The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, declared on Tuesday (30 November) that the BJP govt in the state has decided to repeal the earlier Trivendra Singh Rawat govt’s Char Dham Devasthanam Board Management Act, freeing 51 temples from the state government’s control.
Our government has taken a decision to take back the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Bill: Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami pic.twitter.com/Xe0TgEz0iL
The decision was taken after a high-level committee appointed by the Dhami government to investigate the Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019 gave its final report to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday, November 28 here in Rishikesh.
It may be noted that former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat had also said shortly after assuming office that the temples would no longer be under the supervision of the board. However, before he could keep his commitment, he had to step down.
About the Char Dham Devasthanam board
The Uttarakhand government authorised a new bill in 2019 that constituted the Char Dham Devasthanam Board after repealing the Uttarakhand Char Dham Shrine Management Bill. The bill aimed to bring the Char Dham pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri, as well as 49 other temples, under the jurisdiction of a proposed shrine board.
The Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019, was passed by the Assembly and became the Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act, 2019.
Uttarakhand Char Dhaam Devasthanam Board was formed in January 2020 to manage temples in the state. In June 2020, the Uttrakhand High Court dismissed the PIL filed by Subramanian Swamy against the formation of the board as it allowed the government to take over control of Char Dham and 51 other shrines. The court said that the board will only handle the administration and management of the properties.
Priests and Hindu activists protest against Uttarakhand government’s decision
However, Hindu activists and the priests of the Chardham — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri — have been since then, objecting to the board’s formation, seeing it as an infringement on their rights, and have been calling for its abolition.
The priests alleged that they were kept in dark about the law. They also alleged that the step is taken to sideline them and take full control over the temple related issues.
Meanwhile, the Hindu activists have also opposed the move of the Uttarakhand government saying that this is an attempt by the government to take over temples while Hindus have been fighting to free temples from government control.
The Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide safe drinking tap water by 2024, has begun transforming lives in various parts of the country. In the Umla village in Leh in the Union territory of Ladakh, households located in the harsh mountain terrain received tap water supply for the first time under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Umla, which is home to just 25 families, is now the 12th village that has access to tap water supply even in sub-zero temperatures. While speaking to ANI about the development on Monday (November 29), a villager informed, “Earlier during winters, we had no option but to fetch water from streams by breaking ice layer.”
Ladakh: Umla becomes 12th village of Leh that now has tap water supply in each of its 25-odd households even in sub-zero temperature, under Jal Jeevan Mission
“Earlier during winters, we had no option but to fetch water from streams by breaking ice layer,” a villager said y’day pic.twitter.com/cNkPxlBR5M
Earlier on Gandhi Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a clear strategy to make the water of Maa Ganga Ji and other rivers pollution-free. Recently interacting with Gram Panchayats and Pani Samitis over the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Prime Minister Modi revealed the development of large scale comprehensive infrastructure of water management and irrigation in the country. According to the dynamic Jal Jeevan Mission dashboard, as of November 30, about 44.66% of households in rural India have a tap water supply.
Tap water supply in rural areas as of November 30, 2021
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal are amongst those states where coverage is very low. On the other hand, Goa, Telangana, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Haryana have the highest coverage of 100% of households with tap water. Since the start of this mission, 27.82% of households had received tap water connections. That is over 5.34 crore households.
On November 29, news portal The Quint quietly deleted a story that they had published on the same day about one Abhishek Shankar, a musician, who had whined on his Instagram profile about a client who had asked him not to play ‘Allah’ song at a Hindu wedding. Abhishek Shankar, had connected his alleged experience with the cancellation of shows of stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui who mocked the Godhra carnage as well as the victims. It is unclear why The Quint deleted the story. However, a website apdirect.in picked up the story from Quint and published it here.
The snippet on Google Search shows the information about the article but the article has been removed. Source: Google
‘A man with Tika stopped us from playing Allah song’ – alleged Abhishek Shankar
Abhishek has a band that plays at events, including weddings. He shared one incident where he was allegedly stopped from playing a song based on ‘Allah’ at a Hindu wedding. In his now-deleted story, Abhishek said, “Hate isn’t just for comedians. Musicians receive it too. I wasn’t following the news because I was caught up with work and back to back shows until this incident ironically happened to me and the band just 16 hours ago in our last show.”
Now-deleted story of Abhishek Shankar. Source:
While emphasising connecting his experience to Faruqui’s shows being cancelled, he added, “My band has a list of songs from different genres in Indian commercial music. Sufi music is one of them. We all love the classic songs of Nusrat (Fateh Ali Khan) saabh as well as Coke Studio India and Pakistan. We have a medley that has songs like Allah-Hoo (Nooran Sisters), Akhiyan Udeek Diyan, Nit Kher Manga (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) etc., and we were doing our regular set performing all our arrangements.”
He further said everything was going well until their female singer started singing the Sufi song ‘Allah-Hoo’. According to him, the crowd was loving the song, but in the middle of it, “a random uncle with a tika on his forehead called me to edge of the stage. They usually request their favourite songs. His voice tore through the PA system to my ears as he said, ‘What is this Allah ho Allah hoo? Do we look like Muslims to you? This is a Hindu wedding. We won’t tolerate songs about Allah here. I will shut it down. Stop this nonsense now,” he said.
The musician, who was hired to sing at a private event, added that he tried to ‘explain’ it to him, but the man did not listen to him and allegedly threatened him if he did not stop the song, they would be thrown out. He said, “This whole incident started sinking in my brain as each song passed, and I didn’t want to perform anymore. I could have argued with him, but it could have made things worse. For obvious reasons.”
Abhishek claimed he felt disgusted to wear the Hindu sacred thread on his body after the alleged incident. He said, “I felt disgusted wearing a sacred thread on my body after this incident. I just have one request for everyone. Keep your religious hatred to your political and social space. Don’t bring it to the art space and spoil it. Artists do not belong to any religion.”
Towards the end, Shankar claimed that once when he was on a train to Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, some man asked him about his beard. “You have a beard because you like it or you are a Muslim?” he claimed a stranger had asked him on a train. He then claimed that under the khakhi jacket there was ‘UP Police’ logo.
Except, the thing is that now the entire story has gone missing and Abhishek Shankar, too, has not posted any updates on the wedding he performed at which was hosted by the Hindus who made him feel ashamed of his Janeu. However, it seems very likely that Shankar, after virtue signalling and badmouthing clients (how is it ever a good idea in service industry), felt that it may backfire and his ‘woke’ stand may actually backfire. Because there is no data available on how many people pay money to people only to be badmouthed on social media like this.
In fact, it now seems quite likely either the incident never happened or was exaggerated to a great extent. So when the story was made public by The Quint, and people on social media started questioning the musician and some even questioned his professional integrity for badmouthing clients like this on public platform, the musician decided to run away and perhaps play victim that he was threatened or such. A classic shoot and scoot technique used by the privileged wokes to make sensational claims with very little evidence and then cry foul when someone questions them.
This is quite predictable. Remember the case of Barun Kashyap? In August 2016, one Mumbai based executive had claimed he was ‘beaten up’ by Gaurakshaks (at a time when national media was full of stories of ‘gaurakshaks’ allegedly beating up people over cattle smuggling) because of his ‘leather bag’. Barun had alleged that he was on his way home in Mumbai in an autorickshaw when the driver stopped it mid-way and brought people to thrash him because of his bag that ‘felt was made of cow skin’.
Barun made everyone believe that the autorickshaw could figure out the leather of the bag just by looking at it and take an offence of it being made of cow skin. Barun had then claimed he pleaded to them that the bag was made of camel skin. Except, he later reportedly admitted he had made it all up. Apparently he had even admitted to making it up to spark communal tension and wanted to play victim of ‘gaurakshaks’.
Who is to say Abhishek Shankar did not make it up to play victim because, well, Munawar Faruqui was getting all the attention?
A 27-year-old man in Rajkot was allegedly killed by the owners of a non-veg eatery and their aides after he asked them to close their food shop near his residence. Chagan Zapda, the deceased, was murdered near Sat Hanuman area of Rajkot on Sunday night.
As per a Times of India report, prior to the incident, Chagan Zapda had an altercation with the owners of the eatery, reprimanding them for not disposing of the waste material of their food shop properly. Reportedly, five accused—Aslam Fakir, Kadarsa Fakir, Gulam Hussain Fakir, Dharmesh Parmar and Ravi Parmar — have been arrested in connection with Zapda’s killing.
Aslam and Kadarsa, two of the accused of Zapda’s murder, owned and operated a non-veg food joint near the decedent’s residence. Because of improper disposal of waste from their food shop, the area had been infested by stray dogs, reports said. Many residents in the area have fallen victim to the dog menace, including Zapda’s uncle who had suffered a dog bite recently.
On Sunday, November 28, 2021, Zapda confronted the eatery owners after seeing the shop surrounded by dogs. He rebuked the shop owners for not disposing of the waste properly and also asked them to close their food joint in order to end the dog menace in the area.
“A heated altercation followed between Zapda and the eatery owners, Aslam and Kadarsa. The two started assaulting Zapda, following which four of them also joined in to thrash the resident. Four of the accused held Zapda while the fifth one stabbed him in the abdomen, the complaint filed by the deceased’s brother said.
Zapda was rushed to the Civil Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. As per the complaint filed with the police, Sargam, the deceased’s brother, who tried to intervene and stop the attack against his brother, was also attacked by the accused.
OpIndia contacted local police over the murder but they refused to comment on the case.
On Monday (November 29), ABP News journalist Rubika Liyaquat lashed out at farmer leader Dharmendra Malik for making sexist remarks to mock the Modi government’s decision to roll back the farm laws. Malik is the national media in-charge of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).
During the debate, panellist Dharmendra Malik took potshots at the BJP government for giving in to the demands of the farmer protestors. In order to do so, he compared the rollback to Vidhwa Vilap (the wail of a widow). Rubika Liyaquat, the moderator of the debate, took objection to the use of misogynist language by Malik. She said, “What do you mean by Vidhwa Vilap? I have a problem with this word. This is not your Khap Panchayat. This is my show, where things go as per my directions.”
At that point, a disgruntled Malik resorted to abusive behaviour and threw his mic away to intimidate Rubika Liyaquat. “Disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated. Stay in your limits. Do you think you can become a hero of farmer protests by abusing women,” she further inquired. The ABP journalist added, “Any woman will have an issue with the use of the word, ‘Vidhwa Vilap’. I will object to it 1000 times, if necessary. Don’t know how to respect woman and will sit here and say that they want to talk to Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister.”
आप आंदोलन के पक्ष में हो या न हो इससे फ़र्क़ नहीं पड़ता लेकिन अगर औरतों के लिए घटिया सोच रखने वालों के आप cheerleader हैं तो चुल्लू भर पानी में डूब मरिए .. आप सभी की माँ-बहनों को मेरा सलाम pic.twitter.com/ZhpjlqW8a3
“Several women are supporting you in your protests. And you have the audacity to sit here and use words such as ‘Vidhwa Vilap’. You don’t have respect for anything. Good to see that you have left or else I would have kicked you out,” she concluded.
BKU leader justifies his sexist remark, hails Khap Panchayat
After having left the show voluntarily, Dharmendra Malik took to Twitter to slander Rubika Liyaquat. In an attempt to justify his sexist remark stigmatising widows, he resorted to judging Rubika’s journalistic ethics. He claimed that Rubika Liyaquat would not have had to resort to gender identity politics if she had respected the fourth pillar of democracy (aka press). “When your conscience will awaken, you will have no place to hide your face. The Khap Panchayat, you are criticising, is replete with instances of women safety and respect.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Dharmendra Malik
Far from condemning sexist and unfair terms like ‘Vidhwa Vilaap’, the President of All India Professionals’ Congress (Haryana unit) Vijay Dhillon was seen supporting the abusive behaviour of Dharmendra Malik. “I have seen many like you”, Dhillon repeated Malik’s remarks that were directed at Rubika Liyaquat.
Screengrab of the tweet by Vijay Dhillon
Rubika Liyaquat has often been the target of Islamists and misogynist men. Last year, she was criticised by Islamists for wishing Eid in a yellow dress. In May 2019, Islamists targeted Ms Liyaquat for wearing make-up, which they claimed was against Islam.
Many so-called ‘farmer leaders’ and Congress loyalists have also been opposing Liyaquat because, in an interview, she had exposed how BKU leader Rakesh Tikait cannot even point out specific sections of the farm laws that he claimed were problematic. Rattled with her questions, Tikait had resorted to ad hominem attacks against the ABP News journalist.
On November 24, OpIndia reported how Christian miscreants had uprooted a Shivling and Trishul and cut down century-old sacred Banyan tree that worshipped by Hindus in Mahadevtilla in the Katigorah Tehsil of Cachar, Assam. Following the incident, members of the Hindu organisations like the Hindu Rakshi Dal and Hindu Chhatra Sangh in Assam had submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, district Cachar, Assam.
Today, we got in touch with a member of the Hindu Rakshi Dal to follow up on the case. Subhasish Choudhury told us that the Manipuri Hindus, with the help of members of Hindu organisations like the Hindu Rakshi Dal and Hindu Chhatra Sangh, have restored their right to worship in Mahadevtilla, Assam, where Khasi Christian miscreants allegedly desecrated the site on November 17.
According to Subhasish Choudhury, Hindu Raksha Dal, more than 100 Hindus climbed up to the Mahadevtilla on November 29 and performed puja there. The Shivling was re-installed amid prayers and chants, and a new Banyan tree sapling was planted where the previous, at least 250-year-old sacred Banyan tree, had been felled by Khasi Christians.
The local Hindus participated in the event enthusiastically.
Members of the Hindu Chatra Sangha, Hindu Rakshi Dal, and RSS were present at the site to work with local Manipuri Hindus and the Mahadevtilla Seva Samiti, whose efforts to restore their ancestral worshipping site has resulted in this quick reclaim, added Subhasish Choudhury.
Members of Hindu organisations in Assam submit a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, ask him to take action against some local Christian miscreants
It may be recalled that on November 22, members of Hindu organisations like the Hindu Rakshi Dal and Hindu Chhatra Sangh in Assam had submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, district Cachar, Assam. In the memorandum, they have asked him to take action against some local Christian miscreants for vandalising a Hindu place of worship in Mahadevtilla in the Katigorah Tehsil of Cachar, Assam. The place where the incident took place has a large settlement of people belonging to the Khasi community, 85 per cent of whomhave embraced Christianity.
The group, in its letter, accused some Khasi Christians to be behind the attack.
The Hindus of Manipur had also protested and filed a complaint with the Forest Department and the Cachar Police. The police advised them to wait a few days, but residents claim that the cops aren’t doing much in the matter.
OpIndia had reached out to Aninda Dev, Hindu Chatra Sangh, who had then alleged police apathy in the case. “The local police are not taking any action against the miscreants. Instead, they threatened the local Hindus to stay away from the Christians,” Dev had alleged.
We also reached out to Subhasish Choudhury, Hindu Raksha Dal, who narrated the whole incident.
We tried reaching out to the Deputy Commissioner but could not connect. Meanwhile, Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur said, “The information you have received is incorrect. There was a banyan tree that locals worshipped. A case under Forest Act has been filed and local SI is investigating the case. Investigating in the matter is underway to find if it is an act of mischief or tree was cut inadvertently.”
All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to introduce modifications in its party constitution as the party aims to expand its footprint nationally, according to reports. After a coordination committee meeting in Kolkata, TMC announced its plan of making changes in the party constitution in order to accept new members from other states in the working committee, which is the highest decision making body of the party headed by Banerjee. The party said that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee happened to be the “strongest and most experienced face” against BJP.
TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O’ Brien said, “Today in our coordination committee meeting it was decided that our next coordination committee meeting will be held in Delhi. It was also decided that changes will be made in our party Constitution so that we can bring in more people from other states and our national coordination committee can truly have a national footprint,” adding, “Let us tell this that Mamata Banerjee is the strongest, credible and experienced face nationally, to take on the BJP”
Notably, a host of Congress leaders have joined TMC in the recent times including former Meghalaya Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma and 11 Congress MLA’s in Meghalaya which resulted in making TMC the main opposition party in the state. Sangma also hinted at more incomings to the party in the region and said, “I have been holding talks with leaders from other States in the region. They have been calling me up following the political decision that we have taken. This indicates that they are looking for something new in their respective States,”. Few days back, congress leaders Kirti Azad and Ashok Tanwar also joined the Trinamool Congress in New Delhi.
Currently, Mamata Banerjee heads the TMC Working Committee and all members are from West Bengal. It was in 1998 that Mamata Banerjee formed the TMC after severing ties with Congress and since then all the members in Working Committee have been from Bengal. However, now with the party eyeing 2024 elections where Mamata Banerjee wants to portray herself as the Prime Ministerial candidate, they now want to appear more inclusive and not just Bengal centric regional party.
This will be the first time leaders from outside of Bengal will be part of the highest decision making body of the TMC. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor is currently advising the party on these issues.
Senior journalist Vinod Dua, who was named in the MeToo campaign and accused of sexually harassing and stalking a filmmaker in 1989, is beyond critical, his daughter, actor-comic Mallika Dua, said on Monday. Dua was admitted to the hospital earlier this year after being infected with COVID-19.
Dua took to Instagram to inform her followers that her father is in ICU and critically unwell. “My Papaji is beyond critical in the ICU. His health had been deteriorating rapidly since April. He also is unable to come to terms with losing the light of his life. He has lived an extraordinary life and given us the same. He deserves no pain. He is immensely loved and revered and I request you all to pray that he experiences as little pain as possible,” Mallika Dua said in an Instagram story post.
Source: Instagram
After Mallika shared her father’s condition on Instagram, rumours about Vinod Dua’s death started doing the rounds on the internet. Mallika then shared another Instagram story, putting paid to rumours of her father’s death.
“Request everyone to not spread rumours about my father’s demise. He is in the ICU. Fighting still. Whatever be the outcome, let him have his dignity. Do not believe/spread misinformation please. Will issue all official news and updates on him. Not Twitter,” she wrote.
Vinod Dua and his wife, radiologist Padmavati ‘Chinna’ Dua, were admitted to a hospital in Gurgaon during the second wave of the pandemic. While his wife succumbed to the contagion, the journalist has been battling the complications and is in and out of hospitals since June 2021 due to his frail heath.
‘We have a habit of putting up pretences and elevating a person to the status of great men after his death’: Vinod Dua after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death
As Dua remains critical, it is worth noting what he spoke about using flowery language for the dead to appear “politically correct”. In one of his videos, Dua had said that effusive obituaries pouring over after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death was “hypocrisy” as no one spoke ill of the dead.
You may think that even if someone is from opposite ideology, we should help them for humanity. But humanity is for humans, not poisonous snakes.
This is what Vinod Dua said when Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji died.
“India’s former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died today. He was 93 years old at the time of his death. In our country, we have a habit of putting up pretences after a person has passed away. They are suddenly exalted to the status of great men and such kinds of obituaries are shared saying that it is politically correct,” Dua said in his video for the leftist propaganda website The Wire.
President of Punjab Congress Committee Navjot Singh Sidhu has slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over women empowerment and employment of teachers. Sidhu said that true leadership does not mean giving out allowance to women and pointed out that Delhi cabinet does not have a single woman Minister. Sidhu also argued that while thousands of vacancies existed for teachers in Delhi, Kejriwal filled the positions with guest lecturers.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. @ArvindKejriwal Ji you talk of women empowerment, jobs & teachers. However, you don’t have one woman minister in your Cabinet. How many women in Delhi get ₹1000 despite revenue surplus left by Sheila Dikshit Ji !!
Sidhu has equated Kejriwal’s promise of giving thousand rupees to the women of Punjab to ‘lollipops’ of thousand rupees and instead advocated for the Punjab Model of Woman Empowerment which, he claimed, believes in investing in the future of women and providing skills for self employment and woman entrepreneurs.
Women empowerment means mandatorily engaging women in every step of electoral process like Congress is doing in Punjab. True leadership is not in giving lollipops of ₹1000, but investing in their future by providing skills for self employment & woman entrepreneurs – Punjab Model
Regarding problems faced by the teachers and jobs, Sidhu further stated that the Kejriwal himself filled vacant teaching positions in Delhi with contractual teachers.
On teachers and jobs, in 2015 there were 12515 job vacancies of teachers in Delhi, & in 2021 there are 19907 such job vacancies of teachers in Delhi … and you are filling most of vacant posts by just guest lecturers… pic.twitter.com/L8Y595pmR4
He said, “On teachers and jobs, in 2015 there were 12515 job vacancies of teachers in Delhi, & in 2021 there are 19907 such job vacancies of teachers in Delhi … and you are filling most of vacant posts by just guest lecturers…” adding that Kejriwal had previously promised 8 lakh new jobs and 20 new colleges in 2015 manifesto and failed miserably. He also claimed that the unemployment rate in Delhi has surged by nearly five times in last five years.
In your 2015 manifesto you promised 8 lakh new jobs and 20 new colleges in Delhi, where are the jobs and colleges? On the contrary of your failed guarantees, unemployment rate of Delhi has increased by almost 5 times in last 5 years!! pic.twitter.com/7c6AmQ09T3
Notably, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had recently promised to give every single women of Punjab an amount of 1000 rupees if Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed government in Punjab. National Convenor of AAP, Arvind Kejriwal had talked about women empowerment in Punjab during his visit to the state ahead of the upcoming elections. Also, the Delhi CM had joined the protests of the contractual teachers in Mohali where he promised to regularize their jobs if his party came to power after Punjab elections.
jack Dorsey is expected to step down as Twitter CEO, media reports say. Earlier, Elliot Management, stakeholder at Twitter, had tried to replace Jack Dorsey as the CEO before reaching a deal with the management. Dorsey is also the CEO of his digital payment platform Square, prompting calls for him to step down from one of them.
Twitter shares witnessed a surge by as much as 11% after reports emerged of Dorsey stepping down as the CEO.
Twitter has come under severe criticism in recent days after left-wing censorship became the norm on the platform. Dorsey’s leadership has been questioned as well over the matter. It is not yet clear who will replace him as the CEO after he steps down from the position.
Twitter was cofounded by Jack Dorsey with Ev Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass in 2006. He served as the CEO of the platform until 2008 before returning as CEO for the second time in 2015.
Note: This is a developing story. More information will be added to the report as and when we receive it.
