A young woman created mayhem on the streets of Pune on Tuesday night under the influence of alcohol.
The video of the incident has gone viral on the internet in which a young lady, heavily intoxicated, was seen in the middle of a busy road in Pune city. The woman with red and black attire was seen disrupting traffic in the area for some time.
The lady was seen sleeping, performing stretching exercises in the middle of the road before rolling on the busy street.
According to the reports, the young lady had lost her control due to overconsumption of alcohol. She sat near Hirabaug chowk in the city, blocking vehicular movement, the police said.
The incident took place late Tuesday night in the Swargate area here in Maharashtra. The woman got up and went away after the police reached the spot.
“The incident took place near Hirabaug around 11 pm on Tuesday. We received a call from some people that a woman was creating a scene on the road. However, when she saw police personnel approaching her, she got up and went away,” Swargate police station’s senior inspector Balasaheb Kopnar said.
The police have not registered any case in connection with the incident so far.
The Gujarat state Goods and Services Tax (SGST) department made a major breakthrough with the arrest of the mastermind in the Rs 900 crore bogus billing scam. Mohammad Abbas Rafiqali Meghani alias MM was arrested from a hideout in Bhavnagar. Meghani was the ninth person arrested in the fake bills scam case.
The police received a tip-off about Meghani’s whereabouts following which they laid a siege to arrest him. Meghani tried to escape from the backdoor but the police officials managed to nab and arrest him.
The state police had so far raided at least 71 locations spanning across the state and uncovered total bogus billing or fake transactions worth Rs 1,741 crores. An illegal Input Tax Credit worth Rs 319 crore has been claimed thus far. Afzal Sajwani and Meenaben Rathod were among those arrested during the raids.
Meghani’s involvement in the case came to the fore during search operations conducted at Sajwani’s residence.
“We have in our possession evidence that establishes Meghani’s involvement in the case. He was operating 25 firms and had availed illegal ITC to the tune of Rs 135 crore using bogus bills worth Rs 739 crore. We have arrested him,” the state GST department said.
The police also identified the role of Shabana Kalliwala, the owner of Bhavnagar-based HK Metals, in connection with the fake bill scam. The police found HK Metals claimed ITC to the tunes of Rs 16 crore based on fake bills worth Rs 87 crores. Shabana was arrested for her involvement in the fake billing scam.
As the investigation into the bogus bills scam has progressed, the size of the fraud committed has only swelled since it was first unearthed on July 7. The scam came to light after police found Madhav Copper Limited involved in a fake billing scam. The organisation had reportedly used fake bills worth Rs 425 crores to claim an input tax credit of Rs 75 crores. The company has so far evaded taxes worth Rs 137 crores and its chairman, Nilesh Patel continues to remain on the lam, even after being summoned by the SGST department.
On August 4, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress leader Ravneet Singh Bittu had a face-off outside Parliament building over the three Farm Laws that were enacted in September 2020. In a video shared by News agency ANI, Bittu was seen blaming Kaur for supporting central government over the bills while she was a union minister.
#WATCH | Delhi: A verbal spat broke out between Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu over Central Government’s three Farm Laws. pic.twitter.com/y9oAykOzy1
The spat between the two leaders started when Bittu noticed Kaur staging protests against the three Agriculture laws. He approached her and called her out for her alleged “fake protest”. He said when the bills were passed in the Parliament in September 2020, Kaur was a union minister. She, along with other leaders from the Badal family, did not do anything to stop the laws. He said, “For two months, your party was supporting the laws. Why are you faking a protest now.”
The argument over Badal’s resignation
During the spat, Bittu kept claiming that Kaur resigned from her post only after the bills were passed in the Parliament. Notably, she had announced her retirement a few hours after the bills were passed in Lok Sabha. The Agriculture Bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 20, 2020, three days after they were passed in Lok Sabha.
While denying the allegations raised by Bittu, Kaur said that Congress Party’s Rahul Gandhi was not present in the Parliament when the laws were passed. She further added that the Congress Party helped in the passage of the bills in Lok Sabha by walking out during the discussion. Meanwhile, Kaur kept raising slogans urging the government to take back the Agriculture laws.
The question over absence of Sukhbir Badal
Bittu questioned the absence of Akali MP Sukhbir Singh Badal from the Parliament. He said for two months, Sukhbir Singh Badal kept speaking in favour of the Agriculture laws. “Even now, he is absent from the Parliament. Ask them where is Akali president Sukhbir Singh Badal? Why has he not come to Parliament for five days? He is doing press conferences in Punjab,” he said and walked into the Parliament.
Kaur’s protest against Agriculture laws
For the last few days, Harsimrat Kaur has been staging a protest outside Parliament urging opposition leaders to join her quest to force the government to repeal the farm laws. On July 31, she had given a statement that she had approached leaders from Congress, TMC, and DMK to support her raising voice against the laws, but no one paid heed to her request. “I approached leaders from Congress, TMC & DMK to raise issues together. But it is sad that no one has bothered to show up today. Till the time the opposition will not unite, the government will continue to benefit,” she said.
Delhi | I approached leaders from Congress, TMC & DMK to raise issues together. But it is sad that no one has bothered to show up today. Till the time the opposition will not unite, the government will continue to benefit: Harsimrat Kaur, leader, Shiromani Akali Dal leader pic.twitter.com/UPxK1ScCqF
Kaur had given the statement after meeting President Ram Nath Kovind over the laws. As per the reports, she had led a delegation of SAD, including members of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and submitted a memorandum to the President requesting him to take action in the matter.
Six Trinamool Congress MPs have been asked to withdraw for the day after they created a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha today.
6 TMC MPs, Dola Sen, Md. Nadimul Haque, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Shanta Chhetri, Arpita Ghosh & Mausam Noor directed to withdraw from Rajya Sabha for their unruly behaviour. pic.twitter.com/WB4BadJ5lK
Dola Sen, Md. Nadimul Haque, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Shanta Chhetri, Arpita Ghosh and Mausam Noor had entered the well of the House and displayed placards, disobeyed the Chair and had a grossly disorderly conduct in the House.
In the video clip above, one can see TMC MPs walking towards the Chair with placards in their hands in strange slow motion.
Taking the toll to four, the District of Columbia’s police department on Monday informed that two more police officers who responded to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol have died by suicide.
Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida, who had joined the district police in 2003, was found dead in his home Thursday. Another MPD officer Kyle DeFreytag who guarded the building on the day of the riot was found dead on July 10.
Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson Kristen Metzger in a statement to CNN said, “We are grieving as a Department and our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Hashida’s family and friends.”
At the fag end of January, the force had confirmed the news of two officers taking their own lives after the attack. Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert J. Contee had remarked, “Tragically, two officers who were at the Capitol on January 6th, one each from the Capitol Police and MPD, took their own lives in the aftermath of that battle.”
As many as 100 police officers were injured and around four killed in the US Capitol insurrection in January this year.
Suicide rates in US defense forces at an all-time high
As per reports, the menace of suicide among the defence forces remains one of the major causes of fatalities among the US Armed Forces. The suicide rate among active-duty troops jumped to a six-year high in 2020, a report released by Pentagon said.
In 2019, the rate of suicide among active-duty troops was 25.9 per 100,000 troops. The rate was 24.9 per 100,000 in 2018, and 21.9 per 100,000 in 2017. The rate has shown a steady increase from 2014 when the rate was 18.5 per 100,000 service members.
However, the US Army General refused to acknowledge the growing threat in a recent Twitter banter for which he faced a huge backlash.
“He loves her..he loves her not..” Remember the silly game played with a rose by the hero and heroines of the 90s Bollywood movies to determine whether he loves her or not. Well, a similar game is being played by the mainstream media and the left faction to assert that forced religious conversion of Hindu women to Islam in name of ‘love’ is figment of ‘right wing’ imagination. This, despite ample evidence which suggests otherwise.
India is probably the only country where perpetrators become victims and victims become radicals. Here anything and everything Hindu is quickly branded as offensive, archaic, unsecular, radical and extreme by the so-called liberals. Be it the religious chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, an organization to protect temples or simply a man wearing saffron and sporting a teeka.
So much so, that even forceful and rampant religious conversions plaguing the country has been termed as a Hindu right-wing conspiracy. Cases of Grooming Jihad, more commonly known as ‘love jihad’ fly in from every part of the country. From luring a Hindu woman disguising as a Hindu man, bribing Hindu men of jobs and marriage on conversion to converting deaf and mute kids to push them into terrorism. There’s no dearth of cases to indicate how the foreced religious conversion industry works like a well-oiled and planned machinery.
But of course, the mainstream media and the left ecosystem have once again have turned a blind eye to Hindu (even Sikhs and Christians) victims.
And why not? When the perpetrator belongs to a certain favorite ‘minority’, one will send ‘hazaar lanaats’ to everyone except the one behind the gun, or in the case of Love Jihad the one shielding behind a Hindu name.
Whitewashing of forced religious conversions
Enough and more cases of forceful religious conversions have come to the fore in the past few years. However, the mainstream media covered it as per their whims and fancies. Subsequently, they began to take a keen interest in covering cases of Love Jihad, Grooming Jihad and even forced conversions.
However, it is imperative to note that this was not out of love for the victims, but as a counter to the term ‘Love Jihad’. From calling it a ‘conspiracy’ to calling it a term to label ‘interfaith marriages’, here is how the mainstream media with its obvious disclaimer has been trying to water down the unconstitutional act.
In a news on Allahabad Court denying bail to a Love Jihad accused, Times Now chose to rant about the alleged conspiracy before ending the article with a few words on the actual news.
Screenshot of a Times Now report
“Radical Hindu organizations have coined the phrase ‘love jihad’ to refer to an alleged campaign by Muslim men to convert Hindu girls under the idea of love. It gained credibility, however, when the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh signed it into law,” read the Times Now report.
In an under investigation case of Love Jihad, The Indian Express in its report said, “They claimed the woman was a minor and called it a case of ‘love jihad’, a term used by right wing outfits to allege marriage for conversion.”
Screenshot of a Indian Express report
Hindustan Times, in a bizarre description, says, “….accused the four of ‘love jihad’, the term some Hindu groups use to describe relationships between Muslim men and Hindu women. The groups use the term to describe what they believe is an organized conspiracy of Muslim men to trick Hindu women into marriage.”
Screenshot of a Hindustan Times report
How could the charlatans of liberalism stay behind? Rajdeep Sardesai who currently is being mocked on social media for his ‘Rosogulla with Mamata Banerjee’ anecdote, too penned down an opinion piece to discredit the raging issue of forced conversions.
In a long rant against “a word that gets him really angry”, Sardesai too in the first paragraph itself called Love Jihad a conspiracy of “…a deep hatred for minorities, especially Muslims, and the manner, in particular, in which this Islami-phobia that has seeped into the minds of many is being normalized.”
In another case of letting love for a minority overpower, the left cabal dismissed the claims of even Syro-Malabar Church accusing Muslims of Love Jihad.
Screenshot of ThePrint article
Of course, because using Hindus made no sense here, Fatima Khan- the writer of this ThePrint article claimed, “‘Love jihad’ is a term coined by religious fundamentalist groups, alleging a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert non-Muslim girls in the guise of love.”
How grave is the problem of ‘forced conversion’?
We have covered over two dozen cases of forced religious conversions in different forms.
Muslim men pose as Hindus to lure minor Hindu/ Dalit girls
Making a Facebook account in the name of a Lakshmi to befriend a Hindu girl, introducing as Lakhsmikant only to reveal to be a Siraj Ali. Multiple such cases of Grooming Jihad have been reported from all across the county, where a Siraj Ali or a Dilshad pose as a Lakshmikant or Dilip to befriend Hindu girls, lure them into marriage and force them to convert.
In most cases, leaving the minor girl pregnant.
Training women to lure Hindu women into Islam
A woman from Lucknow has lodged an FIR in the Indiranagar police station against her husband Ashraf and mother-in-law, accusing them of running a ‘Love Jihad’ racket, among other offences.
The woman in her complaint said, “Ashraf (the complainant’s husband) married a Hindu girl eventually and renamed her Madiha. She was later shifted to the shrine where she was given training in weaponry.”
She also accused her husband of pressurizing her into befriending non-Muslim women and getting them home.
Mute and deaf children converted to Islam
After one Umar Gautam was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh ATS it was revealed that the accused targeted deaf and mute children under the grab of ‘motivation camps’ to convert them and push them into terrorism.
As per reports, Umar was being funded by ISI to carry out illegal conversions in Uttar Pradesh.
Muslim family lures a woman by promising decent life
One Nikita Saini- a resident of Jalandhar, informed that she was trapped by her husband Arfin Shah and his family into marrying him when they got to know of her previously failed marriage.
The Shah family approached Saini telling her that they look for such women and get them married so they can lead a respectful life in society. Shah’s mother then pressured her into marrying her already married son saying they will take good care of her after marriage.
Upon agreeing to marry she was taken to Uttar Pradesh to perform Nikah where her name was changed to Nafeeza from Nikita.
Man electrocuted on resisting conversions
We reported last week, how one Nitin Pant was forced into accepting Islam on the pretext of job and marriage. On resisting, Pant was threatened at gunpoint and even given electric shocks by the accused.
Here, let me reiterate that a relationship where the non-Muslim woman willingly converts to Islam to marry a Muslim man or where the non-Muslim woman marries a Muslim man and does not convert her religion, these are not frowned upon or referred to as ‘love jihad’ cases. ‘Love jihad’ or ‘grooming jihad’ cases are specifically where the element of forced religious conversion, whether through blackmail is there. Or if the perpetrator hides his religious identity to lure a woman into the relationship. That these things are criminal behaviour and shows that the intent was to cheat the woman is lost on the ‘liberals’ who continue to stay in denial mode.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media and the left ecosystem, to pacify its ideological urge have shut eyes to the forced conversion menace. Only, their denial of the problem does not result in the disappearance of it.
After Noorpur, it is now the Hindu families of Shiv Mandir Colony, Moradabad who have put up their houses for sale. As many as 81 families are planning a mass exodus, reportedly after being harassed continuously by their Muslim neighbors who have recently shifted to the colony.
Why are the families planning a mass exodus?
As per reports, 81 Hindu families have hung posters outside their homes which read, “Mass Exodus, Shiv Mandir Colony, Lajpat Nagar, Moradabad, for sale, contact colony residents.”
‘House on Sale’ posters in Moradabad’s Shiv Mandir Colony. Image Source: Republic TV
Narrating their fear, the locals informed that houses at both the gates of the colony were sold to Muslims at an exorbitant rate. Some recent incidents have made them fear that they will no longer be safe there.
A local revealed that the families had discarded the carcasses of animals on the recently concluded Bakri Eid in the lanes of the colony causing great inconvenience. The locals allege that the dogs in the colony dragged these leftovers to a Shiv temple in the colony. Reports suggest that most families in the colony are vegetarians.
In an interview with Republic TV, one local said, “It has become difficult for children to remain at home, cannot go to the terrace, cannot play in the streets, problems are becoming bigger.”
Families agree to mass exodus
Another local informed that the decision to put up posters was taken after taking permission of families. “Each and every house agreed,” the local added.
As per an ABP News report, 30% of the houses in the colony now have Muslim families living. Locals also alleged that the houses were being purchased at prices multiple times higher the normal rate. A house worth Rs 50 lakhs was being purchased at Rs 3 crores on which the locals have demanded an inquiry.
Police looking into the matter
Brajesh Pathak, the Uttar Pradesh Law Minister informed Republic TV that a probe is on in the matter. The ADG of Bareilly zone reacting to the news piece has ordered the Morabadad police to look into the matter.
Moradabad DM Shailendra Kumar said that the matter is under investigation and the police along with the administration are trying to resolve the matter between the two communities amicably.
A man identified as VJ Sebastian Francis from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court for directions on the extradition of his daughter Sonia Sabastian alias Ayisha and his 7-year-old granddaughter. They are currently lodged in a jail in Afghanistan. Ayisha had left India to join the terrorist group ISIS.
In his petition, Francis said that the authorities should take necessary action to extradite his daughter and granddaughter. He said, “Internationally, a lenient approach has been taken against the women foreign terrorist fighters…owing to the stand taken by the countries that women only played ancillary roles and therefore could not pose any significant threat to national security.”
He further claimed that the issue was urgent as the political and administrative scene in Afghanistan would change substantially after the exit of US troops. Blaming the Centre for not facilitating the extradition, he alleged that the government’s stand was illegal and unconstitutional. He also alleged it was a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Reportedly, When Ayisha left India to join ISIS, a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was filed against her. In 2017, Interpol also issued a Red Corner notice against her. After she reached Afghanistan, her husband was killed in the war, and she had to surrender to Afghan forces in November 2019 along with other women.
Francis added in a plea that in March 2020, an interview was published on YouTube titled ‘Khorasan Files: The journey of Indian Islamic State Widows‘ in which she allegedly made a statement that she regretted the decision to join ISIS and wanted to return to India and face a fair trial before the court. He said since the interview, there had been no information about the whereabouts of Ayisha and her daughter. “Since the defeat of the ISIS in Afghanistan, the Taliban has been seeking immediate withdrawal of American forces from its soil… It is anticipated that subsequent to the withdrawal of the American forces, the Taliban and Islamic republic of Afghanistan may enter into a war, in which case the foreign terrorist fighters could be hanged to death,” he added.
Ayisha was born a Catholic Christian who later entered into a relationship with one Abdulla Abdul Rashid alias Rishi during the time she was studying for engineering. She got influenced by the Islamic discourse by the time she moved to Bengaluru to pursue MBA. Later she converted to Islam but did not disclose the information to her parents. Her relationship with Rashid came to light in 2010 when they found her performing Namaz.
When they opposed her actions, she married Rashid. Later, they came under the influence of ISIS and left India to join the terrorist organization. They were stationed at Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. During military operations by the Afghan forces in 2019, Rashid died.
In the application, Francis mentioned that an extradition treaty was signed with Afghanistan in 2016, and the instruments of ratification for the said treaty were exchanged at Kabul in November 2019. “By virtue of the extradition treaty, each contracting state has agreed to extradite any person convicted or accused of an offence committed within the territory of one State but is found in the territory of another State,” the petition read.
Govt of India had denied return of four Kerala based women who joined ISIS
The government of India had announced that it would not allow the return of four Kerala based women who had joined ISIS including Ayisha. Bindu Sampath, the mother of ISIS terrorist Nimisha Fathima said, “I’ve heard that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very kind-hearted person. I have full faith in him.” Bindu lamented that she had not received any communication from the Indian government so far. “But I am very positive because there will be other views also in the government. I am banking on that. I believe in God. I am sure that God will create a situation for her return,” she had opined.
Sonia Sebastian became Ayisha, went to join ISIS with her husband Abdullah Rashid
According to the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2017, Sebastian had left India in 2016 to join the ISKP in Afghanistan along with a group of 21 men and women from Kerala. They had crossed over to Afghanistan on foot from Iran. The NIA said Sebastian, from Kasargod in Kerala, left India on May 31, 2016, with her husband, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, from Mumbai airport.
Apart from Sonia alias Ayisha, three other Kerala women, Merrin Jacob alias Mariyam, Nimisha alias Fathima, and another woman named Raffaela, are currently lodged in various Afghan prisons after the fall of ISIS.
In an interview with The Hindu, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, talked about the importance of his personal faith and how he separates traditions from superstitions. He was asked if his personality prioritizes dharma or politics, he said dharma comes first as part of his personality. He explained that dharma is not just about worshipping a deity or following rituals. It is also about the duty that inspires him to work in the interest of the country and society.
“I consider ‘puja paddhatti’ a matter of personal faith. You don’t have the right to interfere in my faith. And nor do I have the right to interfere in your personal faith. But my dharma makes me persistent towards my national duty,” he added.
‘I believe in God, I reject the idea of superstitions’
It is a common belief in the political arena that whichever Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has gone to Noida has lost the next elections. Following the superstition, many CMs, including SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, never visited Noida. However, after becoming CM, Yogi Adityanath has visited Noida and Bijnore (another district rumoured to be jinxed) several times. When the reporters asked him if he feels visiting Noida risky, he said there is no question of such risk.
CM Yogi said, “I’m the Chief Minister of the whole State, and it cannot be only attached to my personal ambition, so if Noida and Bijnore are considered a jinx, it cannot come in the way of my work.” He added that BJP had won Lok Sabha elections and several other polls after he visited Noida. “I’m a man who believes in God, but not superstition or orthodoxy. I pray, visit temples, follow the traditions of my order, and I reject the idea of any heaven that may accrue due to following superstitions. I want to achieve rewards through my karma,” he added.
‘Anyone who broke the law faced action from the government’
While discussing law and order in the state and concerns regarding caste politics and caste-appeasement, CM Yogi said his government never discriminated against anyone based on their religion or caste. If gangster Vikas Dubey who died in an encounter, was a Brahmin, the Deputy Superintendent of Police who was killed during the raid on his house was also a Brahmin. BSP’s and other opposition parties’ allegations that his government is against Brahmins is only political, Yogi Adityanath said.
He said, “Since when is the BSP a champion of Brahmin samaj? Their old slogans reflect their attitudes. Neither SP nor BSP has the right to speak about social cohesion as they have advocated conflict between communities. They are trying to hunt for their lost social base, which has come to the BJP.”
Talking about the NSA and matters related to property confiscation of rioters, he added, “Justice has to be equal for all, and we cannot look at it in the prism of caste, community. The gaze of justice should be the same for all. When we are in government, we must be ready to do justice for the law-abiding citizen.” He said his government never invoked National Security Act (NSA) in wrong cases. Every case in which NSA was invoked was backed with a reason that was presented in the courts and in the advisory boards.
CM Yogi said that there was a conspiracy of riots in the state that forced the government to bring the ordinance on property damage and take action. “It is nobody’s fundamental right to destroy public property. If they do so, then the State has the right to bring in a law to provide for restitution of that damage through claim over property,” he said.
The state has confiscated properties worth Rs.1,600 crores from the big mafia under the Gangster Act. “If anyone has broken the law, then the government has come down heavily on them. This is necessary to rein in those who think they can break the law with impunity,” he said.
Covid management in the state
There were allegations that dead bodies were found floating in Ganga and buried in shallow graves on Ganga’s banks. CM Yogi said such burials have been happening for ages, and it is not a new practice. It happened during the tenures of SP and BSP as well. When the Namami Gange project was implemented, such burials were discouraged, and campaigns were initiated to sanitise the public against such practices. However, these practices again started during Covid, and the administration took immediate action as soon as they came to know about it.
The CM explained that in Hindu traditions too, there are three ways of performing last rites, ground burial, cremation, and water burial. There are certain time frames where cremation cannot take place. The government has been taking steps to raise awareness to prevent water burials and shallow ground burials on the banks of Ganga.
The CM said, “You must recall, in Balrampur district, someone associated with the SP or Congress took the body of his relative who had passed away in Balrampur hospital, and he threw the relative’s body from a bridge into the river. We filed an FIR and arrested the man. These things have happened in the past. He explained that
The country is dealing with the pandemic of the century. The CM said that the state government is taking every possible step to managing Covid-19, however, during the second wave, the pressure on the hospitals increased exponentially. The people were in a panic, and some even reserved beds in hospitals with the help of hospital staff. Those people who created panic are no less responsible, he added.
He said during the first wave, his government made sure that the students and migrant workers stranded in other states get support to get back to Uttar Pradesh. Though some MLAs are raising voice over alleged mismanagement, there are reasons behind it. He said, “When you create a panic situation among the public, and the public starts making noise, these people (MLAs) are under compulsion to speak in the same tone. They were just a few. Not more than two-three.”
He said though the court had ordered to divert medical oxygen from GB Nagar and Ghaziabad to Delhi, UP did not deny the patients that were coming from Delhi for treatment. “The Central government provided us oxygen from other places,” he added. The state is not hiding the reporting of the deaths. The state has done over four lakh tests per day, and even today, the state is doing maximum tests though the positivity rate is around 0.015%.
CM Yogi added that he conducted a survey and found only 32% of villages had symptomatic patients while the other 68% had no symptoms. He further added that only 4,000 kids were orphaned in the entire UP due to Covid and non-COVID deaths. A total number of 22,700 people lost their lives in the state. “There is nothing to hide. There must have been a death somewhere? Someone’s father or brother would have died. All this will come up. You cannot hide data of deaths. If you have conducted a test, you would also get a result. And the data is linked to the national portal. Nobody can fudge data in that. All those saying this don’t have information about the ground reality.”
Beautification of temples
Under the Chief Minister Tourism Promotion Scheme, MLAs were asked to propose religious or tourist spots for beautification irrespective of which religion they belonged. The CM said that if an MLA had proposed a dargah, the state would have provided funds for its development. However, “because now even SP people are prioritising mandirs instead of a dargah or a mosque, mostly temples have been proposed,” he added.
Farmers’ protests
CM Yogi said that the Union government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has done a lot of work for the benefit of the farmers. Schemes like PM Fasal Beema Yojana, PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, 1.5 times MSP, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and others are being provided without any discrimination. Even in the state of Uttar Pradesh, between 2007-2017, only Rs.95,000 crore were paid to the sugarcane farmers. Under the BJP government in the last 4.5 years, the government has made payments of Rs.1.4 lakh crores.
The farmer protests are politically motivated, and such campaigns would not get support from people and farmers in the state, he said. “The recent panchayat elections have proven that. Barring Baghpat, the BJP won all seats in west UP.”
Kanwar Yatra and population control bill
CM Yogi said that the last time, on his proposal, the Kanwar Yatra was cancelled by Kanwar Sanghs. Even this year, their proposal was presented in court, the government did not impose. The state of UP was against stopping the Yatra forcefully till the last moment.
Talking about the population control bill, CM said that there would be steps taken to control the population in the state, and the bill is in the public domain for comments. The population policy and Act are different things.
The Central government on Tuesday, in response to a question in the Parliament said that no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste. As such, the benefits of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) meant for the welfare and development of Scheduled Castes can not be extended to Converted Christians from Scheduled Castes.
The central govt informed that Andhra Pradesh govt had informed on 30th July 2021 that they have issued orders that non-statutory concessions granted to the Scheduled Castes (Hindus) by the State Government be extended to Scheduled Caste converts to Christian and to Buddhism. The central govt, however, said that the scheme by Andhra Pradesh govt will not apply to benefits extended under the CSS or any other statutory benefits under the Centre.
Extending benefits meant for SC to converted Christians in Andhra
According to reports, an estimated 80 per cent of Christian converts were from the SCs in Andhra Pradesh and they were enjoying the benefits facilitated by the 1977 order which includes allotment of land/house, free electricity, and loans that are intended to benefit SCs.
The Presidential Order of 1950 says that “only those who profess Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions will be considered as Hindu. The moment an existing SC person stops practising and professing the above religions, he ceases to be an SC and no benefit meant for SCs can be extended to him or her.” As such, if an SC person converts to Christianity, he/she would not be eligible for the benefits.
Experts have expressed their concerns regarding the freebies doled out to Christian community by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government. The freebies are not only causing a loss of public money, but these appeasement schemes are also aimed at encouraging ordinary Andhra citizens to convert, experts suggest.
As per the 2011 Census, the Christian community in Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 1.4% of the total population, however, the number of followers of the faith is estimated to be higher in the state due to the rising conversion phenomenon.
In November 2020, the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment directed the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Department to take action against Christian pastors who received honorarium under Disaster Relief Fund by using Hindu SC/OBC caste certificates. Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF), an NGO working in the field of law, had pointed out an alleged scam taking place under the state government scheme to provide honorariums to all religious service rendered in the state.
LRPF had said that real SC/OBC beneficiaries were deprived because Christians grabbed the benefits using their SC/OBC certificates. As per the data obtained through RTI filed by the NGO, it was revealed that 58.14 per cent Christian Pastors have Hindu SC community certificates and 13.37 per cent Christian pastors have Hindu OBC community certificates. The NGO further alleged that the Christian Pastors used their Hindu identities when seeking benefits under government scheme meant for SCs or OBCs and utilised their Christian identity to gain benefits of government schemes intended for Christian pastors.
