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Rahul Gandhi demands ‘vaccines for all’ months after Congress leaders had indulged in anti-vaccine propaganda

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi demands ‘vaccines for all’ months after Congress leaders had indulged in anti-vaccine propaganda

Months after Congress leaders ran a smear campaign denouncing Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, senior party leader and former president Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi asking him to open “vaccination for everyone who needs it” and also immediately halt exporting vaccines. The Gandhi scion also asked the Centre to fast track other vaccines.

Gandhi, ever ready to exploit national adversity to his advantage, presented a laundry list of demands to be fulfilled as India is afflicted by the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak. In his letter, Gandhi sought a greater role for states in procuring and distributing vaccines. He also asked for income support for vulnerable sections of the society affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Wayanad MP also asked the central government to financially support vaccine manufacturers to ramp up their production and doubling of central allocation for vaccine procurement.

“The efforts of the scientific community and vaccine makers had been undermined by the centre’s poor implementation and oversight”, Gandhi wrote in his letter. He also raised questions on the government’s approval for large-scale exports of the vaccines, saying, “While our nation is facing vaccine starvation, more than six crore doses of vaccines have been exported.”

Emphasising that his party supports a well-planned, universalised and speedy vaccination drive, Gandhi said, “Our vaccination program has to move beyond an individual’s picture on the vaccine certificate, towards guaranteeing maximum vaccination.”

The Congress leader also accused the central govt of exporting vaccines instead of supplying to states, and said that the central govt should help all states without any partiality.

Congress leaders ran smear campaign to cast aspersions on Made in India COVID-19 vaccines

While Rahul Gandhi calls for ‘Vaccines for all’ and uses the resurgent coronavirus crisis to attack the central government, it is worth noting that several Congress leaders and supporters had indulged in anti-vaccine propaganda after the Modi government had granted its approval for the emergency use of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

In January 2021, after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines Bharat Biotech’s vaccine Covaxin and SII’s ‘Covishield’, Congress leaders had indulged in peddling propaganda by targeting the government over the efficacy and safety of the vaccine and resorting to fear-mongering ahead of the release of the cure for the pandemic.

Shashi Tharoor, arguably one of the few Congress leaders who looks ‘educated’, too resorted to fear-mongering and lies by claiming that the Covaxin did not yet have phase three trials. It was a brazen lie, given that Bharat Biotech and ICMR were conducting the hird phase trials of the vaccine.

Instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the pandemic, the Thiruvananthapuram MP was not only discrediting the scientists and other experts who have put all their efforts to develop the vaccine but also pushing the innocent people away from the cure.

Making light of India’s vaccination drive, senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi made an absurd claim stating that just like BJP and PM Modi were using agencies including CBI, Income Tax Department and ED against opposition leaders, they might use the vaccine to target the opposition leaders.

He said that the vaccine will be misused by the BJP against political adversaries and justified the calls for the boycott of vaccination drive. He supported Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s claim that these are BJP’s vaccines.

Senior party leader and Deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma also raised aspersions on the efficacy of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine by alleging that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) “dispensed” with mandatory protocols and verification of data by granting approval to Covaxin.

Mr. Sharma, who heads the Parliamentary Panel on Home Affairs that extensively dealt with the issue, said no country had dispensed with mandatory Phase-3 trials and verification of data, and the issue of granting authorisation needs to be taken carefully.

Saket Gokhale, the obsequious fanboy of Rahul Gandhi, could not resist himself from being away from peddling lies and misinformation. Gokhale, whose understanding of science is equivalent to the Congress party’s perceived integrity, found illogical ways to discredit the ingeniously produced vaccine. He attributed false statements to DCGI VG Somani to attack the Made in India vaccines and in the process exposed himself as a spectacular fool with zero understanding of the vaccine and its trial results.

However, weeks after Congress leaders argued against the approval granted to the emergency use of Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticises the centre government over the vaccine shortage. India’s vaccine crisis would have gotten dire if the Centre had paid heed to the demands made by the Congress leaders of reconsidering the approval given to Covaxin.

The absurdity behind Rahul Gandhi’s demand to allow ‘vaccines for all’

Besides, Rahul Gandhi is also spearheading a campaign ‘vaccines for all’, urging the central government to make the vaccines accessible to every citizen even though he is acutely aware of vaccine shortages and limited production capacities. India has a very large population and it is practically impossible to open vaccination for all unless production capacities are augmented significantly.

It is difficult to risk the health system getting swamped by allowing ‘vaccines for all’ before the country has procured sufficient vaccines to inoculate the entire population. The issue as of now is the production capacity of the vaccines. Once the scale of the production is expanded, the central government could think of making vaccines available for all.

It is a profoundly illogical and absurd demand to ask for vaccinations for all. Countries across the world recognise that the initial doses of the vaccines would not be sufficient to vaccinate their entire population. Faced with this stark reality, they prepare a prioritisation strategy so that the vaccines are available for those who are most susceptible to the virus or suffer comorbidities that can exacerbate their mental condition.

Perhaps Rahul Gandhi is unaware that countries do prepare a prioritisation strategy to deal with the vaccine shortages. In the year 2020, a manual called ‘COVID-19 Vaccine, Communication Strategy’ was released by the Ministry of Health which listed in great details the prioritisation of who gets the vaccine first and the rationale behind it.

The manual says that it is obvious that initially there will be a limited supply of vaccines and thus those at the highest risk of getting infected with COVID-19 would get vaccinated first. The manual also adds that there are two essential criteria for selecting these ‘beneficiaries’. The first being whether that group is at a greater risk of exposure to infection and belongs to an age group having high COVID related death. And the second is to select those who, when vaccinated, would minimise the spread of the virus.

Based on these two criteria, the government of India decided to first vaccinate health care workers, frontline workers and the population above the age of 50 years. Thereafter, the government decided to vaccinate those who had comorbidities that put them at high risk of death due to COVID. In the latest move, the government has decided that everyone above the age of 45 years should be vaccinated.

The manual then says that those below the age of 50 and with no comorbidities would be vaccinated after the priority high-risk groups were vaccinated.

This prioritisation plan for the vaccine is interestingly not followed by India alone. The same prioritisation plan is followed by The Centre for Disease Control (CDC), the US federal health protection agency. The very same model is also adopted by the UK, Germany and several other nations.

How a Turkish Jihadi trained in Pakistan by Tablighi Jamaat joined al-Qaeda in Syria to raise ‘Ottoman Caliphate army’

OpIndia Staff
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How a Turkish Jihadi trained in Pakistan by Tablighi Jamaat joined al-Qaeda in Syria to raise ‘Ottoman Caliphate army’

A Turkish Jihadi, who was trained in Pakistan by the Tablighi Jamaat, later ended up joining Al-Qaeda in Syria in order to try and raise an Ottoman caliphate army, according to intelligence documents obtained by Nordic Monitor, a non-profit focused on monitoring extremism in Turkey. In spite of being arrested multiple times, the Jihadi constantly managed to get out of prison in Turkey.

The intelligence documents, as reported by Nordic Monitor, show that Halil Kurtuluş (aka Abu Muhammed Ali), a 45-year-old resident of the Turkish city of Bursa, had gone to and fro Turkey and Syria since 2012 in order to fight alongside Islamist jihadist groups including Al-Qaeda and its various offshoots.

The documents further that the Jihadi from Turkey was telling his friends about his communications with Al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the documents reveal his aspirations of creating a new Islamist Ottoman caliphate army, with the aid of other Islamist Jihadis fighting in Syria.

According to Halil Kurtuluş’s records, he was arrested several times, caught trying to cross the Turkish-Syrian border, wounded in Jihadist clashes, jailed three times, only to be released from prison eventually every single time, so that he could continue his Jihadi activities.

A 2018 statement from Kurtuluş at a Turkish gendarmerie border garrison really reveals the unofficial policy of the Turkish government with regard to proxy Jihadi Syrian groups. Kurtuluş assured the border security guards that Islamist Jihadist groups like al-Nusra and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham harbour no bad intentions towards Turkey when asked if these Islamist Jihadis were deploying fighters, ammunition, and explosives on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Incidentally, the background check run by the Turkish gendarmerie on Kurtuluş revealed that he was captured whilst attempting to enter Syria illegally. However, the database of Turkey’s main intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) did not reveal any information about the Turkish Jihadi, strange considering the fact Kurtuluş had been in and out of prison on al-Qaeda charges before multiple times.

Kurtuluş worked for the Jihadi group Ketibet ul-Taliban, where his role was of a recruiter. He also set up a special unit called the Fedai, meaning fighters willing to sacrifice themselves. Ketibet ul-Taliban worked closely with Islamist terrorist groups like al-Nusra, which was the official branch of al-Qaeda in Syria.

According to the intelligence documents, Kurtuluş attempted to form a new Jihadist group under the name of Cund Hilafiye Osmaniye (Ottoman Caliphate Army). For this, Kurtuluş sought the help of two fellow Turkish nationals, all three of them being from Bursa.

A background check of Kurtuluş’s life history reveals that during his compulsory military service, Kurtuluş attempted to take his own life, which is strictly forbidden in Islam. Upon his discharge from the military, Kurtuluş came under the influence of Tablighi Jamaat teachings in Bursa, attending their teaching circles in 1999. He travelled to Pakistan to get four months of training from the Tablighi Jamaat, as to how to convert people to Islam. He said he left the Tablighi Jamaat in 2007 when he was being prosecuted for his ties to al-Qaeda and spent more than eight months in jail.

Soon after the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, Kurtuluş decided to take part in it. The intelligence documents note that in July 2012, Kurtuluş took a bus from his hometown of Bursa to the Turkish border town Reyahanh in order to cross the border into Syria illegally. He eventually settled down in the Syrian province of Aleppo.

In Syria, the Turkish Jihadi Kurtuluş fought alongside Islamist Jihadist/Terrorist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham, the Sultan Murad Brigade, Liva al-Tawheed (the al-Tawhid Brigade), and the Suqour al-Sham Brigades. He joined in the battles against Syrian regime forces of Bashar al-Assad and the Democratic Union Party (PYD)/ Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to the documents.

However, just some months later, Kurtuluş suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to return to Turkey from Syria. In 2013, he entered Syria illegally again, this time to fight in the Free Syrian Army. He got into a traffic accident, broke his leg, and was back in Turkey again for treatment. Later, he was picked up in a police sweep looking for al-Qaeda affiliates and ended up spending four months in jail.

In November 2014, Kurtuluş attempted to illegally enter Syria again but failed this time, forcing him to return to Busra, where he was put in detention on charges of membership in the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). After pre-trial detention of four months, he was set free again. After that he made several attempts to cross the border into Syria, all of them failing.

In June of 2017, the Turkish Jihadi Kurtuluş was arrested once again, this time based on alleged ties to the al-Nusra Front and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. In 2018, he tried to make the trip to Syria again but was apprehended by border guards. Even some of Kurtuluş’s friends and family have been accused of terrorism.

Murat Ergüder, the son-in-law of Kurtuluş, was jailed for seven months for al-Qaeda-related terrorism charges. Ergüder went to Syria in order to fight for the Islamist Jihadi group Ahrar al-Sham. Kurtuluş’s stepson, Hasan Huseyin Ekti, also went to fight in Syria in November of 2015. Like his step-father, Ekti has made multiple failed attempts to illegally cross the border into Syria but was ultimately let go.

Halil Kurtuluş is just one of the many Turkish Islamist Jihadis who are implicitly allowed to operate inside Syrian territory close to the Turkish border, whilst the authorities claim to be rounding up and supposedly preventing these networks from forming. His case is an example of how the Turkish justice system allows radicalized Islamists with the full intention to take action, to keep going in and out of prisons, akin to a revolving door.

Trucks from Kerala caught dumping medical waste in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, police seize trucks and earthmover

OpIndia Staff
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Trucks from Kerala caught dumping medical waste in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, police seize trucks and earthmover

On Thursday this week, three trucks carrying medical and meat waste from Kerala were caught dumping their load at Semmanambudhi village near Pollachi, Tamil Nadu. The locals sniffed suspicious movements of trucks from Kerala in their village. When the locals decided to find what the trucks were up to, they discovered that they were in the village to dump heaps of medical waste in a large pit on land owned by Kerala native Saju Antony Jose.

Police have booked Jose for permitting the trucks to dispose of waste. Jose had bought a piece of land in the village sometime back. As per police, locals saw a huge pit being dug at Jose’s land using an earthmover. Soon, three trucks came to the spot and started dumping waste into the pit. The farmers, scandalised by the developments, mobilised a few more villagers and reached the spot. There they found the waste of one of the trucks being dumped into the pit while the other two trucks were preparing to dispose of their waste.

As soon as the truck drivers and their helpers saw villagers approaching, they fled the spot. The villagers called police and revenue department officials and informed them about the incident. A short while later, a group of revenue officials arrived at the spot with police personnel. They found that similar such pits were in the ground and waste was dumped in the past also.

The three trucks and the earthmover has been confiscated by the police. Meanwhile, the landowner is on the run. A case has been booked against him, the police said.

Border villages in neighbouring states afflicted by the menace of waste disposal from Kerala

This is not an isolated incident. Villages along the border with Kerala often witness similar incidents where garbage from across the border is transported and dumped in their areas. Several demonstrations have taken place in the past and the revenue officials had acted against the violators. However, the villagers claim that unless vehicle checking is thoroughly carried out at the border check posts, such incidents will continue to happen.

A year back, a similar case of waste being transported from Kerala to the border villages of the neighbouring state of Karnataka was reported. Hundreds of tonne of bio-medical waste, plastic and electronic waste from Kerala was being illegally transported across the border through trucks and dumped across Mysuru.

Though the state pollution control board and district authorities highlighted the violation repeatedly, the trucks continue to get through by bribing the guards at the border check-posts. The trucks entered Karantaka through Blaavi check-post and passed through HD Kote taluk, Moolehole check-post to reach Mysuru and Mandya, taking the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway.

The trucks carried waste such as—biomedical products, e-waste, plastic, used liquor bottles, clothes and paper—from hospitals, hotels and local businesses in Kerala. Officials at the check post were bribed so that trucks carrying wastage could be allowed to enter Karnataka where they could dump their load.

In 2016, environmental activists had confiscated 23 trucks from Kerala that were surreptitiously filled with wastes including medical wastes, which was being taken to agricultural land in the outskirts of Coimbatore for dumping.

Prince Philip dies at the age of 99, British Royal Family announces, condolences pour in on social media

OpIndia Staff
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Prince Philip dies at the age of 99, British Royal Family announces, condolences pour in on social media

Prince Philip of the British Royal Family has died at the age of 99, Buckingham Palace has announced on social media. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle,” the official Twitter account of the British Royal Family announced on Friday.

“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” the statement said. Condolences are pouring in from across the world regarding the demise of Prince Philip.

Prince Philip was the husband of Queen Elizabeth the second. He had four children, Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Here’s why leftist ‘intellectuals’ of West Bengal hate state BJP president Dilip Ghosh so much

Dibakar Dutta
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Here’s why leftist ‘intellectuals’ of West Bengal hate state BJP president Dilip Ghosh so much

Dilip Ghosh, the BJP Chief of West Bengal, is credited for the meteoric rise of the party in State politics. An RSS worker since 1984, Ghosh was tasked to lead the BJP in West Bengal in 2015. Under his tutelage, the party saw a steep rise in its membership and electoral success in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. An outspoken personality, Dilip Ghosh has been a hated figure in the Bengali leftist intellectual sphere.

Although Ghosh has stirred controversies for his politically incorrect statements, it is his outspoken nature that continues to attract members and voters to the party. The leftist intellectuals in the state found safe haven under the Trinamool Congress government, following the ouster of the CPI(M) from the power corridors. Due to similarity in ideologies of curbing free speech and dissent, they have left no stone unturned to malign the BJP Chief while remaining indifferent to the activities of the TMC.

Given that Dilip Ghosh and BJP poses a serious threat to Mamata Banerjee’s political career, they have upped their ante amidst the ongoing polls. The BJP State Chief has recently criticised the West Bengal Chief Minister of ‘orchestrating’ an accident and showcasing her supposedly ‘injured’ leg to the world. While slamming her for her theatrics, he suggested her to switch to ‘Bermuda’ instead of a saree. His comment did not go down well with leftist journalists, who played the ‘women card’ to paint him as a misogynist.

On being intimidated by a female celebrity in a condescending tone over his ‘Bermuda’ jibe, he clarified, “This might be acceptable to you not to me. I have the courage to speak truth to power… I am unanswerable to society. I will speak out on matters that are not acceptable in our society… If you feel bad about it, then, I can’t help you.” But the celebrity further prodded him in a bid to solicit an angry reaction from him. A visibly irked Dilip Ghosh responded, “Motei sadharon nagorik non apni. Jebhabe kotha bolchen. Nekami korben na apni (You are not an ordinary citizen as evident from your tone. Don’t do drama here).”

The woman then used his statement as an example to claim that he does not think before commenting. The BJP Chief snapped at her said, “Apni bolta parle ami o bolte pari. Ami ki dai niyeche naki sob bhalo kotha bolbo (If you can talk like this, then, even I can. Did I take responsibility of speaking only good things?)” He also added that he is a common man unlike her and did not resort to dramatising anything for personal or political gains.

These intellectuals have eaten the system like parasites, remarked Dilip Ghosh

In a press conference held on January 15 last year, BJP MP from West Bengal Dilip Ghosh took a dig at a few prominent Bengali intellectuals who were up-in-arms against CAA and NRC. His comment came at the backdrop of a contentious viral video wherein the said intellectuals could be seen repeating “Kagoj Amra Dekhabo Na”, which means “we will not show papers.” The video in question is the Bengali adaption of comedian Varun Grover’s Anti-CAA anthem “Hum Kaghaz Nahin Dikhayenga.”

On being asked by a journalist about his opinion on the video, he said that there existed a possibility that some of these Communist-backed intellectuals might not have papers. He labelled the cabal as “nonsensical” and “treacherous” for not understanding the importance of procuring valid identification cards as and when required. He said that the intellectuals had betrayed the nation, pocketed the country’s resources at the expense of the poor, ate up the system like “parasites”, and lacked the spine to stand for “truth,” out of loyalty to their political masters.

Lastly, Dilip Ghosh pointed out that shouting “Azadi” on the road might fetch one newspaper headlines but do not do anything good for the society at large. Ghosh also implied that such misleading narratives do not affect the party but expose their vicious agenda to the people.

Rogre debo, warns BJP Chief on intellectuals entering politics

During a recent interview with Sangbad Pratidin, Dilip Ghosh slammed the lobby of leftist intellectuals for trying to politicise key issues. At about 17 minutes into the interview, he was asked about the release of a new song titled, “Amra onno desh e jabo na ai desh e tai thakbo (We will not go anywhere but stay only in this country).”

Dilip Ghosh replied, “I have told intellectuals to sing and dance. It is their job. Don’t do politics. Leave it upon us.” He added, “Nahole rogre debo (Else I will scratch)“. On being asked what did he imply, Dilip Ghosh replied in his typical no-bars held manner, “Jane aura ami ki bhabe rograi (They know how I can scratch).”

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ Sangbad Pratidin)

Cannot eat beef on the roadside, cautioned Dilip Ghosh

The journalist asked the BJP Chief that intellectuals in West Bengal are fearful that their individual liberty will be compromised if BJP comes to power. He responded, “Those who make such allegations will definitely have a problem. Those who stand on the road and eat beef will definitely face problems. If you want to do so, then, do it in your kitchen. You can even consume dog or goat if you want. Why do you need to eat beef on the road?”

Furthermore, he emphasised, “Anyone who tries to look modern by disrespecting the culture and societal norms gets lost in history… Under the immunity of power, those who insulted the culture of the land will not be spared by society. I am not stopping anyone from eating anything. You have to follow the law of the land. Here (in WB), there is no restriction on the consumption of beef. But, there is a restriction on the sale and where it can be consumed. But since none is stopping you, it doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want.”

“TMC has become Total Muslim Congress”, emphasised West Bengal BJP Chief

Dilip Ghosh had been a vocal critic of the Muslim appeasement politics of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has said that Trinamool Congress has become Total Muslim Congress (TMC). Reacting to the Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal government’s directive to build dining halls for mid-day meals in schools having 70% or more minority students, Ghosh said that TMC is a by-product of minority appeasement politics started by Congress.

Talking to India Today, Dilip Ghosh said, “TMC has become Total Muslim Congress, they do politics by dividing (people) in the name of religion for vote. Partition also had happened due to this reason.” He said that it is very wrong to bring difference in children in the name of religion, saying it is dangerous for the country. They talk about Hindu Muslim unity, but if they are separated from childhood on the basis of religion, how can it happen?

Dilip Ghosh Vs Intellectuals

Ghosh has played a major role in making BJP a household name in West Bengal. With his politically incorrect statements on Muslim appeasement, beef politics, and the parasitic role of scholars and artists, he has drawn the ire of the Bengali intellectuals. Since the departure of the Communist regime, their influence on society has tremendously reduced.

Even though they have found shelter under the Trinamool Congress dispensation, they have miserably failed to suppress the rise of BJP in the State. And when you can’t suppress them, you can only afford to hate them. Such has been the dynamics between Dilip Ghosh and the leftist intellectuals.

French leftist tabloid Mediapart lies about Rafale deal again, but ends up exposing corruption during Congress regime

iyervval
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French leftist tabloid Mediapart lies about Rafale deal again, but ends up exposing corruption during Congress regime

The last few years have seen a significant build-up of leftist French tabloid Mediapart’s profile in India. The fact that not even one of their sensationalist Rafale “exposés” have led to a single investigation in France – a country bound to strictly adhere to OECD anti-corruption guidelines & one that has sent several former Prime Ministers & Presidents to jail for corruption, should tell you a lot. The shadiness of the trashy tabloid in question apart – nobody in the Congress or Congress aligned, self-proclaimed “neutral” journalists could have foreseen how the Mediapart’s Rafale investigation was going to boomerang on them – essentially implicating them in corruption.

Mediapart’s modus operandi is much like that other leftist rag Caravan in India. It takes disjointed facts & weaves together a fanciful tale of innuendo. Mind you they don’t outright accuse, in fact, they tend to carefully caveat & couch their words such that if you took them to court accusing them of outright falsification, they could honestly deny the accusation.

Their first great “expose” on the Rafale was how ADAG had funded a film made by then French President Francois Hollande’s partner Julie Gayet. The implication was that this venture was set up specifically to get the offsets that ADAG ultimately bagged as part of the Rafale deal. The investigation simply showed that there was a chronology – in Mid 2015 Hollande’s partners film – set incidentally in India in the Himalayas – was part funded by ADAG. In Mid 2016 ADAG’s Reliance Defence was given a Rafale offset contract.

Now in order for this chronology to become a correlation (leave alone causation), you would have to assume that a whole bunch of French film industry folks would have to come up with a plot set in the Himalayas based on a true story & turn it into a movie, so that they could get funding from an Indian industrialist known for funding movies, so that one of them who happens to be the president’s partner then exercised influence on the president to talk to a private company to give part of the offset of a deal under negotiation to said film funding industrialist’s firm.

It should be obvious that this sequence is so ridiculous with so many possible failure points & so many tenuous links with so many breaks in interpersonal & organisational connections that even the term “correlation” can’t be used – more a case of string theory where a butterfly flapping its wings in Indonesia can lead to a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Mind you, Mediapart never made any of these correlations – merely implying and questioning – but never saying that the two events were connected.

That however was enough for Mediapart to become a cause celebre in India with a carefully crafted story now being treated as established fact, retrospectively proving both correlation and causation.

This brings us to the latest similarly crafted “expose” by Mediapart. Sequentially they show 3 separate things all related to an arms deal facilitator called Sushen Gupta :-

  • That he was deep in the Rafale negotiations in 2012 with a congress government was peddling some sort of bribery racket.
  • That he was able to access at least one document pertaining to the Rafale negotiations in ????
  • That he was given an inflated contract in ???? For 1 million euros to procure 50 scale models of the Rafale for display across India.

Look at these three points carefully. On first glance they give the impression that Sushen, Rafale, Dassault, Modi, Amit Shah, Ambani are all connected. But then look a little closer.

The first which is backed up by WhatsApp messages shows that the government of the day – the Congress-led UPA government – was indeed linking the eventuality of signing the deal with Dassault to some payments.

The second – backed up by what is clearly a classified document – shows that the Sushen Gupta clearly had an inside source in the negotiating committee. Specifically, he knew 2 things – first that Eurofighter had offered a 20% reduction in price and that the negotiating committee intended to ask for India’s indigenous Astra missile to be integrated with the Rafale.

The third shows a clearly over bloated contract – what the inflation was for – to facilitate Sushen’s tax liability or for onward delivery remains unexplored or indeed if that payment was specifically related to the Rafale case.

Read- Dassault Aviation denies French media outlet allegations of irregularities in Rafale deal with India

If point one clearly shows that the Congress party was extorting bribes, then point two equally shows that the BJP was not. Why? For starters, integration of new weapons is a lucrative business and can cost between 100 to 300 million dollars per new weapon integrated because of all the tests that have to be done, software developed and product development of mechanisms to fix the missile onto the aircraft to name but a few.

Indeed, had this deal gone through with an associated price rise, we could have concluded there was corruption. The fact that it did not & that by Mediapart’s own admission the price remained pegged at 7.8 billion euros six months later shows this was a significant loss of business for Dassault. What’s more, in the six-month gap that the price remained frozen, India managed to negotiate a significantly expanded servicing and maintenance package compared to Qatar & Egypt at no increase in cost (again because as Mediapart tells us the price did not rise).

So, if we are to assume Mediapart’s implied string theory, and bribes were paid, then Dassault effectively paid for the information that it could not exploit for its commercial success in increasing contract value. Moreover, despite having an inside source it was forced to cough up extended servicing and maintenance agreements at the same cost. Clearly then whoever Sushen was bribing was too low level to affect decisions in favour of Dassault. What’s more, this person was clearly too low level to protect Sushen Gupta` from being arrested in another Congress era scandal and so risk exposure. Moreover, none of the WhatsApp transcripts released by Mediapart are similar to those of 2012 where Mr Gupta had significant high-level access to the government to know what ministers & CEOs were thinking.

Indeed, if we look back to 2015 we realise whatever commercial intelligence Gupta provided Dassault was of highly dubious value. That Eurofighter had reduced costs of the Eurofighter jet by 20% had been publicly reported in early 2014, Eurofighter’s letter offering a 20% price reduction had been reported within days of the offer being made & rumours of the Astra missile’s integration with the Rafale had already been circulating around 2012-2013. Why is it then that Mediaparts mole in ED chose to release to it the only two pieces of commercial intelligence that were perfectly worthless?

All of this fits into a pattern: Congress corruption, which Mediapart casually glosses over; Commercially useless intelligence carefully decontextualised to give the impression of a successful bribes-for-information racket; and a cheap low-level invoice inflation racket for static display toys. For effect, they throw in names like “Amit Shah”, “Narendra Modi”, “right wing”, “ultra nationalist” for effect. The jury is out on if Congress actually took the bribes Sushen’s WhatsApp messages claim. But what is indisputable is that Mediapart by far has nothing to do with journalism – just a mediocre ability to dig up unremarkable information, but to do a remarkable job in decontextualising and hyperbolising it.

US Navy boasts that it broke Indian maritime rules, conducts FONOP off Lakshadweep Islands inside India’s EEZ

OpIndia Staff
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US Navy boasts that it broke Indian maritime rules, conducts FONOP off Lakshadweep Islands inside India’s EEZ

The US Navy on Friday issued a statement announcing that its 7th Fleet conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) inside India’s exclusive economic zone without India’s consent. The US Navy claims to have challenged “India’s excessive maritime claims.”

US Navy Statement
US Navy Statement

The statement said, “On April 7, 2021 (local time) USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law.”

“India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law. This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims,” it added.

The 7th Fleet further stated, “U.S. Forces operate in the Indo-Pacific region on a daily basis. All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.” Most significantly, it said, “FONOPs are not about one country, nor are they about making political statements.”

The USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) is an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.

US Navy’s boastful announcement raises eyebrows

The statement, which was perceived as strange by many, has sparked much speculation. Admiral Arun Prakash, former Chief of Naval Staff in the Indian Navy, said on social media, “There is irony here. While India ratified UN Law of the Seas in 1995, the US has failed to do it so far. For the 7th Fleet to carry out FoN missions in Indian EEZ in violation of our domestic law is bad enough. But publicizing it? USN please switch on IFF!”

He further said, “FoN ops by USN ships (ineffective as they may be) in South China Sea, are meant to convey a message to China that the putative EEZ around the artificial SCS islands is an “excessive maritime claim.” But what is the 7th Fleet message for India?”

Geostrategist and author Brahma Chellaney said, “Nothing in UNCLOS (which U.S. hasn’t even ratified) permits military activities in other nations’ EEZs. It’s one thing for U.S. to conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in disputed waters, as in SCS, it’s another thing to do so in a partner nation’s EEZ without its consent.”

Chellaney went on to add, “US Navy’s unusual boast about “challenging India’s excessive maritime claims” is just that — a boast. Its warship merely sailed through India’s EEZ without doing any maneuvers. During UNCLOS negotiations, military activities in another state’s EEZ were a key point of contention.”

USS John Paul Jones violated Maldives’ territory

The same US Navy ship John Paul Jones also violated Maldives’ territory, as per the US Navy’s statement. In another statement, the US Navy stated that they had also conducted an ‘innocent passage’ to assert navigational freedom in the territorial waters of the Maldives and its EEZ, without the prior consent of the Maldives government.

Days after participating in multinational ‘La Perouse 21’ naval exercise with the Indian Navy

US Navy had recently participated in a multinational Naval exercise La Perouse 21, with the Japanese, French, Australian, and Indian Naval forces in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam. The Naval exercise was conducted between the QUAD nations and France from April 5 to 7.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Navy is yet to release a statement regarding the issue.

Uttarakhand CM takes huge decision on his birthday, commits to freeing 51 Hindu Temples from Govt control: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Uttarakhand CM takes huge decision on his birthday, commits to freeing 51 Hindu Temples from Govt control: Report

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has decided to free 51 Hindu Temples from government control, CNN News18 has reported. The decision comes after intense protests against the decision by the state government to takeover the administration of the Temples earlier.

Uttarakhand Char Dhaam Devasthanam Board was formed in January 2020 to manage temples in the state during the administration of former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. The state government had enacted the Chardham Shrine Management Board Act 2019 to oversee the management of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath and 51 Temples.

The decision had attracted massive protests from the priests who had continued protesting against the same under difficult conditions. The decision by CM Tirath Singh Rawat comes at a time when there is a movement underway to free Hindu Temples from the control of the Secular State.

Tirath Singh Rawat has said that it will review the whole Act and take measures to bring 51 Temples out of the purview of the Act. The BJP in Tamil Nadu had also promised that a separate board of saints and scholars will be appointed to manage the administration of the state should they come to power.

The current decision by the Uttarakhand CM came after a meeting with a VHP delegation. Incidentally, today, the 9th of April, is also his birthday.

Rajasthan: Maulvi rapes 14-year-old girl in Alwar, pushes her into a well when family comes to mosque looking for her

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Maulvi rapes 14-year-old girl in Alwar, pushes her into a well when family comes to mosque looking for her

The Bhiwadi police have registered a case against one Maulvi named Zafru after he was accused of raping a minor girl and thereafter throwing her into a well and fleeing. The incident which occurred in Bhiwadi district in Alwar, Rajasthan, came to the fore when the 14-year-old victim’s family approached the police station, seven days after the incident, reports Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar.

Speaking about the incident, Bhiwadi Circle officer Hariram Kumawat said that the accused Maulvi, who hails from Bisaru village in Punhana town of Nuh district, Haryana, lived in a Mosque in Bhiwadi. The cleric allegedly took the 14-year-old minor from her house to the mosque on the night of April 1, where he raped her. At around 3:30 pm, when the family reached the mosque searching for their missing daughter, the Maulvi pushed the victim into the well.

After throwing her into the well, Maulana Zafru fled with his family. People who had gathered there took the girl out safely from the well and approached the police to register a case against the Maulana. Two police teams have been formed and a search operation has been launched to nab the accused. According to reports, the cleric is married and has two children.

To get more information about the case, OpIndia got in touch with the Bhiwadi police. The officer in the control room confirmed that the incident did happen. He said that the victim is safe and recuperating in the hospital. The cleric is absconding with his family. Efforts are being made to nab him. The officer refused to give out any extra information about the case.

More allegations of sexual assault emerge against farmer protest activists, Yogendra Yadav’s party issues statement

OpIndia Staff
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More allegations of sexual assault emerge against farmer protest activists, Yogendra Yadav’s party issues statement

In the last few days, several allegations of sexual assault against activists associated with the farmer protests have surfaced. On April 7 we reported how several victims had taken to social media to narrate their ordeal. The allegations started with a post against one Mohammad Zuber (_emmzedd on Instagram). In the due course of time, other activists, associated with the farmer protests were also named. This included names like Varun Chouhan (member of Trolly Times), Antarpreet Singh (leader of Students For Society), and Manish Kumar (President, Swaraj For Youth).

5th allegation of sexual assault surfaces against Varun Chouhan

So far, in our report, we detailed the account of four victims who accused Varun Chouhan (member of Trolly Times) of sexual assault. Now, “The Kaur Movement”, who had taken the initiative to publish stories on behalf of the other victims, has come up with the ordeal of the fifth victim who allegedly fell prey to Varun Chouhan’s salaciousness.

As accounted by the victim, she met Varun Chouhan in 2019 on Instagram. She was 19-years-old then. The victim recollected how Varun had extorted money for her, a sum of around 2-3 lacs, some of which the accused haven’t returned to the victim till date.

Varun Chouhan’s victim 5 narrates her ordeal, image via ‘The Kaur Movement’

She recounted how Varun forced her to get involved with another woman in a threesome. He convinced her that indulging in a threesome was all normal and nothing but “exploring your sexuality”. The victim says that since she was only 19, an age group that is known to be the most vulnerable when it comes to sexual or physical abuse, she started believing, that all this was ‘normal’.

Varun Chouhan’s victim 5 narrates her ordeal, image via ‘The Kaur Movement’

The victims furthered that Varun used her Instagram account, without her knowledge, to send her unsolicited pictures to people whom he thought ‘would be interested in threesomes’.

In her story, she mentioned how she was convinced that Varun was in love with her until she came to know that he was two-timing and cheating on her. Whenever she tried confronting Varun after that, he started shouting and crying, making it impossible for her to talk with him. Due to all this stress, her mental health deteriorated to a point that it became difficult to survive, said the victim.

Later, the victim happened to find out how Varun deceived her all along. She also met the other victim who had fallen prey to Varun Chouhan’s trickery. The victim confirmed that she personally knows at least 4 of Varun’s victims and there are several others whom she has no account of.

Varun Chouhan’s victim 5 narrates her ordeal, image via ‘The Kaur Movement’

Saying so, the victim lamented that the “filthy guy” is in possession of a lot of personal pictures and videos of hers as well as his other victims. “I have seen a few of them and he even happened to share with girls and boys to lure them”, said the victim, adding that she is hopeful that this “whole movement will take strict action against this guy and can spread the word so other women are not harmed by him”.

Varun Chouhan has been actively covering the ‘farmers’ protests under Trolley Times. In our earlier report, we mentioned how he has been named by four different victims. After he was accused of sexually assaulting a victim, “The Kaur Movement” took the initiative to publish stories on behalf of the victims. The Kaur Movement had not published any names of the victims to ensure their privacy.

Trolley Times refused to take any step against Varun

Shockingly, despite the details of so many allegations being out on the public platform, Trolley Times refused to take any step against Varun. They acknowledged that they know about the allegations against Varun but refused to take any action against him “in lack of an official complaint.”

Manish Kumar’s victim castigates Swaraj India and Yogendra Yadav for shielding the accused

In the same April 7th report, we had also mentioned the case of another victim who had leveled similar allegations against Manish Kumar, President, Youth 4 Swaraj. It has to be noted that Youth 4 Swaraj is the youth wing of Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India.

The victim has claimed in her post that she informed about the sexual assault to Yadav and other senior members, but no one paid heed to her. In her post, the victim said that the case of Varun made her feel empowered to talk about what had happened to her. She had to resign from Swaraj India (Yogendra Yadav’s organization) after its members mentally traumatized and abused her.

Today, the victim took to Twitter to express her disgust at Swaraj India and its chief Yogendra Yadav who she claims is merely pretending to conduct an enquiry against his employee and her assaulter Manish Kumar.

Manish Kumar’s victim’s Tweet blaming Swaraj India for not taking any concrete step against its employee, image via Twitter, victim’s identity has been concealed as per law

“If a fair enquiry has been conducted, then it’s their responsibility to come out with a transparent statement and their stand on the harasser”, wrote the victim furthering, that “also if @_SwarajIndia has dismissed all the allegation in the name of enquiry, and has resorted to victim-blaming, then it should further come out and apologize on their horrendous behaviour”.

She condemned Yogendra Yadav for shielding his staff who mentally traumatised and abused her, and asked Yadav to “morally resign from public life”.

Swaraj India issues statement, claims that the case of sexual assault was dealt with strictly and closed in February 2021

After remaining silent for the three-four days, Swaraj India has released a statement today, claiming that the complaint against the sexual harassment case was already dealt with by the organisation. It called out the “false and malicious” propaganda that was being spread regarding the complaint received and adjudicated by the internal complaints committee (ICC) of Swaraj Abhiyan under the Sexual Harassment Act.

It said that the case came to the fore on September 17th, 2020. Since the incident happened more than a year before the current farmer’s movement started, it had no connection with the Jan Kisan Andolan or the Swaraj Abhiyan.

For the uninitiated, Swaraj Abhiyan is an Indian political party that began on 14 April 2015. It was formed by Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan in Gurgaon following their expulsion from the Aam Aadmi Party. 

Swaraj Abhiyan further wrote in the statement that a special committee was constituted to look into the matter, which had submitted its final observation in the case to the concerned parties on February 18, 2021. “All finding of the Special Committee was accepted and recommendations were implemented in full. The case stands closed”, read the statement.

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