‘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.
An Additional District Judge (ADJ) of Dhanbad district, Uttam Anand, died after being hit by a three-wheeler in broad daylight on Wednesday. The CCTV footage of the incident suggested foul play, as the vehicle moved left from its lane to hit the judge when there was no other vehicle in that spot. The incident was brought to the notice of the Supreme Court by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh who demanded a CBI probe into the shocking incident.
Singh had mentioned before the SC bench of Justice DY Chandrahcud that the murder of a judicial officer for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on the judiciary. He said, “this is a brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary. The video of the incident, which went viral, was taken by someone who had prior knowledge of the attack”.
Singh said murder of a judicial officer for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on judiciary. He said “this is a brazen attack on independence of judiciary. The video of the incident, which went viral, was taken by someone who had prior knowledge of the attack.
According to reports, Judge Anand had recently rejected a bail plea filed by an alleged contract killer Ravi Thakur and Anand Verma from Uttar Pradesh, who are linked to gangsters Abhinav Singh and Aman Singh. Ravi Thakur is currently lodged in Dhanbad jail for his alleged involvement in a high-profile murder case of Ranjay Singh.
‘Person seen zooming in the visuals as if to ascertain that the judge was killed’, SCBA president tells SC while demanding a CBI inquiry
The SCBA president appeared certain that the Dhanbad Judge was killed for rejecting the bail application of the gangsters. The fact that someone was recording the entire act is proof enough that Judge Anand was murdered, said Advocate Vikas Singh.
He also told the Supreme Court that a person was seen zooming in the visuals as if to ascertain if the judge was killed and it was shocking. He demanded that the probe into the killing of the senior judicial officer must be entrusted to the CBI.
Disturbing CCTV visuals of the vehicle attacking the judge during his morning walk on public road in Dhanbad had emerged yesterday.
Vikas Singh told the Supreme Court that a person was seen zooming the visuals as if to ascertain if the judge was killed and it was shocking. pic.twitter.com/Lcej07wiEc
However, the advocate seems to be mistaken about the video, as it was captured by a CCTV camera and was not recorded by someone ‘having prior knowledge about the incident’. The footage has ‘RV Chouk to Police Line’ written on lower right corner, which means that it was captured by CCTV cameras mounted on traffic light poles. The video which has emerged is not the original video, but it was video recorded from a monitor playing the CCTV footage. This video was zoomed in while recording the original video, and there is no zooming in the original CCTV video.
Therefore, although the incident in the video shows that it was probably an intentional act, the fact that it was recorded on camera is not proof that it was a murder, as it is from a CCTV which remains on all the time.
The case of the ‘road accident’ of Dhanbad Judge being probed by SIT
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Police formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case. Police said in a statement that the SIT would analyze the footage of other CCTV cameras in the area to identify the vehicle and to see if there was a pattern.
The CCTV footage which emerged shows a three-wheeler suddenly turning to the extreme left of the road and hitting the Judge. It did not stop even for a second and fled the scene.
As per the reports, the incident happened at around 5 AM on July 28, when Judge Anand was jogging. The passers-by rushed him to Medical College, Dhanbad, where he was declared brought dead.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra is back in news for the same old reason- hurling derogatory and regionalist jibes. This time, BJP MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey has accused Moitra of calling him a “Bihari Goonda” thrice on Wednesday.
The faceoff between the opposition and ruling BJP MPs over the Pegasus controversy got intense, with the confrontation continuing outside the parliament as well.
Dubey took to Twitter accusing Moitra of displaying her hatred for Hindi speaking people and North Indians. Dubey wrote, “Trinamool @AITCofficial has abused the entire Hindi speaking people along with Bihar by using the word Bihari Gunda.”
तृणमूल @AITCofficial ने बिहारी गुंडा शब्द का प्रयोग कर बिहार के साथ साथ पूरे हिन्दी भाषी लोगों को गाली दी है,@MamataOfficial जी आप के सांसद महुआ मोइत्रा की इस गाली ने उत्तर भारतीय व ख़ासकर हिंदी भाषी लोगों के प्रति आपके पार्टी के नफ़रत को देश के सामने लाया है।
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) July 28, 2021
Tagging TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Dubey further wrote, “@MamataOfficial Yes, this abuse of your MP Mahua Moitra has brought to the fore your party’s hatred towards North Indians and especially Hindi speaking people in front of the country.”
Moitra, however, expressed shock over the allegations and claimed, “Am a bit amused by charges of name-calling. IT mtng did not happen because NO quorum – members did not attend. How can I call someone a name who was not even present!! Check attendance sheet!”
Am a bit amused by charges of name-calling. IT mtng did not happen because NO quorum – members did not attend.
As per reports, the IT committee met to record evidence from officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Home Affairs and Department of Telecommunication on the subject “citizens’ data security and privacy”. However, some 10 BJP MPs insisted that the panel should not hold the meeting given the lack of quorum.
When it was brought to notice that 19 members were present, the BJP members said they had not signed the attendance sheet. As per rules, the MPs cannot be considered present if their signatures are not there. Referring to this ‘attendance sheet’ on which Dubey had not signed, Moitra denied allegations. On Twitter and several television interviews, Moitra claimed that the attendance sheet did not have Dubey’s signatures, which implies he was not present for the same.
Dubey also alleged that both Congress and TMC do not discuss the issue when called upon in the session but indulge in made-up controversies outside of the parliament to gain mileage.
He also said he will be taking the matter of Moitra’s insults with the Speaker on Thursday. “Mahua Moitra called me a goonda. In my 13 years of parliamentary experience, no one has behaved like this with me. I was shocked that a woman MP used such language against me. We will take up the matter with the Speaker tomorrow,” he said.
Well, this is not the first time that Moitra hurled snide remarks involving caste, region and religion aainst her fellow politicians.
‘Guddu ji ki vanar sena’
Accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of supposed ‘gunda-raj’, Moitra insulting Hindu Gods had Tweeted, “So Yogi CM comes to WB today, says he will kill “TMC goondas” one by one. Gudduji – listen up – your thok do culture may work in the vanar sena commune you ruled, doesn’t work here.”
So Yogi CM comes to WB today, says he will kill “TMC goondas” one by one Gudduji – listen up – your thok do culture may work in the vanar sena commune you ruled, doesn’t work here.
In March this year, Moitra referred to BJP leader Giriraj Singh as “Chotiwala Rakshas”. To explain the meaning of this phrase, “Chotiwalas” refers to devout Brahmin observers of Hinduism who follow the Shikha tradition of Brahmins, and a “Rakshasha” which literally translates to monsters.
Union Minister Giriraj Says Mamata’s from ‘Rohingya Clan’
Proud of it.
Far better than being from the Chotiwala Rakshasa Clan!
In the same Tweet, Moitra said she is “proud” of the fact that Giriraj Singh accused Mamata Banerjee of being from the “Rohingya clan”.
‘Susu-potty Republic’
Moitra’s Hinduphobia is out in the open for everyone to see. In May this year, when the Delhi Police had knocked on the doors of Twitter India to serve a notice, Moitra Tweeted, “Welcome to our Susu Potty Republic! Drink Gaumutra, smear cow dung and flush the rule of law down the toilet.”
“Delhi Police issue notice to Twitter and land up in their offices for rightly calling out BJP’s fake document as manipulated media. Go figure,” she continued leaving the audience to wonder what the susu-potty jibe had to do with the situation.
Moitra calls WB Governor ‘uncle ji’
Miffed with West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for trying to highlight the law and order situation in Bengal, Moitra accused him of appointing his family as officers on special duty (OSDs) in Raj Bhavan.
“And Uncleji- while you’re at it- take the extended family you’ve settled in at WB RajBhavan with you,” she Tweeted.
And Uncleji- while you’re at it- take the extended family you’ve settled in at WB RajBhavan with you. pic.twitter.com/a8KpNjynx9
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday again openly expressed his support to the terrorist outfit Taliban by referring to them as “normal civilians” and claimed that Pakistan could not kill them.
In the interview with PBS Newshour that aired on Tuesday night, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the US “really messed it up” in Afghanistan by initially finding a military solution and later looking for a political solution.
On the allegations of Pakistan’s direct support to the Taliban in the ongoing terror and more than 10,000 Pakistani fighters travelling to Afghanistan to assist the Taliban, Imran Khan claimed that they were not Taliban or its supporters, but normal civilians, who are returning to their country.
In the interview, Imran ‘Taliban’ Khan, known for his close relations with the radical Islamic terror outfit, said that Pakistan is home to three million Aghan refugees, of which the majority are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban terrorists.
“Now, there are camps of 500,000 people, there are camps of 100,000 people. And Taliban are not some military outfits, they are normal civilians. And if there are some civilians in these camps, how is Pakistan supposed to hunt these people down? How can you call them sanctuaries?” he argued.
According to UN Security Council, more than 6,000 terrorists of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have joined their counterparts in Afghanistan. It is alleged that Pakistan has facilitated the travelling of Pakistani fighters into Afghanistan to assist the Taliban in their war against the Afghan national government.
Pakistan has been long accused of helping the Taliban militarily, financially, and with intelligence inputs in their fight against the Afghan government, however, Imran Khan claimed that it was “extremely unfair” to make such accusations.
Imran Khan’s love for terror outfits such as ‘Taliban’
Imran Khan, who has often supported the Taliban’s war in Afghanistan, believes that the Taliban is fighting a holy war or “Jihad” against the enemies of Islam in Afghanistan.
In 2012, Imran Khan had repeatedly tried to justify the Taliban’s terrorism, calling it a ‘holy war’ for Islam.
Imran Khan has proved time and again that he is a terrorist sympathiser. Imran Khan has extreme admiration for Al-Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden and had even referred to him as a “freedom fighter”.
To justify Osama Bin Laden’s terror activities, Imran Khan had compared him with George Washington and had said that he was a terrorist for the British, while a freedom fighter for Americans.
Besides the Afghan Taliban, Imran Khan has shown his soft stand towards terrorist groups that operate and unleash terror inside Pakistan. Imran Khan has a good working relationship with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, an Islamic terror group that is made of Pashtun tribesmen just as the Afghan Taliban. In June 2013, when a US drone strike killed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s deputy chief Waliur Rehman Mehsud, Khan stirred controversy by referring to him as “pro-peace”.
It is no surprise that Imran Khan has referred to the Islamic terrorist outfit as a “normal” civilians as Pakistan has often used terrorists disguised as civilians to carry out terror attacks on its neighbours, both Afghanistan and India.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor- who seems to be quite fond of looking for wrong things at the wrong places, once again lost his way. Tharoor took to Twitter to claim that no vaccination slots are available on CoWIN, a platform to book vaccination appointments.
The meme shared by Tharoor reads, “Upar wale tera jawaab nahi, aur Cowin pe vaccination ka slot nahi (no vaccination slots available on Cowin).”
We are not sure which application did the Congress MP from Kerala log onto to check the availability of slots, but here’s what we found on India’s ‘CoWIN’ dashboard.
Apart from the government centres, New Delhi’s Goyal medical centre shows the availability of roughly 2500 doses till August 04.
Availability of slots in New Delhi. Image Source: CoWIN
A glance through North West Delhi’s vaccination centres also shows the availability of slots till August 02.
Availability of slots in North West Delhi. Image Source: CoWIN
South East Delhi centres too have the stock available till the coming week.
Availability of slots in South East Delhi. Image Source: CoWIN
The same is the case with West Delhi where slots till August 02 are available on majority of vaccination centres.
Availability of slots in West Delhi. Image Source: CoWIN
Abundant slots available in Kerala
To give Tharoor the benefit of doubt, we checked the vaccine slot availability in his home state Kerala too. Kerala media is abuzz with claims of complete exhaustion of the vaccine stock and no help from the Centre.
One quick check and one can see as many as 14000 vaccine doses available at a single vaccination centre at Kerala’s Ernakulam, thereby, diffusing the false claims.
Availability of slots in Kerala’s Ernakulam. Image Source: CoWIN
Vaccination centres at Kerala’s Idukki are also replete with stock till the next week.
Availability of slots in Kerala’s Idukki. Image Source: CoWIN
Netizens mock Tharoor for his Tweet
Tharoor, however, is being mocked for his ill-informed Tweet by the netizens. Using the same meme template, here’s how the social media users are responding.
