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Black Lives Matter leader arrested in connection with vandalism of Lincoln statue with faeces, paint and signs: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Black Lives Matter leader arrested in connection with vandalism of Lincoln statue with faeces, paint and signs: Reports

A Black Live Matter leader has been arrested in connection with the vandalism of an Abraham Lincoln statue in Boise, Idaho in the month of February. The suspect has been identified as one Terry Wilson, reported to be a spokesperson for the Boise chapter of Black Lives Matter.

“Officers chased after Wilson and were able to stop him and take him into custody, at which time Wilson was found to be in possession of a firearm, marijuana and drug paraphernalia,” the Idaho Statesmen quoted from a press release by the police. “Wilson was taken to the hospital and was medically cleared before being booked into the Ada County Jail.”

According to the report, Terry Wilson has been charged with “several misdemeanor counts, including injuring monuments, ornaments and public improvements, resisting and obstructing officers, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.”

Terry Wilson claimed to be an associate professor at the Boise State University, however, the University told Daily Wire that he “not a current student nor employee of the university.” An Instagram account associated with him makes his political inclination abundantly clear.

A post on the account rants against ‘fascist’ Donald Trump and ‘neoliberal’ Joe Biden with hashtags included related to the Black Lives Matter. He is suspected of defacing the Abraham Lincoln statue with faeces, paint and signs.

“Vandalism is a crime, never appropriate, and those committing these crimes will be held accountable,” Mayor Lauren McLean had said at the time of the vandalism. “At a time when our democracy is fragile, this is particularly disturbing as President Lincoln sought to keep our fractured nation together and to address the scourge of slavery — losing his life for it.”

“Activists with the Boise chapter of Black Lives Matter drew chalk figures with chalk blood on the sidewalk while demonstrating in front of Council President Elaine Clegg’s North End home,” an August 2020 report by the Idaho Stateman said. “They also drew what appeared to be chalk outlines generally associated with homicide investigations on the sidewalk in front of her house. The outlines had red smears over where the hearts would be.”

The report identified Terry Wilson as a BLM spokesperson and stated that he told them over a phone call that the demonstration at Clegg’s home was due to her vote of approval for Mayor McLean’s 2021 budget that allocated more money for the Boise Police department.

TMC getting nervous in Nandigram? Delegation meets EC to complain about ‘voters being threatened’

OpIndia Staff
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TMC getting nervous in Nandigram? Delegation meets EC to complain about ‘voters being threatened’

As the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections draw closer, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to be getting far more jittery about its prospects than the initially imagined. Today, a TMC delegation comprised of Derek O’ Brien and Kakoli Ghosh visited the Election Commission office in Kolkata regarding elections in Nandigram.

Meeting the Election Commission officials, the delegation of TMC complained about ‘people with criminal records’ living in Nandigram and supposedly threatening voters.

TMC that has a notorious reputation of indulging in political violence seems to have suddenly woken about to its perils. “Many people with criminal records are living in Nandigram, Bhagwanpur & Haripur aren’t voters of constituency. Voters are being scared & threatened. EC should ensure voters’ safety,” said Kakoli Dastidar.

Representation made by TMC to EC

In the letter, TMC claimed that they have “inputs” about BJP planning violence in Nandigram and areas like Khejuri ahead of the polls and on polling day. Further, the letter says that there is “less” deployment of CAPF in the area, perhaps deliberately to ‘favour BJP’.

The letter further urges that additional CAPF is deployed in Nandigram area. The letter also blames Suvendu Adhikari directly of apparently harbouring ‘armed criminals’.

Interestingly, this Hail Mary pass by the TMC could indicate that the party is getting nervous about their prospects in Nandigram.

Talking about the polls in West Bengal recently, Jan Ki Baat founder Pradeep Bhandari told OpIndia, “There is anti-TMC sentiment in Bengal because of corruption, political violence and appeasement that I observed with my team in our 294 constituency travel. If voting happens in a free and fair manner, BJP will form govt, and Mamata Banerjee may also lose Nandigram”.

In OpIndia’s ground report too, while we found that at that time Mamata Banerjee had the edge, Suvendu Adhikari seemed to be on an extremely strong footing in the area and could possibly win if certain issues were addressed.

Nandigram has turned into a prestige battle for Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari who vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee after quitting TMC to join BJP.

Nandigram is the epicenter of the political storm that propelled Mamata Banerjee to the Chief Minister’s office, helping her oust the Left from the corridors of power. During those days, Suvendu Adhikari was the architect of the Trinamool wave and Mamata’s right hand man.

Since then, a lot of bad blood has developed between the two which culminated with Adhikari’s resignation from the party. Adhikari subsequently joined the BJP. When Mamata Banerjee first announced her decision to contest the elections from the constituency, Adhikari had declared that he will quit politics if he does not defeat her by a margin of at least 50,000 votes.

After a decade, Nandigram again has the opportunity to herald the advent of a new era in Bengal politics. And this time, the battle for Nandigram is not just political, it is personal.

Supreme Court orders the transfer of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab jail to Uttar Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court orders the transfer of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab jail to Uttar Pradesh

Putting an end to the long-drawn tussle between the Uttar Pradesh and the Punjab govt, the Supreme Court Friday ordered the transfer of mafia don turned politician Mukhtar Ansari to jail in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP MLA is currently lodged in a Punjab jail.

The apex court asked the Punjab government to make the arrangements within two weeks and ensure he faces further trials in Uttar Pradesh.

According to reports, the notorious gangster and former Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mukhtar Ansari will be shifted from Rupnagar Jail in Punjab to Uttar Pradesh’s Banda Jail in the coming two weeks.

The order has come after the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath moved the Supreme Court, requesting the latter to direct the Punjab govt and Rupnagar jail authority to immediately hand over the custody of Ansari to them. It had also sought a direction to transfer the criminal proceedings and trial in the extortion case in Punjab to the special court in Allahabad.

Punjab government has been trying very hard to prevent Ansari’s transfer to UP jail

The Congress-led Punjab government, arguing against the transfer in front of a bench of justices Ashok Bhushan and RS Reddy, said that Ansari can appear for cases underway in Uttar Pradesh via video-conferencing.

While the Uttar Pradesh government alleged in the court that there is collusion between Mukhtar Ansari and the Punjab Police, the Amarinder Singh government refuted these allegations.

The Punjab Government, on the other hand, raised questions over the maintainability of the plea filed by the Yogi Adityanath-led government. Appearing for the Punjab government, senior lawyer Dushyant Dave argued before the SC that article 32 is not maintainable in this case and that one state cannot get a case transferred from another state in such a manner.

Senior lawyer and former Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Ansari, submitted to the apex court that the accused has been appearing in all courts. He also argued that Ansari has been even acquitted in some cases.

Meanwhile, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said that “the respondent (Ansari) had flouted the law when in jail and outside the jail.”

“He is facing more than 50 FIRs. Look at his apprehensions. I am answerable and I have a responsibility in the society,” Mehta added. 

The apex court, however, after listening to both sides, had reserved its order in the case pertaining to the transfer of jailed politician Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh and ordered that the process be completed in the next two weeks.

Mukhtar Ansari successfully evading the UP police under the custodianship of the Congress-led government in Punjab

Interestingly, in October last year, the Punjab government had put Mukhtar Ansari on ‘bed rest’ for three months when a team of UP Police had visited Punjab to bring back the gangster. This was the fourth time when Uttar Pradesh police had returned empty-handed. Thrice prior to this incident, Mukhtar Ansari managed to evade the UP police with the help of the Punjab authorities.

The gangster-turned-politician has been in Punjab jail since January 2019. Ansari reportedly got himself shifted to Punjab jail fearing threat to his life in UP jails.

Mukhtar Ansari’s endearment for Congress is not unknown. Not many people know that notorious gangster Mukhtar Ansari is the nephew of India’s former Vice President and Congress leader Hamid Ansari. Pertinently, in 2014, Ansari had backed Congress candidate against Modi in Varanasi.

Yogi Adityanath government’s crackdown on Mukhtar Ansari’s illegal empire

While, Mukhtar Ansari was successfully evading the UP police under the custodianship of the Congress-led government in Punjab, back in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP Govt led by Yogi Adityanath continued to crack the whip on the economic empire and armoury of the jailed don. 

On November 1, 2020, the Ghazipur district administration had demolished illegal properties belonging to gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. The district administration demolished Ghazipur situated Hotel Ghazal which was being run by Ansari’s wife and his sons. The hotel was often referred to as Mukhtar Ansari’s ‘Taj Mahal’.

The state government had earlier demolished another illegal property in Dalibagh colony in Lucknow belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party leader Ansari. The administration seized several properties worth Rs 3.17 crores of aides of Mukhtar Ansari in Jaunpur. The Police also suspended arms licenses of Ansari’s four aides in July.

After admitting Sunrise Hospital had only “temporary permission”, Uddhav Thackeray says “most people” died of COVID-19, not the fire

OpIndia Staff
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After admitting Sunrise Hospital had only “temporary permission”, Uddhav Thackeray says “most people” died of COVID-19, not the fire

Today, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the Dreams Mall which houses the Sunrise Hospital in aftermath of a deadly fire last night, which has claimed at least 10 lives. However, in their respective statements, both the hospital and the Chief Minister have attributed the loss of life to COVID-19 and not the fire. In a statement, CM Uddhav Thackeray said, “Compensation will be given to families of the deceased. Most of the patients who have died were on the ventilator. I offer my condolences and apologies to their families.”

The Maharashtra CM also conceded to granting Sunrise Hospital “temporary permission” in order to operate a COVID-19 Hospital inside a shopping mall. “At some places, we had given permission for temporary hospitals due to the COVID-19 situation last year as per the requirement, and the hospital in the Dreams Mall was one of them. Efforts were made to rescue all but we could not save some patients who were on ventilator support.”, the CM said.

CM Uddhav Thackeray also apologized to the families of the victims of this tragedy, saying, “If there are any lapses or negligence, it will be investigated and action will be taken against those responsible. I apologize to the families who have lost their kin.”

Until Friday early morning, two casualties were reported. The BirhanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reported that two people had died in the fire. The Sunrise hospital, however, refuted the claim saying that those two deaths were not linked to the fire incident. “There were two dead bodies (due to Covid) that were also evacuated. There was no casualty due to fire,” the hospital said in a statement on Friday morning.

“This hospital was started in exceptional circumstances of Covid last year and has helped in saving many patients from Covid deaths. It is functioning with all due compliances like fire licence, nursing home licence etc. The hospital staff did a fantastic job in safely evacuating patients on wheelchairs and beds to the refuge areas and by following the fire drills,” the statement further said.

Contrary to what the hospital said in its statement, BJP leader Kirit Somaniya alleged that Sunrise Hospital had been operating illegally without attaining an occupancy certificate (OC). He alleged that BMC had issued an illegal conditional OC to the hospital during COVID. No safety/fire system was in place, Tweeted the BJP leader.

CNN News 18 has also accessed documents which show that Dreams Mall, Bhandup, flouted fire safety norms. There were no fire safety norms at the mall. Earlier, BMC had carried out an assessment on Mumbai malls regarding the fire safety norms and Dream Mall was amongst the 29 malls which were declared unsafe as it did not comply with the fire safety norms, reports CNN News 18.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Prashant Kadam, around 22 fire tenders reached the hospital to douse the flames. As many as 76 COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital, which is located on the third floor of a mall.

Speaking about the incident earlier today, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said, “This is the first time I have seen a hospital in a mall. This is a very serious situation. Seven patients were on ventilators. 70 patients have been taken to another hospital. There will be an investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire.”

Maulana who calls men bh*dwas for not putting women in Burqa has a Mamata Banerjee connection

OpIndia Staff
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Maulana who calls men bh*dwas for not putting women in Burqa has a Mamata Banerjee connection

Social Media websites are awash with a video of an angry rant by Maulana, who is seen screaming on the top of his voice and abusing the relatives of women who wear fitting clothes and avoid wearing burqas. In the video, the Islamist Maulana Jarjis Ansari Hafizullah, during the course of his speech could be heard calling the relatives of women who refrain from wearing purdah(Burqa) ‘bh*dwa’, a Hindi slang which means a ‘pimp’.

“How many times should it be reminded that those whose sisters, mothers, daughters and wives roam around without purdah are bh*dwa…A brother whose sister is roaming without a purdah is a bh*dwa, a father whose daughter is roaming around without a purdah is a bh*dwa, a husband whose wife is roaming around without a purdah is a bh*dwa,” Maulana shrieked.

Furthermore, a seemingly livid Maulana then goes on to explain that a bh*dwa is referred to as a ‘tayoos’ in Arabic and dares UP CM Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi that he will speak what he wishes to and nobody can stop him from explaining what a ‘bh*dwa’ means.

As it turns out, this is not the first occasion when Maulana Jarjis is seen flying in rage in a public address. On several occasions in the past, the Maulana could be seen spewing venom against PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath while throwing his weight behind the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Maulana Jarjis has been voicing support for Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Reports say that he has been campaigning for TMC in Bengal. A Zee Hindustan report had highlighted that Jarjis has been instigating Muslims in Bengal against BJP and PM Modi, indirectly pushing them to vote for TMC by spreading fear and hatred. Jarjis’ campaign has been highlighted in media multiple times for instigating hate, and violence.

Video from YouTube

Maulana Jarjis incites Muslims to take up arms against the government of India

. In his earlier video, Jarjis was seen inciting Muslims to take up arms against the government of India. In December 2019, a video of the Maulana was uploaded in which he was seen making vulgar and derogatory remarks against PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as he rejected the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) bill and falsely claimed them of being anti-Muslim.

The Maulana in his hate speech audaciously said that if Modi or Shah try to throw them (referring to the Muslim community) out of the country he would take ‘jihad’ to the last corner of India. He said, “inke baap ke baap ke baap ki bhi takat nahi hain ki humme bahar nikaal de (their forefathers also do not have the gall to throw us out of the nation), humme nikaal ke toh dikha Modi, hum bhi jihad karne se peeche nahi hatengein (try throwing us out Modi, we will also not hesitate in waging jihad).”

Rajasthan: Muslim mob assaults Hindu man-Muslim woman couple, video goes viral

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Muslim mob assaults Hindu man-Muslim woman couple, video goes viral

A video has gone viral on the internet that purportedly shows a Muslim mob harassing and thrashing a Hindu man-Muslim woman couple at a resort in Bigod, Rajasthan. The video shows the group assault the woman as well. Vulgar language was used as well.

The Rajasthan Police on social media has directed Bhilwara Police to take cognizance of the matter and take appropriate action.

The video was shared on Facebook in a public group titled ‘Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi Mission Rajasthan 2023’ by one Aslam Kurishi. In the caption, Kurishi admits that the Muslim crowd assaulted the couple and made the video viral so that others could see.

It is unclear whether Kurishi is a leader of the AIMIM in Rajashtan or merely a member of the group. It is unclear whether the group is officially linked to Owaisi’s party. It remains to be seen whether the Rajasthan Police takes any action in the matter.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admits suppressing explosive Hunter Biden story of NY Post was a mistake, downplays it as “process error”

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admits suppressing explosive Hunter Biden story of NY Post was a mistake, downplays it as “process error”

While speaking at a congressional hearing on misinformation and social media, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Thursday acknowledged that his platform made a “total mistake” by barring users from sharing The NY Post’s bombshell October report about Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s emails.

Twitter had also locked The Post out of its account for over two weeks over unsubstantiated allegations that the exposé used hacked information.

Dorsey downplayed the mistake by his social media platform by chalking it up to “process error”, assuring that Twitter does not have a “censoring department” that blocked The Post from tweeting last fall. Even though Jack accepted his company’s mistake, he did not reveal who was behind the decision, in remarks at a House hearing on Thursday.

When asked if any employee was “held accountable” for blocking the NY Post’s account, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey dodged the question, saying “we don’t have a censoring department”.

“It was literally just a process error. This was not against them in any particular way,” Dorsey told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

On being asked why Twitter had blocked The Post’s account for more than two weeks, Dorsey refuted saying that the company did not block them for two weeks. “We required them to delete the tweet and then they could tweet it again,” he elaborated. “They didn’t take that action, so we corrected it for them.”

Twitter had initially removed The Post story that was based on emails between Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, and an executive at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, claiming it to be sourced from “hacked materials”. In its defence, Twitter had claimed that it has a policy in place that forbade uploading content “obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger or contains trade secrets”.

Two weeks after The Post broke its story, on October 30, Twitter backpedalled and unlocked its account. Dorsey had earlier stated that the decision to block the story was “wrong“.

Twitter’s left-leaning bias and political interefnece

It is notable to mention that the story about Hunter Biden’s email conversation with a Ukrainian executive broke at the time when the United States was preparing for the Presidential elections between the incumbent Donald Trump and his rival Joe Biden, who is also the father of Hunter Biden.

The left-leaning liberals in the United States had thrown their weight behind Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden. With Twitter having admitted of its left-leaning bias, many analysts claim that the decision to suppress the Hunter Biden story by the social media behemoth might have been taken to prevent it from influencing the opinions against Joe Biden.

Besides, former US President Donald Trump has long accused Twitter of being prejudiced against him and his Republican Party. As American entered its presidential election year, Twitter’s efforts to undermine President Trump were on the rise. In May 2020, Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the US Presidential elections after it flagged the American President’s tweet with a “misleading content” label. The former president had also accused that Twitter has not extended the same kind of scrutiny to the left-leaning Democrat leaders.

Back in India as well, Twitter has been caught for its jaundiced propaganda against the Modi government. In December 2020, Twitter labelled a tweet posted by BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya as “misleading content”. Malviya in his tweet had exposed Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders for deceitfully using a misleading image to allege that the BJP government at the centre was brutally assaulting the farmers. However, instead of flagging the spurious image and tweets posted by the Congress leaders, Twitter moved to label Malviya’s tweet instead.

Twitter, however, did not show the same alacrity in branding misleading content posted by Congress leaders. Just recently, Congress IT Cell head Rohan Gupta had shared a cropped video of PM Modi to wrongfully allege that he is endorsing befooling poor, exploiting them for votes. The video was a manipulated clip of PM Modi wherein he was seen elaborating the Congress modus operandi of duping the poor, making false promises to them to remain in power. However, Twitter had then not extended any labels of “misleading content” on his tweet.

Yogi Adityanath reminds Mamata Banerjee about the sacrifice of Kothari brothers for Ram Mandir movement, Suvendu Adhikari calls her ‘Begum’

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi Adityanath reminds Mamata Banerjee about the sacrifice of Kothari brothers for Ram Mandir movement, Suvendu Adhikari calls her ‘Begum’

Launching a blistering attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during an election rally in her Assembly constituency Nandigram on Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invoked the Kothari brothers to remind Banejree about the state’s contribution to the Ram Mandir movement. Kothari brothers were Kar Sevaks who had sacrificed their lives for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

Slamming Banerjee for opposing the slogan of Jai Shri Ram in the state, CM Yogi reminded her that people from West Bengal had participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. “Kothari brothers were born in West Bengal only”, said CM Yogi. “Kothari brothers sacrificed their lives for Ram temple movement of Ayodhya. A memorial of their sacrifice is there in Ayodhya. Their dream of Ram temple is being fulfilled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, he added. CM Yogi thanked the people of West Bengal for making huge donations for Ram temple construction.

CM Yogi accused Mamata Banerjee of being concerned only about infiltrators in the state. He said that she did not even ban cow slaughter in the state fearing that her vote bank would be lost.

Suvendu Adhikari called Mamata Banerjee ‘Begum’

Former TMC stalwart Suvendu Adhikari, who will be giving a fight to Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, accused her of insulting Hinduism for vote bank.

Adhikari, who referred to Banerjee as ‘Begum’ recalled how the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had used a Bangladeshi celebrity for election campaign during 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Taking a veiled dig at the statement made by TMC leader Sheikh Alam about creating four Pakistans in the country, Adhikari said that TMC was an anti-national party. Speaking at an election rally Sheikh Alam had said that if all the 30% Muslims came together, they could form four Pakistans.

Eighth phase elections for 294 seats of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly start tomorrow. The elections will be conducted between March 27 to April 29. The results for the elections will be declared in May 2.

US House Rep remembers the Bengali Hindu Genocide of 1971, Indian ‘liberal’ rushes in to prove why the mass slaughter has been forgotten

K Bhattacharjee
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US House Rep remembers the Bengali Hindu Genocide of 1971, Indian ‘liberal’ rushes in to prove why the mass slaughter has been forgotten

Progressive member of the US House of Representatives, Ro Khanna, remembered the 50th anniversary of the Bengali Hindu Genocide on Friday. He said that he stands with the Bengali Hindu diaspora to ensure that the world never forgets “one of the most forgotten genocides of our time”.

After Ro Khanna made the tweet, Indian intellectuals proceeded to demonstrated precisely why the Bengali Hindu genocide of 1971 is “one of the most forgotten genocides of our time”. ‘Eminent intellectual’ Salil Tripathi jumped in to claim, without evidence, that the majority of those killed by the Pakistani Army were Muslims. Furthermore, he emphasised that they were targeted for being Bengali.

Tripathi mentioned one book, Blood Telegram authored by Gary Bass, which certainly does not peddle the narrative he believes it does. In reality, Bass’s book reveals the twisted mentality of the then Indian government, one shared by Salil Tripathi himself, that led the Indian State to downplay the Bengali Hindu genocide.

Bass wrote in his book, “From Moscow, D P Dhar, India’s ambassador there, decried the Pakistan army’s preplanned policy of selecting Hindus for butchery, but, fearing inflammatory politicking from rightist reactionary Hindu chauvinist parties like Jana Sangh, he wrote, ’We were doing our best not to allow this aspect of the matter to be publicised in India’.”

Imagine the perversity of it for a moment. The Indian Government at the time covered up the genocide of Bengali Hindus in 1971 because it believed ‘secularism’ will come under threat in India. Swapan Singh, the then External Affairs Minister of India, is said to have told a meeting of India diplomats in London, “In India we have tried to cover that up but we have no hesitation in stating the figure to foreigners.”

“Singh instructed his staff to distort for their country: We should avoid making this into an Indo-Pakistan or Hindu-Muslim conflict. We should point out that there are Buddhists and Christians besides the Muslims among the refugees, who had felt the brunt of repression.” Genocide denial became the unstated policy of the Indian Government.

The book also noted that “senior officers like the COAS [chief of army staff and CGS [chief of general staff] were often noticed jokingly asking as to how many Hindus have been killed.” “One lieutenant colonel testified that Lieutenant General A K Niazi,who became the chief martial law administrator in East Pakistan and head of the army’s Eastern Command,asked as to how many Hindus we had killed. In May,there was an order in writing to kill Hindus from a brigadier.”

“There was a general feeling of hatred against Bengalis amongst the soldiers and the officers including generals. There were verbal instructions to eliminate Hindus”, the book states.

A user on social media pointed it out to Salil Tripathi that the book does not say what he believes it says. The user shared a photograph of a page in the book which explicitly describes how Hindus in East Pakistan were made a target.

The page in question notes that the staffers of Archer Blood, the US Consul General in Dhaka, noted that “evidence of selective singling out of Hindu professors for elimination, burning of Hindu settlements including 24 square block areas of Old Dacca and village built around temple… Also attack night of March 26 on Hindu dormitory at Dacca University resulting in at least 25 deaths.” It was also noted that “Hindus seem [to] bear brunt of general reign of terror.”

Scholar Shrinandan Vyas, in his research paper at IIT Kanpur, stated that of the 3 million killed in 1971, 2.5 million were Hindus. Senator Edward Kennedy and Pulitzer winner journalist Sydney Schanberg noted that Hindu houses were marked with a bright yellow ‘H’.

Vyas notes, “Nearly 2.5 million Hindus were killed during the 9 months of Pakistani Army repression of East Pakistan in 1971. Thus it was a Hindu slaughter in 1971.”. “Indian Government controlled ‘secular’ media deliberately hid the sinister truth of Hindu Genocide in East Pakistan,” he added.

The barrage of propaganda unleashed by the Indian Government all those years continues to have repercussions today. People who remember the genocide of Bengali Hindus are branded communal. It is another sordid reminder of the fact that Secularism in India is built over the corpses of Hindus and the misery of our people.

Where is ‘Bengal model’: A non-intellectual response to the intellectuals of Bengal

Abhishek Banerjee
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Where is ‘Bengal model’: A non-intellectual response to the intellectuals of Bengal

Intellectuals occupy a unique position in Bengali society, or so they believe. These people live the life of the mind, or so they say. They read endless books, though all on the same subject. They watch countless movies from around the world, with or without subtitles, though all have the same basic plot. And ultimately, they express themselves, through writing or art or film, in really predictable ways. Even though they never actually take part in the life of ordinary people, they tell us what to think. As polling in Bengal draws near, a number of these artists and performers have taken to Youtube to tell us that they are not neutral.

Good; they don’t have to be. And while they show a rapid succession of headlines attacking the Central government and Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states, they do not name any political party. Very well, I can play along.

They warn us of some big pandemic-like threat coming towards Bengal. This threat will sweep away everything that Bengal is supposed to stand for. Which reminds me: what does Bengal stand for?

Let me ask a fundamental question. Why so much negativity, such anger, in how these intellectuals express themselves? Bengal has been a bastion of liberal, secular and progressive politics for 70 years. As the election unfolds, why not show off all the wonderful things that this liberal, secular and progressive politics has done for the state? Why not show off the “Bengal model” to the world?

Surprised? But why? Why does nobody ever speak of the Bengal model? Let us see: the state allegedly had the best economic planners, the most independent thinkers, the most vibrant space for dissent and the most social harmony. You say that all this is coming under threat now. Very well then, show us all that you have achieved in all these years. Show us the skyscrapers, the rivers of milk and honey and the long lines of people from other states flocking to Bengal for work.

You speak of a dangerous ideology coming into the state from outside. You talk of how this ideology has spread everywhere, like a pandemic. But, how come their ideology has spread and yours did not? You say you believe in education while the outsiders are murkho (illiterates). Then how come you get outwitted by the illiterates at every turn? Is it possible that your ideas do not produce tangible results?

Indeed, why the fear of the ideology of Gujarat spreading into Bengal? Why not go to Gujarat and fly the glory flag of Bengal? Make a Gujarati language video and promise to teach Gujarat how to become prosperous like Bengal. Who is stopping you?

This is what is called a sanity check. It is not found in your philosophy books nor in clouds of intellectual cigarette smoke. As a general rule, if you are paranoid about outside ideas and outside people, you must not be very successful yourself. Do you know how many Bengalis are forced to work in low wage, low skilled jobs in Bangalore? And yet, when a young leader from Bangalore visited Kolkata to take on your Chief Minister, he was met with paranoid name-calling and the tag of bohiragoto (outsider). This is an admission of your failure to deliver for the people of Bengal. And the fact that you take pride in this makes you a loser.

You have forgotten who is the incumbent in this election in Bengal. Or you would rather not discuss it, because you cannot bring yourself to admit the truth. But, whether you like it or not, this election in Bengal is about asking you questions. Once upon a time, Bengal used to lead India. What have you done with India’s industrial and intellectual powerhouse? You will have to answer these questions rather than pointing fingers at outsiders and calling them names.

And what has become even of Bengal’s famed cultural sphere? One hundred years after Tagore, are you not stuck rehashing his plots and characters? The most ‘original’ thing you have done since is replace his lyrics with vulgar street abuses and go around on Basanta Utsav showing them off on your body. Yes, the photos from students at Rabindra Bharati University went viral. It’s a free country. Do whatever. But don’t be surprised if people stop taking you seriously. And then you have to hide behind made-up regional pride.

Once upon a time, Bengal was a land without fear. The British used to fear the rise of Bengal, which is why they had to partition it. Swami Vivekananda took his ideas all the way to Chicago and shared them. Today you intellectuals are teaching Bengal to fear the Bihari Hindu next door because apparently Durga is ours and Ram is theirs. Imagine what you have become.

Do you want to see the cultural influence of Bengal? Every year, tourists flock to Kanyakumari to see the spot upon which Swami Vivekananda mediated. Everyone in India wants to claim the legacy of Swami Vivekananda, including the RSS students organization, the ABVP. India’s national anthem was written in Bengali. The popular Vande Mataram? Also Bengali. If Bengal could do all this when India was not even an independent country, imagine what it could have done since independence. Who is to blame here? The outsiders?

In 2012, when Narendra Modi set out to win his third election in Gujarat, he began a month-long Vivekananda Yuva yatra across the state. In 2021, Mamata Banerjee wants to win her third election in Bengal for which the official handle of the TMC tweeted out: “Bengal rejects Gujarati manifesto.” Feeling small yet? Tell me again how you are educated and everyone else is murkho (illiterate).

Since 2012, Modi has taken his Gujarat model all around the country. What have you done since? Hidden in your own mohalla grumbling about outsiders? And now that the Gujarat model has come to your neighbourhood, all you can do is call them names and look for ‘traitors’ on the inside. The other day, a Bengali theater actor announced that he is joining BJP. His liberal director fired him on the spot. Big win for your ideology, I must say.

If your liberal, secular and progressive values had done any good, you would have something to show for it. You would have the Bengal model to show the world. You don’t have any. Instead, you just have your small-minded paranoia and name-calling. But paranoia is not the new strength. Poverty is not new wealth. Being predictable is not the new creativity. These are old traits of every loser in history.

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