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Blast near Israel Embassy in Delhi being investigated as attempted terrorist attack: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Blast near Israel Embassy in Delhi being investigated as attempted terrorist attack: Reports

An IED Blast was reported outside Jindal House near the Israel Embassy in Delhi. Three cars have been damaged and forensic teams say that black powder was used. Jindal House is located at 5 APJ Abdul Kalam Road while the Israel Embassy is located at Bungalow 3. NSG and NIA teams have reportedly rushed to the spot.

The Delhi Police has confirmed the blast. The explosives were reportedly not very powerful.

Delhi Police said in a statement that no injury has been reported during the Jindal House blast. “Initial impressions suggest mischievous attempt to create a sensation,” the Police said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has issued a statement and said that the matter in being investigated by Indian authorities. They also said that the Foreign Minister were being regularly updated regarding the same and have been instructed to take all necessary security measures.

The blast is being investigated as an attempted terrorist attack and the Israel Ambassador has been assured security to the mission and all diplomats.

Delhi was stormed by protesters recently during the Republic Day when Khalistanis ran riot at the national capital and hoisted the Sikh Flag at Red Fort. It is not clear as of this moment who is responsible for the blast. Further investigation into the matter is underway.

Note: The report has been updated with new information.

As Kunal Kamra refuses to apologise for Tweet against SC, comic artist Rachita Taneja requests to separate her contempt case from Kamra’s

OpIndia Staff
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As Kunal Kamra refuses to apologise for Tweet against SC, comic artist Rachita Taneja requests to separate her contempt case from Kamra’s

A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan on Friday heard the plea seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against comic artist Rachita Taneja. Proceedings against the founder of webcomic Sanitary Panels was initiated after the Attorney General KK Venugopal granted consent on December 1, 2020, for contempt of court proceedings for her Tweets against the judiciary.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rachita Taneja, requested before the court that his matter be kept separate from comedian Kunal Kamra’s matter and hence asked for a different date of hearing.

Taneja’s request came as ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra refused to tender an apology for his tweet against the apex court for which a contempt notice was issued against him.

In his affidavit filed through advocate Pritha Srikumar Iyer, hours before the hearing on a contempt case against him on Friday, Kamra said that the works of judges should not be hampered due to jokes. He furthered that rather than criticism or commentary, it is the own actions of the judiciary which determines the extent of faith the public would have on the system. “Public’s faith in the judiciary is founded on its own actions, not on criticism about it,” read the affidavit filed by Kamra. 

“Should powerful people and institutions continue to show an inability to tolerate rebuke or criticism, we would be reduced to a country of incarcerated artists and flourishing lapdogs,” Kamra told the Supreme Court in his affidavit filed. He added if the court believes he has crossed a line and wants to shut down his Internet indefinitely, then he too will “write Happy Independence Day postcards every August 15 just like his Kashmiri friends”.

Kamra was issued a notice of contempt on December 18 over his tweets attacking the Supreme Court for granting Republic TV editor-in-chief TV Arnab Goswami bail after his arrest in an abetment to suicide case. Eight people, mostly lawyers, have filed cases against him.

The contempt plea was being heard after Attorney General KK Venugopal, on December 1, 2020, gave his consent for initiation of the contempt proceedings on him and on the founder of webcomic Sanitary Panels, Rachita Taneja, who had also Tweeted against the judiciary.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Taneja, further argued before the apex court that criticism of the court cannot be a contempt. “I don’t know why the Court has issued notice. The foundation of Court is much stronger,” Rohtagi submitted on behalf of comic illustrator Taneja today, implying that the Court’s majesty cannot fall by mere criticism.

Responding to Rohatgi, Justice Ashok Bhushan remarked: “We agree. But these days things are going a bit too far…”.

“Here is a girl aged 25 years. A criticism of the court is not contempt. There is a public perception of why the Supreme Court has taken up the case of a journalist on vacation. A criticism of the court is not contempt”, Rohatgi added, referring to the court hearing Arnab Goswami’s plea for bail on urgent basis during Diwali vacation. Here, Justice Shah, who was a part of the bench, interrupted and sternly asked senior advocate Rohatgi to simply file the reply for the show cause notice issued to Rachita Taneja.

Rohatgi told the court that he would file a reply in 3 weeks. Following this, SC adjourned the matter for 3 weeks.

For the uninitiated, the Supreme Court had issued a show-cause notice to the cartoonist with a direction to file a reply within 6 weeks. However, no reply has yet been filed on behalf of Taneja

A law student had approached the Attorney General urging him to grant the necessary permission to initiate a contempt proceeding against comic artist Rachita Taneja, the founder of webcomic Sanitary Panels, following her two Tweets dated November 11 and 12, through which Taneja had insinuated a quid pro quo relationship between the Apex Court and the Central government, alleging that on the govt’s direction, the court granted interim relief to Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. The AG had on December 1, 2020, granted permission for the same.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal falls for a parody account of anti-farm law protestor Rakesh Tikait

OpIndia Staff
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AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal falls for a parody account of anti-farm law protestor Rakesh Tikait

After maintaining silence over the violence and vandalism that transpired in the National Capital on Republic Day, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal finally decided to break his silence on Friday while he hailed BKU chief Rakesh Tikait and promised his support.

In a tweet, he said, “Rakesh ji, we are completely in support of the farmers. Your demands are valid. It is wrong to defame the farmers’ movement, call them ‘anti-nationals and to file false cases against farmer leaders who have been spearheading a peaceful agitation.” The Delhi Chief Minister had tweeted in reply to another tweet by one Twitter user (@rkeshtikait), who thanked Kejriwal for disbursing water to farmers at Ghazipur border.

Screengrab of Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet

Rakesh Tikait is one of the masterminds of the tractor rally, who fomented trouble in the national capital by instigating the so-called protestors to unleash violence on Delhi’s streets, which unfortunately ended with the shocking act of desecration of tricolor at the Red Fort and rampant violence.

However, another Twitter user (@BefittingFacts) pointed out that Kejriwal’s tweet was directed not to ‘real’ Rakesh Tikait but to a parody account. The parody account, which earlier had the username @kiransingh_077 changed it to @rkeshtikait and wrote, “This is the official Twitter account” in his bio.

Screenshot exposing the real identity of the Twitter handle via Befitting Facts
Image by @BefittingFacts

Twitter user @Befitting facts shared some old conversations of the handle which showed that the handle name @kiransingh_077 was changed to @rkeshtikait.

Several other parody accounts of Rakesh Tikait have also surfaced on Twitter. Another handle, which goes by the username, @rakeshtikat, had earlier posted a video of a girl dancing in skimpy clothes with the caption,’ Love you.’. The handle, with over 20K followers, had also claimed to be the ‘official’ account of Rakesh Tikait.

Another tweet by this account had declared love for ‘Akhilesh Bhaiya’, or SP chief Akhilesh Yadav last year.

Arvind Kejriwal deploys his ministers ‘to provide facilities’ to Rakesh Tikait

As the Uttar Pradesh government continues to handle the law and order issues at the protest site, the Delhi AAP government has now stepped in to cause more inconvenience to the public by sponsoring the protests. The Delhi government led by Arvind Kejriwal has now directed his ministers to make all arrangements for Tikait’s supporters so that they face no inconvenience.

According to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, CM Arvind Kejriwal decided to send help after riots-accused Rakesh Tikait asked him to make some necessary arrangements so the protestors can continue to camp at the Ghazipur border. He said that the CM ensured that Tikait’s requirements are fulfilled within a few hours. Sisodia said he would visit the border on Friday morning to see the arrangements.

Tractor rally mastermind Rakesh Tikait calls for violence

In the video that has gone viral now, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait can be seen asking his supporters and other protestors to be armed with Lathis ahead of the Republic Day tractor rally in Delhi. Asking the alleged farmers to carry Lathis and ‘Danda’, Rakesh Tikait can also be seen misleading the alleged farmers by saying that their lands would be snatched. “The government is not agreeing to our terms, and they will come to take your lands,” says Rakesh Tikait as he asks the farmers to carry tricolour along with the flag of their choice.

Alka Lamba falsely blames BJP worker for mowing down women protestors with a tractor on Republic day. Read details

OpIndia Staff
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Alka Lamba falsely blames BJP worker for mowing down women protestors with a tractor on Republic day. Read details

Congress leader Alka Lamba on Friday resorted to peddling blatant fake news pertaining to an tragic incident that killed two women and injured three in Amritsar during the tractor rally on Republic Day.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader Alka Lamba claimed that a BJP activist had run over his tractor the elderly women who were reaching to participate in the farmers’ rally. Calling it a gross misery, Alka Lamba put out misinformation accusing BJP of killing protestors and asked the media whether they would pose questions to the BJP leaders.

Contrary to the claims of Alka Lamba, there is no credible source to claim that the accused who killed the two protesting women and injured three others at a tractor rally during farmer protests ran over a group of women in Amritsar is a member of BJP. The accused identified as Makkhan Windy, a resident of Sukh Putra Gulzar Singh, had participated in the rally against the farm laws passed by the Modi government and it is unlikely that the tractor driver belonged to the BJP.

The incident:

On Tuesday, two protesting women died on the spot and three others were seriously injured after a tractor participating in the tractor rally during farmer protests ran over a group of women in Amritsar.

A group of farmers had organized a tractor rally in Vallah in Amritsar in Punjab on Republic Day to protest against the three farm laws passed by the Modi government. As the protesting farmers took out a rally, one of the tractors participating in the protests lost its control and mowed down the women protestors present at the spot.

According to an eye witness, a tractor pulling a water tanker ran over a group of women who were on their way to join the sit-in supporting the farmers’ interests after paying obeisance in Gurudwara.

The video of the incident has gone viral on the internet. In the shocking video, it can be seen how the tractor driver ran over the women protestors. He did not stop the tractor even as it trampled down the women protestors, who fought to save their lives.

The police said that the protestor who ran over the women did not know how to drive a tractor. The driver did not have any license to drive the tractor but participated in protests, the police added. It is not conclusive or proved that the driver has any connections with the BJP.

In a hurry to target the BJP, Alka Lamba resorted to peddle fake news claiming that it was some BJP member who was responsible for the tragic death of two women in Amritsar on Sunday. However, she failed to provide any evidence to back her claim.

As Priyanka Gandhi paints rioters as ‘farmers’, here’s a reminder how her father’s govt lathi-charged Rakesh Tikait’s father-led protest

OpIndia Staff
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As Priyanka Gandhi paints rioters as ‘farmers’, here’s a reminder how her father’s govt lathi-charged Rakesh Tikait’s father-led protest

Not long ago, we saw how the ‘farmers’ had unleashed mayhem in Delhi. Thousands of farmers breached barricades to march towards the Parliament and Red Fort as they kicked off their tractor rally on Republic Day. They resorted to vandalism as they ran amok on the highways, attacking the trucks and breaking the barricades that were put up by the Delhi police to control their route. Not merely that, they insulted the Tricolour by hoisting the Sikh Flag at the Red Fort.

While citizens and leaders across the political spectrum, vociferously condemned the violence unleashed by these protesting ‘farmers’ in the national capital, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has tweeted in favour of the rioters. Without speaking a single word of condemnation for what happened in Delhi on Republic Day, the Gandhi scion attacked PM Narendra Modi in her tweet in Hindi, mendaciously blaming him for breaking the farmers’ trust.

She wrote that it is a sin to threaten and terrify the ‘farmers’ of the country. “Attack on the farmer is an attack on the country. Prime Minister, do not weaken the country”, wrote Priyanka Gandhi in Hindi.

While the Gandhi scion is busing showing her immense ‘love’ and ‘sympathy’ for the agitating ‘farmers’ and blaming the Modi government for persecuting them, it becomes imperative to remind her of her own family legacy and her own party treated people who appeared to be actual farmers, unlike Khalistanis and rioters that are running amok in the streets currently.

In a farmers’ agitation that occurred 30 years ago in October 1988 when her father Rajiv Gandhi was at the helm of affairs, the Congress government had then tried every trick up its sleeves, including brute force, to suppress a protest led by the then Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader and Rakesh Tikait’s father Mahendra Singh Tikait, who had locked horns with the Congress government on the issue of farmers’ rights.

Rakesh Tikait’s father Mahendra Singh Tikait (middle) surrounded by farmers at the Boat Club during 1988 agitation (source: The Print)

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, almost 5,00,000 farmers under the guidance of Rakesh Tikait’s father, had occupied the Boat Club and its lawns, near Delhi’s North and South Blocks, with a litany of demands before the Rajiv Gandhi government, which included agrarian distress, delayed payments, complicated bureaucratic rules, and the apathy of the ruling dispensation towards their sufferings.

Farmers gathered at the Rajpath in 1988 in protest against the Rajiv Gandhi government (source: The Print)

The protest which was initially planned to last for one day had gone on for nearly a week. It had halted VIP movement in the area, days before the Parliament’s winter session was about to start. Already unpopular because of the Bofors scandal and the resignation of VP Singh, Rajiv Gandhi and his government came under pressure. 

To quell the agitation, the govt then stopped water supply in and around the area. Food supply to the agitating farmers was thwarted. Deafening music was played in the dead of night to unsettle the farmers and their cattle. When the farmers refused to concede, the Rajiv Gandhi government had allegedly lathi-charged and opened fired on Mahendra Singh Tikait’s led farmers rally. Two farmers had probably died in the firing then.

Thus, we have a situation where the Congress party had unleashed great violence on farmers agitating for what appear to be actual demands and here, we have Priyanka Gandhi targeting the government and accusing it of targeting ‘farmers’ who are, quite clearly, not farmers but rioters and have Khalistanis in their ranks. Locals have demanded that the protesters vacate the sites as well and even villagers have demanded that the so-called farmers return to their homes.

Priyanka Gandhi is encouraging rioters and Khalistanis here, and painting them as ‘farmers’, while her own father had unleashed violence on actual farmers. It is quite ironic indeed. Moreover, the recently passed farm laws actually benefit farmers by providing them with more options. The recent protests, as evident from their unwillingness to negotiate with the government despite being offered numerous concessions, indicate a much more sinister play underway.

In 1997 as well, during the Multai agitation in Madhya Pradesh, the police then under the instructions of the Congress Govt had opened fired as the protests went violent. The farmers were seeking compensation for the damaged crops due to adverse weather. While the official count states 19 farmers lost their lives with over 150 injured, the unofficial count of the dead as per the activists is around 24. BJP was in opposition at that time. They equated the incident to the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

Singhu border: ‘Farmer protestors’ attack police official with a sword, pelt stones at locals who were asking them to vacate area

OpIndia Staff
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Singhu border: ‘Farmer protestors’ attack police official with a sword, pelt stones at locals who were asking them to vacate area

Days after a violent mob of anti-farm law protestors desecrated the Indian flag at the Red Fort, a scuffle broke out between the farmers and the locals at the Singhu border. It is notable here that the so-called farmer protestors have been camping on the major highway entrances on the outskirts of Delhi for weeks. After running riots in the capital on Republic Day, they had gone back to those campsites at various Delhi border entry points.

In a video shared by news agency ANI, locals were seen raising slogans, asking the ‘farmer’ protestors to vacate the area. “Singhu border khali karo,” the locals yelled in unison. With tricolors in their hand, the locals demanded the protestors leave the site and shift somewhere else.

In another video, the angry locals were seen approaching the stage of the Mazdur Kisan Sangarsh committee. The police officials were seen charging at the locals and pushing them away from the anti-farm law protestors. “Ye antankwadi hain (They are terrorists)“, yelled a local.

Meanwhile, the ‘farmers’ began pelting stones at the locals and the police. As locals and protestors clashed, the police intervened and urged both sides to stop. During the scuffle, a police officer was badly injured. “We are requesting them from the past 4 days to leave the area,” said another local. The police finally resorted to firing tear gas shells to pacify the heated situation and maintain law and order.

During the scuffle, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Alipur police station was attacked and injured by a ‘protestor’ with a sword. Reports stated that the police officer was injured in the sword attack. The injured officer is reportedly SHO Pradeep Paliwal from Alipur station.

The Background of the incident

The ‘farmer’ protestors had been camping at the Singhu border since November last year to protest against the historic farm laws, enacted by the Union government. While speaking to India Today, a local informed that the decision to remove them from the Singhu border was taken after they desecrated the Indian tricolour at the Red Fort.

Another local also informed that his business has suffered badly due to the ongoing anti-farm law protests. However, following the violence and vandalism on the occasion of Republic Day, the enraged locals asked the protestors to vacate the area immediately. When they refused to budge, the locals took it upon themselves to confront the said protestors.

Unhappy with the protestors disrespecting the national flag and brutal vandalization of Red Fort, a national monument on Republic Day, earlier the villagers in Rewari in Haryana had issued an ultimatum to the protestors to vacate the highways and leave the area. According to reports, the decision was taken in a Panchayat meeting held at Dungarwas village comprising villagers from 15 villages in Rewari region. Villagers from Masani, Titarpur, Niganiawas, khadkhada, Jeetpura etc villages attended the meeting.

It was reported that local villagers and residents in the areas on the outskirts of Delhi have been facing inconveniences, traffic woes and loss of business due to the so-called ‘farmer protests’. However, the rampant and wanton violence done by the protestors on Republic Day seems to have tipped the scales.

Tractor rally mastermind Rakesh Tikait calls for violence

In the video that has gone viral now, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait can be seen asking his supporters and other protestors to be armed with Lathis ahead of the Republic Day tractor rally in Delhi. Asking the alleged farmers to carry Lathis and ‘Danda’, Rakesh Tikait can also be seen misleading the alleged farmers by saying that their lands would be snatched. “The government is not agreeing to our terms, and they will come to take your lands,” says Rakesh Tikait as he asks the farmers to carry tricolour along with the flag of their choice.

Rakesh Tikait is one of the masterminds of the tractor rally, who fomented trouble in the national capital by instigating the so-called protestors to unleash violence on Delhi’s streets, which unfortunately ended with the shocking act of desecration of tricolor at the Red Fort.

Editors Guild of India whitewashes spreading fake news to incite riots, calls it basic principle of journalism: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Editors Guild of India whitewashes spreading fake news to incite riots, calls it basic principle of journalism: Details

On Friday, the Editors Guild of India condemned the registration of FIRs against alleged journalists for sharing fake news during the Republic Day violence in Delhi. The intention was to cause unrest and riots, according to the FIR.

Taking to Twitter, the self-proclaimed organisation representing the ‘editors’ expressed its concern over the registration of FIR against the current and former office-bearers of the guild. In a statement issued on Friday, the Editors’ Guild said ‘journalists’ were specifically targeted for reporting the accounts pertaining to the death of one of the rioters on their personal social media handles as well as those of their publications.

Statement by Editor’s Guild of India (Source: Official Twitter handle of EGI)

Six ‘journalists’, including India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Pande, Congress mouthpiece National Herald’s Zafar Agha, far-left rag Caravan’s Ananth Nath, Vinod Jose, and Paresh Nath, were booked by the Noida Police Thursday for sedition for trying to incite violence by sharing misinformation.

All of them have been booked for spreading the fake news that one protestor was shot dead by Delhi Police during the tractor rally on Republic Day, who had actually died due to an accident. 

Rajdeep Sardesai, arguable the country’s most notorious fake news peddler, had tweeted the fake news on Twitter and later had repeated the same on India Today, claiming that bullet injury was seen on the head of the deceased. The far-left outlet – Caravan had also spread the fake news, claiming that “An eyewitness told The Caravan that he saw the police firing from behind the grills of the Andhra Education Society.” They had also reported that eyewitnesses said they saw police personnel fleeing from the spot after Navneet was shot.

However, the post mortem details had proved the rioter died during the tractor rally succumbing to the antemortem injuries he received after his tractor turned turtle as seen in the incident’s viral video, and there was no bullet injury on his body.

Accused instigated large-scale riot and communal violence, said FIR

Following that, the Uttar Pradesh police had filed an FIR saying that the accused persons are responsible for the riots on Republic Day, as it was instigated by their digital media posts. It said that despite the large scale attack on the police causing injuries to hundreds of policemen, the accused persons circulated fake news in a coordinated and well-planned manner that police have shot a person dead.

“It was done deliberately so that it cases a large-scale riot and communal violence among various communities”, the FIR alleged.

The UP police said that the accused persons knowingly circulated fake news for their political benefits and to instigate the protestors for violence. “Due to their tweets, the protestors reached the Red Fort and hoisted religious and other flags in the place of national flag”, the FIR noted.

Editors’ Guild bats for fake news peddlers, says it is journalistic norms

As Uttar Pradesh police registered an FIR against the fake news peddlers, the Editors Guild’ of India, dominated by the ‘alleged’ journalists and far-left propagandists have now jumped to rescue the accused by demanding the withdrawal of the FIR filed against the six ‘journalists’.

The Editors’ Guild, in its statement, claimed that the day of the incident was the ‘day of the protest and high action’ and several reports were emerging from eyewitnesses on the ground as well as from the police and ‘therefore it was only natural for journalists to report all the details as they emerged’.

In an effort to whitewash the crimes of alleged ‘journalists’, the Editors’ Guild normalised the menace of fake news by claiming that the act of the six journalists was ‘in line with established norms of journalistic practice’.

“On a day thick with information, the EGI finds these FIRs, filed in different states, as an attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat, and stifle the media. That the FIRs have been booked under as many as ten different provisions including sedition laws, promoting communal disharmony, and insulting religious beliefs, is further disturbing,” the statement read.

Essentially, the Editors’ Guild demanded that senior journalists be given the right to peddle fake news even if it caused incitement to violence or caused a riot. The Editors’ Guild of India, in its attempt to defend fake news peddlers, has set a dangerous precedent.

Here is why the Prime Minister was right in questioning former VP Hamid Ansari’s conduct as Rajya Sabha Chairman

K Bhattacharjee
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Here is why the Prime Minister was right in questioning former VP Hamid Ansari’s conduct as Rajya Sabha Chairman

Former Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari, in his autobiography ‘By many a happy accident’, revealed that Prime Minister Modi had told him during his tenure that the Rajya Sabha TV was not being favourable to the central government. He responded saying that he had no control over the editorial decisions of the channel.

Hamid Ansari also revealed that the government was unhappy that bills were not being passed by the Rajya Sabha amid the din created by opposition parties in order to obstruct their passage. Ansari claimed that “it was technically, procedurally and morally impossible to pass the bills in din, assuming the majority for the government.”

While Hamid Ansari might cite constitutional norms to back his position, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that he is a partisan hack. It is abundantly clear from the fact that in his last interview before stepping down as VP in 2017, he claimed a “feeling of unease”, especially among Muslims of the country and that the “Idea of India” was being frequently challenged, making him uncomfortable.

When someone makes such partisan comments that are frequently used by liberal propagandists to falsely target the central government, it would be extremely surprising, and against all odds, if his conduct happened to be neutral as Vice President.

Since the passage from the book emerged in the media, there have been a few responses from government sources which have been quoted in the media. The Government has listed 13 bills that were passed in the Rajya Sabha amid a din when the UPA regime was in power.

The bills include Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production , Supply and Distribution (Amendment) Bill, 2007, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Institute of Medical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2007, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in the Posts and Services ) Bill, 2008, Information Technology (Amendment Bill), Street Vendors Bill, and Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014.

The government also cited the passage of the bill addressing the partition of Andhra Pradesh to refute the former Vice President’s claim of consistency. “He chose different yardsticks for reasons best known to him,” a government source told Times of India. “It is a belated discovery of a principle,” he said.

With regards to the Rajya Sabha TV, there are some appointments that betray the purported neutrality. MK Venu and S Varadarajan, both with the far-left propagandist portal The Wire, were paid handsomely for their appearance. They were paid Rs. 15,000 per appearance, totaling Rs. 33 lakh and Rs. 14 lakh respectively. Varadrajan and Venu even hosted show on the channel which were later discontinued.

The Wire had later been accused of stealing content from Rajya Sabha TV and they were served a notice after RSTV accused them of stealing, illegally possessing and using copyrighted material. The Wire was also threatened with civil and criminal consequences.

There were numerous other controversies that Rajya Sabha TV found itself embroiled in during his tenure as Vice President. DNA and Tehelka had claimed that between 2010-14, the Rajya Sabha TV had spent Rs. 1700 crores of the taxpayer’s money. Prashant Bhushan, a favourite among the left-liberal crowd, had himself moved a PIL alleging irregularities in the appointment of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, under which the RSTV operates.

A CAG report noted that the the Executive Editors and Executive Directors had spent Rs. 60 lakh on travel even before the channel became fully functional. It also revealed that RSTV had made senior level appointments and fixed their salary structures which are not consistent with Rajya Sabha secretariat or government. The report also pointed towards several ad hoc decisions taken by the management of RSTV.

Thus, quite clearly, there is more than merely an element of truth in the words of Prime Minister Modi. It is also important to recall here that during his speech at the farewell of Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister had said that he would not finally be free to speak as per his ideology, removed from his constitutional duties. Since then, Hamid Ansari has batted for Sharia Courts and attended events organized by Islamist PFI.

Hamid Ansari had said on Sharia Courts, “People are confusing social practices with the legal system. Our law recognizes that each community can have own rules. Personal laws in India covers marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance. Each community has a right to practice its own personal law.”

The former VP also called nationalism an ‘ideological poison’. “Nationalism in its strident form is inseparable from the desire for power. It is an ‘ideological poison’ that has no hesitation in transcending and transgressing individual rights,” he had said. On another occasion, he claimed that Sardar Vallabhai Patel was as responsible for partition of the country as Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Thus, considering all of this, the central government has every right to feel that Hamid Ansari deliberately undermined the bills proposed by the government in the Rajya Sabha. Furthermore, the manner in which the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014 was passed by the Parliament leaves very thin ground for the former VP to make a constitutionalist defense.

India’s success story will be the world’s success story: Key highlights of PM Modi’s speech at Davos Summit

OpIndia Staff
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India’s success story will be the world’s success story: Key highlights of PM Modi’s speech at Davos Summit

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Davos Agenda Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) via a video link.

During his address, PM Modi lauded India’s fight against the global Coronavirus pandemic and the government’s firm resolve to help other nations. PM Modi informed that India has successfully been conducting the world’s largest vaccination program, with over 2.3 million health workers being vaccinated in the past 12 days. He added that the government is planning to vaccinate over 300 million elderly and those with co-morbidities in the next phase.

He further said that during the initial outbreak of the pandemic, several ‘experts’ had made false assumptions about India being in a perilous state. He said, “…At the beginning of last year, several experts and organizations had made several predictions that India would be most affected by the pandemic. Someone had even said that 700-800 million would be infected and someone had said that over two million Indians would die from the pandemic.”

Video Credits: Youtube/ Narendra Modi

PM Modi emphasised, “India, however, took a proactive public participation approach and developed a Covid-specific health infrastructure and trained its resources to fight Covid”. He added that over 1 lac foreign nationals were rescued by India and that a whopping ₹1.8 trillion was sent to 760 million people. He said that the government was not only able to put a check on the number of fatalities but also supplied essential medicines, PPEs and masks to over 150 countries. “Today, India is sending its vaccine to several countries and is helping in developing the infrastructure for successful vaccination, thus saving lives of citizens of other countries,” PM Modi reiterated.

PM Modi highlighted India’s robust digital infrastructure that is a case study for the experts of the WEF. He added that technology has been a part of life for Indians because of widely available digital solutions. 1.3 billion Indians have universal ID ‘Aadhar’ where there mobile phones and bank accounts are linked. Just in the month of December, Indians transacted over 4 billion Rs through UPI. Major nations around the world are trying to emulate the UPI system developed by India. So many nations around the world struggled to make benefits available to struggling populations during the coronavirus lockdown. But India sent direct benefits worth Rs 1.8 trillion rupees to 760 million people during this period.

PM Modi on making India strong on the economic front

The Prime Minister pointed out that India never lost sight of the economic challenges that came along with the pandemic. He said that the government took pro-active steps to keep the economy running, provide employment opportunities, and build infrastructure worth trillions of rupees. He added, “India has stressed a lot on reforms and incentive-based stimulus in recent times. Even during Covid, India has paced structural reforms in all sectors. These reforms are being supported by PLI-schemes.” PM Modi said that India has all the four components, required for Industry 4.0 strategy, including, connectivity, artificial intelligence, automation and real-time data.

PM Modi asserted that India’s success story is a major part of the success story of the world. He said India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission is committed to global good and global supply chain. India has the capacity, capability and reliability to help the global supply chain.

‘Allegations are prima-facie true’: Delhi Court dismisses bail plea of Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita in Delhi riots case

OpIndia Staff
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‘Allegations are prima-facie true’: Delhi Court dismisses bail plea of Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita in Delhi riots case

A Delhi court has rejected the bail application of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) ‘student’ and member of the far-left group ‘Pinjra Tod’ member Devangana Kalita in the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots case.

According to the reports, in his order rejecting the bail application of far-left riots accused Devangana Kalita, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat said the allegations against her prima facie seem to be true. Kalita is booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly orchestrating Anti-CAA riots and the subsequent Anti-Hindu riots in the North-East Delhi in February.

Devangana Kalita was arrested on May 23 by the special cell of Delhi police for her alleged involvement in the riots.

Devangana Kalita is one of the founders of the far-left group Pinjra Tod that claims to work for gender equality. She was booked by the police under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for allegedly conspiring to incite the riots. She was arrested by the police in the month of May by the crime branch of the Delhi police after earlier being released on bail earlier.

Kalita is named as an accused in an FIR lodged in the Jafrabad police station under the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Prevention of Destruction of Public Property Act.

The rejection of bail plea of Kalita comes just a day after a Delhi court had rejected the bail plea of another accomplice Natasha Narwal. On January 28, a Delhi Court had rejected the bail plea of another Far-Left Pinjra Tod ‘activist’ Natasha Narwal.

While rejecting the bail, the court had noted that intentionally blocking roads leading to disruption of essential services, attack on police personnel, and eventually culminating in riots falls within the scope of the terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). 

Pinjra Tod has been accused of inciting riots

Some citizens of Seelampur, Jafrabad, and Trans-Yamuna had accused Pinjra Tod and other elite civil society groups of inciting riots in the national capital.

Pinjra Tod claims to be an autonomous collective of women students fighting for a just, accessible, non-discriminatory University and affordable accommodation and has been involved in numerous protests and campaigns of a far-left nature.

The Delhi Police has also booked ultra-left ‘activist’ Natasha Narwal of the controversial group ‘Pinjra Tod’ under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for her role in inciting the anti-Hindu communal riots in Northeast Delhi in February.

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