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Meet ‘Journalist’ Seema Mustafa: The first elected president of Editors Guild of India who replaces Shekhar Gupta

OpIndia Staff
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Meet ‘Journalist’ Seema Mustafa: The first elected president of Editors Guild of India who replaces Shekhar Gupta

In a marked departure from its conventional practice of being guided by consensus, Editors Guild of India held its first elections for its new office-bearers via Zoom, on Friday. In a first, senior journalist Seema Mustafa, the founder and editor of the website The Citizen, has been elected as the new president of the Editors Guild of India for a one-year term. She will now be replacing Shekhar Gupta- veteran journalist and founder and the editor-in-chief of leftist media portal ThePrint.

According to reports, Seema Mustafa and Editorial Director of Itv network MD Nalapat were vying for the post of President. Seema defeated MD Nalapat of The Sunday Guardian, with the former receiving 87 votes while the latter managed 51 votes.

Shekhar Gupta took to Twitter to write a goodbye note: “As we wrap our innings at @IndEditorsGuild gratitude to Gen Secy @AshokAkaybee treasurer @sheela2010 & the stellar members of our Exec Committee. We may argue in the world of ideas, compete in markets, yet unite in a good common cause. Thanks all for a wonderful ride together.”

For the post of general secretary, the editor of the magazine Hard News-Sanjay Kapoor was pitted against Smita Prakash of ANI. According to reports, Kapoor bagged 90 of the 140 votes polled, beating Smita Prakash by 40 votes.

Meanwhile, Anant Nath, the Editor of The Caravan, was elected treasurer, unopposed. The newly elected trio has replaced Shekhar Gupta of ThePrint, AK Bhattacharya of Business Standard, and Sheela Bhatt of ex-NewsX, respectively.

Who is Seema Mustafa?

Seema Mustafa of The Citizen is ideologically opposed to Hindutva and harbours rather morbid views. During the recent controversy over the Hathras case, she spread fake news over the incident and attributed a fake quote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a post on Facebook.

Seema Mustafa attributes a fake quote to Yogi Adityanath

In January 2020, Seema Mustafa penned an article on the Shaheen Bagh protests titled ‘Shaheen Bagh – No, Money Cannot Buy Them!’ where she whitewashed the toxic radicalism and fundamentalism of the protesters. She declared in the article, “But fortunately for India there are still these phenomenal women out there who, only as women can, have answered the need of the hour and stepped out to protect their men and their sons and their homes, and embrace their country.”

In another article titled ‘Muslims Come Out to Claim India, Unprecedented Assertion’, she declared, “Violence as is being reported from Uttar Pradesh —heinous to say the very least—has not deterred the minorities who are coming out, demonstration after demonstration not just to oppose CAA but to claim India.” She also appears to be a fan of Shaheen Bagh ‘dadi’ Bilkis Bano.

Seema Mustafa Bilkis Bano post

In a Facebook post on the 10th of October, Seema Mustafa said that we should be grateful that thy are asking for equality and not revenge. In the photo was a Muslim woman wearing sunglasses and a dupatta wrapped around her head.

Seema Mustafa ‘badla’ post

Seema Pasha also targeted the Delhi Police over their investigation into the Delhi Riots. It is pertinent to remember that the Delhi Police has come under intense criticism from ‘liberal’ intellectuals and journalists for exposing the conspiracy by radical Muslims to unleash violence at the national capital.

Seema Pasha on Delhi Police

Seema Mustafa also appears to be a fierce defender of Umar Khalid, currently under arrest for his alleged role in the Delhi riots, which would explain her opinions on the Delhi Police.

Seema Pasha on Umar Khalid

Her reputation is such that even Swati Chaturvedi is not pleased with her election as the President of the Editors Guild of India. Chaturvedi claims that Seema Mustafa has contested two Lok Sabha elections and has gaslighted victims of sexual predators as well.

Editors Guild of India and its bias

Editors Guild of India, which is considered to be India’s top body of editorial leaders and is considered to be the conscience keeper of the country’s media has many a time been called out by journalists for its bias and its selective approach. Journalists have often alleged that Editors Guild remains silent on issues other than Guild office-bearer issues.

Owing to the Guild’s double-standards, Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami had earlier this year, resigned from the Editors Guild of India on live TV. He had slammed the President of the Guild, Shekhar Gupta, for destroying the remaining credibility of the organisation. Moreover, last year Zee News Editor in Chief had said that the Guild is a den of petty media politics, a cosy club of self-serving editors who express selective outrage. Now, it remains to be seen whether these new office-bearers would be able to earn back the lost credibility of the Guild.

Bihar tops the list of central Indian states in providing its rural population with access to tap water

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar tops the list of central Indian states in providing its rural population with access to tap water

With the state elections just around the corner, Bihar as emerged as a leading state in central India in terms of completing its target of providing its rural population with tap water connections. As per a report published in Times of India, by next year, Bihar will have provided its 1.9 crore rural households with a drinking water supply and become the first amongst what are pejoratively referred as the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) to accomplish the objective of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ under the central government’s Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

The centre had kept a target of 2024 for the states to achieve the target of providing its rural population with potable water but Bihar is all set to complete it in 2021, a full three years ahead of the deadline set by the centre.

The rapid work of granting access to drinking water for the Bihar’s population, a majority of which resides in rural areas, has provided with the ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance talking points to influence the voters and get their support for the coalition government in the forthcoming state elections.

Even before the announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by the central government, Bihar was well on its way to provide the rural household with drinking water connection. As of now, 83 per cent of the total of 1.9 crore rural households identified by the Bihar government has been provided with a water connection. East Champaran has already achieved the slated target and 17 other districts have over 90 per cent of their households with tap water supply.

However, there are a few districts in Bihar which are far from achieving their target of covering the households with functional household tap connection (FHTC). The worst performers include Kishanganj, Katihar, Araria and Purnia.

It is expected that the access of clean and drinking water to a large number of Bihar residents will play a pivotal role in the forthcoming assembly polls. While other issues such as infrastructure development, better educational facilities, migrant crisis and jobs will be crucial issues for the upcoming assembly polls, the government would focus on its success of providing tap water connection which eluded rural households until recently.

Government aims to address the problem of drinking water with its JJM initiative

The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to provide clean, safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The programme will also implement source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse through greywater management, water conservation, rainwater harvesting. The Jal Jeevan Mission will be based on a community approach to water and will include extensive Information, Education and communication as a key component of the mission. JJM envisions to stir a people’s movement, thereby making it everyone’s priority.

Tap water coverage of Indian states under Jal Jeevan Mission(Source: jaljeevanmission.gov.in)

As far as other states are concerned, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are set to complete the mission by 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. One of the important factors to consider here is that UP, MP and Rajasthan are significantly bigger states than Bihar. However, the coverage of households with FHTC is poor in these states, considering that their coverage is less than the national average (about 30 per cent) of rural households with FHTC under the JJM launched in August 2019.

Telangana, with 98 per cent coverage is the best performer and is expected to achieve its target in the next few months. The tiny state of Goa claims to have already covered its target of 100 per cent FHTC this month. According to the JJM timeline, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim will cover all of their rural households by 2022 while Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Chhattisgarh will achieve their target by 2023. Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will reach their goal of 100 per cent FHTC by 2024.

Editor of Chinese propaganda machinery Global Times threatens India as Taiwan vows to have better ties with India

Shashank Bharadwaj
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Editor of Chinese propaganda machinery Global Times threatens India as Taiwan vows to have better ties with India

The growing cordial relationship between India and Taiwan has irked the Communist Party of China and has now resorted to threatening India with a retaliation.

Taiwan-India ties have reached a new high after lately, New Delhi has been extremely vocal about its engagement with Taiwan, moving away from its age-old policy of being hesitant to even acknowledge its ties with the island country. India, which has been wary of engaging Taiwan ever since it established relations with the country in 1995, has now decided to actively engage Taiwan.

Even though there is not much of an active Track-I diplomacy between two countries, in the last few years, the two sides have developed ties in areas such as business, tourism, culture, science and technology and people-to-people exchanges. 

The growing relationship between the two countries is also evident from the fact that bilateral trade has increased to $7bn. Taiwan has also brought nearly $350mn worth of investments to India. Taiwan’s Foxconn, one of the largest supplier of tech-giant Apple, is reportedly investing $1bn to expand it’s Apple iPhones assembling units in India. Currently, there are about 106 Taiwanese companies operating in India.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Taiwan-India Parliamentary Friendship Association at the legislature in Taipei recently, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-Kwang said that the relationship between two countries have reached a new high and added that India is a good place for Taiwanese businesses to build production bases, given its democracy, ample human resources and strategically important location.

“Resentment over China has been rising in India, not just because of decades-long border conflict, but also because of China’s aggressive expansion in South Asia, its bullying of other countries and its dissemination of COVID-19. The wind is beginning to blow in Indian society, he said.

Taiwan Legislator Wu Yu-chin, the chairwoman of Taiwan-India Parliamentary Friendship Association, said she will promote bilateral parliamentary exchanges.

“We hope we can form a delegation to visit India’s parliament when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The objectives of the association are to promote parliamentary dialogue as well as freedom and democracy,” Wu Yu-chin said.

Warm ties between India-Taiwan upsets China, propagandists issue threats

However, the warm ties between Delhi and Taipei have now become a major strategic headache for Communist Party of China, who have been vehemently opposing any positive engagement between the two countries. The Chinese Communist Party and its propaganda outlets are constantly issuing threats to India, reminding Delhi about ‘consequences’ for non-adherence to the so-called ‘One-China’ policy.

Hu Xijin, the Editor-in-Chief of Communist Party of China’s mouthpiece Global Times, perturbed by increasing closeness of two countries, took to Twitter to issue threats to India. Citing an India Today report, Xijin claimed that when social powers played with the Taiwan question, they should be aware that China could support separatist forces in North-East India.

The Editor-in-Chief of Chinese propaganda machinery Global Times also warned India that China could restore the status of Sikkim.

“These could be our potential retaliation cards. Indian nationalists should be self-conscious. Their country is fragile,” he added.

Tweet by Hu Xijin

The anti-India rant by Hu Xijin came after India Today TV had broadcast an interview with Foreign Minister of Taiwan, Joseph Wu. In his interview, Joseph Wu had spoken about a wide range of issues pertaining to India-Taiwan relations. The Foreign Minister had touched upon issues on developing bilateral relations between two countries and pitched ideas to move away supply chains from hostile nations such as China.

Attacking the People Republic of China, the Taiwanese Foreign Minister in his interview had said, “Pressing Indians or the Indian press not to report about Taiwan’s National Day is against our value and we are very happy to see that the Indian press and the Indian friends disregarded the Chinese pressure and celebrated our National Day with us.”

Following the interview, unsurprisingly, the Chinese embassy in Delhi had also lodged a protest claiming that the interview stood in violation of the “One-China principle”.

“It seriously violated One-China principle and sent completely wrong message to Indian people. The Chinese Embassy in India lodges strong representation and firm opposition against India Today providing platform for Taiwan DPP authority separatist activities disregarding Indian government’s long-standing position,” read the Chinese embassy statement.

China had issued diktats to Indian media to adhere ‘One-China’ policy

This is not the first time that the Communist Party of China has been expressing its frustration against India for engaging with Taiwan. Last week, the Chinese mission in Delhi had issued diktats to Indian media for asking them to adhere to ‘One-China’ policy.

Ahead of Taiwan’s national day on October 10, the Chinese mission in Delhi called upon the Indian media not to refer to Taiwan as a “nation”.  In the letter, the Chinese embassy had said, “it would like to remind our media friends that there is only one China in the world” and the “Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China.”

China’s directive to Indian media came a day after Taiwanese trade office in New Delhi had placed full-page advertisements in the Indian newspapers ahead of their national day on 10 October. 

However, unfazed by threats by Chinese establishment, Taiwan Foreign Minister had said that he hoped the Indian media would ask the Chinese mission to “get lost”.

Similarly, Taiwanese MP Wang Ting-yu, attacking the Chinese embassy over its diktats to Indian media, warned them by saying make no mistake, this is not about Taiwan’s status in the world but it was about China’s open assault on press freedom.

After ‘donations’ during Coronavirus, Mamata Banerjee to give doles to Durga Puja ‘clubs’, HC slams govt, opposition raises questions: Details

OpIndia Staff
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After ‘donations’ during Coronavirus, Mamata Banerjee to give doles to Durga Puja ‘clubs’, HC slams govt, opposition raises questions: Details

The Calcutta High Court has slammed the West Bengal government on Thursday for granting ₹50,000 to each club committees in the State for organising Durga Puja. On September 24, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the grant due to the of the lack of sponsorships and advertising money to 37000 registered puja club committees, in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.

While hearing a petition by one Sourav Dutta who questioned the government’s move for hurting fundamental rights and India’s ‘secular ideals’, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court inquired whether such incentives are provided during Eid as well. Dutta, the leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), was represented in the Court by advocate Bikash Bhattacharya. The petitioner had sought a complete ban of Durga puja festivities, owing to the rising cases of Coronavirus in the State.

On Friday, the Court ordered that 75% of the grant money must be used in procuring sanitisers and masks. The remaining 25% of the funds should be used by the State in deploying police personnel and strengthening security measures, in anticipation of the grand festival. The Division Bench had also ruled that the puja committees will report to the State government about their mode of expenditure.

While raising questions about the government’s decision to grant the incentive, justices Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee further quizzed the government whether it had laid down guidelines on how the funds were to be utilised. The Division Bench had also sought the government’s plan for controlling crowds and ensuring adherence to social distancing guidelines. The Court has directed the State police to print the court’s directives and send it in the form of leaflets to the puja committees.

(Video courtesy: ABP Ananda)

In its response, the State government claimed that the grant was meant to increase awareness about protocols to protect oneself from Coronavirus infection and purchase of sanitisers and masks. However, the Court asked as to why did the government not hand out masks and sanitizers directly

Opposition raises questions about nexus between clubs and TMC

While speaking to ABP Ananda, CPIM leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “The government has been made accountable by the Court. They have to provide information now about the mode of expenditure of public money. The government was planning to siphon off public money (through puja committees) but now they will be caught red-handed.”

BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya claimed that there is now no difference between the party and the government, run by Trinamool Congress. Meanwhile, Bikash Bhattacharya, representing the petitioner in the case, said, “Not a single penny can be used for the purpose of Durga puja. So, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s plan to pacify the puja clubs had failed.”

Arambagh TV expose on TMC-club nexus

Earlier, Arambagh TV had questioned the Mamata Banerjee government over making donations to various clubs in the state during the Coronavirus pandemic. The channel had shown the images and list of 59 clubs which were given Rs 1 lakh each, asking how many of them actually exist. The web channel had also questioned the mismanagement of the health crisis in the state. After that, several FIRs were filed against Safiqul Islam and reporter Suraj Ali Khan under several different sections of IPC at the Arambagh police station. Notices were sent to them informing them that they have been booked under sections 420, 468, 469, 471, 500, 505, 120B, but the notices didn’t mention the exact reason of the FIR.

This is why ‘liberal’ condemnation that we see around Paris beheading was missing when Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered

K Bhattacharjee
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This is why ‘liberal’ condemnation that we see around Paris beheading was missing when Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered

A high school teacher in Paris, France, was beheaded by an Islamic fanatic for allegedly showing cartoons of prophet Mohammed to his students. The murder of the 47-yar old was carried out amidst familiar cries of “Allahu Akbar”. Since then, French President Emmanuel Macron has described the incident as a terrorist attack.

The terrorist has been identified as one 18-year-old Muslim youth, allegedly belonging to Chechnya, Russia. The murder comes only days after a stabbing spree at the French national capital that left multiple individuals injured. The knife attack, too, was carried out by Islamic fundamentalists. It is a grim reminder of the toll that Islamic extremism continues to wreak across the world.

The response to the attack, however, demonstrated an interesting pattern that has emerged over the years. Liberals in India wasted no time in condemning the attack although it did come with the usual qualifiers that sought to disassociate Islam from terrorism. Problematic characters such as Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire were quick to call it an ‘act of terror’ and called the culprit a ‘terrorist’.

Shehla Rashid offered a condemnation of the brutal crime as well.

What stands out is not the condemnation here as normal people are expected to be horrified by such barbaric beheadings but it is the reaction of the same people to similar crimes in India that is worthy of attention. One ought to recall the reaction of liberals to the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari for allegedly committing blasphemy against Islam. Such unequivocal condemnation was hardly to be found.

Instead, we had liberal intellectuals sermonising that it was time for the Muslim community to organise themselves and not for the objective of peace. Imagine the depravity of it for a moment. A Hindu man was murdered for exercising his right to freedom of expression and liberal intellectuals in the aftermath of it were egging Muslims to organise themselves to commit more violence. The reaction that we see now is a stark departure from the ones we witnessed following the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari.

There are reasons for such a startling contrast in the response to the Paris beheading and the murder of Kamlesh Tiwari. First and foremost is the fact that Paris is in Europe and liberal intellectuals must adhere to European norms and conventions since the West is the fountainhead of liberalism and the ideology is sustained by the money that flows from there.

Therefore, liberals cannot respond in a manner that would make them unpopular in the West as that would jeopardise their career prospects. And the norms there are such that even after the collapse of a great deal of decency, liberals still have to offer an unequivocal condemnation of beheadings. Hence, liberals have to adhere to them.

Secondly, the victims of such incidents in the West invariably tend to belong to the White race. As it so happens, liberal intellectuals in India are enamoured by their skin colour and do feel the pain when someone pricks the skin of their western counterparts. We do see it in India all the time. Unless and until a phenomenon has the explicit endorsement of a White intellectual, Indian liberals will not take it seriously. They desperately seek their approval all the time.

Thus, Indian liberals do have to participate in ‘Pray for Paris’, ‘Pray for Orlando’ and other such prayer campaigns without any qualifiers. The same decency does not need to be afforded to a rustic Indian man such as Kamlesh Tiwari. He was, after all, a Hindi-speaking unsophisticated Hindu man from a small city in the Hindi belt. He was not an English-speaking wine-sipping cigar-smoking intellectual. Therefore, the atrocity he suffered can be whitewashed, buried and silenced.

The hearts of our liberals are so large that they fail to notice the atrocities committed against such small men from small cities. They may claim all men are equal but, quite obviously, some are more so than others. Consequently, when Kamlesh Tiwari was murdered, liberals were more concerned with screeching about ‘Hindu fascism‘ and intolerance than the atrocity that had just been committed.

But the most important aspect here is the fact that Indian liberalism is sustained by money from the West. It is evident from the extent to which foreign funded NGOs, that receive donations primarily from the West, dictate public discourse in our country. Since money dictates most actions of opportunists, it is only natural that they observe the norms set by their masters. And hence, we witness responses to similar incidents that are polar opposites.

Barabanki: How media and Rahul Gandhi attempted to create another Hathras using the rape of a Dalit girl but the identity of perpetrator foiled plans

OpIndia Staff
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Barabanki: How media and Rahul Gandhi attempted to create another Hathras using the rape of a Dalit girl but the identity of perpetrator foiled plans

The Hathras Case demonstrated that the media is always overeager to exploit the fault-lines within Hindu society and peddle a caste narrative around crimes even when there is none on the face of it. The Hathras Case, during the initial phase of the reporting and according to details that were revealed much later, was prompted by a family feud. But that did not prevent the media from inserting a caste angle to the crime. A similar phenomenon was observed in the aftermath of a rape at Barabanki.

On Wednesday, the body of a teenage girl was recovered from a paddy field in Barabanki. As it so happened, the deceased girl was a Dalit. But even before anything more was known about the crime, the media rushed to highlight the caste of the victim in an effort to give the crime a caste angle. At this point, nothing was known about the identity of the sexual predator. But the proceeded along those lines anyway.

“Weeks after the Hathras horror, another Dalit girl was allegedly raped and strangulated in a village in Barabanki district on Wednesday,” reported Indian Express. The insinuation was obvious, an attempt was made to draw a connection between the narrative of ‘Dalit girl raped by four Upper Caste men at Hathras’ and the current instance.

Indian Express report on the Barabanki Rape

AajTak went a step further in their efforts to create another Hathras since their first attempt at muddying the waters for their political agenda had failed spectacularly. In their headline, in addition to the deceased’s Dalit identity, allegations made by the relatives about the Police supposedly suppressing the case was also highlighted. It was quite obvious where the media was going with this.

AajTak report on Barabanki Rape

Hindustan Times, too, reported on the matter highlighting the caste of the girl. It is almost as if the media believes that a crime as heinous as rape or murder is not as bad if the victim is not a Dalit girl. Therefore, they feel compelled to add a caste narrative to their reports even when there is no indication that the caste of the victim is relevant at all.

Hindustan Times report on the Barabanki rape

Scroll, like many others, joined in the trend as well. They unashamedly connected the Barabanki rape to the Hathras Case and took special care to mention that the 19 year old girl at Hathras was allegedly raped by “four Upper Caste Thakur men”. There was no connection between the two rapes at all but truth cannot be permitted to interfere with the media’s chosen narrative.

Scroll report on the Barabanki rape

Where there is a corpse, how could vultures be far behind? And thus it happened that former Congress president (and son of the current one) Rahul Gandhi entered the picture and attempted to use the heinous crime to target the Uttar Pradesh government. He claimed that the Yogi government was “once again trying to save the accused by suppressing facts rather than providing justice to the victim’s family.” He asked, “How many more girls? And how many Hathras?”

Rahul Gandhi on the Barabanki Rape

Truth, however, has a way of surfacing eventually and more often than not, tends to dispel the narrative that is sought to be crafted by motivated actors who are more interested in their political agenda than justice. On Friday, the Police arrested the sexual predator responsible for the heinous crime and as it turns out, much to the disappointment of the media and politicians such as Rahul Gandhi, there is no caste-angle to the crime.

As per reports, the police has arrested a 19-year old distant relative of the victim in connection with the crime. The accused, identified as Dinesh Gautam, has reportedly confessed to the crime. He hails from the same village as the victim. The Police had initially registered a case of murder but after the post-mortem report confirmed sexual assault, rape charges were added as well. Relevant sections of the POCSO have also been added after the police confirmed that the girl is a minor.

“After registering the FIR, we formed three teams to identify the accused. On the basis of digital evidence and ground information, we arrested the accused. He has confessed to the crime and has given us other details of the incident. We are verifying the information provided by him,” Additional SP Ram Sevak Gautam said.

Pro-congress journalists and trolls target Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda when another Nikhil Nanda criticised Rahul Gandhi

OpIndia Staff
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Pro-congress journalists and trolls target Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda when another Nikhil Nanda criticised Rahul Gandhi

While the journalists and internet trolls sympathetic to the Congress party have a habit of waxing eloquent on the need to respect one’s freedom of expression and be tolerant to dissenting views, when it comes to criticism of the Gandhi family, particularly Rahul Gandhi, all their commitment to these lofty ideals take a back seat as they vigorously come to the defence of their ‘crown prince’.

Recently, a businessman named Nikhil Nanda posted a tweet critiquing the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his disparaging remark on India’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Gandhi had taken a dig at the BJP government by sharing a graph of projected GDP growth rate of countries for the year 2020-21. Gandhi alleged that even Pakistan and Afghanistan handled the COVID-19 better than India.

To this tweet, Nikhil Nanda, Managing Director of oral care manufacturing company JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited, asked a series of questions to Rahul Gandhi and suggested him to get his eyes tested and advisors changed. Nanda questioned India’s share of World GDP, Ease of Business ranking, and India’s Innovation Index during the UPA regime. He further added that the same IMF report which Rahul cited to denigrate India’s handling of COVID-19 outbreak projects that India’s GDP will be 8.8 per cent in 2021.

Naturally, Nanda’s acerbic response to the Congress party leader rattled his ardent supporters, who did not waste time to mount an attack against the businessman. However, in doing so, they evidently fulminated against the wrong Nikhil Nanda.

Internet trolls and journalists attack Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda

Some pro-Congress trolls and journalists started attacking actor Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law, who also shares the same name as the businessman Nikhil Nanda for debunking Rahul Gandhi’s claims with hard and unpleasant facts. Bachchan’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda is the managing director of Escorts Group.

A Twitter user called Ranjona Banerji, who is a journalist as per her Twitter bio, attempted to cover up Rahul Gandhi’s deceit by belittling Nikhil Nanda as someone who pays money to promote his tweets, given that he could rack up only a few retweets despite having above 60,000 followers.

Soon thereafter, another Twitter user Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma, who claims herself to be a freelance writer, pointed out that the Nikhil Nanda who exposed Rahul Gandhi with his tweet was Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law.

Journalist and freelance writer attack Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law Nikhil Nanda

Other Congress trolls also proceeded to slam Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law, Nikhil Nanda, assuming that he was the one who exposed their master’s perfidy.

Trolls attacking Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law

Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law, Nikhil Nanda is Chairman and Managing Director of the Escorts Group while Nikhil Nanda who slammed Rahul Gandhi for his tweet is the Managing Director of JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited. Both of them are different individuals. However, with Rahul Gandhi’s deceit exposed, pro-Congress journalists and trolls swung into action to protect their leader and run down the critic. In doing so, they didn’t bother to verify if they are attacking the businessman Nikhil Nanda or his namesake Amitabh Bachchan’s son in law, Nikhil Nanda.

FIR registered against Mithun Chakraborty’s son Mahaakshay and wife Yogeeta Bali alleging rape, intimidation of an actress-model

Dibakar Dutta
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FIR registered against Mithun Chakraborty’s son Mahaakshay and wife Yogeeta Bali alleging rape, intimidation of an actress-model

In a shocking revelation, a Bhojpuri actress has accused Mahaakshay, son of veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, of rape and intimidation. A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the actor’s son at the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai on Thursday.

Victim alleges that Mahaakshay raped her for 4 years

The victim has alleged that she was in a relationship with Mahaakshay, aka Mimoh, in 2015. In the FIR, she had accused Mahaakshay of providing her with a spiked drink and then raping her, while she lay unconscious at his house. According to the girl, the accused had also offered to marry her on several occasions. She has further alleged that Mahaakshay forced her to have sexual relations with him, under the pretext of marriage. As per the FIR, the accused continued to rape the victim over a span of four years.

Victim accuses Yogeeta Bali and her son of intimidation and illegal abortion

She also alleged that at the same time, he also resorted to mentally harassing her. The victim has claimed that Mahaakshay had coerced her into aborting their unborn child after she became pregnant. She has alleged that the accused gave her abortion pills, without her knowledge, resulting in termination of her pregnancy.

The victim has also named Yogeeta Bali, mother of the accused and wife of Mithun Chakraborty, of intimidation and threats to dispose of the case. The police have booked the mother-son duo under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 313 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape), 417 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation)

Victim approached Court in 2018

Prior to Mahaakshay’s marriage with TV actress Madalasa Sharma in 2018, the victim tried to get an FIR registered against him. However, when the police refused to comply, she approached the Rohini court to get the FIR registered. After examining the prima facie evidence, the Court directed for the FIR to be lodged against Yogeeta Bali and Mahaakshay and commencement of the investigation. Two years after the Court order, a case has been registered at the Oshiwara police station in Mumbai.

A Muslim man wrote to Darul Uloom if he can have a marriage similar to shown in Tanishq ad, this is what he got as reply

OpIndia Staff
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A Muslim man wrote to Darul Uloom if he can have a marriage similar to shown in Tanishq ad, this is what he got as reply

In the spirit of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb, a Muslim man wrote to Darul Uloom Deoband seeking guidance from the Islamic seminary on his proposed marriage with a Hindu woman. In the question that was communicated to the Islamic clerics, the Muslim man said that he had proposed a Hindu woman for marriage which had been accepted subject to certain terms and conditions.

The Muslim man listed a series of eight conditions set by the Hindu woman which are quoted here as follows:

  1. She shall not convert as a Muslim before or after marriage and shall continue as a Hindu through out her life.
  2. She shall be allowed to perform puja as per Hindu rituals in the in-law’s house without any hinderance and no one shall interfere in her faith and belief.
  3. Her name shall not be changed to a Muslim name after marriage.
  4. She shall not be asked to wear Burkha at any point of time in her life.
  5. I (her Husband) can not accept a second wife till she continues as my wife.
  6. The procedure of triple Talak for Divorce shall not be applicable in our case and Divorce procedure as applicable to Hindus shall be applicable in our case.
  7. Since Girl’s family will cut off all relations with her after marriage, she wants marriage should be performed through usual procedure of Nikahnama before a social gathering of my family members and relatives and the Nikahnama must contain the above conditions.
  8. Further to be assured that it is a legal marriage, she wants that I should take written permission and approval from Muslim Personal Law Board and Muslim religious authorities before marriage.
The Darul Uloom Deoband question

Pursuant to the conditions, the Muslim man posed a set of two questions to the Islamic clerics. “I again request your goodself to kindly give an early reply so that we can take a decission either to marry or to foget each other.I will remain obliged to you for your early reply throughout my life,” he said. The questions are quoted here as follows:

  1. Whether marriage with her conditions will be acceptable to Muslim community and Her conditions can be reflected in Nikanama?
  2. Whether such marriage will be legal and binding to our family members?
Darul Uloom Deoband question

The answer to the inquiry came fairly quickly. The Islamic clerics in their answer declared that such a union was not acceptable. “All these conditions are against Islam,” Darul Uloom Deoband said. “The nikah will not be valid whether the conditions are written in the nikah letter or not,” it declared. The Muslim man was advised to “forget each other and you should not do any thing against the religion of Islam.” As small consolation, Darul Uloom Deoband said sympathetically, “Have patience, you may find other beautiful and desired Muslim girls to get married.”

Darul Uloom Deoband answer

What is clear from this interaction between the Muslim man and Darul Uloom Deoband is that the kind of marriage between a Hindu woman and Muslim man shown in the recent Tanishq ad normalising Love Jihad is utter fantasy. Such a union, where the Muslim family celebrates Hindu traditions, is simply not possible in the real world to any significant extent as it is mandatory for the Hindu woman to convert to Islam for the marriage.

Consequently, we have witnessed several murders, rapes and other heinous crimes being committed against Hindu women who refused to convert to Islam following their marriage with a Muslim man. Therefore, at a time when such crimes are not deliberately whitewashed and silenced by the media, efforts to normalise the same through advertisements appears to be remarkably culturally insensitive.

“I am sure DCW care for all women”: Delhi landlady accused of ‘assaulting’ Kashmiri woman writes scathing letter to Swati Maliwal

OpIndia Staff
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“I am sure DCW care for all women”: Delhi landlady accused of ‘assaulting’ Kashmiri woman writes scathing letter to Swati Maliwal

Two days after a Kashmiri woman had made allegations against her Delhi landlady claiming that they were assaulted and attacked for being a ‘Kashmiri’, the landlady of the residence against whom the allegations were made, has written a scathing letter to Delhi Commission of Woman chief Swati Maliwal asking the commission to allow her to submit facts pertaining to the matter before initiating actions against her.

The letter by Taruna Makhija comes after Delhi Commission of Women had taken suo-moto cognizance of the issue and had issued a notice to the Delhi Police in connection with the case.

However, in the light of Delhi Commission of Woman’s notice to Delhi Police seeking against her, the landlady of the property in which the two Kashmiri women were staying for a few months, has written a letter on Friday urging the women panel to allow her to present facts pertaining to the matter.

In her letter to Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, Taruna Makhija said that she was a first-generation struggling woman entrepreneur providing safe comfortable rental spaces for working women in Delhi. In the letter, accessed by OpIndia, Makhija said that she was sure that DCW cared for all women and would like to hear her side of the story.

“I hear that you are a very just person. You sent a letter to Police asking them to register a case without providing any opportunity to me. Maybe the social media activism by the Kashmiri girl moved you. But I think I am equally a citizen of India, You hold a very sensitive post in respect of security of the women in the city. I am sure you will give me an opportunity to meet,” Taruna Makhija wrote in her letter to DCW.

Narrating her ordeal, Taruna Makhija put forward the entire sequence of events and provided evidence that dismissed all the allegations made against her by the two Kashmiri women.

“One of the two sisters, Yuhana Manzoor Bhat approached me through a broker to take my serviced apartment on rent. She entered without paying complete advances. I had a struggle to get her sign on the agreement & obtain some security”.

She added, “Neighbours & RWA complained that strange 50-year-old people come on their floor & have late night parties and thereby creating nuisance. It seems some of them fired in the air on the birthday party of Ms.Fiza Noor Manzoor Bhat on 19th June 2020 (Copy of messages on RWA group & her passport is enclosed). I immediately informed that local Police & asked these girls to vacate. They were called by the local Police & warned.”

Have evidence to prove her side of story, says Makhija

In her letter, Taruna said she had a tough time asking them to pay their rentals and asserted that she had evidence and records to prove her statements. The landlady said that the two Kashmiri women attacked and assaulted the elderly meter reader who came to disconnect the electricity for non-payment of bills. They have assaulted the housekeeping lady Namita residing downstairs in the servant quarter, she added in her letter to Swati Maliwal.

“Day before Yesterday I got to know that they were vacating my place but in process have broken my furniture. I called 100 number helpline & rushed to the site along with Police. They hurled abuses at Police & me. Finally I left the space along with Police. I never accused them of being ‘Terrorists’,” Taruna Makhija said in her letter.

In her letter, Makhija asked Maliwal to allow her to share records with the commission. “Now that you have taken suo-moto cognizance of their false social media tweets, I have to struggle more to survive and spend on lawyers,” she added.

Requesting Swati Maliwal to be objective in the case, she said taking such suo-moto action against people without hearing the other side will only encourage girls to misuse the law without any base or evidence and will lead to these girls to get scot-free of dues and damages to her.

“Our country talks about women empowerment and when I am working hard to do establish myself is this really fair to what I have to go through? Have I done anything wrong in asking them to pay their rental and utility bills that I have to go through or am I expected to pay the rentals & electricity bills on their behalf,” Makhija asked Swati Maliwal in her letter.

The curious case of Kashmiri girls and their allegations of being attacked

On Wednesday, a Kashmiri woman residing in southeast Delhi had claimed that she was assaulted and abused by her landlady for being a ‘Kashmiri’.

Following that various media outlets had reported a story of an attack against a Kashmiri woman named Noor Bhat. The media reports suggested that the Kashmiri woman was assaulted and abused by her landlady and a man in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. A Kashmiri woman identified as Noor Bhat, who belongs to Srinagar in Kashmir, had taken to Twitter to claim that her landlady entered the house with a man whom “she had never seen before”. She alleged that the landlady called her a ‘terrorist’ because they were from Kashmir.

Soon after their allegations, DCW chief Swati Maliwal had jumped into the scene to take the matter into cognizance and also issued a notice to Delhi Police to look into the alleged attacks against the Kashmiri woman in Delhi.

However, days after Noor Bhat made strong allegations against her landlady, OpIndia had accessed details and evidence that were completely contradictory to the allegations made by Noor Bhat.

Speaking to OpIndia, the landlady Taruna Makhija had said that the allegations made by Noor Bhat were a blatant lie. Makhija alleged that two sisters were staying in their residence from the past four months and were extremely irregular in paying the rent. The landlady alleged that the Kashmiri women behaved in a most atrocious manner and also created repeated nuisance in the housing complex.

Taruna Makhija had also informed that her tenants have not paid their electricity bill for months, and around Rs 70000-75000 is due to be paid. Addition to that, the allegations put up against the landlady by Noor Bhat, claiming that she was attacked and abused as a ‘terrorist’ falls flat as there is no evidence to back her claim.

The evidence, images and videos had revealed that the two Kashmiri women, instead of clearing their dues, had created a ruckus to falsely accuse the landlady of harassing them. Shockingly, the ‘liberal-secular’ who are often desperate for stories which depict Kashmiri as ‘victims’ had latched onto it without even verifying facts of the matter.

 

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