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‘Gouge out eyes, set fire in public’, Gujarat Congress leaders instigate women to take law in their hands, clash with police in Gandhinagar

OpIndia Staff
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‘Gouge out eyes, set fire in public’, Gujarat Congress leaders instigate women to take law in their hands, clash with police in Gandhinagar

During a programme organised by the Congress Sevadal in Gandhinagar to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8, Tuesday, Gujarat Congress MLA Geniben Thakor called on women to pour petrol on those who commit crimes against women and publicly burn them alive. She stated that in the event of an atrocity, women should band together without waiting for police assistance and publicly burn the perpetrator.

“Without waiting for the police or the government to help us, whenever there is an atrocity, injustice against a woman, 50 nearby women should come together, douse the criminal with kerosene and set him on fire in the public,” said Thakor, who represents Vav Assembly constituency in the Banaskantha district.

Addressing the same event, another Congress MLA Chandrikaben Baria opined that the eyes of the ‘goons in this BJP government’, who look at women with ill-intention should be gouged out.

“I am sorry to say that we have to deal with goons in this BJP government. The eyes of those who look towards women (with an evil intention) would be gouged out,” said Baria, who represents Garbada, a Scheduled Tribe (ST) constituency.

Scuffle breaks out between Sevadal members and Gujarat police after former violates permissions

A report by Desh Gujarat suggests that a minor clash had also broken out between the Congress workers and the police after the aforementioned event. In what transpired, the police had only granted permission to conduct this event but the members of the Congress Seva Dal made an announcement at the end of the event that they would also be holding a march to the State Assembly, which the police objected to. Despite no permission being granted, Congress workers walked towards the state Assembly and sat on a dharna. They raised anti-BJP government slogans and rebuked the state administration for the increasing incidence of crime against women. 

This resulted in a minor scuffle between Gandhinagar police and Congress workers, including Seva Dal national president Laljibhai Desai and Mahila Seva Dal Gujarat unit chief Pragati Ahir. The Police were compelled to use minimal force to prevent the Congress members staging dharna around the Assembly.

Reacting to the incident, the Superintendent of Police Mayur Chavda said that the police had specifically given permission to the Congress Seva Dal to organise the Mahila Divas programme. Some people made provocative remarks during the function and then left. Later, Congress workers announced that the march would take place. “This was a pre-planned conspiracy,” opined SP Mayur Chavda.

Congress stages walkout from Assembly to protest police ‘atrocities’ on their female workers

As expected, the Congress used the oppourtunity to launch an attack on the state administration. The Opposition Congress in Gujarat on Tuesday staged a walkout from the Assembly during the ongoing Budget session, protesting the alleged ‘physical assault and atrocities carried out on its female workers by male police officers’.

Former Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amit Chavda told the House that the party’s female workers were demonstrating at the Satyagrah Chhavni in Gandhinagar on International Women’s Day on Tuesday after obtaining police permission. They were, however, physically assaulted by male police officers on direct orders from the state government, Chavda alleged. 

Interestingly, despite the police making it clear that the Congress workers did not obtain any permission for the march to the State Assembly, Chavda claimed in the Assembly that the party’s female workers were demonstrating at the Satyagrah Chhavni in Gandhinagar after obtaining police permission. The fact that the Congress workers had headed towards the State Assembly without seeking prior police permission did not find any mention in Amit Chavda’s statement.

Gujarat Congress MLA Geniben Thakor famous for making controversial remarks

Meanwhile, Geniben Thakor, a Gujarat Congress MLA who was actively seen instigating women to take the law into their own hands, has previously been in the news for other contentious remarks. In July 2019, the Congress MLA had extended her support to the resolution adopted by Thakor community in Banaskantha district which bans unmarried girls from using mobile phones. The resolution also banned inter-caste marriage. She said that such a ban would put a stop to ‘such incidents’.

Congress MLA Geniben Thakor justified the move by saying that such ban on usage of mobile phones by unmarried girls will ‘automatically control the boys’. “Since girls are easily controlled because they stay with their parents, it is right to ban the mobile phones for girls,” she said.

Prior to this too, while addressing a farmers’ gathering in 2018, Geniben Thakor had said that she was pained by the plight of the farmers and if it were up to her, she would kill them (BJP leaders) and go to jail if it were to come to that.

Zee Studios deny ‘sabotage’ of The Kashmir Files, says it will release on 500 screens, but keeps mum on low media & outdoors publicity

Nirwa Mehta
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Zee Studios deny ‘sabotage’ of The Kashmir Files, says it will release on 500 screens, but keeps mum on low media & outdoors publicity

Zee Studios, the production and distribution house for Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’ which is set to release on 11 March 2022 has denied allegations of ‘sabotage’ after netizens raised questions regarding low media and outdoor publicity for the film.

Ahead of the release of the film, several netizens had taken to social media to express concerns that while mainstream media has dismissed the film because it talks about the Islamic terrorism in the Kashmir region and the brutal exodus of Kashmiri Hindus, the producers of the film also do not appear too keen to put money into the marketing of the film so that it reaches a broader audience.

Netizens had alleged that Zee Group, one of the producers of the film, were reducing the release of the film to less than 200 screens, thereby reducing the reach of the film.

Some felt that this was being done so that the whitewashing of the atrocities inflicted by the Islamic terrorists backed by Pakistan in the valley can continue.

OpIndia reached out to Shariq Patel of Zee Studios on the concerns raised by netizens. While he was reluctant to react, a Zee Studios spokesperson said, “Zee Studios believes in the power of untold stories such as ‘The Kashmir Files’ and fully realises its box office potential. Drawing from our past experiences from films such as ‘Tashkent Files’; we expect the film to have a long run at the theatres. Our current release plan will reflect that belief with over 500 screens worldwide and approximately 2000 shows a day.”

The Kashmir Files has been getting tremendous feedback from Kashmiri Hindus who have lived through the exodus and genocide, many of whom feel that this has been the first-ever true depiction of what the community went through over three decades back. Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, while speaking to audience at the special screening of the film in Delhi had said that while the film is cinematic representation, not a single death or atrocity was fictional. Even some of the situations where the terrorist Yasin Malik was seen cosying up with politicians and activists were real and evidence of the same can be found via a simple Google search even now.

Speaking to OpIndia, a Kashmiri Hindu, whose family spent years in the camps in Jammu said, “not only were the crimes against us whitewashed and watered down but it took someone over 30 years to say the truth as is.”

The film has run into legal troubles where petitions were filed to stall its release. However, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed the same, paving way for the release of the film on Friday. As of now, The Kashmir Files is topping the list of most anticipated Indian movies and shows on IMDb.

12 candidates of Punjab Congress attend a dinner party at Captain Amarinder Singh’s farmhouse ahead of election results: Report

OpIndia Staff
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12 candidates of Punjab Congress attend a dinner party at Captain Amarinder Singh’s farmhouse ahead of election results: Report

Just two days before the declaration of the Punjab assembly election results, 12 leaders of the Congress party in Punjab attended a dinner party at the farmhouse of the former chief minister of the state Captain Amarinder Singh. All the 12 leaders of the Congress party have recently contested the elections and they were joined by two other candidates of AAP in the dinner party held on 8th March 2022 at night.

According to a report by Republic World, party switching is expected among the ranks of many parties after the declaration of results. Captain Amarinder Singh’s party Punjab Lok Congress has made an alliance with the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (United) for the recent assembly elections in Punjab. It is being speculated that if Aam Aadmi Party fails to secure a clear majority in the state, Shiromani Akali Dal may join hands with this three-party alliance to form a government in the state.

As per reports, the party was held for celebrating the birthday of Captain Amarinder Singh at his Siswan farmhouse.

Pritpal Singh Baliawal, former Congress leader and spokesperson for Amarinder Singh’s party tweeted a cryptic message with a video of the party. He asked AAP and Congress to “be ready for shock”.

According to various exit polls, the Congress party is likely to get around 30 seats in the 117-member assembly of Punjab. This is considered a big blow to the Congress party. Besides, the alliance of Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP is also likely to remain away from the magic figure 59. While Aam Aadmi Party leads the charts with most of the exit polls expecting it to get a clear majority, the three-party alliance of the BJP, SAD (United), and the Punjab Lok Congress have been predicted to be away from the majority mark.

On this backdrop, many Congress MLAs and AAP MLAs possibly joining one of the alliances after the results becomes a possible scenario after the results. The former chief minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh had left the Congress party to form his own Punjab Lok Congress.

USA: Americans vent their anger against Putin on Russian restaurants, many are actually run by Ukrainians

OpIndia Staff
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USA: Americans vent their anger against Putin on Russian restaurants, many are actually run by Ukrainians

Russia’s military action on Ukraine has put the Russian Restaurants in New York City in trouble. Ironically, most of them are against the war and are owned by Ukrainian immigrants. The Russian restaurants have been receiving rude phone calls, negative reviews on online platforms and getting angry emails.

Popular Russian restaurants have reported reservations being cancelled, and even on peak days, they are struggling to fill the tables. Some restaurants have reported vandalism at their premises. Some restaurants have claimed their reservations dropped by up to 60% since Russia initiated a military attack on Ukraine.

New York Times quoted owners of Sveta, a small Russian restaurant in the West Village, saying they have been receiving hate mails. One of the emails they received only said, “Go Home.” The owner of the restaurant, 64-years-old Sveta Savchitz, is a Ukrainian who came to the US in 1993. She opened the restaurant in 2015 and promoted it as Russian as they thought it would bring more recognition for them. However, now the recognition as a Russian restaurant is attracting hate, so they have changed the online description from ‘Russian’ to ‘Eastern European’.

Russian Samovar, a family-owned Russian piano bar in Midtown, has received calls where the callers addressed the owners as Nazis. Vlada Von Shats, the matron of the restaurant, said, “People have kicked in our door at night.” She is a Russian, and her husband is from Ukraine. The restaurant hosted a fundraiser for Ukraine and posted a blue and yellow flag with a sign saying, “Stand with Ukraine. No War.” But the attacks still happened and continued. They claimed the reservations were down by 60%. Von Shots said, “These people don’t realize that we have nothing to do with Putin.”

Restaurants are not the only ones that are facing hate-filled attacks. Recently, it was reported that a restaurant in France, La Maison de la Poutine, that has the signature dish ‘poutine’ had to make a public statement on social media to clarify that Poutine is a Canadian dish and has no connection to Putin.

Another Restaurant, The Russian Tea Room in New York City, is under attack. The 100-year-old legacy of the restaurant has failed to save it from the haters. In an email statement to CNN, the owners of the restaurant said, “Founded by refugees with Kyiv in its blood, the heart of the Russian Tea Room is with the people of Ukraine, but we are not the story here. Russia has gotten away with mass murder for too long, and the focus should remain on those suffering and dying in Ukraine.”

While the Russian restaurants are facing the heat, the Ukrainian restaurants have seen a rise in sales by up to 75%. Veselka, a Ukrainian restaurant in the Lower East Side of New York, has seen customers lining up to try their cuisine. The owner Jason Birchard told CNN that he has been running a fundraiser for an NGO on a humanitarian mission in Ukraine and raised around $10,000 in the first week. He expected to send another $15,000 within a week to the NGO.

Anti-Russia sentiments

Since February 24, when Russia announced military action on Ukraine, anti-Russia sentiments have increased in the western world. Over a hundred companies have shut their shops in Russia, and outlets in western countries have removed Russian products from the shelves. Financial companies like Visa, Master Card and Paypal have stopped their operations in Russia. The US has announced it would no longer import oil from Russia, among other sanctions.

NATO shares image of Ukrainian soldier wearing Nazi insignia; deletes it later

OpIndia Staff
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NATO shares image of Ukrainian soldier wearing Nazi insignia; deletes it later

On Tuesday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) tweeted a picture of a Ukrainian woman soldier with a Nazi symbol on the uniform and said that the Ukrainian women were a symbol of strength for their nation. NATO later deleted the tweet realizing that the post included a picture of a women soldier wearing the black sun symbol.

“All women must live free and equal. This international women’s day, we think of the remarkable women of Ukraine. Their strength, bravery and resilience are symbolic of the spirit of their nation #IWD2022”, the tweet by the official Twitter account of NATO read.

Image Source- Twitter

In the tweet that was deleted later, NATO had shared 4 pictures of Ukrainian women to celebrate International Women’s Day. One of the pictures was that of a woman soldier who was wearing the black sun symbol on her uniform. According to the reports, the black sun symbol is associated with Nazism and is popular with neo-Nazis in Ukraine. The symbol is composed of two concentric circles and rays that start from the smaller circle to the larger one.

Reportedly the symbol is different from the Hakenkreuz symbol which is most commonly used by Nazis. The black sun symbol refers to movements linked to esotericism and the occult of the mid-19th century. The symbol was first employed by the Schutzstaffel or Protection Squad in Germany but it became popular in 1991.

In Ukraine, the black sun is one of the symbols associated with Nazism that are part of the insignia of the Azov Battalion, a right-wing militia formed by several individuals with a history of activity in neo-Nazi organizations. As reported earlier, the Azov battalion of the Ukrainian National Guard is a neo-Nazi unit and they often flaunt their Nazi inclinations openly. It is a far-right volunteers group and their leaders have called Putin ‘a Jew’ in the past.

Earlier the day, in one similar incident, a photograph of a Ukrainian soldier who was evacuating civilians near the capital Kyiv had gone viral over the internet because of a symbol associated with Nazism present on his uniform.

Also on February 28, the Ukraine National Guard had shared a video of a neo-Nazi unit greasing bullets with pig fat to be used against Chechen forces fighting from the Russian side. “Azov fighters of the National Guard greased the bullets with lard against the Kadyrov orcs”, the tweet read.

Ukraine’s dalliance with neo-Nazi forces: A problem that NATO chooses to paper over

It is important to note that, the neo-Nazism ideology has not only taken root in the Ukrainian conscience but has also gained the Ukrainian government’s sanction. This has done anything but raised concerns in Moscow as was evident in the speech made by Putin days before Russia’s military offence in Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine came amidst heightened tensions between Moscow and NATO countries, with the former concerned about their precarious security apparatus as the latter mulled over its expansion in eastern Europe. Even as NATO and the US mount a propaganda blitz to counter Russia’s invasion, they have turned a blind eye to a festering problem that seemed to have played a pivotal role in Putin’s calculus to wage an armed conflict in Ukraine.

On February 24, Putin had justified his country’s aggression against Ukraine as a peacekeeping mission and couched the forthcoming military operation by Russian forces as ‘denazification’ of Ukraine. “We will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine and put to justice those that committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful people, including Russian nationals,” Putin had said while justifying a military incursion in neighbouring Ukraine.

One such neo-Nazi group that enjoys Ukrainian state patronage is the Azov Movement, one of the 30-odd privately-funded “volunteer battalions”, that does much of the frontline fighting with Ukraine’s army against the pro-Russian separatists in the country’s restive eastern region. The Azov is not just known for their reputation of being ruthless on the battlefield but also for espousing a militant ideology that shares its roots with the Nazi army that wreaked havoc in Germany in the second world war.

China accuses US of having 336 Biolabs in 30 countries including 26 in Ukraine, demands ‘full account of its biological military activities’

OpIndia Staff
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China accuses US of having 336 Biolabs in 30 countries including 26 in Ukraine, demands ‘full account of its biological military activities’

In the midst of Ukraine-Russia tensions, US-funded biological weapon laboratories in Ukraine have garnered considerable attention. After Russia, now China has accused US military of operating “dangerous” Biolabs in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Tweeted a snippet from a press conference where he asked the US to release “relevant details as soon as possible” regarding alleged US biological laboratories in Ukraine. He captioned his Tweet as, “The US has 336 labs in 30 countries under its control, including 26 in Ukraine alone. It should give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and subject itself to multilateral verification.”

Speaking in Mandarin, the official standard language of China, Zhao Lijian responded to a question posed at him by a local reporter. He said, “US Biolabs in Ukraine have indeed attracted much attention recently.”

“According to reports, in these facilities, large quantities of dangerous viruses are stored. Russia has found during its military operation that the US uses these facilities to conduct military plans. Accoridng to data released by the US it has 26 labs in Ukraine. The US has 336 labs in 30 countries under its control. The US has also conducted many biological military activities in Fort Detrick. What is the true intention of the US? what has it done specifically? The International community has doubts,” Zhao added.

He urged the US to give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and accept multilateral verification.

US admits there are Biolabs in Ukraine

Interestingly, on Tuesday, the US State Department official Victoria Nuland in a way had admitted that US-funded Biolabs are working on developing bioweapons on Ukrainian soil. Nuland testified before a Senate Foreign Relation Committee hearing on Ukraine in Washington, DC, and said that the United States was working with Ukraine to prevent invading Russian forces from seizing biological research material. The State Department also stated that it was concerned that Russian forces are trying to gain control of biological research facilities within Ukraine.

By stating that Russia will be held responsible for any ‘biological or chemical weapon attack,’ Nuland had effectively admitted what the Russian government has been saying all along: that US-funded Biolabs are developing bioweapons on Ukrainian soil.

Russian Defence Ministry says they found evidence of US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine

On Sunday, March 6, the Russian Defense Ministry had claimed that there were “evidence of a US-financed military biological program developed in Ukraine.” Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, said, “In the course of the special military operation, evidence of the Kyiv regime’s hasty measures to conceal any traces of the military biological program finance by the US Department of Defense in Ukraine has been revealed.”

In fact, when Russia had started attacking military installations in Ukraine, there had been speculations that the United State’s Biolabs that have been established in Ukraine in the name of research and defence are also among the targets. Social media had been abuzz with discussions on how the Russian government, in addition to objecting to NATO’s expansion in the region, had been highlighting their concerns, accusing the USA of running bioweapon labs near their border.

These remarks, however, echo claims made last year about the Wuhan lab’s research on deadly viruses being funded by the US and overseen by Anthony Fauci.

Since the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, experts have hinted at the possibility of the leakage of the deadly virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). In fact, Chinese Virologist had also gone on record to declare that the Covid-19 virus indeed emerged from China and was intentionally leaked by the Chinese Communist Party as a ‘bio-weapon’. Many reports had emerged that testify China’s nefarious plans to weaponise the SARS Coronavirus against the world.

Wuhan lab’s research on deadly viruses was funded by the US

In September last year, a new book had claimed that the United States funded the research of WIV on ‘deadly viruses with pandemic potential’.

The book titled, ‘What Really Happened in Wuhan: The Cover-Ups, the Conspiracies and the Classified Research’ has been authored by award-winning Australian journalist Sharri Markson. Published by Harper Collins, the book delves into a ‘secretive project’ that the US funded at the Wuhan laboratory in China. Daily Mail reported that the contentious lab was being used to create a database of ‘lethal viruses’.

It must be mentioned that WIV is one of the few laboratories in the world that can undertake ‘gain-of-function’ research i.e. make viruses deadlier and more infectious. While such research work has been hailed for predicting pandemics, providing opportunities for researchers to work pre-emptively on medicines and vaccines, it has been criticised for its ability to unleash dangerous viruses in the world.

Yogendra Yadav’s distress at BJP likely to sweep UP elections despite everyone rooting for Akhilesh is an assault on our collective intelligence

Nirwa Mehta
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Yogendra Yadav’s distress at BJP likely to sweep UP elections despite everyone rooting for Akhilesh is an assault on our collective intelligence

There are a few grounds on which a political party can win elections in India. One is the promise, the hope of better governance (which brought the Modi government into power at the Centre in 2014), the second one is good work (which is why the Modi government got elected the second time with a larger mandate in 2019), third is other options are terrible, coupled with faith in the ruling party being way better (which is why BJP has had an uninterrupted winning streak in Gujarat since the late 1990s), fourth is caste politics, freebies (which explains AAP, Samajwadi Party, DMK) and fifth is a government actually fulfilling the promises made.

Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh came to power in 2017 on the promise of development and improving the abject state of law and order in the state. Opinion polls, exit polls have predicted a clean sweep by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Whether they come true tomorrow is something time will tell. However, going by the initial reactions, it seems the exit polls may not be too far off from the actual result.

This, however, has upset the psephologist cum activist cum farmer cum protestor cum columnist cum Sonia Gandhi’s ex-aide cum politician and everything else under the sun, Yogendra Yadav. Yadav, in his column for Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, wrote that if BJP wins UP, it will be because ‘it effectively captured popular mindset, not booths’. One would think he is happy that BJP’s victory may be on full honesty and not because of booth capturing, as was widely the case in Lalu Yadav’s Bihar and the UP hinterlands when Samajwadi Party had a freehand. Except, that is not the case.

Yogendra Yadav is distressed (his words) that the forecast shows BJP winning. He is also shocked (his words) that some are projecting 300 plus seats for the BJP. He then points out how the Akhilesh-friendly media might have misinterpreted the crowds at Akhilesh Yadav’s rallies.

Yadav says how his comrades shared stories of BJP being wiped out in Western UP and decimated in Poorvanchal and hence he understands how they must be in shock over exit polls. He’s shocked that despite the coronavirus pandemic followed by the ‘farmer protests’, a ‘mediocre government’ has managed to get popular approval.

Yadav then details how he went to UP and travelled for six weeks and despite all the propaganda created by opposition parties on the farm laws and used the plight of migrant workers during the pandemic for political gains, the voter on the ground still seems to have gone with the BJP. He says how despite issues like unemployment and other issues and complaints people might have had with the Yogi government, they were not quite angry with the government. That everyone except Yadavs, Jatavs and Muslim voters shared a ‘commons sense’.

As per Yadav, people were upset with issues like inflation, job loss due to pandemic, difficulties one faced due to pandemic past two years but they also had the common sense to realise that since pandemic was a global issue, ‘what can the government do about these things?’ Yadav then lists out how the people in UP were happy they got food grains over and above the standard quota because of pandemic and how women feel safer due to improved law and order. “Things would have been worse but for Modiji.” was a standard response Yogendra Yadav got.

So, here, Yadav was met with answers like Modi and Yogi governments (double engine ki sarkar as the campaign has been) has worked effectively and people, including Samajwadi Party voters, were happy with the current dispensation on issues such as law and order. Perhaps Yadav is shocked that for a change a government has done work on the ground for voters and hence voters might be rewarding the government by bringing them back to power.

Yadav then dismisses the voter sentiment as ‘they had made up their minds’ and not really something the government did. Apparently, the campaigns, the advertisements (which every political party worth its freebie does all the time to win elections) is ‘rigging television and phone screens’. “It is not booth capturing, but mindscape capturing, an effective capture of the moral and political common sense,” writes Yadav making effective election campaigning done by the BJP which has resonated with voters appear like it is a crime.

He then gives his friends in media a piece of advice to not stay in an echo chamber and to go out and talk to actual voters because, well, 2024 (general elections) is still two years away.

Effectively, Yogendra Yadav is distressed UP voters chose law and order, fair handling of the pandemic in terms of vaccines, ration and other usual things a voter looks for in elected government and that the propaganda of opposition parties firmly backed and fanned by the mainstream, influential and friendly media failed. And hence, for 2024, the preparations should start from now. Because in the scenario BJP comes back to power for the third time with Modi as Prime Minister, lord knows how many would need to check into facilities for mentally disturbed.

Speaking of the mentally disturbed, we at OpIndia are quite looking forward to the meltdown. Hope our favourites do not disappoint.

OpIndia team keeping an eye on the usual suspects

Guatemala Congress approves law prohibiting gay marriage and teaching sexual diversity, ramps up prison sentence for abortion to up to 25 years

OpIndia Staff
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Guatemala Congress approves law prohibiting gay marriage and teaching sexual diversity, ramps up prison sentence for abortion to up to 25 years

Guatemala Congress on Tuesday approved a law prohibiting same-sex marriage and teaching about sexual diversity in schools. The new law also boosts punishment for women who choose to have an abortion, raising the prison sentence from earlier 5 to 10 years to up to 25 years.

The law, which was proposed by the conservative Viva Party, was unexpectedly passed by a large majority of legislators, including allies of incumbent President Alejandro Giammattei.

For the last three years, since 2018, the law had been kept on ice, and it still has to be published in the official gazette to become operational.

Earlier, the penalty for committing abortion was between five to ten years, except when the life of the mother is in danger. Under the provisions of the new law, this punishment has been boosted to up to 25 years of prison term.

Committing Abortion in Guatemala is considered an offence, except when it is needed to save the woman’s life. Before 1973, it was illegal without any exception. The Congressional Decree 17-73 in September 1973 changed the penal code to allow an exception pertaining to abortions in cases in which the pregnant woman’s life is in mortal danger.

In addition to this, the law proscribes educating children and young adults about sexual diversity and gender ideology and specifies that no orientation besides heterosexuality is “normal”.

The legislation, which was passed on International Woman’s Day, attracted sharp criticism from social activists and politicians, who claimed that it infringed upon the individual rights of the people concerned. Jordan Rodas, Guatemala’s human rights ombudsman, is preparing to challenge the law on human rights grounds.

“It violates human rights, it runs counter to the international agreements ratified by Guatemala, it is a setback to freedoms,” Rodas said while talking to reporters outside Congress.

Robert Vadra underreported his income from benami landholdings to the tune of Rs 106 crore in 11 years: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Robert Vadra underreported his income from benami landholdings to the tune of Rs 106 crore in 11 years: Report

Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has allegedly underreported his income from benami landholdings in Rajasthan to the tune of Rs 106 crore in past 11 years. A report by The Indian Express has stated that the Income Tax Department has decided to add this amount to his income during the assessment years 2010-11 to 2020-21.

The report further states that the IT department has also proposed to add approximately Rs 9 crore to M/S Artex, Skylight Hospitality, Skylight Realty, Bluebreeze Trading, Lambodar Arts, North India IT Parks and Real Earth, companies owned by Vadra which would be spread over the AY 2010-11 to 2015-16. The report states that the underreporting of income was uncovered during the course of its investigation for alleged tax evasion in Rajasthan land deals under the Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act.

As per the report, in December 2021, the department also informed the Enforcement Directorate of its findings regarding the underreporting of Vadra’s income (Rs 106 crore) and his seven companies worth Rs 9 crore approximately.

Suman Khaitan, Vadra’s lawyer, did not respond to an email containing a series of questions. Vadra, when contacted by Indian Express said, “Same reasons as last many years… the timing seems apt, to bring out my name. A clear malicious Political witch-hunt!! My legal team as you’ve addressed them already… can answer clearly.”

According to sources, Vadra and his companies will be able to challenge the I-T department’s findings on alleged income under-reporting.

Income tax evasion is punishable by a penalty of 50 per cent of the tax due under Section 270A of the Income Tax Act of 1961. If the under-reporting is attributable to misreporting, the penalty will be 200 per cent of the tax owed.

I-T dept said Vadra used Benami

The I-T department searched multiple premises in the possession of former Congress MLA Lalit Nagar and his brother Mahesh Nagar, a former aide of Vadra, in 2020 and claimed to have found evidence of a money trail that traced sizeable land transactions in Rajasthan by Nagar’s associates back to Vadra and his companies. Previously, the Enforcement Directorate and the I-T Department searched the Nagar brothers’ homes in April 2017 and October 2019, respectively.

The I-T department claims that Vadra used benami names to buy land in Bikaner and Jodhpur with the help of Mahesh Nagar in anticipation of the National Solar Mission, tax benefits offered by the state government, and subsequent appreciation in land value.

According to the department, the people whose names were used to purchase the land were either unaware of the transactions or simply rejected it. Furthermore, according to the tax department, the proceeds of the sale allegedly reached Vadra or Mahesh Nagar, resulting in income under-reporting.

According to the report, the Enforcement Directorate began investigating the Bikaner land deals in 2015 and summoned Nagar for questioning. He moved the court but got no relief, and in December 2016, he was summoned to appear before the agency. The ED has since turned over information about the Bikaner land deals to the IT investigation unit.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) announced in February 2019 that it had attached “assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of M/S Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltd (now LLP) and others in the Kolayat (Bikaner) land scam case.”

The report stated that nearly half of the Rs 106 crore income that the department claims Vadra hid, allegedly came from just two years – Rs 20 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 28 crore in 2019-20. According to sources, approximately Rs 4 crore is proposed to be added to the income of M/S Artex, a small company of Vadra’s that specialises in jewellery and handicraft exports, in 2015-16, and approximately Rs 1.5 crore to the income of Real Earth Estates in the assessment years 2010-11 and 2012-13.

ED seeks permission from Rajasthan HC for custodial interrogation of Robert Vadra in benami property case

OpIndia reported on January 17, 2021, that the Enforcement Directorate had approached the Rajasthan High Court seeking custodial interrogation of Robert Vadra in a benami property case. It was reported then that the ED had sought the High Court’s permission to question Robert Vadra and his associate Mahesh Nagar in the Bikaner land dealing case in its custody.

As mentioned above, the case relates to purchasing of land by Vadra’s associate Mahesh Nagar on behalf of Skylight Hospitality, a company owned by Vadra. Nagar had power of attorney issued by the company, using which he had done land dealings on behalf of the company. In a sting operation done by Republic TV, Mahesh Nagar had said that Robert Vadra used different fronts and names for his land deals.

ED was also proving a land deal by Vadra’s company in Bikaner, where the land may have been obtained from farmers by looting and duping them. 

Earlier OpIndia had published an exclusive report with documents showing that Mahesh Nagar had signed on purchase documents on behalf of Robert Vadra. He had said that he was getting money from HL Pahwa, who is deeply involved with the Gandhi-Vadra family in land deals.

Lithuania stops Covid-19 vaccine donation to Bangladesh because it abstained from UN vote against Russia

OpIndia Staff
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Lithuania stops Covid-19 vaccine donation to Bangladesh because it abstained from UN vote against Russia

Lithuania, a Baltic country in Eastern Europe has cancelled its earlier proposition to send Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh on Tuesday. This came after Bangladesh abstained on the recent UN resolution in the General assembly against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The Russia-Ukraine war has caught the world in splits. Bangladesh, like India and other 35 countries decided to abstain from the vote against Russia which was supported by an overwhelming 141 out of 193 member countries. This sovereign choice of Bangladesh – to not take sides in the war, has resulted in Lithuania cancelling the life-saving vaccine support to the nation.

The decision was announced by Rasa Jakilaitienė, a representative to Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė. Lithuania’s decision comes as a sanction to Bangladesh, for not condemning Russia equivocally as is expected by Western nations.

It was only last week when Lithuania made headlines over its humanitarian assistance to donate up to 444,600 Pfizer doses to Bangladesh under the EU’s combined efforts to combat the pandemic globally.

Lithuania, a country that had itself stayed ‘neutral’ in World War II, has now declined to send vaccines to Bangladesh because it decided to stay neutral in a war that is happening in faraway Europe.

The UN representative of Bangladesh during the debate on the Russia-Ukraine crisis had issued strong words while taking a non-partisan stand. The statement said, “Bangladesh believes that the obligations stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations regarding the prohibition of the use of force, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and peaceful settlement of international disputes must be complied with in all circumstances, without exception,” Bangladesh also expressed grave concern at the situation in Ukraine and stated that both the parties should immediately resume to dialogue and diplomacy.

Meanwhile, India has gifted more than 1.2 Million free vaccine doses to Bangladesh under its diplomatic initiative of Vaccine Maitri. This was also to commemorate the fifty years of Bangladeshi Independence in 2021.

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