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Chile to rewrite its Pinochet-era constitution, over 78% of Chileans vote ‘yes’ in the referendum

OpIndia Staff
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Chile to rewrite its Pinochet-era constitution, over 78% of Chileans vote ‘yes’ in the referendum

The people of Chile have voted in favour of rewriting the Pinochet-era constitution. The old text will be replaced by a new citizen-oriented constitution to be written by Chileans. In 2019, anti-government protests started in the South American country. It took a year to come to the point where a referendum was held to determine if the people of Chile want to rewrite the constitution or not.

Around 78% of Chileans, from the 90% counted votes have voted in favour of the change. The streets of Santiago saw celebrations with singing, dancing, and firecrackers.

End of Pinochet-era constitution

The protesters demanded an end of the constitution that was created by General Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s during the dictatorship era. Under his 17-year long military rule, countless reports of human rights violations came out. Those who were on the street protesting in recent months described the dictatorial-era constitution as the main reason behind inequalities in the social and economic status in the country.

The process of writing the new constitution of Chile

Chileans voted on two factors in the referendum. First, they determined if the constitution should be re-written or not. Secondly, if the new constitution should be drafted by the members of the Congress or elected representatives. An overwhelming 79% of people have voted in favour of the new constitution being drawn up by a 100% elected body, rather than a body with 50% Congress members.

By April 2021, a 155-member constitutional convention will be formed consisting of an equal number of males and females. This will be the first time a constitution will be written with gender parity. The convention will have one year of time to draft the new constitution. After that, a referendum will be held to determine if the Chileans are happy with the draft or if they want to go back to the previous one.

Critics warn two years of uncertainty

Those who are against changing the constitution have said that for the next two years, there will be uncertainty, and the process can disrupt public life and threaten the economic stability of the country.

President urged Chileans to work together

In a special broadcast after voting concluded on Sunday, Sebastian Pinera, President of Chile, mentioned in a speech that the old constitution had divided the people of Chile. He said, “Until now, the constitution has divided us. From today, we must all work together so that the new constitution is the great framework of unity, stability and future.”

He said the new draft should include “the legacy of past generations, the will of present generations and the hopes of generations to come.”

Mahesh Bhatt sues actress who had accused him of harassment, his nephew of selling drugs and human trafficking: Here are the details

OpIndia Staff
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Mahesh Bhatt sues actress who had accused him of harassment, his nephew of selling drugs and human trafficking: Here are the details

Actress Luviena Lodh who had recently released a video message accusing filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt of harassment has been taken to court by the director and his brother Mukesh Bhatt over defamation charges. Mahesh Bhatt has reportedly filed a civil suit before the Bombay High Court against Lodh who is the estranged wife of Bhatt’s nephew. In the civil suit, Bhatt has sought an amount of Rs 1 crore in damages from Lodh calling claims made by her as ‘distasteful, patently false, grossly defamatory, slanderous allegations’.

The Bhatt brothers sought interim protection on the apprehension that Lodh will approach multiple media channels to spread false allegations which will harm their reputation and goodwill. They also raised apprehensions that a certain section of the media may give Lodh a platform to publicise her version.

According to reports, Lodh’s lawyer had issued a statement saying that Lodh would not make any defamatory statements against Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. The injunction sought by Bhatts for stoping Luviena any slanderous statements against them has reportedly been granted.

Mahesh Bhatt Denied the Allegations

Last week, a statement was issued by legal team refuting the harassment allegations made by Lodh against Bhatt. The statement said that Bhatts would take legal action against her.

Screenshot of Instagram post of statement released by Bhatt’s legal team

Luviena Lodh’s Allegations

Lodh had released a video message last week where she made some shocking allegations against Mahesh Bhatt. She had accused Bhatt of harassing her and her family. Lodh who is seeking a divorce from her husband and Mahesh Bhatt’s nephew Sumit Sabharwal had said that she had filed the divorce case because she had come to know that Sabharwal was supplying drugs to actors. She called Mahesh Bhatt the don of the film industry and that he controlled everything that happened in the industry. Luviena Lodh accused Bhatt of destroying the lives of many people in the industry and of robbing people of work.

“I was married to the nephew of (film director) Mahesh Bhatt, Sumit Sabharwal. I had filed a divorce case against him because I got to know that he was supplying drugs to other actors such as Amyra Dastur, Sapna Pabbi etc. His phone contains pictures of several girls whom she shows to directors,” she alleged. After that, she said, “Vo ladkiya bhi supply karta hai. Inn saari baaton ki jaankari Mahesh Bhatt ko hai (He is also involved in supplying girls. Mahesh Bhatt is well aware of all these things).” 

Luviena emphasised, “Mahesh Bhatt is the don of the industry. He controls everything that goes on in the industry. If you don’t play by his rules, then, he will make your life miserable in the industry. Mahesh Bhatt has destroyed the lives of several people, including directors, actors and composers. People lose work just with one phone call by him and they don’t even get to know about it. He has done this to many people. And since I had filed a complaint against him, he is after me.”

Luviena Lodh said that if anything happened to her or her family Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt, Sumit Sabharwal, Sahil Sehgal and Kumkum Sehgal would be responsible.

BJP workers hoist Tiranga at PDP office, 3 from Mufti’s party quit over her anti-India comments: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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BJP workers hoist Tiranga at PDP office, 3 from Mufti’s party quit over her anti-India comments: Read details

On 26th October, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Jammu hoisted Indian National Flag on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) office in Jammu. Videos have emerged where BJP workers can be seen chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” while hoisting the flag.

Recently, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that she would not hoist the National Flag till the flag of Jammu and Kashmir’s flag and its constitution is restored. She also claimed that she is not interested to contest elections without getting Article 370 restored in the valley that was abrogated on 5Th August 2019.

Jammu and Kashmir police have detained three BJP workers, Mir Basharat, Spokesperson BJP Jammu and Kashmir, Mir Ishfaq and Akhtar Khan. In a tweet, he said, “This is just the beginning, if not this time but I challenge myself that in next attempt I will glorify the #National #flag on the heights of the big clock at Ghanta Ghar, Lal chowk.”

‘Gupkar alliance’ calls the abrogation of Article 370 ‘unconstitutional’

On 24th October, the six-party ‘Gupkar alliance’ that includes National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Conference (PC), Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M), Peoples Movement (PM) and Awami National Conference (ANC) said that they would fight together to ensure restoration of Article 370 in the region. They called the decision made by the BJP-led central government ‘unconstitutional’. Several leaders of the political parties were detained in August 2019, keeping in mind the law and order situation in the state. Recently, Mehbooba Mufti was released from over year-long detention.

The state BJP chief Ravinder Raina had called the alliance anti-national. He said, “They will not be allowed to pursue the anti-India agenda.” The BJP has announced that it will observe 26th October as Merger Day as on this day, Jammu and Kashmir was annexed to India.

3 senior PDP leaders quit party in protest against Mehbooba’a anti-India stand

As per a report in Times Now, 3 senior PDP leaders, namely Trilok Singh Bajwa, Ved Mahajan and Wafa have resigned as a protest against Mehbooba Mufti’s recent statements against the Indian flag and the Indian Union. While Bajwa is a former MP and was considered close to Mehbooba’s father Mufti Mohammad Syed, Ved Mahajan is a general secretary of the party.

How Indian ‘liberals’ decided to embrace Hindutva!

Abhishek Banerjee
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How Indian ‘liberals’ decided to embrace Hindutva!

Indian liberals want people to learn Hindutva from RSS. Yes, you read that correctly.

At his traditional Vijaya Dashami rally in Mumbai yesterday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray put it clearly. One must take lessons in Hindutva from RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The “Hindutva” of the RSS is the same as the Hindutva of the Late Balasaheb Thackeray, he explained. And presumably, the Shiv Sena remains committed to the vision of Balasaheb.

So where is the liberal outrage? Where are all the liberals who would swear that RSS is against the “idea of India”? Where are those who compared Hindutva to Nazism? And those who chanted “Hindutva ki kabar khudegi” and insisted that it was not a hate slogan?

Are they comfortable with Uddhav Thackeray’s ringing endorsement of Hindutva? The Maharashtra CM left nothing to imagination. He explicitly endorsed the RSS vision of India. Is the liberal crowd comfortable with this? And if they are not, where is their outrage?

Wait, because this gets even better. The Maharashtra CM went on to actually say this.

Article by Times of India

Where are those who always cry for ‘idea of India’ whenever the topic of Babri Masjid comes up?

If Uddhav Thackeray had not made himself clear enough, he went a step further. Due to Covid related reasons, the Sena shifted the rally from the traditional Shivaji Park venue. The new venue was Swatantrata Veer Savarkar auditorium in Dadar. The name of the venue was chosen very deliberately. The CM made a special mention of it in his speech.

RSS, Hindutva, Babri Masjid, Veer Savarkar. All the keywords that generally set off sirens from the liberal ecosystem.

Except this time they did not. How could they? After all, the government in Maharashtra has 10 Cabinet ministers from Congress. And that’s all the idea of India crowd cares about. Approval from Madam G.

Imagine if a BJP Chief Minister had given a speech with these same ingredients. Imagine how different the reaction would have been.

Now, politicians changing sides and changing views is nothing new. It is too common to be funny any more. But I am not talking about the politicians. I am talking about the great intellectuals of our nation. They have spent their whole lives condemning the RSS. They have condemned Hindutva and Veer Savarkar in the worst possible terms. They’ve built entire careers in TV, newspapers and academia criticizing the RSS. What happened to them?

For Hindu right wing, this should be an important realization. Many of them see the liberal class as an ideological enemy. Let me tell you: there is no ideological war. Because your supposed opponent has zero ideology.

Please rewind in your heads every time you have fumed at some intellectuals for comparing Hindutva to Nazism. In some ways, it was totally pointless. Your supposed opponent on screen did not believe a word of what they said.

Pick your favorite liberal historian or liberal media person. They never cared even a bit for principles. They had no ideology. Just some interests that were served by pretending to hold certain views. The ‘idea of India’ stuff was always a joke. No intellectual actually believes in it.

They were beneath anger. We gave them anger when they only deserved contempt.

‘Huzoor ki Muhabbat mein tweet karein’: Islamist Raza Academy demands Muslim countries issue Fatwa against ‘Devil’ Emmanuel Macron

OpIndia Staff
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‘Huzoor ki Muhabbat mein tweet karein’: Islamist Raza Academy demands Muslim countries issue Fatwa against ‘Devil’ Emmanuel Macron

Raza Academy has initiated a campaign demanding that Muslim countries issue a fatwa against French President Emmanuel Macron after cartoons on prophet Mohammed by Charlie Hebdo were projected onto government buildings. The cartoons were projected following the brutal beheading of a teacher in Paris for showing cartoons on the Islamic prophet to his students.

“Raza Academy urges Muslim nations to issue Fatwa against Macron French President Emmanuel Macron’s attack on Islam has been growing evidently with his latest outburst to place Offensive Caricatures on state buildings in France insulting the Holy Prophet of Islam,” the statement by Raza Academy read. “Macron’s strategy is clearly visible with his actions to defame Islam and create an atmosphere against Muslims in France,” it added.

Statement by Raza Academy

The statement further said, “The republication of sketches attributed to the Holy Prophet by Charlie Hebdo and his approval is infact a heinous conspiracy in the name of freedom of expression aimed at putting societies around the world on a bloody confrontation on social, ideological and religious grounds. Hence this Man needs to be stopped in his track destruction immediately.”

The Raza Academy also demanded that all French embassies and consulates in Muslim countries be shut down and all ambassadors to France be called back in light of recent events. It also urged people on social media to exercise their freedom of expression against the ‘Satanic minded president’ using the hashtag ‘Macron the Devil’.

Statement by Raza Academy

The Islamist organisation has also succeeded in making #MacronTheDevil the top trending hashtag on Twitter. It urged Muslims to tweet against Emmanuel Macron ‘Huzoor ki Muhabbat mein’ (for love towards the prophet). Muslims on social media appear to have heeded their call, however, it is yet unclear the extent to which the campaign will have any impact on the policies of Islamic counties.

Tweets by Raza Academy

Violent Past of the Raza Academy

The Raza Academy has a violent past. Earlier this year, Raza Academy had threatened with ‘law and order situation’ if the movie ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ was not banned. The movie depicts the life of the prophet from birth till the age of 13.

In August 2011, its leaders had organised a so-called protest in Azad Maidan that had devolved into violent riots. The rioters from the Islamist organisation had vandalised the much-hallowed Amar Jawan memorial situated outside the CST. The riots had caused approximately Rs 2.72 crores worth of damages to various public properties.

The protest was carried out to incite communal violence in Mumbai and the IB report to Maharashtra government hinted at Pakistani involvement in the riots. Bangladeshi passports were retrieved from the areas where riots took place. About 65 people and 40 security personnel were injured in the riots.

Amazon-Reliance tussle: Reliance Retail to complete its deal with Future Group without any delay

OpIndia Staff
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Amazon-Reliance tussle: Reliance Retail to complete its deal with Future Group without any delay

With the American e-commerce giant Amazon getting a favourable ruling in Singapore with regard to the Future-RIL deal on Sunday, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL), the retail arm of Indian behemoth Reliance Industries Ltd. released a statement saying it intends to enforce its rights and complete the transaction in terms of the scheme and agreement with Future group without any delay.

“RRVL is informed of an interim order passed by the Emergency Arbitrator in the arbitration proceedings invoked by Amazon under a shareholders’ agreement with the promoters of Future group,” the statement said.

Reliance Retails Ventures Ltd issues statement on Amazon securing an interim order in Singapore

The RRVL, through its statement, added that it has entered into the transaction for the acquisition of assets and business of Future Retail Limited under proper legal advice and the rights and obligations are fully enforceable under Indian law.

Reliance’s statement came after Amazon won an interim order, putting on hold the acquisition of Future Group’s retail business by Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. A one-man arbitration panel in Singapore asked the Kishore Biyani’s Future Group to not proceed with the Rs 24,713 crore deal with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail for now.

Amazon, on the other hand, welcomed the Singapore ruling, hoping the arbitration process would yield a quick result. “We welcome the award of the Emergency Arbitrator. We are grateful for the order which grants all the reliefs that were sought. We remain committed to an expeditious conclusion of the arbitration process,” said the Amazon spokesperson.

Amazon approaches the Singapore arbitration court over Reliance-Future deal

Earlier in August 2020, the Future Group announced the sale of its retail, wholesale and logistic etc. to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, the retail arm of Reliance Industries. This announcement prompted Amazon to go arbitration, citing that the Future Group has violated its non-compete clause in its contract by entering into a deal with rival Reliance.

Amazon had earlier agreed to purchase 49 per cent of one of the Future’s Future Coupons Ltd last year with the right to buy into flagship Future Retail Ltd after a period of three years to 10 years. Future Coupons owns a 7.3 per cent stake in Future Retail. Amazon believes that Future Group reneged on its contract by signing a pact to sell its retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing units to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, following which it decided to drag the organisation to arbitration.

Amazon and Reliance lock horns to take control of India’s budding retail market

The deal, if executed, will catapult Reliance to the top in the retail segment by doubling its footprints. This has greatly alarmed the e-commerce companies such as Flipkart and Amazon, who have invested years and pumped billions of dollars in India to cultivate its retail market. With this legal dispute, Amazon aims to stake out the coveted retail market in India, which is pegged at USD 1 trillion and where online shopping is steadily on the rise. Amazon is also the authorised online sales channel for Future’s retail stores that sells a wide range of products, from groceries to electronic goods, clothes and others.

With Amazon approaching the Singapore arbitration court, analysts believe that it is an attempt by the e-commerce giant to stop Reliance from taking hold of the retail and online markets, which the acquisition of Future Group’s retail business would provide it. Amazon wants to keep Reliance at bay as it is known for toppling the existing players in the market with its ruthlessly disruptive market practices.

Reliance is currently operating India’s fastest-growing, and its most profitable retail business spanning supermarkets, consumer retail, wholesale fast-fashion outlets, and online grocery store JioMart. With the acquisition of Future Group’s retail business, it seeks to further bolster its presence in the country’s retail business landscape. The retail arm of the Reliance Industries, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd., has also been on a fundraising spree by divesting its stakes in the organisation. Since Septemeber, it has raised Rs 37,710 crore by selling its stakes.

Given the context and now that the battle lines had been drawn between the American e-commerce giant Amazon and India’s fastest retail growing company Reliance, it will be interesting to see who emerges as a winner of this contest and gets to dominate the Indian retail market.

After filing FIR against 1000 journalists and employees, Mumbai Police intensifies attack against Republic TV, summons journalists from Delhi, Noida in 24 hours

OpIndia Staff
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After filing FIR against 1000 journalists and employees, Mumbai Police intensifies attack against Republic TV, summons journalists from Delhi, Noida in 24 hours

In a statement released by Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, he shared how the media channel is being hounded by Mumbai police for refusing to bow down. Goswami said that Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has ‘intensified’ attack on Republic TV journalists.

Goswami’s statement said that their ‘journalists from Delhi, Noida and Mumbai have been summoned by Mumbai police on 24 hours notice and that those recovering from Covid-19 are asked by Mumbai police to travel and appear in police stations.

“Apparently, he has asked his cops to go all out”, Arnab said. Alleging that the channel is being threatened with more fake cases, Arnab said that his journalists are being asked to “tone down” during interrogations or else face fake cases would be filed against them. “They want to break us” he added. In his statement, Goswami further said that one of the persons interrogating the journalists is a Shiv Sena leader who had cases like extortion pending against him.

Goswami added that his journalists have resolved to fight this and that his network would win win this “battle”. He said that he had taken the legal recourse. Attacking the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, he said that he was shocked to see that the Thackeray government had used a 1922 British law against his network. Calling for a mass movement against this injustice of the Maharashtra government, Arnab said that being a self-made media entrepreneur, he would fight his battle from Mumbai.

Taking a dig at the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, Arnab said that the people of Mumbai and the country were with him in fighting the madness and standing together for justice.

The Battle between Republic TV and Mumbai Police

Recently, an FIR was filed by Mumbai police against the entire editorial team of Republic TV allegedly inciting disaffection among Mumbai police and for defaming them. Mumbai had also served notice to the media network seeking details of every single employee and journalist working for the Republic TV and details of every transaction made by the channel since its inception. Republic TV executive editor Niranjan Narayanaswamy was questioned by Mumbai Police for almost 9 hours on 21st October. He was allegedly threatened with imprisonment repeatedly for not revealing the source of the Hansa report.

The Mumbai Police had earlier held a press conference alleging that Republic TV has been indulging in TRP fraud while their own FIR named another channel. After it was revealed that the government of Maharashtra has admitted in court that Arnab and his media house are not the accused the TRP scam investigation, the media house had sent a defamation notice to Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh seeking Rs 200 crore damages for allegedly making “false, malicious and mala fide statements” against them.

The Mumbai Police had started hounding Arnab Goswami after his reportage against the Maharashtra government in the Palghar Sadhus’ mob lynching case.

Dainik Bhaskar uses NITian Anita Bharti’s image in an article about actress Preetika Chauhan’s arrest by NCB in drug case

OpIndia Staff
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Dainik Bhaskar uses NITian Anita Bharti’s image in an article about actress Preetika Chauhan’s arrest by NCB in drug case

Just when one thinks that Indian journalism has reached its absolute nadir and it cannot go any lower, mainstream news organisations defy our expectations and stoops further low. There have been several incidents when media organisations have resorted to peddling fake news, pushing their propaganda and even shielding the culprits. However, Dainik Bhaskar has gone a step further as it falsely incriminated an innocent person by using their picture in its report regarding the arrest of TV actor Preetika in a drugs case.

The Narcotics Control Bureau arrested TV actor Preetika Chauhan and a man from Versova for allegedly possessing marijuana. The arrests were made in the drug nexus case under which so far 24 people have been arrested by the agency. About 99 grams of ganja was recovered from Preetika and the man named Faisal. Both were arrested and produced before the court.

The report of the arrest was also published in the newspaper version of Dainik Bhaskar. However, what caught the attention of social media users was the photo of a NITian Anita Bharti being used in place of TV actor Preetika Chauhan.

Preetika Chauhan (Arrested actress) Anita Bharti (NIT student whose photo Danik Bhaskar used)

The matter was highlighted by a Twitter user who goes by the handle @BefittingFacts, who lambasted the media organisation for defaming Anita Bharti by using her photo instead of TV actor Preetika Chauhan caught in a drugs case.

Dainik Bhaskar did not bother to check if the photo that it is publishing for its report on a TV actor arrested in the drugs case actually belonged to the arrested actor Preetika Chauhan or not. The incident highlights the criminal negligence of the news organisation to not verifying the picture of the actor before publishing it and defaming an innocent person by using their picture instead.

Anita Bharti recently launched a portal for providing free tuitions to needy students

Anita Bharti is currently pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering from NIT Patna. Recently, Anita was in the news after she and her sibling, Abhishek, came up with the idea of helping needy students during the pandemic.

With lockdown being enforced in the country and uncertainty over the reopening of schools and other educational institutes, Abhishek and Anita thought of providing free tuition to the students from 7th to 12th grade. A free website called ‘TuOn‘ was created where interested students could go and apply for the subjects for which they want the tuition.

Besides the free tuitions for the students from 7th to 12th standard, the website also provides free coaching for competitive exams like JEE, Physics, Chemistry, Olympiad for Maths and NTSE (Talent Search). When the idea was shared by Anita and Abhishek with others, they also joined the duo in educating the students in need of tutors. As of now, about 25 students from various IITs and NITs have joined the initiative of providing free coaching to needy students. Right now, 50 students have enrolled themselves for taking free tuition.

Actress Kangana Ranaut hits back at Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray after he makes ‘ganja’ jibe against Himachal Pradesh: Here is what she said

OpIndia Staff
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Actress Kangana Ranaut hits back at Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray after he makes ‘ganja’ jibe against Himachal Pradesh: Here is what she said

A day after Uddhav Thackeray made gross generalisations about the State of Himachal Pradesh during the annual Shiv Sena Dusshera Mela, actress Kangana Ranaut has slammed the Maharashtra Chief Minister for his derogatory comments.

Although Uddhav Thackeray did not name names, he insinuated that Ganja fields are found in Himachal Pradesh and not Maharashtra. He said, “They don’t know in our house we grow tulsi, not ganja. Ganja fields are in your state, you know where, not in our Maharashtra.”

He indirectly attacked Kangana Ranaut for being ungrateful and maligning the city of Mumbai, despite being the source of her livelihood. “Those who don’t even get proper food in their state, come here, make money and then become namak-haram by comparing Mumbai with PoK and defame the State,” he emphasised.

Kangana Ranaut talks about Congress trolls, derogatory remarks on Himachal Pradesh

In a video posted on Twitter on Monday, the actress stated, “Uddhav Thackeray, you abused me in your speech yesterday. You called me Namak Haram. Earlier, paid trolls of Congress Sen had verbally abused and threatened of physical violence and murder…You have noticed that none of the champions of women empowerment has spoken against it. In your speech, you have made derogatory comments about  Himachal Pradesh, which is the Martribhoomi of Maa Parvati and Lord Shiva’s Karambhoomi. You have put down an entire state just because you are mad at one girl, who is of your son’s age.”

Actress justifies her comparison of Mumbai to PoK

Kangana Ranaut emphasised, “You were angry at me when I had compared Mumbai with PoK. This was because slogans for Kashmir’s independence were raised there. And your Sonia Sena had defended it. When I drew that analogy,  several constitutionalists had come to hound me. But yesterday, in your speech, you compared the entire country of India to Pakistan and none of the constitutionalists made any objection. Why? Because there is none to stuff their mouth with money.

Kangana Ranaut has suggestions for Uddhav Thackeray

“I have seen that nationalists also do not come to our rescue. They say that if you are talking about the country, then, you are not doing us a favour. You are doing it for yourself. They say we neither have the money nor the ability to bribe someone. However, for anti-nationals, money is stuffed into their mouths. When a sitting Chief Minister abuses a woman openly, the constitutionalists are nowhere to be seen. Remember, governments change! You (Uddhav Thackeray) are just a public servant. The people of Maharashtra can resonate with you nor are happy with you. While governments change, a person who loses public respect can never get it back again. Jai Hind!” she concluded.

Face-off between Kangana Ranaut and Maharashtra govt

The faceoff between the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and Kangana was triggered after the latter had compared Mumbai to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in the wake of Azaadi graffiti seen on the streets of the city, and the subsequent inaction of the Mumbai Police.

Since then, the ‘Queen’ actress has been subjected to threats of violence, and even derogatory words by Shiv Sena leaders. Sanjay Raut had called her ‘haramkhor ladki’ while Pratap Sarnaik had threatened to ‘break her mouth’. Even Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh had joined the Shiv Sena-led government in bullying Kangana Ranaut and he was caught liking tweets wherein she was shamed.

In addition to the abusive tirade against Kangana, the Maharashtra government had also decided to launch a probe into the alleged consumption of drugs by actor Kangana Ranaut. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will investigate Kangana for allegedly taking drugs.

Retail co-ops in Kuwait call for the removal of French products from shelves over Mohammad cartoons

OpIndia Staff
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Retail co-ops in Kuwait call for the removal of French products from shelves over Mohammad cartoons

A hashtag is making rounds in Saudi Arabia, calling for the boycott of the supermarket retailer Carrefour of France. On Sunday, it managed to acquire the position of a second trending topic. While the French government has stood in firm support for the Charlie Hebdo cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad, radical Islamists, including groups from Islamist nations, have launched a series of attacks for anyone sharing or supporting those cartoons.

The foreign ministry of France said in a statement that there had been calls to boycott products from France, especially food products in several Middle Eastern countries.

There were calls for demonstrations against France over the Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon. As per the Islamic laws, any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous. The French ministry has called the authorities to mark its displeasure over such boycott actions. The step was taken to provide help to the French companies and ensure the safety of the French citizens.

In Kuwait, the non-governmental Union of Consumer Co-operative Societies has more than 70 establishments under its banner. They have issued a motion on 23rd October to boycott the products made in France. As per a report published in Reuters, several stores have removed the items such as hair and beauty products that were manufactured by French companies. Fahd Al-Kishti, Union head, said that they had removed the products in response to the ‘repeated insults’ against the Prophet.

The foreign minister of Kuwait met the French ambassador on Sunday and condemned the beheading of the teacher that took place on 16th October, but he also stressed on the need to avoid insulting religion in political or official statements.

As per reports, similar calls for boycott of French products have been resonated in Qatar, and Jordan too. French products, especially beauty items from leading French brands, were no longer in display in many supermarkets in these countries.

Comments by Pakistan’s Prime Minister

Pakistan PM Imran Khan had also criticized France over the statements made by its President Emmanuel Macron, stating that he had “attacked Islam” by encouraging the display of cartoons in the name of Freedom of Speech. He has also written a letter to Mark Zuckerberg urging him to ban posts against Islam just like he did for the posts distorting facts on Holocaust.

On Saturday, France recalled its ambassador to Turkey after Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, said Macron needed mental help over his attitude towards Muslims. Interestingly, several Muslims, including leaders like Imran Khan, are trying to justify the beheading of a teacher in France for showing the Prophet’s cartoons in the classroom, saying it is blasphemy.

On 25th October, several hashtags supporting the ban on French products made rounds on social media platforms as an ‘answer’ to the statement issued by the President of France who condemned the killing of the teacher. France has also initiated action against extremists in France to ensure Law and Order is in place in the country.

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