A heart-rending video of a Hindu girl who was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a man in Pakistan in February 2021 had recently surfaced on social media websites.
In the video that instantly went viral, the Hindu girl was on a terrace of a house, crying and asking people to help her in getting back to her home. The girl says that she is not feeling good and she wants to return back to her house. Voices of some other women can be heard in the video who did not offer any help to the girl.
The girl in the video was identified as Reena Meghwar, who was kidnapped on February 13 from Keriogjar, Badar, converted to Islam, and then married off to a man. The family of the girl had filed an FIR, but the police failed to rescue the girl.
Abduction, forcible conversion to Islam of Hindu girls becomes a routine norm in Pakistan
Hindus in Pakistan live under a constant threat of persecution. Attacks on Hindus, kidnapping of Hindu daughters and their forcible conversions have become par for the course in Pakistan.
Hindus in Pakistan, especially girls, are leading a particularly vulnerable life in the country where forced conversion of Hindus into Islam has become a common norm. The Islamist fanatics routinely abduct Hindu girls, forcefully convert them into Islam before marrying them.
Earlier this month, a 22-year-old Hindu girl named Aarti Bai was abducted from Ali Gohar Abad locality in Larkana in the Sindh province, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a man. Instead of punishing the culprits, a courtin Pakistan prevented the girl’s family from meeting. A protest was then carried out by the members of the Hindu community protested outside the court against its decision.
On 11 March 2021, a 13-year-old Hindu girl named Kavita Oad from the Kandhkot area of Sindh was reportedly abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam. A couple of days later, her house was set on fire by unidentified miscreants.
In the same month, a journalist in Pakistan was shot dead by unknown assailants for exposing the role of politicians and clerics in facilitating the forceful conversions of Hindu girls.
Even the courts fail to do justice for Hindus in Pakistan. In fact, in some cases, the courts have empowered the culprits responsible for abducting and forcibly converting the Hindu and Christian minorities. In June 2020, a district magistrate allowed a Muslim man to keep his Hindu wife even after the parents of the girl alleged that their daughter was kidnapped and forcibly married off to the man.
On Thursday (April 22), a popular Kannada actress by the name of Shanaya Katwe was arrested by the Hubballi Rural police in connection to the gruesome murder of her brother. The actress had featured in several films such as ‘Idam Premam Jeevanam’ and ‘Ondu Ghanteya Kathe’.
As per reports, the victim has been identified as 32-year-old Rakesh Katwe. The Dharwad police informed that the actress had an inter-religious affair with a 21-year-old man named Niyaz Ahmed Katigar. However, Rakesh was opposed to their relationship.
An enraged Niyaz then plotted the victim’s murder, along with his aides Aman Giraniwale (19 years old), Altaf Mulla (24 years old), and Tousif Channapur (21 years old). Reportedly, the murder took place at Rakesh’s house in Hubballi on April 9. On the same day, the actress Shanaya Katwe was in the city to promote her film.
Cops arrested four accused, sent them to judicial custody
The victim was first strangulated and his body was and chopped into small parts by the accused. The police had recovered the decapitated head of the body from the Devaragudihal forest area. The other parts of his beheaded body were disposed of by the accused in Gadag road and other parts of Hubballi. The cops have now apprehended all the four accused in the murder case. They have also been sent to judicial custody.
Late night on April 26, ‘amul’ started trending on Twitter. There were no major announcements or any news regarding the dairy brand that could lead to the trend. When clicked on the trend, one saw hundreds of tweets by Indian fans of the Korean band BTS. Here is what happened:
On April 26, the famous seven-member Korean band BTS live-streamed an hour-long video without any warning. The countdown clock ran, and the fans were confused, sending hundreds of live comments on the bright yellow animated stick of butter with the sounds of a kitchen in the background. It turned out the vocal band is coming up with a single titled “Butter” on May 21, 2021. This will be the second song by the famous band in the English language. The live-stream video has already crossed 10 million views on YouTube.
The video was the formal announced of the band’s new single. Towards the end of the livestream, the visual moved and showed simply the word “Butter” and its release date. Soon after the livestream ended, press representatives of BTS confirmed the name and release date but did not offer further details. The press release suggested the song is a “dance-pop track brimming with the smooth yet charismatic charm of BTS.”
Did someone say butter? Oh! Amul!
As soon as butter was announced, the social media got tsunami-ed with, wait for it, requests for collaboration between BTS and Amul, the famous Indian butter brand. A fan went steps ahead and made a brilliant ad for Amul with BTS members.
The entire fandom While waiting melting butter….??#btsiscoming South Korean band BTS will release their new single ‘Butter’ on May 21. The song is their second English single following ‘Dynamite’. BTS collaboration with Amul butter the taste of India. #Amul#Butterhttps://t.co/tBVotLxXE6
BTS is a seven-member Korean pop group. It debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. At that time, it was a small label, but since then, it has become a Korean entertainment powerhoue. The Korean name of the band is Bangtan Sonyeondan that translates to “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” in English. The band has a fan following across the world, irrespective of the language barriers. India, in fact, has many dedicated BTS fans that are possibly the reason behind requests for Amul-BTS collaboration.
About Amul
Founded on December 14, 1946, Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society. It has its headquarters at Anand, Gujarat. The company is a part of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which is the largest food products marketing organization in India. Amul was born as a part of the nationalist movement, and now it is one of the billion-dollar companies in India. Famous for its unique ads, The company has 31 plants in India. Its ads are often shared widely on social media.
Pakistan’s anti-France propaganda has reached a new low. Recently on social media, a Muslim man disguised as a Sikh gave calls to the Sikh community to join hands with the Islamists and behead the French who dared to publish the “blasphemous” caricature against Prophet Mohammed.
As per a Times of India report, in a recently uploaded video message on social media, a blue turban-clad person sporting a beard introduced himself as ‘sardar ji’ while greeting the audience with both Asalamu Alaykum and Sat Sri Akaal.
The fake ‘Sardar ji’ even incited Sikhs to behave like ‘Hitler’ against the French people and support Islaimist jihadis in their stand against France.
In this video, the man invited the Sikh to join hands with Islamist jihadis to teach French a lesson. Narrating a bizarre incident of his visit to malls where he saw labels of ‘boycott’ attached to French products, he instigated the viewers by saying, “This is not the way to boycott, we should throw their products on the streets.”
He then urged the communities to adopt Hitler’s modus operandi against the French people for blasphemy. To further provoke, he gave the slogan of “Gustakh e rasool ki eik hi saza, sar tan say juda ” which loosely translates to ‘the only punishment for blasphemy of the Prophet is beheading.’
Intelligence sources have revealed that the man who goes by the name Qasam Dogar is on the payrolls of Pakistan’s pro-Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla.
Furthering Qasam Dogar’s call, Satwant Singh the president of PSGPC told the Times Of India over a phone call from Lahore that he condemns anyone who tries to insult the Prophet and also revealed that Qasam was not a Sikh.
As per the TOI report, a source has informed, “There is a possibility of ISI creating likes of Chawla to further its anti-India propaganda, it was even rumoured that the late president of Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee Sham Singh was a Muslim.”
European Sikh leaders approach Imran Khan
Flabbergasted by the Muslim man’s statement against the French people in disguise of a Sikh man, the European Sikh leadership approached Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and urged him to take strict action against such hate mongers who cause deliberate damage to the economic and religious interest of the Sikh community.
In an interview with TOI, a German Sikh leader Gurdeep Singh Randhawa said, “The Sikh leadership of Europe strongly condemns the nonsense statement of a turban-wearing Muslim who has no knowledge of Sikh religion, we are living very peacefully in Europe maintaining a respectable status in the society.”
Randhawa who is also the first turban-wearing Sikh to have been elected councilor in Angela Merkle’s Union party said he held discussions after coming across the video with Sikh leaders across Europe. The discussion led to them approaching Imran Khan expressing their concerns.
As India continues to reel under the ferocious second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the foreign media outlets have gone into overdrive feasting on the dead and projecting a grim picture of the tragedy. From obsessing over the funeral pyres to spreading fake news, foreign media outlets seemed to have junked the vestiges of journalistic ethics and integrity in their coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak in India.
Recently, the New York Post used a misleading image in an article published on its website about the COVID-19 crisis in India. The article titled “COVID-19 surge ‘swallowing’ people in India, the footage shows people dead in streets” used a featured image in which a woman was seen lying unconscious on the road, with another woman, presumably her daughter trying to wake her up.
Source: NY Post
However, the image is not from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The image is from a video clip shot during the gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam which took place in May 2020. The incident referred to as the Vizag gas leak, took place on 7 May 2020 at the LG Polymers chemical plant in the R.R Venkatapuram village. The resulting vapour cloud spread over a radius of 3 KM, causing breathing problems to people in the nearby villages.
Source: Twitter
The featured image of an article posted by the NY Post was the gas leak incident and not from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as the headlines suggested. When users slammed the media outlet that the feature image is misleading and old, the NY Post quickly changed the image. However, the title of the article still remained the same.
There are no images in the entire article to substantiate its claim that people were dying on the streets in India and were left unattended. Perhaps, the scribes at the New York Post are so woefully incompetent that when their lies about the misleading image were called out, it did not occur to them that they also need to change the headline of the article.
Source: New York Post
Over the last few days, India has seen an abnormal surge in the COVID-19 cases across the country. Hospitals are running at overcapacity, oxygen supplies are limited, and there is a shortage of beds and crucial drugs such as Remdesivir. However, the Indian government, in collaboration with the industrialists, state governments and foreign countries, are working on a war footing to address these inadequacies.
India is in the midst of a raging coronavirus outbreak. There is no denying the fact. But the crisis is nowhere as grim as the foreign media outlets are exaggerating it to be. For a long time now, global media organisations have a habit of understating India’s stellar achievements and overstating the problems bedevilling it.
The COVID-19 outbreak has revealed how, in their bid to show India in a bad light, the western media outlets have no qualms in using misleading old images and footages and paint a picture of doom and gloom.
Western Media outlets’ morbid obsession of linking COVID-19 outbreak with funeral pyres
The COVID-19 pandemic has also disclosed the western media’s unhealthy fetish of linking India’s COVID-19 outbreak with funeral pyres. Several media organisations, be it Washington Post or Reuters, posted pictures of funeral pyres from various places in India to highlight the severity of the pandemic. One of the Washington Post journalists even described a cremation ground’s vertical shot as “stunning”.
Where there are deaths, there are obviously going to be funeral pyres. When the pandemic took its devastating toll on the US, Italy, Brazil and other western countries, there were hardly any media organisations that symbolised the outbreak with the images of burial grounds.
This indignity of linking the COVID-19 outbreak with funeral pyres is reserved only for Indians, and it smacks of the west’s envy of India, which was remarkably successful in staving off the initial COVID-19 outbreak when the developed and richer countries of the world were finding it incredibly difficult to control it.
Sonia Gandhi is the president of Indian National Congress, one of the most prominent political parties of India. She has been 5 time MP and comes from a family of politicians where her husband, mother in law and great grandfather in law were all Prime Ministers of India. Her son, Rahul Gandhi has also been party president and has been a Lok Sabha member for four consecutive terms. Now his sister has also taken the plunge in politics, but is not an elected representative yet.
So, as a politically aware citizen of India, I wanted to know what the Gandhis have contributed financially, especially from their personal wealth to fight the pandemic. Considering the family members are believed to have homes in various part of the world like the UK and others, one would assume they are financially very well off to be able to donate from their personal wealth to perhaps construct hospitals or arrange for oxygen plants. Since the Gandhis and Congress party think profit is evil and believe in socialism, this is only natural that they will be putting their words into action.
Curious, I put up a question on Twitter asking for their contribution.
Have Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Congress contributed to help build temporary quarantine centres, hospitals, food for migrants amid the pandemic? Can someone point me to resources if they have?
I was just curious. My question was very polite. Here is the response I got from Congress workers and leaders.
Starting with ‘cow’ jibes.
Abhijit’s abuse
The initial abuses started with the ‘cow’ jibes. It is pertinent to note that the Islamist terrorists have often used the ‘gau mutra’ jibe to carry out attack on Indians because Hindus hold cow holy. Congress supporter here can be seen using the same ‘cow’ jibe only because I asked for Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s contribution.
Abuse by influencers
Twitter user ‘Anjali Sharma’ has over 11,000 followers and is followed by various Congress leaders like Pawan Khera, Alka Lamba and now left as Congress supporter Sanjay Jha. Anjali decided to abuse me and use derogatory word for me because I questioned the Gandhi family members. Other Congress supporters found it amusing and shared with laughing emojis.
Apparently, I was not ‘behaving well’
One Dhurba Buddhadeb Choudhury, followed by Congress leader Alka Lamba, reminded me that it is 2021 and UPA-led by Congress is not in power. Apparently, that is good enough reason to not question why one of the wealthiest families in India, which used to use India’s war ship as personal ferry for vacations, cannot be questioned. I should not expect respect because questioning the Gandhis is abuse.
Death wish
Ah, a death wish. How can we forget. If Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country get death wished upon by Congress leaders, supporters and Congress loyalist ‘journalists’ and ‘influencers’, I am but just a regular citizens of India. So when Rana Dev Rajbanshi wished I get COVID positive, struggle for oxygen and medicines to ‘realise’ who are working in field, I did not get bothered.
Mriganka wishing ill upon my family
Not just me, even my family was not spared. Mriganka Sinha wished my family struggle for oxygen. All this in reply to a polite question.
But I guess this is indeed the contribution of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Having people wish I and my family get COVID positive and struggle.
Ratin Sharma abusing
And then Congress supporters made derogatory jokes about the PM while replying to me. Rahul Gandhi speaks about respect to women, but if you question Rahul Gandhi you cease to be a woman apparently. Then you just become a ‘bhakt’ and as we all know ‘liberals’ believe the ‘bhakts’ deserve to die.
But what is it about an Indian citizen asking whether the richie rich of India, the Gandhi family, have paid out of their own pockets for any hospitals. They may give their MPLAD funds and other things but what about their own personal wealth? Especially when in past few years they have made it amply clear they believe being rich in India is a sin. Rahul Gandhi’s incessant attacks on the corporates made it clear he believes profit and wealth is corruption.
So when it comes to him and his family, where does all his socialism gyaan go? Or is it only for theory?
During the day-to-day hearing on petitions and applications related to Covid-19 management in Delhi, the bench comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli was informed by INOX that they were facing difficulties in Rajasthan and Delhi. Sachin Dutta, appearing for Jaipur Golden Hospital, said, “the bureaucratic machinery of Delhi government has completely failed.”
Tankers diverted midway, said INOX
Siddharth Jain from Inox told the court that they have asked for directions on supply to left out hospitals. They are getting SoS calls from the hospitals. “Please appreciate the supplier’s stand as well. State govt should either tell suppliers to send or arrange. We can’t sleep. We need some directions, he said. Jain further added that INOX factories are working 24×7, but when the trucks leave, they are getting diverted midway. “Why would I not want to give oxygen. It is my business. Nobody has complained except for Delhi hospitals. I wonder why,” he said.
My factories are working 24*7. When my truck leaves, it is working like a milkman. Our trucks are diverted midway : Jain
Four tankers with Haryana number plates seized by Rajasthan claimed INOX
During the hearing, INOX, the largest supplier of medical oxygen in the country, told the court that four of its tankers were seized by the Rajasthan authorities. Notably, INOX is also in charge of transporting part of the oxygen supply to Delhi from other firms. The company cited that it could not send the tankers for transporting oxygen from Linde and Air Liquide for Delhi as they were held by Rajasthan authorities.
We are more than willing to take on this natonal service. Yesterday we located our tankers at Bhiwadi. Tankers were taken by Govt of Rajasthan and I’m unable to provide the service : Jain
Rajasthan alleged they held tankers due to a shortage
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that central government officers spoke to the chief secretary in Rajasthan. The state alleged they were forced to take the step as there was a shortage of tankers. The central government promised the court that it would take action against those who are responsible. He said, “this will be an example for other states”. By the time hearing ended, the tankers had not been released, but Mehta promised the court that they would be freed soon.
Court records submission on tankers being held up by Rajasthan.
SG Mehta assures strict action would be action: Court
Immediately it was brought to our notice..and it was immediately released : SG Mehta
The court said, “We hope and expect the State of Rajasthan to honour the orders passed by the Central government and the court. An obstruction in the matter of supply of medical oxygen at this stage would tantamount to endangering hundreds of human lives if not more … Stoppage of tankers will have a snowballing effect and would certainly impact the concerned state itself.”
We hope and expect Rajasthan to honour the order passed by Centre and this court. Intervention in the matter of supply of oxygen would tantamount to endangering 100s of human lives. Serves no purpose to anyone to obstruct : Court
‘Bureaucratic machinery of Delhi has failed’ – Jaipur Golden Hospital
During the hearing, senior advocate Sachin Dutta, Jaipur Golden Hospital, informed the court that the oxygen supply chain was being disrupted by the government of Delhi. Dutta said that Jaipur Golden Hospital was supposed to get 3.6 MT of oxygen by 5 PM, which the hospital did not receive. He added that the Delhi minister claimed hospitals were making unnecessary SOS calls for oxygen. “How long after the patient dies should hospitals issue SOS,” asked Dutta.
Yesterday the Minister said hospitals are unnecessary SoS.. how long after patient dies should hospitals issue SoS: Dutta
“Inox should directly send me the dispatch note. The bureaucratic machinery of Delhi govt has completely failed,” added Dutta. The court asked the Delhi government to hold a meeting with all stakeholders, including oxygen suppliers, refillers, hospitals and government officials, in the evening and report it to the court on Tuesday about the distribution plan in the national capital.
Inox should directly send me the dispatch note. The bureaucratic machinery of Delhi govt has completely failed: Dutta
Mr Dutta endeavour since yesterday has been to malign and politicise : Mehra
The court took note of the letter the Delhi government had written to Sajjan Jindal, chairman of the JSW group. The central government claimed that the Delhi government asked the company to provide any spare oxygen to them. The centre has asserted that the oxygen supply should be done at the national level. SC Mehta said that the state governments should concentrate on arranging tankers and not look for oxygen. If there is any spare or extra oxygen, it should be surrendered to the central government.
The Delhi CM wrote this letter to an industrialist (Sajjan Jindal).
Procurement has to be be at national level else there will be complete chaos. State govt can procure tankers but not tankers : SG Mehta
When Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, appealed the court to permit them to inform the central government of any extra/spare oxygen that they may become aware of, SC Mehta said, “The central government has information on all industries, we don’t want anybody to inform us.” Mehra said on record that the communication from Delhi government would be restricted for scouting cryogenic tankers across the country.
‘Follow Delhi government’s directions or face action’ court told refillers
The court directed all the refillers in the national capital to ensure they supply refilled cylinders as per the Delhi government’s directions, and these supplies should be accounted for. “Any violation, it said, would lead to strict action against them,” the court added.
On Monday (April 26), the official Twitter handle of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi shared a manipulated video to claim that BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi praised the party for supposedly not politicising the ongoing oxygen crisis in the National Capital.
The development comes at a time when the Delhi government is facing public ire over its mishandling of the pandemic. In a video tweeted by AAP Delhi, BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi could be heard as saying, “Yesterday there was a discussion about how the Delhi government is playing politics over the current situation. I said that the Delhi government is not doing politics. Delhi government is helpless.”
Furthermore, she was seen ‘admitting’ that 480MT of oxygen supply has not reached the Delhi Government from the Centre. The video was shared by the likes of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. In a tweet, he said, “Atleast the BJP spokesperson has accepted the truth. In such stressful times, the way BJP is misleading the public is unfortunate. It only displays their lack of empathy.”
कम से कम भाजपा प्रवक्ता ने सच तो क़बूला, इस आपदा की घड़ी में जिस तरह ये लोग जनता को गुमराह करने का काम कर रहे हैं, यह बड़ा दुःखद और संवेदनहीनता का परिचायक है। https://t.co/MFd9sIRp8A
— Amanatullah Khan AAP (@KhanAmanatullah) April 27, 2021
What is the Truth?
We spotted the logo of ABP News in the video clip shared by AAP Delhi. On using specific keywords, we were able to trace the original conversation between ABP News and BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi. She had initially remarked that the Covid crisis must not be politicised under any circumstances.
In her original statement (at around 14:45), she said, “Yesterday there was a discussion about how the Delhi government is playing politics over the current situation. I said that the Delhi government is not doing politics (but is rather incompetent). Delhi government is helpless and weak. They don’t know how to handle the situation. They only know how to shed crocodile tears over it.”
The segment where Aparajita Sarangi slammed the Delhi government for being weak and incompetent to handle the Covid situation in the National Capital was cleverly edited out by the party’s IT Cell. The fact that she accused them of crying over the crisis instead of taking measures to resolve the situation was also shrewdly removed.
(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ABP News)
BJP leader reveals why 480 MT of oxygen wasn’t made available to the Delhi government
Sarangi had squarely blamed the AAP government for its failure in procuring the oxygen tankers. “I agree that the full quota of 480 MT oxygen did not arrive… I will tell you the reason. Management is the responsibility of the State government. The Centre is responsible for making facilities available for the States, formulating policies and showcasing their intention. And it did. The Central government is standing with all States, including Delhi, in its fight against the pandemic,” she said.
The BJP leader further highlighted the Delhi High Court order, which had slammed the Arvind Kejriwal-led-Delhi government for mismanagement. “The Court has directed the government to bring in cryogenic tankers, communicate with the Transport Ministry and get the oxygen tankers filled,” she added. Aparajita Sarangi expressed her disbelief when she learnt that the Delhi government was yet to constitute a team of 10 IAS officers for monitoring the availability and supply chain of oxygen.
Interestingly, this was a suggestion presented to the Delhi High Court by the advocate of the Delhi government himself. While Arvind Kejriwal’s party is busy editing videos and publishing manipulated media to shrug off its responsibility, the National Capital is under severe distress. As of April 26, Delhi has recorded 94,592 active cases and a total of 14,248 fatalities.
The Election Commission (EC) has banned all victory processions on May 2, both during and after the counting of votes in five states namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry. This decision was taken keeping in mind the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India.
A detailed order on the ban on victory processions across the country will be released soon by the Election Commission.
Election Commission of India bans all victory processions on or after the day of counting of votes, on May 2nd. Detailed order soon. pic.twitter.com/VM60c1fagD
The EC decision comes as the country stares at the gloomiest phase of the ongoing Covid crisis. On Tuesday, India recorded over 3.23 lakh fresh Covid-19 cases while it saw the highest tally in the world with 3.5 lakh fresh cases on Monday.
Owing to this massive surge in the COVID-19 cases, the EC had last week used its constitutional powers to ban all roadshows, padyatras and vehicle rallies in Bengal which is in the middle of an 8-phase assembly election.
Mamata Banerjee announces that she will approach the Supreme Court after the elections to demand re-election
As the result day for the assembly elections, 2nd May, draws closer, Mamata Banerjee had declared that she will be approaching the Supreme Court after the elections are over. Claiming that Election Commission had instructed officials to arrest TMC leaders during the Assembly elections, the West Bengal Chief Minister said that she will approach the Supreme Court to hole fresh ‘neutral elections’ in the state.
In a press conference held via video conferencing, Mamata Banerjee questioned the role of the Election Commission in the state elections, alleging that the poll panel was working to help BJP. The CM alleged that the EC was trying to make sure that the TMC workers can’t vote against BJP.
‘I am appealing to everyone starting from Birbhum, Murshidabad, Malda, everywhere where elections are to be held, remain alert, take precaution from now on, on the one hand we have the war against Covid, on the other hand we have to fight against Election Commission who is conspiring to ensure that our people can’t vote,’ the TMC supremo said institgating her supporters against the constitutional body.
She further added, ‘if the police detain anyone illegally, their family members go to the police station and sit there, gherao the police station, ask why illegal detention has been done, if needed go to the court. We will move everywhere from the high court to the supreme court. File FIR as soon as someone is detained illegally’.
Mamata Banerjee had also recently demanded that the central government withdraws central forces from the poll-bound state because they are spreading COVID-19 in the state.
India is in the grips of a ferocious second wave of the coronavirus outbreak. However, the pandemic’s devastation is nowhere more pronounced than in the national capital Delhi, one of the worst-hit cities by the contagion. For the last few days, Delhi has registered more than 20,000 new cases daily, putting a tremendous strain on the city’s health infrastructure. The crisis, nevertheless, has brought to fore the criminal incompetence and ineptitude of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government.
Oxygen supplies in Delhi are running short, there is a paucity of remdesivir, a key antiviral drug. Besides, there is also a big shortage of beds for patients in Delhi hospitals.
Perhaps among all the problems facing Delhi, the oxygen shortage is the most acute one. A few days back, with the crisis unfolding right before his eyes, Kejriwal chose to tweet about the issues besieging Delhi rather than taking actions on the ground that would have prevented the outbreak from assuming catastrophic proportions. Rather than developing a system to cater to the newfound demand for oxygen, Kejriwal resorted to Twitter to request state governments and the Centre to provide the Delhi government with additional supplies of the gas.
Here are the tweets, Kejriwal posted on Twitter requesting for oxygen:-
Source: TwitterSource: Twitter
Instead of proactively acting on the matter, Kejriwal kept tweeting about the issue, as if the problems were going to solve on their own. Even as other governments were putting mechanisms in place to deal with an unprecedented situation, Kejriwal gleefully sat on the issues, not taking appropriate measures to prepare for the impending crisis.
As a result, hospitals in Delhi faced severe shortages of oxygen supply. Despite the central government’s additional allotment of oxygen, hospitals in Delhi kept complaining that they were suffering from oxygen shortages. Many hospitals took to the Delhi High Court against the Delhi Government’s inept handling of oxygen scarcity.
Despite clearance for 8 PSA oxygen plants, Kejriwal government sets up only 1
The Delhi HC slammed the AAP government for setting up only 1 PSA oxygen plant despite being granted funds for 8 such plants. While he tried to deflect the blame of oxygen shortage on the Centre, Union Health Ministry informed the Delhi High Court last Tuesday that the central government had sanctioned funds from PM CARES Fund to Kejriwal Government in December 2020 to set up eight PSA (Pressure Swing Absorption) oxygen plants in Delhi. However, since December, only one such plant has been set up by the Kejriwal govt.
Hospitals in Delhi slam AAP government, allege they don’t understand oxygen supply chain
On Saturday last week, the Delhi Government was rapped in the Delhi High Court during the hearing on the supply of medicinal oxygen to hospitals. The Delhi Government was rebuked by advocate Sachin Dutta appearing for Jaipur Golden Hospital, Solicitor General SG Mehta and also by the Court itself.
“Whole day yesterday we called your officers, they didn’t do anything. Over 25 people died because we didn’t have the oxygen supply. We are literally gasping for breath,” Advocate Dutta told Rahul Mehra, who was representing the AAP government.
Kejriwal government has also been accused of reneging on its promise of delivering oxygen supplies which ultimately led to the deaths of critical patients. Earlier yesterday, Dr Baluja of the Jaipur Golden Hospital said that no oxygen was supplied despite written assurance from Delhi Govt, after which patients died.
It is worth noting that more than six months ago, in his Independence Day speech on 15th August, Arvind Kejriwal had said that the Delhi government will start sending oxygen concentrators to homes of Covid-19 patients even if they have recovered. However, as has been the case, the promise made by Kejriwal was never fulfilled as the hospital in Delhi struggled in getting the supply of medicinal oxygen.
In such testing times, when hospitals are jockeying for oxygen supplies to help COVID-19 patients in their fight against the infection, one expects the state government to be sensitive and helpful. However, in a staggering display of apathy, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia yesterday said that hospitals in Delhi raised unnecessary oxygen-shortage alarms.
The Delhi government got slammed yet again by the hospitals during a hearing in the Delhi High Court. The hospitals lambasted the Delhi government for its poor handling of the oxygen supplies, alleging that they had no understanding of the oxygen supply chain.
“Enormous SOS calls were made. They arranged something from the AIIMS but it was minutes late. There is shortage and uncertainty. Delhi government doesn’t understand the supply chain,” Senior Advocate Sachin Dutta, representing Jaipur Golden Hospital said in Delhi HC.
Court asks Kejriwal to figure transportation of oxygen, Delhi CM instead resorts to tweeting
The biggest problem as identified by the counsels representing the hospitals and the central government was not the supply of oxygen but the Delhi government’s brazen disregard for its transportation arrangements. Kejriwal invested all his energy in pleading and requesting oxygen, even giving widespread media ads, but his government did little to arrange transport or institute a mechanism for effective rationing and supply of the vital gas based on the needs.
While other states started receiving oxygen through oxygen express, the Railways was yet to receive requisition from the Kejriwal government for the transportation of oxygen.
Source: Twitter
After Kejriwal’s government was eviscerated in the Delhi High Court, one would have expected the AAP supremo to address the transportation issues bedevilling the supply of oxygen in Delhi. However, hours later Kejriwal did what he does best—tweet.
He continued posting tweets on Twitter, feigning concern that he is greatly invested in solving the oxygen crunch faced by the city’s numerous hospitals. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal posted a tweet, asking chief ministers of other states to supply oxygen to Delhi if they have in spare. The court had asked his government to figure out the transportation of oxygen from different places to Delhi’s hospitals, but the AAP chief was busy scoring political points on social media.
Bed unavailability and shortages of remdesivir takes a back seat as AAP busies itself tackling the oxygen crisis
It is noteworthy to mention that the AAP government’s singular focus in the last few days was only on oxygen shortages in Delhi. Senior AAP leaders, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, spoke little about the availability of beds and supplies of remdesivir, a key antiviral drug to combat COVID-19.
People in Delhi kept scrambling for beds to admit their relatives afflicted by the coronavirus. Many of them even needed remdesivir injections as hospitals were running short of them. Social media website were replete with distress messages from people asking for beds and remdesivir injections. But Arvind Kejriwal was preoccupied with tweeting only on oxygen supplies as if the scarcity of beds and remdesivir did not even exist. In fact, Kejriwal’s negligence on remdesivir is astounding as he did not even bother to tweet once on the availability of stocks of the critical injections.
Source: Twitter
Delhi CM spends Rs 150 crore on advertisements as the resurgent coronavirus wave was preparing to strike again
Kejriwal has also been accused of utilising the public exchequer funds for self-promotion even as Delhi continued to be battered by the subsequent waves of coronavirus outbreak. Since the start of the pandemic back in March 2020, Delhi has been among the regions most susceptible to the virus outbreak. Yet, the Aam Aadmi Party government, instead of scaling up the fragile health infrastructure in the city, invested a whopping Rs 150 crores in advertisements in the first three months of 2021.
An RTI reply dated April 08 has revealed that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has spent Rs 150 crores from January 2021 to March 2021 on advertisements and publicity through various mediums. For the Kejriwal government, keeping Delhites safe from the menace of COVID-19 was not on its priority list. It was more interested in advertising and marketing itself.
Delhi is in the midst of a catastrophic crisis. The COVID-19 cases are surging at an alarming rate, posing a risk to the city’s already overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure. However, not all is lost. With the help from the central government and judicial intervention, the pandemic would be tamed. The resilience of the people will eventually conquer the tenacity of the virus. And when it does, the people of Delhi will not forget the cruel incompetence, the gross negligence and the misplaced priorities of the Delhi government that immensely contributed to the outbreak.
