi city in Iraq and the world, and Nineveh plain, which encompasses several areas for Yezidis, of which the most important is Sheikhan, the religious first and largest stamps of the Yezidis are in it, the Temple of Lalish, Bashique and Bahzani and the other villages such as Khatara and Mahat the third area is in Dohuk province, and only three areas are expected, namely Shariya, Khananki and Derbon.

Since 2014, more than 150,000 Yezidis have immigrated from Iraq, according to the classification of the UN. This large number of migrants has several reasons, of which the most important are ISIS’s genocidal campaign and persecution, as well as the neglect by the Iraqi government. In Iraq, in view of the conflict between the major political components, the small components of the “religious minorities” were neglected, and their rights were even directly confiscated. The government shares were divided into sectarian quotas. Minorities received small quotas from non-sovereign services and only Christians.

The Yezidis have suffered politically in recent times, although five representatives with a Yezidi religious background were present in the most recent Iraqi parliamentary elections, four of them belong to Kurdish political parties and a member of parliament belongs to a Yezidi party that holds the “quota” seats for Yezidis, although the Federal Court of Justice had decided as the highest judicial authority, the Yezidis quotas Allocate population, which is at least 5, which was implicitly rejected by the major political parties and received only one seat, which clearly violates the judicial decision.

Notable Iraqi journalist Riyad al-Hamdani says that the big blocks will not hesitate to control the minority seats in the Iraqi parliament whenever the opportunity arises, and it is clear that the current “quota” seats are also enforced in a certain political context, which is meant by the big political blocks, which means there is no free representation of minorities in Parliament in the current political blocks. Al-Hamdani considers the Iraqi parliamentary election law to be unfair for religious minorities, especially since it prevents the diaspora Iraqis from voting, and this means that, given the number of Iraqi immigrants, most of whom are minorities, minorities such as Yezidis and Christians are most affected by it.

In addition, the Iraqi government did not pay attention to granting adequate political representation to the Yezidis, and if we check the political situation of the Yezidis in Iraq, we would find that no Yezidi minister had been appointed in four governments and their representation was limited to a rank diplomat or general manager, which confirms the neglect of the government towards them and proves their sectarian and racist basis. The indifference to Yezidi interests is also apparent in the neglect of the reconstruction of the destroyed Yezidi territories in Sinjar. However, and here, according to a press release by the Governor of Nineveh, Najm al-Jubouri, we can look for neglect that there will be no reconstruction /rebuilding in Sinjar, unless the displaced return there, and here we have to ask how the City is 75% destroyed?

Besides Political and armed conflicts, the destruction of Yezidi-owned properties and the absence of justice prevent Yezidis from returning to their homeland. The Yezidi journalist Theyab Ghanem, who was surprised by the governor’s statements, said: “We are used to such indifference from the government and administration. After we were allotted an amount of money, a token amount of $ 25 million, which is nothing compared to the devastation in the Sinjar city, we were surprised that the amount was cancelled without notice.” Ghanem asked the Iraqi government to pay more attention to the Yezidis and their regions and to keep them away from political conflicts because they are a psychologically and morally devastated society and are exposed to constant catastrophes due to the conflicts over Sinjar.

It is clear that Sinjar in the current period is outside the plan of the Iraqi government because the political situation in the country is complex and this neglect has led to differences and conflicts in the Yezidi regions, there are Iraqi political attempts to change the world’s view to the Yezidis and cover their humanitarian affairs. What is necessary is that the Yezidis are taking serious steps to standardize their decisions in the coming time, find a formula that serves their society, and face the upcoming challenges and difficulties they face and they will have in the future due to political conflicts, regional conflicts over their regions.

The resistance of the Yezidis against ISIS and their predecessors was driven by the pursuit to lead a better and safe life. However, far from attaining that objective, the Yezidis in Iraq face another problem as their demands fall on deaf ears, and successive governments undertake no substantial efforts to address their grievances and make a genuine attempt to resettle them.

Watch: Hijab-clad woman tries to loot jewellery shop at gunpoint, shopowner drags her out holding hijab and hair

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Hijab-clad woman tries to loot jewellery shop at gunpoint, shopowner drags her out holding hijab and hair

A video is going viral where a hijab-clad woman is seen trying to loot a jewellery shop at gunpoint. The brave shop owner then faces the criminal and drags her outside by holding her hijab and hair.

In the first video, taken from a CCTV camera inside a jewellery shop, a woman clad in a black hijab is seen at the jewellery shop, asking the shop owner to show her more gold ornaments to choose from. When the shop owner turns his back to bring more boxes, the woman then reaches inside a plastic bag she was carrying and takes out a gun. She then points the gun at the shop owner and tries to loot the ornaments.

The shop owner, however, remains calm and faces the woman. In a swift move, he then grabs the gun in one hand and grabs the woman’s hair and hijab together in his other hand. He then drags the burglar woman outside.

In a second video, taken from another CCTV camera outside the shop, the shop owner is seen dragging the woman by her hijab and hair while a passerby sees him and comes to help. He grabs the woman’s hand while the shop owner tries to call others for help.

As per a report in APN News, the incident happened in Mumbai’s Virar area. on Tuesday, May 24, the hijab-clad woman had entered a jewellery shop in Mumbai’s Virar with a gun to commit loot. The shop owner’s bravery and swift action have prevented a major crime. The report stated that the woman was eventually handed over to the police. The woman is reportedly a bar girl by profession and has reportedly visited the same shop 2 days prior too.

As per a report in News18 Lokmat, the shop owner’s name is Devlal Gujar. Reports have mentioned that the gun used by the woman was a fake one.

Gujarat’s education model: Surat’s govt schools outperform private schools for the third consecutive year

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat’s education model: Surat’s govt schools outperform private schools for the third consecutive year

The government schools run by the committee of the Surat Municipal Corporation have been witnessing a huge rush for admission for the last 3 years. This year too, the number of applications has been three times the admission capacity. The government schools in Surat have surpassed the private schools in providing modern facilities.

Generally, there is hesitation among parents before putting their children to study in government or committee schools. However, there are beelines for admission in government school no. 354 for the last three years, due to improved education this government school has been continuously pulling the students from private schools. Here, parents are eager for the admission of their children. A two-shift school running in the same building has a total strength of 1400 students. But at present, more than 4042 students have applied for admission and they have to be admitted by a lucky draw.

A board was displayed in Government School No. 318 located in Palanpore of Surat informing that entry would be given only in kindergartens as well as in classes 1, 4, and 5. However, within a few days, the school reached its full capacity and now there are 83 children on the waiting list.

Some schools are asking parents seeking admission for their children to fill up forms online. In government schools no. 334, 346, and 355, around 4200 applications have been received against the capacity of 1000-1100. As a result, admission will be given through the draw system. While the rest will be asked to apply again in the next year. Children of some teachers also study in these schools. In some schools, people need recommendations to get their children admitted.

A Gujarati medium school was built in addition to the fire station due to heavy demand in the Mota Varachha area. The school has secured 3000 admission forms against a capacity of 720 seats. For the English medium school on the same campus, 1000 forms have been received against a capacity of 225 seats. Now here too, children will be given admission by making a lucky draw.

Ramaben, in charge of online admissions, says that the Pragya project is going on in the committee’s school. In addition, students are given unencumbered learning in the committee’s school. So the mental development of the students is also very good. Apart from this, the teachers of the committee are making the students study with their hearts and the education committee is being updated.

Thus government schools in Surat have been beating local private schools in the level of facilities and education. Even in the earlier years, there were long queues for admission after the admission notification issued by the government schools of Surat.

Pakistan ex-cricketer Shahid Afridi bats in favour of Yasin Malik, convicted of terrorism and secessionist activities in Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan ex-cricketer Shahid Afridi bats in favour of Yasin Malik, convicted of terrorism and secessionist activities in Kashmir

As the National Investigative Agency demands the death penalty for Yasin Malik, the former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has come out in support of the terror convict, seeking UN intervention in the matter.

Characterising Malik as a “freedom fighter” of “Kashmir’s struggle”, Afridi painted Malik as a victim of “fabricated charges” even though he had pleaded guilty to all charges levelled against him.

“India’s continued attempts to silence critical voices against its blatant human rights abuses are futile. Fabricated charges against #YasinMalik will not put a hold to #Kashmir‘s struggle to freedom. Urging the #UN to take notice of unfair & illegal trails against Kashmir leaders,” Afridi tweeted.

Shahid Afridi

Afridi’s tweet came ahead of the Delhi Court hearing later today, which is going to decide the quantum of punishment to be awarded to Yasin Malik, who had earlier pleaded guilty to all the charges including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), in a terror funding case.

Yasin Malik pleads guilty to all charges, Delhi court to announce the quantum of punishment today

Kashmiri separatist terrorist Yasin Malik was found guilty in a terror funding case. On 10th May 2022, Yasin Malik pleaded guilty to all charges, including those under the stringent Unlawful Activities and Prevention Act (UAPA), before a Delhi Court in a case related to terrorism and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir that convulsed the Valley in 2017. Yasin Malik had admitted that he was involved in terrorist activities, had also hatched criminal conspiracies, and that the sedition clauses against him were also correct.

Yasin Malik told the court that he did not wish to challenge the charges against himself under Sections 16 (terrorist activity), 17 (raising funds for terrorist activities), 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist activity), 18 (conspiring to commit a terrorist act), and 20 (being a member of a terrorist group or organization) of the UAPA and sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

Under the sections under which a case is registered against Yasin, he can get a maximum punishment of lifelong imprisonment. Yasin Malik has been active in Kashmir politics. He is one of the key instigators and secessionist leaders in the Kashmir valley.

Malik is in jail since 2019 as a part of the crackdown against the anti-India and secessionist elements in the Valley in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. He was later remanded to the NIA custody and was shifted to Delhi’s Tihar jail from Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail.

He is the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), an outfit that was banned shortly after the Pulwama terror attack.

Malik is also accused of kidnapping former Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Saeed’s daughter Rubiya Saeed in 1989 and of killing 5 IAF personnel in early 1990. He is also allegedly involved in the killing of Justice Neelkanth Ganju, the judge who had ordered the death sentence for JKLF terrorist Maqbool Bhatt, and the murder of the former director of Doordarshan Kendra in Srinagar, Lassa Kaul.

Rewarded for helping Azam Khan? Netizens wonder as Kapil Sibal quits Congress, runs for Rajya Sabha supported by Samajwadi Party

OpIndia Staff
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Rewarded for helping Azam Khan? Netizens wonder as Kapil Sibal quits Congress, runs for Rajya Sabha supported by Samajwadi Party

On Wednesday, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who has been most vocal of the G23 leaders against the Gandhi family, filed nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat from Lucknow in presence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav after quitting the Congress party. Amid the speculations of Sibal joining the Samajwadi party, he said that has filed nomination as an independent candidate supported by SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav. “I have always wanted to be an independent voice in the country”, he added.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal also informed today that he has already left the Congress party 10 days ago. He said that he had tendered his resignation from Congress on May 16, adding that he will remain an opposition leader.

According to the reports, filing nominations for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections began on Tuesday. While political parties were in the process of finalizing their list of candidates, reports mention that the Samajwadi Party had decided on the names of Kapil Sibal, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav, and Javed Ali for the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav confirmed the party’s support to former Congress leader and said, “Today Kapil Sibal filed nomination. He is going to Rajya Sabha with SP’s support. Two more people can go to the House. Kapil Sibal is a senior lawyer. He has presented his opinions well in the Parliament. We hope he’ll present opinions of both SP as well as himself”.

While filing the nomination in presence of SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sibal said that he had resigned from the Congress party on May 16. “I tendered my resignation from Congress on May 16. I am still in opposition and we will form coalition to oust Narendra Modi in 2024”, he said on May 25.

The speedy development comes as the term of former Congress leader Kapil Sibal in the Rajya Sabha is about to end in July 2022. Earlier, there were speculations that Sibal had plans to file a nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat with the support of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) but now it’s clear that Akhilesh Yadav led party will be supporting Sibal in the Rajya Sabha.

Sibal is believed to have developed close relationships with many SP leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan. He recently represented jailed Khan in Supreme Court and helped him secure interim bail. He also helped Akhilesh Yadav retain the party’s bicycle symbol in the year 2017. On May 20, as Khan was released on interim bail from Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur jail, he had said that Sibal had done a huge thing by securing bail and that he had no capacity to pay him the fees. Yet amid the wide speculations of Sibal joining the SP, Khan on May 24 said, “Sibal is such a senior personality, he is a very big person and very nice. I’ll be the happiest if he is nominated”.

Here are a few more reactions of netizens who believe that the Samajwadi Party has extended the support to Kapil Sibal to reciprocate his help to Azam Khan-

Tensions between Kapil Sibal and the Congress Party-

It is important to note that there were escalating tensions between the former Congress leader and the party. He had been vocal against the policies and principles adopted by the Gandhi family for the Congress party. On September 29, Congress party members had staged protest against him for criticising the party leadership over various issues including the handling of the internal conflict in the party in Punjab. The party workers had accused him of allying with BJP for his statements against the Gandhi family.

Sibal had also stated that the G-23 group within the Congress party was not Ji Huzoor 23. Criticising the delay in appointing a full time party president, Sibal had said, “In our party, there is no president. So we don’t know who is taking these decisions. We know and yet we don’t know.”

Also, recently on March 15, with the losing hope of revival, the senior leader had demanded to give control of the Congress party to someone other than Gandhis. He had said that the party was ‘sab ki Congress’ and not only ‘Ghar ki Congress’. Sibal had further said that there was no decentralization of the power in Congress. “They don’t have direct contact with them. In this power structure, therefore, the organization is bereft of any vision,” he had said. The senior leader therefore quit the party on May 16, 2022.

BJP’s Tajinder Bagga shares a new video which shows how men in civilian dress barged in with guns to arrest him earlier this month

OpIndia Staff
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BJP’s Tajinder Bagga shares a new video which shows how men in civilian dress barged in with guns to arrest him earlier this month

On May 25, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga shared a new video from the day Punjab Police had come to arrest him. In a tweet, he wrote, “Civil Dress, No Uniform, No Warrant, Entered in my home With Rifles and dragged mine Like Terrorists. Because I demanded Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann to arrest the Culprits who are responsible for Bedabbi of Guru Granth Sahib.”

In the video, the main gate of Bagga’s house is visible in the first scene. Then, a man in a civil dress wearing a brown t-shirt and black jeans entered the house while talking on the phone. This particular man was carrying a rifle in his hand.

Source: Video shared by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga

The next scene was from the door of the room where Bagga was sitting. When the door opened, a man, again in civil dress, was seen trying to pull Bagga out of the sofa.

Source: Video shared by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga

Then a few seconds later, a few police officers and men in a civil dress took him out of the house. Bagga, who resisted, was pushed into the vehicle. A man in civil dress pulled his legs from the right side of the car, and another person (unclear if he was in uniform or not) picked him from his arms to push him into the car. He was visibly restrained in the car as it moved away from his residence.

Source: Video shared by Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga

Bagga’s arrest

The Punjab Police arrested Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, a BJP leader, in Delhi on May 6. 50 Punjab police officials arrived at Tajinder Bagga’s residence in ten to twelve cars to arrest him. A huge number of BJP leaders and supporters were spotted arriving at the Janakpuri Police Station as word of Bagga’s alleged unlawful detention circulated.

Following the chain of events, the Delhi Police filed a kidnapping complaint against the Punjab Police for seizing Tajinder Bagga from his home without authority. After the filing of the case, the Haryana Police halted the Punjab Police team in Kurukshetra on their route to Punjab after arresting Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga from his Delhi residence.

The Delhi Police reached Kurukshetra the same day late in the evening and brought Tajinder Bagga back to Delhi.

Andhra Pradesh: Restrictions imposed after violent protests against renaming Konaseema district after Dr. BR Ambedkar, houses of minister and MLA attacked

OpIndia Staff
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Andhra Pradesh: Restrictions imposed after violent protests against renaming Konaseema district after Dr. BR Ambedkar, houses of minister and MLA attacked

The Konaseema District Administration on Wednesday imposed section 144, ceased the movement of public transport, and suspended the internet service after the protesters set ablaze an Andhra Pradesh minister’s house opposing the proposed renaming of the Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.

The Police have increased the security and have deployed more than 500 police personnel in the area to maintain peace and harmony. According to the reports, violence gripped the town of Amalapuram as the demonstrators attacked the residential properties of State minister P Viswarup and MLA Ponnada Satish and protested against the idea of naming the Konaseema district as BR Ambedkar Konaseema. The protestors burnt several vehicles at the minister’s house, pelted stones and also ransacked the office. On the other hand, the house of MLA Ponnada Satish torched by the violent protoesters.

Not only were the residential properties of the Ministers torched, but the violent protesters also set the police vehicle and an educational institution’s bus on fire. Reportedly, the protest was organized by the Konaseema Sadhana Samiti (KSS) who had demanded the old name of the district be retained. This is after the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government on May 20 announced to rename Konaseema as BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.

Trouble escalated on Tuesday when the police allegedly prevented the members of KSS from going into the district Collector’s office for submitting a memorandum against renaming the district and resorted to a lathi charge. As police tried to chase the Samiti leaders and workers away, stone-pelting ensued. The incident of torching of properties and vehicles then followed.

The government condemning the protest, stated that the decision to rename the district was taken in the wake of demands from various organizations considering the aspirations of the Dalit people. Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, the advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh added that all the political parties had also supported it. “Ambedkar was a great leader and the state government doesn’t have any political interests in naming a district after him”, he was quoted.

Meanwhile, the state also slammed the oppostion leader, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu for politicising the incident. “No one is above the law. Vested interests are responsible for the violence and the issue will be settled down soon”, he said. Naidu however blamed the police for the tensions in the region and stated that his party had no hand behind the violence. “It is not correct to blame the TDP for government failures”, he said.

Several Police officers including the Konsaseema district SP Subba Reddy sustained injuries on May 24 and many other police officers ran away from the spot as thousands of protesters pelted stones and torched the vehicles. At present section 144 has been imposed, movement of public transport has been ceased and internet service has been suspended in the region.

The Jagan Mohan Reddy government had promised to create new districts in Andhra Pradesh in the 2019 assembly elections. On the night of April 2, the state government issued a notification and officially announced the formation of 13 new districts. After this the said 13 districts came into existence on April 4. Now the total number of districts in the state has increased from 13 to 26.

‘They meet only PM’: Rahul Gandhi alleges social media companies are not neutral, claims Facebook supports BJP

OpIndia Staff
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‘They meet only PM’: Rahul Gandhi alleges social media companies are not neutral, claims Facebook supports BJP

On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi bashed the social media platforms for their alleged partial and biased stand and accused them of having a major say in the Indian political system. He said that the social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp favor the ruling political party in India and that it’s respective CEOs never met, never considered the opposition parties.

“I don’t believe that the large social media companies are neutral. The way the Indian elections are being fought, they are essentially being fought on these platforms. They are being fought on WhatsApp, not so much on Twitter but Facebook and WhatsApp definitely”, he said. Gandhi was speaking at the event that was organized by the School of the Humanities and Social Science at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, as part of a series of events celebrating the 75th year of Indian independence.

The Congress leader further specifically took a jibe at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and stated that he favors the Prime Minister of India and his party. “The head of Facebook has never met an Indian opposition leader. He comes, he meets the Prime Minister and goes home. The CEO of the Facebook in Delhi was also a BJP person. So how can we say that these social media platforms are impartial? Major politics happens on these platforms”, he reiterated.

He also shared his personal example alleging that his new twitter followers vanished from 40,000 daily to zero. Gandhi in August 2021 had held protests seeking justice for a nine-year-old Dalit girl who was raped, murdered and then cremated by the perpetrators in Delhi. He however had revealed the identity of the minor on social media following which the Twitter had removed his tweet which also contained a picture of the parents of the deceased minor girl.

“On my Twitter account, I used to get 40,000 twitter users a day. I went to Delhi for the protest and after that magically my twitter users went to zero. We wrote to Twitter and sought the reason but no satisfactory answer was provided. Three months later we contacted the Wall Street Journal and the day before the article was scheduled to publish, my users were back to 40,000 a day. Same is with the WhatsApp. I don’t believe that these are neutral platforms”, he reiterated.

Interestingly, as Gandhi accused the Facebook, WhatsApp and it’s CEO of inducting partiality in its functioning, it becomes important to note that the former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to talk about ‘tackling the menace of fake news’. Twitter CEO had also admitted the left-leaning bias of his employees and showcased bias against right-leaning accounts.

It is interesting to note that all the major social media companies are known for their bias against the right wing ideologies and favouring left-liberals, which is evident in the permanent banning of former US president Donald Trump by all of them. But still, Rahul Gandhi accuses social media of supporting the BJP in India.

At the event that marked the conclusion of Gandhi’s UK tour which began last week, the Congress leader also accused the Indian Media of partial functioning. “Around 140-160 media entities are owned by one person. There’s a media monopoly and then there are multiple business monopolies that support and finance the Bharatiya Janata Party”, he said.

He added that Congress Party who is facing the alleged hegemony in what he referred to as the ‘union of states’ of India, would adopt the old school politics and drive the young energy to launch protest movements and massive social movements in the country. “Back to Gandhi”, he affirmed on May 24.

During his visit to United Kingdom, Gandhi on May 23 in ‘Ideas for India’ conference claimed that India was in a horrible position and that a political revolution was required. To corroborate his wild claims further, he stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party has poured kerosene around the country and that a single spark is enough to blow the country up. He called for a ‘mass action’ within the country while at the same time called for foreign interference to end the nexus of the ‘deep state’ and save his ‘Idea of India’.

The ‘right’ and ‘left’ of sexual harassment victims and perpetrators in India

Nirwa Mehta
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The ‘right’ and ‘left’ of sexual harassment victims and perpetrators in India

A Twitter thread by one Dr Nicole Bedera of University of Michigan has been going viral on social media where she talks about her study of victims as well as perpetrators and their political leanings. The Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial was the trigger which got her to write about her observations on the same.

She claimed how the perpetrators do not quite pick victims based on their political beliefs, but within victims, the ones who were conservative were more likely to tell her not to believe the ‘other’ women. To put it crudely, the ‘conservative’ in America is the ‘right’ or ‘Sanghi’ equivalent for India.

She then ‘observed’ that these women (conservatives, i.e. American ‘Sanghans’), express their anger towards other women who speak up because it ‘ruins their own credibility’.

Interesting observation. Since in India, it is quite the other way round. You see, during the peak of #MeToo movement in India back in 2018, we saw a lot of ‘liberal’ women, who identify themselves as ‘feminists’ and claim to be fighting for women’s rights, were actually at the forefront of defending men accused of sexual harassment.

In October 2017, a damning list of academics in Indian institutes was put up on Facebook by a student, where she had accused the professors mentioned in the list of engaging in sexual harassment. At that time, champion of naming and shaming sexual harassers, the Leftists cabal had taken it upon themselves to prove how this naming and shaming was ‘blackening faces’ and they were uneasy with the name and shame list. 

The statement was signed by 12 self proclaimed feminists including Ayesha Kidwai, the Leftist professor from JNU, who believes she is a parallel judiciary by leading a public inquiry against the Vice-Chancellor of JNU, Nivedita Menon, who believes Kashmir is not an integral part of India, Vrinda Grover, the advocate who rallied to save terrorist Yakub Memon and Kavita Krishnan, pro-Naxal ideologue activist who tried to pass off Diwali as a non-religious festival.

Professors, politicians, lawyers – they all had come together to not ‘name and shame’ the accused – because they all were from non-right political ideology. In fact, a girl, who was allegedly raped by a lawyer, who was fighting the case of Kathua rape and murder victim, did not raise her voice because she thought calling out a man who raped her would ‘damage the bigger cause’. That is how deep the rot is in the ‘left-liberal’ side, the crusaders of women’s rights and feminism.

Empathising with men accused of abuse

Dr Bedera then in her thread then talks about how the ‘conservative’ women like to take side of accused/perpetrator because they want to ‘appear cool’. Or how the woman would defend her rape accused son even if she knows he’s a rapist.

Amusingly, in India, the same is being played out as well, except here it is not ‘conservative’ or ‘Sanghans’ who do it, but the ‘liberal-left-feminist’ women who stand by their rape, sexual harassment accused men.

When Veteran journalist Vinod Dua was accused of sexual harassment, his daughter, ‘comedian’ and Bollywood entertainer Mallika Dua had rallied behind him. In her statement, soon after the allegations rose, addressed to the victim, Mallika Dua reiterated that she supported #MeToo movement but rued the fact that the victim had “dragged her name” in a controversy involving her father.

After expressing displeasure with the victim naming her, Mallika Dua went on to abuse people who were asking her to speak up. She termed these people as ‘bhakts’ and ‘RW trolls’ and asked them to ‘f*ck off’. She reiterated that she stands by the #MeToo movement. ‘Bhakts’ and ‘RW trolls’, to put it mildly, are the ‘conservative’ equivalent for India. A liberal, feminist woman abusing ‘bhakts’ because a woman (who was not really a ‘bhakt’ herself by a long stretch of imagination) had accused her father of sexual harassment.

She ended her statement by saying that she stood by her father in this battle. Eventually, the left propaganda website The Wire, where Vinod Dua was then employed, disbanded the probe committee set up to look into the allegations of sexual harassment against Dua after he refused to face the woman.

A year later, Mallika Dua engaged in victim shaming. She took digs at the woman who had accused her father of sexual harassment. Vinod Dua passed away last year without really facing any ramifications of the allegations of sexual harassment against him.

Like Dua, another feminist-liberal filmmaker Nandita Das has also stood by her father, Jatin Das, accused of sexual harassment. Noted Conservationist Nisha Bora had accused Jatin Das of grabbing her and forcefully kissing her during a dinner in 2004. When the allegations surfaced, many questioned the silence of Nandita Das, who had earlier issued a statement to take a firm stand against sexual harassment and not to work with those people who are accused of sexual misconduct against women.

However, when her own father was accused of sexual harassment, she said that one should be sure about these allegations to make sure that the ‘movement’ is not diluted. She stayed clear from criticizing her father for his alleged sexual conduct but instead stands by him terming it as ‘allegations just to dilute the movement’.

Sanghis deserve it

We have only spoken about the perpetrators and women around them. But what about the victims. Well, when a non-left woman alleges abuse, harassment, in India, the allegations are either almost always dismissed by the self-proclaimed champions of women’s rights or they justify them as ‘they deserve it’.

Women on the non-left have been on receiving end of online abuse and rape and death threats and even victims of rape and abuse. But their voices are almost always ignored by the mainstream media. Politicians like Smriti Irani have been a target of sexist slurs, mockery by the opposition leaders as well as ‘journalists’ and the attacks have only increased after she defeated the clown crown prince Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

Rarely you will see the ‘feminists’ stand up for Irani and raise their voice against the casually sexist remarks against her. Smriti Irani totally deserves the abuse coming her way because she’s a ‘Sanghan’. This is how the left-liberals dehumanise the ‘right’ in India.

In all likelihood, this article will be mocked at by the left cabal as well, because for them, ‘Sanghis’ cannot raise voice against women’s sexual abuse because only they have monopoly on it. That is where the problem lies. For ‘Sanghis’ abuse is abuse, for ‘liberals’, ‘Sanghis’ deserve it for ‘being fascist enablers’.

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