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Netizens hail Mamata Banerjee for inadvertently highlighting PM Modi’s focus on use of renewable source of energy by riding an e-scooter

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday travelled on an e-scooter in Kolkata to protest against the rising fuel prices.

However, considering electric scooters are a better, environment friendly alternative to conventional fuel-based vehicles which depend on petroleum, many netizens were amused at the strange form of protest.

Prime Minister Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari have been betting big on the electronic vehicle market. Recently, electric car giant Tesla also opened up an office in Bengaluru earlier this year.

Some even suggested what would have been the correct way to protest against rising fuel prices.

Some hoped that people follow CM Banerjee’s footsteps and switch to electric vehicles to save fuel as well as money.

Others also used this opportune time to seek justice for Sushant Singh Rajput, the Bollywood actor who died under mysterious circumstances in 2020.

As the election fever grips Bengal, political parties have upped their ante. Earlier today, the West Bengal police denied permission to AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi to hold a rally. It is believed that Mamata Banerjee is afraid that AIMIM’s entry into Bengal politics will eat away the Muslim vote bank for TMC.

UK: BBC criticised for ‘hostile’ interview of Zara Mohammed, the first female leader of British Muslim Council

More than 100 ‘prominent’ women in Britain have written an open letter to the BBC criticising the BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour for their “strikingly hostile” interview with Zara Mohammed, the first woman to lead the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).

According to the reports, Zara Mohammed had appeared as a guest on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme. In the interview, the host Emma Barnett had confronted MCB leader Mohammed on various issues of Islam, including the number of female imams in the country.

The Muslim Council of Britain is a national umbrella body representing over 500 Muslim organisations. In January, the 29-year-old Mohammed, who works as a training and development consultant from Glasgow, was appointed as the controversial Islamic organisation’s first female leader.

The interview has now given rise to a fresh controversy after several ‘prominent’ women of the United Kingdom, especially from the Muslim community, have expressed their discontent over the tone of the BBC radio show.

Conservative party leader Sayeeda Warsi, the Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Naz Shah, comedian Deborah Frances-White and many other women have taken offence to the interview and shot a letter to the BBC accusing the host of “persistently” asking how many female imams there are in Britain.

It labelled the interview with Zara Mohammed, the first female leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, as ‘strikingly hostile’ and called for a greater representation of Muslims within the BBC.

“Despite Mohammed’s repeated claims that religious adjudication was not within the parameters of her role leading a civil society organisation, Barnett asked the question about female imams four times, each time interrupting Mohammed’s answer,” the letter said.

Radio show was in the tone of accountability interview, says open letter

The women collective accused show host Barnett of interrupting Mohammed’s answer and claimed that the segment ‘mirrored the style and tone of an accountability interview with a politician, rather than authentically recognising and engaging in what this represented for British Muslim women’.

“The framing of the interview and clipping up of the ‘female imam’ segment for social media mirrored the style and tone of an accountability interview with a politician, rather than authentically recognising and engaging in what this represented for British Muslim women. Moreover, the false equivalence between imams with rabbis and priests in a religion that has no clergy reflected a basic lack of religious literacy needed for authentic engagement with British Muslim communities,” read the letter.

The letter’s signatories also criticised BBC for the lack of representation of Muslims within the media network. The open letter said part of the problem was that Muslim voices were “underrepresented at every level” within the BBC, especially in the production arm BBC Studios.

In addition to the open letter, the BBC has also received 564 complaints against the interview, as per reports.

BBC to ‘reflect on’ controversial Woman’s Hour interview 

Following the controversy, the BBC has released a statement saying that they will “reflect on” the concerns raised in the open letter against Zara Mohammed’s interview.

Defending the show, the BBC also added that Woman’s Hour host Emma Barnett asked a Muslim leader about “legitimate” issues. The show said it would “think hard” about reflecting Muslim women in their upcoming shows.

Director-General of the BBC – Tim Davie said he agreed with the programme’s response to the letter and that the BBC has “a responsibility to explore and debate issues within all communities”.

In a statement on Friday, the BBC said, “While we appreciate that people can sometimes have very differing responses to our live interviews and discussions, we believe it was legitimate for the programme to seek to explore some of the issues facing Muslims in the UK. Woman’s Hour however has always been a programme that listens to feedback and learns from the responses we receive; we will reflect on the issues and concerns you raise in this open letter.”

Further, the statement said that the show would commit to returning to this on-air soon and to deepen our engagement with the issues that matter most to Muslim women, as well as to look at representation across Woman’s Hour as part of the BBC’s plans to reflect the society they serve more accurately.

Davie also invited the writers of the letter, asking them to meet with some senior colleagues at the BBC to speak on the issues that they had raised in their letter.

Delhi Riots Chargesheet: Police use animation to show how rioters had destroyed CCTV cameras in a 3 km radius as per pre-planned strategy

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In a supplementary charge sheet filed in the case of conspiracy behind the anti-Hindu riots in northeast Delhi last year, Delhi Police has used animation to explain the chronology of events and present evidence. The artificial intelligence-aided animation shows how a group of rioters allegedly destroyed the evidence systematically during the violence that erupted in the last week of February 2020. 

Cops analysed CCTV footage from three dozen cameras

As per the sources, Delhi Police obtained and analysed footage from around three dozen CCTV cameras covering the 3-KM region around Jafrabad. Police found that a set of rioters who were armed with sticks started from Chand Bagh and slowly moved across areas in Mustafabad. They kept vandalising the CCTV cameras on their way.

The retrieved footage showed how they changed the direction of some cameras while they broke the others. On some cameras, they put a piece of cloth to cover their tracks. As per the Police report, the violence erupted in these areas soon after all the cameras were covered or destroyed.

As per TOI sources, the movement of the rioters was not a random one. They moved systematically. A source said, “The footage from CCTV cameras falling on the route from where the rioting crowd passed were mapped for this exercise. It was not a random movement. They moved forward in a very systematic manner, waiting for the cameras to be made dysfunctional.”

In the charge sheet, the police alleged that the systematic way with which the rioters moved proves that they know the exact location of the CCTV cameras. It is not possible to vandalise all cameras with such precision without any plan. For such precise action, there must be weeks worth of planning behind the violence. The police said, “It was not violence that happened at the spur of the moment. Vandalising cameras at a spot is another thing, but to be aware of every camera across a 3km radius requires time and planning. A proper recce over days would have made this possible,” the police have claimed.

So far, Delhi Police has filed three charge sheets in the case under investigation by the special cell. It includes cases against the alleged key conspirators of the riots, including former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, former student union leaders Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.

OpIndia’s investigation report on the chronology of events

OpIndia published a report on the chronology of events that took place since December 2019, leading to the anti-Hindu riots in February 2020. It is available as an ebook on Kindle. You can check it here.

‘Even toddlers in UP call people with red caps as goons’: CM Yogi tells Samajwadi Party

On February 24, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took a jibe on Samajwadi Party during the UP Assembly budget session. CM Yogi said that the leader of the opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary is a simple person, but he often loses track because of his involvement with the wrong party. Taking a jibe at the ‘Red Caps’ (wore by Samajwadi Party leaders), he said that the Assembly should not become a drama party. He asked if the members of different parties wear caps at their homes as well.

CM Yogi further shared a story of his visit to a basic school for a program where some people came to oppose him. He said, on seeing them, a two and a half-year-old child said, “Mummy, mummy look! Goons!” He further said that if someone had come wearing a turban or a safa, he would have welcomed him as it looks pleasing. The drama of wearing caps need to stop, he added.

When Samajwadi Party MLAs started creating a ruckus after CM Yogi’s statement, he said he did not take anyone’s name. “It is like a straw in the beard of a thief. I did not take any name. Why are you creating a ruckus in the house?” he asked.

Highlighting the former government’s association with mafias and criminals, CM Yogi stated that the former government used to take pride in placing criminals and mafias beside them. It used to instil a sense of fear in the psyche of the people. Perhaps the same association has made even children link the caps to goons.

CM Yogi asked SP leaders that the public wants to know why the leaders of the opposition party want to help mafias and criminals. He asserted that under his government, mafias, land grabbers and kidnappers have no place in society.

Ram Mandir is a national pride

CM Yogi said that the construction of the Bhavya Ram Mandir in Ayodhya commenced on August 5, 2020. There was nothing wrong in mentioning the achievement in the Governor’s address. “It is a matter of pride for the country. The world adopted Ram, and some people still feel the name Ram is hostile. Do you remember what demons of that time used to do?”

UP government’s COVID management was praised by WHO

CM Yogi said that UP had increased its capacity from 60 tests per day to two lakh tests per day. So far, three crore coronavirus tests have been conducted in UP. The government has formed special teams to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. There have been deaths in the state, but with the help of the central government, the death toll has been in control in UP. He further added that the WHO has also appreciated the pandemic management in UP.

CM Yogi took a jibe on Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi

Without taking the name of Rahul Gandhi, CM Yogi said that someone who had been an MP from Uttar Pradesh for 15 years is now ridiculing UP while sitting in Kerala and talking to students in the US. When Congress MLAs created a ruckus, he said, “I did not take any names. Why are you creating a ruckus?” He further added that someone is insulting UP and Amethi. It is dangerous and divisive.

While targeting Priyanka Gandhi, CM Yogi said that whoever comes to UP starts talking about temples. They are saying, ‘save Vrindavan.’ What will you save? Even Kans was not able to harm Vrindavan. During Covid, I was asked to give one thousand buses. Congress General Secretary wrote to me and said she wanted to give a thousand buses. But when we checked the vehicle numbers, it turned out some numbers belonged to scooter and three-wheelers. There is no need to do politics in everything. During the epidemic, Congress was making lewd jokes which were wrong, he added.

Maharashtra dethrones Kerala as new Covid hotspot, together account for 77% of new cases in India

Maharashtra has now become the major concern in terms of the fresh coronavirus cases in the country as it registered 8,807 new coronavirus cases and 80 deaths in the last 24 hours.

According to the state health department, the total count of cases reported in the state has gone up to 21,21,119, including 59,358 active cases. The state also reported 80 deaths on Wednesday, and the total deaths due to Covid in Maharashtra is 51,937. The fresh number of cases on Wednesday was significantly higher than the previous day when the state had recorded 6,218 new infections.

Maharashtra trends

As can be seen, from around 11th February itself Maharashtra has been showing a consistently upward trend of active coronavirus cases.

Mumbai alone has recorded 1,167 new Covid-19 cases, the highest daily tally in the last four months. The total cases in the country’s financial capital now stand at 3,21,698, while the death toll reached 11,453 with four new fatalities on Wednesday.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi-led Maharashtra continues to be one of the worst affected states in the country. The number of new cases in the state has increased since 10 February, with daily figures crossing 6,000.

Kerala and Maharashtra emerge as a coronavirus cluster

Kerala and Maharashtra together contributed more than 77% of India’s case count on Wednesday. Like Maharashtra, the pandemic continues to rage in Kerala, where 4,106 new cases of Covid-19 and 17 fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.

Kerala trends

To its credit, Kerala has been showing a downward trend after an unhinged infection rate in the state.

After failing to control the rage of the pandemic, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced a ban on all political, religious and social gatherings in the state. In his televised address, he also said that political agitations will not be allowed in the states for the next few days as they attract the crowd. He also warned Maharashtra will be put under a lockdown if the coronavirus situation in the state deteriorates.

Meanwhile, as cases continue to rise in Maharashtra and Kerala, the Centre has deployed multi-disciplinary teams to support them in effectively tackling the pandemic.

Relatives of Liyaqat and Rihasat Khan give death stares: Hindu man whose garage was gutted by Muslim mob during Delhi anti-Hindu riots a year ago

One year since the gruesome anti-Hindu riots broke out in the national capital, the fear of being persecuted by the Muslim residents still preys on the minds of the Hindus living in the violence-stricken regions of Delhi’s northeast, an eyewitness of the riots told OpIndia. 

“Hindus living in the area still refrain from passing through the Muslim-dominated region lest they would be attacked by a mob of bloodthirsty rioters,” the eyewitness, who was also a victim of the anti-Hindu riots that erupted in February 2020 said. 

Speaking to OpIndia, the eyewitness, Pradeep Kumar Verma, alleged that the prevailing situation on the ground is tense as there still exists bad blood between the communities following the riots in Delhi last year. The eyewitness, who has deposed against rioters, said the family members of those lodged in jail ominously glare at him and other witnesses. 

“The relatives of Liyaqat and Rihasat Khan, the father-son duo who were arrested for stone-pelting in the neighbourhood, give a death stare to me,” the eyewitness said. 

Elaborating on the lack of trust and perpetual fear gripping the neighbourhood, the eyewitness stated that Hindus in the region are advised against travelling to the Muslim-dominated regions alone. He highlighted a recent incident where a Hindu passerby was ruthlessly thrashed by a rabid Muslim mob in Mustafabad.

Pradeep Kumar Verma, a Hindu whose garage was gutted by Tahir Hussain and other Islamists has told the police that first, Shah Alam, Gulfam, Riyasat Ali and others broke open the shutter of his parking, burnt and damaged vehicles and also looted Rs 20-22 thousand. 

While this was happened, Tahir Hussain and others like Liyakat Ali were throwing stones, petrol bombs towards the parking lot and also instigating others to do so. 

Pradeep had earlier went on record and attested to journalists that he had heard the mob chanting ‘Hindu hai, maaro”, (kill them, they are Hindus).

Tahir Hussain bungalow sealed opened from the last 5-6 months: Eyewitness

The eyewitness, who is the resident of Delhi’s Chand Bagh, the epicentre of the anti-Hindu riots, said that the seal of Tahir Hussain’s bungalow was opened 5-6 months ago. 

Hussain’s house was used by communally charged Muslim mob to perpetrated violence against Hindu residents. Horrifying visuals of violent mob hurling Molotov and stones towards the Hindu colony had gone viral on the social media websites at the time of the riots. Tahir’s house was the place where slain IB sleuth Ankit Sharma was last seen before his body was found in a nearby ditch. 

The onlooker asserted that Tahir Hussain’s house has remained open after the ED visited the place some 5 to 6 months ago. He added that the house was owned by Tahir’s wife and is currently being used by people whose relatives are detained in jails for their involvement in instigating the violence. 

Muslim mob dragged Ankit Sharma inside Tahir Hussain’s house: Eyewitness

With respect to the murder of IB sleuth Ankit Sharma, the eyewitness reiterated his stance that he has deposed in front of the court. He said that he saw Sharma the last time when he was being violently dragged inside Tahir Hussain’s house by a group of rampaging individuals, days before his body was found in a drain in the area. Sharma was stabbed over 400 times, and his body was mutilated beyond belief.

Delhi: Labourers get angry at AAP after they are not paid Rs 500 promised to attend Kejriwal’s rally

Labourers in Delhi, who were promised Rs 500 attend Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal’s rally, are upset over non-payment of promised amount.

As can be seen in the video, the people wearing AAP caps can be seen visibly upset over non-payment of Rs 500 for attending Kejriwal’s rally. One person who attended rally said that one Mr Chopra had brought them to the rally on promise of Rs 500.

Kejriwal and AAP leaders carried out a roadshow in Shalimar Bagh and Bawana area of New Delhi ahead of MCD bypolls on February 28. However, it seems amid the poll promises, the payment promise to gather crowd for the rally was not fulfilled.

Kerala: RSS worker Nandu Krishna hacked to death, 3 more seriously injured by SDPI goons

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On February 24, R. Nandu alias Nandu Krishna, 22-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Shakha Mukhya Shikshak at Nagamkulangara in Wayalar village panchayat in Alappuzha was hacked to death allegedly by the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) goons.

As per reports, SDPI took out a rally on Wednesday evening in the Wayalar region of Alappuzha district in Kerala, where they raised provocative slogans against BJP leaders. It led to a clash between the two groups. During the clash, Nandu was hacked to death. Six others were injured in the clash, out of which two are in critical condition. BJP/RSS has called for a district-wide strike on February 25.

RSS objected to provocative speeches by SDPI

The Cherthala Police said that a program was organized by SDPI at Nagamkulangara where the leaders of the organization used some provocative words. After learning about the program, RSS activists gathered at the spot and staged a protest. So far, Police have detained six SDPI members in connection to the murder. To ensure law and order, extra Police forces have been deployed in the district. The RSS leadership has asked its workers to exercise maximum restrain during the strike to avoid any provocation.

Reports say that local SDPI and RSS workers had been at loggerheads for the last few days. On the day of UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s rally at Kasargod, the SDPI at Walayar had organised a protest, which was opposed by RSS workers.

SDPI and PFI have problematic past

SDPI is the political wing of the Popular Front of India (PFI). I have been involved in several clashes with RSS in the past. PFI was formed in 2006, and since then, it has been allegedly involved in several clashes and political murders. Several investigation agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have named PFI in many cases. The first module of Islamic State that NIA busted in Kerala had some members of PFI. SDPI was also named in the Bengaluru riots of August 2020.

Workers of Khalsa org and Kejriwal govt discriminated against Hindu victims: An eyewitness account after 1 year of Delhi anti-Hindu riots

It was 23 February 2020 when the months-long anti-CAA stir in the country reached a crescendo in the form of bloodcurdling anti-Hindu riots in the country’s capital, Delhi. The riots continued for days when the northeast region of Delhi witnessed unprecedented levels of violence, resulting in the deaths of over 50 people.

A year since the horrifying anti-Hindu riots convulsed Delhi, OpIndia spoke to the residents of the riot-hit northeast Delhi region to get understand the prevailing ground situation. One of the eyewitnesses of the communal flare-up made a sensational revelation that the volunteers of the Khalsa organisation, who had come to extend help to the victims in the wake of riots discriminated between Muslim and Hindu victims.

Speaking to OpIndia, Rahul Sharma (name changed) who lives in the Chandbagh area where Ankit Sharma was brutally murdered amidst chants of Allahu Akbar, contended that the workers of the Khalsa organisation disproportionately helped the Muslim victims of the riots while extending only token help to the Hindu victims.

The Delhi anti-Hindu riots have been one of the brute and macabre displays of street violence displayed by the Islamist mobs in recent times. 53 people died in the riots from both communities, Hindus and Muslims. The most ghastly cases that emerged from the riots were the murders of IB staffer Ankit Sharma and sweet-shop worker Dilbar Negi. While Dilbar Negi was dismembered and burnt alive, Ankit Sharma was mutilated, murdered and dumped in a Chand Bagh drain by a Muslim mob spearheaded by AAP leader Tahir Hussain. 

“Months after the violence broke out in the region, Khalsa members were seen in the locality helping in the rehabilitation of the victims. However, the support was marred with discrimination. The Khalsa members discriminated against Hindus and extended help predominantly to the Muslim victims,” the eyewitness said.

“Out of their 100 per cent of assistance, 90 per cent was directed towards the Muslim victims while the remaining 10 per cent was for the Hindus,” the eyewitness added.

Arvind Kejriwal government discriminated between Hindus and Muslims after the Delhi anti-Hindu riots: Eyewitness

Besides the discrimination from the Khalsa organisation, the eyewitness also accused the Kejriwal-led Delhi government of being partisan in helping the riot victims. The person accused the AAP government of being partial in extending relief material to the Hindus and Muslims.

“The AAP government had tremendously discriminated against Hindus and Muslims. The Kejriwal government had sent fruits, food grains to the various mosques in the region for their distribution among the Muslim inhabitants while the Hindus had to stand in long queues outside the ration shops for procuring food items,” the eyewitness said.

Tensions prevailing in Mustafabad after Muslims beat up a Hindu

When asked about the prevailing situation in the region, the eyewitness asserted that there is still an environment of simmering tensions in the region and things are not back to normal. He further added that the situation became tense after a motorbike-borne Hindu youth was mercilessly beaten up by a mob of Muslims in the Muslim-dominated Mustafabad.

“An incident took place in Mustafabad that did not draw much attention. A Hindu youth passing through the area was accosted by a mob of Muslims, who ruthlessly thrashed him. Following the incident, the Hindus in the region went to the area to confront the miscreants. If you light a matchstick, it is bound to catch fire” he said.

Gujarat: AIMIM to focus on Godhra while AAP on Saurashtra as Congress continues to fight for relevance during second round of local body polls

Buoyed by a remarkable performance in recently concluded local body polls in six municipal corporations in Gujarat, AAP and AIMIM have now decided to up their political games and decided to concentrate on the electorate which had voted for them.

A report in Sandesh says that AAP will now focus on Saurashtra region of Gujarat which has a considerable Patidar population while AIMIM will focus on Godhra and Bharuch, which has sizeable Muslim population. In February 2002, a train coming from Ayodhya carrying karsevaks, was set on fire at Godhra which led to widescale communal riots. AIMIM has won 7 seats in AMC polls and has fielded candidates for Modasa, Godhra and Bharuch Zilla and Palika Panchayat polls to be held on 28th February 2021.

As per reports, Godhra municipality has 11 wards for 44 councillors. Most of these candidates are independent as neither BJP nor Congress has usually fielded candidates in most of the wards. Of these 44 seats, 20 are in Muslim-majority areas. In 2015, all the candidates in these 20 seats were independent as neither BJP nor Congress fielded anyone. The AIMIM has been very active in these areas and is quite confident of emerging as a majority party.

On Tuesday, after AIMIM made an impressive debut in Ahmedabad polls, Owaisi held a public rally in Godhra and said that unlike Congress, AIMIM will not ignore Muslims. The Muslims in the area have also welcomed AIMIM with open arms. When he was on his way from Modasa to Godhra, a huge crowd of Muslims gathered to welcome Owaisi in Godhra.

On the other hand, AAP has fielded 304 candidates for Zilla Panchayat and 1067 for Taluka Panchayat polls of which majority are in Saurashtra rural region.

Meanwhile, following the humiliating defeat Congress district chiefs in Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat have already resigned. Ahmedabad district head has also resigned after taking responsibility of the defeat. On the other hand, Congress has suspended over 14 NSUI members for anti-party activities and 10 more are in the process of being suspended. Further, a list of 100 Congress members is created for helping other parties win while being in Congress.

In the recently concluded six civic bodies polls in Gujarat, over 1,340 candidates have lost their deposits. Of these, at least 178 Congress candidates have lost their deposits.

As reported by Sandesh, despite a lower voter turnout, there has been an increase of 2.8% vote share for the BJP. Whereas, AAP has cut into Congress’ vote share. Of the total 575 seats, the BJP won 482 seats and Congress won only 55 seats. Congress’ vote share has come down from 41.57% to 26.86%. Of the 14.71% vote share that Congress lost, AAP has eaten into 13.96% vote share while Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM has registered 1.45% vote share.