Home Blog Page 4563

Facebook faces trouble as countries around the world tighten the noose on the social media giant

The social media giant Facebook is in hot water recently, with legislations and fines targeting the goliath company cropping up in multiple countries. One proposed legislation in Australia, which passed the Australian House of Representatives last night, will require social media websites to pay Australian news organizations for links shared on their website. In Italy, Facebook faces a fine of seven million euros ($8.45 million) from an Italian competition watchdog for failing to comply with a previous order related to improper use of its users’ data.

Australia

A new legislation which has already passed the House of Representatives will require social media websites to pay Australian news organizations for links shared on their websites. Whereas, Google has already struck a deal with Australian news mega-corporation News Corp, Facebook has refused to play ball with the Australian government. In retaliation against this new ‘Media Bargaining law’ as it is known in Australia, Facebook blocked people in Australia from sharing news stories. Not only that, the Facebook ban also blocks posts by Australian publishers from being seen around the world. Due to the Facebook ban, Australians are unable to view news on Facebook, even from Non-Australian sources. William Easton, Managing Director, Facebook Australia and New Zealand, wrote this regarding the proposed new law:-

“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content. It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”

There were many unintended consequences of the Facebook Ban. The ban ended up targeting many Australian essential services. Facebook blocked user access to FB pages like 1800Respect, which is an Australian Domestic Violence helpline, the West Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the Bureau of Meteorology. Many FB pages of essential and emergency services for Fires, Covid etc were also unavailable because of the ban.

The Facebook ban has met with a huge backlash in Australia, from the Prime Minister to the regular Australian citizen.  “Facebook needs to think very carefully about what this means for its reputation and standing,” said Australian Communications Minister Paul Fletcher. The Australian PM Scott Morrison took to Facebook itself to slam the Big Tech giant.

“Facebook’s actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing. I am in regular contact with the leaders of other nations on these issues. These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them. They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they run it.”

Facebook has since then removed restrictions on essential services FB pages for Australians, but the mood is still sour. The new law is expected to pass through the Senate later this week. The hashtags #DeleteFacebook and #BoycottZuckerberg are still trending on Twitter as Australians delete their profiles to protest Facebook’s news ban. The Australian PM, in a direct statement, said that Facebook has “attacked a sovereign nation” and, “shown tech giants think they’re bigger than governments”.

Italy

On Wednesday, The Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM) fined Facebook Inc and Facebook Ireland Ltd. to the tune of $8.45 million for failing to implement a 2018 order, requiring them to abandon a wrongful practice in the use of user’s data. Facebook also failed to publish a corrective declaration disregarding the requests from the watchdog.

In November 2018, the AGCM had found that Facebook uses its subscriber’s data in a way which violates Italy’s consumer code. The regulator also found that Facebook was misleading local users over how their data would be collected and shared with third-party services. For all of these violations, the AGCM had inflicted a fine on Facebook of around 10 million euros ($12 million). However, Facebook managed to get the penalty reduced to 5 million euros in early 2020.

The additional penalty enforced today against Facebook is because of Facebook’s failure to fully comply to the 2018 AGCM ruling. In a press release, the AGCM clarified its ruling saying:-

“[Facebook] has not published the corrective declaration and has not ceased the ascertained incorrect practice: Despite having eliminated the claim that Facebook is free when registering to the platform, immediate and clear information is not yet provided on the collection and use of user data for commercial purposes. According to the Authority, this is information that the consumer needs to decide whether to join the service, in light of the economic value Facebook places on the data.”

Facebook has faced a similar fine in Hungary, requiring to pay around $4.3 million to the country’s competition authority for falsely advertising its services as being free.

There is a clear global upswing in rhetoric and action against Big Tech monopolies like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon etc. Countries around the world are now realizing that trillion dollar multi-national companies like Amazon are becoming more powerful than most governments around the world. With the Big Tech censorship of U.S. President Donald Trump, arguably the most powerful man on Earth because of his office, it is now dawning on multiple countries around the world that the power and influence of Big Tech can influence democracies and elections in almost any country on Earth.

‘Lokpal bill movement led by elites like Kejriwal and Sisodia will create a parallel govt’: When Arundhati Roy made sense a decade ago

Fiction-writer Arundhati Roy had made countless blunders in her life to the extent that at one point she had confused Karsewaks burnt in Godhara in 2002 to the Karsewaks who demolished the disputed structure in 1992. Roy has been anti-BJP and anti-Modi all her life, and it is hard to believe that she can talk about something without an agenda or without goofing up. However, once upon a time in 2011, she perhaps made sense for the first and possibly the last time.

During an interview with Sagrika Ghose on CNN IBN, Roy raised several doubts about Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement. Showing her pleasure in the fact that Lokpal Bill did not make its way to become a law, Roy claimed that the Bill was a clear case of drawing a parallel government that will have power over the ruling government in India. Roy talked in detail about the role of Kejriwal and how he had allegedly received funds from international organizations like Ford Foundation.

The movement of elite

One of the significant concerns Roy had at that time was that it was not the moment of the poor or suppressed. It was, in fact, build and promoted by the elite class protesting against the government. Manish Sisodia and Medha Patkar, who are Roy’s associate, were part of the movement, but according to Roy, their presence made no difference. Arundhati said that though Anna Hazare was in the limelight and the whole movement was allegedly his brainchild, in reality, it was the elite class including Arvind Kejriwal and Sisodia who were running the show.

Role of World Bank, Ford Foundation and association with Kejriwal

During the interview, Sagrika asked Roy about one of her articles that she wrote for The Hindu in which she alleged that NGOs of Kejriwal and Sisodia had received over $400,000 from Ford Foundation in three years of time. Roy claimed that the group of ten people who were the top ‘management’ of the movement had well-funded NGOs. She said that three core members of the team had won Magsaysay Award which is also funded by Ford Foundation.

It may be noted that the same Magsaysay award, which is celebrated by left-liberals, also has a direct link with the CIA and the United States America, the two entities that the left-liberals hate the most. The details of the award were explored in our 2019 report.

The list of donors included Coca-Cola and the Lehman Brothers. She said, “Kabir, run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, key figures in Team Anna, has received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation in the last three years. Among contributors to India Against Corruption campaign there are Indian companies and foundations that own aluminum plants, build ports and SEZs, and run Real Estate businesses and are closely connected to politicians who run financial empires that run into thousands of crores of rupees.” Roy said she was unable to understand why these corporate were so enthusiastic about the said movement.

The misplaced agendas and decade of propagandas

Since the India Against Corruption movement sort of ended with the downfall of the Lokpal Bill a decade ago, India has seen a lot of changes. Some misplaced agendas came to light in the period, including Kejriwal’s dream of becoming a politician. Using the movement for his own good, Kejriwal not only formed Aam Aadmi Party but also won assembly elections in Delhi three times.

However, the moment NDA took over the power at the centre Kejriwal’s anti-BJP and anti-RSS side became more evident. He has called PM Modi names and tried his level best to go against the central government on several occasions. Instead of taking care of Delhi, he even contested Lok Sabha elections against PM Modi only to get defeated by a huge margin of over 3.3 lakh votes.

In recent times, his party members were found involved in anti-Hindu Delhi Riots and even provided support to protesting farmers outside Delhi where his government did not have the jurisdiction. Interestingly, he also came in support of Disha Ravi and other activists who are allegedly linked to Khalistani outfit Poetic Justice Foundation. The same Disha Ravi was also supported by Khalistani terrorist organization Sikhs For Justice.

Activists had prepared second ‘toolkit’ to organise a Twitter storm aimed at “creating unrest” in Delhi, could not execute it: Delhi police

The Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police probing the Greta toolkit case has confirmed that the ‘activists’ involved in the creation of a ‘toolkit’ on the ongoing farmers’ protests had prepared a second document also. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the second toolkit aimed at organising a Twitter storm to “create unrest” in Delhi on February 4 and 5.

The ‘activists’ had used hashtags related to the violence during January 26 tractor rally in the second toolkit to incite their supporters on social media, but were unable to release and execute it, said the Delhi police.

The police officials privy to the case added that the second document was created by High Court lawyer Nikta Jacob, Shantanu Muluk, the two activists who have also been accused of creating and sharing the first document, along with a UK-based activist Marina Patterson, who is allegedly linked with the global movement “Extinction Rebellion” or the “XR”. Patterson was named in the first document who was repeatedly seen editing it and deleted her Twitter profile.

“The plan mentioned in the second toolkit, however, could not be executed. We suspect it happened because the toolkit was accidentally tweeted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on February 3, the day Ravi shared it with her and coaxed her to act on it. Since the Google toolkit documents contained objectionable content, Ravi panicked, asked Greta to delete the tweet, took the admin rights and removed her name from the toolkit,” the report quoted a second senior police officer associated with the case as saying.

Delhi police write to Google seeking details of both ‘toolkits’

The officer further informed that the Cyber Cell has already written to Google requesting it to provide details of both the toolkit documents to ascertain who actually created, drafted and edited them, and with whom was it shared.

The ‘toolkit’ fiasco

Following the footsteps of other international celebrities like pop star Rihanna and porn star Mia Khalifa, environmental activist Greta Thunberg had also taken to Twitter to show her support for the ongoing farmer’s protest in India. While doing so she inadvertently also tweeted about a ‘Toolkit’ that interested people can use to support her ’cause.’ However, the toolkit was not just a resource file but an explosive document showing how anti-India forces have been trying to create unrest in India and demean India at an international platform.

Soon after the blunder was noticed and being discussed on social media platforms, Greta deleted the document, and all linked documents to it were either made private or moved or completely thrashed. However, by that time, a lot of content was downloaded, sorted and redistributed by social media users.

Following the outrage over the ‘toolkit’, Delhi Police Cyber Cell sprung into action and lodged an FIR against pro-Khalistan creators of the toolkit for waging a “social, cultural and economic war against the Government of India”.

21-year-old ‘climate activist’ Disha Ravi’s arrest was the first arrest made by the Delhi Police in connection with the case. On February 14, Delhi police picked up Ravi from her house in Soladevanahalli in North Bengaluru on February 14, for editing and distributing the contentious toolkit, accidentally leaked by Swedish Andolanjeevi Greta Thunberg.

Non-bailable warrants were issued against one Shantanu and one Nikita Jacob, who had also had created and distributed the toolkit.

Currently, Nikita Jacob has applied for anticipatory bail, after the Delhi Police issued a non-bailable warrant against her. She is reportedly absconding from the law.

It was also reported how Nikita Jacob (absconding), Shantanu and Disha Ravi (a climate ‘activist’ directly linked to Greta Thunberg) were involved in editing the toolkit in real-time to remove all problematic references (including the names of media houses, references to Khalistan etc), when the document went viral.

It was Disha who had asked Greta to delete the toolkit after it was tweeted with the active participation of Nikita Jacob, who is alleged to be an AAP activist too. Further, Jacob and Disha were present at a Zoom meeting with Khalistani Mo Dhaliwal of Poetic Justice Foundation where they had hatched the entire plan to create unrest. Mo is also intricately involved in the formulation and distribution of the toolkit that detailed how to break India.

‘Incident a result of political rivalry between TMC and CPI’, Indian Railways reacts to attack on minister on railway platform in West Bengal

0

After the dastardly crude bomb attack on West Bengal’s Labour Minister (MoS) Jakir Hossain at the Nimtita railway station in Jangipur sub-division, Indian Railways has issued a statement condemning the attack.

Denouncing the West Bengal police working at the behest of WB CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, the Railway Department stated that maintaining law and order is a subject matter of the state.

Indian Railways denounces lawlessness in the state

“It may be noted that law and order is a state subject and the state police are fully responsible for it. Law and order on Railway platforms are under the preview of the Government Railway Police (GRP) of the state government,” Railways stated in a forthright reply to WB CM Mamata Banerjee.

The Department was responding to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee after she sought a reply from the Railways saying that since the attack took place on its premises, it has to answer.

Attack on minister of West Bengal linked to internal feud in TMC and rivalry between TMC and CPI(M): Indian Railways

The Indian Railway statement specified that the attack on the minister was prima facie a result of political rivalry between the ruling TMC and the CPI(M) party since Jakir Hussain had defeated CPI(M) candidate Somnath Singh Rai in the last election.

“The CPI(M) had organised demonstrations near Nabanna last week, where Police had to resort to lathi-charge to control the crowd. One CPI Member had succumbed to injuries sustained in this lathi-charge, due to which there was an environment of tension in the area. CPI had further called for Rail Roko from 11 AM today as a mark of protest”, read the statement issued by the Railways.

The statement further stated that the attack may also have some links to the internal feud among the TMC cadres, as Jakir Hussain himself had filed a police complaint in 2017 against two TMC members, who were giving him death threats.

The department confirmed that immediately after the blast, relief and rescue measures were immediately initiated by the Indian Railways. RPF and other Railway authorities rushed the injured to hospitals where they are being treated.

Disturbing visuals of the bomb attack on the WB Minister

Earlier in the day, we reported how the video of the crude bomb attack on the West Bengal minister was captured live on camera, where Hossain was seen walking with a group of people when seconds later, an explosion took place.

BJP calls out lack of law and order under Mamata Banerjee’ regime

Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal condemned the incident and said, “I condemn the dastardly bomb attack at Nimtita Railway Station in West Bengal. My prayers are for the quick recovery of the injured”.

Both BJP national general secretary in-charge of Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya and BJP state president Dilip Ghosh condemned the attack, while the latter also called out the lack of law and order in the poll-bound state of West Bengal.

Rail Roko protests pass off without any untoward incident, 8 Railway zones don’t report a single stoppage of trains

0

The Rail Roko protests today by the farmer unions against the three farm laws passed off without any untoward incident. Although the four-hour train blockade caused stopping of some trains in some places in the country, overall, there was negligible or minimal impact of the blockade on the running of the trains.

Out of total 18 Railway zones in the country, 8 of them didn’t report a single case of stoppage of trains, and these zones remained free of the protests. The eight zones untouched by the Rail Roko protest were North Central Railway, South Eastern Railway, Southern Railway, South East Central Railway, Northeast Frontier Railway, North Eastern Railway Central Railway and South Western Railway.

The ‘rail roko’ protest was announced by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmer unions leading the protests against the farm laws. Farmer union workers today gathered at railway stations in several places in the country and blocked train tracks as part of a four-hour protest from 12 pm to 4 pm. The Railways had deployed 20 additional companies of RPSF troops during the protest, especially in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Even in the Northern Zone, the impact of the Rail Roko was minimal, where around 25 trains were regulated. Protestors sat on tracks in many places in Punjab and Haryana, disrupting movement of trains. But as the protest was for four hours, trains are expected to run with some delays, instead of having to cancel them.

The railway blockade was the third major demonstration by farmers, following the Republic Day tractor rally which had turned violent, and the ‘chakka jam’ on February 6. The farmer leaders had announced that the ‘rail roko’ protest will be peaceful, adding that the agitating farmers will do what they can to avoid inconveniencing passengers.

Outrage over PopSugar article asking Rihanna to apologise to Hindus: Just another needle that punctures the ‘farmer protest’ bubble

Rihanna has attained notoriety in India in the recent past, and certainly, not for the right reasons. Rihanna had tweeted in support of the so-called farmers, who have been protesting against farm laws that benefit the actual farmers of the nation. In the process, the Khalistanis-led ‘farmers’ had unleashed violence on the streets of Delhi and indulged in an attempted insurrection, by ‘occupying’ the Red Fort on the 26th of January. The support by Rihanna and others like baby protestor Greta Thunberg came only days after the insurrection.

What followed was nothing short of shocking. Greta Thunberg tweeted a ‘toolkit’ that detailed a plan to destabilise India. Written and distributed by Khalistanis, the toolkit already had the names of Greta Thunberg and Rihanna. They were mentioned as the global ‘celebrities’ who were to support the ‘farmers protest’. Interestingly, the document contained the exact tweet, with the article link, that Rihanna was supposed to tweet. The involvement of Poetic Justice Foundation, a Khalistani organisation was also revealed. Its founder, Mo Dhaliwal, had proudly gone on record several times in the past to talk about Khalistan and breaking India. Interestingly, as the media investigated the story, it was also revealed that Rihanna was paid $2.5 million (roughly translates to about Rs 18 crores) by Poetic Justice Foundation to tweet in favour of the rioters laying siege on Delhi.

Expectedly, Rihanna’s foolish and perhaps greedy support to the rioters created an ocean of backlash in India. Many questioned her knowledge on the subject of farm laws and her locus standi to interfere in the internal affairs of India. Many also asked her if she endorsed the terrorist Khalistani ‘movement’ that aims to break India and is an attack on the sovereignty and integrity of a democratic nation.

In this ‘toolkit’ case, Indian law enforcement agencies have made substantial progress. They have arrested Disha Ravi, the woman who headed Greta Thunberg’s organisation in India and was instrumental in the formulation and distribution of the Toolkit, they have also arrested one Shantanu who was editing the document shared by Greta and they have an arrest warrant out for one Nikita Jacob, an alleged AAP activist and lawyer who was also involved in the writing and distribution of the toolkit.

However, the subject of this article is slightly different.

After the fiasco, Rihanna, perhaps staying true to her drug-addled self, posted a picture recently where she posed nude, wearing a necklace with Lord Ganesha.

Outrage over PopSugar article asking Rihanna to apologise to Hindus: Just another needle that punctures the 'farmer protest' bubble
Rihanna posing naked with Lord Ganesh necklace

Now, it is obvious that Rihanna has no devotion to Lord Ganesha. The explicit reason, many theorised, for her to pose naked with the necklace was to slight the majority population of the country, Hindus, who the Khalistanis wish to suppress. The explicit aim of the terrorist Khalistani movement is to break India and carve out a state exclusive for Sikhs. In the process, Hindus have been slighted, mocked, killed and mobbed. Since it was Poetic Justice Foundation, a Khalistani organisation, that roped Rihanna in to support an insurrection in India, one could theorise that her action of mocking Hindus was also the handiwork of the Khalistanis and since Rihanna does not seem to be very bright, she perhaps thought it was what she must to get back to her ‘trolls’ (basically, Indians who were questioning her stupidity).

Given that Rihanna either deliberately, due to another tranche of payment or, her genuine affiliation with Khalistanis chose to mock Hindus to get back at Indians who questioned her, American outlet ‘PopSugar’ published an article that argued how it was time for Rihanna to apologise to Hindus.

Outrage over PopSugar article asking Rihanna to apologise to Hindus: Just another needle that punctures the 'farmer protest' bubble
Article by PopSugar

In the article, author Nikita Charuza writes, “While the singer is clearly promoting her new Savage x Fenty line, which just got $115 million in funding, I’m baffled by what made her think it’s OK to appropriate another culture. Rihanna was wearing a necklace of a god, which is incredibly sacred to Hindus. For those who don’t know, Ganesh is a Hindu god who is believed to be the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles. I understand that many outside of the religion may not immediately understand what the big deal is, but once you learn the meaning, it’s easy to see that celebrities truly need to stop using other religious symbols as their aesthetic, because it’s getting old”.

The author further details how Rihanna apologised after another show of hers showcasing lingerie, where a song included the Hadith. After Muslims were outraged, Rihanna had posted a heartfelt apology for her error. Now, the author questions that if Rihanna can apologise for appropriating the Islamic culture, why can’t she just apologise to the Hindus?

The author had, of course, made a cardinal sin. The sin of expecting Hindus to be accorded the same respect that Muslims get. Because Muslims are the sacred community that does no wrong and must be apologised even at the slightest possibility of being offended. The global Left and Islamist nexus is not exactly a concept we are unfamiliar with, however, it is not just the Left-Islamist nexus at play here.

The predominant hand at play is that of Khalistani sympathisers and terrorists, driving the narrative and ensuring that global celebrities like Rihanna are seen insulting the Hindus faith. Why one might wonder. The answer is clear – When Hindus are slighted and deliberately insulted, while they don’t exactly blow themselves and others up like certain other faiths that must not be named, they do voice their opinions. And when those visible on social media vociferously voice their sense of insult, it is used then by the Khalistanis to allege that Hindus are ‘radicalised’, merely for voicing their objection to a deliberate insult of their faith. That then, in turn, fuels the hate more. In the process, Rihanna can be painted as a victim of attacks by The Hindu majority because she supported the “innocent farmers” (they are not innocent though. They indulged in rampant violence, leaving over 400 police personnel hurt. The movement itself is driven by Khalistanis and not farmers).

Now, once we understand why Rihanna insulted Hindus and why Hindus are angry, we also need to understand why the article published by PopSugar is receiving backlash by the usual suspects.

Meher, a ‘feminist writer’ (yes, most of the silly ones define themselves thus) took strong exception to the article published by PopSugar. Joining her in her unbridled outrage was another ‘feminist writer’ (told you) Suchitra Vijayan.

One is not exactly sure what they are taking offence to. Perhaps the fact that Rihanna is being asked to apologise to Hindus (they did not seem upset when she apologised to Muslims), or the fact that the author has theorised it could be a clap back to Hindus by the appropriation of their culture (which seems obvious). Or are they simply upset that this article was published in American media and not an Indian media outfit?

You see, the explicit aim of the Khalistani toolkit was to ensure that India gets embarrassed in the global community. International slight was the aim of the Delhi Riots conspiracy and of the farmers protest conspiracy. There is a reason why they chose Republic Day for their planned insurrection and violence. Now, when American media, even one portal, publishes an article that does not toe the line that the global left wants it to toe, the probability of their narrative crumbling to bits becomes a real and present danger.

Therefore, the outrage by Khalistan sympathisers and the global left does not really come as a surprise. Their aim was to create an International conversation around Hindus and how they are becoming “fascists” and an American outlet looking through that nonsense can prove to be a damper. None of us would really be surprised if PopSugar cows down to the pressure and takes the article down, however, with each such outrage cycle the stark reality of the farmer protests becomes clearer – it was never really about the farm laws. It was never really about farmers. It was about showing Hindus their place and every time Hindus resist, their attacks are only going to get more aggressive. The real question now is – are Hindus ready for it?

‘Farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait threatens to burn crops if govt asks to end protests

‘Farmer’ leader Rakesh Tikait today while addressing a rally in Punia, Haryana, threatened that if the government insists on farmers ending the protests, the farmers will set the crops on fire.

He warned that the central government should not be under any misconception that the ‘farmers’ protesting at various borders in Delhi will go back for harvesting the crops. He added that if the government insists that they go back, they will set the crops on fire.

He further threatened that if the government ‘ruins’ the situation, they will take the tractor rally to West Bengal, which goes for state assembly elections in few months’ time. Attacking Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government, he claimed farmers are not getting MSP (minimum support price) there either. Agriculture is a state subject.

The protesting ‘farmers’ carried out a tractor rally on 26th January 2021 when the official Republic Day parade was on. The rally turned violent after the ‘farmers’ took to rioting and attacked police with swords and tried to mow them down deliberately. The rioting ‘farmers’ then took siege of the Red Fort and unfurled various flags.

The Print tries to justify the brutal killing of Rinku Sharma by holding him responsible for his own murder

The cold-blooded murder of a young Bajrang Dal activist named Rinku Sharma in Mangolpuri area of the national capital by a bloodthirsty Muslim mob has left everyone shocked and terrified. The brutality of the incident has left people with many unanswered questions particularly concerning the safety of Hindus in the country. Amidst all of this, the ‘secular’ people in the country have gone dumb on the incident while some media portals are busy spreading their propaganda.

Rinku Sharma

The Print Report portrays Rinku Sharma as the culprit

At a time when the country has come together demanding stringent punishment for the killers of Rinku Sharma, the Print is busy peddling its propaganda by presenting new theories based on the version given by the family of the culprits. The Print report claims that the knife that was used to kill Rinku Sharma was bought by him and that it was he who started the fight. The report quotes the family of accused Nasruddin to say that Rinku was drunk that day and the fight started after he forced Zahid to drink alcohol.

The report also says that Rinku had invited Zahid and his friends to the party and then he started fighting with them after getting drunk. When the family of the accused got to know about the fight they went to intervene. The report alleges that Rinku pulled out a gas cylinder to attack them. Not just that, the report further alleges that Rinku had pulled out the knife to attack the accused.

The way the Print has reported the incident shows a lack of sensitivity on the brutal murder of a young Hindu man in his 20s. The Print comes forward to defend the accused and declare Rinku Sharma responsible for his own murder putting aside all the human sensitivity. The report should not be mistaken as an attempt to present a ‘neutral’ picture of the incident. The headline of the report has been deliberately framed to present Rinku Sharma as the culprit who actually started the fight insinuating that he deserved the fate he met.

Evidently, the report was written to cater to a certain section of people who have been desperately looking for clues to blame it all on Rinku Sharma so that they can preach about maintaining peace arguing that both the parties were at fault.

Chanting of Hanuman Chalisa

Fortunately, their propaganda is not going to sustain as the evidence of the brutal murder of Rinku Sharma are floating all over social media. Everyone saw that CCTV footage in which a bunch of 15-20 people are seen walking towards Rinku’s house carrying lathis. The footage also shows how they abused women and attacked the men. If there was no pre-planned conspiracy to kill Rinku Sharma, how come so many armed people gathered all of a sudden? While the family of Rinku Sharma is braving such a tragedy, the Print’s effort to whitewash and justify the acts of culprits cannot be called journalism. However, the media are incessantly busy ‘balancing’ the situation.

It is also clear that the killers had gone to Rinku’s home to kill him, and the incident didn’t happened at a party like the media reports, and even police, were claiming. Even of some scuffle took place at some earlier in the day, the actual crime took place at Rinku’s home, not any party. Moreover, videos make it clear that Rinku and his family was attacked by the mob soon after they entered their home, there was no argument over anything that led to the violence.

Chanting of Hanuman Chalisa continues in the memory of Rinku

About a week has passed since the brutal murder of Rinku Sharma but Rinku’s memory is fresh in minds of locals who are remembering him. Some people tell that Rinku kept repeating the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ while he was being taken to the hospital. Two of the accused present at the hospital named Zahid and Tajuddin had attacked Rinku’s friends. Zahid even tried to pull out the knife from Rinku’s back to erase the evidence. However, on failing to pull the knife out, he pressed it deeper. It had bothered the culprits that since the foundation laying ceremony of Ram Mandir, Rinku used to be organise a Hanuman Chalisa paath every Tuesday. However, the locals have continued to organise the Hanuman Chalisa path even after Rinku is gone.

OpIndia talked to Mannu Sharma and exposed the lies of media

When Senior Editor at OpIndia, Ravi Agrahari visited Rinku Sharma’s house on Tuesday to check the veracity of claims made by media regarding Rinku Sharma’s death, the Hanuman Chalisa paath was still going on. Our senior editor attended the Hanuman Chalisa paath and talked to Mannu Sharma.

Mannu Sharma exposed the lies propagated by media

Senior Editor Agrahari asked Mannu Sharma about the veracity of the claims regarding the birthday party and alcohol. Mannu Sharma dismissed the claims as lies and said that his brother was neither drunk nor did he try to force Zahid to drink and that there was no fight between Rinku and Zahid. He said that Zahid had attended the party with someone else and the fight took place between him and someone else. This had nothing to do with Rinku Sharma.

Mannu said that the accused had come armed to his house. He himself had opened the gate. He added that the culprits did not record their own acts and are circulating a clip where Rinku Sharma lifted the gas cylinder in self defense. Mannu alleged that the culprits wanted to kill the entire family but his brother came forward got killed. He said that the police are cooperating in the case. Mannu wants all the culprits to be brought to the book. He said he and his organisation do not intend to go against the administration.

While Rinku Sharma’s family is demanding justice, the Print is busy justifying the acts of the culprits by manipulating the incident. Dainik Bhaskar, on the other hand, is claiming that the members of a Hindu organisation are swearing to avenge the Rinku’s death despite Mannu’s clarifying that this is not his intention. The claims that Muslim families have left the area out of fear are completely false. The families of the accused who live about 20 metre away from Rinku Sharma’s house are still there and no one has left the area. Only the people involved in the murder of Rinku Sharma are absconding.

It is noteworthy that all the footages of the day of the incident have been obtained from private CCTV cameras. Mannu Sharma said that no evidence could be obtained from the cameras installed by the Kejriwal government. It is being said since after the day of the incident that the cameras were not working. Similar pattern was observed during the anti-Hindu Delhi riots where the claims of CCTV cameras installed in affected areas being dysfunctional since the riots started had started to emerge. The matter is being investigated by the crime branch. Five accused named Mehtab, Zahid, Islamuddin and Tajuddin have been arrested so far.

‘Will not allow Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar to work in Maharashtra’: Maha Congress Chief Nana Patole threatens

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Congress Chief Nana Patole threatened Bollywood celebrities Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, saying they would not be allowed to shoot or release any of their movies in Maharashtra if they did not speak on the supposed fuel price hike.

Speaking to the media, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said that the actors had tweeted about the high fuel prices during the UPA era but are quiet now. He said stars such as Bachchan and Kumar had tweeted when the price of petrol rose to Rs 70 per litre.

“But now the price is nearly Rs 100 per litre. Why are they not raising any voice? Don’t they have the courage to speak against the dictatorial Modi government,” Patole said.

Targeting the Bollywood actors, Patole said that the UPA government functioned democratically and hence they could criticise the Manmohan Singh government. He also demanded the government to reduce the fuel prices to give relief to the common people.

Besides high petrol and diesel prices, the price of LPG cylinder too has gone up to Rs 800, Patole noted.

“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people are facing a lot of hardship. Since international crude prices have come down, petrol should have cost Rs 35 per litre and diesel Rs 25 per litre,” Nana Patole said, adding that the party would launch a protest if fuel hike is not rolled back.

SP leader Abu Azmi says modern women enable atrocities against women, claims social evils have risen as women don’t stay behind purdah

0

Samajwadi Party leader Abi Azmi has given a controversial statement against women. On February 17, while commenting on the Priya Ramani case, Azmi alleged that modern women who get in live-in relationships, roam around with men and later blame men for sexual assault are among the reasons for atrocities against women.

Blaming the Indian laws that allow women to have live-in relationships with men, Azmi said that the direction is wrong. He cited Islamic law and said that in Islamic Laws women are not allowed to live or have any relationship with men without marriage. He alleged that every religion has the same law. He claimed that live-in relationships are part of western culture.

Azmi also blamed media for terming accused men as guilty while the investigation is still on. He urged media to show reality and not form any conclusions on their own.

Heated argument with ABP anchor Romana Isar Khan

ABP News anchor Romana Isar Khan had invited Abu Azmi to question him on his statement against women on her show ‘Samvidhan Shapath’. During the discussion, Romana and Azmi got into a heated argument over his remarks against women. Romana argued that if Azmi believes that the law is wrong, he should correct it. She further questioned Azmi why he used derogatory words against women and painted the wrong picture of modern women. She also asked Azmi if he believes women should not be free to work or go outside the house.

Azmi, who was visibly angry with the anchors’ comments, blamed her for misinterpreting his statement. He claimed that he and his party respects women and it was not correct to call him anti-women. When Romana said that the assaulters do not differentiate between a 2-year-old girl child and an 80-year-old woman and people like Azmi enable them by blaming women for being modern, Azmi called Romana a liar and claimed he never said anything against women. He said his statement was edited to make him look bad.

Woman, Parda and Dung

In his statement, Abu Azmi had mentioned that the Indian culture is not what modern woman illustrates, but it is the woman who has a feet long parda while carrying dung on her head. When Romana questioned him about the depiction of women in his statement, Azmi said that he saw a woman with feet-long ghoonghat and carrying cow dung on his head in a village he had visited some time back. He claimed that though there was no man around at that time, the woman was still in ‘parda’.

Romana questioned him why he could not find any woman as an example from cities like Mumbai but gave the example of a woman that he saw long bank in a village. Azmi claimed he found the woman in the village in sync with the Indian culture and said that modern women should go and live in western countries like America. Romana alleged that Azmi liked the woman in the village only because it was in sync with his patriarchal mentality.

‘Roam around naked for all I care’ said Azmi

When Romana argued if he wanted women to stay home like hostages, Azmi got irritated and said he does not care if she wants to roam around naked. Romana further asked if he feels those who do not wear Burkha are not wearing clothes at all. Azmi got rattled by cross-questioning and tried to divert the discussion to farmer protests. He said those who are supporting farmers are being targeted by the media.

Unnecessary hinduphobic comment

While arguing with Azmi, Romana made an unnecessary Hinduphobic comment in her show. She said that Azmi’s respect for women is similar because women are worshipped in the country where rapes happen too often.