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Twitter locks source code, to only allow critical updates temporarily. Here is what we know so far

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter locks source code, to only allow critical updates temporarily. Here is what we know so far

Hours after Twitter shareholders accepted a 44 billion dollar bid from Elon Musk, the microblogging platform has locked changes to its source code, reported Bloomberg. Citing sources, the publication reported that the decision was taken to prevent disgruntled Twitter employees from making unauthorised changes to the platform.

“Twitter imposed the temporary ban to keep employees who may be miffed about the deal from “going rogue,” according to one of the people…Many of the company’s employees have been agitated about the idea of Musk taking charge and what changes may come,” the report added.

Temporarily, Twitter will not allow updates to the platform unless they are ‘business-critical.’ All such changes will require the approval of the Vice-President of the company. It must be mentioned that Twitter was a publicly held company that has now turned private, following the acquisition by Musk.

Political activist Jack Posobiec had shared testimonies of Twitter employees, expressing their anger for turning Twitter Inc. private. These included claims of ‘Elon being a troll and ignorant of Twitter policies’, and ‘inability to monitor toxicity on the platform.’

Popular handler Disclose.tv, has claimed that employees of the micro-blogging platform added an empty public repository titled ‘the-algorithm’ on Github before the temporary cessation of updates to the platform.

Screengrab of the tweet by Disclose.TV

“For non-techies: It seems that some developers at Twitter wanted to send a message to Elon Musk by uploading this empty software repository,” it added.

However, this is not the first time that the company has locked updates to its source code. Earlier, it was done before key events such as the Super Bowl to prevent ‘mistakes from appearing and ensure continuity.’

Elon Musk takes over Twitter Inc.

Elon Musk, who was already the largest individual shareholder of Twitter holding 9.2% of the company, had earlier stated that he had no faith in the current management and couldn’t fulfil Twitter’s true potential under them. He aimed to make the company private so that he could have full control over it and could direct Twitter to fulfil its full potential.

Twitter’s board had tried its best to resist Elon Musk’s takeover bid, including trying to trigger the poison pill strategy. However, the price Musk offered coupled with the mood of the majority of Twitter shareholders eventually forced the Twitter board’s hand.

Elon Musk, who is already the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla and SpaceX, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI as well as the founder of The Boring Company, is now the owner of the social media giant Twitter.

Jignesh Mevani copies ‘Jhukega Nahi’ move from Jahangirpuri riot accused Ansar after being arrested again in Assam, watch

OpIndia Staff
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Jignesh Mevani copies ‘Jhukega Nahi’ move from Jahangirpuri riot accused Ansar after being arrested again in Assam, watch

On April 25, Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani made the Pushpa ‘Jhukega Nahi’ signature move after being re-arrested by the Assam Police. The video was shared by Gujarat Pradesh Congress Sevadal’s official Twitter account. Jignesh was called by a reporter when he was being taken in a Police vehicle. He looked outside and made the signature move from the movie Pushpa like Allu Arjun did.

The move can be seen at 7 seconds in the 10-second clip shared by the Twitter handle.

Mevani was re-arrested by the Assam Police in connection to another case moments after he was granted bail in a case related to tweets on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The court had reserved its order on the bail application in the case pertaining to his tweets against PM Modi yesterday.

The Assam Police released a statement saying, “Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani is arrested again in connection with a new case number 81/22, u/s 294/323/353/ 354, registered against him at the Barpeta police station.”

Jahangirpuri accused Ansar had made the same move

It is notable that the same signature move from the movie Pushpa was also used by Jahangirpuri riots accused Ansar while he was being taken to court by the Delhi Police. There was no remorse on his face when he was being taken to court.

He was sent to Police custody by Rohini Court on April 17, the same day he used the signature move. Ansar was identified as the Muslim leader of the area who instigated the attacks and stone pelting against a Hindu procession passing through the area.

Silence of the Ecosystem: How ‘fact-checkers’ kept mum over fake claims that Hrithik Roshan contributed to the fund they promoted

OpIndia Staff
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Silence of the Ecosystem: How ‘fact-checkers’ kept mum over fake claims that Hrithik Roshan contributed to the fund they promoted

Amidst Rumours of Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan donating money for the rehabilitation of illegal settlements brought down by the anti-encroachment drive, propaganda website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was seen celebrating to have collected Rs 1 crore in his crowdfunding for the same. During the campaign, there were rumours of Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan participating in it, which were later found to be untrue. The alleged fact-checker, however, missed an opportunity to do a check on the fake news that would in turn sabotage the influence of his pet project.

On April 20, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair announced to start a fundraising campaign to help people whose buildings and shops were demolished. Recently, anti-encroachment drives have geared up in certain states of India, where illegal houses of criminals are being brought down with bulldozers. Zubair also asked for local volunteer help to document the details of the ‘victims’, who had built illegal properties. The fundraiser was set up for the rehabilitation of settlements in Khargone, Jahangirpuri, and other locations on Ketto, hosted by controversial NGO Miles2Smile.

A fundraising campaign was started after various states including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation authorities in the national capital, had razed down buildings belonging to encroachers. It was now time for Alt News co-founder to put out a tweet to support the fundraiser, including several other left-liberal ‘journalists’.

Source: Twitter
Source: Twitter

Soon, a Twitter user AminaaKausar claimed that actor Hrithik Roshan donated Rs 1 Lakh for the rehabilitation of illegal encroachers by posting screenshots which had the name Hrithik Roshan as the top donor. After several Twitter users questioned the validity of the actor’s identity, the handle Amina claimed that she had validated it. When OpIndia checked the fundraiser to get more information, the name Hrithik Roshan does not appear in the list of top donors. It is to be noted that, on Ketto, you can put any name while registering the account or making the donation and it will show that name. It does not matter if it matches your real name or the name on the card or account that you have used.

Source: Twitter

The provision by Ketto to go anonymous while doing a contribution makes the whole claim even more suspicious. Had it been Hrithik Roushan contributing to it, there would have been PR agencies working to get the message to be spread across. Or else, the actor would have himself confirmed it. Last year, when Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharam ran crowdfunding for covid relief in India, they released a video that was attached to the raiser on the Ketto website. While there is no confirmation from Hrithik Roshan so far, the self-styled ‘fact-checkers’ who promoted the campaign, did everything to ignore the attempts of attaching Hrithik Roshan’s name to the fundraiser.

The ecosystem, especially the ‘fact-checkers’ which sought money to help the ‘victims’ of action against encroachments, conveniently let the rumour of Hrithik Roshan contributing the money do rounds on social media. In this way, the actor was made an illegitimate ambassador of the campaign, which could have influenced people to donate money to the campaign. When the news of Roshan’s false identity in the contribution broke, the hosts did not attempt to verify the fake news to spread on the internet. The possibility of this being an intended motive cannot be denied, since Ketto allows any name to be associated with the donated money.

The so-called ‘fact-checkers’ chose to not fact-check the dubious claim that Hrithik Roshan had donated to the fund they were actively promoting. This cast aspersions in many people’s minds that the fundraiser may also be dubious and the money collected may be misappropriated the way others have been accused of doing it in recent past.

Rana Ayyub’s dubious fundraiser

Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub is facing an investigation after the ED attached assets worth Rs 1.77 crores with an allegation of stifling funds from three campaigns run by her on the crowdfunding platform Ketto. Starting from April 2020, Ayyub made false claims about helping families in need in the time of Covid-19, while it was found that she had collected substantial amounts of money through three fundraising campaigns on Ketto from she failed to utilise most of the funds. This money was lying unutilised in her personal bank accounts, for which she had to pay a substantial amount as income tax.

Rana Ayyub accepted that out of Rs 2.69 crore she had collected through Ketto, she could utilise only Rs 40 lakh. The three campaigns that Ayyub had run on Ketto were Funds for slum dwellers and farmers from April to May 2020, Relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra from June to Sept 2020, and Help for Covid-19 impacted people in India from May to June 2021.  However, she has not yet given a break up of the amount spent citing that the money was collected through three different fundraising campaigns.

Watch: Muslim woman from Jahangirpuri wishes that Allah sends another calamity that would strike only Hindus, not Muslims

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Muslim woman from Jahangirpuri wishes that Allah sends another calamity that would strike only Hindus, not Muslims

In the wake of the anti-encroachment drive that tore down illegal constructions in violence-stricken Jahangirpuri, Islamists resorted to scaremongering, peddling the propaganda that the action was an attempt to exact ‘revenge against Muslims’. It naturally sowed distrust and elicited angry reactions from a section of Muslims, many of whom were gullible enough to believe that the action was religiously discriminatory.

A video of one such resentful Muslim woman has gone viral on the internet. In the video, the woman wishes calamity such as coronavirus, which she claimed did not affect Muslims, to be struck on Hindus yet again.

In a recent ground report by Panchjanya, a middle-aged woman was interviewed about the bulldozer action in the neighbourhood of Jahangirpuri. On April 20, the NMDC started its anti-encroachment drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area to bring down illegal structures, shops and other encroachments. The lady in the video is seen saying, “We were given no notice. The authorities are doing this of their own will…On their own wish, they are targeting Muslims by threatening and beating them, taking their wives, and destructing their homes. What justice is this?” “The almighty is seeing it all,” the lady said.

“It won’t be the humans, but the God who will decide this”, she said after going on her tirade. Further, when the reporter tried to suggest that it was the Muslim side from where stones were thrown on the Hanuman Jayanti procession, she went on to say, “Like, in the Corona times, only Hindus were affected by the disease. Muslims were not affected. Now at God’s will, there will be such a calamity, that will be struck only the Hindus and not the Muslims.”

However, this is an isolated incident when a comment attaching Covid-19 as a supernatural happening was made.

The plethora of comments that are unscientific at their best and Hinduphobic to the worst includes comments made by burqa-clad women in a famous video in 2019, where they claimed that the deadly coronavirus is the grace of Allah and the Quran to mankind.“The Quran mentions a disease named Corona. We have always been strong and ready. Do you think you can scare us with corona? Death can come at any given time. Don’t think of scaring us with this disease,” a woman in the video claimed.

In the April of 2020, A Maulavi from Bengal, Abbas Siddiqui, was seen roaring from a stage, “Recently I have got the news that mosques are being set on fire…I think something is going to happen within a month. May Allah accept our prayers. May Allah send such a terrible virus to India that ten to twenty to fifty crore people die in India. Am I saying something wrong? It is absolutely blissful.” The Maulavi was seen spewing hate at a time when the world was battling the misinformation in the run-up to the first global wave of Covid-19 in 2020.

Similarly, in 2020 there were dozens of videos on TikTok featuring Muslims claiming that Coronavirus would not do any harm to them as they regularly pray to their God. Another video from Nashik showed a Muslim man taking a bunch of currency notes and licking them with his tongue and wiping his nose with them. He claimed that the coronavirus has no treatment because it is sent by ‘Allah’ to imply that he is going to pass those currency notes around, to spread the disease.

The wake of the Corona Virus in India was also the time when anti-CAA/NRC protests were happening. On Tiktok, in certain videos posted by Islamists, one can see them saying, “Welcome to India, coronavirus. To the ones who were asking for our NRC, my God (Allah)’s NRC is now being implemented. Now only He will decide who will stay and who will go.”

In the March of 2019, in the run-up to an increase in Covid-19 cases in India, Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad had mocked government orders of avoiding huge gatherings and insisted that people should visit the mosques, despite the regulations. Over 2100 attendees including foreign Islamic preachers were found in the Markaz in Delhi while hundreds of others had already reached other parts of the country who were later tested positive.

It is official! Elon Musk is finally the new owner of Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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It is official! Elon Musk is finally the new owner of Twitter

After weeks of speculation, it is now official. The world’s richest person Elon Musk is now going to be the 100% owner of the micro-blogging platform Twitter as Twitter’s board accepts his proposal to buy out all of Twitter. The South African-born billionaire had made an offer to the Twitter board at 54.20 US Dollars per share, a 54% premium over the day before Musk began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before Musk’s investment was publicly announced.

At the offered price, it will cost Elon Musk around 43 Billion USD to buy Twitter, around 15% of his net worth right now. However, not all of this 43 Billion will be coming from Musk’s pocket as he has already lined up investments above 46 Billion to support his Twitter takeover.

Elon Musk, who is already the largest individual shareholder of Twitter holding 9.2% of the company, had earlier stated that he has no faith in the current management and can’t fulfill Twitter’s true potential under them. He aimed to take the company private so that he can have full control over it and can direct Twitter to fulfill its full potential.

Twitter’s board had tried its best to resist Elon Musk’s takeover bid, including trying to trigger the poison pill strategy. However, the price Musk offered coupled with the mood of the majority of Twitter shareholders eventually forced the Twitter board’s hand.

Elon Musk, who is already the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla and SpaceX, co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI as well as the founder of The Boring Company, is now going to be the owner of the social media giant Twitter.

What can we expect from Twitter under Elon Musk leadership

Elon Musk has repeatedly said that freedom of speech is of utmost importance to him, and is one of the main motivations behind his purchase of Twitter. Musk, who often posts jokes and memes on Twitter, has been miffed with the control Twitter exercises over its users and has never hidden his desire to support free speech. Going forward, we are likely to see a more level playing field on Twitter, where the organization no longer supports the left and censors the right.

Whether Musk lives up to his word, and there is no reason to doubt he won’t, we will wait and see.

IPL: Punjab survive Ambati Rayudu blitzkrieg to beat CSK by 11 runs

OpIndia Staff
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IPL: Punjab survive Ambati Rayudu blitzkrieg to beat CSK by 11 runs

In a thriller between 8th and 9th placed sides in the IPL table, Punjab Kings eventually managed to get the better of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 11 runs. The win pushes Punjab to the 6th spot in the table while CSK stays 9th in the points table, only above winless Mumbai.

Chasing 188 to win, Chennai’s chase looked over within the first 7 overs as they were reduced to 40 for 3 having lost Uthappa, Santner, and Shivam Dube. However, that brought Ambati Rayudu to the crease and he brought the game back to life. First in the company of Ruturaj and then with captain Ravindra Jadeja, Rayudu tore apart the Punjab bowling including hitting 3 successive sixes off Sandeep Sharma.

Rayudu was on fire, but eventually it wasn’t enough (Image source : @IPL)

Punjab’s death bowling bails them out

Punjab’s death bowlers, Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada kept their cool in the face of the onslaught with Rabada finally accounting for Rayudu. Some excellent bowling by the duo left Rishi Dhawan, playing his first IPL game after a long gap, with 27 to defend off the final over. Even though MS Dhoni threatened to pull off a heist in the last over for the second successive game, Dhawan defended the target comfortably in the end.

Dhawan shines with the bat

Earlier in the day, Chennai won the toss and put Punjab into bat. CSK’s bowlers kept Punjab in check initially with skipper Mayank Agarwal in particular struggling to get away eventually getting dismissed for just 18 off the 21 balls he faced. His fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan found an able partner in Sri Lankan Rajapaksa, who made a return to the side in place of Odean Smith. The duo put together 110 runs in 69 balls setting the stage perfectly for a late assault from Livingstone and Bairstow.

Dhawan eventually batted through the innings to stay unbeaten on 88 off 59 balls and guided Punjab to a very competitive 187 for 4 in their 20 overs.

On a good pitch, the target of 188 was still not out of reach, but Punjab’s bowlers never allowed CSK to get away during the first half of the innings. Even Rayudu’s 39 balls 78 was not enough to make up for it in the end thanks to some excellent death bowling by Arshdeep and Rabada.

Centre’s ceiling price for jute higher than WB govt’s recommendation: The truth about TMC’s faux outrage on jute price cap

OpIndia Staff
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Centre’s ceiling price for jute higher than WB govt’s recommendation: The truth about TMC’s faux outrage on jute price cap

The crisis over jute mills is escalating in West Bengal as the TMC and the Centre are at the daggers drawn over the issue of capping raw jute prices at Rs 6,500 per quintal. While The TMC has demanded the Centre to raise the ceiling price of jute to Rs 7,200 per quintal, according to state government documents, the Mamata Banerjee-led regime in Bengal had themselves kept the upper cap of jute prices at Rs 6,000 per quintal.

The revelation assumes significance, especially in the light of the faux outrage over the upper cap price for jute in West Bengal. Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, the chief whip of the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha, had appealed to the Centre to solve the crisis which he claims to have a bearing on the livelihood of around three crore workers engaged in the sector.

Alleging that the jute industry is on the brink of an imminent collapse, Ray ascribed the crisis to the price cap that he claimed was having a negative impact on the industry. He wrote separate letters to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Textile Minister Piyush Goyal, stating that the Centre’s decision of keeping the price cap on raw jute has led to shuttering of 15 jute mills, leaving over 60,000 workers jobless.

“From November 2021, the Jute Commissioner’s Office is engaged in an unhealthy battle with Bengal’s jute industry on the capping of raw jute price at ₹6,500 per quintal while the industry demand is ₹7,200 per quintal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has publicly opposed the cap imposed by the Jute Commissioner on 30 September 2021, but it has not been removed,” Ray was quoted as saying in a report published by The Federal.

The TMC demand for the removal of the ceiling limit to the price of raw jute got a boost when BJP MP Arjun Singh wrote a strongly-worded letter to Piyush Goyal, asking the Centre to revoke the Rs 6,500 per quintal price cap on jute and contending that the move’s economic benefits were outweighed by its political losses.

TMC govt had set Rs 6,000 per quintal as the upper cap price for jute

The Centre, in its response to Singh’s letter, highlighted the chicanery of the TMC government. While the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal is demanding that the Centre remove the price ceiling on the jute prices, the TMC government in 2020 had suo moto recommended fixing the upper cap of raw jute price at Rs 6,000 per quintal, which is lower than the upper cap of Rs 6,500 per quintal fixed by Jute Commissioner office on September 30, 2021, for the year 2021-22.

As per the decision taken by the West Bengal government in December 2020, a copy of which was accessed by OpIndia, the government had decided to maintain the price of raw jute at Rs 6,000 per quintal, which is lower than the price recommended by the Centre. This technically means that the Centre’s price is superior compared to the West Bengal state government’s decision and farmers stand to gain more with Rs 6,500 per quintal as the upper cap of jute prices as compared to the Bengal government’s cap of Rs 6,000 per quintal.

West Bengal govt had decided in December 2020 to cap the price of jute at Rs 6,000 per quintal

“The CACP in its’ report for 2021-22 had estimated production cost of raw jute at Rs 2832/- per quintals and MSP was fixed at Rs 4500/ – per quintals with more than 50% profit margin (58.9% to be precise) for farmers. Jute Commissioner had fixed the upper cap at Rs 6500/- per quintal leaving no room for grievance by farmers,” the Centre said in its response to Singh’s letter.

No complaints from farmers, upper ceiling price arrived at with scientific method: Centre

Furthermore, the central government has further highlighted that there have been no complaints, either orally or in writing, by any farmer or farmer bodies about the raw jute price fixation. The Centre further added that at present no jute of current season is being held by farmers and that it lies with the middlemen/traders and even with mills in their own name or in name of third parties at various places.

“Relaxation in the upper price cap will only accrue illegitimate financial gains by these parties and no benefit will accrue to the farmers. As per informal sources, the raw jute production is expected to rise further during 2022-23 compared to 2021-22 due to receipt of remunerative price by the farmers – provided there is no large scale weather-based disruptions,” the Centre’s letter read.

Besides, the price of Rs 6,500 per quintal has a scientific basis, the Centre argued. The prices have not been arbitrarily fixed and have been arrived at in accordance with due scientific methodology.

“The minimum market price of the present Jute Season was Rs 5750/- per quintals at the beginning of the jute season and the maximum price was Rs 6800/- quintals for TDN3/TD5 Ex-West Bengal grade raw jute. On 30th September 2021 (the date of fixation of reasonable price) the price was Rs 6700/- per quintal. The average price of raw jute for the reference-grade was Rs. 6351/- for the month of September 2021. Therefore, the fixation of raw jute price at Rs 6500/- per quintals was not arbitrary and was in coherence with the market trend prevailing,” it said.

Veer Kunwar Singh, the legendary king of Jagdishpur who chopped off his own arm at the age of 80 for India’s freedom

Jhankar Mohta
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Veer Kunwar Singh, the legendary king of Jagdishpur who chopped off his own arm at the age of 80 for India’s freedom

On April 23, to commemorate the 164th death anniversary of Veer Kunwar Singh, the then-king of Jagdishpur who is regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the First War of Independence in 1857, more than 75,000 Indians simultaneously waved the national flag for a full five minutes at Jagdishpur town in Bihar’s Bhojpur district. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also attended the Vijayotsav celebrations of Veer Kunwar Singh held at Dulour Maidan in Jagdishpur, Bhojpur.

Speaking at the Veer Kunwar Singh ‘vijayotsava’ at Jagdishpur (Ara), the Union Home Minister said that the country could never forget the role of the 1857 war hero in India’s Independence.

While paying tribute at the historic land of Jagdishpur, Amit Shah stated that the Government of India would construct a grand memorial at Jagdishpur Fort in commemoration of Veer Kunwar Singh, whom he said historians did not give a proper place in history. Shah stated that the memorial would honor Babu Veer Kunwar Singh’s efforts in the country’s first battle for independence.

Speaking at the event that was organized under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, Amit Shah said that Kunwar Singh’s heroic story should reach every youth of today.

Who is Veer Kunwar Singh

Kunwar Singh, also known as Babu Kunwar Singh or Kuer Singh, was a prominent leader during the first war of independence in 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, or India’s First Struggle for Independence. It started on May 10, 1857, in the garrison town of Meerut, as a mutiny by British East India Company army sepoys.

The insurrection began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were considered to be lubricated with a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard and so religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus respectively.

While his army was in Barrackpore, a soldier named Mangal Pandey stabbed a British sergeant and injured an adjutant, sparking the rebellion.

When Babu Kunwar Singh severed his left hand to continue to fight the British

The Mutiny soon spread to Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Jhansi, and Gwalior. When the uprising reached Bihar, Kunwar Singh was called upon to lead a select band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the British East India Company. Kunwar Singh was 80-years-old when he took up arms against the British. He gave a good fight and harried British soldiers for nearly a year and remained invincible until the end.

Kunwar Singh, who belonged to a royal Ujjainiya (Panwar) Rajput house of Jagdispur, currently a part of Bhojpur district, Bihar, India, took charge of the men who had revolted at Danapur, Bihar on July 25. Two days later Singh along with his men occupied Arrah, the district headquarters. On 3 August, Major Vincent Eyre rescued the town, defeated Singh’s men, and burned Jagdishpur.

History has it that during the uprising, his army was forced to cross the Ganges. Brigadier Douglas’ soldiers started shooting at their boat. Singh’s left wrist was smashed by one of the gunshots. Singh thought that his hand had become unusable and that there was an additional risk of infection due to the bullet shot. He pulled out his sword and severed his left hand near the elbow, offering it to the Ganges.

Veer Kunwar Singh’s sword, which had vanquished the British soldiers in the 1857 rebellion, displayed at four places in the Bhojpur district (ETV Bharat)

The troops under the authority of the East India Company were comprehensively routed in his final fight, fought on April 23, 1858, near Jagdishpur. On the 22nd and 23rd of April, despite being injured, he battled heroically against the British army, driving them away with the support of his army, bringing down the Union Jack from Jagdishpur Fort, and hoisting his flag.

He returned to his palace on April 23, 1858, and died three days later on April 26, 1858, passing on the mantle to his successor and brother Amar Singh II.

Born to the Maharaja and Maharani of Jagdishpur (currently in Bhojpur District, Bihar) in April 1777, Kunwar Singh’s name is typically drowned amid the other notable names of the Revolt. Nonetheless, his contribution to the first fight for independence was immense. He is known as Veer Kunwar Singh because of his courageous fights against the British despite many odds stacked against him.

The life-sized statue of Veer Kunwar Singh shifted to Shaheed Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park (source: The Telegraph)

On April 23, 1966, the Republic of India issued a commemorative stamp to honor his contribution to India’s freedom struggle. In 1992, the Bihar government founded the Veer Kunwar Singh University in Arrah.

The Veer Kunwar Singh Setu, commonly known as the Arrah–Chhapra Bridge, was opened in 2017 to connect the north and south Bihar. To commemorate the 160th anniversary of Kunwar Singh’s death, the Bihar government transferred a statue of him to Hardinge Park in 2018. The park was also officially renamed ‘Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park’.

Priyanka Chaturvedi justifies sedition charges slapped against Navneet Rana, claims Hanuman Chalisa recital posed a security threat to PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Chaturvedi justifies sedition charges slapped against Navneet Rana, claims Hanuman Chalisa recital posed a security threat to PM Modi

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday defended sedition charges slapped against MP Navneet Rana and her husband following the Hanuman Chalisa row. Speaking to a News18 reporter, the Shiv Sena leader claimed the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, the family residence of CM Uddhav Thackeray, could pose a security threat to PM Narendra Modi during his visit to Mumbai.

When asked how she would justify her party’s decision to press sedition charges against MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana, Priyanka Chaturvedi, in all seriousness, said that the party need not be defensive about its stand. “I’ll be honest and upfront”, she said, as she evoked the January 2022 incident of PM Narendra Modi’s security breach in Punjab and added that the Hanuman Chalisa recitation outside Matoshree could have posed a security threat to PM Modi during his visit to the country’s financial capital.

It may be recalled that on January 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cavalcade was stalled for about 20 minutes on a flyover in Punjab owing to farmers blocking the flyover. A huge security breach occurred when private automobiles were spotted approaching the cavalcade. According to the MHA, the Punjab government failed to deploy adequate security to ensure the safety of any road traffic. The Punjab Police had reportedly directed the protesters towards the flyover where the PM’s convoy was about to pass.

In reference to the aforementioned incident, the Shiv Sena MP asked the reporter if he remembered what transpired. She stated that the Prime Minister had then taken a swipe at the Punjab CM during his return from Punjab. The Shiv Sena MP went on to say, “the next day the PM of the country is visiting Maharashtra, is visiting the city of Mumbai where a member of the Parliament is creating law and order disruptions. Creating a problem which could threaten the security of the Prime Minister of India. Maharashtra is well within in rights to take suitable action to ensure that the PM of our country gets the best safety standard in the city that is known for its best law and order mechanism”.

The Shiv Sena MP was referring to PM Modi’s scheduled visit to Mumbai on April 24 (Sunday) to receive the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award.

It is notable to mention that the couple had withdrawn their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa before Matoshree, and they were actually arrested from their home.

Earlier in the day, OpIndia also reported how hours after a Mumbai Court remanded Ravi Rana to 14-day judicial custody, the Badnera MLA was shifted to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai on Sunday (April 24) night. The independent MLA was first taken to the Arthur Road jail but was shifted to Taloja jail due to ‘overcrowding.’ Meanwhile, his wife Navneet Rana has been taken to Byculla women’s jail.

The Background of the Case

MP Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana were earlier arrested by Mumbai police for planning to recite Hanuman Chalisa before Matoshree, the family residence of CM Uddhav Thackeray. Though they had later withdrawn their plan, the duo was arrested from their home. Charges of sedition were also pressed against them.

They were produced before Bandra Court on Sunday (April 24) and sentenced to 14 days in judicial custody. Both of them were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), and Section 135 of the Mumbai Police Act (violation of prohibitory orders).

The court has listed the matter for a bail application on April 29, 2022.

Clothing brand removes bikini collection, featuring Hindu deities, after social media outrage

OpIndia Staff
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Clothing brand removes bikini collection, featuring Hindu deities, after social media outrage

A day after Opindia reported how Sahara Ray has been selling underwear with the print of Hindu deities, the Australian surfer turned Only Fans model has deleted the contentious clothing collection from the website of her brand ‘Sahara Ray Swim.’

The swimwear was a part of the brand’s ‘Aura collection 2022’. Comprising mostly of thongs and micro string tops, the new collection featured images of Hindu deities on top of them. An archive of the collection can be accessed here.

Within 24 hours of outrage by the Hindu community on social media, ‘Sahara Ray Swim’ was forced to delete their entire collection. “0 products. Sorry, there are no products in this collection,” says the website of the clothing brand.

Screengrab of the Aura Collection of Sahara Ray Swim before and after social media outrage

Following angry messages by netizens on the official contact page of ‘Sahara Ray Swim’, the brand has removed its contact information altogether.

Screengrab of the contact page of Sahara Ray Swim

The social media outrage has prompted the Only Fans model to turn her Instagram account private. She is yet to apologise or issue a statement for hurting the religious sentiments of 1.3 billion Hindus.

Screengrab of the Instagram account of Sahara Ray

Sahara Ray has also changed the privacy settings of her Twitter account private and made it accessible only to her ‘approved followers.’ So far, she has not responded to the message sent by Opindia via the contact form on her website.

Screengrab of the Twitter account of Sahara Ray

Earlier, popular Twitter user Madhur Singh had informed that the Instagram handle of ‘Sahara Ray Swim’ first blocked users who questioned the objectionable swimwear collection. “Later they turned the comments off and posted yet another set of photos of the same lingerie. Kinda their way of saying we are superior, we’ll do whatever we want,” he had added.

In a tweet, the Hindu IT Cell had assured, “We have taken cognisance of this matter. It’s absolutely derogatory and defamatory act against Hindu ideals. We are not going to tolerate this and our team will legally proceed in this matter.”

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