A case of vandalism in a temple has been reported at the Reechpal Gadhi village near Noida. Broken idols of deities were discovered by the police who suspect that the accused were in an inebriated state.
The police found empty alcohol bottles near the temple which raised suspicion that the accused may have been in an inebriated state when they vandalised the temple.
Reports claim that some clothes and linen in the temple were also set on fire.
Reports quoting additional DSP (Central Noida) Hridesh Kathariya stated that new idols have been installed in the temple. “Local police received information that idols in a temple in Reechpal Gadhi village have been vandalised. New idols have been installed.”
He added, “During the initial probe, the police found some empty liquor bottles near the temple, indicating that some intoxicated miscreants might have been involved in the act of vandalism.”
A case has been filed in the Bisrakh Police Station against unidentified accused and a police team has been formed to nab the accused. The police are also sifting through CCTV footage.
A 71-year-old yoga guru from Romania named Gregorian Bivolaru and forty of his followers were apprehended by the French police during an early-morning raid on 28 November. The leader and members of the tantric yoga organisation were caught on allegations of brainwashing female adherents for the purpose of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Gregorian Bivolaru is a citizen of both Romania and Sweden.
The name of the sect is Atman Yoga Federation which is also known as the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). Its self-styled spiritual leader Gregorian Bivolaru was taken into custody at a residence in Ivry-sur-Seine, close to Paris. He is a well-known author and yoga instructor throughout the world. With its main office located in England, the Atman Federation offers yoga classes and teacher training.
The massive operation involved 175 police officers and resulted in the release of 26 women some of whom had complained they were being detained against their will. According to one account, the women had been “kept in deplorable conditions” which were cramped and dirty. The action transpired in Paris, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne and the Alpes-Maritimes.
According to a French official, an inquiry into him and the yoga federation was started after claims of psychological manipulation and sexual abuse within the organisation had appeared. Former members of the group reportedly told authorities about the offences. French officials have charged the accused with human trafficking, organised kidnapping, rape and systematic abuse of frailty by cult members.
On behalf of Finnish authorities, Gregorian Bivolaru was wanted for suspected aggravated human trafficking. The international police organisation Interpol had also issued a notice for his arrest. However, his websites and those of the Atman Federation alleged that he is the target of a vast conspiracy aimed at undermining him.
This photo shows the red notice of Gregorian Bipolar on the Interpol website.
Prosecutors in France started looking into the group in the summer on charges of kidnapping, rape, and human trafficking. People were allegedly forced to engage in sexual activity and give pornographic performances. The operation went after multiple places that the group allegedly used to indoctrinate and force women into engaging in sexual activities. According to French authorities, the places were called “ashrams” and housed women chosen by Gregorian Bivolaru to receive initiation into tantric yoga.
A judicial source unveiled, “The aim of the yoga training courses was to get people to take part in sexual and/or physical activities in conditions that made it possible at that stage to characterise the offence of trafficking in human beings.”
Shocking origins of Gregorian Bivolaru and his outfit
In 2013, Gregorian Bivolaru was found guilty of having sex with a minor in Romania. He was living in France at the time and in 2016 he was extradited back to his native nation. However, in 2017, he escaped from Romania after being granted a conditional release. When he began teaching yoga in 1978, the practice was still forbidden in his country due to the communist government.
He started his dark cult in the 1990s and promoted “erotic tantric yoga” to expand his followers outside of the nation. Since then, MISA has established schools under various names in nearly 30 countries. The institutions are called Satya in India, Tara in the United States and the United Kingdom and Natha in Denmark and Portugal.
He wrote about achieving “a whole series of psycho-mental accomplishments that are generally considered paranormal” as a teenager in a book about tantric yoga that was published in 2010. However, there have been disputes surrounding the movement in the past. The cult was implicated in “porno-yoga” incidents in Argentina and India in 2011, while the group was accused of sexual slavery in Italy in 2012.
Gregorian Bivolaru opened his cult in 30 countries, promoting erotic tantric yoga. (Source: Europics)
He coerced his supporters into having group intercourse with him and giving him significant sums of money. Agnes Arabela Marques, one of the victims, dated the guru when she was only a 15-year-old. She disclosed, “Bivolaru claimed that, if I had sex with him as a yoga master, I could achieve superior levels of tantric spirituality. In his apartment, there were constantly girls that were there to have sex with him.” She further mentioned that he had faith in an Indian legend that declared he might become extremely spiritual if he had sex with 1,000 virgins.
Finnish human rights activist Seppo Isotalo spent nearly two years trying to support MISA throughout its trial. He revealed his 2007 covert meeting with the movement’s guru to a Finnish media MOT. “It was a most peculiar occasion, first we had to sit down and wait for him for several hours. And when he showed up, the people in the room jumped to kiss his feet. I didn’t.”
Isotalo asserted that the self-proclaimed guru sent women to Japan to dance at striptease clubs for financial gain. The most devout adherents reside in spiritual communities called ashrams. One of them was situated on a farm owned by Kim Schmock, a Danish yoga practitioner.
The activist admitted in an MOT interview that he didn’t immediately realise something wasn’t right and claimed that the group grew progressively more domineering once he became a part of it. “All the expectations they have, ‘You have to do this, you have to do that’ and suddenly you don’t have time for your friends, you don’t have time for your family. They will be your family and actually, when you realize this, it’s often too late.”
Seppo Isotalo noted that since MISA members wouldn’t leave his home, he was forced to move out of his house and into a trailer near the farm. He was left bankrupt since he had to keep making the farm’s mortgage payments. Additionally, he discussed the strange and “very erotic” rites that the cult would carry out. “They have this annual event in the summertime where they have this Miss Shakti (power) contest, and it’s very erotic and this is part of the tantra.”
Masturbation in front of cameras is a feature of the Miss Shakti competition at MISA, an annual summer camp, according to the Finnish media MOT. Each participant must submit two pictures of themselves in a bikini or swimming trunks in order to be admitted to the program. Participants also must undergo syphilis and HIV tests, indicating sexual activities in the events.
Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute
MISA calls itself the “largest yoga school in Romania and in Europe” and operates other purported “yoga schools.” According to the French police, there are “several hundred” members. The group describes itself on its website as using “a traditional rigorous approach of the yoga system,” which includes “erotic postures” and “amorous energy control techniques” from tantra yoga to assist practitioners “on the way to ecstasy.”
“Extraterrestrial civilizations” are mentioned on the website as well. However, because of alleged “illicit” practices, the International Yoga Federation and the European Yoga Alliance declared in 2008 that they could no longer accept the group as a member. Gregorian Bivolaru has already drawn the notice of French authorities as well as those in his home nations.
Mental manipulation
The human rights organisation La Ligue des droits de l’Homme announced in July that it had obtained statements from twelve former MISA members, prompting the first round of investigations into the claims.
The case was turned over to and overseen by the OCRVP (Office central pour la répression des violences aux personnes, or central office for the repression of violence towards people) and the Miviludes (Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, interministerial mission for the alerting and fighting against cults).
The accusations originated from multiple women who stated that in order to “pay for their stay” they were coerced into having sex with Gregorian Bivolaru and “to agree to participate in fee-paying pornographic practices in France and abroad.” According to the victims, he would frequently invite ladies to his home for “sexual initiation” through tantric yoga.
On Wednesday, November 29, a 21-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging in Rajasthan’s Kota. Nisha Singh, a NEET aspirant from Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya was found dead at her hostel room in Mahavir Nagar 1 in Kota. This is the 29th suicide by a coaching student in Rajasthan’s Kota this year.
According to media reports, the 21-year-old NEET aspirant hanged herself in her hostel room on Wednesday night. It is worth noting that the reason behind the deceased girl’s act is yet to be known.
Reportedly, Nisha was earlier residing in the Indravihar area, however, she moved to a hostel in Mahavir Nagar 1 on November 18. This hostel has 18 rooms and 12 girl students were staying there. Nisha’s father Ausaan Singh recently visited his daughter and stayed with her for six days before leaving on 24th November. It is said that Nisha spoke to her father over a phone call late in the night and subsequently hanged herself from the ceiling fan to death in the hostel room.
When the victim’s father called her back again, Nisha did not pick up his call. Nisha’s father then called the hostel staff who rushed to check on Nisha. However, as nobody opened the door, the police were informed and they broke the door and entered the room to find Nisha’s dead body hanging. Meanwhile, the victim’s body has been kept at the mortuary at MBS Hospital.
The victim’s father has said that Nisha took admission at a NEET coaching in Kota in May this year. Singh said that Nisha was a bright student adding that her family never pressured her regarding academic performance. He added that the incident has left the family shocked.
He further stated that he used to visit his daughter every month. Singh added that she attempted the online NEET exam last year and got a decent score. She then was adamant about joining a NEET coaching in Kota and preparing for the exams. He added that even after moving to Kota, Nisha used to visit her home and was in touch with her family.
It has been reported that despite the district administration’s strict directive to put up suicide prevention rods on the ceiling fans in hostel rooms. Nisha’s room had no such rod. Notably, police have not recovered any suicide note from the spot.
On 29th November (local time), the United State Justice Department indicted an Indian national identified as Nikhil Gupta for his alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. The US agencies claimed to have foiled the ‘assassination attempt’.
The indictment claimed that an Indian government employee, who was not named in the documents, recruited Gupta to hire a local hitman to kill Pannun. Gupta is facing murder-for-hire charges with a maximum sentence of 10 years. The Justice Department claimed that the Indian government employee, who has been marked as CC-1 in the documents, directed the assassination plot from India. Gupta is allegedly involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking.
15 page US court details how the plan was to kill Khalistani extremist Pannu, names one Nikhil Gupta aka Nick who was recruited to "orchestrate assassination of victim"; Mentions how $15000 were arranged, pictures released in the court document. pic.twitter.com/nJPp0L4ueJ
Furthermore, it was claimed that the hitman Gupta attempted to hire was an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent. The indictment followed recent US disclosures on links between organized crime, gun runners, and terrorists, prompting India to form a high-level inquiry committee to address security concerns. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) highlighted the seriousness of the matter and initiated an inquiry into relevant aspects of the case.
The US is sheltering and actively protecting terrorists
With the indictment details now made public, one aspect is clear, the United States is not only sheltering wanted terrorists but also actively protecting them allowing them to run their anti-India activities from US soil. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a designated Khalistani terrorist declared under UAPA by the Indian Home Ministry. His organization, Sikhs For Justice, was also banned by the Indian government in 2019. Pannun is known for issuing threats and announcing bounties for anti-India activities. Recently, he made a threat to blow up Air India planes, leading to concerns across the aviation industry as the Khalistanis had indeed carried out one of the worst attacks in aviation history, the Air India Kanishka bombing in 1985.
However, the United States, the country that claims to be against terrorism, is openly harboring Khalistani terrorists and moving a step ahead, protecting them by engaging a significant amount of personnel and resources. Gupta, in this case, is innocent until proven guilty. However, issuing a warning to India for an imaginary plan to assassinate a Khalistani terrorist has shown how deep-rooted anti-India activities are allowed to happen in the US.
Pannun established Sikhs For Justice in 2007. Since then, he has been actively involved in anti-India activities. Being a counsel in the US, it is easier for him to find loopholes to stay protected from law enforcement agencies. India has repeatedly requested the US authorities to take action against him, but there has been no positive response.
The arrest and extradition of Nikhil from the Czech Republic on the US’s request was quick. However, India received no positive response when it raised such requests to the US. The US did not even try to stop Pannun from issuing threats to India for years.
Pannun kept threatening India without fearing the consequences
On the other hand, Pannun kept pacing up his anti-India activities, and for over five years, he has been running a campaign named in the name of Referendum Voting, demanding a separate Sikh nation called Khalistan. Pannun has organized so-called voting in the US, Canada, and Australia, where hundreds of pro-Khalistan Sikhs have come forward to vote. Anti-India slogans were raised during such voting events, and no concrete action was taken whenever India raised objections in front of the respective governments. For those who are unaware, pro-Khalistani elements are spread across the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
On multiple occasions, Indian consulates have been attacked. However, the USA’s actions show that they are more intent on protecting Pannun and his activities than on preventing terrorist activities on their soil against nations they call allies.
The situation got worse in 2023 when a pro-Khalistani separatist leader, Amritpal Singh, was on the run, and central agencies worked with Punjab Police to arrest him. Indian Consulates and Embassies faced threats from the pro-Khalistani elements. Indian flags were desecrated, and diplomats were hackled by pro-Khalistani elements. Even then, no concrete action was taken by the countries’ governments where such incidents took place.
Link between US and Canada allegations
According to the indictment documents, the plot to kill Pannun was foiled in June after the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Pannun and Najjar were associates, and following his murder, Pannun became more active, issuing threats to Indian diplomats and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Posters calling for the assassination of Indian diplomats were raised in Canada and the UK, boldly displayed from buildings. Furthermore, posters appeared in Surrey, Canada, demanding the arrest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Pannun remained at the center of such threats, but the US government decided not to act against him.
CC1 Alleged recruited Mr Gupta to kill Pannu: -both spoke English, Hindi & Spanish phrases -Hitman to be given $100,000, of which $15000 advance payment -Nijjar connect mentioned pic.twitter.com/ygXNWUMgVf
Interestingly, Canada has accused Indian agents of being involved in the murder of Nijjar based on alleged “credible allegations”. Since the allegations were made in the Canadian Parliament by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, India has been asking for concrete proof of Indian agents’ involvement. Still, Canada failed to provide any such evidence. On the contrary, available media reports show that Nijjar was killed in a gang violence-type incident, rather than a sophisticated assassination plot carried out by intelligence agents.
Now, the US has accused India of plotting to kill Khalistani terrorists on US soil, which is again a questionable theory. Several aspects of the case raised eyebrows. For example, it is unclear why the Gujarat Police was mentioned in the indictment documents. If Gujarat Police wanted Gupta and called him repeatedly, why? What was the case against Gupta?
Source: sidhant/X
Furthermore, how convenient was it for Gupta to approach an undercover DEA agent posing as a hitman to kill Pannun? The whole scenario looks like a script from a cheap Hollywood movie, if not less. On a lighter note, why would the Government of India spend USD 100,000 on a person like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was deemed a CIA agent a couple of months back by NSA Ajit Doval during a conversation with his US counterpart?
Too many coincidences
First, the Financial Times wrote a report on India’s plot to kill Pannun. Then, TIME magazine gives space to Pannun in a lengthy interview. Just a couple of days later, the Justice Department released details of an arrested Indian in a plot to kill Pannun. From Gupta hiring an undercover agent to kill Pannun to Canada accusing India of killing Nijjar, everything came to fruition months before the Lok Sabha elections scheduled in 2024.
India is heading towards Lok Sabha elections scheduled in the first half of 2024. The upcoming General Elections campaign will start unofficially very soon, and all political parties will begin propagating their agendas at the beginning of 2024.
At such a crucial political point, the individuals and organizations with vested interests who want to see a regime change in India are trying to defame the current government. While attempting to do so, they are knowingly or unknowingly feeding anti-India forces, including pro-Khalistani elements sitting in Western countries. Pannun is one such individual who wants to break India into several pieces, and India has the full right to defend its sovereignty against such elements.
In a candid conversation with Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath on Wednesday (November 29) at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy voiced his disapproval of freebies saying that “nothing should be given for free.” He also opined that compassionate capitalism can help a ‘poor’ country like India to become developed.
Speaking at the 26th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit, Narayan Murthy said, “When you provide those services, when you provide those subsidies, there must be something in return that they’re willing to do. For example, if you say — I will give you free electricity, then it would have been a very nice thing for the government to have said, but we want to see the percentage attendance in primary schools and middle schools go up by 20 per cent, then only we will give you that.”
In a nutshell, Murthy asserted that nothing should be given for free, and citizens should contribute to building a better society. Although not absolutely opposed to freebies, Murthy opined that beneficiaries of free subsidies should be made to take up added responsibility for the future of their coming generations better in terms of education.
“I am not against free services being provided. I fully understand, as I also came from a poor background once upon a time. But I think we should expect something in return from those people who received those free subsidies to take a slightly bigger responsibility towards making their own future generation, their own children and grandchildren, better in terms of going to school, you know, performing better. That’s what I mean, Murthy said.
When asked about if there is an appropriate level of taxation in India, Murthy said, “You know, we have to realise that India is a poor country. A per capita GDP of about USD 2,300 puts India about twice that of what is called ‘low-income countries’ by the United Nations and other bodies. We are still far away from being called a middle-income country where the per capita GDP is somewhere between USD 6,000 to about 12,000 to 15,000. In a country like India where there is a large mass of poor people, I think we the evangelists of capitalism have to pay a higher level of taxation because there are so many services in India that our government will have to provide to the poor people. You know the other day the Prime Minister said that his government will provide free ration to 800 million for the next five years. So what that means is that we have 800 million people who do not have the capacity to earn two meals a day,” Murthy said.
“In order to create efficient, corruption-free and effective public goods in our country, the taxation will have to be obviously higher than what you see in developed countries. So, I personally would not at all grudge, if I have to pay a higher level of taxation,” he continued.
In explaining his shift from a staunch leftist to a “determined compassionate capitalist,” he stated that compassionate capitalism, not socialism or communism, is the only way for an impoverished country like India to become affluent.
He believes that capitalism, founded on the twin pillars of the free market and entrepreneurship, is the best way for any country to overcome its poverty problem.
In response to a question on his advice to the government on increasing per capita GDP, Narayana Murthy stated that political leaders should carefully study China.
“So all that I would humbly request our political leaders is to study China very very carefully, and then see what are the good things that we can learn from China and implement here, so that India too advances at the same pace as China, and becomes a nation that has reduced the poverty of its people,” Murthy said.
At least three people lost their lives and eight others suffered injuries in a horrific terror attack in Israel‘s Jerusalem on 30th November. The attack claimed the life of a 24-year-old woman as well, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service. A man in his 70s along with another elderly person, who were injured, have passed away in hospital, bringing the total number of fatalities from the shooting attack at the entrance of Jerusalem to three, whereas eight others received injuries. One of the deceased has been identified as Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman.
Surveillance camera footage shows the shooting attack at the entrance to Jerusalem this morning. Two people were killed, and at least seven others were hurt. Two off-duty soldiers and an armed civilian shot the terrorists dead. pic.twitter.com/CwucVb5IV7
Police disclosed that security personnel and an armed civilian “neutralised” the two terrorists who started shooting at bystanders. They mentioned that at approximately 7:40 AM, the two terrorists stepped out of a car and started shooting at a bus stop. They are identified as 38-year-old Murad Namr and 30-year-old Ibrahim Namr from the East Jerusalem area of Sur Baher. The two are brothers and members of Hamas.
According to the Shin Bet, Murad Namr was imprisoned from 2010 to 2020 for organising terror attacks in the Gaza Strip while acting as an agent of terror groups, while Ibrahim Namr was sentenced to prison in 2014 for unreported terrorist activities.
Superintendent Doron Turgeman, the Jerusalem District Commander, reached the spot as the entire area had been cordoned by a heavy police presence. “Two terrorists arrived at the scene in a vehicle armed with weapons, fired at civilians at the bus stop and were neutralised by security forces and a civilian who was nearby,” read a statement released by Israeli police. Police also shared that it “began scanning to rule out additional participants while conducting a preliminary investigation of the incident.”
Eli Bin, the director-general of MDA revealed that five more persons were critically hurt in the attack. He also reported that three other people had minor to moderate injuries. Authorities stated they were scanning the vicinity to make sure there were no further assailants as a huge number of ambulances and police arrived on the scene. Three patients were sent to Hadassah Ein Kerem while five others were sent to Shaare Zedek hospital
“3 gunshot victims from the attack at the entrance to Jerusalem were evacuated to the trauma unit. 56 years old, in moderate condition, 22 years old, in moderate condition and a 17-year-old in a minor condition. All three are fully conscious,” Hadassah Medical Center said in a statement.
The terror attack captured on surveillance camera footage showed two gunmen coming out of a car and shooting at a crowd of people waiting at a bus stop. Two soldiers, who were not on duty, and an armed civilian then shot the terrorists and killed them. According to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, in an effort to “increase the sense of security among residents” he has authorised additional security deployment throughout the capital.
“We will not rest and will not be silent until a decision and victory in all sectors! We are at war on all fronts. The terrible attack in Jerusalem reminds us that our enemies are not only the Nazis in Gaza. We will pursue and destroy them with God’s help everywhere. Strengthens the hands of the security and rescue forces operating in the arena. Condolences to the families of the murdered and best wishes for recovery to the injured,” wrote Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in response to the attack.
לא ננוח ולא נשקוט עד להכרעה וניצחון בכל הגזרות!
אנחנו במלחמה בכל החזיתות. הפיגוע הנורא בירושלים מזכיר לנו שהאויבים שלנו הם לא רק הנאצים בעזה. נרדוף ונשמיד אותם בעזרת השם בכל מקום. מחזק את ידי כוחות הביטחון וההצלה שפועלים בזירה. תנחומים למשפחות הנרצחים ואיחולי החלמה לפצועים.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister of national security arrived at the scene of the terror attack and asserted that Israel must use military force to combat terrorism. “This type of incident proves again how much we can’t show weakness, how much we have to speak to Hamas only through intentions, only through the war, ” he observed while appearing to slam the ceasefire with Hamas. He added that his policy of encouraging more civilians to carry guns is supported by the shooting attack that occurred this morning in which the Palestinian gunmen were reportedly shot and killed with the assistance of an off-duty soldier.
The incident occurred as Israel and Hamas reached a last-minute arrangement on 30th November to prolong their six-day ceasefire in Gaza by an additional day. This move would enable negotiators to continue working on agreements to exchange Palestinian prisoners for hostages held in the coastal enclave.
Over twelve hundred people were killed and many more were injured in one of the worst attacks on Israeli soil that began on 7th October following the invasion of the country by thousands of Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the terrorists kidnapped hundreds of Israelis and are holding them as hostages in Gaza. The terrorists also perpetrated sexual violence and raped hundreds of women and minor girls.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been tracking the activities of some residents of Punjab and Haryana for their alleged role in the attacks on the Consulate General of India in San Francisco, US, where they have been suspected of visiting in the past, sources said.
Besides, the sources, privy to the development, informed that the recent searches conducted in the case against people in Punjab and Haryana have been found to be connected via social media platforms to those identified in two separate Consulate attack cases.
As per the sources, the NIA is trying to ascertain if there are smuggling, trafficking, and radicalization links.
The inputs were received a few days after NIA raided over a dozen locations in Punjab and Haryana in connection with these cases. As part of its continuing investigations into the attacks on the Consulate General of India, San Francisco, the NIA raided 14 places in Punjab and Haryana on November 22.
The locations raided by the NIA were spread across the districts of Moga, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur, Mohali and Patiala in Punjab, and Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in Haryana. The crackdown led to the seizure of digital data containing information related to the accused persons, along with other incriminating documents.
The move was a bid to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the March 19 and July 2, 2023 attacks involving criminal trespass, vandalism, damage to public property and attempts to cause hurt to the officials of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco and set the Consulate building on fire through acts of arson.
The NIA has been probing the case with the aim to identify and prosecute the attackers and the assailants of the attacks and send a strong message to such anti-Indian elements. A team of the NIA had visited San Francisco in August 2023 to investigate the incidents of attacks on the Consulate through violent acts of arson and vandalism, leading to fear among the Consulate staff and the community.
As part of its investigations, the NIA said it has crowdsourced information to identify and collect information about US-based entities and individuals involved in these violent incidents. The agency has already identified certain individuals who were part of the conspiracy behind the repeated attacks. These include the attackers and many of their associates, who are both Indian and foreign nationals.
The Consulate General of India in San Francisco was attacked on March 19 by a group of assailants who committed criminal trespass, damaged public property, and attacked officials of the Consulate. Prior to this attack, on the same day, some attackers attempted to set the Consulate building on fire by sprinkling inflammable substances early in the morning. Subsequently, on July 2, at midnight, a few people attempted to set the Consulate building on fire.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
In a bizarre incident, over 2,500 passengers from two express trains got stuck on Wednesday (29th November) at Burhwal junction in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district after staff from one of the trains left the train saying that their duty hours were over and the loco pilot said he was feeling unwell. When another train arrived at the station, passengers of the earlier train blocked it demanding that their train should move first, which led to the delay of the second train, and its staff also said that their shift was over, and refused to run the train further.
The suffering and enraged passengers staged protests by going onto the rail track and obstructing the passage of an express train since they were left stuck without food, water, or electricity inside the train.
The incident occurred between the Saharsa-New Delhi Special Fare Chhath Puja Special (04021) and the Barauni-Lucknow Junction Express (15203). A few hours later, employees from Gonda Junction were sent by North Eastern Railway (NER) to attend to the two express trains in an attempt to calm down the situation.
Railway records show that 04021 departed Saharsa at 9.30 am on 28th November instead of the scheduled departure time of 7.15 pm on 27th November. The train took more than 19 hours to arrive in Gorakhpur. The express does not stop at Burhwal junction, but it did make an unplanned stop at 1:15 pm due to a crossing with a goods train. However, even after the good train had passed, the train remained stationary at the station. After around an hour, the passengers became restless and started to create a rucous.
When they approached the station master, the station master went to the locomotive to find out why the train had not moved. But then he approached the loco pilot and the guard, they told him that their shift was over so they would not proceed further. They handed him over the required papers and left the station, leaving the passengers stranded.
The station master then informed the control room about the development, after which replacement loco pilot and guard were sent to the station to move the train forward.
In the meanwhile the Barauni-Lucknow Express which was already running late by more than five hours and 30 minutes arrived at Burhwal junction at 4.04 p.m. But the passengers of the previous train blocked it there, demanding that their train should be moved first. As a result, both the passenger trains got stuck at the station. After some time, the staff of the Barauni train also said that their shift is over, therefore they would not be able to proceed further. Authorities arranged replacement staff for the second train too. After they arrived, both the trains were dispatched from the station.
“Our journey was supposed to end in a maximum of 25 hours 20 minutes, but it’s the third day in this so-called ‘special train’. This is a special torture created by Indian railways for poor passengers like us. There is no water, no pantry car to buy food, and no power supply. Both the loco-pilots and train guard have alighted from the train citing drowsiness,” a passenger traveling from Saharsa to New Delhi was quoted as saying by the TOI.
Reports mention that the train stood stranded at the Burhwal junction in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district for around 3 hours. Passengers meanwhile protested and slammed the Indian Railways for this mismanagement. The food and water at the few stalls at the small stations were quickly exhausted, leaving many people without food and water.
It is notable that the duty hours of loco pilots in Indian Railways is between 8-10 hours, and it should not exceed 12 hours as per guidelines. Loco pilots and guards of a train are changed at specific stations. These are generally bigger stations and have running facilities for the staff. But in case of trains running several hours late, the shift of the staff may get over at a place without arrangement for replacement. In such cases, replacement staff have to be sent to such unscheduled stations.
On Wednesday (November 29), Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passed away at his home in Connecticut at the age of 100. Kissinger’s death was announced in a statement by his consulting firm, which did not mention the cause. Kissinger, a statesman, and celebrity diplomat held unparalleled power over US foreign policy during the administrations of Presidents Richard M Nixon and Gerald Ford. After Nixon became the U.S. president in 1969, Kissinger was appointed as the National Security Advisor.
Henry Kissinger oversaw US military actions around the world during his tenure, first as National Security Adviser and later as Secretary of State, influencing events in China, Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent with long term implications. His role during the Vietnam war, and his bombing campaign in Cambodia resulted in deaths of untold people. Hailed as an ace of statecraft and diplomacy many; others, particularly the sufferers of his political and military activities, will remember him as an oppressor.
Beyond the conventional meaning of ‘legitimacy,’ Henry Kissinger held that the international order was “legitimate” as long as decision-makers in major nations were willing to accept it — and that problems of public opinion and morality could therefore be discarded as immaterial.
Bangladesh Liberation War and the Kissinger Intervention
When conflict erupted between India and Pakistan in 1971 over the Pakistani army’s genocide of the Bengali population in East Pakistan and the ensuing refugee crisis, Islamabad served as an intermediary to facilitate exchanges between Beijing and Washington at a period when relations between the two were nearly absent.
On March 25, 1971, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight, a brutal crackdown on East Pakistan’s nationalist movement after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won 160 out of 162 seats in the East registering an absolute majority. The genocide and rape of the Bengali people of the then East Pakistan was spearheaded by former Army chief General Yahya Khan. Even as per the conservative estimates, over 200,000 Bengalis were killed and in a deliberate campaign of genocidal rape, Pakistani military personnel and the Razakars raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women and girls. An even more terrifying aspect of this genocide of the Bengalis of East Pakistan was that both President Nixon and Henry Kissinger were aware of Yahya Khan’s repressive actions in the occupied land and did nothing. It is worth noting that Kissinger was behind US’s pro-Pakistan tilt since he opined that favouring Pakistan would help US forge new ties with China.
In his book ‘White House Years’, Kissinger wrote, “The issue (Pakistan crisis) burst upon us while Pakistan was our only channel to China.”
The Blood Telegram
As the Pakistani crimes continued unabated, Archer Blood, the US Consul General in Dhaka, wrote to Washington DC in April 1971 to assist, but was met with what Blood described as a “deafening silence.” As the US continued to provide Pakistan with military and economic help, Blood and his staff issued a strongly worded dissent letter.
“…. Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy, ironically at a time when the USSR sent President Yahya a message2 defending democracy, condemning arrest of leader of democratically elected majority party (incidentally pro-West) and calling for end to repressive measures and bloodshed. In our most recent policy paper for Pakistan,3 our interests in Pakistan were defined as primarily humanitarian, rather than strategic. But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the Awami conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term genocide is applicable, is purely internal matter of a sovereign state. Private Americans have expressed disgust. We, as professional public servants express our dissent with current policy and fervently hope that our true and lasting interests here can be defined and our policies redirected in order to salvage our nationʼs position as a moral leader of the free world,” Archer Blood’s telegram read.
The Blood Telegram (Source: US State Department website)
The US encouraged China to make military moves to ‘intimidate’ India
In Henry Kissinger’s own words, ” The United States, with Pakistan at the time as a conduit in conducting secret negotiations with China, sought to defuse the crisis and prevent fighting between India and Pakistan. When the fighting developed, the Nixon administration “tilted” toward Pakistan. The tilt involved the dispatch of the aircraft carrier Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal to try to intimidate the Indian Government. It also involved encouraging China to make military moves to achieve the same end, and an assurance to China that if China menaced India and the Soviet Union moved against China in support of India, the United States would protect China from the Soviet Union. China chose not to menace India, and the crisis on the subcontinent ended without a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. For a brief period in December 1971, however, the record indicates that the crisis had a dangerous potential and that President Nixon and his National Security Assistant Henry Kissinger were prepared to accept serious risks to achieve their policy objectives.”
President Richard Nixon with Henry Kissinger (Image via US State Department)
According to a report by The Atlantic, Kissinger had ignored the rise and strength of Bengali nationalism and believed in the Pakistani military’s assertion that the Bengalis were ‘cowardly’ people and easy to subdue. “The Bengalis aren’t very good fighters I guess. The use of power against seeming odds pays off. ’Cause all the experts were saying that 30,000 people can’t get control of 75 million. Well, this may still turn out to be true but as of this moment it seems to be quiet,” Kissinger told President Nixon.
Kissinger’s disdain towards India and Indians has not been a secret, as evident from Nixon and Kissinger’s meeting with the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a month before India declared war on Pakistan in December 1971. Following the meeting, the duo called Indira Gandhi a “b*ch”, with Kissinger accusing her of “starting a war”. Kissinger called Indians “b***ds”, and “the most aggressive people around”.
Henry Kissinger with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
In a secret meeting with a Chinese delegation during the 1971 war, Kissinger not only admitted to supplying weapons to Pakistan, via Iran and Jordan, but also boasted he did so despite being aware that his actions violated the congressional arms embargo.
In a meeting with Nixon and Attorney General Newton Mitchell on December 8, 1971, Kissinger said that he had “got a message to you from the Shah (of Iran), in which he says he can send ammunition (to a beleaguered Pakistan) – he is doing it now.”
Kissinger’s indifference to the plight of Bengali freedom fighters in East Pakistan is evident in his conversation with the US President in 1972 wherein he said: “Not one has yet understood what we did in India-Pakistan and how we saved the China option which we need for the bloody Russians. Why should we give a damn about Bangladesh?”
In his book “The Blood Telegram and a Forgotten Genocide”, Princeton University professor Gary J Bass described the genocide of Bengali rebellions as “one of the cardinal moral challenges of recent history.” “Although today it is far more familiar to South Asians than to Americans. It had a monumental impact on India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh — almost a sixth of humanity in 1971,” Bass writes.
Cover of Gary J Bass’s book, The Blood Telegram
When Kissinger told Nixon “You’ve saved West Pakistan”
According to confidential documents disclosed by the US Department of State, a day after Dhaka was liberated on December 16, 1971, then-US President Richard Nixon was told by his strategic advisor Henry Kissinger that he had “saved West Pakistan.” Despite diplomatic humiliation, Kissinger informed President Nixon, “Congratulations, Mr. President. You saved West Pakistan.”
Years later, Kissinger admitted that the US stance in the Bangladesh Liberation War was “a case history of political misjudgment”. Apparently, in Kissinger’s quest to prevent India from allying with the Soviet Union and forging a new ‘alliance’ with China, he backed Pakistan as a counterbalance in the first case and a facilitator in the second. This, however, also facilitated Pakistan’s genocidal campaign against Bengali rebels who were slaughtered and raped mercilessly. The horror was such that Bengali women lay like corpses while Pakistani men raped them. Among Henry Kissinger’s many failures which include his failure in intimidating India, and establish long-lasting cordial relations with China, his indifference towards the democratic struggles of smaller nations remains the greatest despite the fact that he himself being someone who was driven out of his own country since he was a Jew when the Nazis rose to power and prominence in Germany.
An alarming incident has come to light in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi on the night of 29 November where two daughters lived with their mother’s corpse in a secluded house for nearly a year. Their mother had turned into a skeleton, but the girls didn’t cremate her. She died on 8 December 2022 due to illness because they lacked the resources for her treatment. Their father moved out of the house many years ago.
Afterwards, the deceased was securely concealed inside a quilt by her daughters. Meanwhile, the girls continued to celebrate birthdays and other special occasions at the residence. The mother has been identified as 52-year-old Usha Tripathi and the daughters are 27-year-old Pallavi Tripathi who is a post-graduate and 17 to 18-year-old Vaishnavi Tripathi has passed 10th grade.
The peculiar case pertained to the Madarwa neighbourhood of the Lanka police station. The duo manually removed and disposed of the worms after they had infected the body. When the stench became unbearable they climbed to the roof of the house and ate food there. On 29 November, the local authorities reached the location after learning about the matter, broke the locks on the three doors of the house and entered the place.
The neighbours alerted the relatives of the girls when they didn’t leave the house for several days. They arrived to inquire about the situation, however, were shocked to witness the horrifying scene and immediately notified the police who then removed the skeleton and sent it for postmortem. The woman’s clothes, slippers, sheets, quilts and other things were collected as evidence. The two girls were also brought out of the house and their mental condition is not well, based on the cops.
The neighbours called their aunt (mother’s sister) and her husband Dharmendra’s Chaturvedi who live in Mirzapur. As soon as they opened the door the two girls were found sitting with the corpse in a room after which authorities were summoned right away. The girls created a lot of ruckus and cried when they saw the cops. They took the body in their possession and started interrogating the pair.
The police learned that the woman’s health had deteriorated which ultimately caused her death. Her husband had left the family a long time ago. The daughters stored the body in a room and skipped the final ceremonies since they were short on funds and used things like incense sticks to get rid of the foul smell. The people were unaware of everything because there were no neighbours around the house. The daughters had been using the excuse of their mother’s poor health to send back any relatives that came to visit them for the last year. They refused to let anyone see her mother.
Usha Tripathi was the eldest of the three daughters of Ramakrishna Pandey, a resident of Holpur Rachauli village in Ubhaon police station area of Ballia. She was married to Deveshwar Tripathi of Akhop village, Belthara Road. She moved in with her father along with her two daughters following a disagreement with her spouse after ten years of marriage.
The police station in-charge said that both daughters stated that their mother used to throw up and passed away on 8 December 2022 as a result of illness. The body could not be burned due to financial constraints. The girls are currently under the guardianship of their aunt and uncle. The autopsy is being performed on the latter’s submission.
The daughters informed the police that they had lived off of the house’s possessions for four or five months after the death of their mother. They sold jewellery for Rs 20,000 when the food ran out and bought provisions for themselves. They also spent the cash present at home to cover the expenses and sometimes asked for money from the neighbours. When people asked them about their mother they alleged that her health was not good and she was sleeping. The neighbours didn’t care much and hence no one paid much attention. The daughters were not in contact with the father for the past six years.
The daughters hardly ever left the house, according to their neighbours. They would beg for a 10 lakh rupee loan to restart a cosmetic shop whenever someone showed up. The deceased’s brother-in-law (husband’s brother) Dyaneshwar Tripathi said that she was invited to attend special occasions multiple times and her husband also tried to contact her, but he was driven away and therefore he developed a mental ailment for which he is presently receiving therapy. Their late father Vyas Tripathi was a retired railway guard.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Kashi John RS Gautam also reached the location and spoke to both the girls. The Lanka police station in charge mentioned that the skeleton was found wrapped in a sheet and blanket. It won’t be known until the post-mortem whether the death was caused by natural causes or by homicide.
