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‘Things getting complicated’: Harish Rawat to request Congress leadership to relive him from charge of Punjab so that he can focus on Uttarakhand

OpIndia Staff
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‘Things getting complicated’: Harish Rawat to request Congress leadership to relive him from charge of Punjab so that he can focus on Uttarakhand

Even as the Congress party in Punjab continues to face trouble with former senior leader Captain Amarinder Singh about to launch a new party, AICC in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat has expressed his desire to resign from the post. Rawat on Wednesday said that he will request central leadership of the party to relieve him from the responsibility of Punjab, so that he could focus on the assembly election in his home state Uttarakhand. In less than two months, this is for the second time when Harish Rawat expressed his desire to give up the responsibility.

It is likely that Harish Rawat’s departure from Punjab is just awaiting a formal announcement as the central leadership of the party is looking for his replacement. Rajasthan minister Harish Chaudhary may be picked up as in-charge of Punjab in place of Harish Rawat.

Harish Rawat announced his give-up intention in a longish Facebook post and the same he shared on his Twitter handle too.

Harish Rawat who served as chief minister of Uttarakhand said that he was caught between his Janmabhumi Uttrakhand and Karmabhumi Punjab and he was unable to serve any of them properly. Both the states will go for the poll next year.    

“Today I have just come out of a Catch-22 situation. On one hand I have my responsibility towards my Janmabhumi and on the other I have to serve my Karmabhumi Punjab. But things are getting complicated day by day. As the election period will come close I will have to devote full time to both the states. Yesterday an unseasonal rain brought destruction in Uttrakhand. I wanted to visit all the places to wipe every tear from every eye. But I could visit only a few places. But my duty expects something else from me. I can do justice with my Karmabhumi only if I do justice with my Janmabhumi. I am thankful to Punjab Congress and people for Punjab blessing and extending moral support to me. I have a deep and emotional attachment with Punjab, the land of saints and Gurus, Nanak Dev ji and Guru Govind Singh ji. I have decided to request central leadership to relieve me from the responsibility of Punjab so that I focus on Uttrakhand,” his post reads. 

Harish Rawat also met senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Wednesday. He told the media that he met Rahul Gandhi to discuss the issues of Uttarakhand.

Harish Rawat wants to get rid of Punjab after he and the central leadership of the party messed up badly. In July the interim president of the Congress Sonia Gandhi had appointed Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Congress president. And, within two months Captain Amarinder Singh was humiliated and forced to resign as Chief Minister of Punjab. Charanjit Singh Channi was appointed as chief minister. Sidhu, Channi and other senior leaders continued washing their dirty linen in public. Sidhu resigned from the post of president and took it back later on. Harish Rawat on one occasion was forced to ask Sidhu to discipline his advisors who had made irresponsible statements on a few occasions. These things have weakened the Congress party where the return to power looks difficult.    

Harish Rawat must have assessed that Punjab is a difficult case for the party and it will not be wise to invest much time and energy here. Hence, he wants to focus on Uttarakhand, his native state.

Gujarat: Aam Aadmi Party leader held in liquor case, one female bootlegger absconding

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Aam Aadmi Party leader held in liquor case, one female bootlegger absconding

Aam Aadmi Party President of Jambughoda along with three others was held by Chhota Udepur police with bottles of liquor on them in Gujarat, reports DeshGujarat. Gujarat is a dry state where procurement, distribution, sale and consumption of alcohol without permit is prohibited.

As per reports, the local crime branch officials were passing by Nana Katva village of Uchapan in Bodeli taluka where they found four persons taking out liquor bottles from seat of a motorcycle in a farm. Of these, two were identified as Hardik Vakhatbhai Bariya (Panchmahal) and Sundar Keshabhai Rathava (Chhota Udepur). When police inquired, they found that a female bootlegger had ordered the alcohol.

A total of 83 bottles of foreign liquor including 45 bottles of London Prime Premium Whiskey of 180 ml and 38 bottles of Goa Spirit of Smoothness Whiskey were found. 3 mobile phones, one Pulsar motorcycle and another bike was also seized by police. While Hardik and Sundar were held by police, two others managed to escape. The female bootlegger has also been declared as fugitive.

Did Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik call for the ‘Babri-like’ demolition of a mosque in Karnataka? Fact Check

OpIndia Staff
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Did Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik call for the ‘Babri-like’ demolition of a mosque in Karnataka? Fact Check

On Monday, several “left-liberal” news outlets and alleged journalists took to social media platforms to share a video of Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the influential Hindu activist group Shri Rama Sene, to claim that he had said that a Jamia Masjid in Karnataka’s Gadag “should be demolished”.

Imran Khan, a ‘journalist’ working for Times Now, put out a tweet on Monday saying that the Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik allegedly said that a new campaign would start to demolish Gadag Jamia Masjid.

The journalist also said that Pramod Muthalik is claimed to have said that the Jama Masjid in Gadag was a Tippu era masjid, which will be raised down, and a temple will be built in its place. An awareness campaign was also organised over this issue in Gadag, the Imran Khan tweeted.

The video shared by Imran Khan spread like wildfire on the internet, which was soon picked up by several other left-liberal news websites.

The News Minute, a left-wing portal that has a history of peddling misinformation on Hindutva activists, put out a tweet saying that Pramod Muthalik called for a “Babri-like” demolition of the mosque in Karnataka.

In its report, the News Minute claimed that Pramod Muthalik had said that the Jamia Masjid in Karnataka’s Gadag “should be demolished” and claimed that he drew a parallel with the Babri Masjid demolition.

The report also claimed that Muthalik said that an erstwhile Venkateshwara Temple will be rebuilt in place of the mosque which exists now. 

“We had to fight for 72 years for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. After 72 long years, Babri Masjid has been removed, and Ram Mandir will be built there. In the same manner, in Gadag, the Jamma Masjid that’s there, it’s a Venkateshwara Temple, and I’m telling it with full confidence that it should be razed,” claimed TNM its report.

The video was shared aggressively by radical Islamist groups to put out misleading claims that the Hindu activist had called for the demolition of a mosque situated in the Gadag district of Karnataka.

Hindutva Watch, a notorious Hinduphobic Twitter account that has constantly put out hate-filled content against Hindus, also claimed that the Muthalik had called for a demolition of Jumma Mosque in Karnataka’s Gadag in a similar way Babri Masjid was allegedly brought down in Ayodhya in 1992.

Far-left news outlet NDTV too picked up the misinformation and proclaimed that the Hindutva activist had threatened to bring down a mosque in Gadag.

Controversial news anchor Sreenivasan Jain claimed that Muthalik warned about the demolition of a mosque to make way for a temple.

However, the claims made the left-liberal journalists are far from the truth. Did Pramod Muthalik threaten to raze down a mosque in the Gadag district of Karnataka? Here is the truth.

Fact Check:

Contrary to the claims of the left-liberal media outlets, that Muthalik had warned against razing down a mosque in the Gadag district of Karnataka in a similar way to Babri Masjid, to make way for a temple, in reality, Pramod Muthalik never makes any such statement.

In a speech delivered in Kannada, Hindu activist Pramod Muthalik, seen with saffron head-gear, can be heard saying, “We had to fight for 72 years for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Finally, after 72 long years of struggle, Babri Masjid was removed, and we successfully built a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.”

Continuing, Pramod Muthalik says, “In the same manner, I can challenge you that the Jama Masjid in Gadag was a Venkateshwara temple. Take out the documents, and you will have proof that there was a temple. Like Babri Masjid, which was built on a temple, Venkateshwara Temple was one of the many temples demolished during Tipu Sultan’s rule, and Jama Masjid was built at the spot.

“We have proof, and we should launch a struggle,” Pramod Muthalik can be heard saying in the above 57-second video that has gone viral on the internet.

Interestingly, in the video shared by the left-wing outlets, there is not even a single reference to Pramod Muthalik calling for the destruction of the Jama Masjid in Gadag to make way for Venkateshwara temple. He simply lay his claim for the Venkateshwara temple that was existing at the premises before allegedly being demolished by the Islamist forces of Tipu Sultan, as claimed by Muthalik himself.

However, the media houses made false insinuations saying that the Hindu activists had claimed to demolish the mosque but does not provide any substantial evidence to prove.

Shockingly, TNM went to the extent of attributing quotes to Pramod Muthalik, which he had never uttered in the first place.

In its report, TNM claims that Pramod Muthalik had called for “razing” down the Gadag’s Jama Masjid.

Image Source: TNM

However, there is no such reference to any such statements in the video shared by them in their report.

From the above video evidence, it is clear that Pramod Muthalik never called for the ‘Babri-like’ demolition of a mosque in Karnataka, and the claims made by the left-liberal media outlets and journalists are incorrect and false.

Afghanistan: Taliban beheads woman volleyball player

OpIndia Staff
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Afghanistan: Taliban beheads woman volleyball player

Mahjubin Hakimi, member of Afghanistan’s woman’s national volleyball team was beheaded by the Taliban, reports Independent Persian. An Afghan national and one of the coaches of the Afghan women’s national team by the pseudonym Suraya Afzali confirmed that the athlete was killed earlier in October. However, no one in Hakimi’s family seems to be aware of when the murder took place. She used to play for Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club before Afghanistan fell to the Islamist group Taliban in August 2021. She was one of the most successful players.

It is believed Mahjubin’s murder took place sometime early in October and it was not made public because her family members were threatened not to talk about it. According to coach Afzali (name changed), the Taliban have been hunting for the female athletes, going to their homes in their search. Those female athletes who appeared in media programmes are under serious threat, she said.

She said that only two members of the team were able to leave Afghanistan on their own and rest of the women athletes face serious threat from the Taliban. Zahra Fayazi, a former volleyball player and then a coach, fled Afghanistan and arrived in UK earlier in September. While speaking to BBC, she had said that many players have been threatened by their relatives who are Taliban as well as other Taliban followers.

The Afghan National Women’s Volleyball Team was first established in 1978. However, due to the civl war followed by Taliban rule, the team ceased operations between 1992 and 2002. The team has participated in number of international competitions and had been widely supported within Afghanistan.

At present many female athletes in Afghanistan have either gone into hiding or fled to Pakistan or other countries.

Tulsi Gabbard condemns violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, asks ‘supposedly secular’ Hasina Govt to take action against Jihadists

OpIndia Staff
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Tulsi Gabbard condemns violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, asks ‘supposedly secular’ Hasina Govt to take action against Jihadists

Former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday spoke up on the violence perpetrated on Hindus in Bangladesh last week during the Durga Puja.

Gabbard said that it broke her heart to see such hate and violence being directed towards devotees of god in their temples in Bangladesh. She said that for the Jihadists to believe that burning and destroying temples will please gods and desecrating the idol of A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad shows how far away from God they truly are. “God is love and his true servants embody and manifest that love in the world,” she said.

Gabbard further called upon the ‘supposedly secular government’ of Sheikh Hasina to protect the religious minorities in Bangladesh including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists “from the Jihadist forces of hate.”

Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh

Between October 12 – 17, multiple temples, Hindu homes were attacked in Bangladesh after some miscreants associated with radical Islamist group placed a Quran on idol of Lord Hanuman when the guard at pandal was sleeping. This led to widespread violence and houses of tens of Hindus were burned down.

ISKCON was one of the Hindu organizations that faced the attacks by Islamic radicals in Bangladesh. The attack happened on Friday, October 15. A frenzied mob of radical Islamists attacked the ISKCON temple in the Noakhali district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. Disturbing videos of mob attacking the temple surfaced on social media networks. Reports suggest that 400-500 strong mob of radical Islamists were seen desecrating the temple.

Watch: Punjab Congress MLA Joginder Pal seen assaulting a man for asking what has he done for his constituency

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Punjab Congress MLA Joginder Pal seen assaulting a man for asking what has he done for his constituency

An undated video of Congress MLA Joginder Pal has surfaced over the social media networks in which he was seen beating a man for asking him if he has done any work for his constituency. In the video, Pal was seen addressing a small crowd inside a tent in the village, district Pathankot, Punjab.

The video is reportedly recent. Pal is the MLA from Pathankot’s Bhoa constituency. He was seen addressing some people gathered near a Navratri celebration event.

While he was speaking, a young man was heard from behind the crowd. A man who was wearing a brown shirt was then seen in a frame being shooed away by the security personnel of the MLA. At first, Pal ignored the man and continued his speech. However, when the man continued to shout from behind, Pal asked his security officers to let him pass. He handed over the mic to the man and asked him to say whatever he had to say on the mic.

As soon as the man said on the mic, “What have you done?” the MLA started assaulting him. The man suffered several blows to his head before the police personnel, and the MLA’s followers joined in to assault the man further. He was seen getting severely beaten up by the people present at the scene, including the police officials.

The man tried to escape, but the crowd held him down and kept beating him. Shortly after they started beating the young man, another policeman intervened and stopped the crowd to let the man let go.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, State Home Minister, said, “The MLA should not have behaved in this fashion. We are the people’s representatives and here to serve them.”

Another video of Pal also surfaced in which he was seen losing his cool. It appears that MLA, who was standing near a helicopter, was upset as Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had cancelled a visit to his constituency. In the video, a man was seen trying to calm MLA Pal down, but he shrugged him away and left the ground. 

Punjab assembly elections

The incident is going to make it further difficult for the Congress party in the upcoming assembly elections scheduled for early 2022. Notably, former CM Captain Amarinder Singh has recently announced that he would float his own party for the upcoming elections. He also hinted at an alliance with BJP on the condition that the Centre finds a logical solution for the ongoing farmer protests ‘that benefit the farmers’.

‘Chunavi Hindu’ Rahul Gandhi says Ramayana author Valmiki gave the ‘idea for India’s constitution’

OpIndia Staff
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‘Chunavi Hindu’ Rahul Gandhi says Ramayana author Valmiki gave the ‘idea for India’s constitution’

In yet another bizzare comment, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi credited the Ramayana author sage Valmiki for giving India the ‘idea of Constitution’. He made the comment while addressing a rally on Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti.

Insinuating Maharishi Valmiki to be a Dalit leader, while flagging off a ‘Shobha Yatra’ in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said, “People of India used in the constitution the ideology that was propagated by Valmiki ji. Today we see attacks on his ideology & on poor Dalit brothers & sisters.” 

In what seemed like replacing ‘Idea of India’ with ‘Idea of Valmikiji’, the Congress leader was heard saying, “Valmiki ji showed a path to the nation. His message was about love & brotherhood. Today when we see India, we see his message being attacked. Our constitution is a constitution of Valmiki ji’s ideology.” 

He further added that the Indian constitution is not new, but it is old. As the things said by Valmiki have been incorporated into the constitution by the people of India. He then added that thoughts of Valmiki in the constitution and the Dalit community in the country are being attacked.

Promising to protect the Dalits from this ‘attack’, Gandhi added, “I would like to give a message to the Dalit brothers and sisters that Congress party will stop these attacks. The more they break the country, the more we will connect the country. The more they spread hatred, the more we will speak of love & brotherhood.” 

Interestingly, with several state assembly elections in sight, the Congress party has decided to launch its ‘Shobha Yatra’ on the birth anniversary of a sage who authored the epic on Hindu god they once disbelieved in. 

Congress and the ‘myth’ of Ramayana

“The Ramayana may have moved millions since civilisation took root, but for the Centre, Valmiki’s tale of Lord Ram lacks scientific and historical veracity,” Congress-led UPA government had told the Supreme Congress in 2007. 

Supporting the Sethusamudram project that would have destroyed the Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu, the Manmohan Singh government in an affidavit to Supreme Court had said, “Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas admittedly form an important part of ancient Indian literature, but these cannot be said to be historical records to incontrovertibly prove the existence of the characters and occurrences of events depicted therein.”

Fourteen years later, the leader of the Congress party has thanked the same sage for giving the ‘ideology for Indian constitution.’ 

Netizens react

Social media users were quick to educate the Congress leader and helped him differentiate between Maharishi Valmiki- the author of Hindu epic Ramayana and BR Ambedkar- a prominent architect of the Indian Constitution. 

“Wow, did not know Ambedkar was a ghost writer for Valmiki’s constitution,” wrote a user. 

Taking a dig at the Congress leader, another user Tweeted, “He just has one template and keeps changing the variables of it. Today’s variable is Valmiki.”

“Ok then make Ramayana as National Rule book. Full support,” demanded another user. 

Mumbai’s NDPS court rejects Aryan Khan’s bail plea, may spend Diwali in custody

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai’s NDPS court rejects Aryan Khan’s bail plea, may spend Diwali in custody

Mumbai’s Special NDPS Court on Wednesday has rejected Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s bail plea in connection with the high-profile Mumbai Cruise drug bust case.

The bail plea of Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha have also been rejected by the special court. 

As per reports, Aryan Khan will now have to approach the Bombay High Court and file a fresh petition seeking bail. Junior Khan is currently lodged in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail. 

Suspected involvement of foreign nationals

We reported earlier on how Anil Singh who is representing NCB referring to a sensitive Whatsapp chat of Aryan Khan hinted at the involvement of foreign nationals regarding bulk procurement of hard drugs.

It was also reported earlier that NCB had submitted Aryan’s WhatsApp chats in court. The chats were reportedly between Aryan and a debut actress.

He had also opposed his bail petition and said that it was misconceived at this stage. While the investigation was still going on, NCB feared the accused may influence the probe if released on bail at this stage.

This is a developing story.

Maharashtra: Fans of Mughal bigot Aurangzeb get offended by Facebook post, stone-pelting leaves four policemen injured

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: Fans of Mughal bigot Aurangzeb get offended by Facebook post, stone-pelting leaves four policemen injured

As many as four policemen have been injured after an unruly mob of around 150 people in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad took to the streets to protest against a social media post that allegedly criticised Mughal bigot Aurangzeb.

The incident took place on Tuesday night at 10:30 PM in the Vijay Chowk area. As per the police, the mob expressing their anger over a Facebook post pelted stones on vehicles and vandalized banners and hoardings. 

Four policemen including Inspector Surve sustained injuries when trying to control the violent mob. “The mob vandalized a hoarding, a police vehicle and an auto-rickshaw in Vijay Chowk area. Four policemen, including an officer, were injured while they were trying to stop the mob,” confirmed Osmanabad city police station’s inspector Suresh Budhwant to PTI. 

Auto vandalized by the violent mob. Image Source: Osmanabad Live

A case has been registered against 43 people who were named and over 150 unnamed protestors under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. 

As per Osmanabad Live, a local news portal, it all started with a group of people from a particular community removing a Hindu religious flag hoisted at the Chowk during Navratri and replacing it with their flag on the occasion of their religious festival. 

This led to tensions between the two groups after which using a social media post as an excuse, the unruly mob resorted to stone-pelting and vandalism.

We reported earlier on how social media is used by Islamists to validate attack, murder, arson and vandalism. Be it the Bengaluru riots over an alleged Facebook post or the systematic attack on Hindus in Bangladesh, a stray Facebook post is always cited as the reason to justify violence.  

SIT releases six photos of suspects who lynched BJP workers on October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri

OpIndia Staff
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SIT releases six photos of suspects who lynched BJP workers on October 3 violence in Lakhimpur Kheri

Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Uttar Pradesh Police investigating the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence has released six photographs of suspects who had allegedly lynched three BJP workers during farmers’ protest. According to the media reports the faces of the suspected persons are visible in the photographs and videos of the incident in the possession of SIT. In photographs unknown suspects are seen standing close to burning SUV with sticks and black flags.

Other than the BJP workers, a journalist and four farmers had died during the violence. Protesters accused that a convoy of vehicles including one owned by Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra ran over the protesters killing four farmers on the spot. In the subsequent violence, protesters lynched BJP workers. Deceased BJP workers were identified as Shubham Mishra, Shyam Sunder Nishad, and Hari Om Mishra. Deceased journalist was Raman Kashyap who became a victim of brutality. The police is currently trying to ascertain whether the attack on BJP workers was planned or ‘retaliatory’.

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had formed the SIT following the incident. SIT has urged people to identify suspects in the photographs and released four mobile numbers on which people can give information to SIT about them. While the name of informers will not be disclosed, the SIT has also announced cash prizes on useful information without mentioning the amount as cash prize.

Right after the SIT displayed pictures of suspects the Congress-left oriented human right groups and activists started to criticize the SIT. Activist Trilochan Singh Gandhi, an activist criticized the police for sharing pictures of farmers without identifying their names or without evidence of their role in the violence may put them in peril. 

But ADG (Lucknow zone) SN Sabat rubbished the allegation and said that the display of the picture was part of the legal process that doesn’t violate human rights.

So far, SIT has collected around 100 videos of October 3 violence. In the past  five days SIT issued notices to three dozen people to record their statement. On Tuesday, the SIT recorded statements of seven persons who were present at the site. In this case the police have arrested 10 people, including minister’s son for the deaths of the farmers.

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