Tarun Tejpal, the founder and former editor-in-chief of ‘Tehelka’ has been acquitted of all charges in the sexual assault and rape case of a junior colleague by a district court in Goa.
According to the 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 in-camera at Tejpal’s instance.
The far-left 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).
The trial against Tejpal started in 2017. Meanwhile, Tejpal had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking dismissal of the case against him, claiming that the charges were fabricated. Both High Court and Supreme Court had also dismissed the plea in 2019.
Tejpal had thanked Congress leaders
In an official statement released, Tejpal had thanked the people who helped him in the legal battle. He sad, “In these 8 years a host of outstanding lawyers came to our aid, and we owe them all a deep debt, prime among them Pramod Dubey, Aamir Khan, Ankur Chawla, Amit Desai, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, Aman Lekhi, Sandeep Kapoor, Raian Karanjewala, and Shrikant Shivade”. He also thanked lawyer Ravi Sharma.
On Thursday (May 20), the Haryana government directed the police and the district magistrates to ensure the protection of the telecom infrastructure in the State. The development comes after miscreants, falsely believing that it might cause Coronavirus infection, destroyed several 5g mobile towers.
In an order issued by Haryana Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan, he said, “As you might be aware, misinformation attributing the fatalities and health problems being faced by people due to COVIOD-19 virus, is being attributed to the testing of 5G Towers. This has led to some incidents in the State resulting in mobile towers/network being damaged by some misguided elements.”
The order cited the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other organisations to clarify that Coronavirus cannot travel via radio waves and mobile networks. It added, “The Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Gol in its press statement dated 10.5.2021 has clarified that linking the 5G network technology with COVID-19 pandemic has no scientific basis. Besides, the testing of the 5G network has not yet started in India.” The Haryana Chief Secretary reiterated that the claims are baseless and ‘devoid of merit.’
Softcopy of the order (Image Courtesy: The Times of India)
Keeping the circumstances in mind and the damage caused to several mobile towers, Vijai Vardhan directed all SPs, SSPs, and district magistrates to ‘safeguard’ telecom towers and infrastructure in the district. The law enforcement officials have been asked to take stringent actions against miscreants involved in rumour-mongering.
According to Taipa (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association) senior manager Rahul Dhall, four towers were damaged in the past 10 days in Rohtak and Jind. He added that around 15-20 towers operating in the rural areas are under the threat of being vandalised. This has resulted in massive inconvenience for telecom service providers in ensuring the maintenance and operation of existing towers. Besides, the installation of new towers is now being met with increasing resistance from people due to a large-scale misleading campaign.
Taipa Director-general, TR DUA lamented that incidents of vandalism can impact telecom connectivity if they are not brought under control immediately. Telecom connectivity is crucial amidst the Coronavirus pandemic to be able to facilitate virtual meetings, e-health, e-education and e-commerce. Even the government’s vaccination programme might be affected if such incidents go unabated.
Jio towers vandalised, looted by farmer protestors in Punjab
In the wake of farmer protests, thousands of Jio towers were vandalised and looted. Earlier, videos of ‘protesting farmers‘ stealing a generator from a tower and ‘donating’ it to a Gurudwara had also gone viral on social media. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had to step in, who then directed police to act against Jio tower vandals in Punjab. The directions came hours after the Youth Congress leader instigated more acts of vandalism. Reliance Industries Limited, through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, was forced to file a petition in the Punjab & Haryana High Court to stop damage to its property.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi managed to elicit a strong reaction from CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga while discussing the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in an interview on the channel on Thursday.
The anchor, who is Jewish, called the Pakistan Minister anti-Semitic when Shah Mahmood opined during the interview that Israel has “deep pockets” and controls the media. He said that Israel is losing “the media war” in its battle against Hamas, “despite their connections.”
Golodryga shot back, saying “What are their connections?”
The Pakistan Foreign Minister chuckled as he furthered that Israel has deep pockets. This was enough to irk the Jewish reporter who asked him to specify. Qureshi explained that he meant Israel “controls media”. “They are influential people”, opined the Pakistani minister.
Here, the CNN reporter snapped back saying that his remark was an anti-Semitic remark.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi @SMQureshiPTI: Israel is losing the media war despite their connections. They have “deep pockets” and they control media.
“Well, you see, the point is, they have a lot of influence, and they get a lot of coverage,” Qureshi said.
The Pakistan minister was almost one minute into his observations about the conflict in the region before Golodryga cut him short and asked him to condemn antisemitism: “I mean, can we not separate the fact that there are calls for peace … for both sides, for Palestinians and for Israelis, without anti-Semitic talk and rhetoric?”
‘I am personally offended as a journalist’, CNN anchor snubs Pakistan Foreign Minister
Qureshi diverged saying: “I will not justify any rocket attacks, and I cannot justify, and I cannot condone the aerial bombardment that is taking place.”
Few minutes into the interview, when Qureshi suggested how a ceasefire is the only option for Palestinians and Israelis, the Jewish interviewer asks whether the solutions suggested by the Pak minister includes anti-Semitism.
When the minister insisted that he is not justifying anti-Semitic talks, Golodryga retorted at Qureshi by saying that he began the conversation with an anti-Semitic statement. “I am sorry, I am personally offended as a journalist, you started by suggesting that Israel has close and powerful friends in the media. That is an anti-Semitic trope,” said the interviewer.
When Qureshi insists that this is the common perception and Israelis should negate it, the visibly piqued Golodryga says that the onus of changing the common perception should lie on powerful and influential people like Qureshi.
Qureshi concedes here by saying that he is not shying away from agreeing that this perception is wrong. He then quickly detours by repeating: “this insanity should come to an end”, batting for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
Israel, Palestine declare a ceasefire
Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire across the Gaza Strip border as of Friday, bringing to an end 11 days of bombardment. Both Israel and Hamas have claimed victory in the conflict. However, the Islamic terror organisation, Hamas, has warned that it still had its “hands-on the trigger” and demanded Israel to end the violence in Jerusalem and address the damages in Gaza Strip.
António Guterres, the current Secretary-General of the United Nations welcomed the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel.
I welcome the ceasefire between Gaza & Israel, after days of deadly hostilities.
All sides must observe this ceasefire.
Israeli & Palestinian leaders have a responsibility beyond the restoration of calm to start a serious dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict. pic.twitter.com/VQHQMpadY8
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 21, 2021
The Israel-Palestine conflict
The fighting began in Gaza after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. On May 11, Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas unleashed massive airstrikes against Israel, firing hundreds of rockets inside the country.
The country’s air defence system known as the Iron Dome intercepted the continuous barrage of rockets targeting Tel Aviv and central Israel Tuesday evening. Israel, in response, stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian terror group Hamas inside Gaza Strip. The Israel Defence Forces carried out airstrikes on targets in Gaza in response to continued attacks by Hamas against Israel.
At least 232 people, including more than 100 women and children, have been killed in Gaza.
In Israel 12 people, including two children, have been killed, its medical service says. Israel says some 4,000 rockets have been fired towards its territory by militants in Gaza.
On Friday (May 21), the State of Israel and terrorist outfit Hamas mutually agreed upon a ceasefire along the Gaza strip after 11 days of continuous fighting. As per reports, the ceasefire agreement was mediated by Egypt.
Amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed that his Security Cabinet voted unanimously for a ‘mutual and unconditional’ truce. It, however, said that the time of implementation of the ceasefire was yet to be decided. The ceasefire was proposed by Egypt, which said that the Gaza truce would commence from 2 am on Friday (UK time).
While taking to Twitter, President Joe Biden wrote, “Prime Minister Netanyahu informed me that Israel has agreed to a mutual, unconditional ceasefire. The Egyptians have now informed us that Hamas and the other groups in Gaza have also agreed.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu informed me that Israel has agreed to a mutual, unconditional ceasefire. The Egyptians have now informed us that Hamas and the other groups in Gaza have also agreed.
He further added, “These hostilities have resulted in the tragic deaths of so many civilians, including children. I send my sincere condolences to all the families, Israeli and Palestinian, of those who lost loved ones and my hope for a full recovery for the wounded…I believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. My administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end.”
I believe that Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live in safety and security and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy.
My Administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end. pic.twitter.com/mXe39TyVMz
Several countries such as Qatar, Egypt, United States, and the United Nations have proposed to mediate to bring an end to the ongoing escalation between the two sides. The US has vowed to replenish the Iron Dome interceptors of Israel that helped protect the Jewish State from the barrage of incoming rocket fires from the Gaza strip by Hamas. Both sides have been claiming the ‘ceasefire’ as a victory.
Reaction of Palestinians and Hamas terror outfit
Despite this, the fighting continued between Hamas and Israel in the runup to the proposed truce. Reportedly, sirens cautioned of incoming rocket fire from the Gaza strip to Israel. A 50-year-old man sustained minor injuries when a Hamas rocket dropped on an Israeli factory. In retaliation, Reuters reported that Israel conducted an air strike in Gaza. After the truce came into effect, Palestinians hit the streets in jubilation and yelled, “Allah hu Akbar.”
Some even whistled from their balconies. Several men even fired rifles, burnt firecrackers, jammed the roads, honked the horns of cars, and eaved flags from the window. Mosques claimed over loudspeakers that the truce signified the supposed victory of ‘resistance’ against Israel during the battle of ‘Sword of Jerusalem.’ A Palestinian welding an Ak-47 warned, “Our fingers are on the triggers, and we are ready to fight again, but now we will celebrate with our people.”
Meanwhile, Taher Al-Nono, who serves as the media advisor of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said, “The Palestinian resistance will abide by this agreement as long as the Occupation (Israel) does the same. Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida however added, “With the help of God, we were able to humiliate the enemy, its fragile entity, and its savage army.” He warned of rocket attacks if Israel was to commit ceasefire violations in Gaza. The biggest challenge for Hamas now is to rebuild its influence in the Gaza strip, destroyed by airstrikes by Israel in retaliation to its attacks.
Israel’s stand on the current truce with Hamas
In a statement released by the Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz on Twitter, he said, “I would like to strengthen the security forces and the IDF, led by the Chief of Staff, who have achieved unprecedented military achievements in the last 11 days in their strength, accuracy and strategic significance in the fight against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.”
Tweet by Israel Defence Minister
He added, “The defense establishment continues its readiness to protect Israeli citizens and the security forces and the IDF are deployed in the field, in all formations, in various sectors, in defense, and in the attack. The reality on the ground will determine the continuation of operations.” Gantz also spoke to US US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He thanked the US administration for its support and said that the Israeli Defense Forces will continue to work with Pentagon and the US government in mutual pursuit of stability in the region.
The Israel-Palestine crisis
The hostilities between the Jewish nation and its nemesis Hamas are at an all-time high, especially after the intense aerial exchanges that started on the evening of May 11 and continued well past midnight. On May 11, Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas unleashed massive airstrikes against Israel, firing hundreds of rockets inside the country.
The country’s air defence system known as the Iron Dome, intercepted the continuous barrage of rockets targeting Tel Aviv and central Israel Tuesday evening. Israel, in response, stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian terror group Hamas inside Gaza Strip. The Israel Defence Forces carried out airstrikes on targets in Gaza in response to continued attacks by Hamas against Israel. The death toll in the Gaza strip has risen to 230 by May 21 while 12 casaulties were reported on the Israeli side. At the same time, 20 high-profile terrorists associated with Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad have been neutralised.
While debunking the anti-Israeli propaganda, Israel Defence Forces remarked, “The fact that there aren’t more casualties in Israel does not mean that Hamas isn’t trying to kill Israeli civilians. It simply means that the IDF is preventing them from doing so at an incredible level. The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System and easily accessible bomb shelters all over Israel have saved thousands of lives.” It concluded, “IDF troops will continue to work 24/7 to defend Israeli civilians at the highest level possible and minimize Gazan casualties wherever possible.”
A day after the Congress party, which is in dock over the latest toolkit fiasco, wrote a letter to micro-blogging site Twitter asking it to permanently suspend the accounts of BJP leaders for allegedly “spreading misinformation”, the micro-blogging website seems to have followed the diktat as it flagged the ‘toolkit expose’ tweet of BJP leader Sambit Patra as ‘manipulated media’.
On Thursday, the Congress party had shot a letter to Twitter seeking permanent suspension of the accounts of BJP president JP Nadda, Union minister Smriti Irani, and BJP leaders Sambit Patra and BL Santosh for sharing the alleged “forged” document.
We’ve formally written to @Twitter seeking suspension of Twitter accounts of BJP leaders who are indulging in spreading forged documents attributing to Congress.
While an FIR has already been lodged, the independent fact-checkers too have blown the lid off BJP’s propaganda. pic.twitter.com/DeVUO585l3
In the letter to Twitter, the Congress had said senior functionaries of the BJP were “grossly misusing” Twitter and this has led to “large-scale dissemination of false information and has the potential to cause social unrest in the country”.
As expected, a day after the Congress party’s letter, Twitter has promptly marked Sambit Patra’s tweets exposing Congress’ links to the toolkit as ‘Manipulated Media’. In his tweets, Patra had accused the Congress party of carrying out PR exercise with the help of “Friendly Journalists” and “Influencers”.
In its policies section, Twitter said, “We may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated. In addition, you may not share deceptively altered media on Twitter in ways that mislead or deceive people about the media’s authenticity where threats to the physical safety or other serious harm may result.”
However, Twitter acting arbitrarily on the demands of Congress has not revealed on what basis it concluded that the ‘toolkit’ tweet of the BJP leader was manipulative. After flagging the tweet, Twitter has claimed that the tweets have violated its “Synthetic and manipulated media policy”.
Congress toolkit
On Tuesday, two documents were ‘leaked’ on social media which gave point to point notes on how to question and discredit the Modi government on a few key points. The documents were allegedly created by the AICC research development. While Congress had refuted one of the documents as fake, there were some uncanny similarities between the instructions in the toolkit and how the narrative especially around the pandemic was built.
The instructions issued in the Congress toolkit are all-encompassing and extensive to launch a formidable media and social media attack against the Modi government when they are engrossed in defeating the raging pandemic. From maligning the Kumbh Mela as a ‘super spreader’ event to unwarranted attacks against PM Modi for the Central Vista project to collaborating with ‘friendly’ journalists and international media to defame the Modi government, the toolkit had detailed instructions to the Congress leaders and supporters to milk the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and mount an anti-Modi propaganda blitz.
The toolkit expose had created a storm across the country, fuelling massive anger against the Congress party. Several people accused the grand old party of indulging in such cheap politics, especially during a national crisis, to further their political agenda against the Modi government. As accusations against the Congress party grew louder, the party entailed the services of the propaganda website Alt News to give a clean chit for themselves.
However, in a hurry to give clean chit to the Congress party, Alt News not only did a very poor job with its ‘fact-check’, but also ended up exposing the links of the Congress party to the toolkit document.
The inquiry into the BBC’s sensational interview with Princess Diana in 1995 has found out that the BBC journalist used deceit to secure an interview with the former Princess in which she disclosed intimate details of her failed marriage to Prince Charles.
According to the reports, the British Broadcaster had set up an investigation, headed by former senior Court judge John Dyson, in November last year to look into the allegations from Diana’s brother Charles Spencer. Spencer had accused BBC journalist Martin Bashir of using forged documents and “other deceit” to trick him into introducing Diana to the journalist.
The inquiry by Judge Dyson has found that Bashir, then a small-time reporter, had shown 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.
Charles Spencer said the BBC reporter linked these events to Diana’s death. “She didn’t know who to trust and in the end when she died, two years later, she was without any form of real protection,” Spencer said.
Diana had revealed about her marriage troubles in the interview
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.
It was the first time Diana had commented publicly about her doomed marriage. Diana’s remark, “there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded” – a reference to Charles rekindling his relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, now his second wife, had become a talking point across the world.
Diana and Charles formally divorced in 1996. 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 sensational BBC interview.
Meanwhile, the BBC made a “full and unconditional apology” to the British Royal family after an independent report found BBC journalist lied to Diana to secure an interview.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie admitted that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect.
“The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew. While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today,” he said.
Royal Family reacts to Inquiry report
The British Royal Family has reacted to the latest findings of the inquiry committee. Princess Diana’s son, Prince William, said the BBC’s failures surrounding Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with his mother “contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation”. He added that the episode should never be broadcast again.
He said Princess Diana was “failed” not just by the “rogue reporter”, but by BBC bosses “who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions”. Prince William said the interview was a “major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others”.
Prince Harry said the ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took his mother’s life.
RSS volunteers have always been at the forefront to help the needy and providing them relief. Going by its practice, on May 20 (Thursday), the RSS and BJP volunteers organised a blood donation camp in the Nurpurbedi village in Punjab’s Roper district. The camp was organised since the area was facing an acute shortage of blood.
However, the camp had to be cancelled after several protesting ‘farmers’ reached the event site and started creating a ruckus.
The farmers reportedly tossed the chairs laid in the camp and chanted slogans against BJP and RSS. They said that they would not allow BJP or RSS to organise any event in the state until the agricultural laws are not scrapped.
Seeing the situation get out of hands, the police was asked to intervene. Additional police forces had to be called in to control the frenzied mob. After a lot of effort, DSP Anandpur Sahib Raminder Singh Kahlon brought the situation under control. Since the situation still remains tense, additional forces have been deployed in the area.
RSS calls off the blood donation camp after farmers create ruckus
The ruckus forced the RSS volunteers to call off the donation camp. As soon as the event was cancelled the farmers cheered and celebrated by placing their flags inside the camp.
The farmers also threatened that they would make sure that in the future, no one in the area is allowed to buy any goods from shops owned by BJP or RSS supporters.
Besides this camp, RSS has planned two similar blood donation camps in Anandpur Sahib on May 22 and Rupnagar on May 23.
For months now, farmers primarily from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the central government’s agricultural laws. During times like this, when the entire country is grappling with the Cobvid-19 scourge, farmers from these states have refused to yield.
Farmers protest sites in Punjab become the new Covid super-spreader
We reported earlier on how the farmers who are returning from the Delhi border post registering their protest against the Farm laws may be acting as the new super-spreaders in Punjab. In fact, Punjab Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa in an interview to News18 accepted that the rise in Covid-19 cases in Punjab is in fact linked to the farmer’s protest.
On May 16, farmers at Hisar in Haryana got violent and tried to disrupt a Covid-19 facility inauguration event attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. On-ground visuals showed that these protesting ‘farmers’ charged at police personnel present near the event location which resulted in a lathi-charge by police.
As perreports, 20 police officers were said to be injured out of which 5 are women cops. Five vehicles were also reportedly damaged by the farmers in the incident. The farmers also attacked DSP Abhimanyu, leaving him seriously injured.
Hisar police, in turn, filed cases on farmers for clashing with cops in Hisar.
BKU leader instigates ‘farmers’ asks them to ‘gherao the police’
Despite knowing that the ‘farmers’ were in the wrong, a BKU leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Thursday tried to instigate them further by urging them to gherao the Hisar police commissioner’s office on May 24, if the state government does not take back the FIRs filed against them.
Directly giving a call to further escalate violence, Gurnam Singh Chaduni said: “We were not been told that a case has been filed against us. We have asked cases to be filed against those police officers who trashed us, farmers, people could have died. If it is a matter of COVID violation, the govt has violated COVID guidelines and police officers should be booked for it”.
He further added: “If the govt does not listen to these demands, on May 24, we have decided to protest against the Hisar police commissioner at Kranti Mann park at 10 AM. People from surrounding 4-5 districts must assemble there,” said Chaduni. The BKU leader has given several instigating calls – such as asking farmers to not allow Haryana CM to hold a Mahapanchayat which led to violence and to gherao Delhi police offices after Republic Day violence.
Interestingly, ‘Gherao’ seems to be Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s favourite modus operandi. In February also he had advised ‘farmers’ to ‘gherao’ Delhi Police personnel if they came to their villages to make arrests. He had virtually asked people to hold policemen hostage while referring to the action taken by the Delhi Police in retaliation to the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day.
How BKU has been using the ‘farmers’ protest for own political gains
It is pertinent to mention here that the months-long ‘farmers’ protest against the central government’s three farm laws was spearheaded by none other than the chief of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait. Rakesh Tikait, who was a forgotten man until the current protests were launched, has only used the farmer’s agitation as a tool to, resurrect his political career, even if, in the process, he had to mastermind farmer tractor rally that led to an insurrection on 26th January, he had no qualms in doing so.
‘Farmers’ pelt stones, attack police personnel in Hisar, Haryana
On May 16 (Sunday), protesting farmers moved from the border areas to Haryana’s COVID-19 care centre in Hisar where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was inaugurating the Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani Hospital which has been temporarily constructed at the OP Jindal Modern School.
As per reports, a huge crowd gathered at the site all of a sudden charging at the security forces which resulted in a clash. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha protesting on the border had also backed the protest.
This is not the first time that the protesters attacked an event attended by Haryana Chief Minister. They have warned that unless the new farm laws are not scrapped, the protests will not cease.
On May 18, Dainik Bhaskar and The Wire, two Congress-friendly media houses, used their platforms to show as if the central government is sitting idle and doing nothing to manage the Covid-19 situation. The idea behind the reports they published was based on the “fact” that ten union ministers did not “help” any individual by amplifying any SOS call that was made on social media. They did a study of their Twitter accounts between May 1 and May 15 to come to the conclusion that they were only praising the government and doing nothing to help in Covid-19 management.
As OpIndia showed how these ministers were busy in institutional-approach-based help rather than individual-approach-based help during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to see how Congress leaders and their friendly media houses’ owners performed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a fact that Congress leaders have nothing to do other than sitting at home and tweeting against the government as they are in opposition! So, we went through some of the most famous MPs accounts, and this is what we found.
Sonia Gandhi
The most beloved Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is not even on social media networks. She could have easily joined the social media platform and use her influence to help individuals. But instead, she decided to sit ideal and write letters to PM and ministers to do what they already had done days ago. On May 20, she suggested providing free education to orphans who lost parents to the Covid-19 pandemic, which came out to be nothing more than a PR gimmick.
She flew out of the country with her son for a medical check-up that could have been done in-country. Anyway, as she is not on Twitter, it is hard to access if she has done anything. After all, according to The Wire and Dainik Bhaskar, Twitter is, in fact, the best way to access how MPs, MLAs, and leaders have performed! This means, no Twitter account, no performance.
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi is active on Twitter, but between May 1 and May 20, he did not post any tweet amplifying the SOS call for anyone. We also tried to find if he had done anything for his constituency between these days. We checked his Wayanad account (RGWayanadOffice), sadly there was no tweet amplifying any SOS call from that account too.
We also tried his Facebook accounts, but there was not even a single post amplifying any SOS call. We even search for “Rahul Gandhi Wayanad Covid” on Google, but there was not even a single report in the last 20 days that may show that he has done anything for the people of his constituency.
We were not even looking for what he has done for the people of the country as he does not hold any position that makes him answerable. But at least active work in his constituency was expected during the pandemic. If he had done anything, it would have made it to the social media platforms, or some news report would have published. But there was nothing. There were tweets tagging him for help, but there was no response.
Priyanka Gandhi
We checked her Twitter profile between May 1 and May 20. There was not even a single tweet that can be decoded as an SOS call amplification or response. There was no retweet of any SOS call to amplify it so that her 3.6 million followers can see someone who needs help. Here also, we checked her other social media accounts as well. We did find two posts, but those were only promoting the work Congress workers were doing in UP, not herself. There was no amplification of any SOS call on her Facebook account as well.
Priyanka boasting about work done by a few Congress workers
Though she did help Shahid Siddiqui by giving a Remsidivir injection, it was actually originally procured for Rahul Gandhi, who was Covid-19 positive. As it was lying “unused” because Rahul Gandhi didn’t need it, she gave it to Siddiqui. This was the time where people were paying in black for the injection, and she was keeping it at home. That too happened on April 26 and not between May 1 and May 20 which was apparently the criteria set by the Congress-friendly media houses to assess the leaders.
Shahid Siddiqui announcing how Priyanka Gandhi “gave” him her stock of Remsidivier
Siddharth Varadarajan
The head of The Wire, who got the report published after following Dainik Bhaskar’s suite, is active on Twitter. He has hundreds of Tweet from his account since May 1, and there were only two Retweets that can be called as amplifying the SOS call.
Two RTs by Varadarajan amplifying SOS calls. One by Wire employee and other about oxygen shortage.
One was for seeking help for verified accounts of The Wire and Scroll, and the other was regarding the oxygen crisis in Delhi Hospitals. Not even a single tweet or RT for an individual from the general masses to save someone’s life. Does the life of a general citizen of India does not matter in the eyes of the owner of The Wire? Why didn’t he amplified a single tweet in 20 days for the masses, it may be questioned.
Instead of tweeting propaganda reports or bragging for collecting over 16 crores since 2015, he could have helped a few people by RTing them. BTW the tweet about money Wire collected/made is pinned tweet on his profile.
Varadarajan boasting how much money he made since 2015 amidst Covid-19 pandemic
Arvind Sharma
Similarly, Dainik Bhaskar news editor Arvind Sharma has also not done much in terms of amplifying Covid-19 SOS calls. On May 2, he posted a call for Remdesivir injection needed in Rajasthan. Apart from that, he has not tweeted or retweeted any such appeals, while mostly posting news articles from his newspaper.
These examples show that while the media questioned union ministers for not amplifying Covid-19 SOS calls, they didn’t use the same criteria to evaluate opposition leaders, or even themselves. While ministers were helping the victims en-mass using the institutional mechanism they have access to, opposition leaders can surely use their social media accounts with lakhs of followers to help Covid-19 victims. But all they did was attack the Modi govt, and the leftist media do not see any problem in that.
Months after arbitrarily cancelling the much-needed Metro project near the Aarey area by claiming it as a ‘forest’ land, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra is keen on monetizing the Aarey Forest land, reports Times of India.
In a government resolution issued on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government appointed a five-member committee headed by Madhav Kale, director of planning and transport of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, to suggest how the government can monetize its land and raise funds for its various projects.
The committee has been asked to prepare a policy for implementing projects on a build-operate-transfer basis on land owned by the department. Aarey Colony is one of the largest land parcels in the state-owned by the dairy development and animal husbandry department.
The resolution stated that if the department develops its dilapidated dairies and hospitals in urban areas on a BOT model, that would not only get upgraded infrastructure free of cost but also can raise funds for other projects. The decision has been taken following a meeting held by Minister Sunil Kedar in February.
The flip-flop decision by the Maharashtra government to utilize forest land at Aarey for commercial purposes comes months after the Uddhav Thackeray-led government had cancelled the much-needed Metro shed project, sanctioned by the previous government, claiming that the project would degrade the forest land inside Aarey. Sena Prince Aaditya Thackeray had himself led the campaign against the Aarey Metro shed project.
However, in a U-turn, the Maharashtra government is now keen on utilising the same forest land to further their interests.
Shiv Sena and its activism over Aarey Forest
The Uddhav Thackeray-led govt, in a vindictive order, had declared the Aarey area where the metro car shed was planed as ‘forest land’ and had shifted the facility to government land in Kanjurmarg. The decision to shift the metro car shed came after several left-wing activists and Sena prince Aaditya Thackeray had expressed their disapproval for the construction of the metro shed at Aarey.
Even though the metro project will substantially improve the environment by removing lakhs of fossil fuel-guzzling vehicles from the roads, the project was opposed due to political reasons. The decision to shift the metro car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg will now increase the project’s cost by at least Rs 4,000 crore, which was estimated by a committee appointed by the current government. Further, the project will also be delayed by several years due to ongoing litigation and the condition of the new site.
U-turn of Shiv Sena on environmental activism
The ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, which often advocates for eco-conservation by cancelling the metro project at Aarey on ‘concerns’ that trees are being cut, earlier took a U-turn by deciding to axe more than 300 trees for the construction of a metro line the elevated Metro-2A corridor between Dahisar and DN Nagar. Shiv Sena, especially under the leadership of Aaditya Thackeray, had been extremely vocal on the issues of environmental conversation, as the young Sena prince had opposed the BJP government’s decision of felling of trees at Aarey Milk colony to construct a Metro shed.
A month after extreme activism by Shiv Sena to impress its coalition parties – Congress and NCP, Sena had exposed its hypocrisy by ordering the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation to chop down 1,000 trees for a Bal Thackeray memorial in Priyadarshini Park. Interestingly, the environmental activists, NGOs and liberals who had hit the streets to protest against the then BJP government in the state for axing the trees at Aarey colony have now suspiciously chosen to remain silent. Perhaps, the activist seems to have come to a conclusion that it is a right step to axe the trees for the metro as the decision has been taken by the secular alliance of Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP.
