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“Is your speech not responsible for the death of 4 people?”: Amit Shah slams Mamata Banerjee for asking people to gherao central forces

OpIndia Staff
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“Is your speech not responsible for the death of 4 people?”: Amit Shah slams Mamata Banerjee for asking people to gherao central forces

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to conduct six public programs in poll-bound West Bengal on Sunday. After one such public rally in Santipur, Amit Shah while giving a byte to the media launched a blistering attack on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee over the violence in the state yesterday. While talking about the unfortunate violence in Cooch Behar where 4 people lost their lives in firing by CISF, Shah questioned, “I want to ask Mamta Banerjee, is your speech not responsible for the death of those 4 people?”

The union home minister after addressing a rally in Santipur stopped for a short media interaction on the fatal violence that took place in Cooch Behar during the fourth phase of polling which resulted in the death of four youths.

As per police reports, yesterday the locals had launched an attack on the CISF personnel outside a polling booth when they were tending to a voter who fell sick. Rumours of voters being heckled by CISF personnel spread like wildfire and within no time the locals attacked the security officials on duty. They tried to snatch the weapons of the CISF personnel who in retaliatory action had to open fire in self-defence. 

Union Minister Amit Shah blamed Mamata Banerjee’s instigating speech at a rally in Cooch Behar just before it went into polling. He also said that had she not given the speech encouraging the locals to attack the on-duty CISF personnel, the violence would not have taken place. 

Banerjee while addressing a crowd in Cooch Behar before the polls, dictated the locals especially women to ‘gherao’ the CRPF personnel and prevent them from performing their duties if they try and heckle the voters.

Shah also took a jibe at Mamata Banerjee for selectively condoling the death of four youths who lost their lives in the violence but ignoring the fifth death that is the murder of a youth who was killed in the very same booth. He alleged that Banerjee is politicizing the deaths of her own people.

“Mamata Banerjee condoled only four people. She didn’t shed a single tear for Anand Burman because he belonged to a Rajvanshi community. He wasn’t fit for her appeasement politics. This type of politics is not the culture of Bengal,” Shah remarked.

Ananda Burman was gunned down by Trinamool Congress workers when he went to cast his vote at the polling station in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar to intimidate voters to discourage them from voting. 

Mamata Banerjee, at a press conference, spoke to the families of the deceased through video call and assured them that she will come to meet them on April 14 but chose to stay silent on the death of the 18-year old voter.

Amit Shah gives assurance to the people of Bengal

Amit Shah informed that except for this one incident at Sitalkuchi, elections in West Bengal otherwise have been conducted peacefully so far. He expressed his concerns over the death of more than five BJP karyakartas since the time polling began in the state.

Shah urged the voters to conduct the remaining polls peacefully. “I promise that after BJP comes to power here political and poll-related violence will end in Bengal, says Amit Shah,” he added. 

Arfa Khanum Sherwani denies the existence of Muslim appeasement in West Bengal, here’s how she is comparing apples and oranges

K Bhattacharjee
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Arfa Khanum Sherwani denies the existence of Muslim appeasement in West Bengal, here’s how she is comparing apples and oranges

Arfa Khanum Sherwani, ‘journalist’ with The Wire, has triggered quite a controversy after denying the existence of minority appeasement politics in West Bengal. The existence of the brand of the politics, which is an obvious reality acknowledged by political strategists such as Prashant Kishore himself, was deemed a myth by the ‘journalist’.

The argument provided for the train of thought was that even after decades, the Muslim community continues to score woefully in social development indices. Since Muslims as a community are not as prosperous as others, Arfa Khanum Sherwani declared that Muslim appeasement is a myth.

There are multiple flaws with that line of argument. The primarily being that economic prosperity may not be the primary concern for Muslims as a community in matters of politics. If Muslims prioritize religious issues over ‘Vikas’, then it will ultimately reflect on their economic standing in society. And the brand of leaders extremely popular among Muslims is evidence of the fact that this is precisely the case.

Arfa Khanum Sherwani argued that the “Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-2019 shows that only 13% of Muslims” in West Bengal have regular salaried jobs and 34.3% of them work as casual workers, both significantly worse than the national average.

On the basis of such data, Arfa Khanum Sherwani argued that Muslim appeasement in West Bengal is a myth. One can understand why she is engaging in such a desperate denial of reality. The Muslim appeasement politics of Mamata Banerjee has provided the BJP with a great platform to engineer their meteoric rise in the state. It is what is likely to eventually cost her the Chief Minister’s chair.

Her arguments would have accrued some merit if politicians popular among the Muslim community were more concerned with economic prosperity, literacy and jobs than petty religious concerns. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The popularity of leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin and the rising stature of Islamist Abbas Siddiqui in Bengal politics is sufficient indication of the fact that the Muslim electorate prioritises religious concerns over all else.

Since the Muslim electorate is concerned more with religious issues, it is natural that appeasement will occur along the lines of religious concerns and not economic. Consider this, a group of individuals is demanding a hundred apples every week even though that would mean that another competitive group is deprived of apples entirely. The elected representative bows down to the first group and makes provision to meet their unreasonable demands.

After a year or so, it is discovered that the first group has a great deal of apples while the second group has managed to secure a greater number of oranges. Suddenly, a person supportive of the first group comes forth and argues that there has been no appeasement of the first group because they do not have a sufficient number of oranges. It is an absurd claim to make and yet, it is precisely what Arfa Khanum Sherwani is doing here.

The Muslim community wanted its religious concerns addressed and ‘secular’ parties have ensured that those, no matter how unreasonable, are met. The inevitable consequence of it has been the fact that they have faired poorly in matters of ‘Vikas’. Of course, one could blame ‘secular’ parties for the abject state of affairs but truth be told, if any ‘secular’ minded individual is interested in blame-games, he only need look at the mirror.

When politicians such as Akbaraddin Owaisi, of the ’15-minute threat’ to Hindus fame, are elected to power time after time after time, it is bizarre to believe that they have been elected to secure more jobs. When Abbas Siddiqui, who prayed to Allah to send a virus that killed 50 crore Indians, commands such respect among the Muslim community, it is patently delusional to expect that he will work to provide financial security to the community.

When politicians are elected to meet unreasonable religious demands, then it is those that will be met following their election; at the expense of social upliftment if needs be. For others to then deny the existence of appeasement itself based on completely different metrics than on the basis of which the community was appeased is sheer propaganda.

This is not a new development per se. It is a phenomenon that was observed even by BR Ambedkar himself. In his book ‘Pakistan or the Partition of India’, he noted, “There is thus a stagnation not only in the social life but also in the political life of the Muslim community of India. The Muslims have no interest in politics as such. Their predominant interest is religion. This can be easily seen by the terms and conditions that a Muslim constituency makes for its support to a candidate fighting for a seat.”

He continued, “The Muslim constituency does not care to examine the programme of the candidate. All that the constituency wants from the candidate is that he should agree to replace the old lamps of the masjid by supplying new ones at his cost, to provide a new carpet for the masjid because the old one is torn, or to repair the masjid because it has become dilapidated. In some places a Muslim constituency is quite satisfied if the candidate agrees to give a sumptuous feast, and in other[s] if he agrees to buy votes for so much apiece. With the Muslims, election is a mere matter of money, and is very seldom a matter of [a] social programme of general improvement.”

“Muslim politics takes no note of purely secular categories of life, namely, the differences between rich and poor, capital and labour, landlord and tenant, priest and layman, reason and superstition. Muslim politics is essentially clerical and recognizes only one difference, namely, that existing between Hindus and Muslims. None of the secular categories of life have any place in the politics of the Muslim community; and if they do find a place—and they must, because they are irrepressible—they are subordinated to one and the only governing principle of the Muslim political universe, namely, religion,” he added.

What BR Ambedkar observed holds true even now with the dominance of politicians such as the Owaisis, Amanatullah Khan and the rising prominence of Abbas Siddiqui. Mamata Banerjee tried to appease them on multiple fronts with initiatives such as ‘Imam bhata’ and restrictions on Durga Puja. But in the end, it appears extremely likely that it won’t be enough to fend off the Siddiqui threat.

Mother of Bihar cop dies of shock after her son mob lynched in West Bengal, 7 policemen suspended for fleeing the scene

OpIndia Staff
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Mother of Bihar cop dies of shock after her son mob lynched in West Bengal, 7 policemen suspended for fleeing the scene

A 50-year-old police officer from Bihar was lynched by a mob while conducting a raid in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district in the wee hours of Saturday. In an unfortunate update to the incident, the mother of SHO Ashwini Kumar died of shock upon seeing the mortal remains of her son.

In a heart-wrenching incident, the mortal remains of the mother and the son were taken for the final rites together. On Saturday evening, Kumar’s mother had reached home from her maternal home. Soon after that, she got the tragic news of her son. Hearing it, she passed out, but she regained consciousness after her family members splashed water on her face. But unable to bear with the sudden loss, she passed away on Sunday morning.

Ashwini Kumar’s brother Praveen Kumar said that their mother is a heart patient for last 14-15 years, and she could not tolerate the news of her son’s death. Their father had died last year, and she had started to recover from that grief, when this incident happened. News of her son’s death totally broke her, and she died within 24 hours of her son’s death.

The family members of SHO Ashwini Kumar allege that he has been murdered under a conspiracy. They also questioned the police force that accompanied SHO Kumar on the delay in action to save him and why the West Bengal Police was not kept in the loop about the raid.

Kumar’s family even refused to accept his body after he was granted a gun salute at the police lines until they were assured of an SIT probe into the matter by Kishnaganj District Magistrate Aditya Prakash, Inspector General of Purnea Range Suresh Kumar Chowdhury and other top officials.

Seven police personnel, including Inspector Manish Kumar, have been suspended for negligence who abandoned SHO Kumar and fled from the spot of violence when the SHO was attacked by the mob. The suspended policemen include Raju Sahni, Akhileshwar Tiwari, Pramod Kumar Paswan, Ujjwal Kumar Paswan, Sunil Chaudhary and Sushil Kumar.

Arrests made till now

Three arrests have been made in the brutal lynching of inspector Ashwani Kumar. Feroze the main accused in the incident has been arrested along with his brother Abujar Alam and his mother Sahyannur Khatun. 

IG of Purnia and SP of Kishanganj are camping at the scene to maintain law and order situation on ground. 

SHO Ashwini Kumar’s mob lynching

Ashwini Kumar, station in charge of the Kishanganj police station, was known for his no-nonsense attitude and strict crackdown against the liquor crackdown. Kumar was leading a raid in connection with a bike theft case in a neighboring area under Panjipoda police station of West Bengal.

However, while conducting the raids, Kumar was surrounded by a mob and lynched brutally.

Subsequently, Kumar was rescued by a team of police personnel from the Panjipura outpost and rushed to the Islampur Sadar Hospital but was declared dead on arrival. 

Shambhu priest death case: Protestor dead in police action, shops on temple land to remain sealed and finally Rajasthan govt agreeing to order probe

OpIndia Staff
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Shambhu priest death case: Protestor dead in police action, shops on temple land to remain sealed and finally Rajasthan govt agreeing to order probe

As per reports, the Rajasthan government has reached a consensus with the delegation protesting against the death of the priest and demanding justice for a priest called Shambhulal who died of a heart attack last week. It was alleged that he had suffered a heart attack due to the pressure of the land mafia who had forcefully grabbed the temple land that was under Shambhu’s supervision.

Rajasthan government agreed to probe the case

A delegation comprising BJP leader including Kirodi Lal Meena, Ramcharan Bohra, Arun Chaturvedi, Ashok Lahoty, Raghav Sharma, Mukesh Dadhich and others met the government representatives, including Congress leader Mahesh Joshi, Niranjan Arya, DGP ML Lathar, Abhay Kumar and Police Commissioner Anand Shrivastav at the secretariat.

After the 2-hours long meeting between government representatives and delegation, it was announced that the agitation had been ended with immediate effect. According to reports, the shops constructed on the disputed land will remain sealed till the investigation ends. The divisional magistrate will lead the investigation.

There were reports that the ADM had allegedly misbehaved with the agitators. A probe has been announced to investigate the allegations as well. All the officers involved in the case will be put on awaiting posting order (APO) during the investigation. A report will be submitted on April 30 by the investigating officers.

Probe announced in Jagdish Saini death case

A probe has been initiated in the case by the Rajasthan government in the death of Jagdish Saini, a youth from Dausa. He was injured during a lathi charge by Rajasthan Police to disperse the agitators protesting against the Rajasthan government in the Shambhu priest death case. Saini was pronounced dead in a hospital in Jaipur on April 9.

‘Shoot me, but I won’t let you take the dead body’ – Kirodi Lal Meena

On April 10, BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena who has been leading the agitation against the death of the Shambhu priest alleged that the administration tried to forcefully take away the dead body of the priest. In a tweet, Meena said that the administration kept on assuring them that they are ready to talk, but the government did not call them. The police tried to take away the dead body using force. Calling it a dictatorship, Meena said, “We are ready to get shot, but we will not move.”

Death of priest Shambhulal

On April 2, Shambhu Lal Sharma, a specially-abled priest in the Dausa district, Rajasthan, died due to trauma owing to pressure from the land mafia. The case snowballed into a major political controversy. After the death of the priest, a protest was first staged outside the police station in Mahua in Rajasthan’s Dausa district.

After the protestors were driven out from the protest site by the Dausa police, the BJP leaders brought the body of the deceased to Jaipur on Thursday. They had been demanding a probe into his death and bring the culprit to justice. Kirodi Lal Meena, who was heading the agitation, said that the priest would be cremated only after a probe is initiated.

Shaheen Bagh Maulana gets kidnapped by his former student, rescued after police raid: Here is what happened

OpIndia Staff
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Shaheen Bagh Maulana gets kidnapped by his former student, rescued after police raid: Here is what happened

A case of kidnapping involving a Maulana and his former student at a Madrassa has come to the fore in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi. Sadaqat, the alleged mastermind of the whole affair, kidnapped the Maulana and demanded a ransom of Rs. 25 lakh, reported Times of India.

Maulana Mohammad Muntazir Alam had gone missing on the 5th of April. His brother had approached the Delhi Police the next day. An FIR was subsequently registered in connection with the matter. Soon enough, the victim’s family received a call from the kidnappers demanding a ransom of Rs. 25 lakh.

“The incident had created panic in the family of the victim and in the society. Hence, several teams were formed to solve the case and rescue the victim,” DCP Singh said. Analysis of the CCTV footage led to the identification of one of the youth, Sadaqat.

Sadaqat had his phone switched off but based on technical help from SI Arun Sindhu, he was arrested from Harol in Noida. Based on the information provided by Sadaqat, the Police conducted a raid at N Block, Abul Fazal Enclave in Shaheen Bagh.

The victim was found shackled in iron chains in a flat and the four other accused have been arrested. They were identified as Shamim, Nabi Hasan, Firdaus and Manzar Alam. Sadaqat revealed during interrogation that he had been a student of the Maulana in 2008.

Sadaqat ran a food stall at Okhla and deposited his savings with Maulana Alam for five years. According to Sadaqat, he had kept a sum of Rs 20 lakh with the Maulana, money that he had earned from the stall and by betting on cricket matches.

When the time came, Maulana Alam refused to return the money. Therefore, Sadaqat hatched the plan to kidnap him. As per the plan, the Maulana was invited to the flat to perform rituals but when he reached there, he was chained.

Hindu activists in Kerala object to Muslim League flags outside Temple, stop movie shoot, arrested: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Hindu activists in Kerala object to Muslim League flags outside Temple, stop movie shoot, arrested: Read details

On Saturday (April 10), a group of Hindu activists stopped the shooting of a film named ‘Neeyam Nadhi’ at Katampazhipuram near Sreekrishnapuram in the Palakkad district of Kerala. The film is being directed by three individuals namely Aashique, Shinu and Salman.

As per reports, the crew gathered outside the Vayilamkunnu temple premises and began the filming of the movie. One of the scenes showed a girl dressed in traditional Hindu attire exiting the temple and being attracted to a man of a different religion (Islam). Irked by the shenanigans outside the temple premises, a group of Hindu activists began protesting against the scene.

Reportedly, they also took offence to the display of green and red flags of the Muslim League and Student Federation of India (SFI) respectively outside the temple.

They took objection to the storyline and pointed out the conspiracy in choosing Vayilamkunnu temple in Katampazhipuram for the shoot. As such, the filming was disrupted and the second scene of the film was abandoned. The film crew was escorted by the police to a different location. A case has been registered by the police and the investigation is now underway.

Cops arrest 5 Hindu activists, scriptwriter comes in defence of the movie

Following the incident, the Sreekrishnapuram police arrested 5 people, namely, Sreejith, Sachithanandan, Subramanian, Babu, and Sabareesh. They were booked for illegal gathering, trying to ‘indulge in violence’ and trespassing on the set. While speaking about the incident, writer Salman Farris said, “The first shot shows a girl coming out of a temple after praying. When the crew were about to shoot the second scene where she is shown being attracted towards youth from a different religion, dressed in his traditional attire, walking on the road outside that the locals created problems.”

SFI, Muslim League flags used in the movie

He claimed that a 13-year-old girl was injured amidst the chaos. He also alleged that the chairs and camera stand was damaged. On being asked about the presence of SFI and Muslim League flags, Farris claimed that the flags were being dried for the shoot. He also claimed that the filming was being done outside the temple and that it should be accepted as a ‘work of art.’ He said that the temple authorities had given him permission to shoot the film, although not in writing. Farris said that he chose the location as the rent was ₹3000 per day as compared to the earlier location of Varikassery mana which was costing him ₹35,000 per day.

Temple authorities did not give permission for the filming

E Krishnadas, the BJP district President, said that no permission was given for the shooting of the film by the temple committee and the Devaswom Board. Deccan Herald reported that the executive officer of the Vayilamkunnu temple said that he was unaware of any permission granted for the shooting of the film. The temple authorities are planning to file a petition highlighting that the filming was done at the premises without prior permission.

E Krishnadas emphasised, “Moreover, the theme of the film hurts the religious sentiments of the temple devotees and most of the characters were dressed in traditional Muslim attire,” he said. The BJP leader said that they will continue to protest against the filming of ‘Neeyam Nadhi’.

French tabloid hitjob on Rafale backfired and proved corruption against Congress, serial petitioner ML Sharma runs to Court: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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French tabloid hitjob on Rafale backfired and proved corruption against Congress, serial petitioner ML Sharma runs to Court: Read details

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, the original petitioner who filed PIL to sought an independent investigation into the 2015 Rafale deal, has submitted a fresh plea in the Supreme Court to seek an independent investigation in the deal. In his plea, the serial petitioner has cited the recent report by French tabloid Mediapart that had stated that the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation had paid 1 million Euros to a controversial middleman identified as Sushen Gupta. It has to be noted that Sharma’s first PIL was dismissed by SC in December 2018, and its review petition was rejected by the apex court in November 2019.

In the new PIL, Sharma has made Prime Minister Narendra Modi Respondent No 1, Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited the respondent no 2. Union of India the respondent No 3 and CBI the respondent No 4. The PIL is based exclusively on the revelations made by Mediapart and has urged Supreme Court to take cognizance of the tabloid’s report.

Screengrab from Supreme Court website

It is interesting that ML Sharma has named Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited as one of the respondents, even though the company is not named in the fresh allegations made by the French tabloid. Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited is joint venture between Dassault and Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure, which was set to fulfil the offset obligations of Dassault as per India’s defence procurement laws. The company manufactures parts of the Falcon jet, the business jet of Dassault Aviation, and not involved in manufacturing of the Rafale jet.

A tweet by India Legal informing about the petition says that Dassault Aviation had paid Sushen Mohan Gupta a bribe of one million euros i.e., about eight thousand crore rupees. But that is a completely wrong conversion of currency, as €1 Euro is equal to around ₹8.9 crores, not ₹8000 crore. However, it is known whether this amount in Rupees was mentioned in the petition by ML Sharma or it was mentioned by India Legal on their own.

Dassault Aviation has denied the allegations

After Mediapart’s report, On April 8, Dassault Aviation has released a statement in which it denied all the allegations and said there was no corruption or irregularities in the deal. Mediapart, in its report, alleged that the company had paid a bribe of € 1.1 million to an Indian company. Dassault has said that no violations were reported in the sale of 36 Rafale jet to India in the government-to-government deal. The company didn’t deny the payment to the Indian company, but said it was a legitimate business deal. Dassault said that Defsys was paid the money to make 50 scale models of the Rafale jet. The French company also said that they have shown documents of the deal to the French regulators.

The company said, “Numerous controls are carried out by official organizations, including the French Anti-Corruption Agency. No violations were reported, notably in the frame of the contract with India for the acquisition of 36 Rafales,” the company said. The company also said that it “wishes to reiterate that it acts in strict compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and national laws, in particular the law of December 9, 2016, known as Sapin 2”.

The company said that the contract with India for 36 Rafale jets, along with the corresponding offset contracts, meet the criteria established by these regulations and are being executed in full transparency between the various government and industrial partners.

What Mediapart said?

In its report, the dubious tabloid said that the French anti-corruption agency Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) had discovered that Dassault had paid one million euros to a middleman who is now under investigation in India in connection with another defence deal.

It added that Dassault had clarified the payment, saying that it paid the Indian company to manufacture 50 large replica models of Rafale jets. The expenditure was reportedly shown under “Gifts to Clients” in Dassault accounts, implying that the models were ordered to give away as gifts to its clients. The report claimed that Dassault was unable to show any invoices to the AFA. However, in reality, Dassault had provided AFA invoices raised by Defsys Solutions.

At first glance, what Mediapart reported, and in the way it reported said ‘expose’, they give the impression that Sushen, Rafale, Dassault, Modi, Amit Shah, Ambani are all connected. However, on a deeper look, it was clear the first point that Mediapart made in which it said that Sushen was deep in the Rafale negotiations in 2012 with the government peddling some sort of bribery racket. The government at that time was Congress-led UPA and not NDA.

Mediapart also made a point that Dassault allegedly had a deep source within the government. However, if that was to be believed, Dassault would have got workable intel that it could use for its own benefit. On the contrary, as per Mediapart’s own admission, the price remained pegged at 7.8 billion euros that pointed out the loss of business to Dassault.

Reply by Defsys Solutions

Defsys Solutions is owned by the family of Sushen Mohan Gupta, who was arrested by ED in 2019 for his involvement in kickbacks paid in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal. In its statement, to company denied the allegations and said, “This is in response to wholly unsubstantiated, baseless and misleading claims appearing in certain sections of the media, insinuating that Defsys never supplied 50 replica models of Rafale aircraft.” It further added that Delivery challans, E-way bills, and GST returns related to such delivery had been duly filed with the relevant authorities.

What Supreme Court had said while dismissing the pleas

In 2018, Supreme Court had dismissed a batch of pleas filed by ML Sharma, Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Singh and Vineet Dhanda. All PILs had sought an independent probe into the 2015 Rafale deal. The SC found no irregularities in matters of decision-making, pricing procurement and selection of offset partners. 

The court had said that the perception of individuals could not become the base of a fishing and roving enquiry in the matters of defence procurements. The bench headed by the CJI said that the country could not afford to be lacking in any manner when it comes to defence. The court added, “Our country cannot afford to be unprepared/under-prepared in a situation where our adversaries are stated to have acquired not only 4th generation but even 5th generation aircraft, of which we have none. It will not be correct for the court to sit as an appellate authority to scrutinize each aspect of the process of acquisition.” In 2019, the court dismissed review petitions against the dismissal of the original 2018 PILs.

Rahul Gandhi decides to campaign in West Bengal, but in one constituency, only hours before ‘silence period’ kicks in: How it might impact Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi decides to campaign in West Bengal, but in one constituency, only hours before ‘silence period’ kicks in: How it might impact Congress

Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had been absent from the campaign trail in West Bengal during the four phases of the State Legislative polls. While the Trinamool Congress and BJP had been fighting a fierce battle in West Bengal, the Congress campaign in the State has been feeble. After Congress State-in-charge Jitin Prasada was diagnosed with Coronavirus, the party had been struggling to find a leader to campaign in the State.

Although the likes of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Salman Khurshid and Jaiveer Shergill had addressed gatherings ahead of the polls, Rahul Gandhi had been missing so far from the election arena in West Bengal. In a new development, the Congress scion has reportedly announced that he will address election rallies in Goalpokar and Matigara-Naxalbari Vidhan Sabha constituencies on April 14.

The party is contesting in 92 constituencies in has allied with the Left and Islamist Indian Secular Front (ISF). Reportedly, a lack of positive outcome in the State has so far deterred top-notch Congress leaders from campaigning in West Bengal. While the Congress ground workers might have been exhilarated with the visit of Rahul Gandhi, the violence witnessed during the 4th phase of polls have made his plans rather futile from the perspective of actually garnering any votes.

How the ‘silence period’ will affect the campaigning of Rahul Gandhi

Keeping in mind the law and order situation in the State, the Election Commission has announced that the usual silence period of 48 hours (2 days) will be increased to 72 hours ahead of the 5th phase of the polls. The silence period refers to a temporary ban on political campaigning during which no political parties are allowed to hold election rallies or convince electorates to vote for them.

While the Goalpokhar constituency will be up for votes during the 6th phase on April 22, the voting in the Matigara-Naxalbari Vidhan Sabha constituency will take place during the 5th phase of elections on April 17. As stated earlier, Congress Scion Rahul Gandhi will be visiting West Bengal on April 14 in the hopes to turn around his party’s political fortunes in the two said constituencies.

It is pertinent to note that after the unbridled violence in Cooch Behar, the Election Commission had said that politicians would be barred from entering the Cooch Behar district for 72 hours. They had also said that the silence period would be increased to 72 hours in the run-up to the 5th phase of polling in West Bengal. Therefore, no politician would be able to campaign in any constituency for 72 hours before the polling day in the 5th poll.

So where does this leave Rahul Gandhi?

It put things into perspective, Section 126 of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951prohibits displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency. It is after the violence in Cooch Behar, that the Election Commission has increased this window of 48 hours to 72 hours.

Therefore, if the polling day is the 17th, political parties will have to stop campaigning by the 14th evening. Generally, political parties start wrapping up their campaigning work by 5 PM before the silence period kicks in. Thus, it stands to reason that Rahul Gandhi, after finally deciding to campaign in West Bengal after 4 phases, he will have to complete his rally in a hurry and get out of the constituency by 14th evening.

Given that the Goalpokhar constituency will vote on April 22, the silence period will not be applicable during the time of his visit to the State on April 14. The Congress’ plans to pitch Gandhi, ahead of the polls, had been soured by the violence witnessed in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar.

Will his campaigning in Matigara-Naxalbari yield results?

The West Bengal polls have largely been a battle between TMC and BJP, being fought fiercely. Congress, which is in alliance with Abbas Siddiqui and the Left has been largely absent from the campaigning trail after the alliance with Abbas Siddiqui. The decision to stay away from West Bengal can largely be attributed to two aspects.

For one, Abbas Siddiqui is an Islamist who is actively alienating the few Hindus who might vote for Congress and the Left.

The West Bengal unit of the BJP had earlier put out a video drawing analogies between the slogans of the separatist leaders of the Muslim League in 1946 to that of the recent speech by Peerzada-turned-politician Abbas Siddiqui. The BJP tweeted, “Ladke lenga Pakistan (We will fight until we get Pakistan) – Muslim League leaders, 1946. Matribhumi ke saadhin korbo (We will gain independence for our homeland) – Abbas Siddiqui 2021.”

While addressing a large gathering of supporters at the Bridage Parade Ground in Kolkata, Abbas Siddiqui remarked, “I want to say this to all Bengalis, and my beloved folks to vote for the CPIM wherever they field their candidates. In the next election, we will free our homeland even if it requires shedding our blood for it.” As can be seen in the video, Abbas Siddiqui’s vicious election rhetoric of separatism and violence was cheered on by a large number of supporters.

Therefore, Congress has kept a arm’s length from Siddiqui. Further, Congress is in an alliance with CPIM in Bengal, while it is fighting against the Communists in the state of Kerala. The decision to campaign in Bengal only comes after Kerala has finished polling on the 6th of April.

While Congress has kept away from West Bengal, it has now decided to campaign in Bengal before the 5th phase, however, with the silence phase kicking in, it does not really leave Rahul Gandhi much time to campaign in one of the two constituencies.

Mob attacks CISF in Sitalkuchi, sours plans of Congress scion

A mob attacked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) soldiers during the fourth phase of elections in West Bengal after TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee asked her followers to gherao the central forces. Four TMC workers were killed after the CISF fired on the violent mob. As per reports, the incident took place at the Jorpatki area of the Mathabhanga block in the Sitalkuchi Legislative Assembly of Cooch Behar district.

Cooch Behar SP defended the CISF action against the lumpen elements, saying that the action was an act of ‘self-defence. He said that a mob of 300-350 men had attacked the CISF team and tried to snatch their arms that forced the team to open fire on the miscreants. The deceased have been identified as Monirujjaman (28), Hamidul Miyan (30), Nur Alma Miyan (21) and Samiul Haque (20).

As per multiple reports, four people died after central forces open-fired in a polling booth in self-defence, while at another place one person died after miscreants opened fire. Sitalkuchi was on the boil since early morning. According to reports, bombs were hurled outside the booth. Some groups had also opened fire while the police managed to recover bombs from the area, India Today reported.

Farmer Protest supporters demand release of multiple-murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal, use a special ‘Toolkit’ to ‘#FreeJaggiNow’

Anurag
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Farmer Protest supporters demand release of multiple-murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal, use a special ‘Toolkit’ to ‘#FreeJaggiNow’

In February 2021, ‘environment activist’ Greta Thunberg accidentally published a Toolkit showing how anti-India forces are using farmers’ protest for their own agendas. Since then, a lot has been exposed leading to the arrest of so-called activists including Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk. The trio allegedly worked hands-in-hands with Khalistani supporter Mo Dhaliwal and created toolkits to incite violence and spread propaganda against the Indian government. There are several propagandas and conspiracies that are well hidden while being right in front of everyone’s eyes. One such propaganda is the demand for the release of murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi. The so-called farmers’ protest supporters are pushing their propaganda in the pretext of farmers’ protest to pressure the Indian government to release Johal.

What OpIndia found so far

During our initial investigation into the trend, we found that the hashtag was not only promoted on Twitter but other platforms as well. They are painting Johal as a “good man who was ‘illegally’ detained by the Punjab Police in 2017”. Interestingly, the hashtags #FreeJaggiNow and #FreeJaggi have been making rounds for months without raising any red flags.

The subtle mix of hashtags

Since farmers protests start to make noise in media, the propaganda to use the protests to raise voice for the murder accused Jaggi started to play in the field. Here are some tweets from the last five months that use #FreeJaggi or #FreeJaggiNow along with #FarmersProtest.

A twitter user condemning Sikh Federation UK for not speaking on Farmer Protests and Jaggi

On April 9, protesting farmer unions had announced that they will block expressway on April 10 which had put #FarmersProtest in trending topics. The supporters of Jaggi used the hashtag for their own propaganda wisely on the same day.

Use of Farmers Protest hashtag with Free Jaggi Now hashtag

During a support event for protesting farmers in Canada, the supporters of Jaggi raised banners that said “Jagtar Singh Johal is all of us #FreeJaggiNow”.

Free Jaggi Now slogans were raised during pro-farmer protests rally

Who is Jagtar Singh Johal?

Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi is a British resident from Glasgow, Scotland. In 2017, he was visiting India to attend a wedding. During his stay, Punjab Police arrested him as a suspect in several cases. He was arrested based on the statement of one Taljit Singh Jimmy. He had confessed to his involvement in several crimes during interrogation. However, his supporters claim that the investigation agencies ‘forced’ a confession out of him using third-degree torture during interrogation. Johal was behind the outfit ‘Never Forget 84’.

As per the police reports, he is a staunch Khalistani supporter. He is facing several murder and attempts to murder cases. According to National Investigation Agency’s charge sheets, he has been named in the murder cases of Hindu Takht leader Amit Sharma, RSS leader Brig. (Retd.) Jagdish Kumar Gagneja, RSS leader Ravinder Gosain, Shiv Sena leader Durga Dass Gupta, Pastor Sultan Masih, and Dera Sacha Sauda followers Satpal Sharma and his son Ramesh Sharma.

Jaggi was also accused of paying Rs.27 lakh to the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo (deceased) in France in 2013 to assassinate RSS leader Ravinder Gosain. His name also appeared in the attempt to murder Shiv Sena activist Amit Arora and firing at RSS Shakha in Kidwai Nagar in Ludhiana in 2016.

Jaggi’s association with Gursharanbir Singh Wahiwala

It has been reported that Jaggi is a close relative of Gursharanbir Singh Wahiwala, who is a pro-Khalistani accused in several cases. As per reports, Wahiwala was arrested by UK police in December 2020 in connection to the murder of RSS leader Rudla Singh in 2009. Reports suggest that he came to India in 2009 to kill Rudla Singh, who was shot dead outside his shop in Patiala. In February 2015, Wahiwala was declared a proclaimed offender by a Patiala court. In 2019, NIA filed a charge sheet in the murder case of Punjab unit RSS vice-president Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retired) in which 11 accused persons with Khalistan terror links were named, including Wahiwala and Johal.

Johal was granted regular bail in November 2020

Jagtar Singh Johal was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High court in one of the cases against him in November 2020. The bail was granted in an FIR registered in 2016 against him under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC, Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. While granting him bail, the judge had emphasised that the co-accused in the case had already been granted bail while made Johal’s case ‘deemed fit’ for the regular bail. 

A history of ‘Free Jaggi’ and ‘Free Jaggi Now’ campaigns

Free Jaggi and Free Jaggi Now hashtags have been making rounds since 2018 on social media networks. Interestingly, his supporters try to overtake every possible campaign or news that can be linked to his case. There are also petitions on Change.org in which he has been painted as a nobleman who was detained illegally under a conspiracy by the Indian government. These petitions are directly or indirectly linked to Johal and can be seen here, here, here and here. Here are few tweets over time that show how his supporters have been trying to pressure the British government and Indian government to release him.

Since January 2021, an NGO named Reprieve has been posting information about Johal while painting him as a good man who has small kids and family in Scotland.

Year-wise tweets in support of Jaggi

In 2017, when the tweets favouring Jaggi started to appear on social media, Jagmeet Singh, New Democratic Party, Canada, was tagged in several posts. Later, on the same day, Jagmeet had questioned his arrests in a tweet. It has to be noted that Jagmeet is a known Khalistani supporter. His relative was recently arrested for attacking a pro-India rally in Canada.

One of the very first tweets in favour of Jaggi
Tweet by Jagmeet Singh
United Kingdom MP Tanmanjeet Singh had posted in support of Jaggi

Few days later, Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh also posted a tweet in his support. Dosanjh was heavily criticized for the tweet. Nowadays, Dosanjh regularly post tweets in favour of Farmers Protests.

Tweet by Diljit Dosanjh

On January 26, 2019, several tweets appeared on social media network in which #FreeJaggi was used by Khalistani supporters. An event was organized by Khalitani terrorist group Sikhs For Justice in Washington DC to support Jaggi. While raising slogans of “Free Jaggi”, “Khalistani Zindabad” was also shouted while displaying Khalistani flags.

#FreeJaggi and #FreeKhalistan were used together in same tweet
Tweet by Change.org UK’s official account

In February 2021, tweets in favour of Jaggi and Farmer Protests appeared in which he was compared to Nodeep Kaur. The comparison and mixing two totally different cases must have raised red flags but unfortunately, it did not.

Image from the above tweet by Arshdeep where comparison table was formed between Johal and Nodeep Kaur

Interestingly, Jaggi got support from Pakistan as well.

Post in support of Jaggi from 2018 by a Pakistani handle
Post in support of Jaggi from 2020 by a Pakistani handle

Senior doctor in-charge of COVID-19 ward in Bhopal resigns after Congress leader and sidekick misbehave with him, hospital staff: Full details

OpIndia Staff
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Senior doctor in-charge of COVID-19 ward in Bhopal resigns after Congress leader and sidekick misbehave with him, hospital staff: Full details

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Congress leader P C Sharma along with a local corporator Guddu, can be seen misbehaving with a senior doctor Yogendra Shrivastav, a nodal officer in charge of the COVID-19 ward at JP Hospital, Bhopal. The doctor issued his resignation soon after being humiliated by the party leader and workers.

The Congress leader along with his party workers barged into the hospital after the death of a COVID-19 positive patient who was brought to the hospital in a critical condition with an SPO2 level below 30%. The hospital immediately provided primary treatment, however, could not admit the patient due to a shortage of ICU beds. The relatives of the patient were apprised of his condition and were also informed about a shortage of beds in the facility.

Soon after the patient’s demise, the Congress leader created a ruckus at the hospital and blamed the senior doctor for the death of the patient. The video went viral where a local corporator of the Congress party identified as Guddu can be heard yelling at the doctors alleging that they have made a joke of the severity of the situation. 

Dr Rakesh Shrivastava a surgeon at JP Hospital informed PTI, “Our senior doctor Yogendra Shrivastava has resigned after some politicians misbehaved with him. A patient in a critical condition was admitted to the trauma ward this morning. Dr Yogendra told his family his condition was too critical. During treatment, he died, following which some politicians misbehaved with the doctor.”

The state’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also tweeted condemning the shameful act. He said in a tweet, “Today, the way some people treated the doctors and the staff …is very shameful. No person has any right to mistreat our doctors.”

“Our #CoronaWarriors have been constantly putting their lives at stake. I have appealed multiple times that all of us should unite, rise above politics and cooperate and boost their morale so that they serve the society better,” he added.

The Chief Minister himself informed about the resignation of senior doctor Yongendra Shrivastav and criticized the unfortunate episode. 

New Indian Express when contacted Congress leader PC Sharma for his statement, he claimed, “A supporter of mine spoke loudly to the doctor following which I apologized to him. A patient of my constituency died this afternoon. In such circumstances won’t a sensitive person get angry? A poor patient is being asked to go to a private hospital, nobody is talking about this.”

A social media user shared the doctor’s video where he can be seen narrating the incident and informing that he no longer wishes to serve after being humiliated by the politicians. Fearing the repercussions, the doctor said that tomorrow the doctors and the staff can be attacked physically for incidences that are not in their control. 

Here’ the video to the incident

The entire incident was recorded and uploaded on social media by a user which they went viral. Here’s what transpired.

The senior doctor tendered his resignation immediately after the incident.

Madhya Pradesh under 60-hour lockdown

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 4,882 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. After the state witnessed a shortage of medical oxygen and crucial drug Remdesivir, used to treat corona patients, the state government has imposed a 60-hour lockdown since Friday 6 pm till Monday 6 am.

Addressing a virtual meeting of the Cabinet on the pandemic, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assured that the oxygen supply in the state had been tripled and informed that one lakh Remdesivir injections will be made available every month.

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