APS Deol, the Advocate General of Punjab, has accused Navjot Singh Sidhu of attempting to obstruct the functioning of the state government and the office of the Advocate General. APS Deol has also accused Navjot Singh Sidhu of lying for political benefits.
Punjab Advocate General APS Deol issues a Statement against Navjot Singh Sidhu.
APS Deol said, “His repeated utterances seek to derail the earnest efforts of the state government to ensure justice in the “Drugs matter” and the “Sacrilege cases”. Shri Navjot Singh Sidhu is spreading misinformation to gain political advantage over his political colleagues.”
“There is a concerted attempt by vested interests to malign the functioning of the Congress party in view of coming elections in Punjab for their selfish political gain by politicizing the constitutional office of the Advocate General of Punjab,” APS Deol said.
Punjab has been in a state of chaos ever since Sidhu was made the chief of Punjab Congress. Since then, Captain Amarinder Singh resigned as Chief Minister alleging that he had been humiliated by the party. Sidhu himself had resigned as Punjab Congress chief before his resignation was rejected and he returned to reclaim the position.
Now, it is the Advocate General of Punjab accusing Sidhu of lying for his own political benefit.
Sreedathan, the founder and managing director of the website Indus Scrolls has accused Newslaundry ‘journalist’ of misquoting him in her quest to whitewash the terror links of the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) member and ‘dubious’ journalist Siddique Kappan, who is languishing in UP jail for conspiring to create communal tension in Hathras.
“@newslaundry’s @akanksha_kumar3 washes Islamist dirty linen, to whitewash terror accused Siddique Kappan she weaves of web of lies, hides facts …misquotes @Sreedath despite repeated requests. After report, Islamists target @indusscrolls founder”, Tweeted the website Indus Scrolls while sharing the link of an article published on its website, detailing how the far-left website Newslaundry ‘journalist’ misconstrued Sreedathan’s statements to suit her narrative.
The article published by Indus Scrolls on November 5, 2021, headlined “Newslaundry’s Akansha Kumar washes Islamist dirty linen; weaves a web of lies, hides facts to whitewash Kappan’s terror links”, gives details of how Akansha Kumar, a ‘journalist’ working for far-left propaganda website Newslaundry distorted Sreedathan’s quotes to build a pro-Kappan narrative and hide Siddique Kappan’s terror links.
The report published by Indus Scrolls on November 5
The article by Indus Scrolls firstly negated the claim made by the Newslaundry journalist that Kappan had filed a defamation case against Sreedathan or Indus Scrolls. Through this, she wants to drive home the message that Sreedathan holds some personal grudge against Kappan, further, sharing Sreedathan’s take on the matter.
It may be noted that Newsluandry had on October 23, 2021, published an article titled: “Siddique Kappan’s chargesheet: The curious case of G Sreedathan and a source called WhatsApp”, written by Akansha Kumar. The archived version of the article can be viewed here.
Newlaundry report published on October 23, 2021
The same report was published by Newslaundry Hindi on November 3.
Same report published by Newslaundry Hindi on November 3
In the report, ‘journalist’ Akansh Kumar claimed: “Months before his arrest, Kappan had sent a defamation notice to Sreedathan”. The report further claimed that the UP police’s special task force had relied heavily on a statement by G Sreedathan, founder of the website Indus Scrolls.
The Newlaundry report claims that Siddique Kappan had sent a legal notice to G Sreedathan, the founder of the website Indus Scrolls on April 5, 2020, “after an article on Indus Scrolls claimed Kappan was involved in spreading fake news about the death of two students of Jamia University and propagating anti-Hindu news with the help of funds from PFI (Popular Front of India).”
Excerpt from the Newslaundry’s article
Indus Scrolls has vehemently refuted this claim saying that the claim that Kappan had filed a defamation case against Sreedathan or Indus Scrolls is a lie.
“Till this date, I have not received any defamation notice from anyone, leave alone Kappan. I don’t know Kappan personally. Indus Scrolls published the report on Kappan as his acts were anti-national. There were several questions about him and his activities under the cover of journalism. Since Kumar has access to the Islamist circles, I would request her to share a copy of the defamation notice with me. But more importantly, if Kumar is correct, the question is who has funded him, a freelance journalist with a measly salary, to engage a high-profile lawyer to file a defamation suit?”, Indus Scrolls quoted Sreedathan as saying.
Excerpt from Indus Scrolls’ report
Secondly, Indus Scrolls claimed that the Newslaundry journalist, through her report, tried to give an impression that the UP Police had relied only on the reports published by Indus Scrolls to prepare a 5,000-page charge sheet.
Excerpt for Newlaundry’s report
Indus Scrolls, piqued with Newslaundry’s shoddy journalism, quoted it founder as saying: “I don’t think she is too naïve to believe that the UP Police had built their case on the basis of our two small Malayalam reports. They have highly efficient officers and investigators and they know their job. By publishing such half-baked and fake stories aimed at building a narrative, Akansha is helping the Islamist cause. If the voluminous charge sheet was built on flimsy facts, why did the courts not give Kappan bail? Let them fight it in courts, not in media.” (She should at least have read the trial court order denying bail to Kappan.)
Indus Scrolls pointed out that another problem with the report written by Akansha Kumar was that she had sought to build a narrative solely on the basis of the defence lawyer’s claims. “What is a defence lawyer expected to do? Will he say that his client is a terrorist? It is like preparing a theft report on the sole basis of the thief’s statements. This is ridiculous,” the report quoted Sreedathan as saying.
Most notably, the Indus Scrolls report detailed how the Newslaundry journalist misquoted Sreedathan and withheld portions of a Whatsapp conversation he sent to Akansha Kumar that revealed Kappan’s direct ties to PFI.
Indus Scrolls submitted screenshots of Sreedathan and Akansha Kumar’s Whatsapp conversation to show how Newslaundry’s writer misquoted Sreedathan and rejected his request to correct it.
1. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
2. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
3. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
4. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
5. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
6. SS of Whatsapp conversation between Newslaundry journalist Akansha Kumar and Indus Scrolls editor-in-chief Sreedathan
According to Indus Scrolls, before filing the report, Akansha had called up Sreedathan for his comments on the charge sheet and the Kappan reports published on his website. He had explained Kappan’s links with PFI. Since Sreedathan had expressed his reluctance to engage in a long conversation with her, Akansha sent Sreedathan some questions on Whatsapp and requested him to answer them.
In his answer, Sreedathan had explicitly spoken about the arrested journalist Siddique Kappan links with the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI). It is evident from the fourth and fifth screenshots of the Whatsapp conversation shared above, that Sreedathan had distinctly spoken about Kappan’s link with the PFI.
Sreedathan wrote to Akansha Kumar how Kappan was working for Thejas, the mouthpiece of PFI. He further mentioned that Kappan held some national level positions in NCHRO, a human rights group floated by PFI. Sreedathan clearly mentions in his Whatsapp message to Akansha Kumar that the “UP police chargesheet stated that Kappan attended several PFI and acted as a facilitator for PFI”.
These facts, which are of paramount importance in the Kerala-based ‘journalist’ Siddique Kappan case was conveniently left out from the report written by the Newslaundry journalist.
Newslaundry skips portions of Sreedathan’s statements
While Kumar included other Sreedhatan comments, she methodically omitted words that clearly did not fit her narrative in order to exonerate Kappan of all terror linkages.
Slamming the Newslaundry journalist for maliciously fabricating facts, Indus Scrolls wrote: “To the benefit of Akansha and others who peddle the fake narrative that Kappan has no PFI links should go through the charge sheet. According to the charge sheet, Kappan visited several countries, including Georgia and South Africa while he was working with Thejas, the mouthpiece of PFI. The charge sheet has conclusively established Kappan’s links with PFI, like his participation in a secret workshop that deliberated on creating communal disturbances and riots”.
“The charge sheet also mentions that Kappan’s “services” were praised in the organization report presented at the PFI annual conference. Reporters like Akansha should read these portions of the charge sheet before giving ‘reliability certificates’ to journalists and accusing them of spreading false information”.
“Kappan used to stay in the office of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO), an NGO associated with PFI. Kappan’s wife claimed that he was staying in the NCHRO office, as he had a meagre salary. PFI martial arts trainer Anshad Badruddin was sharing the room with Kappan in NCHRO. This clearly indicates the link between PFI and NCHRO. Besides, NCHRO has intervened, organized protests, and provided legal assistance to PFI activists when they were arrested in terror-related cases”, read the Indus Scrolls report, leaving not an iota of doubt that media houses like Newslaundry are not only running a malicious campaign to make a hero out of terror accused Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan but are also steadfast in targetting the reputation and silencing journalists and individuals who write or speak against the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).
Newslaundry regularly resort to shoddy journalism
Though reprehensible, this sought of irresponsible journalism is only expected from the far-left media house Newslaundry. Only last month India Today had sued Newslaundry ‘journalists’ over articles published on the website and had sought damages of Rs 2 crores and permanent injunctions, Newslaundry ‘journalist’ Ayush Tiwari had said.
India Today had alleged that Newslaundry had committed copyright infringement and made “untrue, unfair, disparaging as well as maliciously defamatory remarks about the channel’s News, Reporting, Management & its News Anchors”.
In August this year, a tweet went viral where Newslaundry and The Print columnist Aveek Sen was seen calling for the rape of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After Sen embarked on his campaign, numerous tweets of his went viral on the platform. In the tweets, he could be seen using vile abusive language against his detractors and others.
Sen has made several tweets objectifying women. In one particular instance, Aveek Sen harassed a woman who appeared to be a Baloch. After the woman thanked Sen for supporting the Baloch, his line of questioning veered towards extremely creepy behaviour.
Furthermore, whenever Newslaundry is referenced, it becomes imperative to recall the Newslaundry columnist and former Aligarh Muslim University student leader Sharjeel Usmani. In May 2021, Maharashtra Police had registered an FIR against Usmani for posting objectionable tweets against Hindus on Twitter. He had earlier celebrated the death of Aaj Tak news anchor Rohit Sardana.
Surat police arrested a youth named Malik Mohammad (21) in a case of grooming jihad who allegedly trapped a minor Hindu girl by posing as a Hindu boy and raped her later on. The victim told the police that when Malik’s identity was exposed, he pressurized her to convert to Islam as a pre-condition to marry her. Police acted on the basis of a missing complaint lodged by the father of the victim at Puna police station. The victim came in contact with Malik through a social media account, where he had introduced himself as Rahul Patel. The 17-year-old girl went missing after Malik allured her to run away with him on October 31.
But after police rescued her on November 3 from Vadodara, it turned out to be a case of grooming jihad where the victim was kidnapped and raped also. The accused took her to a farmhouse at Karjan in Vadodara where he raped and asked her to change her religion. But she refused to do so. After that, she managed to contact her parents and inform them about the situation. The parents informed the police about her location, after which the girl was rescued from Vadodara.
ACP C Division BM Basawa is investigating the case against the accused who has been charged under sections of kidnapping, rape and cheating of IPC and POSCO and section 4 of Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2021. Police have secured his two days police remand for his questioning.
The accused is a resident of Narayan Nagar in Bhaiyanagar and he works at a local textile mill in the same area. According to police, the accused befriended the victim on fake identity as Rahul Patel, a Hindu boy. The accused has also tattooed his fake identity on his hand. The victim is said to a native of Uttar Pradesh but her family is settled in Surat. She is said to belong to a well-to-do family.
During the interrogation, the accused is learnt to have confessed the crime. About his family, the accused said that his mother is Hindu and his father is a Muslim. He accepted that he and his brothers and sister follow Islam. The victim told the police that she was unaware that Rahul was actually Malik who duped her by faking his identity.
The CBI in its report submitted to the special CBI court of Ernakulam in Kerala on November 5 has reiterated that the workers of the RSS had no role in the murder of Muhammad Fasal. Fasal, a newspaper vendor was hacked to death on October 22, 2006, near a mosque in Thalassery. Fasal, a native of Madapedika from Kodiyeri was the former CPI (M) activist. He was allegedly murdered by CPI (M) activists after he had joined the National Development Front (now Popular Front of India).
The CBI which arrested and charge-sheeted two CPI (M) leaders and their six associated in this murder case, launched a fresh probe on the order of Kerala high court following a twist in this case after Kerala police claimed that an RSS worker Kuppi Subeesh has confessed his involvement in Fasal murder case.
Reiterating its earlier probe, the CBI has said that two CPI (M) leaders from the Kannur district of Kerala namely Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrasekharan had planned this political murder. On their instruction, the gang led by M. K. Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni executed the murder. Accused Kodi Suni was also convicted in the case of the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T P. Chandrasekharan who was brutally murdered on May 4, 2012.
CBI discards Kerala police theory
As far as the confession of an RSS worker, Kuppi Subeesh about his involvement in this murder is concerned, the CBI has told the court that Kerala police had forced Subeesh to make a confession while he was in police custody. In 2016 Kuppi Subeesh was arrested in another political murder case lodged at Koothuparamba police station. Kuppi Subeesh said that he was subjected to brutal torture for two days at Azhikal Coast Guard Station, Kannur, by two Dy SPs. Police forced him to make the confession that he had three other RSS workers–Praneesh, Mahe, Prabeesh Kumar, Chembra, and Shinoj had killed Fasal. He, later on, retracted his alleged confession and said that he was implicated to save CPI (M) leaders.
On this the single bench of Kerala High Justice Ashok Menon in July this year directed the CBI to look into the evidence. It said, “It may be true that the CBI may not be satisfied with the materials now collected by the local police during the investigation in some other case involving Subeesh. But there is no harm in examining those materials also, as a part of a further investigation under section 173(8) Cr. P.C,” the court said.
Kerala police and government had tried to derail the probe
The CBI took over the investigation of this case on a directive of the High Court on a plea by the victim’s widow Mariyu since she was not satisfied with the police investigation. Both government and police made blatant attempts to hush up the case to shield CPI (M) cadres.
A former investigating officer of this case DSP K. Radhakrishnan said that CPI (M) had turned hostile Fasal as he was attracted young Muslims to join the National Development Front. Radhakrishnan who had investigated this case at the initial stage pointed fingers at CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who was the home minister at that time.
Radhakrishnan said that he had gathered evidence that proved Fasal’s murder was a decision of CPI(M). He said that Kodiyeri had called him to close the inquiry as soon as he came to know the investigation inching close to Karayis and other CPI (M) cadres. Radhakrishnan was removed from the probe. Valsaraja Kurup, who had provided key evidence of this case, was murdered later on. The officer was also brutally assaulted by the CPI (M)-DYFI workers when he was posted as DSP, Taliparamba. He was booked in a case.
Despite the hue and cry of the Opposition over the soaring prices of fuel in the country, it has now come to light that no non-BJP ruled states has reduced local taxes on petrol and diesel except for Odisha.
BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Assam, Bihar and Haryana announced cuts in VAT on Wednesday evening itself. This came a few hours after the Centre announced the excise cut on petrol and diesel prices on the day
Biju Janta Dal-ruled Odisha was the only non-NDA state to slash fuel prices as of Thursday. Northeastern states like Mizoram and Nagaland joined in too to cut fuel rates.
On the 4th of November, the Chief Minister’s office of the Odisha government had announced that they were reducing the tax on fuel following the announcement by the Modi government.
With the reduction, the state government will incur a loss to exchequer of approximately ₹2000 Cr. Following the reduction, fuel price will be one of the lowest in country, bringing a huge relief for the people of #Odisha.
Press Information Bureau (PIB) informed that a total of 22 States, mostly run by the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had given relief to the masses. The Centre had made the first move by reducing the Central Excise Duty on diesel by 10% and on petrol by 5%. This was followed by the relief on local taxes granted by the BJP/NDA run States, with Karnataka and Union territories of Ladakh and Puducherry being the largest beneficiaries.
Interestingly, non-NDA ruled states like Maharashtra, NCT of Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andaman & Nicobar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan have not undertaken any reduction in VAT prices in petrol or diesel.
NDA ruled states join price cut move
After the centre cut the excise duty and urged the states to do the same, several states have reduced VAT on petrol and diesel. For instance, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced a flat cut of Rs 12 per litre in petrol and diesel.
The Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Assam, Tripura, Goa, Gujarat, Sikkim and Manipur had announced a reduction of VAT by Rs 7 per litre on petrol diesel. NDA-ruled Haryana government, too, reduced VAT making petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 12 per litre, whereas Madhya Pradesh also announced a reduction of 4 per cent VAT on petrol and diesel. Nitish Kumar led BJP-JD (U) government in Bihar has announced a relief of more than Rs 3.
On the 4th of November 2021, a Mid-day newspaper published an “exclusive” claiming that Mukesh Ambani, along with his family, was all set to move out of India and settle down in London. According to the report, Ambanis were to make a 300-acre country club in Buckinghamshire, Stoke Park — acquired at a reported Rs 592 crore earlier this year, as their ‘primary home’.
Mid-Day reported, “Sources told mid-day that even a state-of-the-art medical facility has recently been set up in the property, adding that the experience of spending the pandemic in the 4,00,000 square feet Altamount Road residence, Antilia, made the family feel the need for a second home”.
The report further claimed that the property had a fully functional hospital, a mandir for which the Ambanis are set to take two priests to London from Mumbai and 40 bedrooms. The mid-day report also quoted “doctors who were hired to be a part of the medical team”, saying that the Ambanis had decided to make a hospital inside their property premises since the UK healthcare system is largely public-funded and in India, private hospitals are preferred.
A day after this report was published in Mid-day and picked up by several other newspapers, Reliance issued a statement rubbishing the claims made by the media report.
Statement issued by Reliance on the fake news that Mukesh Ambani and his family were moving to London
The statement read, “Reliance Industries Limited will like to clarify that the Chairman and his family have no plans whatsoever to relocate or reside in London or anywhere else in the world. RIL group company, RIIHL, which acquired Stoke Park estate recently, would like to clarify that its acquisition of the heritage property is aimed at enhancing this as a premier golfing & sporting resort, while fully complying with the planning guidelines & local regulations. This acquisition will add to the fast-growing consumer business of the group. Simultaneously, it will also expand the footprint of India’s famed hospitality industry globally”.
How the fake media report about Mukesh Ambani and his family moving to London was used by trolls to target the Modi government
As soon as Mid-Day floated the fake news about Mukesh Ambani and his family moving to London, several media houses picked up the news. As the fake news spread, trolls and Congress functionaries started to use the news to target the Narendra Modi government.
Prashant Bhushan, veteran troll, full-time PIL-ist and career trouble-maker had taken to Twitter to further the fake news.
Quoting the media report, Prashant Bhushan asked if Mukesh Ambani was another “bhagoda”. This was a way to target Amit Shah because he was exiled from Gujarat for 2 years while a fake case against him was being investigated after the Sohrabbudin Sheikh encounter. He was discharged later and all charges were proven fake. The Judge had said that the case against him was purely politically motivated, however, Prashant Bhushan, in his infinite hate, used the pejorative word to insult Amit Shah by using the fake news against Mukesh Ambani.
National Digital Media and Social Media coordinator of Congress, Gaurav Pandhi, also took to Twitter to target the Modi government using the fake news.
The situation in India under the BJP Govt is so bad, that Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani and his family are moving to London.
This dividing time between India & London is BS.
The hatred spread by BJP-RSS, vindictive politics & misuse of institutions is eating everyone up!
He claimed that the situation in India under the Modi government was “so bad” that even Asia’s richest man and his family were moving to London. He spoke about the mythical hate spread by BJP-RSS as a possible reason. Not only was this news fake, but Pandhi implied strange logic to target the Modi government. Congress, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, has constantly claimed that PM Modi is an “agent” of Mukesh Ambani and has been working for his benefit. After Rahul Gandhi has spent 7 years screaming this trope, Congress was now claiming that Mukesh Ambani was leaving India because of PM Modi. The impeccable logic that is the hallmark of Congress was evident, even in this case.
In fact, Amnesty troll Aakar Patel went on to claim that Mukesh Ambani had not denied the story while plugging the story that carried Reliance’s denial.
While he urged his readers to “focus on the details”, it would appear that such tropes are being furthered by trolls to create confusion and ensure that the facts are muddled so they can continue to target the Modi government over the fake news spread by the media.
A three-member National Investigation Agency (NIA) team reached Canada on Friday, November 5. The NIA team is on a four-day visit to investigate the foreign funding links of terrorist organisations like Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and other pro-Khalistani groups like Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Zindabad Force, and Khalistan Tiger Force. Sikh For Justice is Pakistan’s ISI backed pro-Khalistani organization banned by the Indian government for involving in terror-related activities.
The NIA team, headed by an IG-level officer, will be probing the funding of NGOs by the aforementioned terrorist organisations. The central agency team would also investigate the Khalistani terrorist organisations funding routes from various foreign countries like the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and Germany.
NIA summons pro-Khalistan outfit ‘Khalsa Aid’ in Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) in ‘Referendum-2020’ case
It may be recalled that the NIA had in January summoned controversial pro-Khalistan organizations such as ‘Khalsa Aid’ and several persons including an alleged farmer leader and an actor having links to Khalistani networks to appear before them for questioning in connection with the ‘Sikhs For Justice Referendum’ case.
Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu and another Khalistani sympathizer Baldev Singh Sirsa are among 40 people summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for questioning in the SFJ case.
NIA files charge-sheet against 16 foreign-based Khalistani terrorists of SFJ
Earlier, on December 9, 2020, NIA had filed a charge-sheet against 16 accused who currently operate from foreign soil in connection with plotting conspiracy against India by launching a concerted secessionist campaign under the banner of ‘Referendum 2020’ for the creation of ‘Khalistan’.
A case was registered against the accused under various IPC sections 120B, 124A, 153A, 153B and 505 of IPC and 13, 17 and 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The charge-sheet nails the conspiracy of how Pakistan-backed Khalistani groups are fomenting trouble in Punjab.
The charge-sheeted accused are Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Avtar Singh Pannun, Gurpreet Singh Baagi, Harpreet Singh, Paramjit Singh, Sarabjit Singh Bannur, Amardeep Singh Purewal, JS Dhaliwal, Kulwant Singh Mothada, Dupinderjit Singh, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Kulwant Singh, Harjaap Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Jatinder Singh Grewal, S Himmat Singh. The above individuals are members of Sikh For Justice, an organization banned by the Indian government for involving in terror-related activities.
The NIA investigation in the case had revealed that Sikhs For Justice was nothing but a terror group that operates with the support of Pakistan’s ISI and has offices in various foreign countries like the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia etc.
FIR registered against pro-Khalistani groups after a complaint by the MHA
The matter pertains to the December 15, 2020 FIR registered after a complaint by the MHA which stated that SFJ “and other Khalistani terrorist outfits including but not limited to Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Tiger Force and Khalistan Zindabad Force” along with their frontal organizations, have entered into a conspiracy to “create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness and to cause disaffection in people and to incite them towards rising in rebellion” against the Government of India.”
As per the FIR, huge funds are collected abroad for the campaign and propaganda.
SFJ links to the farmers’ protests in India
The farmers’ protest saw participation from pro-Khalistani elements. Several ‘farmers’ resorted to violence and worrying slogans, supporting Khalistan were also raised. With pro-Khalistan and anti-Indian slogans being raised during the ‘farmer protest’ along the Haryana-Punjab border, questions were also being raised over the alleged involvement of SFJ in instigating Punjab farmers to protest against the Modi government under the pretext that the three farm bills are ‘anti-farmer’ in nature.
The SFJ collusion indicated the involvement of pro-Khalistan elements to hijack these farmer protest.
It is important to note that the Khalistan organization SFJ, funded by Pakistan, had earlier declared a grant of $1 million for farmers in Punjab and Haryana in lieu of their support for Khalistan.
On September 23rd, it was reported that the SFJ attempted to capitalise on ongoing farmer demonstrations by announcing a $1 million handout to farmers who had defaulted on agricultural loans.
Paramjit Singh Pamma, a top SFJ official who is on the NIA’s most-wanted list, was also seen at a “Kisan Rally” in London. Pamma was spotted with his followers at the protest. Anti-India shouts and Khalistani banners were seen at the protest.
While the overall air quality of Delhi plunged to the upper end of the ‘severe’ category on Friday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has blamed BJP for the rise in air pollution in Delhi after Diwali. After the Delhi residents defied restrictions to burst firecrackers on the occasion of Diwali yesterday, the AAP MLA from Babarpur alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party instigated people to intentionally burst crackers on Diwali to cause air pollution in Delhi. “Some people in Delhi burst firecrackers on purpose. The BJP is behind this,” the minister said on Friday.
In an interview with News 24, when the anchor had asked Gopal Rai about his opinion on the rise of pollution in Delhi after Diwali, Rai said, “Definitely, for last five years we have experienced a better environment, clean air and low pollution level, but the way the pollution levels increased after last night, there are two factors. Firstly, I want to congratulate all those who have acted responsibly and have not burst crackers on Diwali. But I want to say this clearly that people from the Bharatiya Janta Party has intentionally encouraged people to burst of firecrackers that have resulted in the increase of pollution after last night.”
The AAP minister blaming BJP for encouraging people to burst firecrackers is bizarre, because the Delhi police under the central govt have been implementing Supreme Court orders on firecrackers, and have arrested several people caught with firecrackers. In fact, a large number of supporters of BJP have blamed it for taking sides with the activists in restricting and banning the use of firecrackers during Diwali.
However, Gopal Rai admitted that another factor that caused air pollution in Delhi is stubble burning, but refrained from labelling it the main factor. He said, ‘Second factor that caused the pollution to rise was because of rain, the harvesting of paddy in the neighbouring states was delayed. We have seen the data from NASA, before 31st October, there were fires in approximately 800 to 1000 places. But if you see last night picture, there were fires in approximately 3500 places due to stubble burning. The wind has also changed direction from east to west…’
Notably, according to the Fire Information for Resource Management System of NASA, the incident of fires in Punjab and Haryana have gone up significantly in the month of October, which had reached its peak last week.
Source: NASA fire maps
NASA has used red dots to indicate incidents of fire caught by satellites. A look at the maps from 31st October and 5th November show that almost the entire state of Punjab was covered with red dots, which meant that crop residues were burnt at almost all the farmland in the state before Diwali. Similarly, a large portion of Haryana was also covered with such red dots indicating fire.
Reportedly, the share of stubble burning in air pollution in Delhi had reached 36% on Friday, the highest in the season so far. The wind direction has caused smoke from Punjab to move towards Delhi, and the local weather condition has meant that Delhi was covered with a thick layer of smog.
Tripura Police have booked four Supreme Court lawyers under UAPA and several sections of the Indian Penal code for spreading communal hatred through social media posts. A case has been registered against four Supreme Court lawyers and they have been asked by the Tripura Police to appear before investigation by November 10.
Reportedly, prior to the notice, the lawyers had addressed a press conference which was streamed through Facebook live, in order to release a so-called fact-finding report titled “Humanity under Attack in Tripura #MuslimsLivesMatter”. The lawyers alleged that 12 masjids, 9 shops and 3 homes belonging to Muslims were attacked during the recent protests by Hindu groups against attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh.
However, the Tripura govt has denied these allegations. The govt maintains that while some minor scuffles did take place, there was no attack on any mosque in Tripura, as being alleged by many. DIG (Southern Range) G K Rao in a video message on Wednesday said, ‘Some mischievous incidents are happening in the state since the last few days. There was some minor loss of property and some incidents of disturbance occurred. Tripura Police registered 11 cases including 4 in North Tripura, 3 in West Tripura, one in Gomati district and three cases in Sepahijala district.’
It is clarified that law and order situation is absolutely normal in the state. Below is message by DIG (Southern Range). #Tripurahttps://t.co/axK0cUhtW5
Lawyers who were sent notices from the Tripura Police include Supreme Court lawyer Ehtesham Hashmi, Lawyers for Democracy’s convener lawyer Amit Srivastava, NCHRO national secretary Ansar Indori and PUCL member Mukesh Kumar.
Manik Das, the West Tripura district superintendent of police informed PTI, “A group of Supreme Court lawyers visited Tripura on Tuesday last and after their visit we noticed that several posts were made in social media expressing their discontent regarding the recent communal incidents. Police has registered a case and wants to know if the posts were made by them or were fake posts.” Manik Das also said that the lawyers were asked to appear before police for questioning by November 10.
On November 3, the case against the lawyers was filed at West Agartala police station under several sections of IPC including 153 (a) and (b) related to promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race etc, 469 (forgery), 504 (intentional insult, provocation), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), in addition to the section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The ‘fact-finding team’ of the lawyers had demanded the constitution of an inquiry committee headed by a retired High Court judge to investigate the alleged attack on Muslims, compensation to victims, reparation of damaged religious places etc. They had also demanded strict action against people and organizations who made provocative and false posts on social media to incite people.
Earlier, the Tripura Police responded to viral videos and news related to the alleged vandalism of a mosque during a protest march on Tuesday and categorically denied any such incident taking place and informed that FIR against the viral fake posts on social media platforms had been lodged.
Pinarayi Vijayan led left Democratic Front government in Kerala has refused to reduce tax on petrol and diesel on the line of Centre and many NDA ruled states reducing taxes to give relief to people from the runaway prices. This means people of communist-ruled Kerala will not have that much relief except for what the Centre and several states have offered.
Kerala is among opposition-ruled states which are not inclined to give any relief to common people.
Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal during a press conference said that VAT on petrol and diesel will not be reduced in the state. He claimed that owing to a peculiar tax structure of Kerala, there was a natural proportionate decrease in the VAT in the state after the Centre reduced taxes. “When the Centre reduces its tax by Rs 10 and Rs 5 for diesel and petrol respectively, it has actually been reduced by Rs 12.30 and Rs 6.56 in Kerala,” he said.
The finance minister said that even though Kerala govt has not announced any cut in VAT, there is actually a reduction by Rs 2.30 on diesel and Rs 1.56 on petrol due to its tax structure on fuel. He further claimed that like many other states, Kerala had not increased fuel tax during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the last six years the state has not increased state tax on petrol and diesel.
Besides, K N Balagopal claimed that the Kerala government runs several financial relief packages for people affected by COVID-19 and the rebuilding efforts after the recent natural disasters that will be affected if the VAT is reduced on petrol and diesel. He claimed that the Centre reduced excise duty as it suffered setbacks in the recent by-elections in various states.
On the eve of Diwali, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel. The excise duty on petrol was reduced by Rs 5 and the same was cut by Rs 10 on diesel. The Centre urged state governments to ‘commensurately reduce’ the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.
NDA ruled states join price cut move
After the centre cut the excise duty and urged the states to do the same, several states have reduced VAT on petrol and diesel. For instance, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced a flat cut of Rs 12 per litre in petrol and diesel. The Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj S Bommai, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, Biplab Kumar Deb of Tripura, Pramod Sawant of Goa, Bhupendra Bhagel of Gujarat, Prem Singh Tamang of Sikkim and N Biren Singh of Manipur have announced a reduction of VAT by Rs 7 per litre on petrol diesel. NDA-ruled Haryana government, too, reduced VAT making petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 12 per litre, whereas Madhya Pradesh also announced a reduction of 4 percent VAT on petrol and diesel. Nitish Kumar led BJP-JD (U) government in Bihar has announced a relief of more than Rs 3.
Opposition parties crying hoarse on fuel prices are silent now to reduce prices in their states
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the only non-NDA Chief Minister who welcomed Centre’s move and further reduced the price by Rs 3 on both diesel and petrol in Odisha. But other non-NDA ruled states are completely silent on giving relief to people by revising taxes on petrol and diesel as done by the Centre and NDA-ruled states. Kerala is among the states namely Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh ruled by the non-NDA parties. Congress’ interim president Sonia Gandhi who twice wrote letters to Prime Minister on fuel price in June last year and February this year has yet not asked her government in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, and alliance partners in Maharashtra and Jharkhand to give relief to people.
