As Kerala consistently clocks over 20,000 new Chinese coronavirus cases, the Central government announced that it is sending a 6-member team to Kerala, headed by the director of the National Centre for Disease Control.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to share the update. “Central Government is sending 6 member team to Kerala headed by NCDC Director. As large number of COVID cases are still being reported in Kerala, the team will aid state’s ongoing efforts in #COVID19 management,” he informed.
Central Government is sending 6 member team to Kerala headed by NCDC Director. As large number of COVID cases are still being reported in Kerala, the team will aid state’s ongoing efforts in #COVID19 management.
— Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) July 29, 2021
As per reports, the team will review the situation and aid the civil administration in managing the infection surge.
Kerala recorded 22,056 new Covid-19 cases and 131 fatalities on Wednesday, a few days after the Kerala government had announced relaxations for the celebrations of Bakri Eid.
Kerala announces weekend lockdown
What can be called a stopgap solution, the CPM-led Kerala government in view of rising cases has declared a complete lockdown in Kerala on the coming weekend- July 31 and August 01.
As per a government press release, the districts worst hit by the recent surge in Covid-19 are — Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Kollam, Alappuzha, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kottayam.
Bakri Eid celebrations turn out to be ‘super-spreader’
The Eid-ul-Adha celebrations have turned out to be Covid-19 super-spreader in Kerala, as the state has yet again recorded more than 22,000 new Covid-19 cases creating a wave of panic. Kerala government had given three day relaxation ahead of Eid, where Covid-19 norms were flouted and people gathered in large numbers in markets.
The Muslim-majority in the areas, especially in North Kerala, has reported the maximum number of cases in the state. Kerala now accounts for nearly 53 per cent of the fresh infections in the country.
In sync with the government’s data, the Malappuram district on Tuesday logged the most positive cases with 4,037 cases in a single day, followed by Thrissur, Kozhikode and others.
Meanwhile, India recorded a little over 43,000 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, making Kerala nearly 50% contributor to the caseload.
Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra, who has been sent to 14-day judicial custody in the pornography case, has now been accused of sexual assault. Bollywood actresses Sherlyn Chopra, who had earlier claimed that Raj Kundra was instrumental in getting her into the adult film industry, recently accused him of sexual misconduct.
Chopra in a statement recorded with Mumbai Police said that Raj Kundra tried to kiss her, and she had to hide in the washroom to avoid the situation. “I kept telling him to stop as I was scared. After a while, I somehow managed to push him aside and rushed into the washroom. I stayed in the washroom for some time until he left,” Chopra claimed.
She furthered that Raj Kundra’s marital relationship with Shilpa Shetty was going through a rough patch and he was stressed about it, adding that she did not want to get involved with a married man.
Sherlyn Chopra in her police statement revealed that she had filed an FIR against him in April 2021 alleging sexual assault. He was charged under section 376 of Indian Penal Code r/w section 384, 415, 420, 504 and 506, 354 (a) (b) (d), 509, of Indian Penal Code, 67, 67 (A), of Information Technology Act 2008, sec 3 & 4 of Indecent Representation of Women Act 1986.
In her complaint, she had revealed that in early 2019 Raj Kundra had called her manager for a business proposal. After she met him on March 27, 2019 over the same, she claimed, Raj showed up at her home unannounced due to a heated argument over a text. It was then he tried to sexually assault her, claimed Chopra.
‘Raj Kundra asked me to create content for his HotShots app’: Sherlyn Chopra
Further, in her statement to the Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Police in March 2021, actor Sherlyn Chopra had said that Raj Kundra had urged her to create content for his HotShots app, but she had refused as she found content on his platform to be “sleazy and downmarket”.
Sherlyn Chopra told Mumbai police that in March 2019, that Kundra had approached her business manager with the idea of “The Sherlyn Chopra App”, saying that the content she uploads on social media is free but she could earn if she uploads the content on a customized app.
Sherlyn Chopra and Raj Kundra, the creator of Armprime, signed a deal in March 2019. She stated in her statement that she did not renew her contract with Armsprime because she was unhappy with the existing income sharing scheme of 50/50. She claimed that she had requested that the content on the app be erased when the agreement expired, but that the content was still available on the internet.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Sherlyn was paid Rs 30 lakh for each project, and so far, she had done 15-20 projects for Kundra.
As per reports, Mumbai Police had informed the court that Chopra had been summoned as a witness in the pornography case. Chopra had also claimed that it was Kundra who had ‘pushed’ her into doing pornographic videos.
Even as the border tension between Assam and Mizoram remains delicate, fresh tensions have emerged on the Mizoram – Tripura border. Around 1500 locals from Tripura were forced to take shelter in neighbouring Assam after they were attacked by Bru refugees from Mizoram living in the state.
According to reports, the clashes took place between Bru people living in the Casco relief camp in Damcherra area and people from Chorei, Tripuri and Halam communities on July 26 over the possession of forest land in the area. The people from Bru community, also known as Reang, was displaced by the Mizos from Mizoram in 1997 following large scale violence against them, and have been living in relief camps in Tripura since then. After the efforts to repatriate them to Mizoram by the central govt had failed, last year it was decided that they will be permanently settled in Tripura.
However, locals allege that since that decision in January last year, the Bru people have been dominating the natural resources in the areas where their camps are located. The Brus have been objecting to the local people farming on the forestland, patta of which was given under Forest Rights Act by the government. Efforts by the administration to resolve the conflict had produced no results.
When on 26th July the locals went to take possession of the land, they were allegedly attacked by the Brus living in the Casco camp. The locals had also objected to the Bru people opening shops in the area. When they asked the Brus to close the shops, they refused and started a verbal confrontation, which soon escalated.
Following the heated exchange of words, the Brus and locals clashed using sticks and matchets, injuring several people. Several houses of the locals were destroyed in the attack. According to the police, 32 people were injured in the attack. The police had to fire in the air after arriving at the spot to end the violence. The injured have been admitted to the hospital.
Following the clash, around 1500 people from the minority Halam and Chorei communities crossed over the River Longai and took shelter in Manikbandh, Uricherra and Magura villages in Karimganj district in Assam. The administration in Assam provided them shelter in schools and other community buildings. The locals in the area arranged for their food and other essential items.
The villagers complain that the Brus living in all the six camps in the area have been attacking them frequently over various issues. They said that due to regular violence, some indigenous people have left their villages, which have been captured by the Brus. They also alleged that on several occasions, the refugees have expressed their intention to take over the villages.
“A year after Brus displaced from Western Mizoram in 1997 because of their non-compromising attitude and invading behaviour towards indigenous Mizo community, they have been harassing and committing atrocities on the local people of both tribals and non-tribals and in 23 years 70 per cent of the non-tribal families left their homes and hearths and shifted to other parts. Now, they want to evict the local tribals and capture the land,” a local trader Birmani Halam told the media.
“Casco is one of such spots where the relief camp of Brus is there and also, the state government selected the area to give cluster based rehabilitation of displaced Brus ignoring our united voice. When Brus got confirmation that the state government is sympathetic to them, they now resorted to attack on us to evict us from our ancestral land,” Halam added.
After the locals from Tripura took shelter in Assam, the district administration of Karimganj contacted their counterparts in North Tripura to inform them about the situation. North Tripura Superintendent of Police Bhanupada Chakraborty informed that some villagers have also taken shelter in markets in the affected villages. He said the situation has calmed down now but the administration has continued with section 144 of CrPC in the area to defuse the tension.
He also said that they are trying to bring back the people who have fled to Assam. “We are in the job to find them out and bring them back to their homes. However, we have initiated the investigation into the incidents and the law will take its own course inappropriate time. Now, our effort is to keep normalcy in the villages and maintain peace apart from resolving the issues whatever it is,” Chakraborty said.
Around 30,000 Bru refugees are living in Tripura, and after the triparty agreement in January last year, it was decided to settle them in Tripura as the Brus and the Mizos didn’t agree on terms of repartition. Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb had written to the Union home ministry offering to settle the Bru people in the state. Deb had said that 5,082 families continue to live in camps as they refuse to go back to Mizoram, and hence they should be allowed to settle in Tripura.
Accordingly, the process of rehabilitating the Brus in Tripura have started early this year, and many of them have been rehabilitated in different parts of the state. According to the decision taken in the triparty meeting, they will be given 40×30 square feet residential plots, fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakhs, case aid of Rs 5,000 per month for two years, free ration for two years and Rs 1.5 lakh aid to build their house. They will also get Tribal status, and will have voting rights in Tripura.
After sending ‘hazaar laanat’ to the bullet that took photojournalist Danish Siddique’s life, NDTV’s Ravish Kumar is now trying to send ‘hazaar laanat’ to BJP IT Cell for questioning the Kerala government for a surge in Covid-19 cases.
In a long rant on Facebook, Kumar accused BJP’s IT Cell of everything, even the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, but not once did he mention the ‘not-so-successful’ Kerala model. On the other hand, he questioned the so-called “IT Cell” and BJP supporters for questioning the Kerala government. Did not make much sense? Well, that is the point.
Here is how Ravish Kumar’s monologue made very little sense and seemed like a childish squabble of ‘you did it..no you did it.’
Kumar began his post by claiming that the ‘IT-Cell’ is running a campaign on social networking platforms heckling media for its silence on Kerala. Without uttering a single line on the current worrisome situation of the state, Kumar quickly cross-questioned by asking why this IT-Cell was in hiding during the second wave of the pandemic.
Ravish Kumar’s Facebook post
He also claimed that they refused to help the people in need. Now we are not too sure who Kumar considers as IT-Cell because for the left a 10-year-old referring to Prime Minister Modi as ‘ji’ could also be listed as an IT-Cell. Anyway, assuming Kumar here is referring to BJP leaders and supporters, it was for all of us to see how from a supporter to a karyakarta to a Union Minister responded to as many SOS calls as possible.
In fact, it will be interesting to note how many SOS calls did their favourite youth leader respond to amidst the crisis.
Also for the benefit of the Magsaysay Award winner, with immense efforts and gumption, most of the country is past the second wave. The call for questioning the Kerala government is to ensure that we are not hit by the third wave because of the sloppiness of one state.
Just like Ravish Kumar had focused all of his ‘Hazaar laanats’ not on the Taliban which killed Danish but the bullet, here he is accusing the “IT-cell” for questioning the Kerala government, but not the Kerala government which is clearly failing to control the Covid cases in the state.
Doing what the lobby is best at, Kumar once again asserted that the government is hiding Covid-19 data. Without citing any source, Kumar alleged that the deaths due to the coronavirus could be well above 40 lakhs and added why did the IT-Cell not question the government then.
In a shameful and blatant attempt to fearmonger, Kumar conveniently missed the fact that data collection and health management is a state affair. Oh sorry! The recent ‘no deaths due to lack of oxygen’ spin had unravelled their propaganda already.
Kumar, plausibly concerned about the ‘idea of India’ also questioned why the same IT-Cell chooses to remain quiet on alleged Pegasus snoopgate and rise in petrol prices.
Kumar, in an ironic ending to his sermon, said, “No government must be shielded on their failure of tackling corona. Not even the Kerala government. Modi government’s failure in the second wave is evident. We cannot discount that.”
How to pin the blame on someone for someone else’s failure, is an art to learn from the left lobby.
To conclude, Kumar recommended a ‘must-watch’ TheWire exclusive (not-so-explosive one this time) interview. In this, one expert from the US who claimed the worst was over in February, blames the Modi government for the second wave of the pandemic.
In a 50-minute interview to Karan Thapar, Bhramar Mukherjee who as TheWire quoted is “one of the United States’ most highly regarded professors of biostatistics, epidemiology and global public health, who has done path-breaking work on India’s COVID-19 experience at the University of Michigan” claimed that the second wave could have been averted if the Centre acted on time.
Mukherjee in the interview said, “To summarise, had action taken place at any time in March, it is plausible that more than 90% of observed cases and deaths between March 1 and May 15 could have been potentially avoided.” We reported earlier multiple times on how the Centre had alerted states of the plausible second wave including special meetings with Maharashtra which was the one to be affected by the second wave.
While Mukherjee blamed Assam’s election rally for the rise in cases in the North East (conveniently leaving out West Bengal), she provided a ‘balanced view’ on the current situation in Kerala, still claiming that it protected its people better than the other states.
‘Journalist’ Rana Ayyub on Thursday credited Islam for ‘cupping’, an alternative therapy used by swimmers in competitive sporting events. Ayyub claimed that cupping, which was used by Greek physician Hippocrates was a ‘traditional Muslim practice’.
Rana Ayyub’s now deleted tweet
In a now-deleted tweet, Ayyub claimed that Prophet Muhammad called it one of the best medicines.
Cupping is an ancient alternate healing method aimed to treat pain. It involves creating suction to skin via glass cups using heat or vacuum.
It is believed that Greek physician Hippocrates used the same. Hippocrates lived between c. 460 – c. 370 BC. However, Ayyub credited it as Muslim practice when Islam as a religion was created in 7th century, a couple of centuries after Hippocrates died.
Cupping has been practiced across centuries and through civilisations and continues to be used even now even though some medical experts believe it is pseudo science and dispute the benefits of the same.
On July 26, OpIndia editor-in-chief Nupur J Sharma spoke to Ritu (name changed) a victim of TMC atrocities which was unleashed in West Bengal after the party’s victory in the recent assembly elections. She had narrated her agony and the helplessness of victims in the state due to police apathy.
After being gang-raped by TMC goons in front of her father, Ritu and her father were continuously harassed by the police, pressuring them to give a different version of the events and to get it on record. Ritu told us that she has even got threatening phone calls telling her that if she dares to go to the police, she will get raped by the police too.
Now, yesterday (July 28, Wednesday), Ritu claimed that she was forcefully taken to the local TMC hoodlum Mamun Sheikh, on whose behest she was gang-raped by TMC goons on May 2, 2021. They pressurized her to take back her rape complaint file a complaint with the NHRC. They also threatened her to either join TMC or face dire consequences.
Update: Ritu (name changed) was taken today to the very people who raped her. They threatened her to either join TMC or face dire consequences. She narrated her plight to @advmonikaarora and a subsequent complaint to NHRC has been filed by her.
The victims narrated her plight to Supreme Court advocate Monika Aroroa and a subsequent complaint to NHRC has been filed by her.
In the complaint filed with NHRC on July 28, Ritu (name changed) sumarized the series of threats and intimidations meted out at her ever since she filed her first complaint with the NHRC, in which Ritu had detailed the barbarity that was heaped upon her and her father.
Copy of Ritu’s (name changed) second complaint filed with NHRC
In her NHRC compaint she wrote that from the time she filed her first compaint with NHRC until July 23, she was constantly pressurized by police and local TMC goons to take back her complaint and alter her statement.
On July 23, she said some policemen abused and shouted at her father, asking him to produce her before them. It was evident from their body language that they were there to harm her, wrote Ritu in her complaint adding that she somehow saved herself that day by making phone calls to few known people who, inturn, approached NHRC.
On July 26 and 27, TMC leaders approached her family and relatives. They threatened them with dire consequences if Ritu did not take back her complaint and retract her statement. The TMC goons exerted tremendous pressure on her famliy and relatives, Ritu said in her complaint.
‘My only offence is that I am a Hindu and I voted for BJP. Please save me and my family’s life’
Then on July 28 (Wednesday), she was forcefully taken to TMC’s Mamun Sheikh, who told her that she should join TMC, or they would kill her and her family. “He categorically told me that there is no one to protect me so I should join TMC”, she mentioned in her complaint.
Excrept from Ritu’s complaint
She said: “I am extremely terrified and I am afraid these people Police and TMC both are together and pressuring me to withdraw my complaint which I had given to NHRC.”
“My only offence is that, I am a Hindu and I voted for BJP. Please save me and my family’s life”, urged Ritu in her complaint.
In her first complaint with the NHRC, Ritu had narrated the barbarity that was unleashed on her by 7 TMC goondas, who stripped her naked and took turns to rape her in front of her father. She had also, in her complaint, mentioned that the TMC goons were threatening the father-daughter duo to join TMC and leave BJP.
OpIndia’s exclusive interview with the Bengal victim
While speaking to OpIndia on July 26, Ritu disclosed how the TMC goons with the connivance of state police, unleashed hell on her and several other BJP victims in many villages and towns in the interior parts of Bengal.
Several houses in their locality were being brutally attacked by those who purportedly worked for TMC. In this particular village, it was a gang of Muslim men burning down houses, harassing Hindus and attacking the men who worked for BJP in the run-up to elections. News of some women being gang-raped by TMC men had also spread like wildfire. Talking to OpIndia, Ritu says that while the village burnt and women got gang-raped, there was no police in sight. She says that the police, in fact, refused to answer the phone when calls for help were being made.
She narrates her harrowing ordeal on the night of May 2 and how she and her father escaped the cluthes of the TMC goons who planned to kill them after mercilessly brutalising her in front of her father.
She also revealed how she and her father have been constantly threatened and intimidated by the TMC goons as well as the local police to take back their complaint filed with NHRC and give a statement that they could then use to say that the incident never happened.
Ritu said that several BJP victims are languishing in jail while the perpetrators of TMC are walking around scot-free, therefore, the fear that they would arrest them was real and present.
Ritu said that there was no point giving any message to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee since she had no ‘Mamata’ left in her. However, she had an appeal for PM Modi’s help.
She said that PM Modi should do something so Hindu girls can live with pride and security.
Now, Ritu awaits justice. She said that even if it means that she loses her life, she will not withdraw her complaint.
The full interview where Ritu shares her harrowing story with OpIndia Editor-in-Chief Nupur J Sharma can be read here.
On July 28, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D Raja, Lok Sabha MP S Senthilkumar G Devarajan, Secretary, Central Committee of All India Forward Bloc & Du Xiaolin, Counselor, International Dept, Chinese Communist Party (CPC) participated in an event organized by Chinese Embassy to mark 100 years of the Communist Party of China.
CPIM’s Sitaram Yechury, CPl’s D Raja, Lok Sabha MP S.Senthilkumar, G. Devarajan, Secy, Central Committee of All India Forward Bloc & Du Xiaolin, Counselor, International Dept, CPC, participated in a Chinese Embassy event y’day to mark the centenary of Chinese Communist Party(CPC) pic.twitter.com/oAJReO1SCN
During the keynote speech by Ambassador Sun Weidong, several topics related to the India-China relationship were talked about. Du Xiaolin claimed that China had helped India at a large scale in fighting the pandemic. He also alleged that the workers at Chinese companies worked overtime to meet the procurement needs India had to fight the Wuhan virus.
He further added that the two countries need to “manage the differences” and talked about the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops last year in Galwan Valley. He said, “The rights and wrongs of what happened in the China-India border area last year are very clear. China has made clear its position on many occasions. The two sides have maintained communication through diplomatic and military channels.”
He added, “Heightening differences does not help solve problems and only erodes the basis of mutual trust. It would make the differences more difficult and complicated to solve. We must place the border issue in an appropriate position in bilateral relations and seek a fair and mutually acceptable solution through dialogue and consultations. Both sides should jointly maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas pending final settlement.”
Notably, on July 1, when CPC completed 100 years, left-wing outlet The Hindu had published a full-page advertorial celebrating 100 years of the Communist Party of China. leaders including Yechury had congratulated China’s communist party on that day.
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic had hit the world last year, there has been a concerted campaign by the left-liberal intelligentsia in the country to discredit India’s effective handling of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In an effort to undermine the country’s efforts in tackling the pandemic, the left-liberal media often comes up with dubious research to imagine higher deaths in the country. In continuing to do so, the far-left news website ‘The Wire’ resorted to similar chicanery after it tried to push an imaginary number of higher deaths in the country during the second wave of the pandemic in the country.
By citing dubious data, The Wire attempted to put the blame on the Modi government for the alleged mishandling of the second wave of Covid-19 that struck the country in April this year.
Recently, Karan Thapar, who now works as an anchor for The Wire, interviewed Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. In the interview, Mukherjee claimed that their research has shown that the country could have averted at least 13 million cases and over 1,00,000 deaths during the second wave with possible interventions.
Quoting her research, Professor Mukherjee said that if the government had declared a moderate lockdown in mid or late March, daily cases would have peaked at 20,000 and 49,000, respectively, instead of touching 414,000. Citing dubious data models, the professor also claimed approximately 2.6 million cases could have been averted by April 15 and nearly 12.9 million cases by May 15.
“That is a 97% reduction in cases,” Bhramar Mukherjee said.
Speaking on the deaths, Mukherjee said, according to her research, even with a moderate lockdown beginning mid or late March, between 97,000 and 109,000 deaths could have been avoided by May 15. That is 90-98% of the 1,12,000 deaths that occurred between March 15 and May 15.
“To summarise had action taken place at any time in March, it is plausible that more than 90% of observed cases and deaths between March 1 and May 15 could have been potentially avoided,” the Professor said.
The Wire ‘journalist’ uses dubious data to blame government for the so-called additional deaths
As Professor Mukherjee speculated about the so-called avoidable deaths during the second wave of the pandemic, she also pointed how there was no indication of any threat during the second week of March for government to announce a moderate lockdown across the country.
However, Karan Thapar, in his hurry to target the government, claimed that the government’s failure to impose a lockdown in the country has resulted in more than 13 million people getting affected by the infection and causing more than one lakh extra deaths. The far-left journalist Karan Thapar, known for his aversion towards the ruling dispensation, declared that the government failed to act despite warnings from INSACOG in early March, and hence it bears a significant share of responsibility for the catastrophe that hit India.
Interestingly, Professor Mukherjee refuted the remarks saying that her research was not a “post-mortem” of the second wave of the pandemic but an analysis of what could be done in the future to avoid such deaths. As Mukherjee did not want to blame the government for the second wave of the pandemic, the agitated Karan Thapar kept on pushing her through pointed questions to pin the blame on the government.
It is worth noting that neither the Professor nor the ‘journalist’ Karan Thapar mentioned the specifics of the so-called research that came with such numbers saying that many deaths could have been saved if the government had acted much before April. She insisted that one cannot also absolve the Indian public of their complacent and casual behaviour, causing the second wave of the pandemic.
It did not stop there. Karan Thapar resorted to cherry-picking specific incidents and statements put out by BJP leaders during the course of the pandemic to claim that the Government of India not only failed to contain the pandemic but also aided the pandemic by making “anti-Science” statements in the run-up to the second wave of the pandemic.
As Mukherjee suggested that the present spike in cases in the North East may have been due to election campaigns in Assam, Karan Thapar interrupted her to claim that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the then Health Minister of Assam, had publicly said that people in the state do not need to wear masks. Linking his unconnected alleged statements to the second wave of the pandemic, Karan Thapar went on to say that such action by the government kept people blind, hence it is the Modi government that is to be blamed for the one lakh extra deaths in the country, as per the data shown by Professor Mukherjee.
To put in perspective, Assam is one of the successful states in terms of handling the pandemic both during the first and second waves of the pandemic in the country. The Northeast state has reported less than 6 lakh cases cumulatively in both the first and second waves of the pandemic and recorded a very low death rate compared to other states.
In fact, Himanta Biswa Sarma should be credited for keeping Assam insulated from the pandemic during his tenure as Assam’s Health Minister, however, Karan Thapar uses his statements, made out of context, to pin the blame on the government for the pandemic in the country. Nowhere in the interview, Karan Thapar names the state governments for their callous approach during the Covid-19 pandemic but instead puts the responsibility on the centre alone.
Karan Thapar claims Kumbh Mela, political rallies stoked second wave of the pandemic
Besides that, Thapar also blamed the centre for continuing to hold rallies, especially in the poll-bound states and spewed misinformation about the Hindu religious events of Kumbh Mela to claim that these events necessitated the sudden rise in the cases in the first week of April. However, Thapar failed to consider that opposition political parties had campaigned in the run-up to the second wave, and it is not just the BJP that did it alone.
In fact, the two states – Maharashtra and Kerala, ruled by the opposition states, were the most ravaged states during the second wave of the pandemic. Incidentally, neither Kumbh Mela nor mega political rallies, except in a few pockets. Strangely, Karan Thapar never spoke about these two states that turned out to be the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country this year.
As Professor said she did not want to make any political statements on the issue, Karan Thapar tried convincing Mukherjee that it was the centre’s failure to suspend these events that caused the pandemic resulting in severe deaths in the country, despite there is no data to show that these events resulted in a spike in Covid-19 infections in the country.
Karan Thapar comes to the rescue of Kerala
During the interview, Bhramar Mukherjee spoke at some length about the situation in Kerala, pointing out how cases are at a peak at 50% or more of the national total and expressed fear that Kerala may become India’s danger point.
Amusingly, rather than accepting that the inevitable truth that Kerala is the epicentre of the Covid-19 cases in the country, which has been reporting half of the total cases with just 2 per cent population, Karan Thapar absolved the Communist-led government by providing justifications for the mismanagement of the Covid-19 crisis in the state.
In response, Thapar came up with a lame excuse saying that Kerala is reporting more Covid-19 cases as they are carrying out surveillance through tracking, tracing and testing more than any other state in the country. However, it is untrue as Uttar Pradesh has been successfully carrying out more testing than other states with more than 4 lakh tests per day, and yet, the state has recorded less than 10 per cent of what Kerala has reported despite having a population of 24 crores.
‘Researcher’ says 500 million people affected with Covid-19, more than 2 million people dead
Concluding the interview, Professor Mukherjee said her calculations done at the University of Michigan show total Covid-19 deaths would be five or six times more than the official figure of 4,20,000, which according to her, was somewhere between 2-2.5 million deaths.
Bhramar Mukherjee also said the total number of Covid-19 infections would be between 500 and 600 million without explaining the procedure she had followed to arrive at such lofty numbers.
Interestingly, in February this year, the same ‘expert’ Bhramar Mukherjee, who is now throwing up imaginary numbers without credible research, had said that the worst of the Covid-19 disease has already passed.
“There is a human barricade for the virus,” had said Bhramar Mukherjee claiming that nearly 300 million people may already have antibodies in India, thus protecting them from the pandemic. “By the end of March, we should see a very slow, steady decline (in cases),” she had added.
Certainly, if the centre has to be blamed for failing to anticipate the imminent second wave of the pandemic in February this year, the blame also equally falls on self-proclaimed epidemiologists such as Bhramar Mukherjee for saying that the worst was already over.
Well, this is not the first time that self-proclaimed epidemiologists are coming up with such imaginary numbers to say that millions died in India due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but none have provided credible research data to back their claims.
Indian Police Officer (IPS) Bharti Arora has sought voluntary retirement ten years prior to the retirement age to devote her life to the worship of God Krishna. She had recently taken charge as Inspector General of Police, Ambala Range in Haryana in April 2021. She replaced 2001-batch IPS officer Y Puran Kumar after she got transferred from Karnal. She also held additional charge of Karnal range up to May 10.
On July 24, Arora sent an application to Dr Vijay Vardhan, chief secretary, through Director General of Police Manoj Yadava, in which she requested to be relieved by July 31. She cited Section 16(2) of the All India Service (DCRB) Rules that allows a Service member to retire from service on the date on which the member completes thirty years of qualifying service or attains fifty years of age.
It reads, “A member of the Service may, after giving at least three months’ previous notice in writing, to the State Government concerned, retire from service on the date on which such member completes thirty years of qualifying service or attains fifty years of age or on any date after that to be specified in the notice.” She also requested that the prior notice period of three months to be waived as per the provision of the rules.
Spiritual calling cited as the reason for retirement
In her application, Bharti Arora mentioned that she wants to spend the rest of her life in devotion to God. She wrote, “My service has been my pride and passion. I am very grateful to this service for providing me with the opportunity to serve, learn and grow. My gratitude to the state of Haryana for showing me the right path.” She further added, “Now I wish to achieve the ultimate goal of life. I yearn to traverse the path shown by the holy saints such as Guru Nanak Dev, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kabirdas, Tulsidas, Surdas, Meerabai, the Sufi saints and dedicate the rest of my life in loving devotional service of Lord Sri Krishna.”
Bharti Arora said she has been thinking of quitting the service for a few years to join spirituality. She added that she has no plan to join politics and her willingness to serve Lord Krishna is the only reason for her quitting the job.
Arora has handled high profile cases
In her 23 years of service, she has handled several investigations, including the Samjhauta Express blast probe as Superintendent of Police. The incident took place on February 18, 2007, in which 68 people had lost their lives. In 2009, during the Congress Rule, she made headlines after arresting then-BJP MLA Anil Vij. He is now serving as Home Minister of the State. Interestingly, her application for VRS would be cleared by Vij. He has confirmed that he received the application and would consider it as per the rules.
In 2015, she had a run-in with Navdeep Singh Virk in Gurugram and accused him of hampering investigation in a rape case. Virk had denied the allegations. She has served as deputy inspector general-rank officer to head a special cow protection police task force in 2016. In the same year, she also served as the principal of Motilal Nehru School of Sports at Rai in Sonepat.
For a recent probe into immigration fraud cases in Haryana in 2020, her team was rewarded by the home ministry for exemplary work.
The political landscape in Delhi is warming up. There are a few high stake state assembly elections lined up before the big 2024 general elections, like the Uttar Pradesh elections and Gujarat elections, which is the home turf of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Interesting scenes are unfolding in the national capital these days. Have a look:
Earlier yesterday, just before Mamata Banerjee’s arrival on the scene, Rahul Gandhi tweeted a picture of ‘opposition’ leaders.
Sitting with the entire opposition is extremely humbling. Amazing experience, wisdom and insight in everyone present.#Unitedpic.twitter.com/w74YRuC3Ju
He found the meeting very humbling. Mamata Banerjee, who was also to be in Delhi on Wednesday, was missing from the same. Was she not being considered part of ‘opposition leaders’? Of course, TMC leaders were present but could they have delayed the meeting by a few hours to include Banerjee? In Rahul Gandhi’s defence, this could be a meeting of all MPs discussing how to create ruckus in Parliament on the Pegasus non-issue. And since Mamata is not an MP, she could not be there.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also present at 10 Janpath in Delhi.
There is soft power play happening here. Rahul Gandhi on his Twitter profile has not posted picture of him meeting Mamata Banerjee. He shared image of meeting all opposition leaders earlier. Lowkey sending message to Mamata that Congress and TMC are not really ‘equal’?
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Delhi to meet opposition leaders. She clearly wants to project herself as not only the tallest leader in the opposition camp, but also as a contender for the PM’s post in 2024 (oh, the horror of ‘khela hobe’ across India). She was also lowkey letting Congress know that Rahul Gandhi is perhaps no match for her as even though she lost the seat (Nandigram) she was contesting from to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, she is a Chief Minister while Rahul Gandhi lost the ‘family seat’ of Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani and had to make do with a ‘safe seat’ in Wayanad.
Met @MamataOfficial didi today. It was our first meeting since her resounding victory in West Bengal assembly elections. Conveyed my best wishes and discussed several political issues with her. pic.twitter.com/OFws0RcRtQ
She even met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Met @MamataOfficial didi today. It was our first meeting since her resounding victory in West Bengal assembly elections. Conveyed my best wishes and discussed several political issues with her. pic.twitter.com/OFws0RcRtQ
Did you know during the second wave of Chinese coronavirus pandemic Delhi was one of the worst hit states? With oxygen crisis leading to deaths of so many individuals, something that could and should have been avoided.
‘United’ opposition divided during coronavirus crisis
But you know how this ‘united opposition’ was so fragmented during the pandemic that has gripped the nation and the world since past 18 months? Here is just a glimpse at how these very leaders played petty politics when our lives were at stake. And I am not even going to write about the horrifying post-poll violence unleashed by TMC workers in West Bengal. Because one hopes the NHRC and courts and other competent authorities will take care of it, even if Calcutta High Court contemplates whether the rapes and murder cases may be delayed.
Let us begin with Didi since she has not really tried to make any secret of her national ambitions.
Mamata Banerjee refusing to help other states
In April, when the country was hit with the worst oxygen crisis, with patients losing their lives because of lack of oxygen supply, the central government started working on war footing to make sure states where there is higher crisis, the supply is ensured. Oxygen Express trains were run to carry oxygen from states where industries were instructed to convert their plants to manufacture medical oxygen. Even corporates pitched in with companies like Reliance and Adani group doing their bit to help India pass over the crisis.
What did Mamata do? She refused to help other states. She refused to divert oxygen from her state to other states. It was not that Bengal was having a higher crisis and she was just trying to protect people. She just refused.
One wonders how fair a national leader would she be if she thinks lives of other Indians is expendable.
Speaking of Indians being expendable, an interim report on the audit of medical oxygen demand and consumption in Delhi prepared by a Supreme Court appointed committee has confirmed what was being suspected, that the Delhi govt was grossly overestimating its oxygen demand during the months of March and April. The sub-group constituted as per the apex court to study the oxygen situation in Delhi has said that the state was demanding much more oxygen than required, and had hampered the oxygen supply chain in the entire region.
The SOS messages from hospitals, the urgent hearing at courts, the images of queues of oxygen cylinders, the black marketing of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, patients cramped up in and outside hospitals and sometimes even e-rickshaws converted into makeshift ‘hospital beds’ all of them are real. The people in Delhi suffered all of them.
The staggering mismanagement by the chief minister of a state, who takes immense pride in being an engineer from the IIT and a former bureaucrat, is appalling. Instead, he spent lakhs in giving advertisements in other states asking private individuals to give him cryogenic tanks. Since these tankers are so superspecial, they were scarce resources. Kejriwal could have called up chief ministers of states and asked them for details from perhaps transport department on registered vehicles. But no, he gave advertisements to ‘show’ he works when actual work would have been easier and faster.
And then what did his leaders do? Since they could not save lives, they decided to offer free wooden logs for cremations of those who died of COVID. They would run tempos advertising free logs for cremation on streets of Uttar Pradesh, a state where the party does not even have an MLA.
‘Free lakdi seva’ by Aam Aadmi Party leader
So, that is there.
Speaking of Uttar Pradesh, remember how Akhilesh Yadav played petty politics and has declared he would not take the ‘BJP vaccine’? The vaccine which was developed by researchers and scientists made available by the government of India for the people of India was termed ‘BJP vaccine’ – he even went on to say how he will give vaccines to people once Samajwadi Party forms government in UP. UP goes to elections next year – so for a year, he wanted the people of UP to be deprived from vaccines only because why let pandemic get into the way of politics.
And then there is Congress. The grand old party that feels so entitled that the party’s senior leader Rahul Gandhi wakes up from his slumber every few days and tweets misinformation regarding vaccines. He would not rebuke his own party leaders for spreading vaccine hesitancy in their states, but would question the government on vaccination coverage. Congress’ misdeeds throughout the pandemic deserves a book in itself.
In April 2021, Rahul Gandhi had written to PM demanding that state governments have a greater say in vaccine procurement. Rahul Gandhi said in the letter, “Centralization and individualized propaganda are counter-productive. Even though Public Health is a state subject, our states have been bypassed right from vaccine procurement to registration.” Consequently, he demanded, “Give State governments a greater say in vaccine procurement and distribution.” Similar letter was written by Mamata Banerjee in February 2021.
The states were not able to manage vaccine procurement and as a result the people of India suffered. When in June PM Modi announced that the Centre will again take charge of vaccine procurement, Congress again rushed in to take credit and portray Rahul Gandhi as some sort of visionary. While in reality he is more like The Joker, who perhaps not only enjoys watching the world burn but given a chance would happily do it if it means becoming the Prime Minister of India.
The whole ‘united opposition’ drama reminds me of the scene from The Dark Knight.
It is a conversation between Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred Pennyworth.
Bruce Wayne:[while in the underground bat cave] Targeting me won’t get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn’t go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.
Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren’t complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he’s after.
Alfred Pennyworth: With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don’t fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne: So why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
These politicians are not coming together because they care for people like you and I. They are coming together to defeat Modi. Which is fair in a democracy and politics. But here, in their bid to defeat Modi and bring him down, they have played with our lives in one of the worst health crisis the world has faced in a hundred years.
That their political ambitions trumped our lives should act as a cautionary tale.
