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SC says Calcutta HC has no jurisdiction on CAT case against former WB chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, allows transfer of the case to Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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SC says Calcutta HC has no jurisdiction on CAT case against former WB chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, allows transfer of the case to Delhi

The former West Bengal chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay suffered a legal setback after the Supreme Court set aside the Calcutta High Court’s judgment in his favour where the High Court had quashed a ruling of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Delhi related to a case against him. The bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar of the Supreme Court that passed the order on Thursday (December 6) also expunged certain observations made by the Calcutta High Court against Central Administrative Tribunal and the union govt.

Alapan Bandyopadhyay had been issued a show-cause notice for abstaining from the cyclone review meeting on May 28 chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kalaikunda. On May 31 when Bandyopadhyay was set to retire, the Centre recalled him and asked him to go to Delhi and join the central government’s service. Bandopadhyay retired on the same day and did not go to Delhi.

As Bandyopadhyay refused to follow the order, the Personnel Department of the central government started disciplinary proceedings against him which he had challenged at the Calcutta Bench of CAT. But his case was transferred to Central Administrative Tribunal in Delhi following the request of the Centre. Bandopadhyay approached Calcutta High Court against transfer of his case from Kolkata to Delhi and got a favourable order.

The division bench comprising Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Rabindranath Samanta of the Calcutta High Court passed the order on October 29 to quash the transfer of the case.

“The entire modus operandi adopted by the Union of India reeks of mala fides, it is unfortunate that the Principal bench of the CAT nurtured such efforts by passing the impugned transfer order, thereby paying obeisance to the diktat of Union of India,” division bench had said.

The central government had flagged some of the comments by the High Court in its ruling and moved to the Supreme Court.

Calcutta High Court passed order without jurisdiction, it was ‘ab initio void:” SC

The Supreme Court has said that the Calcutta High Court passed the order without jurisdiction and it was ‘ab initio void (legally void from inception)’.

“It is crystal clear that the Principal Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal at New Delhi, which passed the order of transferring the matter from Kolkata to Delhi falls within the territorial jurisdiction of High Court of Delhi at New Delhi”, the Supreme Court has said.

The Supreme Court further said that Calcutta High Court usurped jurisdiction to entertain the Writ Petition of Bandopadhyay “even after taking note of the fact that the Principal Bench of the Tribunal does not lie within its territorial jurisdiction.”

The Supreme Court expunged statements of the High Court against the tribunal terming these as unwarranted, uncalled for, and avoidable as these were made on unfounded assumptions.

It said that there was “no exceptional ground to make scathing and disparaging remarks and observations,” against the tribunal “hence, they are liable to be expunged. We do so,” the SC bench said.

Who are Trads and Raitas and what is the supposed ‘internal strife’ in the ‘Right Wing’?

Rahul Roushan
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Who are Trads and Raitas and what is the supposed ‘internal strife’ in the ‘Right Wing’?

If you are active on Twitter you must have heard terms like ‘Trads’ and ‘Raitas’ – the latter not being the Arvind Kejriwal type and is also spelt as Raayta or Rayta – further peppered with other terms like ‘IT celliya’ and ‘RW Fahminists’ and many more such. These are broadly the labels Indian RW (Right Wing) has given to various groups amongst themselves, which may or may not be accurate. But who cares about that, for the label ‘RW’ itself is not that accurate to define the broader bunch.

More than two years back, when such differences started getting visible and these terms were frequently thrown in, there was an article on OpIndia that tried to demystify what was going on. It was written by a colleague of mine and I think it did a fairly good job, though it was not simple. Or let’s say, it was not simplistic i.e. not for dummies. Even now, an average social media user is still confused about these terms. Therefore, I, being the saviour of humanity, am trying to put together a dummies guide to understand these terms.

(click here to skip reading around one-third length of the article that gives some history and context to the whole issue, and straightaway go to some simplistic definitions of various shades of RW)

The immediate trigger to put this guide together is due to the news and noise around the ‘Bulli Bai’ app, which has been largely blamed on ‘Trads’ by everyone. The app compromised the privacy of various social media users, primarily of Muslim women working in media outfits. The slang ‘Bulli’ itself refers to Muslim women. The app aimed to mentally harass them by misusing their pictures and subjecting them to the humiliation of being an object of ‘availability’ on the app.

A Bollywood actress named Swara Bhaskar, who is better known for her anti-Hindutva politics than acting, tweeted and blamed the app on ‘Trads’ while another publication, mockingly called ‘Naxal Laundry’ by most of the RW people, tried to explain this Trad vs Rayta ‘strife’ in one of their articles. Well, I definitely hope to do a better job than these jobless people in explaining what this strife is and what these terms denote.

A little history and context

Indian RW or non-Left has never been a homogenous group at all, though the liberal media paints them as such. While the history of such differences is literally more than a century old – with Hindutva groups like RSS or icons like Veer Savarkar not believing in rigidity or infallibility of the caste system while others, including even Mahatma Gandhi, finding nothing wrong in it (and caste system is just one of the points of differences, there are many more with Hindutva groups like the RSS accused of not following real Hindutva) – for this article, we will stick to only the Modi era of Indian political history, especially post 2014.

It so happened that the various shades of the RW – most of the people not even aware or caring about what shade they belong to – rallied around Narendra Modi for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. They saw hope in him and expected him to undertake various activities and projects, not all of which was promised by Modi or the BJP at any point of time. But that’s how hope and love work; it is not based on some written contract, and many times it’s just one-sided.

These included various groups – the free-market guys (because UPA was becoming more and more socialist in their policies), the free speech guys (UPA had brought a draconian IT law and many folks were slapped with police cases and even arrested earlier for mocking UPA, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others), the dudes who just hated Congress for various reasons (corruption, Nehru-Gandhi family, local policies), people who were worried about Islamists and other anti-Hindu forces getting stronger (‘Islamophobes’ for liberals), the poor and socially backwards who identified with a ‘chaiwala’, the youth who ironically found more in common with Modi than ‘youth leader’ Rahul Gandhi, and obviously, the RSS folks, the BJP cadre, and Modi’s own growing personal fanbase.

The amalgamation of all such hopes from varied groups gave Modi an unprecedented electoral victory in 2014. No, it was not because of some Prashant Kishore or one campaign technology.

Obviously, not all of these hopes were going to be realized, as some of them were in conflict with each other – say aspirations of the poor vs free market economics, or protection of Hindu sentiments vs free speech, and many other permutations and combinations – and that became the reason of visible ‘differences’ among a varied group that was painted homogenous though it never was.

There were people who were dissatisfied, some said so openly, some did not. Some recalibrated their own expectations and hopes instead of being dissatisfied. Some turned rogue. Some advocated trusting Modi without micro-analyzing him for every step, while some started doubting everything about Modi.

One dissatisfied vocal group was of those who thought (and continues to think) that Modi has gone too soft on Hindutva agenda and his government is just as bad as any Congress-led government as far as civilizational issues are concerned. Some folks from this group even term him ‘Maulana Modi’. You can find such taunts going back to 2017 to the least. This group is broadly branded as ‘Trads’, but they are not a homogenous group either. We’d come to that soon.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Modi not only repeated but bettered his 2014 performance. Unless you are an idiot who thinks EVMs were hacked, this only meant one of the three things; one, the various groups that posed faith in Modi in 2014 continued to support him i.e. they continued to believe that Modi can deliver on their original respective hopes, two, many recalibrated their own expectations due to various reasons and their original hopes changed to something else, or three, Modi could create new support groups based on new hopes.

Personally, I believe that cross movements between various groups have continuously happened, while new entrants have come among various groups (rather than some ‘new hopes’). Some have left too, obviously, but sum total of all these movements was positive and thus 2019 saw a better performance. it’s not easy to estimate which of these groups comprise what strength and online chatter definitely give a lopsided impression of respective strengths in the real world.

Nonetheless, in the virtual world, since 2019, the same is getting repeated. Some again are dissatisfied, while some are not, and all that jazz. The differences have become more visible of late, and everything is clubbed as Trad vs Raita. So now let’s come to what they are.

What is Trad vs Raita or who are Trads and Raytas

Primarily it’s a reductionist debate, something which has always ailed any narrative about the Indian Right Wing. As explained earlier, the Indian RW is too diverse to be clubbed into two buckets called Trads and Raitas. However, if one must force-fit a vertical split, this might indeed be argued to be the broad division.

Trad or Trads are short forms for ‘Traditionalists’ which would mean that Trads believe or follow traditions (traditional Hinduism to be precise) while Raita is derived from Raita Wing, which is a mocking wordplay on the ‘Right Wing’. Mocking, because those who mock are least concerned about the Right vs Left ideological divide. They primarily see the fight as Hindus vs the rest ‘civilizational war’, not some Right vs the Left ideological debate.

Theoretically, people who primarily associate themselves with ideas like free market, free speech, constitutional patriotism, social justice, secularism, feminism, etc. and would want these ideas – typically developed and shaped by the European thinkers in the ‘age of enlightenment’ – and consider these to be guiding principles while arguing that Hindu ethos are not in conflict with these ideas, are Raitas, while Trads are those who would primarily associate themselves with Hindu ethos and would not mind rejecting some of these supposedly universally accepted virtues like secularism, feminism, free speech, etc. if they are argued to be against Hindu ethos.

Now that’s a complex issue to settle as the entire debate rests on how to define Hinduism and thus Hindu ethos. And that’s where these two broad categories will always have opaque boundaries.

For example, I self-identity (oh yeah, we have an entire spectrum here and some fluidity is surely allowed) as a Raita with a soft corner for Trads. Primarily I would not accept too liberal a definition where almost any guy can claim he or she is a Hindu just because they have a ‘Hindu sounding name’. In the words of Yashwant Sinha, koi bhi ch***a Hindu ban jaata hai. A case in point is the recent ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ event where many of the speakers went on to spew venom against Hinduism, veritably calling for its annihilation, and yet claiming that they can’t be accused of bigotry or Hinduphobia because they too are Hindus. Bullshit! At the same time, I’m not too comfortable with a very narrow definition of Hinduism either where entire groups like Arya Samaj or Hindutva groups would be termed non-Hindus as they don’t believe in some shastras or the traditional caste system.

The politics of Trad vs Raita

Now this entire difference or fight is definitely not just about definitions and is not as scholastic as I could have painted. Many folks aren’t even aware of such nuances. And politics gives you that cloak where you can still feel good about knowing all without caring for details.

Some of the public stances taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn’t exactly go well with the definition of Trad that I put above. Say, him calling the constitution of India a holy book, or his ‘sabka saath, sabka vishwas’ (which is about social justice as well as secularism) as guiding principles can’t be harmonized with the outlook of Trads, which puts Trads and BJP supporters at loggerheads. This one is the most visible strife as of now. However, it’s not new, because as I had said earlier, you can find ‘Maulana Modi’ jibes going back to 2017 and even earlier.

However, the politics of it has resulted in creating a perception that any person who hates Modi as well as who hates ‘liberals’ is a Trad, while anyone who supports Modi is a Raita.

That’s a wrong perception. There indeed exist people who can self-identify themselves as Trads, or ‘conservatives’ let’s say, and are Modi supporters too. Because it’s not like Modi has no respect for traditions or traditional Hinduism at all. Funnily that is all he is accused of by liberal and international media, that he has destroyed secularism by not only openly flaunting his faith but by giving state sanction to traditional Hindu rituals. He has the blessings and support of many Hindu seers and dharmacharyas, who definitely know traditional Hinduism a bit better than you and me.

Then there are people unhappy with Modi who have got nothing to do with being Trad, but because of their stand on Hindu politics. Their grouse is not Modi respecting constitution or ‘sabka saath’, which they can live with, but with Modi not doing enough to ‘destroy’ the anti-Hindu political (not electoral) forces and instead of putting all political and personal capital in areas they believe doesn’t help Hindu politics and causes. Their anti-Modi rants can thus make them appear like Trads.

The various shades of Trads and Raitas

Since it was supposed to be a dummies’ guide, let me quickly point out various types of folks who can be put in these broad buckets of Trads and Raitas. Let’s start with Trads.

The Trads

The most talked-about and currently in soup due to ‘Bulli Bai’ controversy is a group that I don’t think understands the nuances at all, but definitely is most vocal. With the caveat that online abuse indeed is not an exclusive feature of any one group (just say something against Virat Kohli or ‘farmers’ and you’d see), I’d have to admit that this group is abusive and uses harassment and intimidation as tools (again, not the exclusive domain of this group only). They have been made representative of Trads, and the onus has been put on other kinds to denounce them and disown them. Some are doing, some refuse to because it has parallels with what the Left used to do with broader Hindu voices – pick a strawman. I don’t really know what they stand for, because as I said, I don’t think they understand nuances or academic/theoretical reasons for the divide, but they just hate Raitas and non-Hindus. Possibly they consider Raitas as non-Hindus. Though abuse is their identifying feature, a more apt sub-division could be ‘Totalitarian Trads’.

Then obviously there are Trads who are Trads due to the theoretical or philosophical divide, which I had tried to simplify earlier. Their framework and guiding principles are not modern liberal ideas, but what they identify and celebrate as original Hindu ideas and ethos. They can be further subdivided into two groups; one that is more academically oriented with a focus on ‘Decoloniality’, which etches out the framework better and is coming up with a new articulation, while there are others who think they have enough articulation already and it’s just time to go ahead and have that civilizational nation-state (and berate Modi for not implementing it already). Since the ideas were always there, but articulation is new, maybe we can call them the ‘Resurgent Trads’.

And these are not the only two types though I wanted to put them for dummies guide. There are folks who fall in between these two types, and who are literally traditionalists – say, who are emotionally attached to rituals and heritage and don’t need any internet or new articulation to justify their emotions or beliefs. Some might not even know in detail about shastras, sampradayas, or various Hindu philosophies, though they would be more aware than a typical ‘Raita’.

And there are the ‘political trads’ who saw an opportunity in some folks being dissatisfied with ‘Modi not being Hindu enough’ and are there because there are political gains to be derived. Plus as I said earlier, people who are conservative and ritualistic, technically Trads, but happy with Modi are also there.

The Raytas

Now coming to shades of Raitas, since it’s primarily a negative label, there are can be various shades, basically, anyone who is not a Trad but is a supporter of Modi. However, that is not accurate as I had explained earlier. But still, let us try to broadly sub-categorize the Raitas too.

The most ubiquitous one is the ‘liberal Hindu’. They don’t find the ideas, or at least the guiding principles behind ideas like secularism, feminism, free speech, etc. wrong, they just want “true and fair” versions of these ideas and they don’t like the “woke” versions of these ideas. They are most likely, though not necessarily, be unaware about shastras, their own sampradaayas, or some case even caste (possibly aware, but won’t care). However, unlike just the ‘liberals’, the liberal Hindu doesn’t think those aspects – shastras or Hindu philosophies – etc. have no place in modern life or scheme of things. Let us put it this way – they want Hindu primacy, but could baulk at the idea of ‘Hindu supremacy’.

Then there is the group that can be termed as ‘political Hindu’. It’s support for Hindu politics minus formal affiliation to Sangh or any other organization. Ahem ahem, like Sanghis who never went to a Shakha. They may not be as much ‘liberal’ as the aforementioned group and their primary concern is that Hinduism must prevail and come stronger in coming years. They see the current times as crucial, with Hindus being pushed into a civilizational war (that’s where they could have something common with Trads, though strategies and end goals would differ from those of Trads).

Further, those ‘political Hindus’ who have a formal association (known or suspected) with the Sangh or the BJP or any other associated organization, are often termed as ‘IT celliyas’. They are accused to be primarily be driven by political compulsions than ideological beliefs. And then there are people who are genuinely fans of the phenomenon called Narendra Modi. They could be accused of being ‘paid’ like ‘IT celliyas’ are supposed to, but it’s indeed genuine (manufactured by propaganda in the eyes of liberals) admiration and complete faith in Modi that gets them clubbed as Raita, even though they may not fit in the above categories.

‘Hindu refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh were given housing plots in the land we seized from mafias’: CM Yogi

OpIndia Staff
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‘Hindu refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh were given housing plots in the land we seized from mafias’: CM Yogi

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday affirmed that the state had accommodated the Hindus who came from Pakistan and Bangladesh in the land that the government had freed from encroachers.

“Hindus, who were living in Meerut for decades after facing expulsion from Pakistan and Bangladesh, could not afford to build their own houses or buy lands. We have given 63 such Bengali Hindu families two acres of land and plots for housing in Kanpur Dehat. These lands were freed from land grabbers”, he said on January 6.

The UP CM was speaking at an event in Lucknow for the distribution of appointment letters to candidates selected for various posts in government services. 57 Naib Tehsildars, 141 lecturers for government colleges and 69 assistant lecturers were given appointment letters on this occasion.

According to Yogi Adityanath, all the 63 Bengali Hindu families who had arrived in India after being persecuted in Bangladesh, living in the Kanpur Dehat area for decades, were also given Rs 1.20 lakh under the ‘Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana’. “The land freed from encroachers was brought under a land bank and the land would also be used to set up schools, industries and other businesses. Many facilities of the Defence Industrial Corridor have also been built on these recovered lands,” he added.

This is after the Yogi Adityanath government had announced in November 2021 that it would rehabilitate 63 Hindu Bengali families who migrated to Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh after being displaced from East Pakistan in the year 1970. The state cabinet then had also decided to provide monetary help to the families.

The state government had made 121.41 hectares of land available under the Rehabilitation Department in village Bhainsaya, Tehsil Rasulabad, and District Kanpur Dehat. It is worth noting that the state government currently has 64,366 hectares of the recovered land and it is being allotted for the poor to build houses and to build infrastructure facilities and industries.

Yogi Adityanath also noted that his government had introduced transparency in all government exams and was marking a fundamental positive change in the recruitment process from the previous regime.

The Chief Minister meanwhile claimed that the state government had so far appointed more than 1,75,000 teachers in primary, secondary and higher education departments. “Never before were so many teachers recruited. The recruitment process was completely transparent,” he said.

Another video of Jawed Habib spitting on a woman appears, netizens demand action against the hairdresser

OpIndia Staff
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Another video of Jawed Habib spitting on a woman appears, netizens demand action against the hairdresser

Another video of Jawed Habib spitting on his customers has appeared on social media on 6th January 2022. In this video, the hairdresser is seen spitting on the hair of a young lad. Earlier a case was registered against him when he was seen spitting on the hair of a woman named Pooja Gupta while dressing her hair in a program organized in Muzaffarnagar. It was a seminar conducted by the Wondersoft Professional, which is managed by Mohammad Aman. Pooja Gupta was called onto the stage by Habib for a haircut demonstration. NCW had taken serious note of this incident.

Now with this new video shared by Sudarshan News, Jawed Habib is again seen spitting on the hair of his customers and people are demanding strict action against him for this. It is notable that the the date and location of the video is note known yet.

While sharing the video, Sudarshan News alleged that Jawed Habib knows that the maang (parting of hair) is considered very holy in Sanatan Dharma, and therefore he deliberately spits on it.

The spitting hairdresser

Jawed Habib came on to the flame of criticism and outrage when he was recently seen spitting on the hair of a woman named Pooja Gupta. He was dressing her hair as a part of a haircut demonstration during a seminar conducted by Mohammda Aman’s the Wondersoft Professional. This incident happened in Muzaffarnagar. NCW took serious cognizance of this incident. It said that the chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the DGP Uttar Pradesh to immediately investigate the veracity of this viral video and take appropriate action. NCW added that the action taken must be apprised to the Commission at the earliest.

Case registered against Jawed Habib

Pooja Gupta, the center of the ‘Jawed Habib spit debacle’, has lodged an official police complaint in Muzaffarnagar against Habib for humiliating her in the public. Confirming the development, Muzaffarnagar Police said that a case has been registered against the accused under relevant sections at Mansurpur police station on the complaint filed. They also said that they are proceeding with the case as per procedures.

Repeated spitting incidents

It is evident that many such incidents are being reported in which the accused in the corresponding incident is seen following this ugly practice. People are becoming more aware about this than earlier and demanding strict actions against those who do such acts. Along with Jawed Habib there have been other cases of spitting too. The persons involved in such cases range from a common man to a celebrity. A man named Naushad was seen spitting on Tandoori Roti. Actor Amir Khan also used to spit on heroines for ‘good luck’. Several similar videos had emerged on social media in recent past and strict actions are demanded by people reacting and criticizing on such ugly acts.

Political violence continues in Bengal: Another BJP leader’s body found hanging, party alleges TMC’s involvement

OpIndia Staff
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Political violence continues in Bengal: Another BJP leader’s body found hanging, party alleges TMC’s involvement

A 22-year-old BJP activist was found dead in Bengal on Wednesday. According to police, the body of a BJP youth wing leader was discovered hanging from a bamboo structure in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district. An officer said Shuvro Jyoti Ghosh, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha local committee, was found hanging near his home in Ghagra village in the Banchukamari area on Wednesday.

Ghosh was a member of the BJPs Yuva Morcha Local Committee and a resident of Ghaghra village in Alipurduar’s Banchakumari district. He’d been missing since Tuesday night. The BJP has accused the TMC of the killing of the party worker.

“TMC miscreants killed Shuvro Jyoti Ghosh, a 22-year-old BJP activist of Alipurduar assembly. Mamata Banerjee steers the tyrannical law in West Bengal! The people of Bengal will give a befitting reply!” tweeted Bengal BJP’s Twitter handle.

Local BJP workers staged a protest against the incident and briefly shut down the Buxa Feeder Road to press their demand for the culprits’ immediate arrest.

Despite the ruling TMC’s landslide victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, political violence against BJP workers and supporters has continued unabated. Several BJP karyakartas are said to have been brutally murdered in the post-election violence that erupted in the state after the results of the Vidhan Sabha elections were announced. The BJP claims that over two dozen party workers have been killed since the election results were announced on May 2.

CBI probing cases of post poll violence in Bengal

On August 19 last year, a five-member bench of the Calcutta High Court issued an order establishing the SIT as well as the CBI investigation, following the submission of the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) report on human rights violations in West Bengal. The NHRC made several damning revelations in its report detailing the barbarity unleashed on political opponents in West Bengal. In about 4 months, the CBI has registered 51 cases (and) filed charge sheets in 20 of them.

Post poll violence in Bengal

West Bengal saw an unprecedented wave of violence directed at BJP workers and supporters, who were allegedly brutally murdered, prosecuted, and raped by Trinamool Congress leaders and workers.

Notably, following the announcement of the results in May 2021, post-poll violence has become a recurring theme in Bengal news. The state has reported a slew of incidents of violence against political opponents. More than two dozen BJP workers were killed in the post-election violence that erupted following the TMC party’s victory in the assembly elections.

Maharashtra: BJP leader Jiten Gajaria booked for allegedly posting objectionable posts against Rashmi Thackeray

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: BJP leader Jiten Gajaria booked for allegedly posting objectionable posts against Rashmi Thackeray

A day after Mumbai Police detained and interrogated BJP leader Jiten Gajaria over tweets posted by him, a case has been registered with Pune Police against him for allegedly posting objectionable posts against Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray and other Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders.

According to reports, the case against Gajaria was filed at Pune Cyber Cell for his posts against Maha Vika Aghadi members. While a report carried by ANI said Pune Police is on its way to Mumbai to arrest Gajaria but a Pune-based journalist tweeted that Pune Police had reached Gajaria’s residence in Mumbai to arrest him but he was not found there.

BJP Mumbai’s social media in-charge and secretary Pratik Karpe took to Twitter to insinuate that Pune Police’s team had raided Jiten Gajaria’s house at 1 am in the morning.

Jiten Gajaria detained and interrogated by Mumbai Police over tweet comparing Rashmi Thackeray with Rabri Devi

The case pertains to tweets posted by Jiten Gajaria on January 4, following which he was detained and interrogated by the Mumbai Police on Thursday this week. Talking to OpIndia, Pratik Karpe said that a team of three officers of the Maharashtra police reached Jiten Gajaria’s office in the morning at around 10 am on January 5. They were not carrying any legal notice or warrant against Jiten Gajaria, yet they picked him up from his office and brought him to the cyber police station, BKC in Mumbai where he was put through the wringer for over three hours.

The arbitrary action being taken against the BJP leader by the Maharashtra police, and now by the Pune Police, was for two Tweets Gajaria had posted on January 4. In his first Tweet, Gajaria had referred to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray as Maharastra’s Rabri Devi.

In his second Tweet, he quipped at Rashmi Thackeray and Ajit Pawat by invoking the latter’s crass 2013 urine remark that had ridiculed the hunger strike by a drought-affected farmer in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar had then said: “From where will we give him water? Should we urinate in dams?”

Gajaria had joked in Marathi, thereby indirectly referring to Ajit Pawar’s insensitive remark. His Tweet roughly translated to: “If Rashmi is running the government, am I the Deputy CM just to urinate? – @AjitPawarSpeaks to @OfficeofUT.

Viral video: Khalistanis had shared animated video showing how they want to block PM Modi on a flyover and throw him off to kill him

OpIndia Staff
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Viral video: Khalistanis had shared animated video showing how they want to block PM Modi on a flyover and throw him off to kill him

Two days after the security of PM Modi was compromised during his visit to Punjab, a year-old animated video has gone viral on Twitter with an uncanny resemblance to the incident. Netizens have been circulating the video, pointing out the eerie connection between what was shown in the animated clip a year ago and what occurred on January 5, when Prime Minister Modi’s security was jeopardised owing to state machinery negligence when his convoy was blocked on a flyover by protestors using trucks and tractors.

BJP Leader Kapil Mishra shared the video and claimed a rerun of the 2020 animated video in 2022. This video was allegedly uploaded by Khalistani supporters on YouTube a year ago.

The 3.02-minute video titled FER DEKHANGE – Kissan Ekta Zindabad was uploaded on December 1, 2020, by a YouTube channel named Dhakka Gaming. The song that plays in the background of the incendiary video is the song ‘Baaghi’ sung by Punjabi singer Simu Dhillon, who came up with the song in September last year when the so-called farmer’s protest was at its peak.

At the start of the video, an animated character of Prime Minister Modi approaches his convoy. Two gunned security personnel can be seen trailing him. PM Modi gets into his car and drives away with his entourage. Next, it shows an animated character resembling rapper and singer Sidhu Moosewala, who has been spotted sympathising with the Khalistani narrative several times in the past, seated in a blue tractor and going towards PM Modi’s convoy. The blue tractor is followed by another red tractor. After a while, another tractor joins them. When PM Modi’s convoy approaches a flyover around 1.13 minutes into the video, hundreds of civilian vehicles and thousands of people are seen waiting for his entourage.

At 1.30 minutes, the animated character of Prime Minister Narendra Modi exits his car and walks towards the crowd, most likely to negotiate, but the enraged crowd begins storming towards PM Modi. Seeing the mob approach, the horrified security personnel flee in the opposite direction. PM Modi also starts scrambling to get away from the outraged mob, but he is cornered. He tries to run but is besieged by the crowd, some of whom are holding sticks. PM Modi, waylaid by the mob, sits on the road, pleading for pardon, while the crowd stands encircling him.

Several such videos were made using GTA and uploaded during the beginning of farmer protests in 2020, which show PM Modi being attacked by protestors. In another such video, PM’s convoy is seen blocked by dozens of vehicles, including trucks, tractors, and monster trucks. These vehicles break through a cordon, while Modi is chased by people on a bridge. But he is stopped by a monster truck with Kissan Ekta Zindabad written on it. The truck pushed Modi to the edge of the bridge, causing him the fall down, and he remains hanging by the feet from the bridge while the attackers line the bridge to watch it.

Another such video showed a semi hitting a car being driven by PM Modi on a bridge, and then the attackers chasing him to kill him.

Netizens appalled at the eerie similarity between viral video and security breach of PM Modi

While sharing the aforementioned old videos on Twitter, many Netizens pointed out the uncanny resemblance between what was shown in the video with what exactly transpired in the Punjab flyover on January 5, when PM Modi’s cavalcade was stopped for almost 20 minutes, with dozens of civilian vehicles and thousands of people blocking the path.

“So @RahulGandhi your plan to have PM @narendramodi assassinated and foiled by SPG and Indian forces as lifted from this video of Dec 20. But know that real life is not about animations…and karma will surely catch up with u,” Tweeted social media user Alok Bhatt while sharing the video.

Netizens opined that what happened in Punjab with PM Modi was not a coincidence but a well-planned assassination. They pointed out how in this one-year-old video the Khalistani had described and dramatised PM’s assassination which is exactly in line with what transpired on January 5.

Netizens also shared another video released on the same Youtube channel Dhakka Gaming on December 6, 2020, in which the PM’s cavalcade is shown intercepted on a bridge by a huge crowd and a truck with Kisan Ekta Zindabad printed on it and flags bearing the same, which then chases PM Modi and hangs him upside down from the bridge’s side rails.

Social media user @TheAngryLord shared the second video while Tweeting: “Another video showing what they wanted to do with PM Modi on the flyover on Jan 5th. This has been lying on YouTube for over a year”.

Major security lapse by Punjab Police

As per available details, the Punjab Police was aware that there is a roadblock in the area due to farmer protests. The Punjab Police still gave the go-ahead to the security staff of PM Modi on the same route, knowing there is a roadblock. Further, the Punjab Police failed to clear the roadblock and created a major security lapse as the PM’s convoy was held for over 20 minutes, with dozens of civilian vehicles and thousands of people blocking the path. The police also did not provide an alternative route and eventually, the PM’s security staff decided to bring the PM back to Bathinda airport.

Questions raised over Congress’ intentions

After this incidence of lapse in the security of PM Modi, questions were raised on the intentions of the Congress party that is currently ruling the state. The party workers were also seen celebrating the security breach while its leaders were seen posting comments like “How’s the josh, Modi ji?” on social media. Congress leaders were also seen boasting that they were aware of the planned protests and intentions to prevent the PM’s public address in the state.

Four former J&K chief ministers to lose security cover of Special Security Group as UT administration decides to right-size the SSG

OpIndia Staff
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Four former J&K chief ministers to lose security cover of Special Security Group as UT administration decides to right-size the SSG

Four former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir and their immediate family members are going to lose their Special Security Group (SSG) protection as the union territory’s administration has decided to wind up the elite unit established in 2000. Former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Mehbooba Mufti will be affected by this decision. Except for Congress leader Azad, the rest three reside in Srinagar.

The decision was taken by the Security Review Coordination Committee which oversees the threat perception of important leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. On December 31 last year, Rashid Raina, undersecretary to the J&K administration sent a communication to the additional director general of police (ADGP), security, of UT administration that the centre has approved to right-size the SSG.

“And, accordingly, I am directed to convey to reduce the posted strength of SSG to the bare minimum, preferably headed by a DSP, for maintaining continuity. All the resources (including vehicles, access control gadgets, etc) of the SSG, except such resources as may be required by SSF, be transferred to the security wing,” the communication read.

The administration will ‘right-sized’ the SSG by reducing the strength of this elite force to the ‘bare minimum.’ Now it will be headed by an officer below the rank of Superintendent of Police as against Director, who is of the rank of Inspector General of Police and above.

On March 31, 2020, the Centre had issued a gazette notification — Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020 — to amend the Special Security Group Act of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir government. The amendment omitted a clause that provided former chief ministers and their families with SSG security.

The SSG will now provide security cover to serving chief ministers and their immediate family members only. But former chief ministers will continue to get some other security.

Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad will continue to get the security cover of the National Security Guard as both of them are Z-plus protectees. Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba will have Z-plus security cover while in Jammu and Kashmir. But their security may be reduced outside the union territory. In addition to this, these leaders will be provided security by the district police based on the threat assessments.

The union territory administration has decided to post some of the SSG personnel in the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police as part of the ‘close protection team.’ The additional vehicles and gadgets of the SSG will be transferred to the security wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

With the cutting down the size of SSG, the remaining personnel from the elite group will be posted in other wings to make the best use of their knowledge, training and expertise.

The Jammu and Kashmir Special Security Group was created in 2000 by an act of the J&K Assembly during the Farooq Abdullah govt. It was created to provide security to protected persons, vital installations and to secure venues during sensitive events.

Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami shuts down UK activist who downplayed PM security breach as ‘democratic protest’

OpIndia Staff
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Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami shuts down UK activist who downplayed PM security breach as ‘democratic protest’

A day after the Punjab Police allowed a frenzied mob of protestors to block the Prime Minister’s convoy, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami lambasted a UK-based human rights activist Jas Uppal for trivialising the security breach.

During a debate held on the channel on Thursday (January 6), Goswami interrogated Uppal for downplaying the dangerous situation and dubbing it a democratic protest. “Will anyone be allowed to do this in the UK with Boris Johnson?” Arnab Goswami asked. “You know Miss Uppal, today if you take 20 environment activists and try to block Walsall bridge, you will be picked up and locked up. And it has happened repeatedly,” he said.

Goswami added, “Assume the Prime Minister of the UK is on the road. And there is someone who disagrees with him. There are so many people who don’t like Brexit. Suppose they block his road and have a go at him. What will the Mi5 do?” On being confronted with facts, the human rights activist claimed that it was a democratic right to protest and hold demonstrations.

At that point, a miffed Arnab Goswami stated, “I am tired as hell about people in the UK and America, teaching Indians about democracy.” The Republic TV Editor-in-Chief pointed out how the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which came into existence in 1947, had carried out several assassinations in the country. He added how assassinations of key officials have been a part of this record.

When asked about the ‘right to protest’ and whether PM Boris Johnson’s convoy could similarly be stopped in the UK, Jas Uppal refused to answer the question. She later conceded that a protest similar to one faced by PM Modi in Punjab would have been classified as an ‘act of crime and terrorism’ in the UK.

On being grilled by Arnab Goswami, the human rights activist failed to come up with convincing answers. “Can you protest like this before Boris Johnson?” the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief put out a straightforward question. “What has Boris Johnson got to do with it?” asked Uppal. He then urged her to protest against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbin. However, she kept on pestering Goswami about the relevance of the question. Goswami clarified, “You can’t do that in that country. So don’t lecture me.”

Security breach in Punjab endangered the life of PM Modi

On Wednesday (January 5), the Punjab Police, in a major lapse, had allowed political protestors to block the Prime Minister’s convoy. It was blocked for over 20 minutes by protestors at a flyover about 30 km away from Hussainiwala. In a statement, the Home Ministry has stated that the PM was scheduled to visit the National Martyr’s Memorial in Punjab’s Hussainiwala by helicopter.

However, due to adverse weather conditions, the helicopter ride was cancelled and the PM chose to go by road. As per protocol, necessary confirmations were sought from the Punjab DGP and the PM’s convoy started after the confirmation for security arrangements was provided by Punjab Police. However, at a flyover about 30 km away from Hussainiwala, the road was found to be blocked by some protestors.

The Prime Minister’s vehicle was stuck on the flyover for 15-20 minutes, as per the statement. While calling this a major lapse in the security of the PM, the Home Ministry stated that the PM’s travel plan was communicated well in advance to the state government. The state government is required to make necessary arrangements for security, logistics and also make a contingency plan ready in case of unexpected issues.

Who is ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed: Pakistan’s anti-India agent in UK who is now convicted of sexually harassing children

Pallav
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Who is ‘Lord’ Nazir Ahmed: Pakistan’s anti-India agent in UK who is now convicted of sexually harassing children

Lord Nazir Ahmed, a former United Kingdom Member of Parliament, was convicted on 5 January 2022 in Sheffield Crown Court in the UK for attempting to rape a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under the age of 11 In the 1970s. Last year, Nazir was forced to retire from the House of Lords after a woman accused him of attempting to gain sexual favours by abusing his position.

Nazir Ahmed is close to Labor Party leader and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is the first Muslim MP to be appointed as a life member of the House of Lords, the British Parliament’s upper house. He also has a close relationship with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The conviction is a smack in the face to those attempting to paint India in a negative light, not just in the UK but also in other countries.

Ahmed’s disdain for India

Lord Nazir Ahmed, the face of the anti-India campaign and Kashmiri separatist, was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and later moved to the UK. Nazir has been in the vanguard of a nasty anti-India campaign, giving venomous remarks against India over the Kashmir conflict on numerous occasions. He’s also been a vocal supporter of separatist Khalistani organisations.

During the 69th Republic Day celebrations at the office of the High Commission of India in 2018, Ahmed organised a ‘Black day’ protest in which Pakistani protesters tore Indian flags by hand and shredded them underfoot. Ahmed had also hired five private billboard vans with slogans such as ‘Free Kashmir,’ ‘Free Khalistan,’ ‘Free Assam,’ ‘Free Nagaland,’ and ‘Free Manipur.’

In August 2018, he was one of the key speakers at the contentious ‘Khalistani Referendum 2020’ event in London’s Trafalgar Square. Many Indians, however, gathered to hold a counter-protest and show their open support for India’s sovereignty.

During Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the United Kingdom in 2018, it was reported that Nazir Ahmed supported an anti-India campaign by Kashmiri and Sikh separatists. According to reports, some British Sikhs and Kashmiri separatists planned an anti-India campaign in the UK during Prime Minister Modi’s April 2018 visit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Lord Nazir is reported to have funded the protest.

Wishing death upon Indian Prime Minister Modi

“Claims of sorcery, jadoo, magic, witchcraft, on BJP by the opposition. (Arun) Jaitley, (Babulal) Gaur, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Sushma Swaraj, (former Prime Minister) Atal (Bihari) Vajpayee, Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa have all died in the last year. Hey, Narendra Modi is next.” Nazir Ahmed tweeted in 2019. Slamming Ahmed, BJP Leader Kiren Rijiju tweeted, “I’m unable to come to terms with the fact as to how, in the midst of the whole British intelligentsia, did you manage to get appointed as a Member of the House of Lords!!!” 

Ahmed shared a tweet in 2021 showing a referendum for Khalistan in Westminster in London.

Lord Nazir Ahmed’s shady history

Lord Nazir Ahmed, who was appointed to the House of Lords by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has a shady history. Following a series of controversies, he was expelled from the Labour Party various times. He was sentenced to prison in connection with a fatal car accident in 2007. He had referred to his prison sentence, which was later reduced by a court of appeals, as a “Jewish conspiracy.”

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