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Punjab CM makes a bizarre statement, ties low vaccination in Punjab to ‘people’s anger against farm laws’: What he said

OpIndia Staff
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Punjab CM makes a bizarre statement, ties low vaccination in Punjab to ‘people’s anger against farm laws’: What he said

Locked vaccination centres, absent medical staff and people seen roaming mask-less in hospitals. Such is the condition in Punjab as per India Today’s ground report.

In a video conference held by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country, Punjab’s Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh remarked, “People in Punjab are still not coming out in large numbers for vaccination due to the massive anger prevailing against the Government of India on the issue of farm laws. This anger is impacting the vaccination drive.”

Blaming the centre and the anger against the Farm laws, Captain Amarinder Singh dusted off his hands from being unable to inoculate the state population despite a surge in new Covid-19 cases. He stated that people’s resentment against the Centre is holding them back from getting vaccinated. 

While the CM alleged that people are not coming forward to take the jab, he also claimed that the state is left with just five days of Covid-19 vaccine stock. He informed, “If the state is able to meet its target of two lakh vaccines a day, then its current supplies will last only three days.”

This has raised concerns pertaining to the seriousness in the state towards the Covid-19 vaccination drive. Punjab has so far vaccinated over 16 lakh people in the state. 

The Ministry of Health inaugurated the four-day Tika Utsav starting yesterday to encourage people to take the jab, however, states like Punjab and Rajasthan raised a red flag of stock depletion even before the drive began.

Reality Check

As per India Today’s report, as opposed to the Punjab government’s claim of vaccinations being done on all seven days, the vaccination centre at Civil Hospital Mohali was found shut on Sunday. No doctors or medical staff were seen. Moreover, there were no beneficiaries spotted around the center either. 

The report also claimed that patients and their kin were found roaming freely without masks in the hospital premises. Similar scenes were seen in the other parts of the city especially religious places and markets.

Vaccination campaign

In order to encourage people to get vaccinated, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh flagged a vaccination campaign with Bollywood actor and ‘philanthropist’ Sonu Sood.

The CM in a tweet wrote, “Happy to share that actor & philanthropist @SonuSood will be the Brand Ambassador of our #Covid19 vaccination drive.”

Surge in cases

To add to the woes, the surge in cases has led to an acute shortage of health infrastructure in the state especially in the eight worst-hit districts of Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, SAS Nagar, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Rupnagar.

In Ludhiana, 89 per cent of ICU beds, in SAS Nagar, 80 per cent of ICU beds in SAS Nagar, and in SBS Nagar, 70.6 per cent of ICU beds have already been occupied, the India Today report stated.

Restrictions imposed amid surge

The Punjab government has ordered a complete ban on political gatherings in the state till 30th April and a night curfew has been imposed across all districts from 9 pm to 5 am.

The state has shut all educational institutions and Anganwadi Centres and also restricted the number of people in outdoor and indoor social gatherings and in cinema halls and malls.

Madhya Pradesh: Police arrest 4 Muslim men for putting up posters of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, hurling expletives, AIMIM protests

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Police arrest 4 Muslim men for putting up posters of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, hurling expletives, AIMIM protests

On April 09, Balaghat Police arrested four men of Muslim community identified as Mateen Ajhari, Kasim Khan, Sohaib Khan and Raza Khan for pasting posters against Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati on Jama Masjid Road in the city. They were protesting against the Dasna temple priest for allegedly making statements against Prophet Muhammad.

It is pertinent to note that this arrest comes as a larger number of Muslims gathered at the Islamia Ground in Bareilly on 9th April, demanding for action against Yati Narsinghanand. Amid the slogans to behead the priest, clerics gave a speech asking for his arrest.

VHP and Bajrang Dal had filed the complaint

The arrest was made based on the complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal. A case against the four was filed under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the complaint, Rameshwar Rana, district in-charge of Bajrang Dal, said that he was heading towards the market to buy some vegetables along with his friends at around 11:30 AM. They spotted the four accused on the road alongside Jama Masjid, pasting Dasna priest’s posters and slapping them with shoes. He further alleged that the four men were also hurling abuses against the priest.

Durgesh Sharma, VHP, while talking to the media, said that Balaghat has been a peaceful district. However, some people are trying to disrupt peace. He said, “Some anti-social elements had pasted posters of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati on the road and everyone was walking on them. They used unspeakable works against the priest. This has deeply hurt our religious sentiments.” He further added that if they wanted to register their opposition to something, they could have done it through a memorandum. “Such acts are not acceptable. This is why we got an FIR registered against them,” he said.

Police termed it as communally sensitive matter

Inspector Mansharam Romde of Kotwali police station confirmed that an FIR was registered against the four accused, and they have been arrested. He did not share more details as it was a communally sensitive matter.

AIMIM leader protested against the arrest

A delegation of five members of AIMIM wrote to police urging them to take legal action against Dasna priest for his remarks on April 1 at the Press Club of India. Nazim Khan, district-in-charge of AIMIM, said, “Instead of taking action against the saint who has hurt the sentiments of the entire Muslim community, four members of our community have been arrested for putting up his posters.” He further added that the right to peaceful protest had been turned down by the state government. “People often burn effigies, hit it with slippers to register their protest against anyone, including the Prime Minister, but no action has ever been taken,” he said.

Remarks by Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati on Islam

On April 1, Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, head priest of Dasna Devi Temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, had spoken at an event held at the Press Club of India when he urged Hindus to be fearless in highlighting the characteristics of Prophet Muhammad. “If Islam’s reality, for which Maulana says, ‘If you speak about Muhammad, we will behead you, Hindus should get rid of this fear. We are Hindus. If we can about the characteristics of Lord Ram, and other Hindu deities, then Muhammad is nothing for us. Why could not we speak about Muhammad and speak the truth?” Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati had exclaimed.

AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan called for the beheading of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati as ‘punishment’ for criticising Prophet Muhammad. He also got an FIR registered against the priest in Delhi. Subsequently, FIRs were registered against Khan in Delhi and Ghaziabad for his call for the beheading of the priest.  

Before Ashwini Kumar, there was Vinod Kumar Mehta: How the DCP of Kolkata Police was brutally murdered in Garden Reach in 1984

OpIndia Staff
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Before Ashwini Kumar, there was Vinod Kumar Mehta: How the DCP of Kolkata Police was brutally murdered in Garden Reach in 1984

Ashwini Kumar, a 50-year old police officer from Bihar, was lynched by a mob during a raid in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district in the wee hours of Saturday. Three accused— Firoze Alam, Abuzar Alam and Sahinur Khan— have been arrested in connection with the death of the Bihar cop. The brutal murder of the cop has drawn comparison with the fate that befell Vinod Kumar Mehta in Kolkata in March, 1984.

Vinod Kumar Mehta, the Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Port Division), had reached the city’s Garden Reach area on that morning after he was informed that trouble was brewing there. Metiabruz, which senior TMC leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim had declared ‘mini-Pakistan’, falls within Garden Reach.

The local police had reached the spot half an hour after Mehta and found that while his car was parked there, he and his bodyguard, Mokhtar Ahmed Khan, were missing. The local Police themselves were greeted with bombs and another senior police officer was hit with a brick on his head, causing him to bleed.

The corpse of Vinod Kumar Mehta and his bodyguard were later recovered from a ditch in ghastly condition. His corpse was naked and his eyes had been gouged out. There were multiple stab wounds and burn wounds on his body. Khan’s limbs had been cut off and only a “charred heap” remained of his trunk, an India Today report from April 15, 1984 said.

Sumanta Sen, the India Today journalist, described Garden Reach in terms that would lead him to being ostracised by those in ‘liberal’ media today. He had said, “Garden Reach is a notorious haven for smugglers, many of them non-Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh, who have over the years illegally settled here and prospered. So have some of the local policemen, who reportedly depend on their cordial rapport with the smugglers to supplement their incomes.”

On the day of the murder, bombs were hurled and there were reports that local Muslims were going to attack the Hindus of the area. A few days prior, Vinod Kumar Mehta had ordered the police to open fire at a riotous mob. The report mentions that the father of one of those who were killed had said at a protest, “I will certainly avenge the death of my son and will see that Mehta does not live long.”

Soon after, posters calling for the death of Mehta emerged in Garden Reach and neighbouring Watgunge and Metia Bruze, the report says. The report also records the concerns regarding illegal immigrants and the manner in which a prominent leader of the Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front, was helping illegal Bangladeshis register as voters.

A senior CPI(M) leader was quoted in the report as saying, “We have often complained to the Forward Bloc about this man but they don’t seem to want to listen. He is a principal fund raiser for them and obviously they do not wish to displease him.”

Sumanta Sen had harsh words to offer for the Kolkata Police. In another report a month later, he recorded that Idris Mian, the prime suspect, had died in custody during interrogation. Sen said that the murder and the subsequent custodial death of the prime suspect revealed two essential aspects of the whole affair.

The report also noted that the state government, in order to not offend minority sentiments, had barred the police from conducting night raids. A senior police officer said, “Though we have arrested over 100 people, there are quite a few others whom we are looking for and we just cannot get hold of them during the day.”

He wrote, “The first was cowardice. It was proved beyond doubt that confronted with a marauding crowd in the Garden Reach area on March 18, the policemen accompanying Mehta did not dare follow him into the narrow Fatehpur village road where he met his death. The second was that even with the inquiry dragging itself endlessly, senior police officers had no hesitation in admitting that the suspect Idris was beaten to death in custody by constables.”

Kalimuddin Shams, then deputy speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, was accused of having connections with those who killed Vinod Kumar Mehta. His son, Moinuddin Shams, became a sensation on the internet recently after he released a video crying profusely after being denied a ticket from Naihati by the Trinamool Congress, where he is the incumbent MLA.

Sumanta Sen and Indranil Banerjie recorded in a report in May, 1984 that “senior police officers admit that many of the notorious smugglers and criminals they have brought in for interrogation from the docks have openly bragged about their association with Shams.”

The report also says that “the Intelligence Branch in the state is aware that Shams has used his influence and connections to rehabilitate illegal Bihari Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh by getting them Indian passports.”

“In the last seven years, as many as 300 passport applications signed by Shams have been rejected by passport authorities because the applicants were suspected to be foreign nationals. Two of these were actually Afghan nationals, Mohammed Hakim and Ju Mohammed, who were certified by Shams as being Indian nationals,” the report adds.

Twenty nine years later, Veena Mehta, the widow of Vinod Kumar Mehta, told TOI, “No words can express a loss as tragic as this. It is intensely personal. It is numbing. Your life crumbles in an instant. That is what happened to me when Vinod was killed. I didn’t just lose the most cherished person in my life, I lost all I had because my life revolved around him. A part of me died that day.”

“I was just 19 when we got married. Since then, he was my life, my friend, love and guardian angel. I lived like a princess, happy to just be his wife. Though he encouraged me to step out and work, I was so happy that I didn’t even want to go out and see the world,” she added.

She continued, “Back in 1984, returning to my parents’ house in Punjab was impossible due to militancy. I didn’t have anyone other than Rishu (their son) in Kolkata, but as the days passed, I wanted to stay on in this city for a different reason. I realized I had to be here for Vinod. People forget in no time. I didn’t want the killers to forget him, I didn’t want the politicians to forget him, I didn’t want the force to forget him and I didn’t want the citizens of Kolkata to forget him. I am a constant reminder to the city that Vinod was killed by a nexus between politicians and criminals.”

Over 40 people, including 9 minors, were booked for murder in connection with the killing. The four main accused had been awarded the death penalty for their involvement in the brutal murder but it was later overturned into life imprisonment.

Kanchan Gupta recalled the murder in an opinion piece on Mamata Banerjee’s whitewashing of the Dhulagarh Riots against the Hindu community where he said that Mehta and his bodyguard “were murdered by a mob at Garden Reach because he had dared enter a no-go zone.”

Even after all this time, there exists certain no-go zones for the Kolkata Police where policemen fear to tread. Even so, the matter is hardly discussed and brushed under the carpet as it would risk damage to the ‘secular fabric’ of our society.

Myanmar army kills more than 80 anti-coup protestors in Bago city, throws the bodies in a Buddhist pagoda

OpIndia Staff
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Myanmar army kills more than 80 anti-coup protestors in Bago city, throws the bodies in a Buddhist pagoda

Myanmar army continues its brutal suppression of the ongoing protest demanding restoration of democracy in the country. On April 9, Myanmar Army killed 82 protesters in Bago city. Since the military coup in Myanmar, the security forces have turned the streets of Bago city red with the blood of protesters. According to Myanmar’s local media, which has been collecting information on the number of deaths since the coup, the maximum number of protesters died in a single day on March 14 when 100 protesters were killed by the Army in Yangon. Notably, it is the largest city in Myanmar.

Bago, where the latest massacre by the army took place, is located around 100 KMs away from Yangon. According to reports, after killing the protestors, the Army put all the dead bodies in the ground of a Buddhist temple. The soldiers had been stationed at the Zeyar Muni pagoda compound in the town, and they took the dead bodies inside, according to Ye Htut, a protest group leader.

Some monks went to the pagoda compound and asked the soldiers to allow them to take injured people for medical treatment, but their request was denied by the military.

According to the information posted by Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Bago city was raided by the Army on April 9. The group said that the Army turned the city into a battleground and killed as many as 82 people. The number could be higher as the group was still confirming the situation. The group said, “Some were injured and requesting medical treatment, but the military terrorists did not allow any help. Some were therefore killed from excessive bleeding. Dead and injured bodies piled up together. People in urban areas are now fleeing to nearby villages.”

This was the third attack in Bago by Junta government over the past week. On Wednesday, they opened fire on protesters in Kalay, killing 11 people. Those who were not participating in the protests were also killed during the firing. Associated Press reported that the Army is using heavy weapons including rocket launchers against the protesters. Though AP was not able to confirm the information independently. It further reported that State television channel MRTV reported Friday night that a military court had sentenced to death 19 people for allegedly killing an army officer in Yangon on March 27.

Over 700 killed so far in violent clashes

So far, 701 people have been killed in the violent clashes between the Army and the protesters. 3012 have been detained by the Army, and 656 arrest warrants have been issued against the protesters. Reports suggest that Christine Schraner Burgener, UN special envoy for Myanmar, arrived in the Thai capital Bangkok on a regional mission to resolve the crisis in Myanmar on April 9. So far she has been denied permission to visit Myanmar. Burgener is in contact with several Southeast Asian governments for ideas to resolve the Myanmar issue.

Military Coup in Myanmar

The Myanmar Army is in control of Myanmar after staging a coup in the early morning hours of February 1. According to reports, the Myanmar military’s intervention came after weeks of continued friction between the country’s military and the civilian government over allegations of irregularities in the 2020 Myanmar General Elections. The Military had ruled the country for five decades before the power was handed over to democratically elected leaders.

Moneycontrol.com data breach: Personal details of over seven lakh users up for sale on Hackers forums – Here is what we know so far

OpIndia Staff
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Moneycontrol.com data breach: Personal details of over seven lakh users up for sale on Hackers forums – Here is what we know so far

On April 8, Sourajeet Majumdar, an independent security researcher, reported that personal data of over 7 lakh registered users of moneycontrol.com is available on the hackers’ forum for just $350. OpIndia investigated the claims, and here is what we have found so far.

According to the hacker who has posted the dump on the hackers’ forum, the database contains 7,73,000 records with personal data of the users. The hackers claimed that the breach took place around six to seven months ago.

Screenshot of post by hacker

The database contains email, dehashed password, country, phone number, date of birth, gender, address, city, state and more. The majority of the users in the list are from India, said the hacker in the post.

Screenshot of post by hacker

Majumdar contacted the hackers on Telegram

Majumdar tried to contact the hackers on the Telegram ID provided in the post. According to the chat screenshots posted by Majumdar, the hackers claimed that they have details of over 40 million users but want to sell details of only 7 lakh users at the moment. They may sell the whole dump in the future at a higher price. Allegedly, they have some plans with the data dump they have, the chat records revealed.

He further said that the hackers shared information of 40 users with him. When he tried to verify the details, he found out that the majority of them were, in fact, working, and he was able to login with the credentials. He added, “Among the credentials they shared, there were also @moneycontrolcom accounts which had their email address verified which hints that they are not dummy accounts made by the sellers (since only the owner of the email ID can verify the account).”

On further discussion with the hackers, they revealed that the database would be sold to five buyers at $350 each. If a single person wants to take control of the database, they will charge up to €650. The hackers further claimed that the vulnerability they exploited to extract the data has now been fixed.

Reverse searching numbers available in sample

Majumdar and we both tried to match the numbers available in the sample provided by the hackers. The majority of the numbers matched with the names mentioned in the sample accounts the hackers provided, making their claims authentic.

MoneyControl’s reply

Pandurang Nayak, Chief Technology Officer, Digital, Network 18, replied to the thread on April 9 and said that prima facie, the data appears to be an old set. He said, “Appreciate that this has been brought to our attention. Prima facie, this appears to be an old data set. Information pertaining to current users is absolutely safe. The organisation takes its responsibility towards information security very seriously.”

He firther added that the company had protocols in place to prevent data breaches, he said, “The best systems and protocols are in place to prevent data breaches. We review our systems periodically and constantly work to improve the security of our information based on feedback received.” Nayak did not openly accepted that a data breach had happened.

MoneyControl started resetting users’ passwords

On April 10, a user replied to Majumdar’s thread on Twitter and said that MoneyControl had reset his password, claiming it was not in compliance with their latest password policy. The email contained the username and new auto-generated password. Now, as claimed by the CTO that the user information of the new users is safe, it makes one wonder what led them to reset the passwords of the users.

To Nayak’s reply, Majumdar asked him if he acknowledges that there was a breach. He asked what criteria Nayak used to reach the conclusion that the data is old. He also questioned if the accounts were created before they updated the password policy, how the company is going to ensure the security of the users. Nayak did not reply by the time this report was published. We also tried reaching him, but there was no reply so far.

OpIndia reached out to Sourajeet Majumdar

While discussing the breach with OpIndia, Sourajeet Majumdar said that he disagrees with CTO’s statement. He said, “Well though the CTO mentioned in his tweet that the data is old, however, I disagree with his statement. I don’t think, so people’s address, name, DOB and phone number change very often and thus, calling it old data is not justified. Other than that, the login credentials which the hackers provided as a sample are valid and working, and I was able to login to other’s Moneycontrol accounts; thus, this is definitely not old data.”

He further added that data as such are goldmines for Cyber Criminals. “The data, which has been leaked in this incident, is enough to track down a person. Criminals can thus run targeted “Phishing Campaigns” or other “Social Engineering” attacks against users, which might prove to be fatal. Also, since, in this case, even login credentials have been breached, somebody who has access to these credentials can easily log in to the user’s account and make any changes, and nothing can be more worse than this,” he said.

An old data breach can leave users vulnerable

It is not just MoneyControl that tried to wash their hands from the alleged data breach by stating the database looks old. A few days back, when over 500 million user accounts of Facebook were leaked, the tech giant also made similar claims. However, both Facebook and MoneyControl failed to acknowledge that even if the data is old, it can be used by hackers to cause substantial damage.

According to the hacker, the database contains names, phone numbers, email ID and other information. The said information can be used to send spam emails and messages that can lead to financial loss. Even someone is an informed user who does not click on links in spam emails or messages, such messages are no less than a nuisance.

‘They came with bombs’: Eyewitness reveals how Anand Burman was killed in West Bengal for working for the BJP

OpIndia Staff
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‘They came with bombs’: Eyewitness reveals how Anand Burman was killed in West Bengal for working for the BJP

Anand Burman, a BJP worker, was killed during the 4th phase of the elections in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress claims that BJP is behind the murder but the BJP says that Anand Burman was their polling agent at booth number 85 in Pathantuli area of Sitalkuchi. As per reports, he was shot dead outside the booth.

Jan Ki Baat founder Pradeep Bhandari has shared an eyewitness testimony of the incident that appears to bolster BJP’s version of events. According to the eyewitness, Anand Burman was standing in line to register vote when the murder took place.

The eyewitness says in the video, “Anand had gone to vote, they had come with bombs. He got scared after seeing them. He was shot while he was returning home.” He said that there was no history of personal enmity and it was only due to the fact that he worked for the BJP while the others for Trinamool Congress.

The eyewitness said that threats had been issued in the past to intimidate people into not voting for the BJP. There was significant violence during the 4th phase of the West Bengal elections. In a separate incident, 4 lost their lives after security personnel were forced to open fire in self defense after a mob made attempt to snatch their weapons.

Maharashtra govt to study why COVID-19 cases not surging in election-bound states despite large gathering in rallies

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra govt to study why COVID-19 cases not surging in election-bound states despite large gathering in rallies

Even as Maharashtra continues reporting the highest number of new COVID-19 cases daily, the state government wants to know why other states have not witnessed such a situation, especially the states where assembly elections are going on. Textiles, Port, Fisheries, and Mumbai city Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh has said that the state government has asked the COVID-19 task force to study why cases are increasing only in Maharashtra, and not in the states where election rallies with large number of people were organised.

“Many ministers are campaigning with mass gatherings there but there is no surge in COVID cases there,” minister Sheikh said.

At present Maharashtra constitutes almost half of the total active cases of COVID-19 in the country. The state is adding around 50,000 new cases everyday, causing a major concern. Total active cases in Maharashtra at the beginning of March was less than one lakh, but now it has crossed five lakh.

In contrast, as the Maharashtra minister observed, the surge is not so steep in the states which saw massive public rallies and roadshows during the election. Central minister including PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have addressed several large rallies in West Bengal and Assam, but these states not witnessed such large-scale infections.

Total number of active cases in Assam is at around 1500, while the same in West Bengal is around 21,000. Among the election bound states, Kerala has highest active cases at around 40,000, followed by Tamil Nadu at around 38,000.

It may be noted that during the last few days, some opposition party leaders and left-liberal media had tried to link the surge in cases in Maharashtra with large election rallies by central ministers in Assam and West Bengal. But at last, a minister from Maharashtra has finally agreed that the state failed to manage the Coronavirus pandemic, while the states where elections were going on managed it much better.

However, the Congress leader is also in the forefront in spreading fake news about Coronavirus. On Saturday, the minister had alleged that Maharashtra has received the least number of vaccine doses, while BJP-ruled states are given more vaccines. But that is a blatant lie, as Maharashtra has given the highest number of doses of vaccines. Another Congress ruled state Rajasthan also received a large number of vaccines, which among the top three vaccine recipient states.

Watch: Tucker Carlson asks CNN President Jeff Zucker to transition into a woman to fight toxic masculinity

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Tucker Carlson asks CNN President Jeff Zucker to transition into a woman to fight toxic masculinity

On Saturday (April 10), Fox News host Tucker Carlson took potshots at rival CNN, after a journalist named Brooke Baldwin made scathing remarks about the left-leaning news network post her resignation. Baldwin had worked with the CNN for 13 long years.

On Tuesday (April 6), she spoke to the liberal-feminist Ms Magazine, during the show ‘On the issues with Michele Goodwin.’ In a statement, Baldwin said, “I have been anchoring for 10-plus years, the majority of that time – two hours in the afternoon. And in that time, you know, the most influential anchors on our network, the highest-paid, are men. My bosses, my executives are men. The person who oversees CNN Dayside is a man, and my executive producer for 10 years is a man. So, I have been surrounded by a lot of men. “

“We agree, CNN is dominated by lots of dumb men,” read the Fox News tucker during Tucker Carlson Tonight. Tucker Carlson took a dig at CNN and said that the channel lectures on ‘sexism’ but does not practice what it preaches. He then pondered over the question of fixing CNN to match their level of gender equality and ‘wokeism’. “How do we fix CNN?” he inquired.

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/Fox News)

In his witty and sarcastic tone, Carlson suggested that the only way to fix the issue of male dominance in the news firm was for CNN president Jeff Zucker to transition into a woman from a man. “It (CNN) needs new leadership. There is not a ton of people who can run a declining left-wing propaganda network. You need experience. Jeff Zucker should transition (his gender).”

Tucker Carlson continued, “CNN has told us many times, if you look like a woman, you are a woman. You have all the female intuition and empathy that the sex is famous for, overnight. The transformation is instantaneous. So, Jeff Zucker wearing dockers has no earthly idea what Brook Baldwin is talking about.”

“You put Jeff Zucker in a sheer black strapless dress and he instantly understands her. Maybe he will even rehire her. He will finally get it. Toxic masculinity solved. The only question is whether Jeff Zucker will do this? We will see. But beware, if he doesn’t transition or if he complains about our suggesting that he transition in any way, we will know for certain that Jeff Zucker is transphobic,” the Fox News host concluded.

Mithun Da may be a ‘cobra’ but it’s those in TMC that Mamata needs to be concerned about: Why the Clubhouse conversation should worry her

K Bhattacharjee
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Mithun Da may be a ‘cobra’ but it’s those in TMC that Mamata needs to be concerned about: Why the Clubhouse conversation should worry her

Mithun Chakraborty, immediately after he joined the BJP, delivered quite a stellar dialogue from the stage. The dialogue roughly translates to ‘I am a Cobra. One bite is enough to turn you into history.’ But for Mamata Banerjee, it’s not Mithun the Cobra that she needs to concern herself with. It’s those within her own party that she needs to really worry about.

Prashant Kishor cast a devastating blow to the West Bengal Chief Minister’s reelection bid on Friday night when he appeared for a conversation with ‘journalists’ regarding the elections. During the discussion, the political strategist delivered one hammer blow after another to the aspirations of Mamata Banerjee seemingly unaware of the implications of his comments.

But that is hard to believe. Unlike the ‘journalists’ who were present, Prashant Kishor is a smart man. One does not rise to the summit of the profession he is in without hard work and genuine ability. It is entirely possible that his abilities are vastly exaggerated or that the success of it majorly depends on the capabilities of the politicians themselves but it has to be admitted that it does require a fair degree of intelligence to succeed as a political strategist.

In his position, Kishor had to be aware that the comments he made would reach wider sections of social media. As a premier political strategist, every comment of his, especially made to journalists, would be considered news worthy. Why is it then that he made comments that would impact Mamata Banerjee so adversely? Kishor all but admitted that the BJP was winning the Assembly Elections with only three phases of voting completed until then.

Not merely that, the political strategist even revealed details of the internal surveys that were conducted, which we now know indicate a BJP victory. Is it really believable that Prashant Kishor was not aware that his comments would become a major talking point in the election cycle? That would reflect remarkable incompetence on his part as a political strategist. Or are his comments attributable to a ‘brain fade’ accelerated by the collective IQ of the Clubhouse room which was well below average? We cannot say for sure but all things considered, his conduct is extremely suspicious.

But Kishor is not the only one whose conduct has been suspect in recent times. Mahua Moitra is an elected representative to the Lok Sabha from the Trinamool Congress who has scored multiple self goals during the election cycle. Again in her case as well, her comments could be attributed to the fact that she is the Sanjay Raut of West Bengal politics. But the fact that Mamata Banerjee has been either unwilling or incapable of reining her in explains the predicament Trinamool Congress finds itself in.

During the height of a polarized political campaign, Mahua Moitra decided it was smart to call Brahmins ‘Chotiwala Rakshasas’ while defending Rohingyas. It beggars belief that it did not once cross her mind that tweeting such a thing was a bad idea before she hit the final ‘tweet’ button on her phone. While Mamata Banerjee is busy chanting the Chandi Paath in her rallies, here we have a Lok Sabha MP proudly hurting Hindu sentiments.

Then we have Madan Mitra, the Trinamool candidate from the Kamarhati Assembly Constituency. Madan Mitra is a meme on the internet and a wilder version of Sanjay Raut. While election campaigns were underway, he appeared on news debates demonstrating precisely why Hindus would be reluctant to vote for him. In a now famous Zee 24 Ghanta debate with BJP MP Arjun Singh, Madan Mitra declared that he intended to move the Court to have the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan banned.

All of this is an indication towards the fact that either Mamata Banerjee has lost control of her own party or there is a deliberate attempt to sabotage her leadership within the Trinamool Congress. Of late, she has suffered a series of setbacks with a host of major leaders quitting the party, the most prominent among them being Suvendu Adhikari. The same Adhikari has likely robbed her of Nandigram if the political winds are anything to go by.

Were circumstances within her party deliberately arranged in such a manner that prominent leaders such as Adhikari were sidelined to strengthen the hold of certain leaders? Was Mamata Banerjee deliberately misled about the importance of these leaders within the party? Was the series of resignations a consequence of a power grab that has succeeded? Such questions would continue to plague the incumbent Chief Minister for a long time into the future.

The statements by Kishor during the Clubhouse discussion defy logic. There have been complaints by local Trinamool leaders that Kishor is responsible for the divide within the party. Will her decision to introduce a ‘Bohiragoto’ (outsider) into West Bengal politics, using her own terms here, eventually cost her the Chief Minister’s chair? Would she have been better off without extending a hand of friendship to Kishor?

These are questions that are surely bothering Mamata Banerjee even as we speak. But there could be a lot more than meets the eye. Former Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi, now a member of the BJP, lashed out at Prashant Kishor and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee following his resignation.

Dinesh Trivedi said, “It’s been a 12 year struggle before we got power. And during the time of this struggle, we formed this party. I was very much the founder and we struggled for those 12 years. I remember we used to struggle for 5000-7000 rupees. And now you have hundreds of crores to give to a consultant. And you say that my party is poor. Those both things don’t gel. The party which you formed with some ideology is now being outsourced. It is virtually being hijacked and the leadership and you yourself and the party have gone somewhere else. So, the soul of the party is not there.”

“If you go by an important person who otherwise runs the party- Mr. Kishor, he had tweeted that BJP will struggle to cross double digits. So at the moment, as per the party, they are actually on the upswing. And I have taken maybe a bold or senseless decision that I have left the party when the party is in the upswing. But God forbid for that party, if they lose and then I left, it would have been opportunism,” he stated further.

The Rajya Sabha MP also specifically expressed his unhappiness for the party being managed by Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishor. Under such circumstances, Mamata Banerjee could come to rue the fact that she lost control of the party while serving as the Chief Minister of West Bengal and did not take remedial measures to rectify her mistakes. And now, it is far too late.

Why Mamata Banerjee should take entire moral responsibility for the violence in Cooch Behar

Abhishek Banerjee
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Why Mamata Banerjee should take entire moral responsibility for the violence in Cooch Behar

Losing elections is part of democracy. Inciting insurrection is not. The way the election has unfolded, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee clearly feels like she is in a corner. When she opens her mouth, it is either hate speech or wild conspiracy theories.

As she crisscrosses the state in her helicopter, she peddles all kinds of hateful stereotypes. The goons from UP and Bihar are coming. The businessmen from Gujarat and Rajasthan are coming.

Her ramblings border on the insane, but her message is the same everywhere. Be very scared. Become more hateful.

In between, there are vulgar street abuses. The Chief Minister leads by example. Other party leaders back her up, adding abuses of their own. In a heated election campaign, there might be a few verbal slips. But there are no slips here. The abusive language is deliberate, used over and over again at all levels of the party. The official social media handles of the party drip with similar hate, abusing Union Cabinet ministers and other Chief Ministers over their ethnic identities.

Of late, the conspiracy theories have taken an even uglier turn than usual. For a while now, opposition parties that keep losing elections have made allegations of EVM fraud. But Mamata Banerjee goes a step forward and accuses central forces of voter suppression. Much like her hate speeches, there is no filter. She tells people explicitly to round up the CRPF and resist them.

Now see what happened in Cooch Behar the other day. A rumour spread that central forces were stopping people from voting. A mob of some 150 people gathered and attacked the CISF. The jawans opened fire and now four people are dead. Their names were Jobed Ali, Chhalmu Mia, Amzad Hossain and Nameed Mia.

Mamata Banerjee has forgotten that she is a sitting chief minister. Even if she loses elections, well over a third of the electorate is still expected to vote for her. These people look up to her. They hang on to her every word. And what happens when an out of control chief minister tells her supporters to round up central forces and attack them? You get a tragedy of the kind that happened in Cooch Behar.

Let there be no two ways about this. The Bengal CM has been openly inciting insurrection in her rallies. And her supporters are beginning to listen to her. Is there a surprise here?

The incident in Cooch Behar, with four people dead, should have given her pause. It should have restored her with a sense of responsibility as a high ranking public representative. But Mamata Banerjee has already gone too far beyond the point of reason. She now labels the incident a “genocide.” Now put this together with her continuing tirade against “outsiders” and see how dangerous this gets.

So far, the Election Commission has been remarkably soft on Mamata Banerjee over her pronouncements. This is part of her liberal privilege. She has got a pass from the media, the EC and wider “civil society” over her hate comments against other ethnicities as well as her call to minority voters to unite behind her. This is despite the fact that these comments were very deliberate and repeated over and over again. Compare to how Yogi Adityanath was harassed all through the 2019 campaign because of one verbal slip where he said “Modi ji ki sena.”

But this softness of the authorities has only made her bolder. This is getting to the point of actual danger. Already, there are four people dead. I fear that Bengal could be on the brink of unimaginable tragedy in the remaining phases of the election and after the votes are counted. What will we do if Mamata Banerjee refuses to accept the result of the election and urges her supporters to start resisting on the streets?

In fact, she has already done that. But, the authorities have done nothing to stop her, or even censure her. The media and so called civil society have been indulgently silent. Will this help her get better or make her worse?

One final thing. Do not let anyone, from the media or otherwise, tell you that political violence is part of the culture of Bengal. You see, political violence is not something that occurs in nature. Neither is it some kind of legacy that the dead pass on to the living. For political violence to occur, there has to be someone doing it, someone encouraging it, and someone who is deliberately shutting their eyes to it.

Who are these three entities? For 70 years, the leaders who ruled over West Bengal encouraged this violence to suit their political ends. Their ground level cadres carried out this violence. And finally, there was the liberal media that covered up these stories.

Blame these three entities and what they did for 70 years, not the culture of Bengal. In an election where cultural pride has become such a hot button issue, the biggest insult to Bengali culture has gone unnoticed. Ironic, is it not?

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