Two days after a bomb blast took place at the Ludhiana Sessions Court, it has now come to light that the bomb handler was a former Punjab police officer.
As per reports, the accused has been identified as one Gagandeep Singh. He was caught with 785 grams of heroin along with 2 other aides in August 2019. At that time, Singh was serving as a police constable at the Sadar police station in Khanna city in the Ludhiana district of Punjab. After his arrest, he was dismissed from service. He was released from prison in September 2021.
Gagandeep Singh’s identity was ascertained by the investigators through his mobile phone, which was found at the site of the blast. Moreover, he had a tattoo of khanda (religious symbol) on his body that further helped in discovering his identity.
Although the cops are probing the motive, it has come to light that Singh’s case was to be heard in the Ludhiana Sessions Court on Friday (December 24). It must be mentioned that Gagandeep had succumbed to injuries while carrying out the blast at the court complex.
Following the attack, a high-level meeting was organised by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla along with Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar, BSF Director General Pankaj Singh, and NIA Chief Kuldeep Singh.
Khalistani outfit behind Ludhiana court blast
On December 23, an explosion took place inside the court complex in Ludhiana, Punjab. One individual lost his life, while 5 others were injured. According to a report in The Tribune, the blast occurred in a toilet on the third floor at around 12:25 PM.
The reports suggest that the roof and walls of the toilet were damaged by the impact of the blast. Videos shared on social media show smoke coming out of the 5-storey building. The district court is located in the same campus where the District Commissioner’s office is located in the heart of Ludhiana city. Khalistani terror outfit Babbar Khalsa is said to be the mastermind of the bomb blast, reported News18 citing sources in the Intelligence agency. The organisation is active in Canada, the UK, Germany, and some parts of India.
As per the report, the deadly attack was carried out by Babbar Khalsa chief Wadhawa Singh in collusion with gangster Harvinder Singh (also known as Rinda Singh). The latter had escaped to the neighbouring country of Pakistan and had recruited local gangsters to carry out the blast. The cops are investigating the role of the Lahore-based Khalistan organisation, based on the inputs of Intelligence reports.
A day after The Indian Express published a report, Anuj Jha, who was the DM of Ayodhya from February 21, 2019 to October 23, 2021, has issued a statement refuting the Ayodhya illegal land deal accusation meted out at him and has slammed the media for dragging his name into the controversy.
The now Director at Panchayati Raj has posted his statement on his official Twitter handle, slamming the media for running false/misleading reports about him as a beneficiary in the land sale by Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust in District.
Some news channels/media have run false/misleading reports about me as a beneficiary in land sale by Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust in District Ayodhya. My statement in this regard.@aajtak@abplivenews@IndianExpresspic.twitter.com/FhpnxtBhdn
Jha clarified that neither he nor his father has purchased land from the MRV Trust nor does he have any relationship with any of the Trust’s land purchasers. He added that his father had purchased 320 square meters of land at a different place in Ayodhya for residential purposes from a person who is not related to MRV Trust and the land didn’t belong to any person of scheduled castes. All rules have been duly followed in this transaction.
“My father has not sold this land to any trust or person, nor this land has been taken for any government work. So there’s no question of any undue advantage being taken from this land,” read Ajit Jha’s statement.
The former DM of Ayodhya confirmed that the issue has nothing to do with the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust. He added that during his tenure, he received a complaint against the MRV Trust over the alleged illegal transfer of land belonging to a scheduled caste person to their name in 1996. The incident was investigated, and he took action to cancel the land transfer and vest it in the state government. The relevant court was notified of the request to cancel the transfer. According to Jha, all of the actions expected from the District Administration in this situation were taken without any benefit to the MRV Trust.
Jha concluded his statement by urging the media outlet to retract the false article and offer his family an explanation. “I demand from these channels/media, who have published/aired such false/misleading reports without understanding my version, that they should immediately retract these maligning reporting against me and my family and issue a clarification in this regard.”
It may be noted that a report published by The Indian Express hadclaimed that after the Supreme Court’s verdict, some officials, MLAs, ministers, and relatives of the government officials purchased land in Ayodhya within a 5-km radius of the Ram Mandir site. The report said that at least 15 buyers of land around the Ram Mandir site included MLAs, bureaucrats who have or are serving in Ayodhya, and local revenue officials, or their close relatives.
These officials are either serving or had served in Ayodhya and their job was to authenticate land transactions. They were aware that in the future land will be acquired for the construction of the Ram Mandir at a high acquisition rate. Besides, acquired land will have a high commercial value also.
All the plots were purchased from Mahesh Yogi-founded Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust (MRVT). MRVT had purchased large tracts of land in the Barhata Manjha village and some other villages surrounding Ayodhya, within 5 km of the Ram mandir site in the 1990s, read the media report.
The report named Anuj Jha as one of the 15 beneficiaries in the illegal land deal in Ayodhya. It read that Anuj Jha was the DM of Ayodhya from February 21, 2019, until October 23, 2021. On May 28, 2020, his father Badri Jha purchased 320.631 square meters of land worth Rs 23.40 Lakh at Mughalpura barely one km from the Ram temple site.
Soon other media houses followed suit. Zee News also accused Anuj Jha of illegally acquiring land within a 1 Km radius of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir during his tenure.
Following the media reports, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has ordered an inquiry into the same. Special Secretary Revenue, Radhey Shyam Mishra is expected to investigate the matter and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has ordered to submit the report to the government with relevant documents in the next 5-7 days.
25 Farmer Unions out of 32 which had participated in the farmers’ protests as part of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have decided to contest the upcoming elections in Punjab, according to reports. The Farmer Unions are most likely to forge an alliance with the Aam Aadmi property. The farmer unions joining politics are expected to make a formal announcement on Saturday.
However, seven unions of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) have decided to stay away from Punjab politics. Reportedly, the Unions like Kirti Kisan Union, Krantikari Kisan Union, BKU Krantikari, Doaba Sangharsh Committee, BKU Sidhupur, Kisan Sangharsh Committee and Jai Kisan Andolan will not be taking part in Punjab politics while the remaining 25 unions of the SKM will be contesting the elections. Largest farmer union in Punjab, BKU Ugrahan, even though not a part of SKM has stated that it will not contest the upcoming state assembly elections.
President of Kisan Sangharsh Committee, Inderjit Singh Kot Buddha has revealed that his unions will not be contesting elections to stay focussed on the core issues concerning farmers . He said, “I told the other leaders that politics could become our weakness, hence we would not want to be a part of the political forum,”. Inderjit Singh Kot Buddha has further stated that he would not object to other unions contesting the elections.
The decision of the farmer unions to get involved in politics was taken in a Kisan Union meeting at Mullanpur near Ludhiana on Friday. Seven unions not participating in the elections have requested that the SKM flag not be used in the political campaign, as all SKM constituents not joining politics. The 25 unions contesting the elections will hold another meeting on December 25, and the decision will be announced officially.
Among the unions joining politics, at least 13 unions are keen to form an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party ahead of assembly elections. “AAP, which is in power in Delhi, had facilitated the farmer struggle on borders of Delhi, which is the basis of the new “love between the farmer leaders and the party,” a leader present in the meeting told The Tribune.
In July this year, farmer leaders had hinted that the farmer unions will contest the assembly polls in Punjab.
A biological female who identifies as a transgender man felt outraged after being referred to as a mother by nurses in a Los Angeles hospital after giving birth to a baby. The transgender man wanted medical workers to know that not everyone who gives birth is comfortable being called a “mother”, a report published in NY Post said.
Bennett Kaspar-Williams, 37, who lives in Los Angeles and sports a beard, gave birth to a healthy baby boy in October 2020 with his husband Malik. While delivery did not trouble Williams as much as the constant misgendering of him by the hospital staff who insisted on calling him a “mom”, the Daily Mail reported.
Despite mothering the child, Williams wanted to be identified as the child’s father. “No one can ever really know whether having children is possible until you try — being born with a uterus doesn’t make conceiving or carrying a certainty,” Williams, who realised he was transgender in 2011 and began transitioning in 2014 said. “That’s why it’s so important that we stop defining ‘womanhood’ in terms of ‘motherhood’ because it’s a false equivalency that all women can become mothers, that all mothers carry their children, or that all people who carry children are mothers.”
Williams started his transitioning in 2014, three years after identifying his trans identity. He underwent a $5,000 surgery on the top half of his body but not on his genitalia.
“It was really liberating. I never could have anticipated what a relief it would be to find them gone. It was a huge weight off my shoulders,” he said of the surgery to remove his breasts.
Then in 2017, he found Malik, his future husband – who he married in 2019. After marriage, the couple decided to have children and contemplated the options they had in front of them. Bennett stopped having testosterone hormone therapy he had been on for several years to enable his ovaries to function. Having done surgery only on the top half of his body on not on his lower body, Williams eventually decided he would be comfortable trying to conceive a child.
Williams became pregnant soon after the couple started trying, and had. healthy pregnancy, giving birth to their son hudson through cesarean section. He said the only challenge he had to face during his entire pregnancy was the constant misgendering he had to face while he was seeking medical care.
“The only thing that made me dysphoric about my pregnancy was the misgendering that happened to me when I was getting medical care for my pregnancy. The business of pregnancy — and yes, I say business, because the entire institution of pregnancy care in America is centred around selling this concept of ‘motherhood’ — is so intertwined with the gender that it was hard to escape being misgendered,” he said to NY Post.
On Friday, an FIR was filed at the Dashashwamedh police station in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh against Riju Dutta, the spokesperson for the All India Trinamool Congress party (TMC), for sharing a heavily edited video to suggest that PM Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath were greeted with anti-Modi and anti-Yogi slogans during the inauguration ceremony of the Kashi Viswanath Corridor on December 13, 2021.
Confirming the news, Varanasi Commissioner of Police A Satish Ganesh said that the FIR was lodged against Riju Dutta by the SO Dashashwamedh and the inquiry has been entrusted to Chowk inspector Shivkant Mishra, reported TOI. The DCP (crime) also sent a notice to Twitter India under the CrPC, requesting IP details and the suspension of the Twitter account of the TMC spokesperson, said the Varanasi CP A Satish Ganesh.
Although an FIR has been filed against TMC leader Riju Dutta, there is no official word on whether TMC’s Rajya Sabha nominee Jawahar Sircar, who too had tweeted the same doctored video on his Twitter profile, has also been implicated.
After OpIndia reported that the TMC leaders posted a doctored video, Twitter had added the ‘manipulated media’ tag to the tweet posted by Jawahar Sircar.
Following this, both Jawhar Sircar, a chronic Modi-hater and Riju Dutta had deleted their Tweets but have not tendered any apology for their deplorable behaviour.
Yesterday, OpIndia reported how the TMC leaders were left red-faced after social media user Ankur Singh shared the original clip, where the crowd was actually seen cheering PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.
Taking to the microblogging site, popular social media user Ankur Singh going by the handle @iAnkurSingh shared the badly edited video posted on the microblogging site by TMC leaders like- Riju Dutta, the spokesperson of the All India Trinamool Congress party and recently appointed TMC’s Rajya Sabha nominee Jawahar Sircar, along with the original video to call out the TMC leaders for indulging in such a petty behaviour to berate the BJP govt.
In the original video, one could see the crowd cheering as PM Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath reached Varanasi for the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor. The fervent crowd can be seen waving their hands and taking pictures on their phones as Modi and Yogi walk towards the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
However, the TMC leaders posted a clip where the original audio was removed and audio from some other event was added to it. The audio track with the crowd cheering PM Modi and Yogi Aditynath was edited and replaced by “Modi hai hai” and “Yogi chor hain” slogans, as could be seen in the doctored clip shared by the TMC leaders.
Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar informed the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in a written reply during the question hour at the assembly that a total of 1078 farmers had committed suicide in Maharashtra from June to October.
1076 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 5 months – June to October 2021: Maharashtra Minister Vijay Wadettiwar informs Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in a written reply
Further, the Minister stated that 491 of those cases were considered eligible by the respective district level committees for receiving the benefit of the state government’s Mahatma Jyotirao Phule loan waiver scheme. These farmers would receive financial assistance under the loan waiver scheme, according to Vijay Wadettiwar.
Wadettiwar added that farmers committed suicides due to high debt burden and inability to repay loans, damage of crops caused due to natural calamities and soil infertility, and also due to personal and family reasons. The minister said that the govt is serious about the issue, and suggested that compensation paid to families of deceased farmers should be increased from the current Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. “In my view, farmer suicides should be included as ‘disaster’ so that the heirs of the deceased farmers can be given aid of Rs 4,00,000. I shall bring up this proposal before the state cabinet,” said Wadettiwar.
A recent NCRB report had also stated that the majority of the suicide victims during the year 2020 were reported from Maharashtra. However, in spite of the rising number of suicides being reported from the state where Congress is in power in alliance with Shiv Sena and NCP, Senior Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi is fighting tooth and nail for the compensation of alleged 750 farmers who have died during the farmer protests in and around Delhi. Various opposition leaders have claimed that around 700 to 750 leaders have died during the protests. In an interview given to Times Now, Rahul Gandhi had given a list of 700 people who have allegedly died during the incident.
Earlier this month, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Parliament that there was no record of the exact number of farmers who had died during the farmers protests and hence there was no possiblity of giving compensation to the families. Minister said, “The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare has no record in the matter and hence the question does not arise,”.
Notably, Rahul Gandhi had also slammed the Narendra-Modi led government for having no records of farmers death during the protests. Further, Rahul Gandhi also claimed that the Congress party had a list of 100 farmers from outside Punjab who died during the protests another list of 200 farmers was being prepared on the basis of public records.
A day before the release of her much-anticipated film ‘Atrangi Re‘, Bollywood actress Sara Ali Khan came under the vicious attack of Islamists for paying a visit to the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
In an Instagram post, she was seen standing in the temple complex with her head wrapped with a scarf. She spent about 30 mins within the temple watching the evening aarti. Her post was accompanied by the caption of ‘Jai Mahakal.’
Screengrab of the Instagram post of Sara Ali Khan
However, after posting her picture, the Bollywood actress was abused by her fellow co-religionists for committing the ‘sin’ of idolatry. “Why do you do this. You are a Muslim? Why are you going to the temples?” wrote one Islamist. Another Islamists commented, “Muslim hokar shirk kar rahi (Despite being Muslim, you are committing idolatry).”
“Don’t you feel ashamed? You are a blot in the name of Muslims,” wrote another. Others sent her ‘lanaat’ (condemnation) and even asked her to change her Muslim name. It must be mentioned that Khan is half-Muslim and half-Hindu and was born to Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh. One Islamist (@iamziyansidd) suggested, “Mahakal ke Ga*d mein ghus jai (Get into the a** of your Lord)”
Screengrab of the abusive comments by Islamists (Photo Credits: Twitter/choga_don)
Some Islamists suggested that even the ‘forgiving’ Allah will not pardon Khan for visiting a Hindu temple. “There is only one God and that is Allah,” wrote one Islamist. Another Islamist suggested that the mythical Judgment Day (Qayamat) was near for people who worked in the film industry such as the likes of Sara Ali Khan.
Screengrab of the abusive comments by Islamists (Photo Credits: Twitter/TrulyMonica)
One Hinduphobic Muslim woman (@ifraahsalim) even asked Sara Ali Khan to drink Gau mutra (cow urine). ‘Gaumutra’ jibe is often used by Islamist terrorists before attacking Hindus. In 2019, a Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist in a suicide attack had killed as many as 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir. Following the attack, a video was released in which the terrorist could be heard saying he wanted to punish and kill the ‘cow urine drinkers’ in the name of Allah.
The terrorist identified as Adil Ahmed Dar alias Waqas was seen admitting that he had joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad a year ago. In the video, he had referred to Indians as “Gae ka Peshab Peene Wale” (People who drink cow urine).
Screengrab of the Gaumutra jibe by Islamist
Islamists attack Sara Ali Khan for visiting Kedarnath shrine
This is not the first time that Sara Ali Khan had been targeted by Islamists for visiting a Hindu temple or place of worship. Last month, Islamists had abused the Bollywood actress for visiting the Hindu shrine of Kedarnath along with Jahnvi Kapoor. A barrage of despicable comments was made against the actor because she visited the hallowed shrine of Kedarnath, the abode of Hindu God Lord Shiva. While many Islamists abused her with choicest of imprecations, others accused her of bringing disgrace to Muslims by visiting a Hindu shrine and praying in front of an idol.
Unabashed hypocrisy has become a defining feature of the Indian left intelligentsia. The ‘liberals’ often subject others to higher standards of noble beliefs and virtues while refraining from holding their own to the same rigorous standards. They have a bloated sense of entitlement, stemming from the mistaken belief that they are a cut above the world, with a false sense of the notion that they are exempted from being evaluated by the same token as they use to judge others.
For instance, the left-leaning liberals have gone into overdrive to condemn Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati for the contentious remarks he made at the Haridwar Conclave. Ever prowling for issues to vilify Hindus, the ‘liberals’ sensed it as a lucrative opportunity to build on their propaganda of vilifying Hindus and reinforcing minority victimhood. By contrast, they have studiously ignored actual hate crimes, like the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari and the Punjab lynching incidents.
The left-leaning brigade has accused Yati and others who attended the Haridwar Conclave of making hate speech designed to whip up genocide against Muslims. Calls for police action have also been made against the attendees. An FIR was also filed in connection with the case. However, the larger aim of the liberals seems to be somehow linking the Centre with the remarks made at the Haridwar Conclave. Several left ideologues have blamed the central government for indulging the leaders, who they claimed have felt emboldened to make the tendentious comments that they did during the Haridwar Conclave.
It is worth noting here that Yati Narsighanand Saraswati has himself been at the centre of a hate campaign directed at him by a section of society. Call for ‘sar tan se juda’ or his ‘decapitation’ have steadily grown, with even elected MLAs such as AAP leader Amanatullah Khan making a clarion call for his beheading. But none of the liberals who are today falling over themselves to condemn his speech cared to unequivocally denounce the death threats braved by the Dasna Devi Temple head priest in the past. Instead, they are using Dharma Sansad as yet another opportunity to besmirch the Centre.
Just like the liberals have been muted against the death threats faced by Yati Narsighanand Saraswati, they were also silent about the calls for the decapitation of Hindu Samaj leader Kamlesh Tiwari. No credible effort was taken by the Left intelligentsia to address the hate that was marshalled towards Tiwari, who years later was murdered in cold blood by followers of the murderous Islamist ideology that justified and called for his beheading.
And after Tiwari was ruthlessly murdered by Islamists, many of the liberals who are beating their chest today, demanding action for hate speech at the Haridwar Conclave, showed little concern to condemn his murder or call out the ideology that was responsible for his killing. In fact, an overwhelming number of liberals, including one of the left luminaries, who is the West’s latest ‘damsel in distress’ in the Indian subcontinent, did not even bother to acknowledge his death, let alone issue an unequivocal condemnation.
As liberals cluck over incendiary comments made at Haridwar Conclave, they turn a blind eye to Owaisi’s communal rhetorics
Even in recent times, the hypocrisy exhibited by liberals can’t be more pronounced. Even as they are outraging over the comments made by Yati Narsighanand Saraswati, they have maintained a stoic silence on the vitriolic speech made by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, a video of which has gone viral on social media.
In the speech, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said, “I want to tell the police. Remember this. Yogi will not be the Chief Minister forever. Modi will not remain the Prime Minister forever. We Muslims are silent because of the times, but remember we will not forget the injustice. We will remember your injustice. Allah, by his powers, will destroy you, Inshallah. We will remember. Times will change. Then who will come to save you? When Yogi will go back to his mutta, when Modi will go to the mountains, then who will come to save you. Remember, we will not forget.”
Despite the brazenly communal undertones of Owaisi’s speech, it did not attract the same intensity of criticism as garnered by the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar. A day after speeches of leaders like Yati Narsinghanand and other Hindu leaders went viral, an FIR was filed in Uttarakhand over the speeches that called upon Hindus to collect arms. But in Owaisi’s case, some liberals even went to the extent of defending the incendiary remarks made by the AIMIM chief, arguing that his speech should not be seen in the same light as the comments made during the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar.
Source: Twitter
The Left looks the other way even as no FIR is filed against culprits in Punjab lynching incidents
Another instance where the hypocrisy of liberals has been stark is the Punjab lynchings related to sacrilege cases. The country was recently roiled with two horrifying cases of mob lynching that took place in Punjab over allegations of sacrilege. Angry mobs took law into their own hands and lynched two individuals to death on the suspicion of sacrilege, underscoring the abject state of law and order situation in Punjab.
The first incident of mob lynching linked to sacrilege took place inside the sanctum sanctorum of Darbar Sahib on Saturday evening when regular prayers were going on while the other one was related to a Gurdwara in Nizampur village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab where a man was killed on suspicion of committing sacrilege. Punjab CM today said there has been no evidence of sacrilege against the Kapurthala victim. It was also reported that the man was mentally challenged and was seeking food at the Gurudwara when he was lynched to death by a bloodthirsty mob.
These incidents should have shaken the liberal conscience to the core, prompting an unreserved condemnation of the ghastly murders committed in the name of sacrilege. However, as warped as it has become, the moral compass of the liberals did not push them towards condemning the sacrilege incident, instead, they remained tight-lipped about the deaths while decrying sacrilege. Many liberals, Punjab politicians, others were quick to denounce sacrilege but they did not find mobs taking the law into their hands scandalising and alarming enough to call for impartial and thorough probes into the two incidents.
There were strong indications of such an incident after Gutka Sahib was thrown in holy Sarovar but the state govt and intelligence agencies did nothing to prevent such a despicable crime that intended to disturb peace & communal harmony in Punjab. 2/2
Have Sikhs trusted govt for justice in sacrilege cases in past?- Yes
The onus is on the govt of India and not Sikh Sangat. The justice has been delivered. It is time for govt to introspect and time for Sikhs to introspect about Gurdwara securities all over.
While an FIR against Dharma Sansad took less than 24 hours to be filed, it has been over 5 days since the horrifying lynchings in Punjab and yet no FIR has been registered against the culprits. Apparently, an alleged hate speech has drawn more condemnation than the actual hate crime where two men were lynched to death by mobs on the mere suspicion of sacrilege, of which one case has been dismissed by Punjab CM himself stating that there has been no evidence of the victim committing sacrilege.
Liberals condone hate crimes and violence as they undermine their meticulously crafted propaganda
Yet, the liberals don’t consider lynchings of two men worthy enough of their attention and outrage. There is a deafening silence on the Punjab lynching incidents even as new revelations are being almost on a daily basis, pointing towards a deeper conspiracy to hide what appears as an orchestrated incident of violence carried out under the pretext of sacrilege. However, even then, liberals have not felt the need to direct their ire on hate crime as they remain preoccupied with their campaign against ‘Dharma Sansad’.
Earlier yesterday, a high-intensity blast took place in Ludhiana, resulting in the death of two persons. The blast highlighted the precarious condition of security in the state that has been on the boil for over 12 months now since the start of farmers’ protest in November 2020 that saw the participation of anti-social elements, including Khalistani proponents, and witnessed routine incidents of riots, vandalism, murder, arson, rapes etc. But liberals had then thrown their weight behind the protests even though various criminal activities were reported to have been committed in the name of protests.
As it has been evident now, for liberals, hate speech is more important to outrage upon than the actual instances of hate crimes, insurrection, anarchy and terror incidents. The deaths, the rapes, the murders, the concomitant violence are probably nothing more than casualties suffered in the larger ideological war against the enemies they sorely despise, which in this case, are the Hindus. So they don’t mind being hypocritical by placing outsize focus on condemnable comments made during the ‘Dharma Sansad’ while paying no heed to the much more dangerous hate crime incidents happening across the country.
Ahead of the assembly polls, the warring camps of the Uttarakhand Congress led by Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh were seeing resorting to physical violence. Earlier today on December 24, supporters of Rawat were seen manhandling state general secretary, Rajendra Shah.
The warring groups were fighting when Rahul Gandhi was holding a meeting with former chief minister Harish Rawat and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh in Delhi to resolve disputes.
In a viral video, some party workers who are said to be the Youth Congress workers and supporters of former Uttarakhand CM Rawat, are seen abusing and manhandling Shah who is close to Pritam Singh.
The scuffle took place on the premise of the state Congress headquarters in Dehradun. Rawat’s supporters are heard threatening Shah that they would assault him if he (Shah) ever abused Rawat.
As Shah has complained to AICC in charge of the state Devendra Yadav about his insult and assault, the BJP took a dig at the Congress. Uttarakhand BJP advised Rahul Gandhi to leave Uttarakhand to the BJP and take care of his own party first.
“Rahul Gandhi, while Harish Rawat and Pritam Singh are sitting in front of you. Their supporters are hurling shoes at each other. Take care of your family and your own party leaders. We will take care of Uttarakhand,” the BJP said.
The incident at Rajiv Bhavan, the headquarters of Uttarakhand Congress, indicates that Congress is facing a serious crisis that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are desperately trying to control.
The Congress high command had summoned Rawat, Pritam Singh, Uttarakhand PCC president Ganesh Godiyal and other top leaders to Delhi for a meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Friday (December 24) to sort out differences.
There is a rift between Rawat and Pritam Singh. Against his wishes, Singh was recently replaced as Uttarakhand PCC president and appointed as Leader of Opposition. Rawat is not on good terms with Devender Yadav who is branded as an outsider sent by Delhi.
While Rawat is heading the party in the elections scheduled in early 2022, reports say that he wants the central leadership to declare him the chief ministerial face.
Recently, Rawat had posted a series of cryptic twits indicating that he was not getting any support and the party organization turned its back on him and his hands were tied.
#चुनाव_रूपी_समुद्र है न अजीब सी बात, चुनाव रूपी समुद्र को तैरना है, सहयोग के लिए संगठन का ढांचा अधिकांश स्थानों पर सहयोग का हाथ आगे बढ़ाने के बजाय या तो मुंह फेर करके खड़ा हो जा रहा है या नकारात्मक भूमिका निभा रहा है। जिस समुद्र में तैरना है, 1/2 pic.twitter.com/wc4LKVi1oc
In another tweet, he had hinted he may resign if the situation continued.
सत्ता ने वहां कई मगरमच्छ छोड़ रखे हैं। जिनके आदेश पर तैरना है, उनके नुमाइंदे मेरे हाथ-पांव बांध रहे हैं। मन में बहुत बार विचार आ रहा है कि #हरीश_रावत अब बहुत हो गया, बहुत तैर लिये, अब विश्राम का समय है! 2/3
His meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Friday ended with a temporary solution that he would lead the election campaign of the party whereas Congress legislative body will decide the chief ministerial face.
But bigger questions are still left unanswered whether Congress can beat the BJP and the Congress high command can control the factionalism in the state unit.
The codeword “SG” found in sheets and diaries recovered during the AgustaWestland chopper deal case means defence middleman Sushen Mohan Gupta, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revealed. Earlier, it was speculated that SG could mean Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
According to a report by The New Indian, The ED said in its charge sheet that after verification of data relating to the case, they have concluded that SG refers to Sushen Gupta. It says, “There were several other emails sent to the ML administrator for transfer of funds to various entities which had references of ‘SG’. These transactions are seen in the pen drive establishing that the pen drive belongs to Gupta and the transfer of funds to these entities is also reflected in the bank statements of Interstellar Technologies Limited (ITL) establishing the fact of accuracy of data recorded in the transaction and the fact that the same have actually occurred.”
Copy of ED charge sheet
Defence Agent and middleman Sushen Gupta was arrested by ED in March 2019 in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case. In the scam during the UPA govt, several persons and business entities were used to route money used to pay kickbacks by AgustaWestland win the VVIP helicopter deal, and Sushen Gupta was involved in this process.
Several details of payments were recovered from Gupta, which has been matched with actual financial transactions and bank details of the concerned persons and entities. The ED charge sheet says that the agency has found 13 email references that prove that payments were made to several people on the instructions of Sushen Gupta.
“It is seen that the entries in the diaries, pen drive and sheets match and it can also be matched against the independent sources like transactions with individuals, bank statements received through LRs,” says ED.
Sushen Gupta was involved in bribery by Dassault in the cancelled fighter jet deal during the UPA govt. Reportedly, he was paid millions of euros in secret commissions by Dassault during the period 2004-2013. He was so involved in the deal that he had accessed to classified information during the bidding process for the MMRCA aircraft India was planning to buy.
Some other sheets recovered in the probe had revealed that main accused Christian Michel had used the words ‘AP’ for Ahmed Patel and ‘Fam’ for Family, presumably the Gandhi family. After this, there was speculations that SG refers to Sonia Gandhi.
The ED had also found the abbreviation RG in Sushen Gupta’s diary, which was speculated to be Rahul Gandhi, but later revealed to be Rajat Gupta. Rajat Gupta had received more than Rs 50 crore of the bribe money in the VVIP chopper deal.
