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ABC journalist complains about kids’ cartoon not having queer, disabled or gender diverse dogs of colour, PinkNews calls it ‘important debate’

On Wednesday (April 14), ABC network journalist Beverly Wang sparked controversy with a ‘woke’ article advocating the representation of ‘diverse groups’ in an Australian animated television series for preschool children named ‘Bluey’.

In the article titled, ‘I’ve learnt a lot from Bluey, but can the show be more representative?’, Wang talked about the lack of ‘diverse representation’ in kids’ pop culture. She conceded, “I understand that for the most part Bluey’s creators don’t view their show through a political lens. I’m aware this may come across as asking too much of a show that’s already so tender, nuanced and joyful.”

However, she was quick to ask, “My question is this: Can Bluey be more representative?” The ABC journalist emphasised, “As a parent of colour, I am always conscious of the presence — or absence — of diverse representation in kids’ pop culture, what it means for children and the conversations we have around that. I sincerely believe you don’t have to be ‘Other’ to think about this too.”

Screengrab of the article by Beverley Wang on ABC

From conceding that the show is tender and was not created with the perspective of political correctness, Beverly Wang revealed her obsession with race and colour that will not spare even a show meant for pre-school children.

As a typical race-baiting ‘woke’ journalist, she claimed, “We live in a world where the majority of main characters on children’s television are white; where there are more animals than people of colour protagonists populating the pages of children’s books.” Furthermore, she inquired, “Where are the disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse, dogs of colour and single-parent dog families in Bluey’s Brisbane? If they’re in the background, let them come forward.”

Netizens slam ABC journalist for invading cartoon show with ‘woke culture’

After the article was published and shared on social media, concerned netizens slammed the ABC journalist for brainwashing infants with woke culture. Twitter user Darren Knewwell wrote, ” An insight into the unstable minds of the woke cult: ‘Where are the disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse, dogs of colour and single-parent dog families in Bluey’s Brisbane?'”. He added, “These people are obsessed with pushing their unhinged ideology onto two-year children who literally have no idea about sexism, racism etc.”

Screengrab of the tweet

Another user named Arlina tweeted, “This is such an unnecessary reach if I ever seen one. Kids love this show. Don’t ruin this for them. There also are single parents on the show.”

Another user named Jessica Coors was too dismayed about the propaganda peddled by the ABC journalist through her article.

She wrote, “This idiot wants to corrupt children from the get go. Newsflash to everyone: being “queer” isn’t the norm. We don’t need that shit in kids shows. Period. Let them grow up how they are WITHOUT the media propaganda.”

PinkNews calls it ‘important debate’

Beverly Wang, nevertheless, did receive support from popular LGBTQ+ digital media outlet PinkNews. PinkNews (PN) published a report in support of the ABC journalist with the headline, “Kids’ cartoon Bluey criticised for not having ‘disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse or dogs of colour’”. On social media, PN said that Wang had prompted an “important debate”.

PinkNews headline

PinkNews came under the scanner as well for calling it an ‘important debate’ with some netizens refusing to believe that it is an actual headline of a serious news report and not a piece of satire.

US drops extradition request against Dawood Ibrahim’s financer in the UK after Pakistan allegedly manipulated key FBI witness

The US has reportedly dropped an extradition request against Jabir Motiwala, the alleged financier of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim after years of persuasion. As per a report, Pakistan’s top sleuths, in a bid to cover up the nexus between the D-Company and ISI, allegedly ‘manipulated’ a key FBI witness. 

The said witness turned hostile which paved the way for Dawood Ibrahim’s financier Jabir Motiwala, to go scot-free in a high-profile extradition case heard in London. He will be freed from a London prison soon. 

The US extradition request in the British court had revealed that Jabir Motiwala reported directly to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist. The US agencies had also provided documentary evidence including tapes against Motiwala in the court for dealing in drugs and handling the finance of D-Company.

However, as per a report, Kamran Faridi, the key witness, took a u-turn to everyone’s surprise and revealed that he was pressured by his bosses in the FBI to trap D-company’s finance head Jabir Motiwala in a fake drug case. To the FBI’s embarrassment, charges against Dawood’s aide Jabir had to be dropped. 

The move by the US to drop the extradition request against the D-Company-aide has come as a surprise for Indian intelligence agencies.

An IPS officer holding a senior rank in the Indian security agencies disclosed, “D-company and ISI worked in tandem to influence Kamran Faridi. For them Faridi was the only hope as Jabir Motiwala had almost lost the case. The ISI sleuths finally managed Faridi to contradict his own revelations about Jabir. We have come to know that initially Kamran’s relatives in Karachi were approached. A few officials in Pakistani High Commission and a journalist of a prominent Pakistan TV channel based in London, too played a crucial part in highlighting Kamran Faridi’s manipulated statement.”

“How a former FBI agent, and a key witness who remained mum for so many years, turned hostile at such a late stage. Obviously ISI managed this agent, as Motiwala’s extradition would have opened a can of worms in the US court, exposing the underworld, terror nexus between Dawood Ibrahim and his handlers in Pakistan,” another senior officer of Indian agency alleged.

It was earlier reported that the Pakistan High Commission officials in London had been supporting Jabir Motiwala’s case and were trying to thwart the extradition process. Had the extradition taken place, it had the potential to expose D-Company’s nexus with Pakistani agencies in the US court.

Earlier, a section of Pakistani media had alleged that Motiwala hails from a well-to-do family in Karachi and was being framed by the US law enforcing agencies in drug operation connection.

Jabir however, was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and handling of international financial deals of Dawood Ibrahim. At the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Jabir Motiwala who flew from Cyprus to London in 2018, was arrested by Scotland Yard.

While Rahul Gandhi ‘cancels’ public rallies, Congress leaders continue gathering large crowds in West Bengal

Rahul Gandhi on Sunday emphatically announced that he was calling off his election rallies in West Bengal due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was only days after the senior Congress leader attended massive rallies in poll bound states.

The announcement by Rahul Gandhi ostensibly came after his planned participation in rallies was over. Election rallies in recent times have come under intense scrutiny due to surging Covid-19 cases in the country. Opposition parties have attempted to use the sentiments to target the BJP while maintaining a strategic silence over their own rallies which have witnessed massive crowds and are continuing to attract large crowds.

Rahul Gandhi clearly made an attempt to capitalise on the sentiment. However, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, senior leader of the Congress party, is continuing to attend crowded rallies in direct contradiction of the message Gandhi. It appears to be part of a well-crafted strategy.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury shared pictures from his rally at the Naoda Vidhan Sabha Constituency in support of the alliance backed candidate. The Congress party is in an alliance with the Left Front and Abbas Siddiqui’s ISF in the state.

He shared pictures from a rally in Malda as well in support of another candidate.

Thus, quite clearly, Gandhi’s announcement of ‘canceling’ his rallies in West Bengal appears to be a tactic only to earn plaudits on social media. The reality on the ground is quite different. The Trinamool Congress as well has adopted a similar strategy where they refrain from uploading photographs of their rallies on Twitter but continue organising them nevertheless.

MNS leader launches an attack on Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik, asks him to condemn MVA leaders for hoarding Remdesivir

The political leadership in Maharashtra is making sincere efforts to fight each other rather than the crisis at hand. With Maharashtra clocking more than 60,000 new corona cases, the blame game in the state has just intensified. After the MVA vs BJP faceoff over Remdesivir, Raj Thackeray-led MNS is now pointing fingers at the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders for hoarding Remdesivir- the critical drug prescribed to treat Covid-19. 

MNS leader and Vice President of MNS’s youth wing, Akhil Chitre has alleged that the MVA leaders have also stocked Remdesivir but NCP leader Nawab Malik chooses to remain silent on the same. He also advised the MVA government to stop politicizing a pandemic and save people’s lives.

In the same tweet, Chitre revealed that the Congress MLA and General Secretary Mumbai Youth Congress Zeeshan Siddique has confessed to distributing Remdesivir for free in a video uploaded by him on social media.

In the video, Zeeshan can be heard saying that he and his team have distributed Remdesivir and other life-saving drugs for free to the needy and also made arrangements for beds and ventilators as and when possible.

The Aam Aadmi Party did not miss the chance to take a dig at its opponents. Preeti Sharma, a national executive member of the AAP from Mumbai, timing her entry in this fiasco demanded action against the leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis for allegedly hoarding Remdesivir in Maharashtra. 

The demand was made after the Maharashtra unit of BJP had ordered Remdesivir from a company named Bruck Pharma for distribution through the state government channels. However, after the company readied the product for delivery, the police detained the company’s director accusing them of hoarding the drug.

It is imperative to note that the political parties cannot buy and distribute critical drugs for ‘charity’ or indiscriminate use and need to route the supply through appropriate channels for distribution.

Last week BJP Gujarat’s state president CR Patil was pulled up for procuring 5000 vials of Ramdesivir and distributing it for free to the needy in Surat’s party office.

Karnataka: Police arrest Syed Nasir for burning library with 3000 copies of Bhagavad Gita, was drunk when he lit matchstick for beedi

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A library was burnt to ashes in Mysuru, Karnataka on Friday, the 9th of April. The library with over 11,000 books and nearly 3000 copies of the Bhagavad Gita belonged to a daily wage labourer called Syed Isaac. There was an outpouring of empathy for the person who had taken the initiative to provide people with easy access to books.

An arrest has now been made in connection with the incident. The Mysuru City Police has arrested a man for carelessly throwing a matchstick which led to the fire, The Hindu has reported. The 35 year old accused had apparently lit the matchstick to light a beedi and then proceeded to throw it away without caution.

City Police Commissioner Chandragupta said at a press conference that the accused, Syed Nasir, returned home late at night in a drunken state. He had a fight with his mother and sisters and then got out of his house. He pruchased beedis and matchsticks and threw the matchstick at furniture and cushions kept outside a repair shop in the open.

A few minutes after he left the spot, a small fire had broken out. Two locals had spotted the same and doused it but unfortunately, it had not been doused completely. The fire then kept growing and soon, it enveloped the books in the adjacent library and destroyed them.

The Police learnt the details through visuals of the night captured by a CCTV camera. The Police said that there is no recorded enmity between Syed Nasir and Syed Isaac even though the latter had alleged that miscreants had set the library on fire due to enmity towards the Kannada language. However, further investigations are underway to determine whether the incident was deliberate or otherwise.

West Bengal: Dead body of BJP worker recovered after he went missing, party accuses TMC workers of murder

On Sunday (April 18), the body of a BJP worker was recovered from outside his residence in Mandal Para in Roaowari village in the Nadia district of West Bengal. The area falls under the Chakdaha Vidhan Sabha constituency, which went to polls during the 5th phase of Vidhan Sabha elections in the State.

As per reports, the victim has been identified as one Dilip Kirtaniya. He was an active BJP worker, who was seen managing booth-level party work on Saturday. Reportedly, Kirtaniya was threatened during the day by some unidentified miscreants. Later, at around 11 pm, he was summoned by an unidentified individual and he left his home. He did not return home the whole night.

The BJP worker’s body was recovered on Sunday morning from the bushes in his home’s backyard. Eyewitnesses recounted that Dilip Kirtaniya was bleeding from his nose, ears and mouth. On seeing his condition, he was immediately rushed to the Chakdaha State General Hospital. The BJP worker was declared dead on arrival.

When the news of his death was communicated to the family members, they staged a protest outside the hospital. They alleged that the victim was brutally thrashed and succumbed to his injuries. The family members of Dilip Kirtaniya demanded appropriate action against the culprits. In a bid to pacify the situation, a large team of police officials reached the hospital premises and sent the dead body for post-mortem examination.

Political reactions to the incident

Meanwhile, BJP workers and party leaders created a road blockade and demanded justice for the deceased Dilip Kirtaniya. They also stopped incoming trains at the Palapara police station. The BJP has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress goons of murdering their party worker.

While speaking on the matter, BJP leader Jayprakash Majumdar said, “This is the culture of the Trinamool Congress. They have summoned the BJP’s polling agent and murdered him. Supporting the BJP is a crime in the eyes of the TMC. They have been directed by their party high command to commit such crimes against the Opposition parties. That’s why the low-level workers are acting upon their diktats. We want punishment for the ones guilty.”

Trinamool Congress leader and former Minister Tapas Roy has rejected the accusations. He alleged, “The politicis of murder has been imported by the BJP in the State after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. They derive happiness by stooping to such low levels in politics. How can they conclude that it is murder without investigation? How can they accuse the TMC? Let the probe begin. The truth will be out.”

BJP polling agent brutally assaulted by Trinamool Congress goons

In another incident on Saturday, a BJP polling agent named Ajit Dhar was reportedly assaulted by a TMC worker as he went to cast his vote in the Haroa constituency in the North 24 Parganas district. According to a report by Republic TV, the Trinamool Congress goons allegedly grabbed the BJP leader’s shirt and threatened him against voting for BJP. BJP alleged that the party agent suffered a fracture on his head due to the assault. According to them, Ajit Dhar was attacked with sticks by TMC workers, causing injury to the head.

The BJP worker has been admitted to the Bardhaman Medical College for treatment. The TMC worker asked the BJP agent where he was going and demanded to know why he ‘took money from the Trinamool government during Cyclone Amphan. This led to a heated exchange of words between the BJP polling agent and the TMC goons. According to another BJP polling agent Subrata Ghosh said that he witnessed the assault on Dhar by TMC workers, and after the incident, he could not enter the polling station.

Canadian businessman Bakshish Sidhu ‘shocked’ to learn he is ‘most wanted’ in the US since 2015 for laundering cash for drug cartels

Bakshish Sidhu, the owner of Basant Forex Ltd., a money exchange company in Canada, has been accused of laundering money in the US for international drug traffickers, including the notorious Sinaloa cartel.

Sidhu is currently featured on the Most Wanted List of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

However, a lawyer representing Sidhu informed that his client learned of the charges against him only a week ago, while the indictment naming Sidhu was filed in California in the year 2015. 

The 36-page indictment named 22 other people who were involved in a “hawala” scam in 2012. Several have been convicted in recent years, including the mastermind of the conspiracy, Gurkaran Singh Isshpunani who was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment. 

Bakshish Sidhu charged in the U.S. for money laundering for the Sinaloa cartel and other drug trafficking organizations

A court’s order stated, “Drug traffickers in Canada would generate drug proceeds from multi-kilogram and multi-pound sales and distributions of drugs provided by Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel. The Canadian-based hawaladars, once in possession of the drug traffickers’ bulk Canadian currency, would contact U.S.-based hawaladars and authorize the release of the equivalent amounts of U.S. currency to the couriers operating in the Los Angeles area.”

The modus operandi

Sidhu is allegedly linked to large transfers of cash allegedly made in 2012. He arranged for the transfer of $522,000 on March 20 of that year.

Detailing out the modus operandi, the indictment read that prior to the transaction, Sidhu spoke repeatedly to a contact in California named Ramesh Singh over a telephonic call in a coded language. The call was to make sure Singh “would have $500,000 available to distribute in Los Angeles to meet a pending order.”

Singh, who has since been convicted already, confirmed to him that the money would be available for delivery that Saturday night. Sidhu called back saying the drug trafficker and his organization had increased the order to $1 million and changed the delivery date.

“Singh responded by noting that he preferred to satisfy the order through two deliveries of $500,000 because a $1 million delivery would look ‘weird’.”

On the morning of the delivery, Singh loaded his car with two cardboard boxes — one marked “Bud Light” and the other “Diet Coke” — “that together contained $522,000 and departed for the scheduled meeting with the courier,” the order stated. 

The next day, Sidhu allegedly spoke to Singh again to discuss the transfer of another $600,000.

Sidhu’s side of the story

Sidhu who is said to be shocked after learning about his case has refused to make any comments and is routing all the queries to his lawyer Deepak Chodha.

His lawyer has informed that he is in the process of finding a U.S. lawyer for his client. “As far as Mr. Sidhu is concerned, he is not making any statement,” Chodha said. 

“(Sidhu) is an honourable man, and Mr. Sidhu will face whatever music he has to face and will deal with it,” he added. 

Mamata’s party is regularly doing big rallies in Bengal, but they don’t post on Twitter. Here could be the reason

Amidst the rising cases of Coronavirus in the country, the political debate has now centred around large gatherings of party supporters at election rallies. Given that West Bengal is yet to conclude the remaining 3 phases of its Vidhan Sabha election, several political parties are desperately trying to assume ‘social responsibility’ in the light of Covid-19 crisis.

Earlier today, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi attributed election rallies to the rising Coronavirus cases in the country. This is despite the fact that he had addressed a large gathering in Goalpokhar in West Bengal ahead of the 5th phase of Vidhan Sabha polls just few days back. And the Congress party has been boasting about large crowds at his rallies, hoping to project it as the turn of the party’s political fortunes. After realising that election rallies won’t be of much help to the party’s prospects, Rahul Gandhi decided to call them off.

His tweets gave an opportunity to the left-liberal lobby to target the BJP for supposedly not assuming social responsibility in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Given that the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election is a bi-party contest between the ruling party TMC and BJP, the vicious lobby is conveniently ignoring Mamata Banerjee’s rallies and her ‘social responsibility’ and instead targetting only the BJP. And a part of the success story of TMC to evade media and public scrutiny has been their shrewd social media strategy.

Understanding TMC’s social media story

On Sunday (April 18), Mamata Banerjee was accompanied by thousands of Trinamool Congress workers during her massive roadshow from Dhakuria Bridge to the Kalighat crossing. While the West Bengal CM remain seated in her wheelchair, her supporters followed her with complete disregard to social distancing guidelines. The visuals of her road show were streamed live on her official Facebook page.

Screengrab of the Facebook live video by Mamata Banerjee on Sunday

However, on cross-checking her Twitter account, we found that the last tweet was on April 15 wherein she asked the Election Commission to conduct the remaining phases in one go. There was no update about her election rallies or the road show conducted today.

Screengrab of the last three tweets by Mamata Banerjee

On visiting the official Twitter profile of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), we found that the last tweet was a routine political jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Once again, there was no update about the road show or a live stream of the public event.

Screengrab of the tweet by All India Trinamool Congress

When we took a deep dive into the Twitter timeline of both Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress, we found no live streaming of any political rallies conducted by the party supremo in recent past. TMC’s official handle, however, has occasional short clips of dialogues and slogans raised by Mamata Banerjee.

Screengrab of a video clip posted by TMC

This, however, is not the case with the social networking site, Facebook. As pointed earlier, we found the live stream of Mamata Banerjee’s roadshow on Facebook. Similarly, her official FB page shared complete video footage of the election rally in Purba Bardhaman on Saturday. The case has been similar to that of her public meeting in Noapara in North 24 Parganas.

Screengrab of the live stream of her political rallies

We also found live streams of her election rallies, with large public gatherings, in Kolkata and Nadia that took place on April 15 and April 14 respectively.

Screengrab of the live stream of her political rallies

By shrewdly avoiding live streaming of her political rallies on Twitter, Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Trinamool Congress dispensation has been able to successfully evade public scrutiny. Given that Twitter users in India are far more politically charged and alert than Facebook users, it has helped her evade uncomfortable questions including the doublespeak on the Coronavirus crisis.

While a ‘concerned’ Mamata Banerjee tweets to Election Commission about rising Coronavirus cases on Twitter, her Facebook timeline is filled with videos of election rallies violating social distancing guidelines. While Rahul Gandhi’s change of heart on election rallies have drawn the eyeballs towards BJP, Mamata Banerjee is going unabated about her way with virtually no criticism. This strategy also seems to be working as a quick scan of major mainstream media coverage will show how they have not been covering most of her rallies while they have been going hammer and tongs against the BJP rallies.

Kejriwal government files FIR against four airlines for not checking passengers flying from Maharashtra for negative RT-PCR report

The Delhi government has lodged an FIR against four airlines under the DDMA Act (planning and implementation of disaster plans) for not checking the negative RT-PCR report of every passenger flying from Maharashtra. 

The four airlines against whom action has been taken by Arvind Kejriwal let AAP govt in Delhi are Indigo, Vistara, Spicejet and Air Asia. The decision was taken following the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases in the city.

Earlier this month the Delhi government had made it mandatory for air travellers from Maharashtra to carry a negative RT-PCR test report which should not be older than 72 hours. Without this report, the travellers are required to go for a mandatory quarantine of 14 days. Constitutional and Government functionaries and their staff members are exempted from these requirements, if they are asymptomatic.

A tweet by AAP also revealed that an FIR was filed against two private hospitals by the Delhi government for misinformation on the availability of beds.

None of the airlines have issued an official reply or clarification as yet.

Worrisome situation in Delhi and Maharashtra

Delhi and Maharashtra both have been reeling under the sharp surge of new coronavirus cases. While Maharashtra clocked more than 60,000 cases in the past 24 hours, Delhi recorded a little over 24,000 new Covid-19 cases on April 17.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal while addressing the media spoke on the shortage of medical facilities amidst the sharp rise and confessed, “The situation is very serious and worrisome. Cases have gone up really fast. That is why we are facing shortages even though everything seemed under control until a few days ago. But the speed at which this coronavirus is growing, no one knows where its peak will be.”

The cases in the national capital have been on an upward trajectory since April 11. 

Did Gen VK Singh have to resort to Twitter to ‘beg’ for bed for his brother suffering from COVID? Here are the facts

Union Minister General VK Singh (R) on Sunday tried to help a fellow citizen in times of distress. A Twitter user had tagged him and requested him to help him get a bed for his brother who is suffering from Chinese coronavirus.

Tweet by Chandra Prakash Rai

At 1:20 PM, Rai tweeted to multiple people and requested a bed in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Gen VK Singh is an MP from Ghaziabad.

Soon, he tweeted the same message and tagged the District Magistrate of Ghaziabad to help out Rai. Except, instead of quoting the tweet, Singh copied and pasted the message to the DM, Ghaziabad with request to look into it.

Gen VK Singh’s tweet

Soon, the usual suspects descended upon his timeline to attack him and the central government that the situation of COVID in India is so bad that a Union Minister has to ‘beg’ for bed on Twitter.

Vidya Krishnan and other ‘journalists’ claiming Gen VK Singh was begging for bed for his brother

Congress leaders also chimed in and used this opportunity to criticise the Modi government.

Congress leader’s tweet

Congress leader Srivatsa also demanded that the Army should be called in for managing Coronavirus situation.

NDTV Journalist and Congress leader spreading misinformation

This was further amplified by other Congress workers.

Hansraj Meena’s tweet

However, subsequently Gen VK Singh deleted his tweet and issued clarification that he had tweeted the same to draw attention of the DM so that help can reach the needy.

Gen VK Singh’s tweet

He even quote tweeted again to the DM, this time quote tweeting Rai correctly so that help could reach him.

Tweet to DM Ghaziabad

As per UP Govt official, the matter is being taken care of.