Home Blog Page 3457

In Yogi, Hindus have chosen the kind of leader they want: No nonsense, nothing to lose, a Hindutvavadi with an iron fist

Nupur J Sharma
-
0
In Yogi, Hindus have chosen the kind of leader they want: No nonsense, nothing to lose, a Hindutvavadi with an iron fist

“If they kill one Hindu, we will kill 100”, “Yogi Adityanath: The monk who owns a revolver, a rifle, and Rs72 lakh in assets”, “Yogi Adityanath is the face of BJP’s Hindutva project: Symbolism of the monk in saffron robes” and of course, the infamous “Militant Monk” cover of the Washington Post were some of the headlines over the years used by the global media to define Yogi Adityanath. He was vilified, he was abused, misrepresented and tarnished for fighting for Hindus. Not just that, he was disparaged for wearing his own faith on his sleeve, being the Mahant of the great Gorakhnath Math.

While reading the elephantine moronity of global and national commentators on Yogi Adityanath almost felt like waking up at dawn and reliving a mildly amusing, in hindsight, of course, campaign that the exactly the same elements ran against another leader who is, currently, at the very top of his political career. As soon as Narendra Modi was at that time chosen as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the media went on overdrive, treading cautiously since, from the very beginning of his political career in 1965, Modi had been a staunch Hindutvavadi.

Come 2002, when riots broke out in Gujarat right after 59 Hindus were burnt alive by a Muslim mob, the vultures came out of hiding. Butcher of Gujarat, they yelled at the top of their lungs with those cankerous voices. They denied the genocide of Hindus to sling a rope around Modi’s neck and pull him down from his throne. The campaign lasted decades and continues to date. But like a phoenix, he rose. He was made to sit for hours of interrogation and came out squeaky clean. Their plans to assassinate him, their campaigns to vilify him, their impotent rage at a proud Hindu leading Gujarat and someday, leading the nation, came to nought.

Yogi Adityanath followed a similar trajectory. As soon as he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat, the global media along with the perfumed elite and rent-a-cause hacks screamed bloody murder.

“Adityanath (pronounced Ah-DIT-ya-nath) was an astonishing choice by Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, who came into office three years ago promising to usher India into a new age of development and economic growth, and playing down any far-right Hindu agenda,” wrote New York Times.

“Mr Adityanath is a Hindu priest who, while elected five times from his temple’s town, has been shown repeatedly to be contemptuous of democratic norms,” is how it introduces the “stridently anti-Muslim extremist”, wrote the Guardian.

Another article in The Daily, headlined “Meet the militant monk spreading Islamophobia in India” said:

“Adityanath is a controversial and deeply divisive figure for his militant, misogynistic and anti-Muslim rhetoric. He has been a vociferous supporter of a campaign called Love Jihad, ostensibly to stop Muslim youths from marrying Hindu women, claiming, without evidence backing this up, that the intention was to convert them to Islam. His supporters have called for digging up Muslim women from their graves and raping them,” the article reads.

In fact, in variably, the article in the The Daily ended up admitting the similarities in the trajectory followed by PM Modi and CM Yogi, albeit, with misplaced facts.

“The similarities between Modi and Adityanath are also pretty striking. Both of them are deeply polarizing figures in Indian politics. Modi’s alleged involvement in riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002 — although no court of law ever indicted him — had made him a pariah in national politics as well as within his own party. Adityanath, too, is reportedly unpopular within the party. And yet, the masses seem to love both because both Modi and Adityanath have been able to position themselves as custodians of the two most engaging symbols of Hinduism — the cow and the Ayodhya temple.”

The squalorous rants were deafening.

When they won, over and over again, none of the media houses tried to truly analyse why they won. One would expect similar headlines, now that Yogi Adityanath has won yet again with a thumping majority in Uttar Pradesh, defeating the equally squalorous SP, BSP and Congress. They would call him the militant monk who radicalised an entire state to vote for him. They would abuse the people of Uttar Pradesh as dirty heathens who refused to follow the diktats of their white and white-adjacent masters.

But it is not a mere coincidence that Modi and Yogi have cultivated the brand of insurmountable popularity they have.

When one thinks about Yogi Adityanath, one thinks of a saffron-clad proud Hindu monk who is no-nonsense, has nothing to lose and is therefore willing to take steps that other leaders perhaps wouldn’t and a leader who wears an iron fist for those who need it.

Given the history of Hindus, a people who have been massacred, humiliated and survived, it is no surprise that these qualities are what draw them to Yogi Adityanath. For aeons, Hindus have been told that they need to offer up their other cheek and die with a smile on their face when the Muslim hordes come to extract their pound of flesh. Historically, Hindus have been neutered to an extent that even the disrobed honour of their women did not push them to pick up weapons. Hindus have been systematically conditioned and manipulated to believe that they can never be victims. They were the aggressors, even when they were beheaded and thrown into wells, even when their faith was desecrated, even when their women were raped and men were left limbless. They were told that Muslims have the first right on resources even though India is the only land they can call their own. It’s the land where the ashes and memories of their warriors coalesce. It is the civilisation our ancestors died to preserve. It is the faith that they laid their lives down for.

For the first time since India became a political nation-state, a leader was willing to talk about and defend Hindutva. It was after decades that a leader like Yogi Adityanath was willing to say “We are Indians and Hindus are our cultural identity. Say proudly that we are Hindus,” the Chief Minister said, amidst a loud cheer, adding that he has no qualms in declaring that he is a proud Hindu. 

After all, Hindutva was and is nothing but Hindus trying to preserve their religious and cultural identity in a nation-state that by default villainizes Hindus and catapults to the Muslim street veto.

Hindus, who had either submitted to the tyranny of the state or paid a price for defending themselves finally found leaders who they thought would stand by them and fight with them to preserve what they were trying to live by.

The fact that Yogi Adityanath proudly wears his saffron robe and rules the largest state of India with an iron fist only adds to his charm for Hindus, a traditionally law-abiding people. When they tried to burn the state with anti-CAA riots, he confiscated their property and ensured they rot in jail. When the menace of Grooming Jihad became a stark, dangerous reality, he introduced a law to save Hindu women. When eve-teasing became a pandemic, he introduced squads to protect the honour of women.

As per the data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in late March of 2021, Uttar Pradesh has seen a reduction of rape cases from 59,445 in 2018 to 49,385 in 2020, with a charge sheeting rate of 77.1% in 2020, as well as among the highest conviction rate of such crimes today.

The state has also seen a sharp fall in instances of murder and cyber-crime. The NCRB has shared that the state government has also recorded a high rate of charge sheeting at 49.9% for cybercrimes. Police disposal of IPC crime cases has been positive with 2,81,162 cases chargesheeted in all (with a charge sheeting range of about 77%) and 3,65,628 cases disposed of, in 2020. Uttar Pradesh has seen a dramatic decline of almost 20% from the year 2016 to 2020, in cases of murder. 3,904 arms were seized from anti-national elements in 2020. There were about 1.6 murder cases per 1 lakh population in 2020. As per the NCRB data, the state went from 65,155 cases of violent crimes in 2018 to 51,983 in 2020. While the rate of total crime against individuals belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) has been 30.7% in 2020, the charge sheeting has been proactive with a rate of charge sheeting of 84.3% in 2020.

And the iron fist comes naturally to Yogi Adityanath given the illustrious Sampradaya he comes from. Until he was appointed the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath would say that the matter of Ram Mandir was not a political issue for him but his life’s mission. Unbeknownst to many, the Gorakhnath Muth has played a critical role in the reclamation of Ram Janmabhoomi in independent India.

In his blog following the verdict, Yogi Adityanath remembered the contributions of his Gurudev. “He used to say that Lord Ram’s virtues of justice, equality, discipline and sacrifice should be the ideals for every political leader,” wrote Yogi about Mahant Avaidyanath, “Following these words of my Gurudev, I consider Uttar Pradesh’s security, peace and Vikas my foremost priority.”

Yogi Adityanath also wrote, “When I took over as CM of UP, the situation of Ayodhya, which had become untouchable because of appeasement politics over the years, pricked my heart Ayodhya’s suffering was like the pain of Lord Rama’s Vanvas. I took an oath to bring back Ayodhya’s glory and develop Ram Janmabhoomi on priority.”

It is therefore no surprise that not just that of faith, but the material development of Uttar Pradesh is also a mission that was passionately pursued.

Yogi Adityanath’s win can largely be attributed to his strong-man stand on law and order, his unabashed commitment to Hindutva and also, his social policies that uplifted the masses from abject poverty and despair. Yogi brought senior cabinet ministers to the state to iron out pending issues and take better targets for his state to complete. Now be it Gas Stove distribution, construction of toilets or the construction of houses for the underprivileged UP is among the top achievers. 

For Yogi Adityanath, Bharat and especially Uttar Pradesh is his Karma Bhoomi and Janma Bhoomi and given the illustrious legacy of Mahant Digvijay Nath, one can expect Yogi Adityanath to transform the state not just to safeguard Hindus, Hindutva and the glorious culture that has been handed down to us, but also uplift the state economically and socially. Just like Yogi Adityanath once left behind his identity as Ajay Bisht when he took the vows of a Sanyasi, walking on the path that PM Modi once tread, it is almost a forgone conclusion that he will ascend to the throne sooner or later. This victory in Uttar Pradesh only brings him a step closer to that eventuality.

Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ loses deposit in Gorakhpur Urban, CM Yogi Adityanath wins by more than 1 lakh votes

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ loses deposit in Gorakhpur Urban, CM Yogi Adityanath wins by more than 1 lakh votes

Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan ‘Ravan’ of Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has lost his deposit in Gorakhpur Urban assembly constituency of Uttar Pradesh where he contested against the incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath of BJP. Counting of votes is underway in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. In the trends so far, the BJP seems to have got a clear majority. CM Yogi Adityanath has won from the constituency by more than 1 lakh votes.

Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ had grabbed attention by announcing that he would contest against CM Yogi Aditynath from this seat. But he failed to make any mark in the election, and managed to get his deposing forfeited. After Yogi, SP candidate Subapati Shukla was at a distant second position in Gorakhur Urban. Although Chandrashekhar Azad was on the third spot, the votes he received were not enough save his deposit.

Yogi Adityanath got 1,64,290 votes, securing almost 65% of the votes in the constituency, and won by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, as the SP candidate won around 62 thousand votes. Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ managed to get 7,454 votes, Which is slightly more than 3% of all votes polled.

As per rules, candidates getting less than 1/6th of votes, that is less than 16.67% of votes, lose their deposit. According to this, Chandrashekhar Azad has lost his deposit in the assembly elections from the Gorakhpur Urban seat.

After Chandrashekhar Azad had announced his decision to contest against CM Yog on a Azad Samaj Party ticket, he has been making big claims in interviews. During the polling, Chandrashekhar had said that their front is contesting 403 seats in UP and they are confident that the Azad Samaj Party will become a great force in UP and the government will not be formed without them.

In an interview with Aaj Tak, Azad had said, “When I came here, it seemed to be a difficult path ahead. But as I roamed in the lanes of Gorakhpur, I found out that people here were suffering. I tried to wake them up and break their silence. I succeeded in this effort.”

As predicted in most of the exit polls, BJP is leading on more than 250 seats in the assembly elections and is all set win with a thumping majority, and Yogi Adityanath is set to become the CM of UP again.

‘Will make an India where no student has to go to Ukraine’: Arvind Kejriwal claims after winning Punjab polls

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Will make an India where no student has to go to Ukraine’: Arvind Kejriwal claims after winning Punjab polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is slated to form its government in Punjab, with the party winning in 65 seats and leading in 27 others. Amidst the victory celebrations, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal announced that he will make a ‘new India’ where no student will have to go to Ukraine to pursue medical education.

“I feel bad when I realise that even after 74 years of Independence, our children have to travel to smaller countries like Ukraine to become doctors,” he remarked.

“We will create such an India where there were be innumerable medical and engineering colleges, ” Kejriwal claimed. The AAP supremo also added that the results of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha polls imply that the public does not think of him as a ‘terrorist’ but a real ‘Desh Bhakt’.

The development comes days after the Modi government successfully repatriated 17,100 Indian nationals from Ukraine via 83 flights under ‘Operation Ganga’. On March 8, the last batch of 694 Indian students, who were stuck in conflict-torn Sumy, were moved to Poltava via buses. They will be brought back to India via a special flight from Bucharest on Thursday.

After AAP managed to win an additional State besides Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal began making claims of transforming the ‘education infrastructure’ of the entire country.

Operation Ganga: Modi government’s daunting mission to evacuate Indians from Ukraine

On February 15 this year, the Indian embassy in Ukraine had issued its first advisory, urging Indian nationals to immediately evacuate the country in the run-up to the full-fledged war. 

Despite multiple advisories by the government, an estimated 16000-20000 Indian nationals remained in the Eastern European country. Thereafter, the Modi government launched an evacuation mission named ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring them back to India via chartered flights from Poland, Romania, and Hungary.

The Ukrainian airspace was closed for civilian aircraft from 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 are first taken in batches from Ukraine to bordering countries (currently Hungary and Romania) via buses/commute arranged by the embassy. They are then airlifted to Delhi or Mumbai through chartered Air India flights.

The Indian government has sent its 4 Union Ministers, namely, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General (Retd) VK Singh to Hungary, Romania and Moldova, Slovakia, and Poland respectively, to coordinate the evacuation mission.

‘Never believe in one-sided story’: Kapil Sharma denies allegations that his show refused to invite team of movie ‘The Kashmir Files’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Never believe in one-sided story’: Kapil Sharma denies allegations that his show refused to invite team of movie ‘The Kashmir Files’

On Thursday, comedian Kapil Sharma said that the reports saying that he had refused to invite the team of the movie The Kashmir Files to his show are not correct. He said that there was no point in explaining the reason to those who had already believe that the allegations are true. Notably, the movie’s director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri himself had said that the show had refused to invite the team of his movie.

Responding to one of his fans who asked whether he was scared to promote Vivek Ranjan Agnohotri’s movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ on the Kapil Sharma Show, he said that it was not at all true. “What is the use of explaining to the rest who have accepted the truth. Just a suggestion as an experienced social media user- never believe in a sided story in today’s social media world. Thanks”, he tweeted.

This is after the Kapil Sharma Show and its makers were heavily trolled on social media after reports saying that they not allowed the promotion of the Kashmir Files on the show. The fact was highlighted by Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri who had tweeted over not being invited to Kapil Sharma’s talk show for the promotions of his upcoming film The Kashmir Files. He had shared that he was not invited because the film, according to the makers of the show, did not have a big commercial star cast. “They refused to call us on their show because we don’t have a big commercial star. #FACT”, the Director tweeted.

“Even I am a fan. But it’s a fact that they refused to call us on their show because there is no big star. In Bollywood non-starter Directors, writers and good actors are considered as NOBODIES”, he had added in the series of tweets.

On March 7, Agnihotri had further said that it was entirely Kapil Sharma and the producer of the show to decide upon the invitations on the Kapil Sharma Show. “It’s his and his producer’s choice whom he wants to invite. As far as Bollywood is concerned, I’d say what once Mr Bachchan was quoted saying about Gandhis: Vo raja hai hum rank”, he had said responding to a fan who had expressed his desire to see the film’s cast on the comedy show.

It is important to note that the film is based on the lives of Kashmiri Pandits and stars senior actors like Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi in important roles. The film takes viewers back to 1989, when due to rising Islamic Jihad, conflict erupted in Kashmir, forcing the great majority of Hindus to flee the valley. According to estimates, roughly 100,000 of the valley’s total 140,000 Kashmiri Pandit inhabitants migrated between February and March 1990. More of them fled in the years that followed until just about 3,000 families remained in the valley by 2011.

As reported earlier, the ideological isolation of the film is not only restricted to limiting its promotion but has also resulted in film critics like Anupama Chopra seemingly sabotaging the film before its release. NDTV was caught tweaking the SEO settings by calling The Kashmir Files a ‘propaganda film’ months before its release. The film has also landed into legal troubles with certain people wanting to stall its release.

The film is based on video interviews with first-generation Kashmiri Pandit victims of the Kashmir Genocide. It was originally slated to be released in theatres on January 26, 2022, but was postponed because of the increasing number of COVID-19 instances. It is now scheduled to release on March 11.

The era of Bhagwant Mann: Winds of change in Punjab, AAP romps home to victory as heavyweights tumble across the board

OpIndia Staff
-
0
The era of Bhagwant Mann: Winds of change in Punjab, AAP romps home to victory as heavyweights tumble across the board

The future’s in the air
Can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

These lyrics from the Scorpions’ hit song seem very apt for Punjab today as the state set itself towards a new path by welcoming the new and saying goodbye to the old. While a “relatively” new player in Aam Aadmi Party with Bhagwant Mann as CM face is set to grab more than 3/4th majority, many stalwarts of Punjab elections have fallen by the wayside in these elections.

Back in 2017, during their first Punjab election, Aam Aadmi Party was the overwhelming favourite to win. However, a mix of poor campaigning decisions and over-confidence, and Amarinder Singh’s spirited fight saw them squander all their advantage to Congress. None of that was visible this time as it was their main opponent, Congress, which kept shooting itself in the foot ahead of the elections leaving the door open for AAP to claim a historic win.

In the AAP wave that swept through Punjab this time, all the long-standing heavyweights of Punjab politics got swept off their feet. While sitting CM Charanjit Singh Channi lost from both the seats he contested, a similar fate awaited state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu. Punjab politics has been dominated for decades by the Badal family, however, this time, the patriarch of the Badal family Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal and Sukhbir’s brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia, all tasted humbling defeats in front of the AAP juggernaut.

Just like the Badals, Captain Amarinder Singh has been an imposing figure in Punjab politics for a long time. He even gave a beleaguered Congress some hope in 2017 when he led the party to a comfortable win in Punjab. However, this time, having been discarded by Congress, and fighting on his new party’s symbol, Captain Amarinder Singh lost in his home of Patiala. The “Patiala ka Raja” losing in Patiala has been one of the biggest shocks of these assembly elections.

One thing these results have decisively shown is that people of Punjab were really tired of the Akalis-Congress cycle, and really wanted to give someone else a chance.

Now with an overwhelming majority, Bhagwant Mann has full freedom to run the state the way he seems fit. The result has also come as a shot in the arm for AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal as he looks to replace Congress as BJP’s main opponent in Northern India. As for the state of Punjab, these are interesting times as we wait and see how does a Non-Akali, Non-Congress government govern the state.

BJP wins Deoband: Brijesh defeats Kartikey Rana of Samajwadi Party by 7104 votes

OpIndia Staff
-
0
BJP wins Deoband: Brijesh defeats Kartikey Rana of Samajwadi Party by 7104 votes

BJP candidate Brijesh has won from Deoband seat of Uttar Pradesh in the assembly elections of 2022. He has defeated Kartikey Rana of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of 7104 votes. Brijesh Singh got 93890 votes while Kartikey Rana could get 86786 votes. Choudhary Rajendra Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party remained on the third spot with 52732 votes.

AIMIM’s much-hyped candidate Umair Madani, who is related to the chief of the Darul Uloom Deoband, has got only 3501 votes. Congress’ Rahat Khalil has got just 1096 votes.

Winning candidate Brijesh Singh of BJP got 38% per cent voters while Kartikeya Rana of SP secured 35% per cent of votes.

The Deoband numbers tell the story. The city has a 71% population of Muslims, but overall, the constituency has a 40% Muslim population. Deoband is in the Saharanpur district and it is known for Darul Uloom Deoband, one of India’s most influential Islamic seminaries. Deobandi school of Islamic doctrine is one of the major Sunni cults many radical Islamic organisations around the world follow the Deobandi school of thought.

Samajwadi Party’s election strategies have been conventionally revolving around consolidating the Muslim votes. BJP on the other hand fielded Brijesh Singh once again after he had secured a win in 2017 from the Deoband assembly seat. After winning the 2017 elections, Brijesh Singh had said that Deoband will be renamed as Devvrind only if there is a BJP government in the state.

A month before this election, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had laid the foundation stone of the ATS training centre at Deoband. It is notable that the exit polls by all organisations had predicted BJP returning to power in Uttar Pradesh. 

‘They pocketed notes, opposition pocketed votes’, Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill blames own party leaders for the debacle in Punjab

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘They pocketed notes, opposition pocketed votes’, Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill blames own party leaders for the debacle in Punjab

As the election trends have made it clear that Congress is on its way to a crushing defeat in Punjab, the party has begun to play the blame game. Disgruntled by Congress’ dreadful performance in the Punjab polls, the party’s senior member and Lok Sabha MP Jasbir Singh Gill has blamed the humiliating defeat on the “infighting, indiscipline, tickets for notes, workers disenchantment, inflated ego and arrogance of leaders” of his own party.

In his subsequent Tweet, the Congress MP wrote, “The Congress high command should review the allotment of tickets & fix responsibility, make accountable the leaders who got tickets for their protégé for cash or kind ignoring merit & winnability of genuine, hard working, loyal & honest Congress men”.

In his next Tweet, he openly chastised Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Chowdhary and Ajay Maken, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee and member of the Congress Working Committee, alleging ticket distribution fraud. Harish Chowdhary and Ajay Maken, he claims, owe a lot of explanation for the Congress’s defeat in Punjab.

Claiming that Harish Chowdhary and Ajay Maken ruined the party in the state of Punjab, Gill exclaimed, “They pocketed notes, Opposition pocketed votes.”

Conceding defeat, the Congress MP further went on to AAP and Bhagwant Singh Mann for the “well deserved victory” in Punjab.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu made a statement accepting his defeat in the Elections. He tweeted, “The voice of the people is the voice of God …. Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab …. Congratulations to Aap !!!” Sidhu contested from the Amritsar East Vidhan sabha seat in Punjab.

Notably, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi had contested from two seats, Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, has lost both the seats. He lost to AAP’s Labh Singh Ugoke in Bhadaur, Chamkaur Sahib he was defeated by AAP candidate Charanjit Singh.

As the counting of votes proceeds, it is visible that the Congress party is lagging behind in all the states as of now. As per the latest trends, AAP has already been declared victorious in 34 seats and is leading in 57 out of total 117 seats in the state, and Congress is leading in only 15 seats.

UP results: Munawwar Rana’s daughter losing badly from Unnao’s Purwa, gets fewer votes than NOTA

OpIndia Staff
-
0
UP results: Munawwar Rana’s daughter losing badly from Unnao’s Purwa, gets fewer votes than NOTA

Uroosa Imran Rana, a Congress candidate from Unnao’s Purwa seat, is set to lose her seat. She is the daughter of Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, who has repeatedly indicated that if Yogi Adityanath is re-elected as Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, he will leave the state.

Remarkably, Uroosa Rana received just 1083 votes till 04:11 PM, while NOTA received 1385 votes. As of now, Uroosa is ranked fifth on the Purwa seat.

BJP’s Anil Kumar Singh is leading by over 22,000 votes from Samajwadi Party’s Uday Raj in that seat.

As the counting of votes proceeds, it is visible that the Congress party is lagging behind in all the states as of now.

Uroosa’s relationship with Congress stretches back to 2010 when the Mayawati-led BSP was in power in Uttar Pradesh. Uroosa was promoted to vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh Mahila Congress in October 2020 (Central Zone). It’s also worth mentioning that Uroosa Rana, who is contesting on a Congress ticket from the Purwa seat, took part in the nationwide anti-CAA rallies that erupted after the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed in December 2019.

Uroosa also accused Uttar Pradesh Congress party chairman Ajay Kumar Lallu of misbehaving with her when she went to visit Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Lucknow in 2021.

Controversies around Munawwar Rana

Munawwar Rana stated last year that if Mahant Yogi Adityanath gets re-elected as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he will depart the state. However, he maintained his statement with a condition that if Yogi Adityanath is re-elected Chief Minister with the support of AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi, he will leave the state.

Rana further said that Muslims have eight children because they are afraid that two of their children would be labeled terrorists and killed and one will die because to Covid-19, therefore at least one child should be present for burial. He made the remarks while discussing a prospective population control bill.

A police complaint was also filed last year, against Munawwar Rana at the Hazratganj police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow for communally inflammatory statements after he equated Ramayana author Maharshi Valmiki to the Taliban.

The Abhimanyu who knew his way out of the Chakravyuh: Here are the 5 challenges Yogi Adityanath faced, to emerge victorious

OpIndia Staff
-
0
The Abhimanyu who knew his way out of the Chakravyuh: Here are the 5 challenges Yogi Adityanath faced, to emerge victorious

From the moment Yogi Adityanath was selected as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by BJP after the 2017 elections, he has been in the cross-hairs of Indian elites. Reminding us of the coverage Narendra Modi got during his tenure as Gujarat CM, Yogi Adityanath was subjected to all sorts of attacks from the usual suspects over the past 5 years. However, all those attacks came to nought as Yogi Adityanath returns to power with a thumping majority.

Casteism allegations

It started with Congress and their ecosystem trying to push Yogi as a casteist Thakur, who will ignore all other castes. They thought addressing Yogi Adityanath as Ajay Bisht will lead to the downfall of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, as it will remind everyone that Yogi was born a Thakur. However, what they didn’t realize, unlike most of the voters, is that Goraknath’s mahant is a casteless entity.

Militant Monk

Barely a year after his ascension to the post of Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath was derided as an “Islamophobic militant monk” in global publications like the Washington Post. Even though they couldn’t pinpoint which particular policy is against Muslims, the tag of Islamophobia was here to stay just because he didn’t do any appeasement politics.

Anti-Romeo Squads

In a state where women were scared to venture out alone, Yogi Adityanath created “Anti-Romeo squads“. Instead of focusing on the intent of such squads, Shakespeare’s disciples got upset that Yogi Adityanath is out to arrest every Romeo, a true Shakespearean hero. Now in 2022, women are voting overwhelmingly for BJP over the improved law and order situation.

Anti-CAA protests

During the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), once again attempts were made to instigate maximum protests in Uttar Pradesh. However, once again, Yogi Adityanath cracked down on any sort of violence with an iron fist and made sure people’s daily lives are not disturbed. Something that didn’t happen in Delhi as lakhs of commuters suffered for months due to Shaheen Bagh protests.

Coronavirus handling

However, the worst attacks that Yogi Adityanath faced, were during Coronavirus days, particularly during the second wave. As Maharashtra and Kerala kept topping the Covid numbers, and as Delhi ran out of Oxygen, the entire media focus was on Uttar Pradesh. Old practice of some Hindus burying their dead along the banks of holy river Ganga, or immersing their dead in the Ganga, was abused. Government of UP was blamed for hiding Covid deaths by leaving the dead bodies alongside the river.

Not only this, the media attacked Yogi Adityanath for rising cases due to Kumbh, which was held in Uttarakhand. However, Geography is not the strongest suit of Indian liberals so we can let that pass.

As it turned out, Uttar Pradesh turned out to be one of the best performing Indian states when it comes to handling Covid. With the population equal to a country like Brazil, Yogi Adityanath managed to bring the cases down much faster, and normal life resumed much sooner than most other states.’

Having come through 5 years of relentless attacks from the Indian left to get re-elected, Yogi Adityanath is following the same path that was followed by PM Narendra Modi. If he keeps getting attacked similarly for another term, it won’t be a surprise if he does end up as the Prime Minister of India, like Narendra Modi.

As trends show AAP victory in Punjab, here is why Election Commission lists Aam Aadmi Party as ‘AAAP’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
As trends show AAP victory in Punjab, here is why Election Commission lists Aam Aadmi Party as ‘AAAP’

The Aam Aadmi Party is all set to win the Vidhan Sabha elections in the State of Punjab.

As per the trends reported by the Election Commission of India (ECI) at 2 pm on Thursday (March 10), the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is leading on 84 constituencies and has won an additional 8 seats out of a 117-seat Punjab Legislative Assembly.

The nodal election body reported that the Aam Aadmi Party has clinched a vote share of 42.43% in the elections so far. While the Election Commission of India abbreviated party names such as Indian National Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party as INC and BJP respectively, the case was different with the winning Aam Aadmi Party.

Screengrab of the election results in Punjab, data via ECI website

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party was represented on the ECI website as ‘AAAP’ instead of the commonly used ‘AAP’ abbreviation. However, this is not the first time that the nodal election body has represented the Aam Aadmi Party in this form.

The matter first came to light in February 2020 during the Delhi Vidhan Sabha polls. Aam Aadmi Party, a State party, was abbreviated by the Election Commission of India as ‘AAAP’. An editor at The Times of India, Vishwa Mohan, assumed that it was an oversight on the part of the ECI.

He inquired, “What does AAAP (triple A) mean for AamAadmiParty at Election Commission of India website, showing #DelhiElectionResults and trends?”

The Spokesperson for the Election Commission of India informed that ‘AAP’ was allotted to another party, prior to the registration of the Aam Aadmi Party in 2013.

“Triple A in the abbreviation is not a typo…. the same abbreviation was used in 2015 Elections also.. as ‘AAP’ was already allotted to another party before Aam Aadmi Party approached ECI for registration in 2013,” the Election Commission of India had clarified then.

The ECI further informed that ‘AAP’ was assigned to a party named Awami Aamjan Party, which was registered on January 3, 2011.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi may soon meet Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and submit his resignation as the counting of votes for the Punjab Assembly Elections is underway. Charanjit Singh Channi and Bhagwant Mann were the chief ministerial faces of the Congress and the AAP respectively for the state of Punjab where

Congress is looking at a humiliating defeat in the state where it was in power for five years. According to the Republic TV report, on Thursday, CM Channi arrived at his official residence in Chandigarh and is likely to resign in face of AAP’s massive sweep in the 2022 elections. Channi lost from both the Bhadur and Chamkaur Sahib seats.

1...3,4563,4573,458...7,644Page 3,457 of 7,644