On January 25, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) attacked Shiv Sena as its Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) ally Congress has announced to inaugurate “Tipu Sultan Maidan” in Mumbai on the Republic Day. BJP leader and party National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla shared a photograph of hoarding of the “Tipu Sultan Maidan” that will be inaugurated in Mumbai on January 26.
Tipu Sultan Maidan to be inaugurated on 26th Jan in Mumbai by Congress Minister Aslam Shaikh
Shiv Sena gives lecture on Hindutva Does Sena oppose or support it? If you oppose it,then why not stop it?
Or was it another compromise for power? Just like you abandoned Savarkar ji https://t.co/A4FeBDV0G7
Shehzad said Shiv Sena gives a lecture on Hindutva, but its ally’s leader would be inaugurating Tipu Sultan Maidan. He questioned if Shiv Sena supported or opposed Congress over the matter. In the tweet, he said, “Tipu Sultan Maidan to be inaugurated on January 26 in Mumbai by Congress Minister Aslam Shaikh. Shiv Sena gives a lecture on Hindutva. Does Sena oppose or support it? If you oppose it, then why not stop it? Or was it another compromise for power? Just like you abandoned Savarkar Ji.”
Tipu Sultan is a controversial historical figure, who was known for being one of the most ruthless Islamic invaders in South India. There have been several recorded instances of Tipu’s army forcefully converting, raping and kidnapping Hindus on his orders. Many temples are recorded to have been demolished under his reign. Historians such as Khan Hussain Ali Kirmani have pointed out that Tipu Sultan had animosity for the local Hindus and tribals in the area.
Uddhav Thackeray says Shiv Sena wasted 25 years in an alliance with BJP
Earlier, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray had alleged Shiv Sena wasted 25 years in an alliance with BJP. Thackeray was speaking on the birth anniversary of his father, Balasahed Thackeray. He said, “We have left BJP, not Hindutva. BJP is not Hindutva. They (BJP) have started to use Hindutva for their own interests. The meaning of Hindutva will always remain the same. The Hindutva that changes meaning as per convenience is not our Hindutva. They ally with Hindutvawadis for the sake of power.”
He further added, “They ally with Mehbooba Mufti for the sake of power. They ally with Nitish Kumar, who called for RSS-free India for the sake of power. They ally with Chandrababu Naidu, who once said ‘Modi hatao’ for the sake of power. Where is the Uniform Civil Code? In the garb of Hindutva, cow slaughter is prohibited in some states. But they don’t ban cow slaughter elsewhere for the sake of votes.”
Shiv Sena’s Raut claims BJP was less popular
In a statement on Monday, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut lashed out at BJP, accusing the party of using ‘Hindutva’ to gain power. While talking to the media, he said, “We took BJP from bottom to top in Maharashtra. After Babri, there was a Shiv Sena wave in Northern India, if we had fought polls at that time, there would have been our (Shiv Sena) PM in the country, but we left it for them.”
However, his claims did not match up with reality. The strong undercurrents of Hindutva sentiments owing to the Babri demolition helped the BJP with a 33.3% vote share. Contrary to Raut’s claims, Shiv Sena as a regional party did participate in the Uttar Pradesh state elections but could bag only 1,38,919 total votes in the state. While Sena received a total vote share of only 0.28%, its candidates lost deposits from 179 out of 180 seats contested. Netizens were quick to point out the facts after Sanjay Raut’s statements emerged on Twitter.
On Tuesday, January 25, Congress heavyweight and former minister RPN Singh took to Twitter to announce that he has quit the Congress and joined the BJP.
Soon after sharing his resignation letter, RPN Singh Tweeted to announce his next move: “This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji & Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji.”
This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji & Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji.
Earlier in the day, RPN Singh had tendered his resignation from Congress. Singh, the party’s Jharkhand in-charge, has taken to Twitter on Tuesday to share his resignation letter submitted to party president Sonia Gandhi. While sharing his resignation later, the Congress leader Tweeted: “Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey. Jai Hind.”
In his letter dated January 25, 2022, the Congress leader stated: “I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress with immediate effect. I thank you for providing me an opportunity to serve the nation, people and the party.”
The Congress leader had also dropped ‘Congress’ from his Twitter bio and changed it to: “My motto India, First, Always.”
It is being speculated that BJP may field RPN Singh against Swami Prasad Maurya from Padrauna seat in Kushinagar. Maurya, former Cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP, had recently switched to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Interestingly, RPN Singh’s name was also on the list of Congress’ 30-star campaigners for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022, which is scheduled to begin on February 10.
According to reports, he has recently felt sidelined inside the Congress party. Three days prior, he had met with top BJP leaders in Delhi, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Singh, however, had denied any conversations with the BJP last week.
Singh’s decision to join the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is yet another blow for the Congress party. Jitin Prasada, another state Congress heavyweight, had previously joined the BJP and had been sworn in as a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet. Last week Raebreli MLA and rebel Congress leader Aditi Singh had left the party and ad resigned from her MLA post too.
Social media is a wonderful tool. However, owing to the unbridled power it gives to the users, many of whom who stay anonymous, it has often been misused especially for targeted harassment of women. And as everything evolves, so has targeted harassment. Hindu women on social media are now victims of rape fantasies and sexual objectification for Muslim men.
There are tons of images of women, who are portrayed as Hindu with bindi, mangalsutra, sindoor and saree and posted with comments like how they are ‘waiting’ for a ‘Muslim d*ck’ as only he could ‘satisfy’ her. The sexually explicit images are posted with hashtags such as ‘HSlut4MStud’ (Hindu sl*t for Muslim stud).
Reddit post on ‘Hslut4Mstud’ (women’s image edited to protect privacy)
Here the original poster added caption how his ‘mom’ goes to temples (to show she’s Hindu) as she wants to show ‘Mstuds’ (Muslim studs) how religious she is. She comes late in the night from temple as she prays extra for ‘Mstuds’. In the image, it shows how when the woman is told she’s going to temple, she wears saree, but when she get to know that the temple is in Muslim area, she changes her clothes to wear a skimpy outfit with Hindu religious symbols on it.
Reddit is one of the most popular communities on Internet. There are thousands of subreddits where users, most of whom are anonymous, can post anything they wish as long as it follows the user guidelines of the subreddits. Some subreddits do not allow explicit content, while others, like ‘HSlut4MStuds’ do – like we saw.
Reddit has also been a festering ground for vile propaganda and breeding place for grooming jihad. Extreme pornographic images are shared where Hindu women are shown to be luring Muslim men. Often, these accounts engage in dehumanising Hindu women and spreading communal hate. As usual, no action is taken against the platform or users who indulge in such sexual objectification of Hindu women.
In fact, no media outlet even reports on it because as we have seen over the years that ‘Sanghis (a term often used to paint everyone who disagrees with self proclaimed liberals and Congress fans) deserve to die‘. So it does not come as a surprise that people fantasising of rape of Hindu women specifically by Muslim men is either ignored or mocked at by the so-called liberals who dismiss any time Hindus are victims because ‘how can a religious majority in India be a victim’.
It is not only Reddit that has been infested with posts sexually objectifying Hindu women.
Here is a Twitter post which was shared with hashtags like ‘Hslut4Mstud’ and ‘hslut’ and ‘mstud’.
Twitter post on ‘HSlut4MStud’
A pornographic image of a Hindu woman with a mangalsutra is shown with a man wearing the Muslim cap. Caption claims how the Hindu woman ‘Kavya’ who is a married and ‘sanskari’ Hindu woman is very excited to see her lover Saleem and, well, his ‘fat c*ck’. Perhaps the original poster had a tiny one himself to write such perverted post. But as one can see, the sexually graphic description of this fantasy is not just an extramarital affair, but the fact that it was between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man.
Another popular platform, Tumblr, too, has such explicit images shared of Hindu women and rape fantasies on them.
Tumblr posts on rape fantasies of Hindu women
These sexually explicit images of Hindu women are shared with hashtag ‘interfaithxxx’. Hindu women are mocked as ‘sanskari women’ who remove their clothes for Muslim men. The ‘liberals’ in India often mock the non-left supporters, especially Hindus, as ‘sanskari’ because being cultured is an insult for them.
Swarajya journalist Swati Goel Sharma had in December taken to Twitter to show how even online retain platform such as Amazon has been infested with such bile on Hindu women.
Amazon’s Kindle is full of e-books on porn literature & even rape fantasies featuring Muslim men & Hindu women. With titles like ‘Hindu wife’s affair with Muslim lover’, covers showing skull cap-wearing men & bindi-wearing women. Scores of books by dozens of authors. Report soon pic.twitter.com/V5XTb7wLIS
Her investigative report revealed how the porn and rape literature which specifically shows relationship between Hindu women and Muslim men which are ‘consensual sexual activity’. Not only that, it very subtly discusses grooming jihad where sometimes Hindu vegetarian women start enjoying non vegetarian food on insistence of their Muslim lover in the porn fantasy. “The text uses words like “Madrasi prostitute” and “whore Hindu bitch”. It gets worse,” the report read.
These images have not cropped in past 2-3 days. They have been around for years now. But no media covered it, no international publication asked Hindu women how they feel being victims of rape fantasies where perpetrators are supposed to be Muslims and that they are being targeted specifically because they are Hindus.
What is worse, in my opinion, is that even the state administration has failed us Hindu women. No police official has taken cognisance of such perversion unleashed on us Hindu women and taken it upon themselves to register and FIR and investigate. And hence, no arrests made in these case either. No state home minister or chief minister has told us they will look into it or investigate. Union ministry did finally acknowledge the problem recently but there are no updates from authorities or law enforcement agencies. Though, even there it was just one channel and one platform, but here as we can see the problem is much larger.
No ‘feminists’ have come out to extend empathy towards us Hindu women for being victim of such apps. No Muslim politician, like Asaduddin Owaisi and the lines of him have said they are ashamed to be a Muslim for such targeted pornographic harassment of Hindu women.
On Monday (January 24), TikTok informed that it had paid social media influencers to promote specific videos on Twitter in Japan, without notifying the viewers about its sponsored nature.
As per reports, the Japanese office of TikTok had employed ‘stealth marketing’ and kept the audience in darkness about the curated paid content, which was pushed on Twitter by influencers in the country. Such a practice might have led to many social media users mistaking paid content for organic posts.
In its defence, the parent company ByteDance Ltd claimed that it did not find it necessary to inform about the PR activities, given that the objective of pushing the sponsored content was not to increase app downloads. It acknowledged that the ‘stealth marketing’ tactics were in place until December 2021.
Operator of Chinese social media platform TikTok in Japan paid influencers to spread videos on Twitter without giving a disclaimer to viewers, local media reported https://t.co/citm2xiVXMpic.twitter.com/Z0eZXEcyXa
TikTok, however, refused to disclose information about payments made to the social media influencers. It has claimed to ensure that the audience is not misled by sponsored content. As of July last year, TikTok had surpassed 3 billion downloads.
How Indian government cracked down on Chinese apps including TikTok?
The government of India had permanently banned 59 Chinese apps, including ByteDance’s short video app TikTok, WeChat, Baidu, Alibaba’s UC Browser, Club Factory, BIGO Live and others. In June last year, the government had censored these apps. By the end of 2020, a total of 267 apps originating from China were banned in batches. PUBG was also banned since a Chinese company owned shares in the game.
The original action was initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY), Government of India, under Section 69A of the IT Act, stating that these apps are engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of state and public order. The government was not satisfied with the response given by these companies to the notices issued in June 2020. Thus, the government had initiated the process to ban these apps permanently and issued fresh notices.
A spokesperson of TikTok said that the company was evaluating the notice, and they would respond to it as appropriate. “TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmost priority,” the statement further added.
After several popular Chinese apps were banned in the Indian Internet space, it gave way to Indian app developers to showcase their potential to the users. For example, the Chinese document scanning app CamScanner was banned by the Indian government that provided a large market for apps like Kaagaz Scanner to fill up the void. Similarly, non-Indian entities like Google, Facebook and others took the opportunity to fill the void for TikTok and launched special features in their apps (YouTube and Instagram) to create short videos just like the banned Chinese app.
The Modi government is also promoting India-made mobile applications and encouraging developers to develop solutions for Indian markets in several categories, including productivity, games and entertainment. In July 2020, the government had introduced Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge that received close to 7,000 entries from individual developers and companies from across the country.
In yet another horrifying crime against women, a 19-year-old girl, hard of hearing and speech, from Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district was raped and was dropped pregnant by three men in Chittorgarh. The matter came to light when the girl on Monday complained of acute stomach pain and bleeding and was admitted to a government hospital in Bhilwara.
According to the Police, two months ago, the girl had visited her sister in Petra village of Chittorgarh and was raped by a man while she was working on the farm. The other two men who accompanied the accused had helped him to exploit the girl.
Adarsh Siddhu, ACP, Bhilwara said that the girl didn’t report the incident when it happened. She spoke out when she witnessed heavy bleeding and stomach pain yesterday. “The two-month-old fetus has been removed and the girl is kept under observation”, he added.
For the present, Bhilwara District Collector Ashish Modi has stated several uncertainties regarding the case. “She used to visit her siblings often but was in Bhilwara for the last 15 days only. So, it is clear that nothing happened in Bhilwara district”, he said.
He also added that the police is investigating whether the girl was raped or gang-raped and is also trying to discover the location of the crime.
Reports mention that the government hospital yesterday immediately informed the local police and district administration after they found the deaf and mute girl pregnant. The local police then arranged for a sign language expert to record the statement of the victim girl. The girl in her statement revealed that she was raped by two or three unidentified men when she was working on the farm around two months ago.
While the police have initiated the necessary legal action in the case, District Collector Modi has directed a team to discover and expose all the minor details in the case and put cuffs on the culprits at the earliest.
BJP Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla meanwhile, has slammed the Rajasthan government and Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi for uttering silence on the issue. Rajasthan Rape Saga continues. No justice in Alwar yet- instead of an attempt to save the accused by destroying evidence, meanwhile rape of another mute & deaf girl in Bhilwara. PRIYANKA SILENT !!”, he tweeted.
Rajasthan Rape Saga continues
No justice in Alwar yet- instead an attempt to save accused by destroying evidence … meanwhile
On January 12, a specially-abled minor girl was found abandoned at the Tijara flyover in Alwar, Rajasthan. She was bleeding from her private parts and was admitted to the hospital. As reported earlier, a few men came in a car on the night of January 11 and left the minor girl covered in blood at the flyover.
The incident had caused widespread outrage and the protesters had hit the streets to question the deafening silence of the senior Congress party leaders over the horrific rape incident. Several videos had emerged in which protesters are seen demanding justice for the victim from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress general secretary and UP in charge.
Budget 2022 is set to be released in a few days. On the 1st of February 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will open her tablet and read out how the government money is to be allocated amongst the people of India and departments that work for the people of India. Almost every year, like clockwork, the middle-class becomes incredibly unhappy about the Budget. We collectively rue the fact that there were no rebates for the salaries class even though the salaried class pays their taxes diligently.
Nobody really knows what might happen this time. The government may or may not give rebate to the salaries class. However, before that, we must talk about the disgruntlement that we will all deal with it that does not happen.
No government in India can ever satisfy the over swelling Indian Middle class. By some conservative estimates, it is a whopping 500 million out of the 1400 million population of the country which is around 35% of our population. I am a part of this hallowed giant group and am fully aware of what we contribute to society and what our expectations from society are.
In this huge oceanic mass of middle class, there are sub classes like upper middle class middle-middle class and lower-middle class and on the bottom and top fringes you have upper- upper Middle class and Lower-lower Middle class. Therefore, five loosely defined buckets exist in this bulging populace.
While the Middle Class covers a wide spectrum of people whose earning also varies greatly, it is also true that a bulk of this class is in a cozy comfort zone. Most so called middle class guys especially in big cities own a decent home. They have flat TV sets, of course with a fire stick, a nice music system, couple of lap tops, a good broad band connection, one expensive smart phone for every member of the house, air conditioners, microwave, gas connection(s), mixer grinder, cutlery crockery, silverware, oven toasters, car etc. Their children study in the best schools and colleges and afford good tuition classes as well. Our middle class is the one who are hard bargainers too. They happily bargain with everyone and look for discounts from even bhaji wala, poor Matka or Gamla wala. On a traffic light would jump the signal and argue with the cop too, ‘kuch lei de ke khatam karo na’.
They eat out once in a while and more or less, leave a decent lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with this. The middle class earns their money and spends it as they deem fit and everyone is entitled to a decent lifestyle. If they earn their money to fulfil that lifestyle, so be it.
What, however, is intriguing is that the middle class is the one group that seems to be the unhappiest. The middle class often criticizes every system, never appreciate any government effort and forward hundreds of jokes on the sarkar and the government machinery.
The government in the last six seven years has made serious efforts to give some very basic amenities to the poor who are far below the middle-class spectrum. Gas, bank account, electricity, Health cover, toilettes in rural areas and such like basic existential things which any human being requires.
This is a large number of people and for them, it is a life-changer! I am so happy to see our safai karamchari now asking for his monthly salary in a cheque and refusing cash payment. Now he has a bank account and comes with his passbook! You can see the look of pride in his eyes and on his face. Now he feels he is as good as any one of us. This is the biggest leveller or equalizer.
I remember how I felt when as a school kid my dad took me to a bank and opened a small savings account. It is the same feeling of pride more than anything else for everyone who has got an account in the bank through Jan Dhan Yojana.
These are the ‘have nots’. And they are contented and grateful for what you do for them.
The best way to describe ever complaining attitude of our middle class is by looking at a middle-class wedding function. The hosts usually spend a lot of time, effort and money to get the wedding going and leave no stone unturned to ensure that all guests are looked after.
A nice food spread is laid out for the dinner and as they depart it is time to thank the host profusely for the lovely dinner and hospitality. As soon as they are outside the venue they are now free to dissect the wedding arrangements. A usual comment is ‘Bhai, everything was very good but the Jalebi garam nahi thee’.
It is true that the middle-class gets paltry little in terms of direct benefits from the government. It is also true that most taxpayers are from the middle class. They earn their living, pay their dues to the government and live a lifestyle that is comfortable at worst. Before the budget, the expectation of the middle-class soars and if they are not met, all hell often breaks loose. It is true that the middle-class deserves a break, however, for the government, it is important to think in terms of the have-nots. To ensure that they are uplifted. To create a new middle-class that can later tell the governments that they did nothing for them.
The middle-class will have to realise that all the public spending on infrastructure and amenities does favour them. Would they be the middle class had roads and railways not been developed? If highways were not made? The Airports will be used by the middle-class to go on their hard-earned vacations. The new medical colleges will help their children. And from the suburban infrastructure to gramin markets, would be used to make the middle-class section’s life easier. Our tax money goes into the development of the very facilities we use and feel entitled to because we pay taxes. Congress lost its vote base in the middle-class because of the rampant corruption and not particularly because of the kind of socialism they practised.
Largely, the middle-class is content if they know their tax money is being used to uplift the nation without the pilferage that became synonymous with Congress. With the BJP using the tax money, perhaps it is time for the middle-class to not get too disgruntled if rebates are not provided. As a middle-class person myself, I sure hope it is. We need a break. But if it is not, I will find it in my wisdom to calm down and realise that my tax money is being used for the right purposes.
Congress heavyweight and former minister RPN Singh has tendered his resignation to the party and speculations are rife that he may join the Bhartiya Janata Party any time soon. This development comes as a major setback to the Congress party, which has been struggling to keep its house in order ahead of the high-octane upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.
Singh, the party’s Jharkhand in-charge, has taken to Twitter Tuesday to share his resignation letter submitted to party president Sonia Gandhi. While sharing his resignation later, the Congress leader Tweeted: “Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey. Jai Hind.”
In his letter dated January 25, 2022, the Congress leader stated: “I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress with immediate effect. I thank you for providing me an opportunity to serve the nation, people and the party.”
Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey. Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/O4jWyL0YDC
Interestingly, the Congress leader has dropped ‘Congress’ from his Twitter bio and changed it to: “My motto India, First, Always.”
RPN Singh’s changed twitter bio
India TV had quoted a BJP source as saying that Singh is in touch with senior party leaders in Delhi and talks about him switching the side are in the final stage.
It is being speculated that BJP may field RPN Singh against Swami Prasad Maurya from Padrauna seat in Kushinagar. Maurya, former Cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP, recently switched to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Interestingly, RPN Singh’s name was also on the list of Congress’ 30-star campaigners for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022, which is scheduled to begin on February 10.
Congress releases a list of 30 star campaigners for the first phase of UP Polls
RPN Singh and his long association with the Congress
RPN Singh is a resident of Padrauna of Purvanchal in UP. A descendent of the royal family of Sainthwar of Kushinagar, Singh is popularly known as Raja Saheb of Padrauna.
RPN Singh has been a loyalist of the Congress Party. He is said to have shared a very close relationship with the Gandhi family.
In fact, in 2020, the Jharkhand Congress had issued a show-cause notice to senior party leader Furqan Ansari for criticising senior leader Rahul Gandhi and the party’s state in-charge RPN Singh. Attacking the local leadership in Jharkhand and also the party in-charge RPN Singh, Furqan Ansari said, “If it was up to me, I would have not appointed RPN Singh even a block president”. Then, the Congress party’s leadership had issued the show-cause notice to Ansari in a bid to send a ‘strong message’ to dissenting voices.
He had been president of UP Youth Congress between 1997 and 1999 and secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) between 2003 and 2006.
From 1996 to 2009, RPN Singh served as a Congress MLA in the Kushinagar district’s Padrauna assembly seat. In 2009, he was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket from Kushinagar (formerly Padrauna Lok Sabha). Apart from that, RPN Singh served in the UPA 2 government as Minister of State for Road and Transport, Petroleum, and Housing. RPN was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 after defeating the then-BSP government’s strong leader and BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya in Uttar Pradesh.
Despite campaigning for Congress in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he was defeated both times. RPN is now the National General Secretary of the Congress and the State Chairman of Jharkhand. CPN Singh, RPN’s father, served in the Indira Gandhi cabinet as Minister of State for Defense.
According to reports, he has recently felt sidelined inside the Congress party. Three days prior, he met with top BJP leaders in Delhi, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Singh, however, denied any conversations with the BJP last week.
Singh’s decision to join the BJP ahead of the state’s important assembly elections will be yet another blow for the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the upcoming crucial polls. Jitin Prasada, another state Congress heavyweight, had previously joined the BJP and been sworn in as a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet.
Seven Medical students including BJP MLA Vijay Rahgandale’s son have died in a road mishap near Wardha, Maharashtra. The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday after the speeding vehicle collapsed from a bridge near Selsura, Wardha and fell 40 feet down into a riverbed. The deceased who were medical students of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Science were travelling from Devali to Wardha while the incident took place at a spot 20 km from Wardha.
Maharashtra | 7 students including BJP MLA Vijay Rahangdale’s son Avishkar Rahangdale died after their car fell from a bridge near Selsura around 11.30 pm last night. They (deceased) were on their way to Wardha: Prashant Holkar, SP Wardha
Among the lives claimed by the incident, include the son of Gondia’s seating MLA Vijay Rahangdale’s son Avishkar, who was a first-year MBBS student. After returning from a feast at a Dhaba, Avishkar and his friends were heading to Yavatmal while the car lost control near Selsura where the incident took place. Preliminary investigation suggests that the accident is likely to have happened around 1 to 1:30 AM on Tuesday night. Reportedly, the car lost control near a turning, which also had a smaller bridge after crossing a bigger one.
All the deceased who have been identified were MBBS students including Neeraj Chauhan (Final Year), Nitesh Singh (Intern), Vivek Nandan (Final Year), Pratyush Singh (Final Year), Shubham Jaiswal (Final Year) and Pawan Shakti.
SP Prashant Holkar while talking to the media said, “The vehicle was likely driven by Chauhan who lost control due to over-speeding. The vehicle had fallen through the bridge railing after impacting it. The incident has taken place between two bridges.” He assured that the inquest has been conducted and a post-mortem would be conducted of all the bodies by senior experts. SP Holkar informed that all the bodies were found on the riverbed whereas it took two hours to retrieve Chauhan’s body. An offence would be registered against Chauhan for irresponsible and rash driving, SP Holkar informed.
Pained by the loss of lives due to an accident near Selsura in Maharashtra. In this hour of sadness, my thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those injured are able to recover soon: PM @narendramodi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his grief on Twitter. Expressing his pain at the loss of lives he has assured Rs. 2 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the families of those who died and ₹ 50,000 for the injured.
Former Elle India publisher Arif Ayyub has been going on an unhinged rant against the Saudi and UAE royal families after a Saudi-led coalition retaliated against the Islamist Houthi movement in Yemen for carrying out a deadly drone attack in United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is the brother of controversial journalist Rana Ayyub.
In a series of tweets, Ayyub claimed, “The renaissance in the Islamic world will come when the rulers of Saudi Arabia and UAE are thrown out. The Arab Spring that started in Tunisia was halted in Egypt by obscene monies spent by Rulers of UAE & KSA. The USA loves it as it helps them subjugate the Middle East through them.”
In another tweet, he alleged that dissenters in Saudi Arabia, Israel and India were being put behind bars. “Dissidents in SAUDI ARABIA are languishing in jails, political activists like Sharjeel, Umar, Khalid and countless others are languishing in INDIAN jails, thousands of Palestinians are languishing in ISRAELI jails. USA is the biggest ally of them all. It supports tyrants,” Arif Ayuub wrote.
Screengrab of the tweets by Arif Ayyub
He also claimed that ‘Sanghi trolls’ were supporting ‘Saudi nationalists’ for conducting airstrikes in Yemen. “It’s hilarious to see Sanghi trolls come out in solidarity with Saudi regime apologist trolls. They are the same folks who cheer Zionist Israelis who persecute and uproot Palestinians. India under Modi, Saudi & UAE under their sadist rulers and Zionist Israel is an alliance of evil,” Ayyub alleged.
This is not the first time that Ayyub has spewed vitriol against Saudi Arabia or the UAE for promoting bilateral ties with Israel. Ayyub seems to be a part of the self-proclaimed Islamists who consider themselves more Islamic than others. There has been a faction of Islamists opposing Saudi Arabia and UAE’s efforts to improve business and cooperation with Israel and promote tourism in their country by opening cinemas and music festivals.
Arif Ayyub claimed that the House of Saud must dismantle and that the Kingdom must be ruled by “the finest of Muslims”, not the current royal families.
Screengrab of the tweets by Arif Ayyub
Arif Ayyub wants joint Islamic forces to attack Israel and seize Al Aqsa mosque
Rana Ayyub’s brother also called for the dismantling of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “The debauch Arabs of KSA, UAE must be kept away as they are only capable of sword dance.” Arif Ayyub called for a global coalition of joined military forces from Islamic nations including Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Azerbaijan. He had urged Imran Khan and Erdogan to “siege the moment.”
He demanded further that the ‘global Muslim army’ should immediately invade Jerusalem and capture the Al Aqsa mosque.
Screengrab of the tweets by Arif Ayyub
‘Rulers of Saudi Arabia and UAE should be sacked, the citizens there should be protesting on the street’, says Arif Ayyub
“What are the people Saudi Arabia and UAE all about? They are either cowards or imbeciles or have no conscience. Right now they should be on the streets, reclaiming the Arab legacy of our beloved Prophet (PBUH) from the hypocrite Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed Bin Zayed.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Arif Ayyub
Emirati businessman calls for action against Arif Ayyub, calls him ‘sibling of a snake’
Emirati businessman, Hassan Sajwani, dug out old and racist tweets of Arif Ayyub and had called out his Islamist tendencies. He emphasised, “Someone told me that a snake may not necessarily have a sibling, because they prey on each other… But hey! Here’s a brother of a snake, also an Islamist one.”
In multiple tweets, Arif Ayyub was seen raving and ranting against peaceful coalitions to boost the economy and tourism. He had called for a boycott of India’s pavilion at the Dubai Expo, improving bilateral ties between Israel and UAE and has asked for war and conflict in the Middle East.
It is notable here that Arif Ayyub is the brother of Rana Ayyub, another Islamist who is a habitual fake news peddler and writes anti-India columns for the Washington Post.
Screengrab of the tweet by Hassan Sajwani
While pointing out some of his anti-Semitic tweets, Hassan Sajwani called for action against Ayyub from Elle India. “Will Elle India take action against such hatred spreader? Remains to be seen,” the Emirati businessman pointed out.
Screengrab of the tweet by Hassan Sajwani
However, it seems Ayyub resigned from Elle India in August 2019 and since then as per his LinkedIn profile, he is now the CEO of something called Skytalk India Media Pvt Ltd.
Recently, Rana Ayyub had ranted against Saudi Arabia for engaging in a conflict with Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabian citizens had reminded her that the Kingdom’s intervention comes at the request of the legitimate government of Yemen and she is supporting terrorists who had recently killed innocent civilians, including 2 Indians in UAE.
Radical Islamists upset after Saudi Arabia tries to move away from extremism
Unlike his predecessors, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quickly realised the need of the country to reduce dependency on oil and diversify it to other sectors such as health, education, recreation and tourism. In an interview with CBS News, he said, “(Before 1979) We were living a normal life like the rest of the Gulf countries, women were driving cars, there were movie theatres in Saudi Arabia.”
In December last year, the Kingdom organised a giant party in the middle of the desert. For the first time, men and women were allowed to assemble and dance together without segregation. Since the rise of the Crown Prince to the power corridors, women empowerment has been one of the primary goals of the Saudi regime. For instance, women were allowed the right to drive in June 2018, ending the decades-long prohibition on driving.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs of Saudi Arabia directed the preachers of the mosques to dedicate the Friday sermon towards warning the Saudi people against the Tablighi and Da’wah groups. Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullatif Al_Alsheikh had given a direction to the Mosques in Saudi Arabia to reserve the Friday sermon for warning the people against the partisan groups of Tablighi Jamat and Da’wah existing in the country.
Yemen is bleeding and there is nobody to stop the bloodthirsty Saudis. These are people who call themselves the custodians of Islam. As a Muslim I am ashamed that these savages are guardians of the holy mosque. The world CANNOT stay silent thru this genocide #YemenUnderAttack
The progressive decision by the Saudi regime to distance itself from orthodoxy and extremism has not gone down well with radical Islamists. On Saturday (January 22), controversial journalist Rana Ayyub had posted a tweet attacking Saudi Arabia for launching a military operation against Yemen. She was then slammed on Twitter by Saudi netizens in response to that, accusing her of supporting terrorism.
“Yemen is bleeding and there is nobody to stop the bloodthirsty Saudis,” Rana Ayyub had tweeted on Saturday, saying that as a Muslim she is ashamed that “these savages are guardians of the holy mosque”. After Rana Ayyub posted the tweet, several Saudi netizens responded to her saying that their govt is supporting a recognised government, while Ayyub was supporting an Islamist terror group trying to overthrow that government.
Saudi engineer Gassan called it fake news and said that Saudi Arabia has launched military operations in Yemen as part of a coalition of over ten countries in response to a direct request from the legitimate government of Yemen. “We supporting legitimate and you supporting terrorists”, he added. One Twitter user Abu Sultan called her a “fu**ing liar”, saying all she “said are bullshit”. The user noted that this is why Ayyub had disabled replies to her tweets.
Note: The report earlier identified Ayyub as Elle India publisher. However, it was brought to our notice that he resigned from the media house in August 2019 and has not been associated with them. We have updated the report to reflect changes. Error is regretted.
The Balapur police in Hyderabad, Telangana have arrested a 61-year-old man Mumbai based businessman identified as Syed Altaf Ali for trying to buy a minor girl for a sum of Rs 3 lakhs. The police have also arrested eight others including the 14-year-old victim’s mother and grandmother who were trying to sell the minor girl. The other arrested persons are Akeel Ahmed, Zareena Begum, Shabana Begum, Shameem Sulthana, Nasreen Begum, Zahaida Begum, Arshia Begum (mother) and Chand Sultana (grandmother).
All the accused were booked under IPC sections 370, 370 (A) r/w 511, Section 17 of the POCSO Act and Section 3 and 5 of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (PITA).
Speaking about the arrest, B Srikanth, Balapur Sub-Inspector said: “I got a tip-off about the minor girl being sold to a person from Mumbai. Upon receiving information, I informed my senior officers and after obtaining permission we informed the SHE teams and raided the house in Bilal Colony, Errakunta, Balapur and found that all the arrested persons were in the house brokering the deal for selling the girl.”
He further informed that he arrested people, initially claimed it was a family affair and attempted to avoid answering the questions posed at them by the police, but when the police confronted them and sought the truth, the minor girl’s mother admitted to selling her daughter to Syed for Rs 3 lakh.
The mother confessed that they had tried to sell off their minor daughter three months ago to the same Mumbai based businessman, Syed Altaf Ali, but the deal did not work out as he was not ready to pay the demanded amount of Rs 5 lakhs.
Arshia Begum further told the police that a few days earlier, however, her brother met with an accident and they needed money for his treatment. It was then that they contacted Syed again to renegotiate the deal.
Meanwhile, according to the police, Syed Altaf Ali, who is from Mumbai, had divorced his first wife and was looking for a young girl to stay along with. Some common friends introduced Syed to an auto driver Akeel Ahmed. Akeel Ahmed, who was also a broker from Quba colony in Shaheennagar, in turn, contacted Zareeena, Shabana, Shameem, Nasreen and Zahaida seeking help in finding a girl for Syed.
“Akeel with the help of others identified a minor girl who is a resident of Errakunta and convinced her mother to sell the victim for Rs. 3 lakh. After a deal was stuck, Syed Altaf Ali came to the city. On information, the police raided the house and arrested them,” informed Rachakonda Commissioner, Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat.
Other incidences of older men marrying minors in Hyderabad
The rising number of incidences of older men marrying minors is a source of concern for the police, particularly in Hyderabad. Several reports have come to light in the past about such incidents. In 2020, the Hyderabad police had booked seven people, including the parents of the girl they married off their 16-year-old minor daughter to a 54-year-old man identified as Abdul Lateef from Kerala. The accused had been staying in Hyderabad city.
In September 2017, the Hyderabad police had arrested 3 Muslim clerics and 8 Arab Sheikhs. These Arab Sheikhs were marrying minor girls with the help of Qazis, brokers and lodge owners. The girls were even sexually assaulted by the Qazis.
This crackdown had come close to a complaint by a woman in August against her husband for allegedly “Selling off” their minor daughter to a 70-year-old Omani national named Ahmed Abdullah.
