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.”
On April 25, the residents of Jahangirpuri, Delhi, held a Tiranga rally in which members of both Hindu and Muslim communities participated. The rally was held under the banner of the Peace Committee or Aman Committee.
The idea was to promote peace and harmony between the two committees after the Islamists of the area had attacked the Hindus during the Hanuman Jayanti procession. Speaking to news agency ANI, Deputy Commissioner of Police Usha Rangani said, “We organised a joint peace committee constituting members of both communities. They proposed to organise a ‘Tiranga yatra’ in Jahangirpuri & appeal to the people to maintain communal harmony. 50 people each from both communities participated in yatra.”
We organised a joint peace committee constituting members of both communities. They proposed to organise a ‘tiranga yatra’ in Jahangirpuri & appeal to the people to maintain communal harmony. 50 people each from both communities participated in yatra: Usha Rangani, DCP North-West pic.twitter.com/ndcESQHdZe
Members of both Hindu and Muslim communities said that they wanted to live in peace. The rally was to “ensure that no further incidents like April 16 happen in the area.”
Notably, on April 16, members of the Muslim community living in Jahangirpuri had pelted stones at people of the Hindu community when they were taking out Shobha Yatra on the auspicious occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. Several people, including Police personnel, were injured.
DCP had stopped BJP Councilor from talking about illegal immigrants
A peace committee meeting was held a day after the riots on April 16. to discuss ways to maintain peace & tranquillity in the area. Senior Police officers from the Northwest district, including members of the Aman committee of Police stations at Jahangirpuri, Mahendra Park and Adarsh Nagar, alongside DCP Usha Rangnani, addressed the meeting.
When local BJP councillor from Adarsh Nagar Garima Gupta raised the issue of Bangladeshi Muslims creating challenges before the law and order situation, DCP Rangnani interrupted her, as per The Indian Express report. The BJP leader said, “I want to say this in open public. Hindus and Muslims have lived together in peace. The problem in our area, if I come straight to the point, is the Bangladeshi Muslims who have started living here.” Garima Gupta was asked to stop by the DCP Usha Rangnani while she suddenly wrapped up the meeting and asked the members to leave. “You are digressing from the issue,” she said. “Aap sab log apne ilake mein jaiye (please leave for your areas). Let us all maintain peace,” DCP Rangnani said and left.
The issue of illegal immigrants living in different areas of Delhi is a major security threat, and the home ministry and law ministry have pointed out on several occasions that these illegal immigrants who entered India without documents are a major threat to national security. However, neither politicians nor the Police have done anything concrete to isolate and deport them. When incidents like Jahangirpuri happen and investigation hints towards the involvement of illegal immigrants, the issue is often wiped under the rug.
Khargone peace committee called for ‘peace’
A peace committee was also formed in riot-hit Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, where a Muslim mob had pelted stones and petrol bombs on Ram Navami Shobha Yatra. The administration had met the members of the peace committee, which comprised people from both Hindu and Muslim communities, and urged them to maintain peace.
Notably, a 16-years-old Hindu teenager Shivam is still struggling for his life post-surgery. He was hit during stone-pelting. Some reports suggest that there was a hole on his head and skull bone pieces pierced in his brain that were removed during surgery.
Pistol waived in Shaheen Bagh belonged to ‘peace committee member’
On January 29, members of the Peace Committee in Shaheen Bagh, along with Aam Aadmi Party representatives, visited Shaheen Bagh, where a pistol was brandished in the air. Video went viral, and the Lutyens media tried to blame BJP leader Anurag Thakur for the incident.
Interestingly, during the investigation, the Police found that the pistol was registered to one Mohammad Luqmaan Chaudhary, who was part of the peace committee delegation. In a statement to India Today, Luqmaan alleged he was unaware he was carrying a weapon. He had gone to the protest site “peacefully” to urge the protesters to give way to the ambulance and emergency vehicles.
He said, “Around 30-40 people had gathered to go and talk to the protestors. I didn’t realise that I was carrying a weapon. During the argument, someone noticed that I was carrying a weapon and pulled it out. I don’t know who it was.” Luqmaan wanted everyone to believe he unknowingly carried a weapon to be part of a peace committee that went to an already heated zone.
Peace committee meeting at Jamia Milia Islamia in December 2019
Interestingly, a peace committee meeting was held days after Jamia Milia Islamia after stones were pelted at security forces during anti-CAA protests. The local administration and Police officials met with the members of the peace committee and local residents to appeal for peace. A similar meeting was held a few days earlier in Shaheen Bagh as well.
Despite such meetings being held repeated, where Delhi Police met the committee members and stakeholders to urge them to maintain peace, the Delhi riots took place in February 2020. How these peace committees actually help in maintaining peace should be questioned.
How did peace committees come into existence?
According to Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines on Communal Harmony, a letter dated June 23, 2008 [PDF/Page 23], by then-Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta had written to the Chief Secretary was mentioned. In the letter, the Home Secretary detailed the guidelines that were conveyed to the states based on an order dated October 22, 1997 [PDF/Page 139]. At that time, the Janata Dal-led government was at the centre under Inder Kumar Gujarat as Prime Minister, with Congress’s support from the outside.
Source: MHA
In the letter under ‘Periodical Review of Communal Situation at District Level and State Level’ in Section 10, it was mentioned, “Every town identified as communally sensitive should have a Peace Committee consisting of prominent citizens of all communities, representatives of political parties, Public representative, Office bearers of prominent associations/union. Communal forces and anti-social elements should not be included in the Committee. At the time of apprehension of communal tension, meetings of the Peace Committee should always be called to discuss all matters relating to the communal tension. Efforts should be made to enlist the support of the members of the Committee for persuading the members of different communities to find an amicable settlement of the cause of tension and to defuse the situation.”
Though the guidelines clearly mention that anti-social elements and communal forces should not be part of such meetings, a member of such meeting was found with a gun, and the left-leaning media jumped the guns to whitewash the crime.
The guidelines further suggested, “Women are the most affected group in communal tensions or riots. They can be effective in helping to defuse the communal tension and to prevent riots. As such, they should get fair representation in the membership of the Peace Committees/Integration Committee/Tripartite Committees.” This particular part of the guidelines needs re-assessment as the 2020 riots of Delhi made it clear how women were used as a shield by the anti-social and communal elements.
The guidelines that allowed the formation of peace committees after riots are based on the 1997 assessment of the situation. Even in 2008, when the guidelines talked about the committees, it was heavily based on the 1997 assessment. It has been 25 years since then, and it is high time that the Ministry of Home Affairs re-think and formulate new guidelines based on the current situation and advancements in technology to ensure the culprits do not enjoy free run because of such committees.
American billionaire Elon Musk could soon be the owner of Twitter as the social media behemoth is in the last stretches of its negotiations over the sale of the company, reports published on April 25 said. Twitter is reportedly hammering out final touches to its negotiations about the sale of the company to Musk and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday.
Twitter is “set to accept the offer” and the agreement could be reached later today, news agency Reuters reported.
As per news reports, Twitter kicked off deal negotiations with Elon Musk on Sunday after he wooed many of the company’s shareholders with financing details of his $43 billion acquisition bid.
However, the company’s decision to contemplate Musk’s offer does not necessarily mean that it will accept his bid of $54.20 per share. Rather, it reveals that the company is now actively exploring whether a sale of the company to the Tesla CEO is possible on attractive terms, the sources close to the matter were reported as saying.
Musk has been meeting Twitter shareholders for the last few days, canvassing support for his bid and convincing them that Twitter needs to be taken private to unlock its “true potential” and become a genuine platform for free speech as it claims to be.
According to sources privy to the matter, Twitter is currently seeking information about active investigations by regulators into Musk, including by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), that could present roadblocks to the closure of the deal.
Twitter is also exploring whether regulators in any of its major markets would oppose Musk owning the company, reports said. Sources also claimed that if Twitter ascertains that a sale to Musk could be risky, it could seek a commensurate break-up fee for the same.
Musk, who had revealed earlier this month that he is the largest stakeholder in Twitter, had offered to buy the social media company for $43 billion. In his SEC disclosure, Musk had said he has made his “best and final” offer after accrued a stake of more than 9% in Twitter earlier this year.
However, two days after Elon Musk made an offer to buy 100 per cent shares of Twitter Inc. to take the company private and make it a bastion of free speech, Twitter Inc.’s board came up with a new plan to ensure that no one takes control of Twitter through the open market accumulation of shares.
The company reportedly adopted the ‘poison pill’ strategy in which the rights become exercisable if anyone acquires ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s stock in a transaction not authorised by the board. The micro-blogging tech company implemented a limited-duration shareholder rights plan to protect itself from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s $43 billion cash takeover offer.
But the latest reports suggest that Twitter has changed its tune with respect to the offer made by Musk and is currently examining the deal, which is likely to get closed later this evening.
The Bombay HC Monday dismissed a petition filed by independent MP Navneet Rana and MLA Ravi Rana who had earlier moved the court seeking quashing of the second FIR. The second FIR was filed against the duo for resisting their arrest over the row to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s family home. The plea was dismissed by a bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak, who stated that it was “devoid of merit.”
While dismissing the plea, the Bombay HC bench observed, “The people who are active in public life have greater responsibility…Great power comes with greater responsibility… The expectation of a response… is not an extra expectation… This is the minimum expectation … These are two independents and not a part of a series of events… We see no reason on merit to indulge…”
The Ranas were arrested on Saturday under IPC Sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, etc.) and 124A (sedition), which was allegedly added subsequently, as well as provisions of the Bombay Police Act. On Sunday, a second FIR was filed against the Ranas under IPC Section 353 for alleged assault on a public servant to prevent him/her from doing official duties, to which the Ranas objected and moved the court.
Advocate Rizwan Merchant, who represented Navneet and Ravi Rana, contended that the second FIR constituted an abuse of process and that the subsequent addition of the charge was unsustainable.
“My clients were arrested for 153A (incitement) and Bombay Police Act. Later,124A (sedition) was added, then why could they not add 353 (assault of a public servant) when it all occurred at the same time?” said Adv Merchant.
The Bombay HC, however, dismissed the plea filed by the duo but asked the Maharashtra government to give 72 hours’ notice to MP Navneet Rana and Ravi Rana in case it proposes to initiate action against them in the second FIR which is registered for resisting arrest.
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 couple has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. While Ravi Rana, the Badnera MLA was shifted from Authur jail to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai on Sunday (April 24) night, his wife Navneet Rana was taken to Byculla women’s jail.
The Government of India continues to act against YouTube channels spreading disinformation about India’s national security as they ban 16 more YouTube channels. Earlier India had banned 22 YouTube channels earlier in April 2022 for spreading misinformation about India while 20 more were banned in December last year. Some of these banned channels were run out of Pakistan.
Continuing to crack down on the disinformation campaign against India, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting banned 16 more YouTube channels, 6 of them from Pakistan.
As per the ministry, these channels were involved in targeted disinformation against India, that was designed to hurt India’s internal security, foreign relations, and public order.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting blocks 16 YouTube news channels – 10 Indian and 6 Pakistan-based – for spreading disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations and public order: Government of India pic.twitter.com/4s5Cx9tCVO
One of the banned YouTube channels is Tahaffuz-E-Deen India with over 7 lakh subscribers and over 10 crore views. The channel spread several lies in recent times, including alleging that the mastermind of the Ludhiana court blast was a Hindu. The channel also addressed Hindus organizing Shobha yatra in Bhopal on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti as terrorists and promoted several such communal news with no basis in truth.
On Saturday (April 23), former Yes Bank CEO Rana Kapoor revealed to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that he was forced to buy a painting worth ₹2 crores from Congress scion Priyanka Gandhi. Kapoor was reportedly promised a Padma Bhushan in exchange for the purchase.
Reportedly, the amount paid by the ex-CEO of Yes Bank was allegedly used for Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s treatment in New York. The painting was originally gifted to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by renowned painter MF Hussain.
At the heart of the controversy is a letter written by Priyanka Gandhi on June 4, 2010. Sent to the home address of Rana Kapoor, it said, “Thank you for purchasing the portrait of my Father, Shri Rajiv Gandhi painted by Shri M.F. Hussain, which was presented to him in 1985 at the Congress Party’s centenary celebrations and is presently in my ownership and possession.”
Letter by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to Rana Kapoor, Yes Bank in June 2010
“I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated June 3, 2010, as well as your payment by cheque no. 135343 dated June 3, 2010, drawn on your HSBC Account No. 019.384890-006 in the amount of ₹2 crones representing the full and final payment towards subject painting,” Priyanka Gandhi had written.
She further added, “I trust you are aware of the historical value of this work, and will ere are its placement in an environment that befits its stature.”
Controversy over the ownership of the painting
The MF Hussain painting was given to Rajiv Gandhi by the painter himself in 1985 during the centenary celebrations of Congress. The ownership of the painting came under controversy as ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister at that time. There were speculations if the gift was accepted by Rajiv Gandhi in his personal capacity or as the Prime Minister of India.
If the painting was given to Rajiv Gandhi in his personal capacity and if Rajiv Gandhi died without a will, the same will be divided between the legal heirs, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka herself. If the painting was owned by Congress, since Rajiv Gandhi was INC President in 1985, it becomes property of Congress and Priyanka Gandhi will not be able to sell it unless she is given the power of attorney by the party.
If the painting was gifted to Rajiv Gandhi in his personal capacity, then it would have been owned by all three, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, in case there was no will. There is no clarity as to whom it was gifted and who owned it after Rajiv Gandhi was replaced as Prime Minister of India.
Though Prime Ministers are allowed by law to keep the gifts they receive during their tenure, the price of the item cannot exceed Rs 5,000 if they want to retain it. Thus, if the painting was gifted to the chair, it would be wrong on the Gandhi family’s part to retain the painting after Rajiv Gandhi was replaced as PM.
Interestingly, Priyanka Gandhi had claimed that the painting was under her ownership in her letter to Rana Kapoor on June 4, 2010.
After yet another humbling defeat in the recently held assembly elections in 5 states, Congress seems to be turning towards poll strategist Prashant Kishor in a bid to turn their sinking electoral fortunes around. The celebrity poll strategist has previously worked with Congress on the disastrous campaign in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, and with Punjab Congress before abandoning them months ahead of their electoral drubbing. Now Congress seems to be turning towards him once again as they look set to induct him into the party.
Prashant Kishor recently gave a long presentation to Congress leadership outlining his plans to revive the party from its comatose state right now and push them to a strong showing in the next General Elections in 2024. One of the key focus areas suggested by Kishor in his presentation is the digital space, where Congress has always lagged behind the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) despite seemingly trying everything.
Congress lagging behind BJP in digital space
As per the action plan shared by Kishor with Congress leadership, the party needs to develop an unmatched network of digital influencers, supportive media, and a propagation mechanism. Kishor shared in his presentation that within the country’s digital consciousness, currently BJP & its leaders score vastly above Congress and its leaders. The poll strategist also lamented that traditional media is heavily ‘biased’ towards the ruling party and thus, Congress needs to develop its own media ‘ecosystem’.
Slide from Prashant Kishor’s presentationSlide from Prashant Kishor’s presentation
Need for more influencers to push Congress propaganda as per Prashant Kishor
Blaming Congress for poor timing while utilizing its resources, Kishor has asked the party to bring digital influencers on board and use them for the party propaganda. As per Kishor’s master plan, Congress needs to do the following across social media platforms to beat BJP in the digital space.
Get big district-wise Facebook influencers on board with a minimum of 50,000 to 1 Lakh followers.
Utilize stand-up comedians and their YouTube channels for party propaganda.
Develop a country-wide network of Twitter influencers to run hashtags on Twitter.
Have a WhatsApp group in every village of the country.
Slide from Prashant Kishor’s presentation
Prashant Kishor also asked Congress to develop a network of “ideologically inclined” news portals to push the party propaganda using the digital space.
Giving targets to comedians and digital influencers
As part of this digital push, Kishor wants Congress to have 10 national news portals along with 5 to 6 news portals in every state. His plan includes asking 50 comedians to upload at least 1 video per week pushing Congress propaganda.
On Twitter, the plan mentions 500 influencers who will promote one Twitter trend every day in all Indian states. For Facebook, Kishor mentions 4 Facebook influencers from each district of the country with each one of them having 50,000 to 1 Lakh followers.
Slide from Prashant Kishor’s presentation
Apart from this, Kishor has also suggested stringers in every Parliamentary and Assembly constituency who can create video content pushing the Congress agenda and share it on Instagram (or Tiktok if available).
Prashant Kishor has also listed the targets for likes per social media page, the number of people in every Whatsapp group, number of YouTube channels dedicated to Congress propaganda.
Slide from Prashant Kishor’s presentation
The flaw in master strategist Prashant Kishor’s plan
The one minor flaw in Prashant Kishor’s plan is that it has already been executed, and Narendra Modi still keeps beating Congress, comfortably. There is a whole battery of Lutyens journalists to prop Rahul Gandhi up as the great Indian saviour, there are hundreds of influencers pushing Congress propaganda, and 99% of Indian comedians tried to push Congress propaganda ahead of 2019 elections and it all came to nought.
India Today has been publishing Rahul Gandhi 2.0 for a couple of decades, and very surprisingly, even that has not worked. Maybe it will work if Congress pays several Crores to Prashant Kishor.
Just to recall, one time Congress hired Prashant Kishor full-time, BJP recorded its biggest high with an absolute sweep of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most important electoral state. Captain Amarinder Singh as Congress CM of Punjab hired Prashant Kishor, now Captain is electorally irrelevant for the first time in his life and Congress suffered a humiliating defeat in Punjab.
Maybe Congress is looking at Kishor as the silver bullet to solve all their woes, but for the common Indians, Congress has nothing to offer except to remind people how Nehru took freedom of speech away, Indira imposed an emergency, and Rajiv executed the Bofors scam.
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani was on Monday re-arrested by Assam Police in connection with another case, moments after he was granted bail in a case over tweets on PM Narendra Modi. The court had reserved its order on the bail application in the case pertaining to his tweets against PM Modi yesterday.
Assam | Barpeta Police re-arrests Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in connection with another case, right after he was granted bail in the matter connected to his tweet: Advocate Angshuman Bora, lawyer of Jignesh Mevani to ANI
Barpeta Police arrested Mevani after a court granted him bail in connection with the case connected to his tweets against PM Modi.
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.”
Assam Police arrests Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani over his tweets against PM Modi
Mr Mevani was first arrested on Wednesday night from Gujarat’s Palanpur by a team of Assam police on basis of a complaint filed by a local BJP leader from Assam’s Kokrajhar.
According to the reports, controversial MLA Jignesh Mevani was arrested by Kokrajhar police from Gujarat’s Palanpur Circuit House at around 11:30 pm on Wednesday and was later taken to Ahmedabad. He was taken to Assam the next day.
Mevani was booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), section 153(A) (promoting enmity between two communities), 295(A), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and sections of the IT Act.
The complaint was filed against Mevani for a tweet dated 18 April where he had written that PM Modi worships Godse as his God. The complainant is from Kokrajhar, Assam.
Jignesh Mevani is a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Gujarat’s Vadgam. Mevani, who is an independent MLA, had extended support to Congress. As Mevani is elected as an independent MLA, he cannot join any political party.
Self-proclaimed queer activist Dr Aqsa Shaikh who reportedly is a faculty member at Jamia Hamdard has made controversial remarks on Muslim polygamy while trying to peddle the claim that all Muslims in India are in danger. On April 25, Shaikh suggested on Twitter that Muslims should start getting married on priority. She even asked married Muslim men to marry again because polygamy may soon be illegal for them.
“Dear Muslims, get Married..”
Dr Shaikh started her thread saying, “There is palpable islamophobia across India whether you are in a village or Delhi, whether you work in a Govt job or as a blue-collar worker.” She goes on to suggest the Muslim community in India needs to take a lot of measures for their “safety, sanity and welfare.” Shaikh then asserts that getting married can be one of the collectivist ways for it brings a sense of responsibility, belonging and care.
One of those measures is – getting married. Yes! I would urge Single Muslims to get married if they feel they are ready for it. This can bring a lot of sense of responsibility, belonging and care. Also, keep it very simple. Don’t spend much in marriage.
Sheikh went on to say that Muslims should not spend much on their marriage. “You will need those savings for the difficult future which is likely to be our fate soon,” said the activist while layering the propaganda of discrimination against Muslims in India. While selecting the spouse one should stop being ‘snobbish’ and ‘picky’, she says, further asserting that Muslims should start marrying on priority.
“Don’t fall into Inter-faith relationships”
Dr Aqsa demanded that Muslim men should not indulge in Interfaith relationships as there is a supposed huge violent resistance to interfaith marriages especially involving Muslim men. “The consequences if you manage to stay alive would be harassment of your family including some prison time. So, think before you jump,” Shaikh reminded.
The consequences if you manage to stay alive would be harassment of your family including some prison time. So, think before you jump. Also, dear Muslim Men, don’t even think of pronouncing instant triple talaq. Apart from it not considered valid , it could also land you in jail
She then asserted that since Dowry is a crime in Islam, it should be avoided. Furthermore, Dr Aqsa asked Muslims to not engage with Non-Muslims on online dating platforms. “Don’t fall for romantic online relationships with non-Muslims. A lot of these accounts are fake profiles of honey-trappers made to extort money, blackmail and harass,” she says.
She asserted that conjugal relationships and childcare can all be done while pursuing one’s studies and career, with support from family.
In general, through her thread, Dr Aqsa tried to propagate a view that Muslims face imminent danger in India and they should focus on marrying and producing children. Though interestingly, she did not clarify the issue that if Muslims are in so much danger, how are they able to marry, practice polygamy and study and work in India.
Considering marrying a widow, divorcee or a ‘transgender woman’ for polygamy
Dr Aqsa’s tweet
Aqsa Shaikh, who teaches community medicine at Jamia Hamdard also justified Polygamy for Muslim men in India. She suggested that married Muslim Men should quickly consider a second marriage because polygamy won’t be legal for Muslims for a long time. “If you are a married Muslim Man, consider discussing with your spouse for marrying another Muslim woman – preferably someone who is a widow, divorcee, unsupported or a transgender woman,” she suggested in her tweet.
Her statements have attracted sharp criticism, a few days after she was seen suggesting that Instagram is a better tool to learn about sexual and gender minorities than Anatomy and Biochemistry textbooks. Dr Aqsa’s exercise in victimhood followed by her regressive suggestions were called out by people on Twitter.
image via Twitter
Many called out a so-called educated person’s narrow-minded views about issues of marriage and parenting. A Twitter user criticised that her tweets are propagating the concept that humans are just for the purpose of reproduction.
image via Twitter
Many called out Dr Aqsa’s regressive and primitive views with respect to women’s dignity and social status.
Coming from a woman, this thread demonstrates the extent to which Islam brainwashes people. A woman wishing other women polygamous husbands (implying SHARED HUSBANDS)!
It’s a different matter that Hindus may feel relieved that this appeal takes a direction away from love jihad. https://t.co/ZduKA9Z1g0
Khushbu Mattoo asked why a Muslim man needs to ‘marry’ someone, that too for a second time if he wants to support or help them.
At this point in the thread, you’ve reached a high so high, logic commits suicide out of the 15th floor window. Why do you have to marry multiple people to help them financially? License to? It’s actually looking like a parody thread. Good luck with doctorship https://t.co/XHRSXw2xSJ
Dr Aqsa wanted to ‘change’ the medical curriculum, had said it has too much anatomy and too much biochemistry
The same Dr Aqsa had recently gone on an unhinged rant against the medical sciences curriculum, stating that it focuses too much on anatomy, and biochemistry. She wanted medical colleges to teach humanities and advocated for ‘gender identities’ to be taught at the school level. She even stated that Instagram teaches more about sexual and gender minorities than medical colleges.
It is notable here that the Muslim personal laws in India allow Muslims to marry multiple times and keep up to 4 wives. There are several other issues, like child marriages etc, that are in violation of the laws of the country. There is an increasing demand for a Uniform Civil Code across the country.
During the April 24 episode of the show Lock Upp, actress and host of the show Kangana Ranaut revealed that she was sexually assaulted as a child. Recalling the incidents that happened when she was a child, Ranaut said, “I was a little kid and was not aware what exactly was happening. There was a boy in my town who lived nearby. He inappropriately touched me. This guy was three to four years older than me, perhaps he was exploring his sexuality. He would call us, get us all to strip and check us. We would not understand it at the time.”
She added a lot of kids go through the same experience every year, but people hesitate to take the issue to a public platform. She said, “So many kids go through this (sexual assault) every year, but we avoid talking about it on public platforms. All of us go through this, all of us have been inappropriately touched at some point. I have faced this. I was a child, and a young boy from our town used to inappropriately touch me. At the time, I did not know what it meant, no matter how protective your family is, all kids go through this.”
She further said that sexual assault on children is a huge crisis in society. “No matter how much you tell the children about good touch and bad touch, it is not possible to teach them completely. Those close relatives who sexually abuse the children often shower love and bring gifts. It creates confusion in the mind of the children as they do not know what is real and what is not. As a result, kids are psychologically traumatized and scarred for life. They face endless troubles in life,” she added.
Kangana talked about her experience after contestant, and controversial comedian Munawar Faruqui said that he was sexually abused by a close relative when he was young. He said he revealed it to only two people in his life, and the reaction was negative towards him hence he decided not to talk about it anymore.
