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From people dancing on ambulance to a man injecting people with drugs: Terrifying details emerge about stampede at Travis Scott concert

OpIndia Staff
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From people dancing on ambulance to a man injecting people with drugs: Terrifying details emerge about stampede at Travis Scott concert

On November 5 (local time), at least eight people died, and over 300 were injured during the stampede that at the Travis Scott concert, Astroworld Festival at NRG Park. Over 50,000 people were waiting outside the venue in the sold-out concert at the Houston music festival. As soon as the gates were opened, people rushed inside without thinking twice, resulting in a stampede.

The incident began just after 9 PM CT as per the officials. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, during a statement, said that the authorities were trying to identify those who lost their lives. No people have been reported missing so far. Several people were rushed to the hospital. On Saturday, at least 13 people remained hospitalized getting treated for the injuries. Five of the hospitalized individuals were under 18.

In the statement, Turner said that there were many unanswered questions. He said, “Over the next several days, several weeks, could be even longer, we’ll take an in-depth look at everything that took place, why it took place, what steps we can do moving forward to mitigate an incident of this kind from taking place.”

The visuals of the event are devastating. As per the reports, several ambulances, police cars and paramedics rushed to the festival to attend to the injured, but the concert had already begun. The ambulance got stuck in the crowd, trying to find a way out.

In some visuals, the concert attendees were seen dancing on stuck ambulances and police cars.

The horrifying visuals of the Travis Scott concert emerged on social media

Several netizens shared videos and photographs of what had happened at the concert. One Twitter user ‘heavyonitbarbie’ shared a thread compiling the visuals. In one video, an ambulance was seen struggling to go through the crowd while in another video, an attendee was seen dancing on the top of the ambulance.

People were seen jumping on the top of the police car that was trying to take the unconscious people out of the crowd.

Some fans tried to stop the show but no one from the organizers allegedly listened to them.

Officials were seen taking unconscious attendees out of the ground. Some visuals showed how they were desperately trying to revive the unconscious attendees.

An Instagram user who attended the concert penned down the incident in her own words. She explained how she tried to save a few people who fell down during the stampede but could not do anything much. She even tried to tell the camera person and security officials present at the site about what had happened but no one listened to her.

A video shared on Twitter showed how Seanna Faith was trying to tell the organizers about what was happening but no one paid attention.

Visuals and eyewitness accounts showed Travis Scott and his team were aware of what was happening but they did not pay much attention or did anything to minimize the damage.

Statement from Travis Scott

In a statement, Scott said that he was devastated by what had happened during the concert. He said, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.”

He further added, “Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department and NRG Park for their immediate response and support.”

Live Nation, the company responsible for the organization, said, “Heartbroken for those lost and impacted at Astroworld last night.

We will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation.”

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told CNN in a statement, “[The crowd] for whatever reason began to push and surge towards the front of the stage, which caused the people in the front to be compressed. People began to fall out, become unconscious.”

Field hospital treated over 300 people at the Travis Scott concert

Reports suggest that over 300 people were treated at a field hospital that was set up near the festival. The youngest victim of the chaos was a 10-year-old who was rushed to the hospital. It is unclear how such a young attendee managed to enter the venue. Unverified sources have claimed that the 10-year-old kid was one Thomas Drought and he had succumbed to the injuries.

Several patients had suffered cardiac arrest and were rushed to hospital. Peña said the details of the injuries and causes of death were unclear, and it would be determined by a medical examiner. The cause of the surge would be part of the investigation.

Peña said that the concert was stopped “as soon as the situation got to the point where it was overwhelming the resources there”; however “, the damage was already done”.

An unknown assailant allegedly injected people with drugs

Troy Finner, Houston PD’s Chief, confirmed that at least one person was injected with some drug via needle. He further added that might be more such incidents at the concert. TMZ reported that a security guard was trying to restrain a citizen when he felt a prick on his neck and fell unconscious almost immediately. He was revived using NARCAN by medical personnel, who confirmed that he saw something on his neck that indicated he had been stabbed with a syringe.

The second day of the show cancelled

After the Friday horror, the second day of the show was cancelled by the authorities. An investigation has been launched by the Houston administration.

Vikramaditya Sahai, NCERT and woke propaganda: How LGBT activists are calling legitimate criticism of a public figure ‘transphobia’

K Bhattacharjee
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Vikramaditya Sahai, NCERT and woke propaganda: How LGBT activists are calling legitimate criticism of a public figure ‘transphobia’

The NCERT opened a can of worms recently after it published a training manual for teachers with the objective of sensitizing “teachers and teacher educators regarding aspects of gender diversity keeping gender-nonconforming and transgender children at centre stage.” The document espoused numerous ‘woke’ ideas, which was not taken kindly by people on the internet.

Since then, the document has been pulled down from the NCERT website but the controversy surrounding it has still not died. One of the major figures in this controversy has been an individual called Vikramaditya Sahai (or Vqueeram, preferred pronouns are They/Them). This journalist discovered that Sahai, who was on the NCERT team that produced the training manual, was sharing semi-nude photographs of themself on Instagram.

The ideological inclinations of Vikramaditya Sahai

Since then, videos have emerged where Vqueeram can be seen making extremely controversial comments. In one video from the past, the activist could be heard making extremely derogatory comments about the Hindu community. They said that there was nothing proud in being a Hindu or in being a man.

In another video, Vikramaditya Sahai speaks of Rohit Vemula’s “beautiful suicide note”.

Vqueeram also appears to have rather problematic opinions on gender. According to them, gender is the “root cause” of all trouble. Gender is also violence, apparently.

Given that Vikramaditya Sahai has such an ideological predisposition, it is fair to ask if such a person should play any role in the education of our children. It is also completely fair to ask if a person who posts semi-nude photographs of themself on social media should influence the education curriculum in our country.

Needless to say, such criticism has nothing to do with the person’s gender but their own conduct. People wouldn’t want, and with good reason, someone who harbours such problematic opinions about a religious community and gender to have any say in children’s education.

Nonetheless, LGBT activists made the criticism all about the person’s gender and accused this journalist of perpetrating a “brutal attack” against the activist. A Twitter handle, Dalit Camera, with over forty thousand followers on the platform, claimed that this journalist indulged in “body shaming” and “trolling Vqueeram’s politics against caste and gender-based violence”.

Source: Twitter

The accusations are quite perplexing as all this journalist did was point out that people who post semi-nude photographs of themself on social media, and harbour ostensibly hateful opinions about Hindus, should not have a say in the education of children. But that was twisted to claim that @YearOfTheKraken indulged in a transphobic attack against Vqueeram.

Since then, NCERT has pulled down the training manual from its website after the NCPCR took cognizance of the matter. One senior Ministry of Education official under the condition of anonymity told Hindustan Times, “The NCERT has informed the ministry that the document was still under process and it was inadvertently uploaded on the website. The council will provide the required response to the NCPCR. The manual has been drafted by the department of gender studies at the NCERT with all due considerations.”

Allegations level by Gaysi Family regarding Vqueeram

After the Hindustan Times report apprising readers of the latest development in the matter, Gaysi Family, a media platform that describes itself as a “safe space for Desi Queers to share their stories”, launched another set of allegations against this journalist.

Gaysi Family wrote in a post, which at the time of writing this report received over 2,500 ‘likes’ on Instagram, “One troll, whose handle is @YearOfTheKraken, was particularly committed to the smear campaign against Vqueeram. @YearOfTheKraken, who, of course, is enjoying the immunity by being a nameless and faceless figure on social media, is using “shame” and “respectability” politics to vilify and question Vqueeram’s work by posting pictures from the latter’s Instagram account.”

The allegations of a ‘smear campaign’ against Sahai are especially stunning since all this journalist did was share photographs on Twitter that Sahai had themself shared on their public profile (made private since then) on Instagram. The videos of Sahai that this journalist brought attention to are of statements that the activist has themself made to the media.

Quite clearly, the real problem appears to be that the activist is receiving criticism for his public conduct and not much else. It is bizarre that even legitimate criticism is being slandered by attaching baseless sinister motivations to it. In fact, the way the community pages have gone all guns blazing against this journalist, it appears more like a smear campaign against him for bringing to light what is the uncomfortable truth.

The real objective: Shut down criticism of Vikramaditya Sahai because Vqueeram is transgender

Vikramaditya Sahai is a public figure. They is an associated the Centre for Law and Policy Research. Formerly, they has been a faculty at the Gender Studies Department of Ambedkar University. They was also an external team member of the NCERT team that produced the training manual for teachers.

As a public figure, journalists have every right to criticise their conduct in public. The allegations of ‘transphobia’ are being used to shut down criticism of the individual on very legitimate grounds. People have every right to question the NCERT for appointing a person with extremely problematic opinions to a team that would decide the education of children.

It is not transphobic to assert that people who post semi-nude photographs of themself should not be influencing the education of students. It is not transphobic to say that an individual with palpable animosity towards Hindus and men should not have an influence over the education curriculum.

All such allegations are merely a ruse to shut down all criticism. And they will be resisted accordingly.

Bengal political violence, Jammu and Kashmir and PM Cares: What Nirmala Sitharaman said on BJP’s Executive Committee meeting

OpIndia Staff
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Bengal political violence, Jammu and Kashmir and PM Cares: What Nirmala Sitharaman said on BJP’s Executive Committee meeting

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed a press conference on the Executive Committee meeting of the BJP on Sunday. During the press conference, Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed the commitment of the party to seek justice for the victims of the political violence in West Bengal.

The Union Finance Minister said that the party stands by its karyakartas in West Bengal and will ensure they get justice through the courts. 18 key resolutions were passed in the Executive Committee meeting on Sunday. Climate Change and vaccine milestones were two of the issues that were discussed.

The abrogation of Article 370 was also discussed. “The political resolution says that terrorism related incidents between 2004-14, 2081 died in J&K. While from 2014 to Sep 2021, 239 civilians died in J&K. J&K is moving towards developmental works,” she said.

She also said, “A statistic I’d like to highlight is the Industry Promotion Scheme worth Rs 28,400 crore, which was launched in Jan 2021, for J&K. 54 projects worth Rs 56,201 crore have also been launched.”

Nirmala Sitharaman also stated, “The ‘PM-CARES for Children’ programme for orphaned children showed how the PM and our government cares for the next generation and children. ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ has also been taken up and implemented speedily.”

Doctor of late Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar given police protection after fans demand probe alleging medical negligence

OpIndia Staff
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Doctor of late Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar given police protection after fans demand probe alleging medical negligence

A week after Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar passed away owing to a massive heart attack in Bengaluru on October 29, Bengaluru City Police has provided security cover to Dr. Ramana Rao who had treated the popular actor. The protection has been provided in the wake of several fans alleging medical negligence on the part of Dr. Ramana Rao who was the family doctor of the actor.

After Puneeth Rajkumar died at Vikram Hospital at Cunningham road in Bengaluru, a section of his fans are demanding an inquiry into his death. They have alleged that Dr. Ramana Rao committed negligence while treating the actor at his clinic. According to media reports, after the actor visited his family doctor, the doctor had conducted ECG on him. As the ECG confirmed strain, Puneeth Rajkumar was referred to Vikram Hospital. Some fans are asking why the doctor shifted him to the hospital instead of treating him at his clinic. Besides, they also want to know the medicine he prescribed to the actor after the strain was discovered. They are also questioning that why the actor was taken to hospital in a car instead of an ambulance.

According to the reports, a platoon of Karnataka State Reserve Police has been deployed outside the residence and clinic of Dr. Ramana Rao at Sadashivanagar. Bengaluru Police is closely monitoring the situation near these areas and the patrolling has been intensified to avoid any untoward incident.

The decision deployment of security was also taken since the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) in Karnataka on Saturday demanded the state government to ensure the safety of the doctor. “PHANA is deeply concerned with the way healthcare is being portrayed in the media and public following the death of Puneeth Rajkumar. While we share the grief and shock of losing a young and popular actor, the turn of events post this are sad and calls for your immediate attention,” PHANA president Prasanna H.M. urged Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

PHANA also strongly opposed the attempts by the public to accuse Ramana Rao who did his best. PHANA reminded that even the medical profession has its limitations where saving lives is not always possible. The medical outfit said that it was a matter of concern the way narratives of negligence against the doctor were built and held responsible for the untimely demise of the popular actor. PHANA president further said that the judgemental and hyper-critical media frenzy was creating distrust in the society besides risking the lives of the medical professionals who served the deceased.

In the meanwhile, the doctor has also clarified that he gave the best treatment and followed medical protocols while treating the actor who came to his clinic around 11:15 AM on October 29. The doctor revealed that the actor had not complained of pain or discomfort except he felt weak after his workout. He claimed that he immediately conducted an ECG. After noticing a strain he informed the actor’s wife Ashwini to shift him to Vikram Hospital. He immediately gave him Sublingual Sorbitrate and chewable Disprin. He said that the chamber is mainly used for consultation, and it does not have the facilities needed to treat a heart patient.

He further added that they took him to the hospital in the actor’s car because calling an ambulance would have taken much more time. Dr. Ramana Rao said that they did everything humanly possible to treat the actor and in order to provide the best further treatment, he was sent to the best medical centre without any delay.

Approval rating of Narendra Modi highest among 13 global leaders, 7 leaders including Biden, Trudeau have negative ratings

OpIndia Staff
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Approval rating of Narendra Modi highest among 13 global leaders, 7 leaders including Biden, Trudeau have negative ratings

On November 6, Morning Consult Political Intelligence, a US-based data intelligence company, reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approval rating is the highest among the leaders from 13 countries.

The data shows that the Indian Prime Minister remained the most popular global leader for most of the months from January 2020 to November 2021. PM Modi’s current approval rating is at 70, and net approval rating is at 46.

Ratings of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. morningconsult

For a short span during the second wave of Covid-19 in India, the net approval rating went down, but it revived to its older position quickly. At the moment, only Mexico’s President Lopez Obrador’s approval rating is close to PM Modi’s approval rating. US President’s approval rating has seen a steep fall since he assumed office, and currently, it is at -4. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany’s net approval rating stands at 15.

Ratings of Joe Biden, President of United States. Source: morningconsult

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s net approval rating is at -8, while UK PM Boris Johnson has an approval rating of -8. Out of 13 leaders, only six have a net approval rating above zero. The leaders are from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Ratings of Justin Trudeau, PM of Canada. Source: morningconsult

According to the data published by Morning Consult, PM Modi got 70% approval and 24% disapproval in the first week of November. On the other hand, US President Biden’s approval stood at 44% and disapproval at 48% pushing his net approval rating to negative. In the past few months, the Biden administration has faced strong criticism for several reasons, including abandoning Afghanistan followed by the Taliban capturing the country.

Net rating of 13 leaders. Source: morningconsult

President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has the lowest net approval rating of -23. His approval rate is 35%, and his disapproval rate is 59%. Another leader struggling to please the nation’s population is Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez, whose net approval rating is -20. Interestingly, the approval rating of France’s PM Emmanuel Macron is also under zero at -19.

According to Morning Consult, they conduct more than 11,000 daily interviews globally about leadership approval. They also daily interview 4,000 registered voters in the US for the approval rating of the US president. Daily global survey data is based on a 7-day moving average of all adults in a given country with a margin of error of between +/- 1-3%.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan surrenders before radical Islamists, lifts the ban on extremist party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan PM Imran Khan surrenders before radical Islamists, lifts the ban on extremist party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan

Succumbing to the pressure of radical Islamists, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 6 gave his permission to lift the ban on the extremist group Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). As a result, the organization has been withdrawn from the Fourth Schedule which is the official terrorist watch list of Pakistan.

The Imran Khan government approved to lift the ban on the basis of a report sent by the Punjab government through the Ministry of Interior. “The prime minister has been pleased to accord permission for submission of the instant summary to the cabinet through circulation under Rule 17 (1)(b) of the Rules of Business, 1973,” according to an official document. “The approval of the cabinet is [now] solicited to de-proscribe the TLP under […] Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the recommendation of the Punjab government.” As per the Rules of Business, 1973, approval by circulation means that a summary is sent to federal ministers for their opinion. If a minister fails to respond within the stipulated time period, the report is deemed approved.

TLP or the ‘Movement of Prophet’s Followers’ is an extremist Sunni Islamist group. Known for its attacks and violent action, its main focus is protecting Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy law and punishing blasphemers. It was set up in 2015.

In April this year, the Imran Khan government had put this outfit on the list of proscribed organisations in the wake of the violent protests organised by TLP to expel the French ambassador over an alleged objectionable cartoon on the prophet published in France in magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Last month the TLP again hit the street with violent protests. Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the twin city of Pakistan were virtually cut off from the rest of Pakistan as it carried a protest rally from Lahore to Islamabad. Along with the old demand of the expulsion French ambassador from Pakistan, protesters have been demanding the release of their leader Saad Rizvi and others. In recent days, at least 21 people including 10 policemen have lost their lives during fierce confrontations between the TLP workers and law enforcement authorities.

The abject surrender of Imran Khan before a lawless brigade of Barelvi militants has left many worried

Immediately the extent of concessions the Imran Khan government has conceded to TLP is known, other than the lift of the ban, since details have not been shared by the government yet. But reports suggest a complete surrender of the Pakistan government before TLP which has worried progressives in Pakistan. The government has already released more than 2,000 TLP activists arrested and charged for murder, assault and destruction of properties.

“The cost of surrender: It is the seventh time in the past five years that the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has brought the state to its knees. Each time it has returned more empowered,” said one Pakistani citizen named Muhammad Jafar on Twitter.

Zahid Hussain, author of ‘No-Win War — The Paradox of US-Pakistan Relations in Afghanistan’s Shadow’ in his article published in the Dawn has said that the terms of surrender may not have been made public but the capitulation could not have been more humiliating. He said that the surrender of the government before TLP was not surprising since it was for the seven times in the past five years when the writ of the state crumbled in the face of violent extremism.

He wondered if the government became helpless before a few thousand zealots led by a foul-mouthed cleric since they have alleged support of the intelligence agencies. He questioned how a militant sectarian outfit was allowed to participate in the 2018 elections that preach violence in the name of faith and hailed Mumtaz Qadri, the murderer of the governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer. Even if TLP didn’t win any National Assembly seat, it emerged as the fourth-largest bloc in Punjab in terms of the share of votes.

A Pakistani blogger and writer termed it as a ‘Duplicitous approach of Riyasat e Medina.’

Pakistan’s leading weekly magazine The News on Sunday described this deal in its headline A Compromise. The magazine quoted sources saying that the Imran Khan government has agreed to initiate a parliamentary debate on blasphemous acts in France, which is among the demands of TLP.

No onion in khasta kachori triggers this woman, overturns hawker’s cart and gets violent: Watch video

OpIndia Staff
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No onion in khasta kachori triggers this woman, overturns hawker’s cart and gets violent: Watch video

A video has gone viral on social media where lack of onions in her plate of khasta kachori, a deep fried delicacy and popular street food, triggered this woman enough to overturn the hawker’s cart as well as physically assault him.

In the video one can see the woman asking for onions for her kachori and the hawker saying how he has run out of onions. The street food vendor then asked her to pay for the kachori she ate, but she refused to pay because there were no onions. After eating the kachori she said that she will not pay up because the street food vendor had nothing on him.

“Why did it get over? You should have kept it,” she yells at the street food vendor and asserts again how she will not pay up. Soon people gathered around her and asked her to pay up the poor vendor. Soon, when people continued to ask her to pay up, she kicked the cart and overturned it, thereby spilling all the food the vendor had on him.

Later when she was asked to pay up for the loss, she threatened to slap the street food vendor and later even slapped him.

It is not yet clear where the video was shot and whether it was scripted or genuine.

Nawab Malik floats new conspiracy theory in cruise ship drugs case, alleges Aryan Khan was kidnapped for ransom

OpIndia Staff
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Nawab Malik floats new conspiracy theory in cruise ship drugs case, alleges Aryan Khan was kidnapped for ransom

Even after the NCB transferred the Mumbai cruise ship drugs case involving Aryan Khan to an SIT formed by its central officials due to the gravity of the case, NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik continues to peddle conspiracy theories regarding Khan’s arrest. On Sunday (November 7), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik stepped up the conspiracy theory by alleging that the arrest of Aryan Khan during the VVIP rave party was a matter of ‘kidnapping and ransom’.

“Aryan Khan didn’t purchase the ticket for the cruise party. It was Pratik Gaba and Amir Furniturewala who brought him there. It’s a matter of kidnapping & ransom. Mohit Kamboj is the mastermind & partner of Sameer Wankhede in demanding ransom,” Malik had claimed.

The NCP leader alleged that BJP leader Mohit Kamboj had met Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede at an Oshiwara cemetery on October 7 night. “After this, Wankhede panicked and complained to the police that they were being chased. They were lucky that the nearby CCTV was not working and we couldn’t get the feed,” Malik remarked.

During a press conference on Sunday, he also claimed that the NCB had intentionally released three individuals namely, Amir Furniturewala, Pratik Gaba and Rishab Sachdeva after detaining them at the rave party onboard a cruise ship. Nawab Malik further alleged that Rishab Sachdeva is the brother-in-law of BJP leader Mohit Kamboj.

As the case was being headed by NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede, Nawab Malik had launched an intense and personal attack against him. Malik had dragged Wankhede’s family, including his wife and sister, into the matter to make various allegations against the NCB officer for busting the VVIP rave party. Amid this, six drug cases from Mumbai, including the cruise ship case, were handed over to an SIT formed by NCB’s Delhi team on Friday.

Mohit Kamboj files Rs 100 crore defamation case against Nawab Malik 

As the Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has been casting aspersion on Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede and others following the arrest of Aryan Khan in the drug case, BJP leader Mohit Kamboj aka Bharatiya has filed a Rs 100-crore defamation suit against him at Bombay High Court. Maharashtra-based Kamboj is the former General Secretary of BJP Mumbai and former president of BJP Yuva Morcha.

Kamboj has alleged that the minister made false allegations against him and his family members in connection to the Cordelia cruise drug bust case in which Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested along with others by the NCB on October 2, under section Section 27A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Kamboj had given enough opportunity and warnings to Malik to restrain from defaming him which Malik ignored and continued the vendetta.

Petrol-diesel prices: People can feel the liberal privilege in their bones

Abhishek Banerjee
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Petrol-diesel prices: People can feel the liberal privilege in their bones

Suppose you asked a common person in Mumbai if they want to pay significantly more for petrol and diesel than in say neighboring Gujarat or Karnataka. What do you think the answer would be?

In a democracy, the government has to keep the people in good humor. That is the whole point of being a democracy. Now, populism is not always the right way to go. It can interfere with a setting up a prudent long term vision. Sometimes it is not even morally correct. But in most places, most of the time, letting the people decide is better than most other options. That is why democracy is central to our idea of what the modern world should look like.

In India, there is always an election happening somewhere. And so, ruling parties have to be on their toes, listening to what people are saying.

Now let us consider what happened the day before Diwali. For a while, prices of petrol and diesel had been rising sky high. That means people pay more for everything. It is not just those who own a car or a bike. Rising fuel prices make every item in the market more costly. That drives popular resentment. And why shouldn’t it? When household budgets go wrong, people get angry. And if you argue with them, they get even more angry.

That is what the Central Government realized. In a quick move, they slashed central excise on petrol by Rs 5 per liter and on diesel by Rs 10 per liter. Within hours, several BJP ruled states followed, slashing state taxes on fuel. As a result, petrol in many BJP ruled states became cheaper by Rs 12 overnight, and diesel by Rs 17. That is a huge reduction. It certainly made Diwali brighter for a lot of people.

To be fair, petrol and diesel are still much costlier than they were a year ago. But now the Modi government, aided by BJP ruled states, appears to have drawn a rough line in the sand. In all probability, petrol will stay below the psychological mark of Rs 100 per liter.

Of course, the fiscal math behind these cuts is not so healthy. Because of the recession last year, the government does not have a lot of money coming in. But as I pointed out, you cannot argue with someone whose household budget has gone wrong. And so, Modi sarkar listened.

The good news is that the Indian economy is going through a stellar recovery. Despite the high prices, fuel consumption has climbed above pre-pandemic levels.  The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates Diwali sales of Rs 1.25 lakh crore this year. This is nearly double of Rs 72,000 crore last year and more than double of the Rs 60,000 crore of sales in 2019. As the economy recovers and consumption picks up more pace, we are likely to see more tax cuts.

So Modi sarkar listened. Guess who didn’t listen? Take for instance, the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. Give them a Bollywood controversy and they will be all over it, digging up people’s personal documents, vacation photos and everything else. But have they reduced VAT on petrol and diesel so that the common citizen can get some relief? No way.

The same applies to states like Delhi and West Bengal. They haven’t cut taxes on petrol or diesel. In case you are keeping count, that already includes three of India’s biggest metros: Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. As you would expect, people who live in border areas of these states are flocking to neighboring BJP ruled states to buy fuel at lower prices.

But something is off about all this. Why has the media gone missing? The media is generally obsessed with Delhi. Anything that happens in a back alley in Delhi quickly becomes ‘national’ news. It is now three days since folks in Delhi are going to UP or Haryana to buy petrol and diesel. It seems nobody in the media has noticed. Where is the outrage?

As a general rule, Mumbai gets a lot less coverage than Delhi. But when the issue is just ‘right,’ the media can get just as obsessive about individuals living in Mumbai. We saw that all through October. What happened now? Are high fuel prices in Mumbai not an issue because those facing the brunt are not superstars?

The problem of course is liberal privilege. Because Delhi, Maharashtra or West Bengal have ‘liberal’ governments, the media cannot highlight the suffering of common people in these states.

Imagine if the situation were reversed. Imagine if the great liberal government of Delhi or Maharashtra or Bengal had reduced prices of petrol, but BJP ruled states had not. Think of the epic tributes that would have been written about their empathy for the poor. Speaking of VAT, there is an old ‘news’ segment of Ravish Kumar with children in Bihar. The kids are bargaining with the shopkeeper to buy their favorite Lalu doll. But VAT has made the doll more expensive by Rs 10. You can watch that whole ‘news’ segment here, which NDTV has listed among its ‘classics.’ Reporting on how much kids love Lalu Yadav dolls is how real journalism is done. Got it?

The opposition state governments can relax. They know nobody would ever dare to question them.

This is the liberal privilege I am talking about. This is why less than 40 percent of Indian households had toilets in 2014. And this is why 87 percent of rural households did not have tap water in 2014. Forget asking what liberal governments were doing in all these years. Let me ask you this. Before 2014, did anybody even discuss what percentage of people have toilets, tap water, electricity connections or gas connections in this country? Liberal privilege did not just hide the incompetence of so called secular governments. Liberal privilege got so deep inside our heads that we did not even realize that access to water, electricity or toilets could be an issue!

But now, access of all sorts is an issue. The other day, Ravish Kumar asked in a segment about bullock carts not having access to the expressways that Modi sarkar is building. Please don’t make fun of him. At least he is asking questions instead of reporting on the popularity of Lalu Yadav dolls. Some questions are clever, others less so. Let it be.

This however is not the era of political monopolies. And also not the era of media monopolies. People are bound to feel the pinch of paying Rs 110 per liter for petrol. And they will know that those in neighboring BJP ruled states are paying a lot less. People will also understand the liberal privilege instinctively: they know that they are paying less because ‘secular’ parties get favorable coverage from media. The media can’t keep them distracted with stories about celebrities. This is one time that liberal privilege is working against the parties that have it.

Pakistan: 6 terrorists associated with 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed acquitted in terror funding case by Lahore High Court

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: 6 terrorists associated with 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed acquitted in terror funding case by Lahore High Court

Two weeks after Pakistan was retained in the FATF grey list, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has acquitted 6 terrorists in a case pertaining to terror financing. The terrorists, associated with Hafiz Saeed’s Jamatud Dawa (JuD), were earlier convicted by an anti-terrorism court.

As per reports, the terrorists were identified as Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Nasrullah, Samiullah, Yahya Mujahid, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki and Umar Bahadur. With the exception of Makki, all 5 terrorists were sentenced to 9 years imprisonment. Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki was sentenced to only 6 months of jail term. All of them were earlier charged by the Counter-Terrorism Department under the Anti-Terrorism Act Sections 11-F, 11-H(2), 11-I(2), 11-J(2), and 11-N.

However, a 2- Judge Division Bench of the Lahore High Court comprising of Justices Muhammed Ameer Bhatti and Tariq Saleem Sheikh claimed that there was a miscarriage of justice at the trial court level. The advocate for the terrorists also added that the prosecutors failed to prove charges against the 6 terrorists beyond reasonable doubt. He also claimed that the 6 terrorists were members of the Al-Anfaal Trust and it has no connection to the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba. The advocate also alleged that there was no evidence to suggest they were connected to LeT.

Besides, he added that the 6 terrorists had not been members of the Al-Anfal Trust since the mid-2000s. While noting the arguments of the defence, the Lahore High Court ruled in the favour of the 6 JUD terrorists. It stated, “In his cross-examination Inspector Muhammad Khalid (prosecution witness) conceded that the local police station never received any complaint against the appellants and even during his investigation nobody from the general public brought anything to his notice which could expose their malefactions. The appellants cannot be convicted for the mere reason that LeT or the trust have been proscribed.”

Pakistan removes names of terrorists from watchlist to evade the scrutiny

Earlier in April, a New York-based Artificial Intelligence startup had revealed that Pakistan has silently removed the names of almost 4,000 terrorists from its terror watchlist. The removed names include LeT leader and Mumbai attack mastermind Zakir ur Rehman Lakhvi and many others.

The Artificial Intelligence startup Castellum has revealed quoting the Financial Action task Force that in October 2018 the country’s terror watchlist had 7,600 names. As the work of AI is to add new data sources, it noted that between March 9 and 27 data showed that Pakistan removed 1,069 names from the Proscribed person List and all those names appeared on the country’s denotified list.

After 27 March, 800 names were also removed and eventually 3800 names have been placed in the denotified list till so far without any explanation or notification to the public. Several of the names removed are the aliases of designated terrorists listed by the US or the United Nations.  Interestingly, ahead of this year’s plenary session, FATF has strongly noted that the sudden disappearance of the names of more than 4,000 terrorists from its original list of 7,600 under Schedule IV of its Anti-Terrorism Act.

Last year, the United Nations committee had allowed terrorist Hafiz Saeed to use his bank account for ‘basic expenses’ to help his family. In its letter, the UN Committee said that with no objections being raised to Pakistan’s request for Hafiz Saeed’s basic expenses, the Chair has approved the appeal. Reportedly, Hafiz Saeed’s bank accounts were frozen by the Pakistani government complying with the UNSC resolution. Later, Pakistan had requested the UN to let Hafiz Saeed withdraw PKR 1,50,000 (approximately $1,000) to cover necessary basic living expenses for him and his family.

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