Baba Ramdev on Friday released a scientific research paper on the first evidence-based medicine for COVID-19 by Patanjali Ayurved. According to Baba Ramdev, Patanjali’s Coronil Tablet, a medicine to fight off the coronavirus has received a certification from the Ayush Ministry as per the WHO format. The announcement was made in a press conference which was also attended by Union Ministers Dr Harsh Vardhan and Nitin Gadkari.
Coronil’s certificate of a pharmaceutical product (CoPP) is a certificate issued by the Ayush section of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation as per the WHO certification scheme, which establishes the status of the pharmaceutical product and the applicant in the exporting country. After receiving the WHO approval, Coronil will be available for exports to 158 countries across the globe to fight the menace of COVID-19.
It is notable here that the Ayush Ministry has now recognised Coronil as a medicine for supporting measure in COVID-19.
On the occasion, Baba Ramdev assured that best practices and recommended procedures have been followed in manufacturing the medicine. Baba Ramdev also took a swipe at the detractors of the Coronil Tablet, stating that some people think India is not competent enough to research in the field of Ayurveda, relying on research by foreign-based entities to be confident of the efficacy of a medicine.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan heaps praise on Ayurvedic medicine system
Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that Ayurveda has slowly gained prominence in a host of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and China. He added that across the world, Ayurveda of India is being institutionalised in the regular medical system. A doctor with a degree in Ayurveda is welcomed in many countries for the skill he/she possesses.
The Union Minister said the information on Ayurveda should be credited to the thousands of years old Vedas and scriptures. Dr Harsh Vardhan also spoke about how Ayurveda is massively contributing to the Indian economy and how it is increasingly being accepted within the country as well as abroad.
“Ayurveda has Rs 30,000 Cr economy in India. As per official data, it used to see a growth of 15-20% every yr pre-COVID. Post-COVID, this growth rate has risen to 50-90%. It’s an indication that people have accepted it. There’s a marked improvement in exports & FDI,” said the health minister.
Patanjali was earlier ordered to sell it only as ‘immuno-booster’
The scientific paper and the approval by the Ayush Ministry vindicates Patanjali Ayurved’s claims on its medicine ‘Coronil Tablet’ that it made during its launch last year. In June 2020, Ramdev had claimed that Coronil can cure COVID-19 patients. However, the Ayush Ministry immediately put restrictions on Patanjali on selling it. Later, the Union ministry confirmed that Patanjali can sell the product only as an immunity booster and not as a medicine to cure the infection.
Nearly eight months after the massive protests in the United States seeking to defund the police after the death of an African American man named George Floyd due to alleged police brutalities in Minneapolis, the city council members of the Minneapolis have now decided to spend millions of dollars on recruiting more officers to halt the soaring crime rate in the city.
On May 25, 2020, a 46-year-old black man – George Floyd, was killed after a Minnesota police officer knelt on the former’s neck for 7 long minutes until his body became unresponsive. Following his death, massive countrywide protests had erupted in various US states. Hundreds of protestors had hit the streets to protest against George Floyd’s death, who demanded their respective governments to stop funding the police department claiming that it represented only white Americans.
Succumbing to the civil society’s pressure, a month after the George Floyd incident, the Minneapolis City Council had unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s police department, saying that it was the first step toward establishing a new “holistic” approach to public safety.
In the move that had come after a national outrage and protests against the alleged police brutality, the council had defended its decision saying that the police force was largely white and stressed the need for defunding the department citing that the police had’ long struggled’ to reflect the city’s racial makeup.
Article by npr.org
However, a few months after deciding to ‘defund’ the police force, the city council members realised that not everything was going according to their plan.
City council members sound alarm after defunding the police
In September, Minneapolis City Council members, who had just two months ago moved to defund the police department, now sounded the alarm about a surge in crime in the city.
After removing the police force over the citizen protests, the same city council had to press the Police Chief Medaria Arradondo about the rise in crimes in the city, including daylight car thefts, robberies, assaults, shootings and street racing. The council members were now worried about the unanswered calls made by the residents to the Minneapolis Police Department.
With no one to blame, the Council President Lisa Bender had accused police of intentionally not enforcing laws or making arrests.
NY Post article
Well, some Minneapolis city council, realising the blunder they had committed by defunding the police officers in September 2020, decided to rethink their earlier decision. Following the rise of crime in the city, some of the city council members wanted to walk back on their decision.
Minneapolis city council rethinks its policy after surge in crime
Several council members who wanted to support the pledge to overhaul the Minneapolis Police Department, however, also wanted the council to re-consider different ways to do it rather than completely ‘defunding’ the police department. As Minneapolis residents lamented the lack of police presence within their communities, the council members had decided to reconsider their support for the earlier pledge of removing police.
Article about Minneapolis council members wanting to redo defund campaign
Police officer leave the force as pressure mounts
Nearly six months after George Floyd’s death and the subsequent public outrage to defund the police, Minneapolis city once again grappled with two major crises – an unprecedented wave of violence and a series of officer departures.
Following police officers’ departure, homicides in Minneapolis went up by 50 per cent, with nearly 75 individuals killed in the town. More than 500 individuals were shot with no police forces to secure law and order in the city. The Minneapolis police had contended that they are struggling to reply as they have confronted a surge of officer departures in the wake of Floyd’s demise and the outcry towards police.
Article about crime surge
Police Chief Medaria Arradondo had then stated that more than 100 officers had left the job due the pressure.
Minneapolis city council takes a u-turn, now wants to recruit more
In February this year, taking a complete U-turn on defunding the police force, the Minneapolis council members decided to spend $6.4 million to hire more police officers amidst the spiking of violent crimes in the city.
In December, the city council voted to cut $8 million from the police budget to balance public safety and root out bad officers. However, two months later, the city council has now voted unanimously to approve the additional funding.
Article by mdjonline
It is rather baffling to see the Minneapolis city council’s flip-flops over the issue of defunding the police forces on the one hand and failing to have a grip on handling violent crimes in the city on the other. The Minneapolis story of ‘funding and defunding’ certain objectives perfectly manifests the current flux in the American political system, especially after the Biden’s election victory.
On Thursday, VHP leader Champat Rai slammed NDTV after it tried to cast aspersions about the nationwide donation drive for construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya. Rai is the General Secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
During the programme ‘Reality Check’ on NDTV, ‘journalist’ Sreenivasan Jain decided to sow the seeds of doubt in the public mind about the ongoing donation drive. As part of the agenda, Jain sent a reporter to quiz Champat Rai about the collection that has been made so far. “How much money has been collected? What is the target?”, the reporter asked.
“We have no target in mind. Amassing wealth cannot be the goal of an individual in life. Money is Maya (unreality). It will come and go. And whose money is it? None should develop arrogance believing that it is his money. It is God’s money,” the VHP leader replied. On being pestered further, he said that it was no possible to update the collection every day, as contributions have been pouring from donors each day. Champat Rai added that as per estimates, a total of ₹1500 crores have been collected.
(Video Courtesy: Youtube/NDTV)
However, the NDTV reporter was not content with the answer. She further asked, “Will the funds collected in 1990s be used for temple construction? Will they be added into these accounts?” It must be pointed out that the issue of donations collected in the past has been raked up by several Opposition parties, including Congress leader Digvijaya Singh to suggest impropriety by the ruling dispensation.
A miffed Champat Rai replied, “This is a bad question… This is not even your question…Whoever has prompted you to ask this, tell him that I have said that he is a person of low intelligence. Whoever has told you to ask this question, tell him that he is a fool…Your Editor has no brain. He is a bogus man with a negative mindset.” The VHP leader further added that over 37000 volunteers are connected to the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank.
He emphasised that they have all details of the collection made and deposited by the 37000 individuals. “The banking system is such that they wouldn’t even allow the children of the karyakartas to deposit money on their behalf,” Champat Rai reiterated. On being asked about the controversy surrounding stickers being pasted outside homes of donors, he added that no such direction has been given by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust or VHP.
NDTV refers to Ram Janmabhoomi site as ‘disputed’
Ahead of the ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ of the Ram Mandir in August last year, habitual offender NDTV continued uploading posts on its social media pages, describing the Ram Mandir site as ‘disputed’. “The groundbreaking ceremony for the proposed Ram temple at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya will take place tomorrow,” read one of the Facebook posts uploaded by NDTV on August 4, 2020. This was not an aberration as another post uploaded the following day on NDTV’s Facebook page once again described the Ram Janmabhoomi as “disputed”.
“A temple to Lord Ram at the disputed site of Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi—awaited by many through decades of turmoil—will get started today with a ground-breaking ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other VIPs,” the post read. A barrage of criticism was directed at the NDTV for continuing to depict Ram Janmabhoomi as “disputed”, even though the Supreme Court, in its landmark judgment last year, had granted Hindus the site for the construction of a Ram Mandir over it.
The Association of Health Service Doctors of West Bengal has levelled grave allegations of nepotism and lack of transparency against the Mamata Banerjee-led government, adding that there have been several irregularities in the doctors’ recruitment process conducted by the government.
In a letter to the Chairman of the West Bengal Health Recruitment Board, the Association of Health Service Doctors of West Bengal (AHSD) has accused the health board of failing to follow the rule of law during the recruitment process resulting in eligible candidates losing out on the posts.
The doctors’ body said that they are in the deepest sense of anguish and pain to furnish the sorry state of affairs in West Bengal in connection with the irregularities and non-transparency in the recruitment process. In the letter, the doctors’ body said that they are committed to justice and implementation of the rule of law. The AHSD said they had written a letter expressing their concerns well ahead of the publication of the result of the recruitment process by the state government.
“But to our utter dismay, we see that the unprecedented proportion of intransparency and nepotism, failing all promises as made from your end, has transgressed all its limits. We are dumbfounded to mention the following gross aberration and discrepancies in this recently concluded episode which eludes minimum application of the rule of law,” said AHSD.
Image Source: Amit Malviya on Twitter
According to the doctors’ body, the irregularities have occurred at three levels. Firstly, there has been an irregularity in the undergraduate students’ appointment that has deprived the postgraduate doctors of being appointed as government doctors in the state. The AHSD alleged that the undergraduate doctors are rewarded through such appointments and was a ‘shameful’ compromise of talent, presumably orchestrated to serve some ulterior motives.
The AHDS also said that single candidates have been chosen for multiple disciplines from preclinical to super speciality. The letter said that the government had recruited many candidates, presumably under the influence of invisible power, for more than six disciplines or even greater, mostly having qualification not commensurate with essential criteria. The doctors’ body also said that the state government is not recruiting eligible doctors to the government posts despite having many vacancies.
Concluding the letter, the doctors’ association has demanded the repealing the already announced list and come out with fresh transparent merit list. The health service doctors’ body said that they would take the necessary legal course if the Mamata Banerjee-led government failed to address such irregularities in the recruitment process.
On the night of June 15th 2020, China had attacked Indian soldiers and unilaterally tried to change the status quo in Eastern Ladakh by attempting to intrude into Galwan valley. In the violent face-off where Indian soldiers managed to push the PLA soldiers back, 20 Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice and reportedly, China had lost 43 of their men. After the face-off, China had vociferously denied reports of casualties on their side and called it a misinformation campaign. Now, however, China has posthumously awarded honorary titles to 4 of those who had died during the attempted intrusion into India.
China’s state media People’s Daily reported today that four Chinese soldiers “who were sacrificed in last June’s border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title”.
According to Chinese media Global Times, the Central Military Commission awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, the title of “Heroic regimental commander for defending the border,” Chen Hongjun with “Hero to defend the border,” and awarded the first-class merit to Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran.
This is the first time that China has officially acknowledged that it suffered casualties during the Galwan clash with India. While China has now owned up to all 43 or more casualties, it is safe to assume that if China was forced to acknowledge 4 deaths, the actual casualties would be much higher.
The one name in the citation by China that stands out, is that of Chen Xiangrong. In August 2020, a picture of a tomb had gone viral on Chinese social media platform, Weibo. According to M Taylor Fayler, a Chinese expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the images of a tombstone of a Chinese soldier in Galwan valley was shared on a military forum in China, which describes details of the slain soldier. The picture identified the soldier as Chen Xiangrong.
The viral image of the tomb
“Tomb of Chen Xiangro. Soldier of the 69316 troops, from Pingnan, Fujian. He sacrificed his life in the struggle against India’s border troops in June 2020 and was posthumously remembered by the Central Military Commission.” read the epitaph, written in Mandarin.
It is pertinent to note that the citation by China and the name that was reported to be on the tomb, a picture of which had gone viral in August 2020 matches. One of the 4 soldiers awarded by China is Chen Xiangrong, which is the same name that was mentioned in the tomb epitaph.
Thus, after China awarded these soldiers and made their names public, we can safely assume that this picture that gone viral in August 2020 and was widely reported by a section of the Indian media, including OpIndia, was accurate and did indeed belong to a PLA soldier who had died during the Galwan clash.
While we know now, beyond doubt, that the tomb picture is authentic, back when it was reported, several Indian media platforms and journalists sympathetic towards China and those who were spreading canards in the aftermath of the Galwan Valley clash were trying their best to discredit the image that gone viral, along with other theories that they were peddling.
AltNews, the self-proclaimed fact-checkers, co-founded by Pratik Sinha and Mohammad Zubair was one such portal.
Right after the image had gone viral, AltNews had done a ‘fact-check’ of ‘viral images of tombstones’ of soldiers who supposed died during the Galwan Valley clash. The article headline read, “India Today Group, Times Now air old images of PLA cemetery as graves of Chinese killed in Galwan” and it was written by Pratik Sinha, Mohammad Zubair and one of their other propagandists.
The article was plugged by Mohammad Zubair on Twitter, while quoting journalist Sushant Sinha who had added two pictures in his tweets. One of what looked to be a graveyard and the other, of the specific tomb.
Tweet by Mohammad Zubair
The tweet, of course, slyly indicated that both these images were fake.
When one looks at the article plugged by Mohammad Zubair, however, one realises how manipulatively AltNews tried to discredit not just the picture of the tomb, but also the fact that China actually suffered casualties during the Galwan clash with India.
The article in question starts by attempting to discredit the first picture shared by Sushant Sinha, which shows a graveyard. The picture in question, that AltNews was desperately trying to disprove, was also aired by media outlets like India Today and Times Now. After attempting to prove that the first image was fake, they, towards the fag end of the article, plugged a tweet by journalist Geeta Mohan and claimed that a second image has also gone viral but while the image “might be recent”, they were unable to confirm the antecedents of the grave.
Excerpt of AltNews article
Right after they plugged this tweet with a mere one-line explanation, they had a separate section to talk about how misinformation was being spread on Social Media. In that section, they plugged the tweet of journalist Sushant Sinha and called it misinformation.
Excerpt of AltNews article
Plugging the tweet by Sushant Sinha, they simply mention that he plugged images of the Kangxiwa war memorial and claimed that he was spreading misinformation.
This entire fact-check by AltNews was a rather sly attempt to lay the seed of doubt in the minds of its readers that if the first image was proven to be of a war memorial and not of the Galwan Valley soldiers, then the other image of the tomb must also be fake news and this, is a standard tactic by Altnews. Several times Altnews makes tenuous arguments trying to slyly disprove something that is inconvenient to thair narrative by fact-checking something completely unrelated.
It is also worthy to note here that this was not the only ‘fact-check’ by AltNews that tried to discredit and disprove the fact that China suffered casualties during the Galwan clash with India.
On the 16th of June 2020, only a day after the Galwan clash where 20 Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice, Altnews in an article, essentially, tried to “fact-check” the “rumour” about 5 Chinese soldiers were killed during the standoff with India. The Chief Reporter with Chinese state propaganda channel Global Times had tweeted that 5 Chinese soldiers were killed and 11 were injured during the standoff. This news was then picked up by several Indian journalists and Media houses. It is to be kept in mind that these were initial reports and the reports of 43 casualties came only later.
Now, if the Chief Reporter of Global Times, which is a Chinese state propaganda channel, tweets the number of casualties, it is generally going to be considered to be coming from reliable sources. It turns out, China was not happy with its journalist going “rogue” and talking about the number of casualties on their side. GlobalTimes tweeted immediately “clarifying” that the portal had not reported any official numbers of casualties on the Chinese side. The Chief reporter of Global Times promptly deleted her tweets and unsurprisingly, blamed Indian Media for their misreporting claiming that her tweet was in turn based on Indian media.
From their very first ‘fact-check’, only a day after the stand-off, it was evident that:
AltNews was far more inclined to believe the word of GlobalTimes, a Chinese state-controlled media, than its own journalists. Since the Chinese govt was trying its best to hide casualties, it is entirely possible that at initial stages of information flow, the news was that 5 Chinese soldiers were killed and 11 were injured. For AltNews to “fact-check” this essentially does not make sense since it seems to be considering Chinese propaganda as the gospel truth.
AltNews actively helped China in its psychological warfare since the aim of hiding the numbers, to begin with, was to insinuate that it was India that suffered casualties and China did not.
It is pertinent to keep in mind that both journalist Wang Wenwen and Global Times are on Twitter with the explicit sanction of the Chinese government since Twitter is banned in China. Hence, AltNews helped the Communist state of China to spread confusion and further their propaganda at a time when India and China were face-to-face in a violent standoff.
The second article published by AltNews was headlined, “India-China dispute: 43 Chinese soldiers killed? Media outlets and journalists mislead”.
In this article, AltNews cited the tweets by ANI that said that 43 Chinese soldiers were either killed or wounded. Several Indian journalists reported that 43 Chinese soldiers were killed during the clash at Galwan.
AltNews wrote a ‘fact-check” saying that the news of 43 soldiers killed on the Chinese side was ‘fake news’ since the ANI tweet said that the number of casualties was 43, which included dead and injured.
Further, AltNews relied on GlobalTimes to further this ‘fact-check’. Calling the GlobalTimes and its Editor’s tweets as “official information”, the AltNews report said, “The Chinese government has not revealed the number of casualties on their side. The Editor-in-Chief of China-based Global Times tweeted this earlier today. Furthermore, no official figures on the Chinese casualties have been put out by the Indian army as well”.
Interestingly, there was a dichotomy in the two fact-checks by AltNews. While in the first ‘fact-check’, AltNews brands Indian journalists as liars for trusting the Chief Reporter of GlobalTimes, in the second ‘fact-check’, they cite the Editor of Global Times as an authority that is tweeting the official position of China.
In both these instances, the aim of AltNews seems to be simple – discredit India and give legitimacy to Chinese propaganda.
It is thus evident that from the very beginning, AltNews had found a new client and was desperate to disprove any news of casualty on the Chinese side and undermining the interest of India is not a new phenomenon for Altnews. The New Yorker magazine, in its article titled “Blood and soil in Narendra Modi’s India”, which is a ludicrous concoction of lies of fantastical proportions, downplayed the Pulwama Terror Attack and cast aspersions on the Balakot Airstrikes that followed. In its efforts, Dexter Filkins was assisted by none other than the founder of fake news portal AltNews, Pratik Sinha.
In a major development, a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader Kunta Srinivas and his two aides were arrested on Thursday for the gruesome murder of a lawyer couple near Kalvacherla village in Peddapalli district of Telangana.
As per reports, the victims have been identified as advocate Gattu Vaman Rao and advocate Nagamani. Both of them were practising lawyers at the Telangana High Court. On Wednesday (February 17), the lawyer couple were en route to Hyderabad from Manthani court when their car was stopped by the assailants near Kalvacherla village. The duo was brutally attacked with hunting knives and their body parts were chopped.
They bled profusely while the onlookers shot the video of the attack. By the time the victims were taken to the Peddapalli Hospital, they succumbed to their injuries. A video of the incident has now gone viral on social media. The footage showed an injured Vaman Rao lying on the road and taking the name of ‘Kunta Srinivas’, who is the President of TRS’ Manthani Mandal. His wife Nagamani lay gravely injured on the backseat of the car.
As per reports, the primary accused has been identified as Kunta Srinivas, He along with his aides, Veldi Vasantha Rao and Akkapaka Kumar, allegedly conspired to kill the victims over an illegal house construction, their past differences and a dispute over the construction of Peddamma temple. While speaking about the case, IG Y Nagi Reddy informed, “His henchmen killed Vaman Rao. Vaman Rao’s driver also confirmed that while dying and during attack, Vaman Rao had only named Srinu.”
On Thursday, the Telangana police nabbed the three accused, including the TRS leader, and an unnamed individual from the Maharashtra border. After the case came to light, TRS General Secretary M. Srinivas Reddy informed that Kunta Srinivas has been suspended from the party. The Telangana High Court has taken cognizance of the matter on Thursday and directed the Telangana government to expedite the probe in the double murder case.
Victims had alleged harassment by police
As per News Minute, the lawyer couple had recently moved the Telangana High Court, seeking a probe in the custodial death of a Dalit man named Seelam Rangaiah that took place last year at the Manthani police station. They were granted an ‘extended protection’ by the Telangana High Court earlier this month after they were reportedly harassed by the police and several FIRs were lodged against them at different police stations in the State.
Activist Chikkudu Prabhakar said, “The couple have been fighting against the government’s illegalities for the past few days in the High Court. They have been exposing how the ruling party leaders have been exploiting public funds. The state government should take responsibility for this murder.”
He informed that the lawyer couple had alleged threats to their lives and had sought protection from Bar Association, and the Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. He added, “Yet if they were killed in this manner, it is clearly evident that the ruling party members are behind the murder.”
Lawyers, civil rights group, students stage protest over the killing of the couple
The Telangana High Court Advocates Association (THCAA) has condemned the gruesome incident and demanded the prosecution of the culprits immediately. A call for protest has also been given by the executive committee of THCAA on Thursday. “It is high time to take steps and initiate measures to enact ‘Advocate protection Act’ to rescue the advocate fraternity,” it stated.
On Thursday, lawyers across Telangana staged protests, raised slogans, and took out rallies. The police detained 40 lawyers when they headed for Raj Bhavan, following demonstrations at Nampally Criminal Court complex. The move by the police was condemned as the lawyers said that they wanted to peacefully submit a memorandum, seeking protection for lawyers, to the Governor’ House.
The lawyers at the Telangana High Court also refused to work on Thursday to express solidarity with the deceased lawyers Gattu Vaman Rao and Nagamani. At the same time, the Law students of Osmania University have called for a ‘strike’ (bandh)on the university campus. They urged the State and Central government to enforce the Advocates Protection Act to ensure the safety of the lawyers.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has tendered an unconditional apology to a Mumbai-based Islamic organisation on Thursday a day after a complaint was registered against the media organisation for ‘hurting’ the sentiments of Muslims.
On Tuesday, an organisation named Tahaffuz Namoos-e-Risalat Board (Protection of the Honour of Prophet), backed by radical Islamic organisation Raza Academy, had filed a complaint against the BBC Hindi for disrespecting Prophet Mohammed in one of their shows.
Maulana Moin Ashraf Quadri, who is the head of the organisation, cleric Mohammad Saeed Noori and Congress MLA Amin Patel had approached the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh to register an FIR against BBC Hindi for the usage of a certain ‘blasphemous’ image in one of their shows. The clerics had demanded a strict action against the news outlet for depicting Prophet in their show.
Complaint filed against BBC by Raza Academy/ Image Source: Narayan Wagh
The letter stated that in a Facebook video about Ahmadiya Muslims in Pakistan, BBC had displayed a portrait with the prophet’s name written on it and it is ‘extreme blasphemy’ in Islam to portray a sketch of the prophet.
BBC apologises for ‘hurting’ sentiments of Muslims
A day after the complaint was lodged against the media organisation, the BBC has apologised to the radical Islamic organisation for allegedly hurting the Muslims’ sentiments. It comes as a surprise for many that BBC, which champions the cause of free speech, has capitulated against an Islamic organisation by issuing an apology immidiately.
According to the Times of India report, the BBC Hindi issued a statement to the Islamic organisation saying that they regret the offence they have caused by publishing Prophet Mohammed’s image. In a letter written by Mukesh Sharma, the editor of BBC, to Maulana Noorie, Raza Academy’s General Secretary, he said that the BBC has already revised the video and removed the contents that hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims.
In addition to this, an audio of a BBC journalist, who identifies himself as Iqbal Ahmad, has also gone viral. In the audio, Iqbal Ahmed can be heard speaking to Maulana Noorie and pleading to him to forgive the BBC and their employees for hurting the Muslims’ religious sentiments.
“BBC is ashamed for committing such a grave mistake, and an enquiry has already been initiated. I want to assure you that we at BBC understand the sensibilities and accept our mistakes. We profusely apologise for depicting such an image on our show that hurt sentiments of many. The BBC has also decided to remove the objectionable contents from the video, and we are ready to accept any of your demands,” said Iqbal Ahmad, as he pleaded with Maulana Noorie to forgive BBC for their mistakes.
News video with BBC journalist apologising to cleric
OpIndia could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio. However, we found that a ‘journalist’ named Iqbal Ahmed currently works for BBC Hindi as a Senior Broadcast Journalist.
Following the apology issued by the BBC, the Islamic clerics of the Raza Academy have accepted their regret. In a statement, Maulana Moin Mian said that as the BBC regretted their ‘error’ and removed the content, the issue is over.
“We had approached the cops with the complaint because we did not want any confrontation. It is good that BBC acted fast and the issue has been resolved before it went out of control,” said Moin Mian, the chief of the newly formed organisation Tahaffuz Namoos-e-Risalat Board that intends to seek legal remedies against such ‘blasphemous’ acts against Islam.
Following BBC’s apology, the Raza Academy has hailed the clerics for making BBC regret their ‘blasphemous’ action.
BBC denigrates Hindus and its culture, while it apologises to Muslims
The BBC, which often claims to be the epitome of freedom of speech, has a habit of brazenly carrying out Anti-Hindu propaganda to denigrate and attack Hindus and their culture. However, the left-wing media organisation has never cared about the sentiments of Hindus or Indians per se as they push false narratives.
Ironically, the BBC that claims of speaking truth to power has now surrendered against the radical Islamists in India, such as Raza Academy, for just publishing an image in one of their shows.
Raza Academy – a notorious radical Islamic organisation
The Raza Academy has been one of the notorious radical Islamic organisations that has instigated violence on the streets of the country in the past.
In August 2011, Raza Academy had staged a morcha at Azad Maidan ground to protest against the alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar, which later turned into a riot. The protest turned violent after one of the notorious group attacked the policemen leading to police firing in which two persons were killed and 63 persons, including 58 police officers, were injured.
Raza Academy, which had organized the protest, had earlier assured the Mumbai Police that only 1,500 people would turn up. However, more than 15,000 people assembled at the Azad Maidan and later, the crowd swelled to over 40,000 people resulting in Muslim mobs unleashing violence on the streets of Mumbai.
The most shocking incident of the Azad Maidan Riots was the desecration of Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial by the Muslim mobs. The war memorial is dedicated to the fighters of 1857 – the First Indian Freedom Struggle. The riots had caused approximately Rs 2.72 crores worth of damages to various public properties.
Earlier this year, Raza Academy had threatened with ‘law and order situation’ if the movie ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’ was not banned. The movie depicts the life of the prophet from birth till the age of 13. The Islamic organisation had issued a fatwa against AR Rahman, the music composer of the movie, and Iranian director Majid Majidi in 2015 as well.
The same Raza Academy has also filed FIR against Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, accusing him of spreading ‘communal hatred’ as he was reported on the Palghar mob lynching of two sadhus.
On the night of June 15th 2020, China had attacked Indian soldiers and unilaterally tried to change the status quo in Eastern Ladakh by attempting to intrude into Galwan valley. In the violent face-off where Indian soldiers managed to push the PLA soldiers back, 20 Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice and reportedly, China had lost 43 of their men. After the face-off, China had vociferously denied reports of casualties on their side and called it a misinformation campaign. Now, however, China has posthumously awarded honorary titles to 4 of those who had died during the attempted intrusion into India.
China’s state media People’s Daily reported today that four Chinese soldiers “who were sacrificed in last June’s border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title”.
Four Chinese soldiers, who were sacrificed in last June's border conflict, were posthumously awarded honorary titles and first-class merit citations, Central Military Commission announced Friday. A colonel, who led them and seriously injured, was conferred with honorary title. pic.twitter.com/Io9Wk3pXaU
Interestingly, while China had denied to own up to casualties on its side, in August 2020, months after China refusing to acknowledge the death of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers who lost their lives during the Galwan valley clash, reports had emerged that provided evidence of Chinese casualty in the recent clash with the Indian troops.
According to M Taylor Fayler, a Chinese expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one particular image showing the tombstone of a 19-year-old Chinese soldier who died in the “China-India Border Defense Struggle” in June 2020 had gone viral on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
“Tomb of Chen Xiangro. Soldier of the 69316 troops, from Pingnan, Fujian. He sacrificed his life in the struggle against India’s border troops in June 2020 and was posthumously remembered by the Central Military Commission.” read the epitaph, written in Mandarin.
The tombstone also reportedly read that the soldier, who was ‘Killed in Action (KIA) was born in December 2001 and was just 19-year-old.
According to Fravel, the tombstone also reveals information regarding the deceased soldier’s unit. The 69316 unit, mentioned in the tombstone appears to be a border defence company based in Tianwendian near the Chip Chap River valley, north of the Galwan Valley. He added these new set of images provided a narrow glimpse into the Chinese units that were deployed the Galwan River Valley.
Another source close to Fayer also said to him that the unit is part of the 13th Border Defense Regiment. This unit was named as “united combat model company” by the Central Military Commission.
These reports were, however, countered by several Left publications in India itself and China too had distanced itself from the image. With China now awarding 4 of its slain soldiers, it becomes evident that the casualties on China’s side were much greater that previously imagined. China has a penchant for downplaying its own losses and thus, while it has awarded only 4 of the slain soldiers during the Galwan clash, the real number of casualties is likely to be much higher.
Galwan valley clash
On June 15, the Chinese troops had attacked the Indian troops along the LAC near Ladakh border. The clashes had resulted in India losing 20 of its soldiers.
The fallen Indian soldiers were honoured by the government and their last rites were performed in the presence of government representatives, accorded them the due status of martyrs. PM Modi and the COAS had also visited to meet and speak to the injured soldiers.
After a Magistrate order dismissed a criminal complaint against ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra seeking the filing of an FIR against him for allegedly insulting the Indian flag, a sessions court in Uttar Pradesh has admitted a revision petition challenging the Magistrate order. The criminal complaint dismissed by the Magistrate order alleged that Kamra insulted the national flag by sharing a morphed picture of the Supreme Court replacing the tricolour hoisted atop it with the flag of the Bharatiya Janata Party (B JP).
Revision petition challenges the Magistrate’s order that dismissed criminal complaint against Kamra
According to Live Law, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Anuradha Kushwaha in Varanasi had issued a notice dated February 11, 2021 on the revision petition, fixing the date of hearing on March 2, 2021. Kamra had reportedly tweeted a picture of the Supreme Court painted in saffron colour with the flag of the BJP hoisted atop it. Kamra had also posted some highly derogatory remarks targeting the apex constitutional court of India.
The Magistrate order that is challenged in the revision petition had dismissed the criminal complaint against Kamra saying that offence was not committed in its local jurisdiction. The revision petition has been filed by Advocate Saurabh Tiwari who had approached the Court of Magistrate contending that Kamra’s actions had hurt the sentiments of the people of the country and had caused contempt and disrepute to the national flag.
Petitioner contended lack of jurisdiction cannot be cited when offence committed on social media
Aggrieved by the order of the Magistrate, Advocate Tiwari has now approached the Sessions Court in Varanasi contending that an FIR may be filed in Varanasi as the impugned actions were committed on a social media platform and therefore the offence is committed at all such places where his posts were seen on Twitter. Advocate Tiwari has urged that Kamra should be booked under section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971 and under sections 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Contempt proceeding in Supreme Court against Kamra
Kamra is also facing contempt proceedings in the Supreme Court. After Attorney General of India (AG) KK Venugopal granted the permission to initiate contempt proceedings against Kunal Kamra in November last year, the matter was taken up by the Supreme Court for hearing. A Bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah had taken up three contempt petitions against Kamra for hearing in December last year. The Supreme Court had, however, issued a notice granting liberty to Kamra not to appear in person. The hearing in one of the contempt cases against Kamra is scheduled on February 22, 2021.
In his third visit to the state ahead of much-awaited West Bengal Assembly elections, Home Minister Amit Shah has thrown an open challenge at the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress party in the state saying that no TMC goon will be able to stop the people of West Bengal from voting in the upcoming elections.
Sitting in the courtyard of the residence of Subrata Biswas, a migrant family from Bangladesh in Narayanpur village, South 24 Paraganas, Amit Shah told Republic TV that he wants to convey to the people of Bengal that no one should be afraid,” not even one TMC goon will dare to attack the voters on the voting day”, said the Home Minister.
#LIVE | मैं बंगाल की जनता को कहना चाहूंगा कि वह भय में मत रहें, जरा भी खौफ न रखें। चुनाव के दिन TMC के एक भी गुंडे के अंदर हिम्मत नहीं होगी कि वह बूथ पर जाकर हमारे भाइयों-बहनों को रोक सके: अमित शाह, गृह मंत्री
Union HM Amit Shah and other party leaders including Mukul Roy, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Dilip Ghosh had made a stopover at the house of Subrata Biswas, a migrant family from Bangladesh in Narayanpur village, for lunch.
Had lunch at Shri Subrata Biswas ji’s home in Narayanpur village, South 24 Parganas (West Bengal).
I thank Biswas ji and his family from the bottom of my heart for such warmth and hospitality. pic.twitter.com/XUB19txbs1
Shah furthered that the awareness amongst the people of Bengal has risen and when masses stand together it becomes difficult to terrorize them in a democratic country. Shah furthered that the BJP karyakartas have been working at the booth-level to ensure that the people’s mandate is respected. Moreover, “the Election Commission has been urged to make adequate security arrangements with the CRPF, and this time not a single TMC goons would be able to harm any of my sisters who go to cast their votes”, assured the Home Minister.
The union minister is on a two-day visit to the poll-bound state to kick off the fifth and final phase of Poribortan Yatra in Bengal.
Further Shah rebuked Mamata Government for not implementing central schemes in Bengal. Saying that he was elated to know that the home of the migrant family which he visited was built under the PM-AWAS scheme, Amit Shah said that it is unfortunate that the TMC government has implemented only 15-20 schemes out of the 115 central government schemes in West Bengal. “There is no percolation of Centre’s schemes in Bengal. The entire focus is on corruption”, said the HM.
Meanwhile, addressing an ocean of people who emerged to hear Amit Shah address the rally in Namkhana village of the South 24 Parganas district, Amit Shah proclaimed that the time to uproot the Syndicate Raj from the revered land of West Bengal has come. Violence and anarchy cannot stop the Lotus from blooming in West Bengal, said the HM.
He assured that when BJP comes to power in West Bengal, it will work towards implementing the Seventh Pay Commission. Shah said the economy of the state is in such a precarious position that the Seventh Pay Commission is not given to employees of the state government.
Speaking on his visit to Gangasagar, Amit Shah said that he was saddened to see the plight of the place which has such religious significance. Assuring that BJP would develop Gangasagar into a majot tourist hub, the Union Minister said: “The fair held at Gangasagar on the occasion of Uttarayan on January 14 will be given the status of international fair to bring tourists from across the globe,” said the union home minister.
Accusing Mamata Banerjee government of corruption, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said if voted to power BJP would constitute an inquiry into the siphoning off cyclone Amphan relief funds and book the culprits.
Speaking on the controversy over ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan, Shah said, Bengal CM gets angry at the slogan due to her appeasement politics.
Shah said BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ is not for changing a chief minister, an MLA or a minister but ending infiltration and transforming West Bengal into a developed state.
“This is BJP’s fight to make Bengal ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal). This fight is between our booth workers and the syndicate of TMC. It is not just our aim to bring BJP government after removing Mamata Banerjee’s ministry. “Our goal is to ensure that there is a change in the situation in West Bengal, a change in the condition of the poor of the state, a change in circumstances for women of the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, irked by Home Minister Amit Shah’s war cry that too, from Mamata Banerjee’s own den, the WB CM hit back saying: “One BJP ‘neta’ (in an obvious reference to HM Amit Shah) came and went to Sagar Island. He accused us of not doing anything for the development of Ganga Sagar. Every day he is challenging me.
Mamata Banerjee further reacting to Amit Shah’s bhaipo’ (nephew) ‘bharastachari’ (corrupt) jibe, said: “I would like to challenge Amit Shah, first, you contest against Abhishek Banerjee, then think about contesting against me. I would like to challenge him (Amit Shah) to bring his son (Jay Shah) in front and let’s have a democratic contest.”
