Home Blog Page 4184

Congress Toolkit team now comes up with a ‘white paper’ on COVID management, here is how it is flawed

Jinit Jain
-
0
Congress Toolkit team now comes up with a ‘white paper’ on COVID management, here is how it is flawed

Days after AIIMS Director Dr Rajeev Guleria warned that the third wave of coronavirus is inevitable, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in which he released a ‘white paper’ created by the Congress party on how to manage the third wave of COVID-19.

While Gandhi claimed that the aim of the press conference was not to pinpoint the government but to help the nation prepare for the third wave of infection, he ended up peddling misinformation and misleading claims to attack the Centre and cast aspersions on its COVID management. What should have been a document presenting the way forward to the government and the country, turned out to be a propaganda instrument for virtue signalling and using the pandemic to revive the party’s dying political fortunes.

The suggestions made by Rahul Gandhi in the press conference and those listed in the white paper do not jibe with the Congress’ party’s stand during the pandemic. Incidentally, the white paper is prepared by the Congress Research team, headed by Rajeev Gowda, who is accused of developing the toolkit that was released by BJP leaders last month. The latest white paper seems like an extension to the alleged Congress toolkit, which suggested its leaders and supporters exploit the COVID-19 outbreak to the hilt and cast a dent in PM Modi’s popularity.

Here’s how the claims made by Rahul Gandhi and his deputy Randeep Surjewala during the press conference and the Congress white paper on COVID management is replete with flaws:-

Rahul’s deputy Randeep Surjewala disregards 86 lakh+ vaccination in a single day by citing 70 crores pulse polio vaccines in Feb 2012

Earlier yesterday, India jabbed more than 80 lakh people with COVID-19 vaccination. While the achievement is something to be proud of, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tried to belittle the feat by comparing it with the single day vaccination of pulse polio done in 2012 during the UPA-II regime.

Taking a swipe at the Modi government, Surjewala said while 80 lakh+ vaccination is good and desirable, India’s largest single-day vaccination took place on 19 February 2012 when 17 crore people were vaccinated with pulse polio. “Unfortunately, at that time PM Manmohan Singh did not boast about the single-day vaccination like the current PM does,” Surjewala said.

It is worth noting here that Randeep Surjewala is comparing apples with oranges when he compares polio vaccination with COVID-19 vaccination. The made in India vaccines were developed in December 2020 and within six months, more than 28 crore people have been vaccinated with at least one dose of either of the two vaccines developed locally. Moreover, vaccines from abroad have also been ordered and is currently on the anvil for them to be used for India’s vaccination drive.

In contrast, it took decades for India to completely eradicate polio. The vaccination of polio was introduced in the United States in 1960 and it took another 19 years for its introduction in India. Furthermore, for years India imported Polio vaccines from abroad since its IPV was not licenced for manufacturing in India till 2006. The polio vaccination was started in 1979 and India was polio-free only in 2012. Perhaps, this was the reason why then PM Manmohan Singh did not boast about the vaccination. It took more than 32 years for India to be polio-free.

When India became Polio-free officially in 2014, only three countries in the world still had the virus, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And it was the Congress party’s government at the centre for most of the years in that period.

Congress white paper says vaccination is the only tool to fight COVID while its leaders promoted vaccine hesitancy

The white paper released by the Congress party focuses on the need to vaccinate people to fight the subsequent waves of COVID-19. It included a laundry list of measures the centre should have taken to procure more vaccines and effectively distribute it among the states.

One of the measures said, “Placed orders globally for vaccines as soon as India faced the first wave”. India faced the first wave of coronavirus outbreak in mid-March 2020. At that time, the process for the development of vaccines was in a nascent state, with many pharmaceutical companies yet to start their research. However, the Congress party, in its bid to attack the Modi government, says it should have placed an order as soon as India faced the first wave.

Source: Congress whitepaper

Though the Congress party now pontificates on what the government should have done to procure the vaccines commensurate with the population of the country, it cunningly hides the treachery of its leaders, who promoted vaccine hesitancy when the Modi government launched an ambitious vaccination drive for the country.

Several senior Congress leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari and others actively raised questions on the government’s decision to approve emergency use of indigenously made vaccines. However, Congress expediently skips the vaccine hesitancy part in its white paper. The Congress party has been so brazenly promoting vaccine hesitancy and engendering fear among people about the ingredients used in the vaccine. Recently, Congress leader Gaurav Pandhi shared misinformation that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin contained calf serum.

It is also noteworthy to mention that it was Rahul Gandhi who had suggested the Centre to decentralise the vaccination policy and provide the state governments a greater say in procuring vaccines. The Centre heeded to the suggestion and allowed the states to issue tenders individually to meet their vaccine requirements. However, shortly later, they realised that the decision yielded no significant results as the pharma companies refused to deal with individual states and said that they will only talk with the federal government. But this failure of the opposition party was also swept under the rug as the aim was to criticise the government’s handling of COVID-19 outbreak.

The white paper says the Centre should have postponed election rallies even though Rahul Gandhi continued attending them

With the wisdom of hindsight, Rahul Gandhi now suggests that the government should have postponed the election rallies even as the coronavirus was priming itself for another wave of outbreak. However, it is notable to mention that the Gandhi scion was himself seen campaigning for the elections in various states and union territories before the elections. In fact, in a PR exercise, Rahul Gandhi also swam with the fishermen on the hustings in Kerala.

Source: Congress white paper

Gandhi also attended election rallies in West Bengal and called off only after it was speculated that the Wayanad MP was down with symptoms of COVID-19. This demonstrates that the suggestions made by the Congress party in the white paper released today were not followed by their supreme leader. He was busy campaigning for Congress before the elections.

Amusingly, a journalist recently ended up revealing that it was not due to concerns over COVID that Rahul Gandhi may have cancelled public rallies but it could be because he himself had tested positive for the virus.

As Rahul Gandhi claimed in his press conference that he has been cautioning the government about the subsequent waves of the coronavirus, he could have skipped the election campaigns and send out a powerful message to the country that Congress would not participate in ground campaigning in the view of the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyway, Rahul Gandhi’s campaigning has hardly been effective for the Congress party and they could have called off their election campaign to assume the moral high ground.

However, the Congress party, which now claims that the government should have postponed the election campaigns, gleefully participated in the campaigns leading up to the assembly poll elections. With the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak wreaking havoc, it conveniently pushes the blame on the Centre for going ahead with the election campaigns.

The white paper drew a sharp correlation in the spike in the number of cases in the states where the election campaigns were conducted. However, it did not explain why the states such as Maharashtra, Kerala and other states where there were no elections saw a dangerous surge in the COVID-19 cases. As Congress has been one of the coalition partners in the Maharashtra government, there was no mention of the high mortality rate and an increasing number of hospital mishaps reported across the state amidst the second wave of coronavirus outbreak.

Congress’ flip flop on India’s vaccine maitri initiative

In a bid to strengthen India’s diplomatic missions across the globe, the Indian government launched ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative, where in it sent a token amount of vaccines to countries across the world to help them in taming the coronavirus outbreak in their respective countries.

The COVID-19 outbreak has been a pandemic and there has hardly been any land untouched by the scourge of the contagion. In order to eradicate it from the face of the earth, it is important that the entire world is vaccinated against coronavirus. India being the “pharmacy of the world”, several countries looked towards New Delhi for fulfilling their vaccine requirements. India heeded their expectations and provided a host of countries with a nominal number of vaccine doses, with the promise of providing more doses after the manufacturing scales up. India is also a part of COVAX programme, which obligates it to provide a certain number of vaccines to the global vaccine forum.

However, when India was struck with the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, it promptly stopped all vaccine exports and concentrated on vaccinating its own people. Congress’s message in this regard has been profoundly confusing and inconsistent. In its white paper, Congress has slammed the government for taking credit for exporting vaccines to countries across the world.

Congress leaders have also added to the confusion on the party’s stand on Vaccine Maitri. At the time when India was overwhelmed with the second wave of COVID-19, Shashi Tharoor posted a tweet accusing the Modi government of sending vaccines abroad which were meant for Indians. A few weeks later, when the second wave subsided, Tharoor accused the government of letting down the countries that were looking forward to the vaccines supplied by India.

It is worth mentioning here that when India was hit with the brutal second wave, the countries across the globe had come forward to help India get over the wave. Help poured in from countries like Israel, Singapore, France and many others who stood by India and sent us relief material like oxygen cylinders, ventilators and other critical equipments amongst many other things.

86 lakh vaccinations: Why BJP had the most perfect day yesterday

Abhishek Banerjee
-
0
86 lakh vaccinations: Why BJP had the most perfect day yesterday

After a long time, the BJP had an absolutely perfect day yesterday. Over 86 lakh vaccinations in one day left supporters celebrating and opponents fuming. The all important political constituency, those in the middle, seemed almost wholly to go with Modi. That is why folks like Ravish Kumar seemed so frustrated yesterday.

Let us dissect exactly what made the day so perfect. The first part was how it started. There was no big announcement, no bombast, no PR build up towards this day. The only thing people knew is that starting June 21 the Central government is taking charge of the vaccination program. They did not know what to expect. They did not what or how much of a difference this would make.

It is true that state governments had prepared targets for this day. Madhya Pradesh had set a target of 10 lakh, Uttar Pradesh had set a target of 6 lakh per day starting June 21. Gujarat was opening 400 vaccination centers all across Amdavad so that 1 lakh doses could be given in the city each day. This information was in the public domain, but only technically. It was mostly hidden in corners of various web portals. You would have to be a true news junkie to have known about these targets in advance. Because no major newspaper or news channel had a consolidated list. Most didn’t even mention it.

The ‘stealth’ feature of this operation was outstanding. Karnataka pulled a rabbit out of a hat with over 10 lakh vaccinations. The target must have been set internally at some level. If it was reported somewhere in advance, let me know.

This means opponents had no time to prepare their attacks. They were not mentally prepared to go on the offensive. They had woken up on Monday morning ready to begin their usual bellyaching about this or that. Rahul Gandhi began the day with an inane tweet about “It’s Yoga day, not hide behind Yoga day.” What was he even talking about? I have no idea.

But as the day progressed, the opponents realized that something big was happening. First they thought it would be 40 lakh vaccinations. By afternoon, the Cowin dashboard had gone way past that. People began speculating about whether it would go past 50 lakh. By 5 pm, we had exceeded that and the data was still pouring in. By evening… it was 60 lakh… by late evening 70 and the 75 lakh. By late night, it had crossed 80 lakh.

All day, the government kept people guessing and speculating. As if the government itself had no idea what would happen. On their part, the opponents did not know whether to ridicule or to applaud. They did not want to be seen as going against people when they are happy. They did not want to walk into the trap of applauding the government and therefore neutralizing themselves. This kept opponents off balance the whole day. Nobody was watching them. Everyone was watching the scoreboard.

One interesting feature was that NDA ruled states accounted for 70 percent of the vaccine doses given. Surely, there was some planning involved. The opposition and their media surrogates got no wind of it.

This is what an innings defeat for the critics looks like. By evening, the critics emerged, hissing and spitting venom. Ravish Kumar has been a shadow of himself lately. He had invested a lot of mental capital into the ‘farmer’ protest thing. Ever since that protest became an overall farce, he has not been able to get his rhythm back. Yesterday, when he came out cribbing about how 80 lakh vaccinations per day is too less compared to the Pulse Polio program, he just looked ridiculous.

Incidentally, only a few weeks ago, when PM Modi had spoken about how the India of old would have to wait decades for vaccinations, Ravish Kumar had produced one of his self-satisfied monologues about why you can’t compare polio vaccination to Covid vaccination. Yesterday, Ravish Kumar just looked like he had worms in his brain.

Rahul Gandhi would have done well to stay quiet today and let the storm pass. That’s one of the basic rules of politics. Take cover and hold fast when your opponent is on a roll. But if he ever knew the basic rules of politics, he would not be Rahul Gandhi, would he? So he just had to go out there today and “expose” the Modi government with what he thought was a blistering address to the media. And again, he went down the rabbit hole of comparing Polio vaccination rates to Covid vaccinations.

Rahul Gandhi has done the BJP a favour, as usual. While we are all relieved about India finally being polio free, our record on polio eradication is disastrous to say the least. The US became polio free in 1979 and most of the developed world had eradicated the disease by the 1980s. By the turn of the century, most of Africa had done so as well, including Somalia by 2002. When India became polio free in 2011 (the official declaration came in 2014), we were the fourth last country in the world to do so. Behind us were only Nigeria (which became polio free in 2016) as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the disease is still ongoing.

Suffice to say that this kind of record won’t impress anyone, let alone young India. For the last one year, Congress and its surrogates have been saturating social media with questions about why India is behind USA on this parameter or behind Canada, Norway or New Zealand on that parameter. If Congress had stuck to the context free, unfair comparisons, it would have been better. Trust Rahul Gandhi to remind people of a time when India was in the bottom five in the world. And now Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have to answer for this.

After MC Kode, Vastavik Muhfaad abuses Lord Krishna while dissing another rapper, songs laced with expletives and drug promotion

OpIndia Staff
-
0
After MC Kode, Vastavik Muhfaad abuses Lord Krishna while dissing another rapper, songs laced with expletives and drug promotion

Rapper Vastavik Muhfaad who runs a YouTube channel by the name ‘Be a Muhfaad!’ repetitively abused Hindu god Krishna while dissing fellow rapper Krsna. In an attempt to call the fellow rapper a liar, Muhfaad sings, “Tu matki ka saara maakhan kha gaya makhanchor, aww Nandlala ki fat gayi kya.”

The next one has inflammatory lines such as, “Mar gaya tera nandlal natkhat, ab gopiyan bhagegi chodke panghant.”

Obsessed with mocking Hindu gods and epics, Muhfaad in another one sings, “Main tere papa ka sudama aake pair dho.”

Abusing and mocking Hindu gods and religions has almost become a measure of success in today’s time. Muhfaad who enjoys a following of almost 4 lakh subscribers on YouTube, in almost all of his 30 videos has made unwarranted and disparaging remarks against Hindu gods.

In the latest rap song full of expletives and sexual innuendos, Muhfaad sings, “Ban jau Indra dev faad ke aa jau andar.” His other ‘high on abuses’ song refers to Hindu gods Ram and Sita in a similar depreciative manner. 

Screengrab of Muhfaad’s Kali Zuban video

Muhfaad’s blue tick Instagram account too has a huge following with 134k followers.

Who is Vastavik Muhfaad?

Muhfaad, whose original name is Gaurav– is a resident of Delhi who in 2012 left his education midway to become a rapper. Gaurav since then has been working on his alleged “music” and made his debut in 2016 with ‘Sach Too Much”. 

Gaurav rose to fame in 2018 with his rap song ‘Saare karo dab” which was in collaboration with Indian rapper and lyricist Raftaar and Punjabi singer Sonu Kakkar.

Gaurav who raps in Hindi, English, Punjabi and Haryanavi says his songs are loved by the younger generation. He feels songs that sound weird and hard to understand are accepted much more by the audience.

Gaurav’s father is a school teacher while his mother is a homemaker. 

Rapper MC Kode abuses Hindu text

We had reported earlier how a rapper by the name MC Kode’s videos insulting Hinduism and holy scriptures of Hinduism during a ‘rapping’ battle had gone viral on social media. Netizens had demanded action against him for his provocative raps. After receiving a huge backlash, Kode had gone missing on June 03 after putting up a cryptic message on Instagram.

While his mother filed a an official missing complaint and pleaded his son to return, Kode was found from Madhya Pradesh a few days later.

Thousands of people want Jeff Bezos to stay in space, multiple petitions welcome the new way to ‘financial equality’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Thousands of people want Jeff Bezos to stay in space, multiple petitions welcome the new way to ‘financial equality’

On June 7 (local time), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that he would be going to space with his brother. In an Instagram post, he wrote, “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.” Being the richest man on Earth, it is not difficult for him to grab the opportunity to become the person who would be remembered as the first ‘tourist’ to space.

The flight will take off on July 20, marking the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing. The winner of an auction who would be paying $28 million to be on the trip to space with Bezos will also accompany him on the flight beyond Earth. The amount will be donated to the “Club for the Future”, an organization that aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM.

The organization is part of Bezos’s Blue Origin, the company responsible for the first tourist flight to space. Blue Origin is currently working on partially and fully reusable launch vehicles for spacecraft that would cost-effective and safe. Apart from Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also developing such launch vehicles.

‘Jeff Bezos should stay in space’ – Petitions with over 75,000 signatures

Soon after Bezos announced his space trip, several petitions have surfaced on Change.org demanding Jeff Bezos must not be allowed back to Earth after his trip to space. In one of the petitions titled “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth”, the description reads, “Billionaire’s should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter, they should stay there.”

Petition on Change.org

In another petition, the description reads, “Jeff Bezos is actually Lex Luthor, disguised as the supposed owner of a super successful online retail store. However, he’s actually an evil overlord hellbent on global domination. We’ve known this for years. Jeff has worked with the Epsteins and the Knights Templar, as well as the Free Masons, to gain control over the whole world. He’s also in bed with the flat earth deniers; it’s the only way they’ll allow him to leave the atmosphere. Meanwhile, our government stands by and lets it happen. This may be our last chance before they enable the 5G microchips and perform a mass takeover.”

Petition on Change.org

This particular petition is even more hilarious as it compared Bezos to a fictional villain, mix myths and invoked conspiracy theories against 5G technology at the same time. And there is flat earth theory too! One can only hope the organizer of the petition and over 21,000 people who signed it are just joking. But, on the other hand, if someone has followed these conspiracy theorists even for a short span, the text of the petition falls in sync with what these flat-earth theorists and conspiracy theorists believe in.

The hate against Jeff includes ‘eating’ him

Bezos did not have a difficult life, and there are reports that criticize his business practices. However, how far would it be correct to call for eating him? In 2020, he became the victim of the hate-filled campaign “Eat The Rich”. There is a petition on Change.org titled “Eat Jeff Bezos” that reads, “Jeff Bezos does not need a trillion dollars. Eat the rich and redistribute the wealth.”

In reality, the phrase represents standing up to those who are rich and powerful. It represents holding them accountable on behalf of the less fortunate. However, when it made a comeback in recent years, it seems to have taken the literal context rather than the metaphoric one as the ‘angry’ Gen Z is often ready to attack those who have money.

‘Eat The Rich’ – the infamous quote from 18th century

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, an 18th century socialist and philosopher, had said in the context of the French Revolution and its aftermath, “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.” The ‘sentiment’ made a comeback in 2019-2020 and became popular among the millennials who are often against the rich and lean towards the left-politics. Associated with socialism, it is used in reference to opposing wealth inequality. The phrase can be seen and heard in political rallies, online videos and protests.

Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah colluded with Pakistan to fuel unrest in Kashmir, was in touch with UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed: ED

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah colluded with Pakistan to fuel unrest in Kashmir, was in touch with UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed: ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opposed the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah, currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in a Delhi court.

While opposing the bail application in the terror funding case, the law enforcement agency informed the court that the chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Shabir Shah conspired with Pakistan to create unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED in its reply filed in response to the bail petition, stated: “Shabir Shah was also involved in terror financing activities as terrorists need money to sustain themselves and to carry out terrorist acts.”

“Money-laundering is the method by which criminals disguise the illegal origins of their wealth and protect their asset bases, so as to avoid the suspicion of law enforcement agencies and prevent leaving a trail of incriminating evidence,” the law enforcement agency said, adding that “he was involved in the generation of huge proceeds of crime from various countries including Pakistan to create unrest in Kashmir.”

While opposing the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist Shabir Shah, the ED also informed the court that the Kashmiri separatist leader was in regular touch with the 26/11 mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.

The first case against Shabir Shah was registered in 2007 for his alleged role in a money laundering case in 2005 for the purpose of terror financing. He was arrested by the ED on July 25, 2017, in connection with the 2005 case.

In another case, the NIA took Shah in custody in June 2019 in connection with its probe into a separate terror funding case involving the UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

Besides Shabir Shah, the NIA had taken Masarat Alam Bhat, the alleged kingpin of stone-pelting into custody along with Asiya Andrabi who heads the women’s secessionist group Dukhtaren-e-Millat. All the three had been taken in for questioning for their roles in terror funding.

More controversial TISS papers surface: ‘India controlled Kashmir’, ‘Military Occupation’, romance with a research subject and embracing Islam

OpIndia Staff
-
0
More controversial TISS papers surface: ‘India controlled Kashmir’, ‘Military Occupation’, romance with a research subject and embracing Islam

A dissertation paper submitted by a student of TISS, Hyderabad as part of her academic propgramme stirred a significant controversy for blaming domestic violence in Kashmiri society on the Indian Army. The paper, authored by one Ananya Kundu, repeatedly called the region “India occupied Kashmir”.

The paper sparked calls for the Indian Government to stop funding the institute. But as it turns out, it is not the only controversial paper submitted at TISS. Scholar Abhinav Prakash has shared snippets from another study where the author makes extremely controversial comments.

The ‘pro-Azaadi’ paper was authored by one Sreyasi Mukherjee and submitted at the Guwahati campus of TISS. In the paper titled ‘Poetry of Resistance’, the author admits to developing a romantic relationship with one of her subjects apart from eulogising Islam.

Image Source: Abhinav Prakash

The author writes, “It is almost blasphemous to be romantically involved with people on your field, possible subjects. To become friends even. But I was, and I learnt more from observing my partner, who also at times became my subject, than I did from observing Kashmir from a clinical point of view.”

She also writes in the paper, “Some reading would leave me disturbed for days, and in these moments, I took refuge in sermons and short lectures on Islam that said a few things that have stayed with me. The knowledge that Allah would never put me in a situation that I will not be able to come out of, the knowledge that his judgment will always be fair and verily, with hardships come ease, and that to bare my sorrows to Allah to give in to him will actually, always soothe my troubled heart, that gave me a sense of purpose that not too many other things could.”

Image source: Abhinav Prakash

She adds, “And if I as someone who has repeatedly shunned religion as excessive could take to it at the mere attempt of writing a thesis situated in a protracted conflict, why would not people who have lived there their entire lives not take their strength from Islam?”

Her pro-Azaadi thesis is “one that is a critique of existing power structures as reminiscent of the Westphalian nation states, to fight for what could be, a new world order.” The paper was published in 2017.

There are other such controversial papers published as well. TISS Tuljapur published a paper titled, “State’s Coercive Apparatus: A Study of Military Occupation in Kashmir”.

Source: @BBTheorist/Twitter

Another paper was titled, “Violence As A Form of Resistance A Study of Post 1989 Self Determination in India-Controlled-Kashmir”.

Source: @BBTheorist/Twitter

Another paper, this time from TISS Tuljapur, openly speaks in support of war against the Indian State and ‘Free Kashmir’.

image Source: Abhinav Prakash

The ‘rationale’ section of the research paper states that the conflict in the valley is a “result of the forceful occupation that Indian did on the 27th of October, 1947 when the then Maharaja Ranbir Singh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of India (GOI) with Lord Mountbatten acting as a mediator between the princely state and India to provide armed resistance against the invading Pakistani army and the tribal.”

The author procceds to add that Kashmir has seen “subjugations”, “suppressions”, “tortures”, “disappearances” and “mass graves” of the “worst kind”.

Image Source: Abhinav Prakash

Ananya Kundu in her research paper had written, “Sexual violence was used as a strategic tool against both men and women to break the resistance among individuals and communities and also as a punishment for going against the Indian state (Batool, 2018). With laws in place to provide impunity to security forces for such violations and the larger lack of effectiveness of judicial institutions, such crimes remained hidden under the heavy blanket of silence and justice was never served.”

Since Abhinav Prakash first shared Kundu’s research paper, TISS has issued a statement wherein they said that the institute does not endorse the title and that “Necessary action has been initiated for fact finding”.

However, it begs the question how were such papers published if there was no institutional support for the torrent of such studies. Kanchan Gupta, recently appointed senior adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said that he wondered if “Tata Institute of Social Sciences, set up in 1936 as ‘Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work’, has mutated into ‘Tata Institute of Subversive Separatism’.”

Given recent developments, it remains to be seen whether anyone is held accountable for the support of separatism observed in the papers published by its campuses.

Court directs former PM Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 crores for defaming construction firm: Here are the details of the case

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Court directs former PM Deve Gowda to pay Rs 2 crores for defaming construction firm: Here are the details of the case

Former Prime Minister and JDS patriarch HD Deve Gowda has been directed to pay a sum of ₹2 crores to an infrastructure services firm named Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Limited for causing ‘loss of reputation’. The order was issued by an Additional City Civil and Sessions Court on Thursday (June 17).

During an interview to a Kannada news channel in 2011, Deve Gowda had claimed that the firm was ‘looting’ more land than required for the implementation of a project. Following his comments, NICE Limited had filed a lawsuit against the JDS supremo. The company claimed to have suffered a huge loss to its reputation and demanded ₹10 crores in damages.

The Counsel for NICE Limited pointed out that the firm had no role in determining the quantity of land allocated for the said project. He argued that the allegation was baseless and not backed by any documentary evidence. The Counsel for the company also highlighted that the project was approved by the Karnataka Government. He added that directions for the implementation of the project were given by the Karnataka High Court as well as the Supreme Court of India.

The Counsel argued that since the project received clearance both from the Judiciary and the Government, it was a testimony of ‘no irregularities/ illegality’ in the project. When the matter came up before Judge Mallanagouda of the Additional City Civil and Sessions Court, he noted that the former PM failed to prove his claims made during the interview. The Court directed Deve Gowda to pay a fine of ₹2 crores and permanently refrain from making any statements against NICE Limited in media or other mass communication channels.

The Court ruled, “Therefore, there is nothing on record to show that the allegations made by the defendant (Deve Gowda) against the plaintiff Company (NICE) in the questioned interview are supported with any cogent documentary proof…Hence, if defamatory statements like the present one are allowed to be made in the future, definitely implementation of such a massive project like the present one which is undertaken in the larger public interest of the State of Karnataka is going to be delayed.”

In the 1996 general elections, HD Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister with the external support of the Congress party. The popular mandate produced a hung assembly, despite BJP being the single largest party. Congress played the role of the kingmaker and made him the PM.

Years later in 2018, Congress helped his son Kumarswamy to snatch power from BS Yeddyurappa and form the government. But, just like the 1996 JDS-Congress coalition, the government collapsed and the BJP came to the power yet again. Neither Deve Gowda nor Kumaraswamy was ever meant to hold the posts they assumed, even they themselves never thought about assuming such positions.


They tortured me physically, mentally, abused my religion and my God: Read how women in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal are being victimised

OpIndia Staff
-
0
They tortured me physically, mentally, abused my religion and my God: Read how women in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal are being victimised

While Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal turns a blind eye towards the post-poll violence and abuse, several victimised women have come up to narrate horrific details of grievous bodily harm and sexual violence meted out at them allegedly by TMC cadres.

A report by Organiser pens down the horrifying story of a few of such women, who had to pay the price of supporting BJP in Mamata’s West Bengal.

BJP polling agent from West Bengal Pinky Baj recounts the atrocities inflicted on her family by TMC cadres

In her complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, New Delhi, one Pinky Baj (34), resident of Jaygram, village, North Parganas, West Bengal, revealed the horror that unfolded on May 2, when Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress returned to power in the state.

Pinky alleged that around 7:30 pm on May 2, around 50 TMC goons led by Mujaffar Baidya, Mahabur Baidya, Akhar Bhagi, Aja Mullah, Labawali Gazi and others barged into her house. “They started abusing me in the filthiest language. They started beating us with bamboo sticks, iron rods, their bare hands, and destroyed each and everything in the house and looted items worth 3 lakhs.”

“Jaisi tumhari Hindu devi maa Kaali n*ngi hai.. waise hi tumko n*nga karenge (the way your Hindu devi Kaali is naked, we will make you naked as well)”, they attacked my religious belief by abusing my God, lamented the BJP worker. She alleged that they hurled filthy abuses at her and threatened to rape her and also hurled sexually explicit abuses towards Goddess Kaali and Lord Ram.

“They have tortured me physically, mentally and attacked my religious belief by abusing my God. It is such a humiliation that I cannot forget it ever in my life,” rued the BJP polling agent while narrating her horrific tale.

However, according to Organiser, the TMC goons had started harassing the BJP supporter much prior to May 2. In fact, on April 17, Pinky, who belongs to the schedule caste community, was present at the polling booth, when the TMC cadres approached her and started hurling casteist abuses at her. Using extremely derogatory language against her, the TMC goons threatened to rape and thereafter shoot her when their party comes back to power.

Pinky Baj further wrote in her complaint that on that very day, she and her son were accosted by Mujaffar Baidya, Mahabur Baidya, Akhar Bhagi, Aja Mullah, Labawali Gazi, while she was on her way back home after polling got over. The TMC goons brutally thrashed her 17-year-old son, recalled Pinky.

The mother and the son duo were continuously harassed by the TMC goons until they managed to run away from the village. However, this was not the end of Pinky Baj’s miseries. After they fled, her husband, Sadhan Baj, who works outside the village, called up Mujaffar Baidya, to sort things with him, so that he could get his wife and son back home.

Mujaffar Baidya, reportedly told Sadhan Baj that he would first have to send his wife to him. Then only will he allow them to come back into the village.

Speaking to Organiser, the BJP polling agent said that all she wants is that those TMC goons get punished for their sins.

BJP worker Aparna Das raped, poisoned by TMC goons in West Bengal

Likewise, BJP worker Aparna Das, resident of Barotola in Khejuri Vidhan Sabha also left her village due to the constant harassment she was subjected to by the TMC goons. She said she would return to her village after 5 years if the BJP forms the government in Bengal.

Recollecting the horror, Das said that on June 2, few boys belonging to the Muslim community visited her and threatened her to leave her house. “Later during the night, they came back and dropped a bomb in front of my house. The next day, they dropped another bomb,” she said.

“The day after that, once again Usman (Ara), Gautam Das, Shushant Das, Subroto Das, all of them TMC goons, came to my place at around 10 o’clock at night. They asked my daughter-in-law to open the door. Since she is from Assam, my daughter-in-law did not know any of these people. She called me to check. I immediately locked her up in another room and opened the door. They barged into my house and demanded I get my daughter-in-law out. They demanded to rape her. I fell on their feet to leave her alone. I told them that I was like a mother to them and she’s like their sister. I pleaded with them to please let her go. They kept on insisting for around an hour and I kept begging them. Finally, they left and warned me that they would come back the next day”, Aparna Das, recounted.

Petrified by what ensued the previous night, Das consulted her neighbours, who advised Das to send her daughter-in-law to some other safe place where these goons could not reach. Das hid her daughter-in-law away in one of her neighbour’s house. On the night of June 5, Aparna Das recalled, that those TMC goons came back to her house and started banging the door. Knowing that it would be dangerous to open the door and let those goons in, Aparna did not respond. However, this was not the end of the horror, said the BJP worker.

She said that “they kicked open the door of my house and barged in. They started asking for my daughter-in-law. When they could not find her, they forced themselves on me. Usman then raped me. I kept pleading with him. Pleaded with him saying I am like your mother. Don’t do this to me. All my pleading fell on deaf ears as he continued forcing himself on me. That day I, a Hindu woman, lost my honour to a Muslim goon. They did not stop at this. Gautam Das advised Usman to kill me lest I would lodge a complaint against them. All the four together forced me to open my mouth and forced poison inside. I totally lost consciousness and I don’t even know how and when I was rescued”.

“I plead with you all to ensure I get justice. I, a Hindu woman, got dishonoured by this Muslim TMC goon, and do not wish to remain a mere victim. Please come forward to ensure I get justice”, pleaded the terrorized BJP worker.

Pinky Baj and Aparna Das are two of the umpteen women who have been victimized by TMC cadres in the post-poll violence in the state.

BJP worker daughter gang-raped on gun point in front of the father

Likewise, Diya Guha (21) from Birbhum, alleged that on May 2, local TMC leader Mamul Sheikh, and 10 to 12 other TMC goons belonging to the Muslim community barged into her house where she lives with her father, a BJP worker, and started thrashing everyone.

“They tore my clothes and when my father tried to save me, they beat him up brutally and said, “Nahi hum logon ko tu nahi chahiye.. teri beti chahiye .. hum logon ko Hindu ladki chahiye. (We don’t want you we want your daughter. We want a Hindu girl)”.

The report by Organiser further says that these TMC goons then took turns to rape the 21-year-old woman in front of her father, who was held on gun point. 7 men violated the girl one after the other, while her helpless father looked on.

The TMC goons then attempted to kill Diya and her father saying: “Ladki aur baap ko maar do nahi to humare liye zehar ho jayega.” (kill the father-daughter duo otherwise they will prove fatal for us).

Diya adds that somehow her father was able to wrap her body naked with his turban and pulled her out of the house from the back door and escaped. They could not return home since then, rued Diya.

TMC goons sexually assault BJP supporter from Haldipara village, Purba Bardhaman

“I am a BJP supporter, and due to this fact alone TMC goons stormed into my house to punish me and beat me up with dandas and their bare fists. They tore my saree, my blouse, and assaulted my breasts with a knife multiple times. They kept touching my private parts,” lamented one Pratima Das, from Haldipara village, Purba Bardhaman. She said that she has been kept in confinement in her own house for days now, as the TMC goons have cordoned off the whole area not allowing anyone to go out or enter the village.

NHRC constitutes a 7-member team to probe post-poll violence in West Bengal

While the National Commission of women has taken suo-moto cognizance and set up an inquiry committee that visited the victims and submitted its report, the National Human Rights Commission, on June 21, also formed a 7 member committee to probe the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

The NHRC has complied with the Calcutta High Court’s June 18th order which directed the statutory public body to enquire into the complaints.

The committee was formed hours after Calcutta High Court rejected the Mamata Banerjee government’s plea to recall the June 18 order directing the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate post-poll violence in the state of West Bengal. 

Union Minister Smriti Irani slams Mamata Banerjee for her silence over the violence

Lauding Calcutta High Court’s dismissal of Mamata Banerjee’s plea to stay the order over the post-poll violence in West Bengal, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Monday tore into the West Bengal Chief Minister for ‘keeping mum and witnessing’ the ongoing crimes in the state. 

“Women are taken away from their homes and raped openly. A 60-year-old lady approached the Supreme Court, claiming she was raped just because she was a BJP worker and supporter. How many more rapes will Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee watch silently?” Irani questioned.

“Probably for the first time in our democracy, I’m seeing a CM witnessing people being murdered because they didn’t vote for her party…Pahle to unke (Mamata Banerjee) haath khoon se sane hue the, ab daaman par bhi mahila ke atyachar ke daag hain” Union Minister Smiriti Irani was quoted by ANI as saying.

NCW takes cognisance of OpIndia’s report on Loyola College ex lecturer’s struggle against sexual predators, asks Chairman Provincial to take action

OpIndia Staff
-
0
NCW takes cognisance of OpIndia’s report on Loyola College ex lecturer’s struggle against sexual predators, asks Chairman Provincial to take action

On May 19, OpIndia reported about the 13-year long battle of an ex-lecturer of Loyola College, Chennai, against her sexual predators who are being protected by the College administration. Taking cognisance of the report, the National Commission for Women (NCW), India has written to the Chairman Provincial, Loyola College to look into the matter and to ensure due compliance with the orders of the Madras High Court.

NCW has asked the college to inform them about the action taken in the matter at the earliest.

NCW chairman Rekha Sharma writes to Rev. Dr Jabemalai Irudayaraja, SJ, the Chairman Provincial, Loyola College

Highlighting the case, the statutory body, NCW wrote to Loyola College, Chennai that it is flustered at the ignorance and the violation of rights of a woman to live her life with dignity and it is also a contempt of court to not comply with the orders passed in favour of Josephine. Saying so it urged Rev. Dr Jabemalai Irudayaraja, SJ, the Chairman Provincial, Loyola College to ensure that the long-stalled justice to Ms Josephine is meted out at the earliest.

NCW chairman Rekha Sharma writes to Loyola College, Chennai

On May 19, OpIndia reported the case of Josephine Jeyashanthi, a former lecturer in the college’s Tamil Department who was unjustly relieved of her duties, that too without being given the dues she was entitled to receive, only because she stood up against the sexual harassment she was subjected to by her superiors and fought against a powerful system hell-bent on shielding a group of sexual predators on campus.

Its been 13 years since Josephine has been fighting with the mighty administration of the ‘prestigious’ Loyola College, Chennai. Despite the Madras High Court passing a judgement in her favour in 2019, the college did nothing to punish her sexual predators nor has it bothered to pay Josephine her back wages running in lakhs or follow the HC order to get her mandamus for compensation of Rs 59 lakhs.

The list of offences committed by Loyola College in Josephine Jeyashanthi’s case

  • Rajarajan began harassing Josephine Jeyashanthi in 2008 when he joined as HOD in the college’s Tamil Department and continued until Josephine was arbitrarily fired.
  • The internal complaints body only took cognisance of Josephine’s accusation in December 2012. (The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redress) Act 2013 states that an investigation into the complaint must be completed within 90 days).
  • The Vishaka Guideline mandates that the grievance be addressed in a time-bound manner. However, it took 8 months to ‘censure’ the accused. Also, it took the college 6 years to submit the report to the court.
  • The then Secretary Rev Fr M. Albert Williams SJ and the then Principal Rev Fr G Joseph Antonysamy SJ lied to the police.
  • Most importantly, the prime accused Antony Rajarajan was not only protected by the Loyola College management but was also given privileges like superannuation with salary, while the victim was further victimised and terminated from the job without any sort of explanation and without even settling payments. 

I want to see these criminals behind bars”: Josephine Jeyashanthi

“The College Management claims that they followed ‘due process’. What is due process? Is keeping the victim of sexual harassment in dark about the whole proceedings due process? Is keeping the victim unaware of the punishment given to the offender due process? Is not giving any assurance of protection to the victim from such an offender due process?, said Josephine, adding that the accused, Rajarajan, who committed the heinous crime was not only protected by the management but also projected as flawless in the society, while she, who was victimised all throughout, was projected as the bigger offender.

“This resulted in the loss of career opportunities for me over these years. Even after terminating me, the management made deliberate attempts to malign my name among staff and the student community”, lamented Josephine, adding: “I want to see these criminals behind bars, I will drag them to court. They’ve been exploiting ladies like me for years. Many victims before me, and even after me, lacked the confidence to stand up to the big fishes. So many such cases are lying pending in the Madras High Court. Someone has to show these criminals their place”

First Bengal violence and then Narada: Second Supreme Court judge from Bengal recuses from hearing the case against Bengal govt

OpIndia Staff
-
0
First Bengal violence and then Narada: Second Supreme Court judge from Bengal recuses from hearing the case against Bengal govt

Days after Justice Indira Banerjee recused herself from hearing petitions on West Bengal post-poll violence, another Supreme Court Justice has now requested to transfer the petition by Mamata Banerjee in the Narada sting case to another Bench.

On Thursday, Justice Aniruddha Bose recused himself from hearing the appeal by the West Bengal government. The case was slated to be heard by a 2-Judge Bench of Justices Bose and Hemant Gupta. During the hearing, Justice Gupta informed that Justice Bose has some reservations about the case. He said, “It will be listed before some other Bench. Brother Bose has some reservations.”

Reportedly, CM Mamata Banerjee had moved the apex court, challenging the June 9 order of the Calcutta High Court. The High Court had refused to take her and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak’s reply affidavits on record in the transfer petition by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Narada sting case. In its June 9 order, the High Court said, “They (CM, law minister, and state) have waited for the arguments in the case to be substantially completed before seeking to place on record their pleadings in response.”

It added, “It is nothing else but filling the lacunae or supporting the accused. That is why, even the learned Counsels appearing for the accused are also supporting the prayer made by the State for taking these belated affidavits on record.” In her appeal before the apex Court, Mamata Banerjee had argued that the CBI has been allowed to filed additional affidavits while the rights of the State government and the Law Minister was ‘closed.’

Justice Indira Banerjee earlier recused herself from hearing the case on post-poll violence in West Bengal

On Friday (June 11), Justice Indira Banerjee had recused herself from hearing a petition, which sought for an independent SIT/CBI probe in the killing of two BJP workers in West Bengal. The petition was filed by Biswajit Sarkar, the brother of deceased Avijit Sarkar who was killed by Trinamool Congress goons. The plea came up before a 2-Judge Bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice MR Shah.

“I have some difficulty in hearing the matter,” Justice Indira Banerjee said while recusing herself from the case. The matter was adjourned and the Registry was directed to list the matter before a Bench without Justice Banerjee in it. On May 2, a BJP worker named Avijit Sarkar took to Facebook to narrate the harrowing tale of violence that he was subjected to by the TMC goons.

The video was uploaded just hours before he was lynched to death by the miscreants. Opindia has learnt that Avijit Sarkar was beaten to death after uploading the two testimonials on Facebook. Following the victory of the Trinamool Congress, several BJP workers and supporters had expressed fear that Mamata Banerjee’s return to power might jeopardise their livelihood and existence.

Notably, both Supreme Court judges, Aniruddha Bose and Indira Banerjee, hail from West Bengal.

1...4,1834,1844,185...7,656Page 4,184 of 7,656