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Delhi anti-Hindu Riots: HC seeks response of Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi, Swara Bhaskar, others on plea to implead them over hate speeches

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi anti-Hindu Riots: HC seeks response of Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi, Swara Bhaskar, others on plea to implead them over hate speeches

The Delhi High Court on Monday, February 28 issued notices to several prominent political leaders including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a plea seeking their impleadment in a hate speech case related to the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.

Others who were issued notices include AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Amanatullah Khan, AIMIM leaders Waris Pathan and Akbaruddin Owaisi, Mehmood Pracha, controversial left-wing ‘Activist’ Harsh Mander and rabble-rousers like actor Swara Bhaskar.

Impleading is a process through which third parties can be brought into ongoing litigation. The notice was issued while the court was hearing applications for the impleadment of the politicians in a series of petitions alleging that they delivered hate speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that sparked the February 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.

The court sought to know if they should be added as parties/respondents in FIRs filed against them for allegedly making hate speeches during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests two years ago that resulted in the Delhi anti-Hindu Riots two years ago.

The Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Anoop Kumar Mehndiratta stated that the notice to the persons was necessary to allow them to explain whether or not they should be impleaded as party respondents in the writ petition.

The matter has been posted for the next hearing on March 22, 2022.

Delhi HC issues notice to centre, police over petition seeking FIR against Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi for hate speech leading to 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots

It may be recalled that in February 2020, the Delhi HC had issued notice to Delhi Police, Delhi government and the Centre in connection with a petition seeking registration of FIRs against Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for hate speech during anti-Hindu riots in Delhi

The petitions were made by Lawyers’ Voice, Ajay Gautam and the Hindu Sena.

It also sought to issue directions to register an FIR against Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.

One of the petitioners, Lawyer’s Voice, had sought FIRs against Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Sisodia, Amanatullah Khan, social activist Harsh Mander, AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, former AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan, etc., as parties to the petitions.

Several petitions have been filed in the high court regarding the 2020 riots in north-east Delhi and claimed hate speeches by leaders that caused the Northeast Delhi anti-Hindu riots perpetrated by Islamists between the 23rd and the 26th of February 2020 in the backdrop of protests against CAA.

Delhi HC dismisses application challenging plea seeking FIRs against Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur

OpIndia reported on February 24, how the Delhi HC had dismissed an impleadment application challenging the maintainability of a plea seeking the registration of an FIR against various BJP leaders for allegedly making hate speeches in order to provoke the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots.

The court was hearing an intervention application on behalf of a lawyer in a pending case filed by Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq, who sought the registration of an FIR and investigation against BJP officials Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma, and Abhay Verma.

Amidst fears of World War 3, the Times of India is concerned about the Indian film industry losing shooting destinations

Jhankar Mohta
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Amidst fears of World War 3, the Times of India is concerned about the Indian film industry losing shooting destinations

While many are worrying that the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine could signal the start of the third World War, the mainstream media outlet Times of India appears to be extremely perturbed about how Indian filmmakers may lose out on a popular shoot location, which Ukraine has turned out to be in the recent times.

While, on one hand, people are sharing their fears about larger issues like the safety of people stranded in the war-hit Ukraine and whether the Russia-Ukraine crisis might trigger a World War 3 like situation, the official account of Delhi Times, Times of India, has in its report published on February 28, 2022, raised concerns on how the Indian film industry may be on the verge of losing out on a popular film shooting destination because Ukraine offers picturesque locations at lower costs.

Sharing the link of a report published by the media house on February 28, 2022, Delhi Times has Tweeted, “#Ukraine was becoming a popular shoot location with #Indian filmmakers with films like @RRRMovie and #Dev shot in Ukraine recently.” The archived version of the TOI report can be viewed here.

Interestingly, the TOI report published on February 28, 2022, titled: ‘Ukraine was becoming a popular shoot location with Indian filmmakers’, makes no mention of the catastrophe that has enveloped the war-torn region, instead, merely laments the fact that the Indian film industry will be unable to shoot in the country anytime soon.

Report published by TOI on February 28, 2022

Times of India (TOI) worries about how Indian filmmakers would not be able to shoot in Ukraine anytime soon

It mentions how Ukraine had off late become one of the favourite foreign shooting destinations for the Indian filmmakers since it not only offered picturesque locations but shooting there used to be 20-30% cheaper than other Eastern European countries.

The report quoted many filmmakers and location managers who detail why and how Ukraine was a lucrative shooting destination. One location manager was quoted as saying that the locations in Ukraine can be matched with the settings of other places, like Paris, London, the US and even some Indian locales, making it the most suitable location in Europe from a financial perspective and also in terms of filmmaking.

Satish Sharma, director of Indo-Soviet Films that coordinates for shoots in Ukraine was quoted as saying how Ukraine was becoming a popular location among Indian filmmakers when COVID hit. “It doesn’t look like we will be able to film in the country anytime soon,” Satish reportedly lamented.

At this juncture, the Indian media should be typically focusing on reporting about the plight of Indian students, stranded in Ukraine’s big cities and at the border and frantically sending messages asking the government to evacuate them. On the Indian government’s spirited efforts to coordinate the evacuation of the Indians from the war-hit region. On how the Ukrainian security agencies are allegedly making it difficult for Indian nationals, including students, to leave Ukraine. There have been reports that the Ukrainian agencies are not only using Indian nationals as leverage against India by putting them in a hostage-like situation but also assaulting and misbehaving with them.

But here we have the Times of India, which has, instead, chosen to report on the plight of Indian filmmakers who are fearing losing out on a shooting destination primarily because shooting there used to be 20-30% cheaper than other Eastern European countries.

Four Union Ministers to fly to neighbouring nations of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation of Indian students

Meanwhile, on February 28, the Government of India announced that three Union Ministers, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen (Retd) VK Singh would travel to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation of the Indians from the war-hit region.

A high-level meeting was called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Ukraine crisis. During the meeting, it was decided that four union ministers would travel to the war-hit region and coordinate the evacuation mission and help students to reach back home safely.

Mission Ganga: The Evacuation Program to bring back Indian students from Ukraine

Since Russia’s declaration of military action against Ukraine on February 24, the Indians stuck in the war-hit zone are being evacuated by the government of India under the Mission Ganga program. The number of Indians stranded in Ukraine is reported to be anywhere between 16,000 to 20,000, with most media houses reporting them at 18,000. However, as of now, the official government figure is 16,000. So far, 907 Indians have been evacuated. Notably, the Indian government had issued multiple advisories urging Indians to leave Ukraine before the war was declared.

Journalist with bylines in The Wire and HW News, who tried to fan violence in Tripura, now seen trying to use Indian students in Ukraine for anti-govt propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist with bylines in The Wire and HW News, who tried to fan violence in Tripura, now seen trying to use Indian students in Ukraine for anti-govt propaganda

While the Indian government is busy evacuating 16000 stranded Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine under ‘Operation Ganga‘, several people have accused ‘journalist’ Samriddhi k Sakunia of creating hysteria and peddling anti-government agenda to undermine the evacuation process. She was earlier arrested for peddling fake news and instigating violence in the State of Tripura.

On Saturday (February 26), the ‘journalist’ had joined the Telegram group of Team SOS India, a volunteer-driven initiative that aims to help the needy in times of distress. Until then, Sakunia had been actively fanning the narrative that the Modi government was not doing anything for the evacuation of stranded Indian students.

She made her intention clear while trying to solicit anti-government comments from students and their family members. Sakunia wrote, “Hello guys. This is Samriddhi Sakunia, a journalist based in Delhi. First of all, so sorry for whatever you all are going through. And I really hope you all to be safe and wish that government comes in rescue.”

“I am doing a report on how Indian students are stuck and find no help from the government. Would it be possible for you all to make a comment? I will send you questons and you can answer according to your free time and avaliability. DM me personally. Let me know and please tale care. Thanks,” the journalist stated her objective.

Screengrab of the messages on the Team SOS India’s Telegram group

Samriddhi K Sakunia also posted the link of her Twitter account and asked students to send their answers to her via a Direct Message. One Aswin Kumar inetervened and questioned the ‘journalist’ for using the crisis and the distress of the stranded students to peddle her anti-government agenda.

“So, you want your anti-government agenda even in a group where everyone is in panic and stressed about the safety of their loved ones?”, he inquired. Sakunia was caught off guard. In her defence, she claimed, “Absolutely not. You got it all wrong mate. I am trying to voice your opinion.”

Several users on the Telegram group joined Aswin Kumar and reprimanded Samriddhi K Sakunia for using the plight of the distressed students as a political opportuntuy. “I don’t think it’s the approproiate time,” wrote one Sarnan Chakraborty.

One Abhi emphasised, “Ma’am, we are not here to give opinions. We just want help. That’s it. We want (to) come (back to) our motherland.” A Telegram user by the name of Shubh Kamboz had even asked Sakunia to push the Indian government for evacuating Indian nationals stranded on the Eastern border of Ukraine, if she believed that she was a good ‘journalist’.

Screengrab of the messages on the Team SOS India’s Telegram group

Interstingly, the admin of the Team SOS India Telegram group quickly came out in defence of Samriddhi K Sakunia. It posted, “Talk to journalist, if possible. We need all the support we can get to raise the voice.” Aswin Kumar pointed out that the ‘journalist’ had worked leftist propaganda news portal such as The Wire.

When a user by the name of Akash had mocked the journalist for her alleged association with NDTV (as stated by Kumar to Opindia), the group admin defended Sakunia and censored his message.

Screengrab of the messages on the Team SOS India’s Telegram group

While speaking to Opindia, Kumar said, “With or without the knowledge of the admin, they are using the group for their propaganda. The admin asked the members to send a 1 minute video of distress so that journalists can raise issue with the government. I am not sure if the admin is affiliated with the propaganda.”

Samriddhi K Sakunia was arrested by Tripura police for spreading fake news

On November 13 last year, the Tripura Police had detained Samriddhi K Sakunia for publishing fake news, with the intent to spread communal violence. The ‘journalist’ was produced before a court in Gomti district, following which she was granted bail.

Sakunia had published a series of tweets, which allegedly showed “vandalised” mosques in Tripura. In one of the videos posted by her, Sakunia claimed that the ‘Holy Quran’ was burnt to ashes. When Tripura Police approached the person she referred to in her video, he denied the claims of the book being Quran. On questioning Sakunia over the phone, she had refused to present any evidence to support her claims.

The ‘journalist’ has a well-established social media presence on Twitter and Instagram that she uses to propagate agenda-based reports. From CAA to farmer protests and from Israel to central government, Sakunia has published countless posts trying to propagate a specific agenda that falls perfectly in sync with left-leaning media. Notably, she has also written for The Indian Express, The Leaflet, The Citizen, Two Circles and News Click.

Though she was reportedly working with HW News when she was arrested, her bio on Twitter mentions works in Indian Express, The Wire, and other portals.

Sakunia’s Twitter profile

Operation Ganga to the rescue

 The Indian government, under ‘Operation Ganga’, has moved a massive amount of personnel and resources to repatriate every stranded Indian from Ukraine and bear the expense of the travel. It must be mentioned that the Ukrainian airspace was closed for civilian aircraft from Thursday (February 24) morning onwards.

As such, the Indian embassy in Ukraine had to coordinate with the embassies of neighbouring countries in Poland, Romania and Hungary for the creation of safe evacuation channels. Under ‘Operation Ganga’, Indians were first taken in batches from Ukraine to bordering countries (currently Hungary and Romania) via buses/commute arranged by the embassy.

They were then airlifted to Delhi or Mumbai through chartered Air India flights. On Saturday (February 26) evening, the first Air India flight carrying 219 Indian nationals reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai from Bucharest in Romania.

As of Monday (February 28), a total of 1396 Indians were evacuated via 6 chartered Air India flights under Operation Ganga. It must be mentioned that prior to the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had evacuated 240 people from Boryspil International Airport in Kyiv on Tuesday (February 22). This puts the total number of Indian evacuees at 1636.

Times of India’s headline on the demise of Pokhran I scientist Pranab Dastidar draws ire. Here is why

OpIndia Staff
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Times of India’s headline on the demise of Pokhran I scientist Pranab Dastidar draws ire. Here is why

On Monday (February 28), leading English daily ‘The Times of India’ courted controversy for trivialising the achievements of Pokhran-I scientist Pranab Dastidar in an obituary.

Despite his contribution to the field of science and unwavering commitment to the nation, The Times of India attempted to downplay his achievements. In an obituary published on Monday (February 28), the English daily reduced Pranab Dastidar as the ‘button presser’ of the Pokhran-I test.

“Man who pushed Pokhran-I nuclear test button dies in US,” read the headline of the article. While it is true that the deceased scientist pulled the trigger of India’s first nuclear test, Pranab Dastidar’s contribution to India’s nuclear programme was much beyond pressing a button.

Screengrab of the news report by The Times of India

Dastidar, who passed away on February 11, 2022, in California, was a Padmashree recipient. He was a principled scientist who played a key role in the development and design of the reactor of India’s indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant.

Born in 1933, the scientist had a PhD from Manchester and had been a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in Bengaluru. He was 89 years old at the time of his death.

During his lifetime, Pranab Dastidar served as the Director of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency and the Group Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He even went on to earn two US patents after his retirement.

Netizens slam The Times of India for insensitive reporting

The Times of India was slammed by netizens for its insensitive reporting on the demise of the Indian scientist. Popular Twitter user, Mr Sinha, wrote, “Seems like Vineet Jain has hired some Pakistani jihadis to run this account & has given him full freedom to show their hate towards Hindus & India using this account.”

Screengrab of the tweet

“What a sub-standard level of reporting, TOI news does. Either the employees aren’t getting paychecks or they are paid heavily to report with hatred,” tweeted another user.

Screengrab of the tweet

“A top-rated scientist is degraded by TOI even after his death, the title indicates as if the deceased was a ruffian & had committed a folly. Had it been someone from the Abrahamic religion, the title of the news would have been rosy & eye-catching,” remarked one Rakesh Tomar.

Screengrab of the tweet

One Prithvi Mani questioned the English Daily, “Are you reporting act of an unqualified person or a vagrant event? He is a pride of this Nation & a Scientist of this Country performing dedicated work. Educate your editorial team to do better with their vocabulary & respect people with distinguished qualifications.”

Screengrab of the tweet

Another user slammed The Times of India for its insensitive reporting and low-grade editing.

Screengrab of the tweet

Another Twitter user expressed happiness for terminating the subscription of the English Daily. He said, “Seeing this headline, I don’t regret my decision.”

Screengrab of the tweet

Codenamed the ‘Smiling Buddha’ and officially known as ‘Pokhran-I’, India conducted its first successful nuclear test on May 18, 1974. This made India the first country outside the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to conduct a nuclear test. It was the joint effort of a team of 75 scientists and engineers, who worked on it between 1967 and 1974. It was led by scientist Raja Ramanna, Rajagopala Chidambaram, PK Iyengar and others.

With leftist historians on your side, you can stay neutral in any war: Here is how

Abhishek Banerjee
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With leftist historians on your side, you can stay neutral in any war: Here is how

There is a war happening in Europe. How can India stay neutral? Or as woke liberals, freshly graduating from Instagram, would ask: how can India in good conscience, stay neutral? The more experienced liberals, with their think tank affiliations, would agree. India must stand up for democracy and freedom. With an added flourish, they claim that there is even a practical dimension to this. In order to be counted as a great power, India must start behaving like one. And that means India cannot sit on the sidelines when there is a major conflict happening.

If nothing else, they say that India must have a sense of history. Will history forgive us unless we choose correctly between Russia and Ukraine?

What if I told you that all of this is bullsh*t? You don’t need to pick sides in a war to have moral authority in the world. You can be a great power and still be neutral in a great war. All you need is a firm grasp on historians, journalists and intellectuals. If you have them on your side, history will be kind to you.

Let me show you how, from the greatest war of all time. The two-sentence summary of World War 2 goes something like this. There was Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy on one side, known as the Axis powers. There was the Communist USSR, the United States and the British Empire on the other, known as the Allies. This might give you the impression that the three big Allied Powers joined forces and defeated the combined might of the three big Axis powers.

The reality, however, is much more curious. Not everyone on the “same side” was fighting at the same time. And some of them even switched sides midway!

Here is the real timeline of the war:

Aug 23, 1939: Communist USSR and Nazi Germany sign an alliance to conquer the countries of Europe

Sep 1, 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland

Sep 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

Sep 17, 1939: Communist USSR invades Poland

Sep 1939 – Jun 1940: Nazi Germany occupies half of Poland, as well as Western Europe, including France. Communist USSR occupies the other half of Poland, as well as Eastern Europe, including Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.

Jun 1940 : Italy declares war on France, shortly before France is occupied by Nazi Germany

June 22, 1941 : Hitler breaks his alliance with Communists, invades the USSR

Dec 7, 1941 : Japan invades the US at Pearl Harbor

Dec 11, 1941: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.

Okay, so it all seems sorted by end of 1941 at least, right? The Communists may have started the war as allies of Nazis, but they have had to change sides now. From this point onward, surely we can go with the simplistic description:

(Germany + Italy + Japan) vs (United States + Britain + USSR)

Wait! Not so fast. Something is “missing” in that list. The Communist USSR and Japan are in opposite camps. But when did the Communists declare war on Japan or vice versa?

The mind blowing reality is that they did not. Yes, all through World War 2, the Communist USSR remained steadfastly neutral with respect to Japan.

So the US was at war with both Japan and Germany. The USSR was at war with Germany, but not with Japan! And bear in mind that the USSR was fighting its war with Germany almost completely with aid from the United States. This aid included everything, from butter to tanks, planes and trucks. Even the shoes for Red Army soldiers came all the way from the US. This aid was technically a loan, but nothing was ever paid back, which means it was 100 per cent free.

And yet, despite everything that the Communists got from the United States during World War 2, not one Red Army soldier raised a hand in support of America in the fight against Japan. How is that for hypocrisy?

What was the rationale of the Communists? Well, remember mid-1941, when Nazis and Communists were still allies. In April 1941, Stalin signed a “non-aggression pact” with Imperial Japan, similar to the one he had signed with Hitler. Stalin was now looking to do to Asia what he had already done to Europe. He had occupied Europe with Hitler as his ally. Now he was going to take over Asia with Imperial Japan as his ally.

Sure, Stalin’s plans were upended when Hitler betrayed him, but that did not make him change his mind about Asia. The Soviet-Japanese pact was to last four years from the date it was signed. And Stalin made sure that the commitment was kept. So Japan could go fighting the Americans. Stalin would fight Germany with American aid. But Stalin would not raise a finger to help America against Japan.

And let me remind you what the map looks like.

See how close Japan is to the Russian coastline? But don’t expect the Communists to help you out against Japan, even if you are helping them against Germany. It is a strictly one-way street. In fact, American pilots on bombing missions over Japan who landed in Soviet territory by mistake were always arrested.

So, did history judge the Communists harshly for their behaviour in World War 2? Did history judge the Communists for starting the war as Nazi collaborators, then freeloading on American aid, without doing anything against Japan in return?

Of course not. Because the Communists know what really matters. They got the historians on their side.

In order to be a great power, did the Communists have to take sides in World War 2? Again, of course not. Because the Communists have the historians on their side.

That said, will India be judged harshly by history for not taking the side of Ukraine in the current war? Of course we will. We are lacking liberal privilege.

NDTV and Congress pass off 10-year-old video as a Ukrainian child standing up to Russian forces amidst the ongoing conflict

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV and Congress pass off 10-year-old video as a Ukrainian child standing up to Russian forces amidst the ongoing conflict

NDTV has once again indulged in spreading fake news by sharing a 10-year-old video of a young girl stating that she is a Ukrainian and is standing up to oppose the Russian invasion. In the viral video, it can be seen that a soldier is standing with a weapon and a little girl starts hitting him. That little girl keeps shouting at the Russian soldier without any fear of death.

The news report by NDTV.

The video was also shared on Twitter by some Congress Party leaders. It was posted by Mohd Zoha Khan, whose Twitter profile says he is a Congress leader. He shared the video writing, “Salute to the courage of this little girl Everyone’s blood boils for the sake of his country. @LambaAlka”

Tweet by Mohd Zoha Khan

It was also shared from the Twitter Handle of All India Parisangh, an organization run by Congress leader and Ex-Member of Parliament Udit Raj. All India Parisangh has a verified handle on Twitter. It also uploaded the video with the same intent as NDTV stating that she is a Ukrainian and is standing up to oppose the Russian invasion.

The tweet by All India Parisangh.

However, Twitter flagged the video posted by All India Parisangh as “Stay infiomed! This media is presented out of context.” This flag meant that various videos and images circulating on social media were taken in previous years and are not linked with the current situation in Ukraine.

Twitter flagging the video.

The purported video is 10 years old and is that of a Palestinian girl

The video which was reported by NDTV and shared by the Congress Party leader happens to be 10 years old. It is a video that was shot in 2012 in Palestine. The girl in the video is Ahed Tamimi who had confronted an Israeli soldier in West Bank in Israel.

She stood up against the arrest of her brother by the Israeli forces. Tamimi was sentenced to eight months in jail in late 2017 after being caught on camera hitting and assaulting Israeli soldiers outside her home in the West Bank village of Nebi Saleh. She was released in 2018.

AIMIM makes Nawab Malik’s arrest into Muslim issue, MP Imtiaz Jaleel threatens to show ‘street power’

OpIndia Staff
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AIMIM makes Nawab Malik’s arrest into Muslim issue, MP Imtiaz Jaleel threatens to show ‘street power’

Days after Maharashtra Minority Minister Nawab Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over the charges of money laundering, some political leaders have started making it a religious issue. Nawab Malik’s name appeared in the process of investigation after the ED conducted raids pertaining to hawala transactions while probing a money laundering case against fugitive terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his aides in Mumbai.

On February 23, before his arrest, Nawab Malik was issued summons to appear before the ED concerning a PMLA case related to elements linked to Dawood Ibrahim and the underworld. AIMIM leaders including party chief Asaduddin Owaisi among others saw this as an opportunity to further their Islamist politics over the arrest of ‘minority affairs’ minister Nawab Malik who happens to be a ‘Muslim’.

While speaking at a public rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar, AIMIM Chief Asaddudin Owaisi said, “I want to ask people from the Samajwadi Party, Azam Khan was the minister when Akhilesh Yadav was the CM. Then why is it that Azam is in Jail, while Akhilesh is out? Similarly, In Maharshtra Nawab Malik has been arrested but the current Deputy-CM from NCP (Ajit Pawar) who is accused of a massive Irrigation Scam is roaming free.” He highlighted with anger to the audience, “What is this happening? Are you not being able to connect the dots? Hence, vote for AIMIM with all the Jamaat to increase your participation and responsibility,”

Here, Owaisi was trying to say that while Muslim leaders (Azam Khan and Nawab Malik) were in jail, Hindu ministers belonging to the same parties (Akhilesh Yadav and Ajit Pawar) were spared by the investigation agencies.

On Sunday, AIMIM MP from Maharashtra, Imtiaz Jaleel reiterated the same logic while expressing his support to Nawab Malik. While talking to the media, He said, “We fully support Nawab Malik while nobody from the MVA alliance is concerned over this issue. What Asad Sahab (Owaisi) talked is true – for the scam involving thousands of crores, Ajit dada never went to jail.” He asserted, “We have expressed our support to Nawab Malik because you cannot link Muslims of this country with terrorism. We might consider tomorrow if he is accused of corruption; but if you look at Muslamans through this lens which is often used by the BJP, then why wasn’t Malik arrested earlier if you had all the proofs?”

He then claimed, “If required, we will also enter the streets and assemble at the Kranti Chowk to show solidarity with Nawab Malik. When Sharad Pawar was summoned by the ED for questioning, NCP members gathered in large numbers in front of the ED office. When a Nawab Malik or an Azam Khan is arrested, no one goes to support them,”

It was also the case, that when NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was asked to make a statement over Malik’s arrest that he tried to play the Muslim card. Alleging that the arrest of Malik is a deliberate misuse of central agencies, he said, “If there is a Muslim activist who is their opponent, it is their habit to link his name to Dawood. When I was the CM of Maharashtra, they had tried to link my name with Dawood as well. This is an attempt to harass those who are speaking against the misuse of central agencies,” Pawar was quoted.

While the ED questioned Nawab Malik over his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim, leaders have already started questioning the credentials of the investigation, only because the accused happens to be a Muslim. The attempts of ‘secular’ politicians to communalise politics as well as to construct a narrative around an investigation concerning national security are out in open.

Four Australia Gurudwaras helped to organise pro-Khalistani, anti-India event, regularly radicalises Sikh youths: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Four Australia Gurudwaras helped to organise pro-Khalistani, anti-India event, regularly radicalises Sikh youths: Report

The renowned Australian organisation, Australian Hindu Association (AHA) has revealed how four Victorian Gurudwaras had jointly planned a pro-Khalistani, anti-India and anti-Hindu event that took place on February 20, 2022, in Australia in the memory of Khalistani supporter Deep Sidhu. Sidhu, a Punjabi actor and one of the accused in the 2021 Republic Day riots had recently died in a road accident. It also revealed that these Gurudwaras regularly organise incendiary pro-Khalistani, anti-India, and anti-Hindu speeches and events to radicalise young Sikhs on the foreign land.

On 20th February 2022, a Sikh Gurudwara in Australia showcased an Anti-India/Hindu poster blatantly in between two so-called Khalistan flags. The poster had hate-filled slogans like ‘End Hindu Fascism’ and ‘India kills Sikhs’ printed on it. It also bore the image of the deceased Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu, one of the accused in the 2021 Republic Day riots. The poster was found hanging at the entrance of the Craigieburn Sikh Gurudwara in Australia.

The Australian Hindu Association (AHA), first brought this to the fore on February 21 by tweeting, “Entrance of a Gurdwara in Australia. Nestled between 2 Khalistan flags are pictures of Deep Sidhu with the words “End Hindu Fascism.” Deep Sidhu died in a car accident. He was an accused in the violent 2021 Indian Republic Day attack on Delhi’s Red Fort.”

Gurudwaras plan and execute the pro-Khalistani and anti-India/Hindu event

Now, according to an exclusive report by Australian Hindu Media (AHM), the media wing of the Australian Hindu Association, four Victorian Gurudwaras, Craigieburn, Tarneit, Plumpton, and Miri Piri Deanside had planned and executed the aforementioned event organised in the memory of now-deceased Khalistani supporter and accused 2021 Republic Day Riots, Deep Sidhu.

According to the report, on the evening of Friday, February 18, 2022, representatives of the management committees of Tarneit, Miri Piri Deanside, and Plumpton Gurudwaras, as well as several Khalistani activists, met for several hours at Tarneit Gurdwara to finalise plans for the event. It was decided at this meeting that the car rally taken out in memory of Deep Sidhu would end at Craigieburn.

The report said that though Gurdeep Singh Matharoo, Secretary of the Craigieburn Gurudwara told the media house that his Gurdwara had no role in the activities’ planning, AHM’s sources confirmed that members of Craigieburn’s management committee were fully involved in the organising of the activities.

On Sunday, February 20th, the car rally began practically simultaneously from two places — Tarneit and Keysborough Gurdwaras – shortly after 9 am. Khalistani flags and slogans were prominent throughout the rally.

Notably, Tarneit is the Gurdwara where the then Indian High Commissioner Dr A M Gondane and Melbourne Consulate-General Manika Jain were heckled on 19 November 2017, and anti-India slogans were hurled.

The report further mentioned that the four posters were already up when the car rally participants arrived at Craigieburn Gurudwara just after midday on Sunday, February 20, 2022, according to sources. At around 3:30 p.m., the Deep Sidhu memorial service ended.

Posters placed at the entrance of the Craigieburn Gurudwara in Australia

Though the members of the Craigieburn Gurudwara’s management committee were present at the memorial service, they purportedly claimed that they were unaware of the posters.

Role of these Victorian Gurudwaras in the radicalisation of young Sikh youths

The AHM report further goes on to talk about the role of these aforementioned Gurudwaras in nurturing Khalistani extremists and the radicalisation of young Sikh youths in Australia.

Residents of Indian origin who live near the four Gurudwaras independently told AHM that the gurudwaras have become a breeding ground for the radicalization of young Sikhs. According to them, fiery pro-Khalistani, anti-India, and anti-Hindu speeches and gatherings are often held at these Gurudwaras.

AHM went on to share a post from Plumpton Gurudwara that urged the “Khalsa Panth” to be “…prepared by wearing weapons…” to the event on 23 March 2022.

The report further shared various other images to show the Gurudwara’s connection with Khalistani supporters.

A supporter of Miri Piri Gurudwara with a Khalistan motif on his top (source: AHM)
Plumpton Gurudwara “dal” at the Australia-India 2021 Boxing Day cricket match protesting about Indian farm laws. A Khalistan flag can be observed in the background (source: AHM)
The interior of Plumpton Gurudwara with a picture of Jarnail Bhindranwale (source: AHM)

According to report, all four Gurdwaras receive significant government funding and are also recognised charities. This is despite gurudwaras publicly participating in and financing non-charity activities like the Khalistani movement and Indian farmer demonstrations, as well as spreading hatred towards Hindu organisations like the RSS and VHP, reports AHM.

Audrey Truschke blames ‘Hindu Right IT cells’ after her hate letter against Historian Vikram Sampath was found with forged signatures

OpIndia Staff
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Audrey Truschke blames ‘Hindu Right IT cells’ after her hate letter against Historian Vikram Sampath was found with forged signatures

Hours after controversial historian Audrey Truschke was caught forging fake signatures of many intellectuals in her recent hate letter directed at Vikram Sampath, she has now deflected the blame on ‘Hindu Right IT cells’ for ‘vandalizing’ it.

On Sunday, many including Ramchandra Guha, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Pratap Bhanu Mehta distanced themselves and denied signing the letter published by Truschke asking support for her false ‘plagiarism’ allegations against historian Vikram Sampath.

It all started when the infamous Rutgers University Professor Audrey Truschke published an open google form asking ‘concerned scholars’ to register their names for participating in a hate campaign directed against Vikram Sampath by three professors including Ananya Chakravarti, Rohit Chopra and herself.

Google form shared by Audrey Truschke on Twitter

On Sunday, many public figures who had not signed the letter found their names in the list published by her, to their utter surprise. While she took to Twitter to announce the so-called support by such ’75 concerned scholars’ whose names were included in the list, Individuals like Ramchandra Guha, Sanjay Raut and Pratap Bhanu Mehta made it clear that they had not signed any such letter.

Soon after the gang of ‘historians’ led by Audrey Truschke was exposed while engaging in misinformation and forgery, The professor has taken to Twitter to blame people from the ‘Hindu Right’ for supposedly ‘vandalizing’ her campaign. “Unsurprisingly, an open letter from academic colleagues supporting scholarly honesty and integrity was vandalized by Hindu Right IT cells, with the goal of manufacturing confusion and fear. The letter is now closed, for security.” she wrote on Twitter.

Though she had herself shared about the signatories to the hate letter, when exposed for forgery, Audrey tried to shift the blame to the so-called ‘Hindu Right I-T cells’.

Truschke has stooped to ower levels of engaging as an academic mafia, even after the Delhi High Court has restrained her from tweeting defamatory statements against Historian Vikram Sampath. The Court has also ordered her to take down her earlier hateful tweets against Vikram Sampath within a period of 48 hours.

Sharad Pawar exerted ‘influence and clout’ for Lavasa project, Ajit Pawar breached ‘solemn duty’ by not disclosing personal interest: Bombay HC

OpIndia Staff
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Sharad Pawar exerted ‘influence and clout’ for Lavasa project, Ajit Pawar breached ‘solemn duty’ by not disclosing personal interest: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court on Saturday, while hearing the petition challenging the controversial Lavasa project, observed that there were irregularities and use of ‘political influence and clout’ by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his family members in extending largesse to Maharashtra’s only private hill station project in 2002. The bench also observed that Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, breached ‘Solemn Duty’ by not disclosing his personal interest in the Lavasa Project at that time.

The judges agreed with amicus curiae, senior advocate Shiraz Rustomjee, that there was a failure to follow a fair and transparent tender procedure. Jadhav said Ajit Pawar took active part in the decision-making process for setting up the Lavasa project without disclosing his blood relations with Pawar and Sule.

“As the minister for irrigation and ex-officio chairman of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC), it was Ajit Pawar’s duty to disclose his direct and indirect interest in the matter, but there was nothing on record to suggest he did disclose his interest… Limited to that extent he is found to be remiss in his duty,” the judges said.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni made the observations while hearing the PIL filed by lawyer Nanasaheb Vasantrao Jadhav in August 2018. The plea sought to declare permissions as void, arbitrary, unreasonable, bad in law and obtained with undue political interference and breach of trust. Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule, and his nephew Ajit Pawar, were made parties to the PIL.

Apart from other decisions, the plea also challenged MKVDC’s Governing Council’s “ex-post facto” sanction on June 20, 2002, and subsequent execution of agreements, which Sharad Pawar followed up on by meeting with the then Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar, among others, in regard to problems encountered in implementing his “dream project.”

“It cannot be said that exertion of influence and clout by Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule is an unreasonable inference that cannot be drawn from the facts…Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule being personally interested in the project, it is proved by a preponderance of probability that the allegations are true,” the bench noted.

It added, “… It was the solemn duty of Ajit Pawar to disclose his direct or indirect interest in the matter; but there is nothing on record to suggest that he did disclose his interest… Limited to that extent, Ajit Pawar is found to be remiss in his duty.”

Though the court refused to interfere with the same due to “gross delay” in the filing of the plea and considering that “third-party rights have been created”, it said, “With a deep sense of pain and remorse, we feel compelled to take judicial notice of the malaise of looting of India and its natural resources by its own people in the recent past. The roots of such malaise have, without doubt, set in deep. The country is faced with a situation where uprooting of this malaise seems to be difficult, if not impossible.

“… the mindset of the people needs to change…Above all, concern for the welfare of the people and zero tolerance for corruption must override all other considerations. If the greed and dishonesty for power and money continue unabated, the future does not augur too well for the country,” the court added.

Sharad Pawar and his family at heart of Lavasa scam

Notably, Lavasa was NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s “dream project.” Ajit Pawar was the irrigation minister and the MKVDC’s ex-officio chairman. He presided over a conference at which an ex-post facto approval was granted to build weirs on the backwaters of the Varasgaon-Morse dam, which would supply water to Lavasa. Sule was a shareholder in Lavasa and represents the Baramati constituency, which encompassed 18 villages in Lavasa City in 2009.

In 2001, the Maharashtra government-sanctioned 10,000 acres of land for the construction of this modern city, which would be spread over 20 villages and hamlets. The first phase of construction, Dasve, on 1,700 acres, began in 2005 and has been completed. Work on the second phase, Mugaon, is stalled because of regulatory issues.

In 2012, YP Singh, a former IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, alleged a scam involving the Pawar family in the construction of Lavasa spread over 3,000 acres and reportedly involving an investment of Rs 3,000 crore.

YP Singh had alleged that Ajit Pawar, irrigation minister and nephew of Sharad Pawar, allotted 141 hectares (348 acres) of land belonging to Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation on a renewable lease of 30 years to the Lake City Corporation in 2002, violating a Supreme Court Judgement.

The company which later came to be known as Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company, was allotted the land at a monthly rent of Rs 23,000, Singh said.

According to data disclosed by Singh, Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, now an NCP MP from Baramati, and her husband Sadanand Sule owned 20.81 per cent of the company.

Sharad Pawar, despite being a Union Minister with no involvement in the Lavasa project, allegedly used his clout to arrange a meeting with Ajit Pawar, bureaucrats, and top corporate officials at a private guest home in the lake city of ‘Ekaant,’ according to the former IPS officer.

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