Amidst the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in India, US-based vaccine manufacturer Pfizer has reached a deadlock with the Indian authorities over its indemnity clause. It has sought waiver against liabilities that may occur out of the adverse effects of the vaccine, reportedThe Economic Times (ET). Pfizer is marketing its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine across the world, which was developed in collaboration with German biotechnology company BioNTech SE.
Pfizer has also informed that it has no plans to start production in the country. The pharmaceutical company said that it is not in talks with Indian authorities regarding production or technology transfer. As such, Pfizer jabs, if used in India, would be imported from its manufacturing sites in Europe and the United States. This will probably result in higher price of the vaccine in India, due to shipping costs and higher cost of manufacturing in the US and Europe compared to India.
In an email to the Economic Times, a Pfizer spokesperson said, “At this time, we are not in discussions for any additional local manufacturing for this vaccine. Once the pandemic supply phase is over and we enter a phase of regular supplies, Pfizer will evaluate all additional opportunities available…We continue to centrally manufacture and deploy (from US and European facilities) our vaccine during this pandemic phase.”
In its defence, the company said that the development, manufacture, distribution, and storage of its mRNA technology-based vaccine needs globally optimised supply. Pfizer is eyeing to deliver 2.1 billion doses in 2021. It has plans to expand its manufacturing and supplier base.
Screengrab of the e-paper of the Economic Times
The company’s spokesperson informed, “We have a robust supply chain in place with established capabilities — one each in the US and Europe — that can quickly manufacture and deploy the vaccine for use across the world.” As of May 21, India has administered a total of 19.18 crore vaccine doses.
It must be mentioned that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has earlier asked global vaccine manufacturers to share technology with companies in Asian and African countries. This would have helped in increasing local vaccine manufacturing and tide over the vaccine shortage. The Pfizer vaccine approval in India is stuck over an indemnity clause (agreement wherein one party offers financial compensation for losses or damages caused by another party).
Economic Times reported that Pfizer wanted a waiver from liabilities that might occur due to adverse effects of vaccines. It is in line with the company’s stand in dealings with other countries on the vaccine. It was earlier reported that Pfizer had asked several Latin American nations to pledge their sovereign and military assets, including federal reserves and embassies in foreign countries, as indemnity against any future liability that may arise due to side effects of the vaccine or any negligence of the company. The Pharmaceutical giant had also asked the countries to deposit bank guarantees in foreign countries as part of such indemnity.
On 19 May 2021, Congress shot off an email to Twitter, asking the social media behemoth to permanently suspend Twitter accounts of BJP leaders JP Nadda, Sambit Patra, Smriti Irani, BL Santosh and many other functionaries for sharing a toolkit, which they claimed was prepared by the Congress party to sully the reputation of the Modi government amidst the raging COVID-19 outbreak.
The email was sent a day after the BJP leaders had exposed a toolkit that entailed point-by-point instructions for the Congress workers for attacking the Modi government. From maligning the Kumbh Mela and describing it as ‘super spreader’ to using international media and ‘friendly’ journalists to defame PM Modi, to blocking beds and hoarding other essential supplies for favourable social media PR, the content of the toolkit included a range of directives for the loyal Congress leaders and supporters to be followed to paint PM Modi and his government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in a bad light.
In its email, Congress accused the BJP leaders and functionaries of spreading misinformation and declared the toolkit to be a forged document. However, it did not provide any proof to back its claim that the toolkit document was fabricated and not genuine. Instead, it only attached politically motivated FIRs that the party had filed against the BJP leaders after they shared the toolkit, allegedly linked to the Congress party.
1. Congress wrote email, asking to suspend accounts of BJP leaders
2. Letter doesn’t have any proof, just mention of FIR
3. Twitter was in action just in 1 day
4. Umar Khalid is in jail and have name in chargesheet, but still his account is on Twitter and have blue tick! pic.twitter.com/HYv2jqvqhf
“On 18.05.2021, various BJP functionaries- including Mr J.P Nadda (4JPNadda), National President, BJP; Mr. Sambit Patra Ki sambitswaraj), National Spokesperson, BJP; Mrs Smriti Irani (@smritiirani), BJP Leader and Minister; Mr BL Santosh (Siblsantosh), General Secretary of BJP & other persons, in a pre-planned criminal conspiracy, prepared a forged & fabricated the letterhead of the INC Research Department and thereafter printed certain mischievous, false and fabricated content on the same, for the purpose of vide dissemination through their official Twitter handles, with the clear intent to cause social unrest, communal disharmony in order to fuel hate and escalate violence in various parts of India,” the email read.
The Congress party asked Twitter to carry out a detailed investigation on the matter and permanently suspend the Twitter accounts of BJP leaders. “Also, you are requested to kindly carry out a detailed probe on the subject matter and permanently suspend the Twitter accounts of the above-named individuals, as the said persons are habitual of manufacturing forged content and misusing the Twitter platform for disseminating the same,” the email said.
Within a day, Twitter promptly obliged to Congress party’s request and marked the tweet carrying the photo of the Congress toolkit as ‘manipulated media’. On 19 May 2021, Twitter marked Sambit Patra’s tweet on the Congress toolkit as ‘manipulated media’, a label it grants to tweets that it deems are misleading in nature. Not only did Twitter show an unmatched alacrity to label the tweet as ‘manipulated media’, but it also did so in absence of credible evidence that conclusively proves that the toolkit document was indeed fabricated.
Propaganda website AltNews did try to give a clean chit to Congress in the toolkit fiasco, but they only ended up exposing the symbiotic relationship they share with the Congress party. In its rush to declare the toolkit to be fake, AltNews provided ludicrous justifications and flimsy arguments to declare that the toolkit was a forged document.
Based on no proof and politically motivated FIRs attached by Congress, Twitter decided to attach a ‘manipulated media’ tag to the tweet, raising suspicions of it being a part of the toolkit that was designed to malign the Modi government.
Twitter’s conspicuous discrimination against the BJP and its penchant of meddling in India’s politics
As such, if Twitter’s past antecedents are to be considered, it has always displayed fervid zeal in marking the tweets put out by BJP leaders as ‘manipulated media’, even when those tweets were meant to debunk patently misleading information shared by the Congress leaders, including their former president Rahul Gandhi.
In December 2020, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya shared a video debunking the lies peddled by the Congress leaders. Malviya shared a video in response to an image shared by Rahul Gandhi wherein he insinuated that the police was beating up an old farmer.
The video showed that the law enforcement official who is portrayed in the image shared by Rahul Gandhi as beating up an old ‘farmer’ simply swung the baton in the air to scare the protester away. The baton did not touch the protester. Yet, several Congress leaders and the IT cell bot deceitfully shared the picture to paint the security official of using violence against the old farmer.
Malviya had shared a video to call out this treachery of the Congress leaders. However, his tweet was labelled by Twitter as ‘manipulated media’ while no such label was attached to scores of tweets posted by Congress leaders that carried the misleading picture.
Later in March 2021, Congress IT Cell head Rohan Gupta shared a cropped video from PM Modi’s rally in Assam on Twitter. PM Modi in the video had called out Congress formula of keeping the poor poor and exploiting them for electoral gains. However, the snippet shared by Gupta was carefully cropped to give an impression that PM Modi was advocating the exploitation of the poor for votes.
Gupta conveniently edited out the part in which PM Modi elaborated on how it was the Congress modus operandi of preying on the poor and making false promises to them to win their votes. However, Twitter did not bother to mark Gupta’s tweet as ‘manipulated media’.
On the other hand, former JNU leader Umar Khalid, who is in jail for his involvement in the Delhi riots, still has a verified Twitter account. Similarly, Disha Ravi, the 21-year-old woman who was accused of creating and distributing the ‘toolkit’ related to the farmer protests in Delhi, was granted a verified tick by Twitter.
It leads one to wonder if Twitter is really impartial in dishing out its misleading content label or whether such categorisation is only reserved for the tweets posted by the BJP leaders and not for the opposition politicians who peddle falsehoods and manipulated content. Twitter’s starkly prejudicial behaviour naturally adds more weight to the suspicions that the social media tech giant was a part of the toolkit all along.
As the second wave of Coronavirus raged, the Indian state appeared to run out of everything: hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen cylinders, even space in crematoriums and burial grounds. The tone of our liberal critics was at once both furious and self-congratulatory. See? This is what happens when a nation talks more about building temples than building hospitals. As we struggle to cremate our dead, you can barely miss the gleam in the eyes of our critics.
We are having a hard time right now, which means we have to swallow all the bitter pills they toss in our way. Perhaps the critics were right after all. Come, let us beat ourselves up on how stupid we were. Why did we have to get busy with Ram Mandir or have those giant gatherings for Kumbh Mela? How could we not have known better?
Hospitals over temples! It certainly sounds like something that enlightened people would say. Let’s just hope that this principle applies not only to temples but to all houses of worship.
Tweet by Saba Naqvi
Oh well. Important for us not to lose sight of what matters. Among that, the crisis in the Middle East. So take a map of the Arab world and follow along. Now, increase your image resolution until you can see this microscopic country, about one fourth the size of West Bengal, which is occupying the whole of the Middle East and all of North Africa. It’s the state of Israel. Found it? Good.
So why is there a crisis over there? You probably already know. First, the Jewish people just had to insist on having a state of their own. Then, they just had to win a series of wars thrust upon them by like half a dozen countries. And then, they just had to have a democracy, the only one in the Middle East. Enough to trigger most liberals.
Anyway, I was talking about more immediate reasons for this crisis. What did Israel do now? To quote Al Jazeera:
“There have been nightly disturbances in the area since the start of Ramadan on April 13, with Palestinians outraged by police blocking access to the promenade around the walls, a popular gathering place after the end of the daytime Ramadan fast.“
That’s just wrong of Israel. Everyone knows that religious gatherings are the most important thing in the world. By the way, did the Israelis give any reason for this undemocratic ban?
“… worshippers were angered by Israeli restrictions that denied access to West Bank Palestinians without COVID-19 vaccination documents.“
Come on Israel, be reasonable. What kind of sensible country would ask people for Covid vaccination documents before coming to a religious gathering? Have you ever heard what Indian liberals have to say about this? Or listen to the great Ikrima Sabri, religious leader and possibly world-renowned medical doctor, explain:
“Ikrima Sabri, who led Friday prayers, accused Israel of “exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to intervene in the affairs of the blessed Aqsa mosque” “
I agree. Israel can’t interfere with freedom of religion just like that. At least, they could allow people to have small gatherings, of say 20 people or 50 people, or something like that.
“But Israeli officials said they restricted to 10,000 the number of vaccinated Palestinians entering from the West Bank because of “high morbidity rates” from coronavirus in Palestinian Authority areas.“
Sorry, 20 people, 50 people, or 10,000 people. What’s the difference, really? It is still government interference in matters of religion. Any limit is undemocratic. What happened next? As Al Jazeera explains:
“Later on Friday, the Israeli army said at least 10 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel into the early hours of the morning – the most in one night since the beginning of the year.“
So Israel required vaccination certificates and restricted religious gatherings to 10,000 people. At this, people got so angry they fired rockets into Israel and started a whole war. Now tell me how many media reports have highlighted this aspect of how the violence began.
Business Standard on Friday republished an article by columnist Andy Mukherjee which first appeared on Bloomberg with an interesting twist. The media outlet somehow managed to blame Narendra Modi for the dip in fortunes of Colgate, the toothpaste brand.
Business Standard declared that Colgate had not managed to register a double digit growth even once ‘under’ Narendra Modi, making it seem as if the Prime Minister of India is the marketing manager of the toothpaste brand. The tweet has since then been deleted.
Source: Twitter
The article in question argued for an income-support initiative by the government owing the Coronavirus pandemic. But even the author admits that Colgate’s fortunes are dependent on multiple factors, including competition from Ramdev’s Patanjali.
Mukherjee wrote, “For the full year, the U.S. multinational’s India unit recorded a little over 7% jump in net sales, but since that came atop a 1.2% increase in the previous 12 months, the two-year average works out to less than 5%. This is a company that only once expanded annual revenue by less than 13% in the nine years before 2015.”
“But then came the challenge to its dominance from a yoga guru and his homegrown ayurveda company, followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bizarre ban on 86% of cash in 2016, a banking crisis, a brutal economic slowdown, and finally two waves of Covid-19. Colgate hasn’t once managed double-digit growth in the last six years under Modi,” he adds.
The columnist’s bias against the ruling dispensation is evident during the initial paragraphs where he presents a doomsday scenario of the Coronavirus pandemic, predicting 1.2 million deaths by end-August; a figure that is not supported by any legitimate data.
Forecasters were initially predicting 1.6 million deaths by the beginning of August, then The Lancet relied on those predictions to predict 1 million deaths since even they did not find the predictions plausible. Eventually, Mukherjee seems to have decided upon 1.2 million deaths since he appears to find the 1 million figure by August exaggerated in itself. Some had also predicted 5 million deaths by August.
People on social media mocked Business Standard for its own twist in the tale wherein they chose to blame Narendra Modi for the business fortunes of Colgate.
How is that related to Modi? Did modi asked not to use tooth paste or modi wave cleaned all teeth of billion people. Business standard fallen for sure. https://t.co/Fr4yDSIHuK
@narendramodi must either immediately step down from the post of #Colgate CEO or resign as the prime minister of India. Democracy in danger. @bsindia Kudos to your journalism. Big fan ! https://t.co/vCNs6bFWCV
It does appear bizarre that the Prime Minister would be blamed for a single brand not recording enough growth, as per media. Furthermore, it is likely that people are switching to other brands that they find better. To blame the Prime Minister in such a scenario is inexplicable to say the very least.
The Bengaluru police have arrested a doctor working at BBMP health centre in Bengaluru for illegally administering vaccine outside designated Covid-19 vaccine centres.
According to the reports, a 25-year-old contract doctor Dr Pushpita, who was attached with the Manjunathanagar Primary Health Centre (PHC) by the BBMP, has been arrested for alleged black marketing Covid-19 vaccines.
The accused and her relative Prema, a resident of ITI Layout, were charging Rs.500 for a shot of Covishield. The doctor used to steal the vials from the PHC and vaccinate people at Prema’s house.
“The vaccines are sanctioned by the government to the PHC to give it to the people who have registered at the government portals. We suspect that the doctor forged records to steal the vials and store them at Prema’s house,” said a senior police officer.
In a similar incident, two doctors of a PHC in Chamarajpet have been arrested by the Bengaluru police for allegedly issuing fake Covid-19 negative certificates and illegally selling Remdesivir vials.
Reportedly, the police officials received information that two doctors were issuing fake Covid-19 certificates in the city. Upon the information, Constable Satish G approached a swab collector at the PHC in Chamarajpet, Kishore Guirumurthy to get a negative certificate. He paid him Rs.500 and gave him a copy of the Aadhaar card.
A few hours later, Kishore asked Satish to meet him at Bannappa Park. The police officials caught him while handing over the fake certificate. The investigation revealed that he was working in collusion with Shekhar B, the PHC medical officer.
In another operation, the police also arrested another doctor while he was selling them a Remdesivir vial for Rs 25,000. The accused, Shekhar confessed to the police that he was sourcing the injections from his colleague Prajwala who worked at the PHC.
The police recovered 11 vials from the accused who later confessed that they had sold three vials before for a price of Rs 25,000 each. The police have also arrested Mohan Y, a staffer at the PHC.
On Thursday, an inquiry committee set up by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to look into the allegations made by Charles Spencer, brother of former British Princess Diana, ruled that BBC journalist Martin Bashir had used deceit to secure an interview with the former Princess in 1995.
The inquiry committee, led by Judge Dyson, found that BBC journalist Bashir had lied to Charles Spencer to secure an interview with Diana. The BBC journalist had shown Charles Spencer fake bank statements claiming that Diana was under surveillance by the security services and that two of her staffers are being paid to provide information about her.
“Mr Bashir deceived and induced him to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana,” the report said. Mr Bashir acted inappropriately, and in serious breach of the 1993 edition of the Producers’ Guidelines on straight dealing, the inquiry report said.
In the sensational interview, the former Princess had disclosed intimate details of her failed marriage to Prince Charles. Charles Spencer said the BBC reporter linked these events to Diana’s death.
Following the indictment by Judge Dyson, the BBC has made a “full and unconditional apology” to the British Royal family. Meanwhile, several social media users have accused BBC journalist Bashir of “peddling a series of ‘preposterous lies’ to secure his interview” and alleged that the media corporation has tried to sweep it under the carpet. They trended #DefundTheBBC on social media, asking the British government to defund it.
Charles Spencer recorded falsehoods peddled by BBC journalist to obtain interview
Interestingly, the deceit and lies allegedly propagated by Martin Bashir to get access to Princess Diana scoop were all recorded by her brother. Charles Spencer, brother of Princess Diana, had maintained all the notes of the meeting held on September 19, 1995, when he introduced the BBC journalist to his sister at her Knightsbridge flat, reports Daily Mail.
The records of Charles Spencer showed that Bashir allegedly claimed that Diana’s private letters were being opened and lied to her, saying that she was under surveillance. He had also deceived Diana, saying her phones were tapped. The notes recorded by Spencer were submitted before Lord Dyson for his inquiry into the case. It includes falsehoods about the royals and senior courtiers that he is said to have used to help land the interview.
Here are the list of lies peddled by Martin Bashir to Princess Diana.
1: MI6 was orchestrating things around Diana
To convince Diana, Bashir had lied to the Princess that three MI6 agents had told him that Prince Charles’s private secretary Richard Aylard was ‘orchestrating’ things surrounding Diana. This involved Ken Wharfe, Diana’s former bodyguard, described as ‘scum’.
The journalist had shown a few bank statements allegedly showing her closest aides were selling her secrets. Reportedly, Diana’s paranoia about her staff and friends of betraying her, was effectively misused by Bashir in the meeting.
Here is an image of the dossier prepared by Charles Spencer during the meeting between Martin Bashir and Princess Diana held on September 19, 1995.
Image Source: Dailymail
2: Charles’ secretary ‘paid by Jonathan Dimbleby’
Bashir informed Diana that Charles’s secretary Richard Aylard is being paid by the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby. A decision to reinvent the Prince was planned by two aides of Charles two years earlier to attack both Diana and the Spencer family, Bashir had claimed as per the dossier.
4: Spencers’ reputation ‘would be destroyed’
In the meeting, Bashir fear-mongered by saying reputation of Spencers’ will be destroyed. In another remark recorded by Charles Spencer, Bashir claimed Prince Charles wanted Spencer’s then wife, Victoria, dead. Meanwhile, Diana would be forced to move to America, possibly with her brother.
5: Will Carling affair claim
Bashir had also related to the stories during 1995 of the close friendship between Diana and the married England rugby captain Will Carling. Spencer noted Bashir’s assertion that the newspaper stories had been ‘fed’ by Carling’s wife Julia.
9: Diana’s car ‘bugged’
The note also says Martin Bashir had claimed that Diana’s cars and phone lines were bugged.
Image Source: Dailymail
17: Camilla ‘depressed’, Charles has affair with nanny
Bashir had also said to Diana that Camilla Parker Bowles, Prince Charles’s girlfriend at the time, was depressed.
Later in the interview, Diana had made her feelings clear on Camilla, famously saying, “There are three of us in this marriage”. It is speculated that Bashir mentioned Camilla in his meeting to prompt Diana to speak out.
The note further contains names a person- ‘Tiggy’, a reference to Tiggy Legge-Bourke, William and Harry’s nanny. It mentions that Prince Charles was accused of having an affair with her.
Image Source: Dailymail
17b: Philip’s ‘v unpleasant correspondence’
Charles Spencer’s records also show that Bashir claimed that Diana had received ‘v unpleasant correspondence’ from Philip and suggested he was annoyed at her ‘hero status’.
It also references Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, who was known to have had affairs.
Image Source: Dailymail
19: Fergie’s business deals in the US
This note refers to her numerous trips of Sarah Ferguson to the US to forge a business career. Sarah Ferguson is the wife of Prince Andrew, who divorced in 1996.
The note adds that Andrew still ‘looked after her’ following their divorce by supporting her financially.
Image Source: Dailymail
20: ‘Queen eats for comfort’
The note also suggested the Queen was unwell, stating “Queen ill: heart” and adds she “eats for comfort”.
The BBC interview with Diana
The much-hyped BBC documentary series Panorama with Princess Diana was finally telecast on 20 November 1995. The 54-minute programme saw Diana, Princess of Wales, interviewed by Martin Bashir about her relationship with her husband, Charles. The programme was watched by nearly 23 million viewers in the UK.
During the “Panorama” interview, telecast in 1995 and watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain, Diana had admitted about an affair and also revealed personal details about her marriage to the heir to the throne, Prince Charles.
Later in 1996, Diana and Charles formally divorced. She died at the age of 36 in a high-speed car crash while being chased by the media in Paris, a year after the BBC interview.
Tarun Tejpal, the founder and former editor-in-chief of ‘Tehelka’ has been acquitted today after the sessions court in Goa quashed all the charges filed against him in the rape case. Soon after the verdict was pronounced in favour of the journalist, an official statement was released, wherein he thanked Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid and Kapil Sibal amongst others for helping him in the legal battle.
Now, a copy of Tarun Tajpal’s statement has been doing the rounds on social media with people speculating that the document was readied by Tarun Tajpal’s legal team on May 19th itself, two days prior to the pronouncement of the verdict was.
Though the document released bore today’s date, i.e May 21st, a closer look reveals that the date on the document has been changed manually. In fact, it appears, that initially, the statement was dated May 19th which was later, changed by hand, to May 21st. Since, after overwriting, the date appeared illegible, it was re-written manually below the typed date.
Copy of Tarun Tejpal’s statement
Social media users shared the statement with the date changed and speculated that Tarun Tejpal had kept his statement, thanking for his acquittal, ready on May 19th itself.
Another possibility was that someone mistyped the date on the statement and then changed it by hand. However, this is unlikely as the additional district court was to pronounce the verdict on May 19 but it had postponed the verdict in the 2013 sexual harassment case against journalist Tarun Tejpal to May 21st.
So going by the sequence of events, it does appear legitimate that Tarun Tejpal’s legal team, convinced about his acquittal, prepared the statement on May 19th itself, before the verdict was even pronounced. But since the court postponed the hearing to May 21st, the same statement was released today by changing the date manually.
Far-left journalist Tarun Tejpal acquitted of rape charges
According to reports, the sessions court in Goa quashed all the charges filed against Tarun Tejpal in the rape case. Earlier, Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi had reserved the verdict in the seven-year-old case. Interestingly, the trial was held on-camera at Tejpal’s instance.
The journalist was accused of forcing himself on a colleague against her wishes inside an elevator of the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa, on November 7, 2013, during an official event. He had stepped down as editor for six months after being accused of sexual assault.
The Goa Police had subsequently registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Tejpal for various offences, including rape. He was arrested in November 2013 and later released on bail in July 2014.
He was charged under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (sexual harassment), 354A(1)(I)(II)(demand for sexual favours), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 376 (2)(f) (person in a position of authority over women, committing rape) and 376(2)(k) (rape by a person in a position of control).
Former Union Minister Salman Khurshid has declared Rahul Gandhi the future King of Democracy. In the past, the same person had declared Sonia Gandhi the mother of our nation. Aided by such copious groveling, Salman Khurshid continues to prosper within the party.
The statement again reveals the undemocratic ethos of the Congress party that encourages worship of the ‘One True Family’ instead of leadership based on merit and ability. Between an able administrator and a charlatan Gandhi, the Congress party will always choose the latter.
Source: Twitter
Nevertheless, there are important things which Khurshid has gotten wrong here. And that must be pointed out.
Rahul The Reluctant
While senior leaders are ever willing to hand over the reins of the Congress party to Rahul Gandhi, the former party president himself is quite unwilling to serve in that position. Instead, he is much more comfortable swimming in the ocean and performing push-ups at public events.
Despite being urged to take up that position, Rahul Gandhi has fled from that role just like voters have fled from the Congress party, leaving the party in the lurch. Thus, while Salman Khurshid appears overeager to crown Rahul King, there is a great possibility that should the occasion ever arise, he may find that Gandhi is off to one of his vacations on the day of the event.
The Crown is not given, it is earned
One of the most important aspects of Kingship is that it is never given, it is earned. And Salman Khurshid will be hard pressed to answer precisely what has Rahul Gandhi achieved so far in his career as a politician in order to justify the title.
Under his leadership, the Congress party has floundered and fumbled from one defeat to another and the only success to his credit is that the party has managed to do so without any loss of enthusiasm.
A King who needs sycophants like Khurshid to secure his position is no King at all.
Kings lead from the front
A King must lead his army from the front. Faced against great odds, a King must instill faith in his followers and offer them hope even when none exists. Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, was among the first to flee the battlefield following the party’s defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
He quit from the post of president and since then, despite numerous pleas from sycophants, he has strongly refused to return to his role. Now we are in a situation where Sonia Gandhi’s tenure as the interim president of the party has lasted for a longer time than her son’s tenure as permanent president.
Furthermore, instead of leading the fight from the front, Rahul Gandhi has meekly sought help from the Joe Biden administration to aid him in his efforts to defeat the BJP. That is not very regal behaviour.
The Clown King
The world has seen great kings and cruel monarchs but it appears unlikely that it will ever be ready for a Clown King. A King, by default, is meant to inspire respect and loyalty on his own merit. The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar inspires neither.
Sycophants such as Khurshid are loyal to the Nehru-Parivar, not Rahul Gandhi himself. If the Parivar had a more able scion, then they would have flocked to him instead. But, as it so happens, they have a clown on one hand and on the other, they have Priyanka Gandhi who is yet to demonstrate higher intellect than her brother.
Kings who wake up in the morning at night or believe that they can pour potatoes from one end and extract gold from the other end of the machine are unlikely to be received well by the masses.
Democracies have no place for Kings
The Congress party might have cleared a position for a royal family within itself but Democracies have no place for kings. The party might suffer under the delusion that it can slap a King on the face of the electorate but they will find that citizens do not have time for such nonsense.
Democracy is the very antithesis of a Monarchy. One Narendra Modi can rise from being a tea seller in his childhood to leading the destiny of a population over a billion strong. Narendra Modi has earned that position through his own merit and ability, things that are alien to the Congress party.
Salman Khurshid may like to believe that Rahul Gandhi is the King of Democracy but the Indian electorate has made its choice clear. And unfortunately for him, the chosen one is not from the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar.
A startling new revelation has surfaced in the case of the mob lynching of one Asif Khan in Haryana’s Nuh district, who was allegedly abducted and assaulted to death by a group of people on 16 May 2021. A local from the village where Asif was killed has claimed that he was a member of the gang that killed Nikita Tomar. The 21-year-old woman was shot to death in broad daylight outside the Aggarwal college in Ballabgarh, Faridabad, in October 2020.
Nikita Tomar was killed by Tausif and Rehan after she had resisted their attempts to abduct her. Tausif had then pulled out a revolver and fired at her. The brutal murder was caught on camera. It was reported that Tausif has been harassing Nikita for over three years before finally murdering her.
In the light of the recent lynching of Asif Khan and the controversy that erupted following his death, several other aspects of his background have come to the fore. While media organisations tried to spin the personal enmity case between two gangs that led to Asif’s killing as a case of atrocities committed by Hindus on Muslims, the recent revelations by a local highlighted that Asif was a victim of old rivalry and not killed by a religiously-motivated mob.
Asif was reportedly caught 10 years ago for filming videos of girls changing clothes during a school function. The villagers had then decided to resolve the issue among themselves. However, the rivalry between the girls’ side and Asif had germinated since then, the local said.
Besides, two cases have been registered against Asif. One case dated 17.08.2018 was registered under Section 342, 379-B, S.D., 25-54-59 Armed Act at Sadar Sohna Police Station, while the other one dated 17.03.2020 was registered under Section 148, 149, 323, 348, 365, 506, 34.
One Satendra Awana tweeted that the murder that took place in Abhaypur village (Sohna) in 2010 also had Asif’s name. Asif was also accused of looting people on Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway and a case on the same is still pending with the Uttar Pradesh police. He had also served jail time for one and a half in the case.
It is being alleged that the main reason behind Asif’s murder was his personal enmity with the man name Patwari, who is the main accused in the case. According to reports, two to three months ago, Asif and his associates had tried to kill Patwari but he somehow managed to escape. That incident is believed to be the main reason behind Asif’s murder.
However, soon after Asif’s murder, his family members gave it a communal spin, alleging that their son was killed by a mob of Hindu men, who had forced Asif to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, a report published in Times of India said.
In response to the incident, the anti-social elements within the Muslim community looted the gym owned by Santlal Sarpanch Kheda Khalilpur and set it on fire. They jammed the Nuh bypass and when the police tried to remove the blockade, stones were pelted at them.
The local says police have taken no action against the rabble-rousers who took to the street and pelted stones at them. Neither have people who uploaded inflammatory posts on social media been arrested. Instead, the local says the administration has arrested innocent youth on the insistence of Asif’s family members.
Soon, various media organisations started attributing Asif’s death to the Hindu mob. Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani and many others like him started vilifying ‘Jai Shri Ram’, alleging that the pious Hindu slogan was being used as a rallying cry by the Hindu mobs to attack and kill Muslims. Social media was rife with posts that called Asif a victim of ‘Hindu terrorism’, stating that a Muslim man was killed by a rabid Hindu mob for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Even Punhana MLA Ilyas Khan and his son Javed posted cartoons on social media that were provocative in nature and that instigated communal sentiments and furthered falsehoods of the man being killed for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Police rules out the communal angle in murder of Mewat youth Asif
Haryana Police has ruled out any communal angle in the murder of Haryana youth Asif, a bodybuilder by profession, on Sunday. As per reports, Asif and his two cousins were returning from his sister’s house when he was allegedly attacked by a group of men and was beaten to death. According to Police, two cases have been filed against Asif alias Saddu and five against Pradeep alias Patwari, the prime accused in the Asif murder case.
Punjab police have arrested the pathi of a gurdwara at Bir Talab village in Bathinda district on May 20 (Thursday), after he welcomed BJP’s decision to project a Dalit as the Chief Minister candidate of Punjab in the 2022 Assembly poll. In a special Ardas (prayer) he offered in the Gurudwara, Gurmel Singh Khalsa prayed for PM Modi’s long life and backed BJP’s reported decision to project a Dalit as CM candidate in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.
As per a report in Jagran, the Punjab police initiated action against him after a video of him went viral where he is heard offering prayers at the Gurudwara. A lawyer named Harpal Singh Khara reportedly lodged a complaint against Gurmel Singh Khalsa accusing him of hurting religious sentiments by batting for a Dalit face as the next CM.
Gurmel Singh Khalsa is the former sarpanch of Bir Talab and the husband of Rajpal Kaur, the present sarpanch of Bir Talab village in Bathinda.
In his ardas, Khalsa said being a member of the Dalit community, he wished the next Punjab chief minister should be a scheduled caste. He lauded BJP for its decision to project a Dalit as a CM candidate in the upcoming elections. He also offered prayers for the release of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh saying he was a victim of a political conspiracy.
Khalsa hurt religious sentiments by batting for a Dalit CM, the complainant said
The complainant said Khalsa’s conduct hurt the sentiment of Sikhs and strict should be initiated against him. He also demanded action against the Bir Talab gurdwara management committee for allowing Khalsa’s address at the shrine.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) BS Virk said a case was registered under sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian penal code. “A team will probe the role of other persons named in the complaint,” said the SSP.
BJP writes a complaint to National Commission for Scheduled Castes condemning Punjab police’s arbitrary action
Meanwhile, BJP state secretary Sukhpal Sra condemned the arbitrary action taken against Khalsa by the Punjab police and wrote a complaint to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes that Khalsa was targeted for supporting a Dalit attaining more political power in Punjab.
