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Elon Musk seeks for temporary relief in import tariffs, says Tesla factory in India quite likely

OpIndia Staff
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Elon Musk seeks for temporary relief in import tariffs, says Tesla factory in India quite likely

Tesla Inc. co-founder and CEO Elon Musk on Saturday said he wanted to launch cars in India but lamented that import duties in the country are “highest in the world by far of any large country”. He, however, added that if Tesla is able to get some temporary tariff relief, it would likely set up a factory in India.

Musk was responding to a tweet by a user who asked him to launch Tesla cars in India as soon as possible.

To this, Musk replied: “We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country! Moreover, clean energy vehicles are treated the same as diesel or petrol, which does not seem entirely consistent with the climate goals of India.”

In a subsequent tweet, Musk said, “But we are hopeful that there will be at least temporary tariff relief for imported vehicles. That would be much appreciated.”

When asked by another Twitter user whether Tesla will locally assemble vehicles in India, the American billionaire said if Tesla succeeds with imported vehicles, then a factory in India is quite likely.

A host of luxury car manufacturers have already lobbied with the Indian government to reduce the import duties with little success.

Gadkari says golden opportunity for Tesla to manufacture electric cars in India

Earlier in April 2021, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that American electric car major Tesla has a golden opportunity to set up its manufacturing facility in India given the country’s thrust on e-vehicles.

Tesla is already sourcing various auto components from Indian automakers and setting up base here would be economically viable for it, Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister Gadkari said while addressing a session at the Raisina Dialogue.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla’s entry into India

Earlier in December 2020, Elon Musk had confirmed Tesla’s entry into India. Musk said Tesla would start its operations in India in 2021, however, he added that January 2021 timelines were not possible.

A few months before, in October 2020, too, Musk had confirmed that his company’s plan to launch operations in India from the next year. While responding to a tweet about when Tesla plans to enter the Indian market, Elon responded, “Next year for sure.” 

Western media obsessed with proving how PM Modi’s popularity has ‘declined’: Here is how BBC spun that narrative in a report on Mann Ki Baat

Nupur J Sharma
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Western media obsessed with proving how PM Modi’s popularity has ‘declined’: Here is how BBC spun that narrative in a report on Mann Ki Baat

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 with a thumping majority, the media, especially western media, has been looking for an excuse to claim that his popularity has declined. Repeatedly, there have been opinion pieces claiming that he is no longer as popular as he was in 2014, hoping that their constant agenda-pushing bears fruit. This time, the same narrative was subtly peddled by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom.

On the 23rd of July, BBC published an article that spoke about the revenue that is being earned by Doordarshan by broadcasting ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the monthly address by Prime Minister Modi.

In the report, BBC started off by detailing the revenue that is earned by the broadcasting of the show and the lack of expenditure in producing the how. The details were based on the response by Minister Anurag Thakur in the parliament to a question posed by NCP leader Fouzia Khan.

To the questions posed by Khan, Thakur had replied that there is no additional expenditure in producing the Mann Ki Baat episodes since all the existing infrastructure of Prasar Bharti is sufficient to produce the show. Even as far as the staff is concerned, Prasar Bharti only uses its in-house staff for the production of the Mann Ki Baat episodes and therefore, there is no additional expenditure incurred.

On the question of revenue, Thakur gave a breakdown of the numbers right from the year 2014-2015. Essentially, the revenue from Mann Ki Baat (earned in terms of advertisements) amounted to 1.16 cr. In 2015-16, revenue amounted to 2.81 and in 2016-17 it amounted to 5.14 cr. The revenue peaked in 2017-18 to Rs 10.64 cr. However, subsequently, the revenue started dropping. In 2018-19, the revenue came down to Rs 7.47 cr, Rs 2.56 cr in 2019-20 and Rs 1.02 cr in 2020-21.

How BBC tried to spin this as ‘decline in PM Modi’s popularity’

While the entire report of BBC was based on the response by Minister Anurag Thakur, towards the end of the report, BBC slyly tried to peddle their agenda, using Jawhar Sircar to insinuate that this meant that PM Modi was losing popularity amongst the masses.

BBC mentions that Mann Ki Baat was started when Jawhar Sircar was the CEO of Prasar Bharti between 2012 to 2016 (the show started in October 2014). They also mention that he is seen as an “Modi critic”.

Further, they quote Sircar to claim the following:

1. “There is a direct correlation between advertisements and viewership. Some episodes of Mann Ki Baat had a negative reaction on social media and the number of listeners to the show has decreased. Obviously, Advertisers invest their money only when they think their word will reach as many people as possible.”

2. “When after the telecast of this program, there was a lot of uproar on social media once or twice, it was seen that the things said against the Prime Minister were more than what was said in his support.”

3. “It can be difficult to accurately analyze radio listenership, but advertisers can analyze people’s reactions to social media.”

These three statements give a window into what BBC was trying to through the statements of Jawhar Sircar.

The BBC, while not saying it themselves, have quoted Sircar to allude to the fact that Prime Minister’s popularity is on the decline and that can be reflected in the revenue being earned through Mann Ki Baat. When Sircar says that the criticism that his program gets far outweighs the praise, that insinuation is rather hard to miss. It is pertinent to note that he has essentially based this on his hunch and his own visceral hate for PM Modi.

He himself admits that there is no way to accurately judge the kind of listenership a program gets when it is primarily meant for the radio audience. However, he goes on to insinuate that the fall in revenue is due to the fall in PM Modi’s popularity.

While there is no evidence to prove that there is a fall in PM Modi’s popularity just going by the revenue, since the listenership is difficult to measure, even if one assumes that Sircar is on-point about his analysis, he ends up busting several narratives against the Prime Minister that have been peddled by the Left.

It is known that Mann Ki Baat is a project that is extremely close to PM Modi’s heart. The fact that this show itself seems to be market driven, which is to say that revenue could have been affected by market forces such as an ongoing pandemic where corporates are cutting their expenses, proves beyond doubt that the propaganda about PM Modi somehow being hands in gloves with corporates is a hoax.

If we are to assume that corporates have stopped advertising in Mann Ki Baat because the listenership has declined owing to either the pandemic or even a fall in his popularity, the Left is at the very least admitting that the narrative that they have often peddled, of corporates being forced to please Modi by going out of their way, falls flat.

The problem here is that the Left wants to peddle the narrative of corporates catapulting to please PM Modi and at the same time, they want to claim that the corporates have stopped advertising in Mann Ki Baat because of market driven forces or his fall in popularity.

If Sircar is indeed correct and Industrialists have stopped advertising because PM Modi’s popularity is on the rise, then it stands to reason that they are not really under pressure to please the PM at all, since if they were, they would have advertised regardless of market forces or a fall in his popularity.

The response of Prasar Bharti

Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO of Prasar Bharti, was approached by the BBC for its report on ‘Mann ki Baat’. Clearly, Vempati was not impressed with the line of questioning by the reporter. He said in his response, “It is troubling that your queries have viewed such a program of national importance and global relevance through the narrow prism of revenue generation when the objective of the program is not commercial revenues but citizen engagement.”

He stated, “In the entire series of more than Seventy Five Episodes of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, there is not a single instance of the program being used for political purposes. Every episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has been Citizen-centric with several questions and comments of citizens on issues of public interest being taken up by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. In fact, over the past year, when the entire planet has been battling the pandemic, the Prime Minister has actively engaged with frontline health-workers and others at the forefront of this effort to overcome COVID-19 through ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on important issues of global significance such as mass awareness of COVID-19 precautions as well as on countering Vaccine Hesitancy.”

“It is surprising that a media organisation such as the BBC has not appreciated this important aspect of social messaging through ‘Mann Ki Baat as a platform while being overly focused on commercial advertising on ‘Mann Ki Baat’,” added the CEO.

Vempati proceeded to add, “The universal vales celebrated by ‘Mann Ki Baat’ and its ethos of ‘sustainable development’ for greater global good ought to be a subject of greater interest to a global broadcaster like BBC than this fallacious line of thought on linking commercial revenues of the Indian Public Broadcaster to the mass appeal Of the national movement that ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has become over the past several years.”

BBC and Sircar’s past shenanigans

The BBC, of course, has a history of agenda driven journalism against the Prime Minister and the NDA Government. During the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the BBC had published a shoddy piece of research to claim that nationalism was driving fake news in India.

It was forced to withdraw the report after OpIndia, in a series of reports, exposed the numerous flaws in it. Other than that, the BBC has a history of peddling political agenda under the garb of journalism.

Jawhar Sircar, himself, was the CEO of Prasar Bharti in the past and under him, Doordarshan had removed parts of Narendra Modi’s interview that was inconvenient to the Congress party. Following a public backlash, the then Prasar Bharti CEO had acknowledged that chunks of the interview were edited out for failing to get a ‘balancing interview’ with rival political leaders despite best attempts by DD News.

On other occasions, Sircar has shared photoshopped images of the Prime Minister to cast aspersions on him.

Malini Parthasarathi vows to restore the credibility of The Hindu, which had earlier printed manipulated Rafale documents by N Ram

OpIndia Staff
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Malini Parthasarathi vows to restore the credibility of The Hindu, which had earlier printed manipulated Rafale documents by N Ram

On Thursday, Chairperson of the Hindu Publishing Group Malini Parthasarathy posted a tweet informing that she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, this has not gone down well with N Ram, the director of the group, who distanced himself from the meeting and hinted that Parthasarathy is squandering away the reputation of the left-wing publication by meeting a right-wing prime minister.

N Ram was responding to a Twitter user who had asked why “Hindu’s hard earned legacy is being squandered away”, referring to the tweet of Malini Parthasarathy. She had posted a photograph of her meeting with PM Modi, informing that she had an “illuminating conversation in which he (the PM) shared his perspective on issues of current public interest.”

Responding to the query by the Twitter user with the handle @Mrs_DoSoLittle, N Ram retorted that he has ‘nothing to do with this’. He also seemed to agree with the view that Malini Parthasarathy is squandering away the legacy and reputation of the Hindu Group by having a discussion with Narendra Modi. He replied: What I can assure you is that we will do our very best to prevent The Hindu’s “hard-earned” reputation and legacy of 142+ years “being squandered away”.

However, Malini did not remain silent over this grave allegation made against her by the former editor-in-chief of the Hindu newspaper. She tweeted that the 142+ years of hard-earned reputation of the publication does not get destroyed by meeting the prime minister, as N Ram thinks. She tweeted, ‘Our 142+ years of hard-earned reputation was built by reporting that was factual & not driven by political prejudice or bias.’

She then went on to imply that the reputation of The Hindu was actually squandered way under the leadership of N Ram, which she is trying to restore. She added, We @thehindu  are determined to restore the honesty & credibility of our reporting & commentary. This is the only way forward to revive our great legacy’.

By saying that they are determined to ‘restore’ the honesty & credibility of the reporting and commentary of The Hindu, Malini Parthasarathy implied that it has been lost. As N Ram was the editor-in-chief of the publication earlier, it is no doubt that she is saying the reputation and credibility was lost during his tenure.

This is not the first time the top two journalists associated with The Hindu exchanged barbs on social media. While N Ram continues to peddle the lie that there was a scam in the Rafale fighter deal, Malini had called for accepting the Supreme Court verdict in the matter, and had also said that she personally believes that the integrity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unimpeachable and unquestionable as regards the Rafale issue.

This was in stark contrast to the stand taken by N Ram, who continues to peddle the Rafale scam allegations. Not only that, he had actively worked in trying to derail the fighter jet deal by publishing fake news on The Hindu. During the run-up to 2019 general elections, he had published cropped and incomplete pictures of documents in The Hindu to allege government wrongdoing in the Rafale deal.

Both the journalists had also openly fought over an article published by The Hindu criticising the Akshay Patra Foundation. The onion-garlic free meals provided to school students by the foundation was slammed by the publication in a report, saying the children were not finding them delicious.

However, after the article was widely criticised on social media, Malini Parthasarathy distanced herself from it, saying she does not handle day to day news content. She had also added that the attack on Akshay Patra by her own newspaper was ‘unwarranted’.

But N Ram had a different take on the issue, who had slammed Malini for getting swayed by ‘moronic attacks’. He had also added that The Hindu’s “Code of Editorial Values” guarantees guarantees “professionalism in the editorial functioning” freedom from external or internal interference. However, Malini had refused to change her stand on the article, saying that the Akshaya Patra story was an example of shoddy one-sided journalism.

Both the journalists from The Hindu continues to display such carrot and stick approach. While Malini Parthasarathy offers a carrot to the critiques of The Hindu for its biased reporting, N Ram, on the other hand, placates its left-wing supporters.

As congratulations pour in for Mirabai Chanu following Silver Medal at Tokyo Olympics, old tweets thanking PM Modi go viral

OpIndia Staff
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As congratulations pour in for Mirabai Chanu following Silver Medal at Tokyo Olympics, old tweets thanking PM Modi go viral

Weightifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu opened India’s medal tally at the Tokyo Olympics after securing a Silver Medal in the 49kg category event. Since her victory, congratulations have been pouring in from all sides.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah heaped praises on her following her Silver Medal finish. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had congratulated her as well.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised her as well, hailing her victory as a win for Maa Bharti.

Following her victory, old tweets of Mirabai Chanu where she had expressed her support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since then gone viral. In April 2020, she had tweeted that she stand by the country and India will win the fight against Covid-19. She had tagged Narendra Modi in her tweet.

In another tweet the same day, Mirabai Chanu said that she would light candles for 9 minutes at 9 pm that day, heeding the Prime Minister’s call. Narendra Modi was tagged in that tweet as well.

Two days earlier, she had thanked the Prime Minister for interacting with athletes.

Following the Common Wealth Games in 2018, she had expressed her gratitude towards Narendra Modi for his encouragement.

A tweet of her celebrating Diwali has also gone viral.

Apart from the tweets mentioned above, there are numerous other occasions on which the Olympic Silver Medalist expressed her support towards the Prime Minister and other Ministers in the Union Cabinet.

Mirabai Chanu lifted 84kg and 87kg successfully in the snatch event but failed to lift 89kg as she was placed in the second spot behind China’s HOU Zhihu, who lifted 94kg to create an Olympic record. The Indian lifter successfully 110kg and 115kg in the clean and jerk category, however, she could not complete her 117kg lift.

Maharashtra: 8 Covid-19 patients die in Ratnagiri after disruption in the oxygen supply due to power outage

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: 8 Covid-19 patients die in Ratnagiri after disruption in the oxygen supply due to power outage

As unprecedented rains continue to wreak havoc in Maharashtra, eight Covid-19 patients have died in a private hospital named Aparant Hospital, in the flood-hit Khed tehsil of Ratnagiri district. The patients reportedly died because of the disruption in the oxygen supply as a result of the disconnection of electricity due to the floods. An inquiry has been launched into the deaths of these patients by the local authorities of Ratnagiri district.

While a report by Hindustan Times suggests that amongst these 8 patients, two were on ventilator support and the rest were on oxygen supply, DNA has reported that 4 out of the 8 were on ventilators and the rest died of trauma.

Speaking on the unfortunate incident, Dr Sanghamitra Phule, the district civil surgeon said: “The hospital had been submerged in water since Thursday. The water level increased after 7 am on Friday. It resulted in the disconnection of electricity. After we got the call last night, the rescue team was deployed for the evacuation of patients, but they could not reach the spot because of waterlogging. Relatives of one of the patients claimed their patient was not positive for Covid-19.”

Meanwhile, the resident deputy collector, Datta Bhadakwad, was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying that there is no shortage of oxygen in the hospital, but the oxygen could not be supplied to these deceased Covid-19 patients due to power outage. “The administration even tried to supply oxygen temporarily, but failed because of the downpour”, said Bhadakwad.

The hospital had been housing 22 patients. After the incident, the rest were shifted to some other hospital. Konkan Divisional Commissioner V B Patil said they had not received any distress call from the hospital.

Resurgence of Covid-19 in Maharashtra was most worrisome

It is pertinent to note here that when the second wave of Covid-19 hit India, the resurgence of the infection in the state of Maharashtra was most fierce and worrisome. With the sudden and steep surge in the number of cases, the medical infrastructure in the state seemed to have collapsed. Many incidents that have been reported in the recent past proves that though it’s been more than a year since the country has been grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak, Maharashtra’s healthcare system is still not equipped to handle the scourge of the virus.

Unprecedented rains cause havoc in the state, PM Modi assures all possible help

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, over the last 24 hours, has received the heaviest spell of rains in July in the last 40-years. Several teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, too, have been deployed for rescue operations in the Konkan region. While Ratnagiri, Raigad, Kolhapur districts are flooded, Sangli and Amravati are facing a flood-like situation. 

More than 45 people were killed and around 13 injured in three separate incidents in Raigad district alone, with around 40 still missing due to the landslide caused by the incessant rains over the last 24 hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued a red alert for six districts of Maharashtra which have been already pounded by heavy rains, forecasting extremely heavy rainfall and recommending preventive actions.

The alert was issued for the next 24 hours for the districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg in coastal Konkan and also for Pune, Satara and Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra.

PM Modi has assured that the Centre would provide all sorts of assistance to the state to mitigate the situation. “Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri Uddhav Thackeray and discussed the situation in parts of Maharashtra in the wake of heavy rainfall and flooding. Assured all possible support from the Centre to mitigate the situation. Praying for everyone’s safety and well-being,” PM Modi tweeted.

India opens medal tally at Tokyo Olympics as weightlifter Mirabai Chanu wins silver medal: What PM Modi tweeted now and in 2018

OpIndia Staff
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India opens medal tally at Tokyo Olympics as weightlifter Mirabai Chanu wins silver medal: What PM Modi tweeted now and in 2018

Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a historic silver medal in the weightlifting event in the Olympics, making her the first athlete to win a medal for the country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On Saturday, Mirabai Chanu finished second in the 49kg category of weightlifting to secure a silver medal.

Mirabai Chanu lifted 84kg and 87kg successfully in the snatch event but failed to lift 89kg as she was placed in the second spot behind China’s HOU Zhihu, who lifted 94kg to create an Olympic record. The Indian lifter successfully 110kg and 115kg in the clean and jerk category, however, she could not complete her 117kg lift.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate Mirabai Chanu.

PM Modi said that he could not have hoped for a “happier start” to Tokyo 2020. He said India was elated with her “stupendous performance”.

In 2018, PM Modi had also tweeted when Chanu had won the Khel Ratna.

PM Modi had tweeted, “Ms. S. Mirabai Chanu has been distinguishing herself in many sports tournaments, both in India and across the world. Thanks to her skills and dedication, this talented weightlifter is an inspiration for all sports lovers. Congratulations to her on being conferred the Khel Ratna”.

Even as Pegasus story falls flat, here are the 9 ‘protocols’ Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra govt has put in place fearing being spied on

OpIndia Staff
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Even as Pegasus story falls flat, here are the 9 ‘protocols’ Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra govt has put in place fearing being spied on

Even as the Pegasus snoop gate propaganda peddled by vested foreign interests fell flat with no takers or proof, the Maharashtra government seems to be still afraid of a potential threat of being spied on and has now announced a series of “safety” protocols to be followed by the officials.

According to the reports, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra has now laid down protocols for using electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and has asked officials to restrict its usage. The Maharashtra government has come up with nine protocols for its officials, which according to them if followed, would keep them protected from snooping.

The list of protocols to be followed by the Maharashtra officials are:

  1. The state government has asked government staffers to maintain protocol while using phones during office hours.
  2. The officials should use landlines on priority and should use mobile phones only when there is important work.
  3. Officials should speak briefly, courteously, maintaining decorum.
  4. Officials should not fight and argue on phone.
  5. Officials should answer phone calls of people’s representatives and senior officials on priority.
  6. Officials should go out of the cabin to attend to urgent personal calls.
  7. Officials must put phones on silent mode during meetings with seniors.
  8. Officials should not use earphones during meetings.
  9. Officials should not switch off phones during official tours.

The Uddhav Thackeray government’s decision to enforce protocols for its public officials comes as a knee-jerk reaction to the ongoing Pegasus snoop-gate controversy. Perhaps, Uddhav Thackeray-led government has been considering the snooping hoax as a serious affair and it is taking steps to prevent any alleged ‘snooping’ on them.

However, the fear-mongering by the Maharashtra government is unwarranted as Pegasus snoop gate has turned out to be another dud as there is no substantial evidence to prove that anybody in the country was snooped on. Initially, in India, there was a bit of noise surrounding the controversy, with far-left websites claiming that some alleged activists, journalists, politicians were all spied on by the Indian government using spyware Pegasus.

However, neither Amnesty International, which released the so-called list of ‘potential targets’ in the first place and the left-wing media outlets failed to provide any proof to back the claim.

In fact, the timing of this so-called exposes is rather looked at as an effort by adversarial governments to peddle their usual anti-India propaganda and coerce pliable journalists to follow their diktats, given that the Pegasus spyware was in possession of foreign governments as well. Despite having no concrete evidence of being spied upon, the Maharashtra government seems to be forcing its officials to follow stricter rules out of sheer panic and fear.

‘Who is running the country?’: Series of bizarre comments by US President Joe Biden sparks further concerns about his deteriorating mental health

Jinit Jain
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‘Who is running the country?’: Series of bizarre comments by US President Joe Biden sparks further concerns about his deteriorating mental health

Some of the inexplicable decisions and strange remarks made by US President Joe Biden lately has once again rekindled concerns about his declining psychological well-being.

While the US media continues to fawn over him and pamper him with soft questions, a series of incongruous comments have only served to fuel suspicions about Joe Biden’s deteriorating mental health. As a consequence, numerous political commentators, journalists and analysts have raised doubts whether the President is mentally fit enough to lead.

Joe Biden rambles incoherently, sparking questions

The American people need an objective evaluation of President Joe Biden’s cognitive capabilities, journalist Grant Stinchfield argued in the wake of his disastrous CNN town hall, where he was seen meandering and providing confusing answers to the questions asked of him. Stinchfield held that Joe Biden is showing more signs of dementia and a man in decline as his stammering, stuttering and a complete lack of coherence during his townhall meeting suggested.

Newsmax also highlighted the corruption scandal that engulfs President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden and much of the Biden family.

Highlighting how President Biden had been mouthing off inanities at his townhall meeting, one of the social media users remarked that he had said “not a joke” at least seven times in 30 minutes of his address at the townhall.

President Biden was frequently using mildly exasperating catchphrases all too often during his townhall meeting and predictably, it didn’t go unnoticed by observant political junkies.

One of the issues on which President Biden’s incoherence appeared evident was on his views on vaccination. When asked about when the vaccines will be available for the children, Biden blurted out a string of sentences that failed to make any sense. Former president Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr, was among those who mocked Mr Biden for his incoherent rambling.

The Republican Party’s Twitter account also had poked fun at the President.

In another video that is doing the rounds on social media, Biden could be heard snarling, “Are there people in the Republican Party who think we are sucking the blood out of kids?” when he was asked if there were some in the Democrats who advocated for defunding the police.

President Joe Biden was also mocked by American stand-up comedian and political commentator Jimmy Dore in a new episode of his “The Jimmy Dore Show” after the United States carried out air strikes in Somalia, one of the poorest countries in the world. In his characteristically sardonic manner, Dore rhetorically asked, “The US military carries out first air strike in Somalia under Biden, isn’t it nice that a demented guy gets to decide who to kill? isn’t it awesome?”

Source: YouTube

Jimmy Dore and his guest also wondered who made the decision to bomb Somalia and suggested that Biden is not in control of the situation.

This is not the first time that President Joe Biden has been accused of suffering from dementia and losing his mental acuity. In the run-up to the US presidential elections, political observers and commentators had raised concerns about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline and ominous signs of senility creeping in that they claimed would seriously cloud his ability to function as the President of the most powerful country on Earth.

‘Just erotica, not porn’: Actress Shilpa Shetty defends husband Raj Kundra after he was arrested in an adult film racket

OpIndia Staff
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‘Just erotica, not porn’: Actress Shilpa Shetty defends husband Raj Kundra after he was arrested in an adult film racket

Days after Raj Kundra was arrested on charges of producing pornographic films, actress Shilpa Shetty has come out in defence of her husband, reported Mid-Day.

While quoting a police official, the Indian daily, stated, “Shilpa Shetty said that the movies available on Hotshot are not pornography but erotica. She also said that nowadays, similar content is available on the various OTT platforms, and in fact, some are more obscene than what is available on Hotshot”. According to Mid-Day, she had denied her involvement in the production of the contentious videos.

On Friday (July 23), the Mumbai police raided the residence of the couple in Juhu for over 6 hours and recovered several electronic gadgets. While Shilpa Shetty has come out in defence of her husband, Raj Kundra alleged that the production of the ‘videos’ was being handled by his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi from London. Reportedly, the duo communicated only through Whatsapp. However, the police have refused to buy his argument.

A police official informed, “We have enough evidence that he (Raj Kundra) was dealing with everything, his brother-in-law was made the owner of the London-based company just for namesake.” Interestingly, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch did not find the direct involvement of Shilpa Shetty with the production of pornographic videos. The cops interrogated the actress for several hours about her decision to quit Viaan Industries in 2020. It is suspected that the decision was influenced by the impending legal obstacles due to connections between Hotshot and Viaan Industries.

Lawyer of Raj Kundra dismisses the pornography angle 

During the remand hearing on Friday, advocate Abad Ponda representing Raj Kundra argued that the video content did not fall under the category of pornography. He said, “The videos don’t show the ‘actual act of coitus’ or ‘actual act of intercourse, hence they can’t be considered pornographic. OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon have similar content. Shows like Sex life and Four Shots have similar content. I don’t understand why Mumbai police are going after Kundra but not after Netflix and Amazon. In India, we don’t follow the ‘Hicklin test of obscenity — the model followed by the UK. We follow the ‘Canadian concept of obscenity.”

According to the Canadian standard of obscenity, no individual shall be prosecuted if he establishes that public good was served by acts that are alleged to have been obscene. Ponda cited the example of Bandit Queen to substantiate his arguments. While the Mumbai police did not challenge the arguments, the Court inquired, “What’s lascivious and what’s not?” The Mumbai police or prosecution did not counter or object to the arguments by Ponda. Besides, Kundra’s lawyers have also moved a petition in the Bombay High Court against the invocation of the Information Technology Act against him.

Arrest of Raj Kundra in pornography case

On July 19, actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was arrested by Mumbai Police for his alleged role in creating and publishing pornographic films on some mobile applications. As per reports, he had appeared before the Property Cell of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch for questioning, after which he was placed under arrest. Kundra was taken for medical examination at JJ Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “Businessman Raj Kundra has been arrested by the Crime Branch in a case relating to the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on July 19, 2021, as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this. The investigation is in progress, please.” Raj Kundra has been sent to police remand till July 27.

I lost, public did not vote for me: Watch how Rakesh Tikait gets taken to task by this journalist

OpIndia Staff
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I lost, public did not vote for me: Watch how Rakesh Tikait gets taken to task by this journalist

Since late 2020, the so-called farmers have been squatting at the borders of Delhi protesting against the three Farm laws enacted by the Government of India, meant to benefit the farmers. The protests, that have been taken over by Khalistanis, politicians and the middle-men that these farm laws aim to eradicate, are mainly being led by one self-styled farmer leader, Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of Bharat Kisan Union.

Rakesh Tikait has in the past been indulged by the Indian media as a messiah for the farmers, even while he passed problematic statements inciting violence and is opposing a law that would increase the income of farmers themselves. The media has by and large been subservient to the “farmers” who have been squatting on the roads causing immense inconvenience to the people and had also indulged in rampant violence on the 26th of January.

One journalist, Garima Singh, however, took Rakesh Tikait head-on while interviewing him on a channel called News 1 India.

During the interview in one of the segments, the anchor asks Rakesh Tikait why he did not win the elections even after contesting while making tall claims of contributing to the Prime Minister winning elections in 2014. It is pertinent to note here that Rakesh Tikait has claimed several times that it was him who rallied the Jats in the Haryana region behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi during and after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, resulting in his victory.

Assuming he has the influence in Haryana to make the Prime Minister win elections, the anchor asks him why he did not manage to win elections even though he contested twice.

Embarrassed by the question, Rakesh Tikait says, “Yes. The public did not vote for me. I lost”.

Enraged by the question, Rakesh Tikait then asks the anchor who she voted for in the elections. The anchor, Garima, flatly refuses to answer saying that she is the journalist asking the questions and it is Rakesh Tikait who should answer. To this, Rakesh Tikait goes on another rant, claiming that the anchor is actually “scared” to reveal who she voted for. Saying that the media has no “courage” to reveal who they voted for since they are supposedly all scared of PM Modi, Rakesh Tikait goes on to try and put Garima on the spot.

Garima, however, tells Tikait that it is not about courage, but the fact that disclosing who one actually votes for is not desirable, as per the tenets of our democracy. After Rakesh Tikait attempting to play the victim again, Garima asks him the pointed question again – “If you made PM Modi win, why did you not win when you fought elections twice”.

After a pregnant pause, Rakesh Tikait meekly blurts out that though he did not win the elections when he contested, he will certainly win in the “protests”.

The display of frustration by Rakesh Tikait in the video clip that has now gone viral is nothing short of amusing. Rakesh Tikait, who has fashioned himself as a popular farmer leader has failed to make a dent politically when he fought elections. Apart from Rakesh Tikait himself losing both times he contested, only recently, the BJP swept the Zilla Parishad polls in Uttar Pradesh, even winning from Rakesh Tikait’s hometown. While Tikait might fancy himself as a popular mass leader of the farmers, the truth seems to be far from it and he has so far been unable to translate his delusions into votes for himself.

Rakesh Tikait puts a condition to hold a ‘no condition talk

It is pertinent to note that the central government has repeatedly asserted that they are open to holding talks to discuss certain clauses of the Farm Bills as claimed by the protestors but will not roll back the laws. 

However, Tikait who seems to be in no mood to bring the protests to a logical conclusion insists that they will end the stir or engage in dialogue only if the laws will be taken back. 

“The farm laws will not be curbed, yet they are asking us to end the protest. Farmers are not protesting for 8 months so that they could follow govt’s orders. If they want to talk, they can talk, but no conditions should be imposed,” said Tikait while speaking with the media. 

“We have said earlier as well that we are ready for talks whenever the government is ready. But why are they making it conditional by saying that they will not take back the farm laws?” he added exposing the irony. 

11 rounds of talks failed

It is imperative to note that the government had initiated 11 rounds of talks with the protesting farmers to reach an amicable solution. In the 10th round of talks, the Centre had proposed putting the Farm Bills on hold for 1.5 years, however, that too was not convincing enough for the farmers who have made ‘my way or the highway’ their motto.

The last round of talk was held in January after which no new date was determined for the next round. As the second wave of the pandemic receded, the Centre and the Union Minister have invited the farmers multiple times for the talks, however, the leaders have been adamant on their demand.

For Rakesh Tikait, it is all politics, no farmers

Bharat Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait in a TV interview declared that if the Centre does not repeal the Farm Bills, the only option he will be left with is to defeat BJP in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections slated for 2022.

Deflecting the anchor’s question of whether the farmers protest was a reason for BJP’s defeat in Bengal and if the farmer leader had any role to play in it, Tikait answered, “BJP winning just 600 seats out of more than 3000 seats in panchayat elections is no less than a defeat.” Urging the Centre to reinitiate talks, Tikait said that they will visit every state if the Centre does not adhere to their demands.

Disclosing their next mission, Tikait revealed, “Samyukta Morcha’s next mission is Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.” “We are requesting the Centre to fulfill our demands before that and repeal the laws,” threatened the self-acclaimed farmer leader.

It is also pertinent to note that Rakesh Tikait has said in the past claimed that even if the farm laws are repealed, he will continue his protest till 2024, thereby exposing that for him, the protest is purely political and has got nothing to do with the farmers or the farm laws.

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