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No record of the death of farmers during protests against farm laws, hence no question of compensation: Govt informs Parliament

OpIndia Staff
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No record of the death of farmers during protests against farm laws, hence no question of compensation: Govt informs Parliament

The Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed the Parliament on Wednesday that the government has no record of the farmers who died during the year-long farmers’ protest against the three farms laws, hence, there is no question of compensation to their families. Besides, he also explained the government’s stand on Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agricultural products and steps taken so far.

Centre’s reply on farmers’ death and MSP has come at a time when some motivated leaders of farmers are making excuses to drag the agitation on one and other issues despite the government withdrew farm laws. The government has also decriminalised stubble burning and had agreed to withdraw the electricity amendment bill, other two demands of farmer organisations.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare has no record in the matter and hence the question does not arise,” the minister said on Wednesday (December 1) during the winter session of the parliament. He was responding to the question raised by a bunch of MPs whether the Centre proposes to extend financial assistance to the kin of farmers who died during the agitation.

Nevertheless, the Opposition and farmer unions headed by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have been claiming that not less than 700 farmers died during protests held at Singhu, Tikari and Ghazipur borders. They have demanded compensation for these alleged deaths. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had even demanded Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla pass a condolence resolution in the House for farmers who died during the protest.

In the earlier part of this un-starred question, the minister was asked whether the government had taken steps to hold discussions with farmers’ organizations agitating against the three farms laws.  

“The government engaged itself actively and constantly with the agitating farmer unions to end the protests and 11 rounds of negotiating talks were held between the government and agitating farmer unions to resolve the issue,” the minister said.  

Tomar informed the House that the government announced MSP for 22 major agricultural commodities of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) each year in both the crop seasons after taking into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. Besides, the government also extends remunerative price to farmers through its various intervention schemes.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 19 addressed the nation and announced the decision of his government to withdraw all three farms laws. He thanked the millions of farmers who appreciated the farm laws, which were introduced after due deliberation and with honest intentions. Even though the three laws were passed by the parliament, the Supreme Court had stayed their implementation and refused to deliver a final verdict on the issue for a year, forcing the central govt to withdraw the laws.

On the first day of the winter session, the government introduced Farm Law Repeal Bill 2021 which was passed through the voice vote.

Mother of irony: Swara Bhasker appeals to Mamata Banerjee, one of the most authoritarian leaders of our times, to save democratic principles

Dibakar Dutta
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Mother of irony: Swara Bhasker appeals to Mamata Banerjee, one of the most authoritarian leaders of our times, to save democratic principles

On Wednesday (December 1), actress Swara Bhasker appealed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to protect the democratic principles of the country. She made the remarks during an interactive session with Mamata Banerjee that was conducted at the Y.B. Chavan Centre in Nariman Point in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

In a video shared by journalist Pooja Mehta, Swara Bhasker was heard as saying, “Everyone in this room is doing their bit. There are older, illustrious people who have spent their lives on it”. The actress then claimed that a group of young people had risked their lives, and employment to put up resistance against the incumbent BJP government.

She named ‘comedians’ Munawar Faruqi, Aditi Mittal, Agrima Joshua and actress Richa Chaddha who are supposedly putting out the ‘real story of India to the world’. Bhaskar claimed that those fighting to preserve the ‘idea of India’ are sandwiched between two sides: the mob of ‘unaccountable’ people and the State that uses measures to curb freedom. “There is a state which is distributing the UAPA and sedition charges as a prasad from a God we don’t want to pray to,” she alleged.

However, the irony is that Swara Bhasker appealed to protect the freedom of expression to a person who has been jailing people for memes and cartoons ever since she came to power in West Bengal.

Curbing freedom of speech since 2012

When Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011, the residents of West Bengal were under the illusion that the firebrand leader would bring about a paradigm shift in the political culture of the State. Far from improving, the Trinamool Congress regime muzzled independent voices, decimated political opposition through intimidatory tactics and worsened the culture of political violence.

Swara Bhasker seemed to repose her Faith in a politician, who has a track record of curbing freedom of speech, silencing the voice of dissenters and encouraging violence against political opponents. The actress chose to complain about the supposed lack of ‘creative space’ for comedians in front of Mamata Banerjee, who had jailed a Chemistry Professor from Jadavpur University in 2012 for sharing a meme. Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested and charge-sheeted under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act for sharing a cartoon on Mamata Banerjee.

To ensure continued harassment, the West Bengal government now wants to add sections 500 and 509 of the IPC against the professor. “It is more than nine and half years I have been fighting my case facing the torture of the establishment,” Ambikesh Mahapatra told the OpIndia over the phone. Ambikesh Mahapatra said that he had not imagined that he would have to pay the price for forwarding a simple cartoon. “There is no democracy and no freedom of speech in West Bengal. I am above 61-years. What they call a crime was not a crime,” he said.

Jailing dissenters over a meme

In May 2019, Mamata Banerjee had again displayed her intolerance and disapproval for dissenting opinions. Priyanka Sharma, BJP youth leader was arrested for posting a meme mocking Banerjee on her Facebook timeline. A complaint was made by TMC leader Vibhas Hazra, against the convenor of BJYM, Priyanka Sharma for sharing a morphed picture of Mamata Banerjee in Howrah.

Morphed image of Mamata Banerjee that was shared by Priyanka Sharma

The MET Gala 2019 themed meme superimposed Mamata’s face on Priyanka Chopra’s body. She was arrested and produced in Howrah Court. “She not just tries to insult our Hon’ble Chief Minister, but she trying to insult the culture of our Bengal by her post on Facebook and which is Cyber Crime”, read the complaint. Despite being granted bail by the Supreme court, the State apparatus used all tactics to delay the release of the BJP worker from jail.

Fostering a culture of violence through rhetorics

In the run-up to West Bengal polls, Mamata Banerjee had coined the term ‘Khela Hobe’. The slogan became a metaphor for violence against political opponents. The Trinamool Congress supremo was seen repeating the slogan in her election rallies and laying the foundation of the violence that was to come. TMC workers also created images that showed the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee putting her bandaged foot on Prime Minister Modi’s head.

Khela hobe rhetorics took a dangerous turn after West Bengal elections

The images were a caricature of an earlier cartoon, where Mamata Banerjee’s bandaged foot was shown on a football. TMC workers decided to replace the football with the head of PM Modi. Such imageries were symbolic of the events that took place during the elections. Mamata Banerjee had also encouraged people to gherao security forces during an election rally in Cooch Behar district’s Sitalkuchi area. She had alleged that the BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have ordered the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans to harass voters and obstruct them from voting.

Orchestrating violence against opponents after poll victory

Using violence as an instrument to subdue their political opponents has become a distinctive feature of the TMC rule in West Bengal. Ever since the Mamata Banerjee-led retained power in the state, the persecution of dissenters and opposition workers has only intensified. In an overwhelming number of such incidents, the victims have been BJP supporters and workers while the accused were said to be the supporters of the TMC party. More than a dozen BJP workers have lost their lives in the post-poll violence that ensued following the victory of the TMC party in the assembly elections.

The violence unleashed against them forced hundreds of BJP party workers and supporters to flee their villages along with their families. They crossed over to Assam where they have been provided temporary shelter under the supervision of minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. It is not just the BJP but even CPI(M) which has accused the TMC of killing its workers. Reports of attacks on BSF jawans have also emerged in the media. On June 2, 2021, a month after Mamata Banerjee came back to power, the BJP said 37 of its workers were killed in the post-poll violence that convulsed the state.

There were reports that said women in West Bengal were raped, assaulted and, in some cases, even killed, just because they adhered to a different political ideology. Recently, a victim who was raped by the TMC goons in front of her father shared her harrowing ordeal with OpIndia. She narrated how she was attacked and sexually assaulted by her perpetrators associated with the TMC party. In the aftermath of the assembly election results, TMC goons wreaked havoc, attacking and plundering the houses of their opponents. In one such attack, TMC goons lynched BJP worker Avijit Sarkar to death.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has in its detailed report had mentioned how the widespread violence and targeted killings of so many BJP workers was not spontaneous but well-planned. The committee had informed that many supporters of a political party were forced to flee their homes due to a targeted attack. 

Twitter suspends account of ‘Stories of Bengali Hindus’ for sharing ignored stories of the trauma faced by persecuted Bengali Hindus

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter suspends account of ‘Stories of Bengali Hindus’ for sharing ignored stories of the trauma faced by persecuted Bengali Hindus

The social media giant Twitter, known for its leftist bias, has suspended another non-left account on their platform, citing “violating rules against ban evasion” as the reason. The latest popular non-left account to be suspended is @storiesofBHs, the account of the website Stories of Bengali Hindus. The founder of the website, Dr Sandeep Das, shared the information through his personal Twitter account.

Dr Das wrote that they received an email from Twitter stating that we were suspended in view of “ban evasion”. He asked the microblogging site to provide more explanation for the suspension. Interestingly, while Twitter said that it had suspended the account in view of “ban evasion”, it provided no explanation as to which ban had the account exactly evaded.

Das said that this is the first time the account has been suspended, it was never suspended in the part, therefore it is not clear how the account violated norms by evading a ban.

In his subsequent Tweet, Das wrote: “@storiesofBHs had been a place where Bengali Hindus from East Bengal spread across the world could come together and share their stories of intergenerational/transgenerational trauma which were untold and ignored. @Twitter has, through this, put down our voices and stories.”

He also informed that ‘Stories of Hindu Bengalis’ are considering all options as of now, He urged everyone to rally support for them.

Twitter suspends account of @storiesofbhs

Condemning the arbitrary suspension of the Twitter handle by the social media giant, that too without providing adequate reasoning, veteran journalist Kanchan Gupta Tweeted: “This handle @storiesofBHs would tweet factual stories of Bengali Hindus, many of them based on archival material and books. So @Twitter what offence has been committed? Or is this to show that your biases under @paraga remain what they were under @jack ?”

Stories of Bengali Hindus has been bringing the stories of injustices and suffering experienced by East Bengal’s persecuted Bengali Hindus to the forefront through its social media handle. According to the website’s accounts on other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, in its last post, it had shared details of an exhibition cum seminar on ‘Bengali Hindu Genocide’ scheduled to be held in Kolkata on December 11 and 12. The event is being held to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide and the 75th anniversary of the Naokhali Genocide, read the brochure shared by ‘Stories of Bengali Hindus’.

This is, however, not the first time, Twitter has singled out a non-left account and suspended it without providing any reasonable explanation for the same. In September this year, the Popular Twitter account ‘Princess Woke Liberal (@workingboxwali)’ was censored and suspended by the micro-blogging site for questioning the promotion of Islamist Rana Ayyub on the Elle Magazine.

Last year, popular non-left account @effucktivehumor was suspended indefinitely for a tweet that condemned the Paris beheading. Following the suspension, it was communicated to the user that his account was suspended for violating Twitter rules on Hateful conduct although it was not pointed out precisely how the tweet condemning a terror attack violated the social media giant’s policy towards hate speech.

The Facebook, Instagram, YouTube accounts of the website are still functioning.

CBSE promises strict action for ‘inappropriate question’ on Gujarat riots asked in class 12 sociology exam

OpIndia Staff
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CBSE promises strict action for ‘inappropriate question’ on Gujarat riots asked in class 12 sociology exam

The Central Board of Secondary Education has said that it will take strict action against responsible persons after a question asked in the class 12 exams triggered outrage. The question in Term 1 exam for the first class 12 exams under board exams 2022 had asked to name the political party under whose regime the Gujarat riots in 2002 took place.

Question number 23 in the Sociology paper asked, “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-muslim violence in Gujarat in 2022 took place under which government?”, and had the options Congress, BJP, Democratic and Republican to choose from as the answer.

After the image of the question appeared, it created an outrage on social media, as the question has been deemed highly inappropriate.

Netizens commented that CBSE is creating Hindu-Muslim conflict in the mind the children and motivating them to hate BJP.  Some also pointed out that CBSE was asking an anti-BJP question when BJP is in power at the centre.

Reacting to the widespread criticism, CBSE issued a statement saying that the question was inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines. The statement posted on social media said, “A question has been asked in today’s class 12 sociology Term 1 exam which is inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines for external subject experts for setting question papers”.

Saying that strict actions will be taken for this ‘error’, the central secondary education body further said, “CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons”.

Further explaining the policy for setting question papers, the CBSE wrote, “The CBSE guidelines for paper setters clearly state that they have to ensure the questions should be academic oriented only and should be class, religion neutral and should not touch upon domains that could harm sentiments of people based on social and political choices.”

The CBSE Class 12 Term 1 board exam 2022 started on November 16, and will conclude on December 30. Candidates are appearing for the minor subjects in this exam. Students have to mark their answers on OMR sheets as all questions are in multiple-choice format.

‘My name is Sudhir Chaudhary and I’m not an Islamophobe’ – Editor-In-Chief of Zee News speaks his heart out on Twitter over allegations

OpIndia Staff
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‘My name is Sudhir Chaudhary and I’m not an Islamophobe’ – Editor-In-Chief of Zee News speaks his heart out on Twitter over allegations

On December 1, Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor In Chief & CEO, Zee News, took on Twitter and spoke about the allegations raised against him of being an Islamophobe. Chaudhary has been facing sharp criticism, especially from the trolls of a particular community, as he was invited to speak at an event by ICAI’s Abu Dhabi chapter. A full-fledged campaign was run on the social media platform to get his name removed from the event.

In his statement, Chaudhary said that just a few days before the event, some blue-ticked handles on Twitter led by an alleged “princess” and a wannabe blogger “started browbeating and threatening the organisers.” Sudhir was called Islamophobe and a terrorist by the trolls. “They tried to make the atmosphere in Abu Dhabi communally charged against me. I was abused and threatened on social media,” he added. There were also reports that his participation was cancelled, and several media outlets spread the fake news as propagated by the trolls on the social media platforms.

Sudhir said, “They were wrong. I did visit Abu Dhabi and attend the event, and spoke my heart out. This is despite pressure, intimidation tactics, life-threatening emails and coordinated trolling that did not even spare the other guests and sponsors. They were told to pull out from the event or stop me from speaking.” Additional security was arranged for the event to avoid any unwanted incidents.

He further said he got an ‘overwhelming and truly touching’ response from the people of Abu Dhabi. “While the government and local authorities of the UAE gave all clearances, some people thought they could supersede authorities and cancel a speaker. Speaks a lot about these so-called champions of free speech and tolerance.” Then, targeting the left-leaning group of fact-checkers, he said, “I’m waiting to see if the fact-checkers will call them out.”

Sudhir said he shared his experience as it was important to expose the trolls who ganged up against him and tried to deny space to ideas and ideologies that did not conform to theirs. “It is important to stand up to them,” he said.

Hend bint Faisal Al-Qasimi’s uncontrolled rant

After Sudhir posted his statement on Twitter, Hend bint Faisal Al-Qasimi, the businesswoman who turned into a troll to bar him from speaking at the ICAI event, ranted uncontrollably on social media. In a tweet, she targeted CA Neeraj Ritolia, Chairman, ICAI Abu Dhabi Chapter, and said in an Arabic tweet, “We must report the groups supporting the terrorist groups in India that attended today among us in the land of peace and tolerance UAE. Domestic funding from Muslim companies must be cut off for Hindu terrorism which spreads its poison daily in its religious racist programme.” (translated by Google Translate.)

Hend was the frontrunner in the campaign against Sudhir Chaudhary to bar him from speaking at the ICAI Abu Dhabi Chapter’s event. She even posted fake news that Sudhir was dropped from the list of speakers.

“There is no UPA”: Mamata Banerjee hints at opposition alliance without Congress, Congress says defeating BJP without it is only a dream

OpIndia Staff
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“There is no UPA”: Mamata Banerjee hints at opposition alliance without Congress, Congress says defeating BJP without it is only a dream

On December 1, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee hinted that there would no United Progressive Alliance after she met with Sharad Pawar, president of Nationalist Congress Party, in Mumbai. In a statement, she said, “A firm alternative course should be made as nobody’s fighting against ongoing fascism. Sharad Ji is the seniormost leader & I came to discuss our political parties. I agree with whatever Sharad Ji said. There is no UPA.” Her statement hinted that in Lok Sabha elections 2024, the united opposition in the parliament would be without the Congress party.

The statement made by West Bengal’s chief minister is significant as she has been trying to project herself as a national leader, and also trying to make TMC the main opposition party in place of Congress. Notably, she has recently claimed to have suggested to the Congress to form an advisory council with prominent personalities as members to provide direction to the opposition. She said, “If all regional parties come together, it would be easy to defeat the BJP.”

Though she insisted that TMC would not contest Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, she did mention, “We want to say BJP hatao, desh bachao.” TMC chief restrained herself from revealing further details as she did not “want her opposition to make their own strategy.” A number of Congress leaders have joined TMC in recent times. 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya shifted to TMC. Earlier on Tuesday, she had met Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray.

Banerjee and Pawar’s meeting holds importance not only because of the efforts Banerjee is making to present herself as a national leader but also because of the fact that both TMC and NCP were formed after the respective leaders left Congress. In 1997, Mamata Banerjee left Congress and formed TMC. Sharad Pawar left Congress two years later in 1999 and formed NCP.

Sharad Pawar posted images of his meeting with Mamata Banerjee on Twitter, saying that they discussed various issues. “We agreed upon the need to strengthen the collective efforts and commitment towards safeguarding democratic values and ensuring the betterment of our people,” he added.

Mamata Banerjee has been meeting leaders of various opposition parties to form an alliance of regional parties, without Congress, after her victory in the West Bengal assembly elections.

Congress says defeating BJP without it is a dream

However, after Mamata Banerjee said that there is UPA now, the Congress party has said that it will not be possible to defeat BJP without Congress. Responding to her claims,  Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said on Wednesday thinking about defeating BJP without Congress is only a dream. “Everybody knows the reality of Indian politics. Thinking that without Congress anybody can defeat BJP is merely a dream,” Venugopal said.

Kolkata to be India’s next comedy capital? Mumbai ‘comedians’ and actors line up before Mamata Banerjee

Sanghamitra
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Kolkata to be India’s next comedy capital? Mumbai ‘comedians’ and actors line up before Mamata Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee is on a tour of Incredible India. No, she is not promoting tourism, but trying to portray herself as a national leader, find alliances and make political friends, who will help her become the face of the opposition.

In the run-up to the 2019 elections too, Mamata Banerjee had visited multiple states. She had met Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai in late 2017. She had even remembered to pay respects to Balasaheb a few weeks later. She had met Sharad Pawar in Delhi, in March 2018 where they made big statements about making an anti-BJP coalition. She had also met Naveen Patnaik in Odisha and attended HD Kumaraswamy’s much-hyped swearing-in ceremony in Bengaluru that year. No coalition happened. None of those leaders announced Mamata Banerjee as the face of the United Opposition, worse, nobody even announced United Opposition. It remained a media dream.

There was also a mega rally at Kolkata’s brigade ground before the 2019 general elections, where many of the opposition leaders had joined, signally very heavy ‘United Opposition’ vibes. But nothing much happened after that too, sadly.

2018 headline in India.com after the Pawar-Mamata meet

United comedian alliance?

This time, the same attempts are taking a slightly different turn. Swara Bhaskar has apparently appointed herself as the announcer in Mamata Banerjee’s Duarbaar in Mumbai. She was seen earlier today introducing the Bengal CM to the comedians who were kicked out of gigs over the recent months for various fiascos and have collectively blamed it all on BJP and RSS, like Rahul Gandhi and Imran Khan do, almost every week.

Swara posed herself as a humble TMC employee with a fresh offer letter and introduced Mamata Banerjee to aspirants lining up for the HR round one by one. She pointed towards Munawar Faruqui, Agrima Joshua and some others like Aditi Mittal and claimed they are “risking their lives and careers” for the sake of telling stories. She even gave the example of Meryl Streep, who had apparently stood before the president-elect of her country and ‘not a hair on her head’ was harmed.

That is weird because all those people, including Mamata, Sonia, Rahul, and their minions like Swara, including all those so-called ‘comedians’ have been criticising the democratically elected PM of the country day in and day out, and not a hair on their heads have been harmed either. Heads are removed for different reasons and by a different set of people across the world. But people like Swara insist that that has nothing to do with religion.

It is a strange irony that these so-called ‘comedians’ do not ever dare to question the ‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ people. The employees of Charlie Hebdo office who got slaughtered in their office, Kamlesh Tiwari who had his throat slit inside his own house, or poor Lakhbir Singh who got dismembered and hanged from a metal barricade will not be hailed as victims by these ‘liberal’ comedians and entertainers, because that takes actual courage. Criticising a tolerant, liberal (the real kind) and democratic government is easy, and these people do plenty of that.

Irony of ironies

So-called comedians and actors who claim victimhood after their gigs get cancelled, or their movies flop, lining before Mamata Banerjee and hailing her as some sort of democracy-saver is probably the best ‘act’ they will ever perform, one that is actually hilarious, unlike their pathetic jokes.

Swara claimed the people she brought before Mamata are now ‘unemployable’, but how is that Modiji’s fault? Can it be because of the fact that they are really pathetic, maybe their jokes do not make people laugh? In the age of OTT, why would any sane person spend money to watch unfunny people make nonsensical statements insisting they are telling jokes and asserting that the public is morally obligated to pay them?

It is the same Mamata Banerjee whose government had hounded Ambikesh Mahapatra for years, a Jadavpur University professor who had shared a cartoon of Mamata Banerjee. The same Mamata who had jailed Priyanka Sharma, for sharing a meme that was neither offensive nor abusive. The same Mamata, whose party is behind the worst political violence in recent years.

Munawar Faruqui and his ‘liberal’ friends are going around claiming his shows are getting cancelled because he is a Muslim, which is laughable in a country that has the Khans ruling Bollywood for decades. Agrima Joshua had to apologise to MNS workers after her remarks over Shivaji Maharaj were criticised. Nobody has ever done anything to Richa Chadha or Kubra Sait, most people don’t even know who they are. Social media trolling is not the same as getting beheaded or getting gunned down by terrorists in your office because of a cartoon. Yeah, that is the truth. deal with it.

What next? The big comedy festival in Kolkata?

It is not understood what exactly Mamata Banerjee is trying to achieve by having these comedians and entertainers dance around her. They are definitely not useful politically, because we all know how spectacularly Kanhaiya Kumar performed in the Begusarai seat after Swara, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi campaigned for him in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. For those who don’t know, he lost by over 4 lakh 22 thousand votes.

Are Agrima Joshua, Faruqui etc going to perform in Kolkata next? Is Mamata Banerjee going to include stand up shows by these people in the state government’s welfare programs? Or they are going to form a comedian political party and announce Gathbandhan with her? Even if they do so, Rahul Gandhi is already the shining star in that space. No one is gonna snatch the top political comedian status from him anytime soon.

Mamata Banerjee’s political attempts to rally up regional leaders in her support has borne little fruit so far. Of late, even the Leftist media has joined in the campaign, but there is no signal from 10 Janpath yet, and as we all know, as long as the Gandhi family is there, they call the shots.

“Woke, liberal secular comedians who claim to be speaking truth to power line up for a politician who jails people for sharing harmless memes”….It sounds like a satire headline, but sadly it is not.

The News Minute journalist dehumanises the death of legendary Telugu lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, deletes Tweet later

OpIndia Staff
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The News Minute journalist dehumanises the death of legendary Telugu lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry, deletes Tweet later

Award-winning Telugu lyricist and poet Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry passed away on Tuesday evening following lung cancer-related complications. After the death of singer  S P Balasubrahmanyam, Sastry’s death has been described as the second death of a legend in recent times in the industry. But a journalist working with the English daily The News Minute took to Twitter Wednesday, December 1, to dehumanise the death of the Padma Shri awardee renowned lyricist.

On a day when everyone is grieving the legendary artist’s demise, journalist Balakrishna Ganeshan or Bala G of The News Minute Tweeted that Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry was an extremist with ties to the RSS. The lyricist’s “views were like any average Brahmin Sanghi,” he remarked.

S Vishnuvardhan Reddy, BJP general secretary of Andhra Pradesh noticed the vile Tweet and shared the screenshot of it through his Twitter handle. While sharing the post of Bala G, Reddy Tweeted, “This is the mental state of leftists of India. This man isn’t a common man but an alleged journalist working with @thenewsminute, celebrating the death of legendary Sirivennela garu’s death and passing derogatory comments just because he was a Brahmin & close to RSS. Shame!!”

After being chastised for his demeaning tweet, The News Minute journalist quietly deleted it. The journalist, however, exhibited no remorse for posting the nasty Tweet, that too on the occasion of the legendary lyricist’s death.

Meanwhile, the news of Sastry’s death has shocked the Telugu cinema industry. Following the news of Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry’s death, members of the south film industry flooded Twitter with tributes to the late lyricist.

Besides innumerable film industry stars and his fans, PM Narendra Modi also offered his condolences through his Tweet that read: “Saddened by the passing away of the outstanding Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. His poetic brilliance and versatility could be seen in several of his works. He made many efforts to popularise Telugu. Condolences to his family and friends. Om Shanti.”

The legendary Telugu lyricist breathed his last yesterday in KIMS hospital in Secunderabad. A medical bulletin read, “Noted Tollywood lyricist Sri Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry garu passed away this afternoon at 4:07 PM. He died of Lung Cancer-related Complications. Sri Sirivennela was admitted to KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad, on 24th November with pneumonia. He was put on ECMO to support his lungs in ICU and was under close observation.”

Sastry had penned lyrics for nearly 3,000 songs over his three-and-a-half-decade career, in addition to composing several poems and performing as a singer. His most recent song appeared in the film ‘Most Eligible Bachelor.’

In 2019, he received the Padma Shri honour. Besides, he received 11 Nandi prizes for the films Sirvennela, Shruthi Layalu, Swarna Kamalam, Gaayam, Subha Lagnam, Shreekaram, Prema Katha, Chakram, Gamyam, and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa quits Akali Dal and joins BJP, has also resigned from the post of Chairman of DSGMC citing personal reasons

OpIndia Staff
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Manjinder Singh Sirsa quits Akali Dal and joins BJP, has also resigned from the post of Chairman of DSGMC citing personal reasons

In a major turn of events ahead of the crucial 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Manjinder Singh Sirsa has quit Akali Dal to join the Bhartiya Janata Party today in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The party took to Twitter to inform the same.

Earlier in the day, Sirsa had resigned from his post of president of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. Sirsa has taken to Twitter to inform about the same. Sharing his resignation on Twitter, the former Akali Dal leader wrote: “With gratitude to all office bearers, members, staff & people who worked with me; I am resigning from Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee as President. I will not contest upcoming DSGMC internal elections. My commitment to serve my community, humanity & nation remains same!”

In a video statement, Sirsa also informed that he is resigning from the post due to some personal reasons. He also informed that he would not be contesting the next elections as well. He thanked the members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, the Sikhs of the country and the world who have given him a lot of respect. “Thanks to my members, well-wishers, who have supported me so far”, said Sirsa.

Earlier, Manjinder Singh Sirsa had been disqualified from being co-opted as a member of the DSGMC. The order was passed by the director of the Delhi Gurudwara election body, Narinder Singh on Tuesday. He informed that Sirsa was not eligible for the post since he did not know how to read and write ‘Gurmukhi’ (the script used by Sikhs for writing Punjabi), a basic requirement to hold the post as per the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Act, 1971.

Sirsa fought and won the Rajouri Garden bypolls in Delhi Assembly on a BJP ticket in 2017. His former party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, has since broken away from the BJP following the farmers protest over newly implemented farm laws which now stand repealed.

Meet Ajay Singh from Aligarh Muslim University, who was rusticated and debarred from further studies in varsity for raising voices of Hindu students

Anurag
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Meet Ajay Singh from Aligarh Muslim University, who was rusticated and debarred from further studies in varsity for raising voices of Hindu students

Recently, a scholar of Aligarh Muslim University, Danish Rahim, has alleged that he has been denied PhD degree for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the university has later denied the claims, it must be mentioned that AMU has a history of being in the headlines for controversial reasons.

In 2019, a student named Thakur Ajay Singh was suspended from the University for organizing a Tiranga rally and opposing the visit of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Later in 2021, he was rusticated from the University.

Rustication letter issued by AMU. Source: AjiHaan/Twitter

Speaking to OpIndia, Singh said that on February 12, 2019, videos emerged on the social media platform of the scuffle that took place at AMU. In the incident, Singh, who was 24-year-old at that time, was injured. Singh is the grandson of Thakur Dalveer Singh, BJP MLA from Aligarh’s Barauli constituency. The scuffle took place between two student groups as Singh, and his supporters had organized a protest against the scheduled visit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi.

Singh said that the students’ union at the University had invited Owaisi and other Muslim parties to form Muslim support base for the Lok Sabha polls. Singh said they were against Owaisi as he had protected his brother after he openly called for violence against Hindus. “The idea of a Muslim front itself is a ploy to divide Indians,” Singh said.

Though Owaisi did not come to the campus, 15-16 parties sent their representatives for a closed-door meeting. That day, a B-Tech student Manish Kumar was thrashed by some students in the hostel, after which Singh and others came back to the University. In their complaint to the proctor, they alleged that Manish was attacked for participating in a protest against Owaisi and demanded action against the students of a particular community who were involved in the attack.

The proctor refused to involve Police in the matter. Singh alleged that the Muslim students had threatened him and challenged him to try whatever he could. His group sat in a protest against the inaction of the proctor. Within a few minutes, a crowd rushed out of the meeting hall and attacked the bikes of the protesters that were parked at the administrative block. Singh told OpIndia that the attackers specifically attacked the bikes that belonged to Hindu students. “It seemed like they were checking the ownership at the RTO’s website or app and finding which bike belonged to a Hindu student,” he said.

Singh said that he was unrecognizable that day as he had shaved his beard, which he had kept for long while attending the University. He said, “I usually sport a long beard. But I had shaved my hair and beard a few days ago because my grandmother passed away. So it’s possible that the crowd did not recognize me. Otherwise, they could have killed me.”

The other group had accused Singh and his supporters of carrying weapons inside the campus. However, Singh denied the claims and said, “not weapons, we were armed only with courage.”

A total of eight students, four Hindus and four Muslims, were suspended after the incident. Ajay Singh, Manish Kumar, Aman Sharma and Pavan Jadon were among those eight. On the next day, AMUSU held a protest and demanded the suspension of four Muslim students to be taken back. They also demanded to rusticate the Hindu students.

While speaking to OpIndia, Singh said he first took admission to Class 11 in 2011. In 2013, he was admitted to the graduation program. During that time, he noticed non-Muslim students would get trashed very often but got no protection from the administration. He said, “The feeling of being alienated combined with the experience of the 2017 polls convinced me that there was a huge need for dissent.”

In 2018, he and his supporters held a rally against the murder of Chandan Gupta, a Hindu boy who was killed by a mob during a Tiranga Yatra in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. The rally was stopped by the administration. A month later, they held a protest demanding justice for Geeta (name changed), a minor Hindu girl who was raped at a mosque in Delhi. The protest was against suppressed by the administration.

Singh said there were several other incidents like an attempt to celebrate Holi and pay homage to former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the campus that led to the attack on him in 2019.

Notably, the suspension orders against seven out of eight students were revoked by the committee that was formed to look into the violence that took place on February 12, 2019. Singh was the only student who was not allowed to join back the classes. He appealed against the ruling and also filed a case in the High Court.

In December 2020, Singh appealed in front of the review committee. He was asked to appear before the Discipline Committee in March 2021. In the rustication letter issued by the University, it was mentioned that Singh showed remorse for whatever happened in February 2019 and promised such incidents would not happen again.

Though the committee was ordered to declare the results of the LLM examination for which Singh had appeared, it did not allow Singh to take up any other course in the University. The notice said, “My Ajay Singh, the aforementioned student we hereby debarred for further study in any course/class in the University in future.”

Singh told OpIndia that he wanted to appeal against the decision in the court but could not because of some family emergency. He is, however, planning to approach the High Court soon. 

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