Cricket, which was once limited to British aristocrats and the elites, has evolved to become one of the most popular game in the Indian subcontinent. It is a common sight to see cricket fans in Southeast Asia to remain glued to their TV for hours in anticipation of what is to come.
While it is not unusual for ‘passionate’ and over-enthusiastic cricket lovers to get into heated arguments over a game or engage in unruly behaviour in the stands, it is seldom that we witness fanatic mobs go berserk, disrupt a match and rough up authorities. One such disgraceful event took place on June 17, 2001, during the NatWest series between Pakistan and England.
The match was being played at Headingley in Leeds. England’s batting line-up was ripped apart by the legendary Pakistani bowler Waqar Younis, who managed to get 7 wickets while conceding just 36 runs in 10 overs. A superlative bowling attack by the Pakistani side ensured that England was wrapped up at a paltry score of 156 in 45.2 overs. With 157 runs to win the game, the Pakistani cricket team was all set to clinch the match.
Screengrab of the scorecard (Photo Credits: ESPN Cricinfo)
With a stellar batting performance of all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, the match was in Pakistani’s court. The team has managed to put 153 runs on the scoreboard in just 39.5 overs. Azhar Mahmood and Younis Khan were on the crease and set to score the winning runs.
Pakistani cricket fans invade the pitch
And then something unexpected happened. Hordes of unruly Pakistanis jumped over the fence, shoved the ground staff on the way and invaded the pitch, prompting the English cricketers to run to safety. While they weren’t satisfied with disrupting the match, the mob roughed up a ground steward (whose responsibility is to ensure that fans abide by the rules) and inflicted grave injuries during the stampede. And the next thing that the Pakistanis did was fight amongst themselves for the possession of stumps.
“A massive pitch invasion as Azhar flicks one down to long leg for 4 or 6 not sure what was called Pakistan still need runs to win this game…one of the stewards has been injured in the celebratory invasion…,” a commentator noted. The actions of the Pakistani cricket fans, reminiscent of ignorance, was thus out for the world to see.
(Video Courtesy: Youtube/robelinda2)
How the authorities can let this happen?… They are all over the pitch. They are all over the square. This is absurd… This is complete nonsense. It can (compromise) safety of players and spectators,” he added. Hinting at their poor comprehension skills, the commentator remarked, “It’s 2 to win. That’s all. Surely these people (Pakistanis) can read scoreboards.”
Aftermath of the pitch invasion
Since the England captain Alec Stewart decided to not return to the pitch, keeping in mind the safety of the players, the match was conceded to the Pakistani team. An article by sports writer Ralph Dellor, detailing the events of the day, read, “Such was the scale of the pitch invasion, and with a steward lying near the wicket with internal and head injuries, the game had to be regarded as finished.”
He further added, “Rather than going out again when the pitch was eventually cleared, Stewart decided that England would accept the inevitable and so the unique entry in the record books: England conceded the match.” Alec Stewart had demanded strict measures from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ensure that such events are not repeated in future.
“The warnings must be heeded before an unfortunate incident becomes a major tragedy. That is not a question of “if” but “when”. The effects that would have on cricket and the social structure of the country do not bear thinking about,” Dellor concluded.
Ahead of meetings of the global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in January and February, the terror-state of Pakistan has arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi on charges of using terror funds.
According to the reports, nearly five years after he was released on bail in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan has picked up Lashkar terrorist and commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi on charges for orchestrating terrorist acts.
“Following an intelligence-based operation conducted by the CTD Punjab, proscribed organisation LeT leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was arrested on charges of terrorism financing,” said the Counter-Terrorism Department police adding that the 61-year-old terrorist was arrested in a case of terrorism financing registered in a police station of CTD Lahore.
“Lakhvi is accused of running a dispensary, using funds collected for terrorism financing. He and others also collected funds from this dispensary and used these funds for further terrorism financing. He also used these funds for personal expenses,” the CTD said.
The CTD said that in addition to belonging to proscribed organisation LeT, Lakhvi is also an UN-designated individual. His trial will be held before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, the CTD added.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was designated a terrorist on December 10, 2008, by the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee for directing the LeT operations in Chechnya, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and south-east Asia. After the Mumbai attacks on November 2008, the Pakistani authorities had arrested Lakhvi for training and directing 10 terrorists to carry out attacks in Mumbai that left 166 people dead. However, he was granted bail by the Lahore High Court in April 2015.
Meanwhile, it is understood that the so-called arrest of the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Lakhvi is just another eyewash by the Pakistani government to dodge global terror watchdog Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) Blacklisting rather than to bring to justice the LeT commander for the 2008 attacks that left 166 dead.
Arrests of terrorists ahead of FATF session is just an eyewash by Pakistan
It had now become a routine exercise for Pakistan to orchestrating such arrests of key terrorists just before FATF meetings.
In July 2019, three months before the FATF plenary session in which Pakistan almost feared of getting downgraded to the ‘blacklist’, had arrested LeT founder Hafiz Saeed as to show that they are acting on terror. The FATF session had, however, retained Pakistan in the greylist despite failing to complete a 27-point action plan to curb terrorism financing and money laundering.
It had also registered fake FIRs against the terror groups that they have been safeguarding for all this while to mislead the global community ahead of the global meeting.
In October again, the ‘top four leaders’ of the banned LeT/JuD were arrested on charges of terrorism financing ahead of the Financial Action Task Force’s crucial plenary meeting scheduled to be held in Paris that year.
In addition to that, it was revealed that Pakistan had also silently removed the names of almost 4,000 terrorists from its terror watchlist. The terror-state had removed names of LeT leader and Mumbai attack mastermind Zakir ur Rehman Lakhvi and many others to evade the international scrutiny over funding terror.
Again this year in August, ahead of the FATA plenary session, Pakistan had tried the same tactic by imposing tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts.
In its previous plenary session in October 2020, the 39-member FATF had decided to give Pakistan three months more to complete the action plan even after the terror-state has failed to comply 6 out of 27 points in FATF’s action plan. Pakistan will be kept in the grey list for FATF till February 2021.
Pakistan, over the years, has managed to keep itself out of the FATF blacklist with the diplomatic support of countries like China, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and few other Middle East countries. However, because it has not managed to garner enough support, it has not been able to get out of the grey list.
Satpal Nischal was shot dead by terrorists in Kashmir merely weeks after he received a domicile certificate that granted him the right to purchase immovable property and other such crucial rights. The 70-year old had been living in Kashmir for the past forty years and on Thursday, he became the first person to be killed for having received the domicile certificate.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a terrorist outfit, claimed responsibility for the murder and called those who had receive domicile certificates “RSS agents”. They also had a warning: “We know your names, we know where you live and we know what you do and we are coming for you.”
Unfortunate as it is, Satpal Nischal is only the most recent person who has lost his life over the Civilizational War that is underway in Kashmir. He has not been murdered because he is not a Kashmiri or he posed any legitimate threat to Kashmiris, he was murdered because he was not a follower of Islam.
Rohingyas from Myanmar have managed to reach the state and are living under no threat whatsoever. But Kashmiri Pandits were forced out of their homes and they have not been able to return even after three decades. Why is that?
Some people suffer under the delusion that the terrorism in Kashmir is related to Kashmiri self-determination and Islam has very little to do with it. Propagandists in the media work double hard to peddle that narrative as well. But the fact that an illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrant can find refuge there but Kashmiri Pandits are chased away and Hindus from other regions of India are called “RSS agents” only reveals that it is not about Kashmiri at all, it is about Islamic terrorism.
Unfortunately, the name of Satpal Nischal will be forgotten in a few days. And the cycle of violence that has been underway in Kashmir for decades will continue for decades more. And even after all this time, authorities will console themselves saying that Pakistan backed terrorists are responsible for the murder.
Maybe the terrorists are backed by Pakistan but Pakistan itself is only a manifestation of the problem. Does anyone seriously believe that the condition of Hindus in Kashmir would be any different from Pakistani Hindus if there were no Indian soldiers on the ground? And yet, we are force-fed a diet of Kashmiriyat propaganda to gloss over the very real problem of Islamic radicalism.
To be fair, there is no easy solution to any of this. Ultimately, blood is the price that one must pay for Civilizational wars. And history is evidence to the fact that a lot of blood has already been sacrificed for it and a lot more will continue to be spilt.
The enemy that the Indian State and Indian citizens is facing in Kashmir is political Islam, there’s no sugarcoating it. The Indian brand of secularism, on the other hand, works overtime to prevent ideological clarity on the matter so that the threat can be effectively countered.
Liberals are often wrong but there is something they claim to have great commitment towards that is very true for Kashmir. Multiculturalism is our strength when it comes to Kashmir. The only way to neutralize the threat of political Islam in Kashmir is the region’s cultural enrichment.
If “Diversity is indeed our strength”, then Kashmir is the most fertile place in India to test it. But when such suggestions are made, secular-liberals in our country start screaming fascism. It is important to recognize that Satpal Nischal was murdered because he is representative of the diversity that Islamic terrorists in the valley fear the most.
Satpal Nischal was murdered because Islamic terrorists in Kashmir cannot permit cultural enrichment of the region. But be that as it may, the Indian government cannot shy away from the path it has chosen to tread after the tragedy. Instead, it must bring fire and fury to the monsters who robbed the 70-year-old of his life.
That is the only path forward. Secular-liberals are more than willing to ally with ethnic-supremacist Islamic terrorists to undermine Indian interests but even on the face of enormous pressure, the feet cannot be taken off the peddle. If the feet is taken off, then all the progress that Kashmir has made since the abrogation of Article 370 will be lost.
Months after the Election Commission removed the then Munger Superintendent of Police Lipi Singh after the police brutality on Durga idol visarjan procession that had left one dead and several injured, the Bihar government has appointed the controversial IPS officer as the Saharsa SP.
Several IAS/IPS officers transferred
About two days ago, the Bihar government ordered a large scale transfer of IAS and IPS officers. Twelve districts magistrates (DM) along with 13 superintendents of police (SP) have been changed in a late-night notification. However, the transfer of Singh, accused of unleashing violence Durga devotees in Munger, has raised several eyebrows.
It is pertinent to note that transfers of officers are a common phenomenon. State governments routinely transfer their personnel for better management and effective resource utilisation. However, what is being here is the Bihar government’s decision of entrusting significant responsibilities to an officer accused of unleashing brutality on the citizens.
Singh’s father is close aide of CM Nitish Kumar
Interestingly, Lipi Singh is the daughter of JDU MP RCP Singh. RCP Singh is the national president of JDU and considered to be close to Nitish Kumar. The home department is also with the JDU, which the Legislative Councillor Sanjay Paswan had demanded to be handed over to the BJP, citing law and order in the state.
Death of Anurag Poddar
Singh had earned the title ‘General Dyer’ after the Munger firing. People associated with the Durga Puja Committee claimed at Singh oversaw the beatings meted out to the devotees involved in immersion. The idol of Durga Mata was lying deserted on the road that night.
A young man named Anurag Poddar was killed in the firing that night after police crackdown against the devotees. An FIR was filed in this case against the policemen based on the statement given by Anurag Poddar’s father. In his complaint, Anurag’s father blamed the police firing as the reason for his son’s death.
Ahead of the assembly state elections in the state, Bihar was shaken with a horrifying episode of violence when the police personnel mercilessly attacked Durga Procession devotees in the Munger district. The devotees were charged with batons and shots were fired at them, claiming the life of one 18-year-old Hindu boy.
First shot was fired by the police, says CISF report
The CISF report was issued a day after the incident confirmed that the first round of fire was shot by police. It said at the request of Munger Kotwali police station, a detachment of CISF troops was sent to the district school for the protection of the Durga immersion procession ceremony. The report mentions that the troops sent by CISF that contained 20 personnel were divided into two groups of 10 each. One group was posted along with SSB and Bihar Police personnel at Deendayal Upadhyay Chowk, Munger.
Hours after the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the manufacture of Coronavirus vaccine by Serum Institute of India(SII) and Indian company Bharat Biotech, PM Modi tweeted that the new move would accelerate the ‘road to a healthier and Covid-19 free nation’. “A decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight,” he emphasised.
A decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight!
DCGI granting approval to vaccines of @SerumInstIndia and @BharatBiotech accelerates the road to a healthier and COVID-free nation.
Congratulations India.
Congratulations to our hardworking scientists and innovators.
While thanking the scientific community, PM Modi further informed, “It would make every Indian proud that the two vaccines that have been given emergency use approval are made in India! This shows the eagerness of our scientific community to fulfil the dream of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, at the root of which is care and compassion.”
It would make every Indian proud that the two vaccines that have been given emergency use approval are made in India! This shows the eagerness of our scientific community to fulfil the dream of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, at the root of which is care and compassion.
He had also expressed his gratitude for health workers, doctors, sanitation workers and other frontline warriors, who had put their lives in risk in the most adverse of circumstances.
We reiterate our gratitude to doctors, medical staff, scientists, police personnel, sanitation workers and all Corona warriors for the outstanding work done, that too in adverse circumstances. We will remain eternally grateful to them for saving many lives.
“We reiterate our gratitude to doctors, medical staff, scientists, police personnel, sanitation workers and all Corona warriors for the outstanding work done, that too in adverse circumstances. We will remain eternally grateful to them for saving many lives,” PM Modi tweeted.
Modi govt plans to roll out Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
After India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approved the emergence use of Covishield (developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca) vaccine on Friday, plans are underway by the Modi government to roll-out the immunisation programme.
As such, a dry run was scheduled yesterday in at least three ‘session sites’ in every state capital and districts with poor logistical support. The objective of the government, behind this exercise, is to assess the on-field situation of the vaccination process. At the same time, a total of 96000 vaccinators have been trained to execute the inoculation programme.
India first to culture new Coronavirus strain in the UK
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said that India has successfully isolated and cultured the new strain of coronavirus that causes Covid-19. ICMR further added that no other country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2. Viral culture is a laboratory technique in which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.
In a startling revelation, a cartel in Malaysia has been facilitating the sale of fake Halal meat, imported from China and other countries to Muslims, for the past 40 years.
As per reports, it is believed that the cartel often bribed government officers in slaughterhouses overseas, to certify low-quality, non-Halal meat as ‘Halal’. Such products made in China, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Ukraine were smuggled to Malaysia. This is despite the fact that Malaysian companies are only permitted to import meat from the US, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Japan, and New Zealand.
Then, the non-Halal meat would be smuggled via the country’s ports without inspection and adulterated with Halal certified beef and repackaged with a fake Halal logo by the cartel. And this has been the case for the past 40 years. Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association has said that the cartel influenced the lawmakers and convinced officials that ‘it was cheaper to import the meat products than produce them locally’. Around 1,500 tonnes of frozen meat ($9.8 million) were seized in Senai in Johor along with fake labels and rubber stamps, which led to the probe.
Aftermath of the Halal meat scandal
Following the controversy, Malaysia is now planning to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the matter and mitigate the fears of the Muslims living in the country. While no members of the cartel have been named, one accused has been arrested.
Once the scandal unearthed, Singapore informed that they have launched a probe in the case. As such, traders and hawkers association in Kuala Lumpur has directed its 6000 members to temporarily stop the sale of beef. Democratic Action Party MP Steven Sim stated, “The issue of meat cartels is not just a problem for Muslims. Now, the quality and nutrition of all our food is a question mark. If non-halal meat can enter (Malaysia) due to corruption, is it possible that diseased or contaminated meat can also get through?”
Islam is the most professed religion in Islam, constituting over 60% of the total population. Non-halal meat is prohibited as per Islamic practice.
What is Halal meat?
Halal process for meat can only be performed by a Muslim man. Thus, non-Muslims are automatically denied employment at a Halal firm. There are certain other conditions that must be fulfilled that makes it quite clear that it is intrinsically an Islamic practice.
The Department of Halal Certification of the European Union makes it even more clear that employment opportunities at a Halal firm will be exclusively available to Muslims. It says, “Slaughtering must be done by a sane adult Muslim. Animals slaughtered by a Non-Muslim will not be Halal.” It states further, “The name of Allah must be invoked (mentioned) at the time of slaughtering by saying: Bismillah Allahu Akbar. (In the Name of Allah; Allah is the Greatest.) If at the time of slaughtering the name of anyone else other than Allah is invoked (i.e. animal sacrificed for him/her), then the meat becomes Haram “unlawful.”
Munawar Faruqui, the controversial ‘stand-up comedian’, who was arrested on Saturday by the Indore police along with four others for passing indecent remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a show in the city, has been sent to judicial custody.
According to the reports, a local court in Indore rejected the bail pleas of the accused and sent them in judicial custody. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Aman Singh Bhuria refused to grant bail to Faruqui and other four and remanded them in judicial custody till January 13.
Congress leader Anshumaan Shrivastava defends Faruqui
Advocate Anshumaan Shrivastava, representing Farooqui, claimed the FIR had been registered with a political motive and claimed that the accused had constitutional provisions of freedom of speech. Shrivastava is former Deputy Advocate General of Madhya Pradesh government and state spokesperson and secretary of legal cell of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.
However, opposing bail applications, lawyer Dinesh Pandey said the show was held without the administration’s permission and it hurt religious feelings.
Kamlesh Sharma, the in-charge of Tukoganj police station said that a case was filed late on Friday night against Munawar Faruqui, a resident of Junagadh in Gujarat and four Indore-based persons based on a written complaint filed by Hindu activist Eklavya Singh Gaur.
As per the complaint, ‘Comedian’ Munawar Faruqui had passed indecent remarks were passed against Hindu gods and goddesses and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the show, Sharma said. The other arrested persons were identified as Edwin Anthony, Prakhar Vyas, Priyam Vyas and Nalin Yadav. The controversial comedy show was held at a cafe in 56 Dukan area of Indore on Friday.
The Madhya Pradesh police also picked up one of the accused to a police station on a motorbike on Saturday after a complaint was registered against the self-proclaimed comedians for making indecent comments on Hindu gods.
देवी देवताओं को अपशब्द कहने वाले व गृहमंत्री श्री अमित शाह जी के ख़िलाफ़ टिप्पणी करने वाले फ़ारूखी के साथी को कोर्ट में वकीलों ने रोका और ज़ोरदार धोया… pic.twitter.com/i8utQbNNWA
All of them have been booked under IPC sections 295-A (outraging religious feelings), 269 (unlawful or negligent act likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and other relevant provisions. Section 269 was invoked for allegedly ignoring COVID-19 safety protocol, the official said.
Hindu activists handed over Munawar Faruqui to the police
Eklavya Singh Gaur, an activist and the chief of Hindu Rakshak Sangathan, filed the complaint about the show after they had gone to watch the show. When they heard the “indecent” comments, they forced the organisers to stop the program.
The Hindu activist Gaur also submitted video footage of the show. Gaur had said he and his friends went to watch the show where Faruqui was performing as the main comedian.
“The show mocked Hindu deities by passing indecent comments. The Godhra incident and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were also mentioned inappropriately. We shot a video and stopped the show by taking the audience out of the cafe. Then we caught the comedians and organizers of the show and took them to Tukoganj police station,” the Hindu activist said.
Gaur also said that no physical distancing was maintained at the venue and the show had no permission from authorities. At least 100 viewers were sitting in the small hall of the cafe, he said. Gaur denied media reports that Faruqui was beaten up by the activists of Hind Rakshak.
Munawar Faruqui on 2002 Godhra Carnage, Amit Shah and Hindu Gods
During a show in April last year, Munawar Faruqui mocked the 2002 Godhra carnage where 58 Hindus returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive by a Muslim mob. In a part of the clip that had gone viral on social media, one can hear him refer to the carnage as a fictional film ‘directed’ by Amit Shah and ‘produced’ by RSS.
“I was watching The Burning Train on TV. My father came and told me not to watch such nonsense and turned off the channel. I was like, ‘why so?’ He was like this is the video of Godhra kaand. And this is a news channel. I thought it is a movie directed by Amit Shah, produced by RSS… I don’t know…,” he said. Munawar Faruqui then referred to the news about 2002 Godhra carnage as ‘cartoon’.
In a complaint filed with the police, Shivam Rawat, the founder of Pen of Dharma, he emphasised how the comments made by Faruqui hurt the sentiments of millions of Hindus including him. Rawat has stated how Faruqui had used Bollywood songs to make crass, disrespectful remarks on Hindu gods and belief system. He also pointed out how he mocked the brutal massacre of Hindus in the Godhra carnage by claiming, “Marney ke baad jaltay hai na? (Hindus get burnt anyway after death).”
Just weeks after joining the Shiv Sena, Urmila Matondkar has purchased a brand a new office space in Mumbai. The actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar has bought new office space in an upscale commercial complex in Khar area in Mumbai.
According to the reports, the former actress had finalised the property deal in the last few days of 2020. The new property spans a little over a 1000 square feet and is considered to be prime property due to its location.
The office building is located on Linking Road in Khar west and the usual rent for office spaces is reportedly anywhere between Rs 5 to 8 lakhs a month. The Rangeela actress bought an office on the sixth floor of the building and shelled out Rs 3.75 crore for her brand new office.
According to the people who were part of the deal, the Shiv Sena leader has paid Rs 36,000 per square feet. Matondkar bought the property from businessman Rajesh Kumar Sharma.
Just a few weeks ago, the actress was inducted into the Shiv Sena and is now one of the 12 candidates who has been recommended by the state government to the state Legislative Council from Governor’s quota.
Urmila Matondkar joined Shiv Sena after quitting Congress, to be made an MLC
Bollywood actress-turned-politician Urmila joined Shiv Sena a few weeks back, a year after she resigned from the Congress party.
In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Urmila Matondkar had joined Congress and had contested the elections on party ticket. However, she had lost the elections. Five months later she resigned from the party citing petty politics as the reason.
In her statement, Urmila Matondkar had said, “My political and social sensibilities refuse to allow vested interests in the party to use me as a means to fight petty in-house politics instead of working on a bigger goal in Mumbai Congress.”
Urmila Matondkar had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai North seat as a Congress candidate and had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP leader Gopal Shetty.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday said that India has successfully isolated and cultured the new strain of coronavirus that causes Covid-19. ICMR further added that no other country has yet reported successful isolation and culture of the UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2.
In a tweet shared by ICMR, the institution said, “SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, was being tracked through a countrywide network of ICMR-laboratories since the early days of the epidemic in India. UK-variant of the virus, with all signature changes, is now successfully isolated and cultured at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) from the clinical specimens collected from UK-returnees.”
Viral culture is a laboratory technique in which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside their natural environment.
ICMR said that the Vero cell lines were used by the scientists of ICMR-NIV to culture the UK-variant of the virus.
UK-variant is a highly transmissible strain of Covid-19
A few weeks back, it was confirmed that the new more transmissible strain of the Covid-19 virus is behind the spike in infections in the United Kingdom. The experts are suggesting that it is more transmissible than the other SARS-CoV-2 variants. As a precaution, India had suspended all flights originating from the UK to India on December 21 until December 31, which was later extended January 7, 2021.
The central government and state governments are on high alert due to the new strain, and they are working on tracking, testing and isolating patients from the UK since the last week of November. Earlier, there were reports that some of the flyers were untraceable due to wrong addresses, old addresses on passport, wrong contact information and switched off mobile phones. So far, 29 cases of the new strain have been discovered in India.
The central government in September 2020 made a bold move of initiating the much-needed reforms in the agriculture sector that were marred with inordinate delays and numerous deferrals. In this context, three new Farm Bills were passed by the government that were aimed at unlocking new opportunities for the beleaguered farmers of the country and help them in raising their incomes and productivity.
However, ever since the Modi government passed the Bills that are intended to benefit the farmers, opportunist opposition political parties and activists harbouring pathological hatred for PM Modi have fallen over themselves to delude the farmers into believing that the reforms would hurt their interests. Elaborate falsehoods, scaremongering, and lies were peddled by the opposition parties and ‘intellectuals’ to make farmers believe that the Farm Bills legislated by the Centre would enable corporates to take over the lands and thereby adversely impact their livelihood.
Opposition political parties and their allies in leftist media join hands to spread lies and misinformation about Farm Bills
The deceit employed by the likes of Congress, Aam Aadmi Party or Trinamool Congress Party to fan an anti-Modi wave is underscored by the fact that each of these opposition parties and several others had promised to bring in a similar set of agriculture reforms in their respective election manifestos.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a desperate attack against the Modi-led government by terming the Farm Bills as ‘Black Laws’ and resorted to fear-mongering on more occasions than one. Besides claiming that the Bills would enable corporatisation of the farmlands, Rahul also stated that the newly introduced agriculture laws would ‘enslave the farmers’. It is a different matter that former PM Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and even Rahul Gandhi had once supported these ‘Black Laws’. It is also worth noting that the Congress party had made similar promises of reforms in its 2019 General election manifesto.
Similar is the case with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party that is perpetually vacillating on the issue of the Farm Bills, trying to have its cake as well as eat it too. In November 2020, the Delhi government led by the Aam Aadmi Party quietly notified one of the three Farm Bills passed by the central government. As protest swept the national capital region, Kejriwal resorted to theatrics and sensationalism when he tore off the newly introduced Farm laws, in a bid to extend their support to the protesters demonstrating along the Delhi borders.
Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government also passed a resolution demanding the annulment of the three agriculture laws. It is also noteworthy to mention that the Kejriwal-led AAP had vowed to enact similar agricultural reforms in their election manifesto for Punjab assembly elections in 2017.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC also has a similar story to that of Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. The party has been opposing the Farm Bills just because it was passed by their nemesis—The Modi government. Last month, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee asked the BJP government to resign over the Farm Bills. However, she had passed similar laws in West Bengal about six years ago in 2014.
As is evident in each of the cases listed above, the opposition parties did not shy away from sounding the false alarm because it was aligned with their grand scheme of subverting the Modi government, even if that meant undermining the interests of the very farmers whom they claimed to be fighting for. These opposition political parties instigated the farmers to launch protests and pitted them against the central government so that they could revive their dying political fortunes and put the brakes on the BJP’s inexorable rise.
The left-leaning ‘intellectuals’ and commentariats abetted these political parties by adding fuel to the protests and continuing the imbroglio. Despite the Centre’s explicit refusal to include politicians in the farmer-government negotiations , ‘Ichhadhaari protester’ Yogendra Yadav is steadfast in his attempts to be a part of the negotiations. The left media has also bent over backwards to portray the Modi government as insensitive to the farmers’ demands and thereby engender resentment among people against the Centre.
Teenagers subjected to online abuses and harassment for supporting the Farm Bills
The collective efforts by the opposition political parties and their lackeys in the left-leaning media to stoke anarchy and disruption have thrown up a pandora’s box. It has sowed the seeds of discord in the society which now threatens to engulf, arguably, the most the vulnerable section of the society—the teens. Young and impressionable teenagers are now embroiled in bitter quarrelling and sparring on social media websites over their stance on the Farm Bills.
The fact that actors and singers such as Diljit Dosanjh and other prominent personalities have also weighed in on the ongoing farmers’ protests has only served to influence the country’s next generation to have a rigid stance on the farmers’ issue and vigorously defend it, even if it meant resorting to bullying, abusing and harassing the contrarians.
Recently, a series of tweets by a Twitter user against the newly introduced Farm Bills attracted mix reactions—with many opposing her views while several others agreeing with what she was saying about the Farm Bills.
Twitter thread that triggered the online bullying
The user alleged that the GoI had a larger agenda behind passing the Farm Laws which was to create genetically modified organism(GMO) crops to control the population and its health. The user alleged that the promotion of GMO crops was done to make corporates richer and middle class poorer. She also added that GMO would destroy the natural immunity because of consumption of unnatural food.
This wild conspiracy theory naturally drew severe flak on social media, with many rubbishing the user for making incredulous claims to oppose the Farm Bills. However, what ensued later was beyond the imagination of the Twitter users who had interacted on the tweet thread.
Those who had dared to oppose the far-fetched assertions made in the thread were unsolicitedly added to a vile Group Chat where anti-farm bill supporters unleashed a torrent of abuse against them just because they had expressed their support for the Farm Bills.
Supporters of Farm Bills systematically targeted and harassed on Group Chats
The anti-farm bills supporters did not shy away from using nasty invectives, rape threats, sexual innuendos, racist and casteist slurs against those who did not share their views on the Farm Bills. Screengrabs of this gross chat group reveal that not just the Farm Bills supporters but PM Modi, Jain monks, along with other religions were also reviled by the detractors. The chats revealed that even when the victims threatened the online bullies of initiating legal action against them, they did not back off and continued abusing and making vulgar remarks.
Supporters of Farm Bills systematically targeted and harassed on Group Chats
When one of the victims took to Twitter to share her traumatic experience, many responded to her, claiming that they had endured similar ordeal for expressing their views that were at variance with the anti-farm bills proponents.
Opposition political parties and their allies to be blamed for widening the chasm between people in the country
The Group Chat was created with the sole purpose of shaming and abusing the pro-Farm Bills supporters and bullying them into silence. One of the victims revealed that she was added to the group just because she had liked somebody else’s comment on the tweet thread.
Conversation between two social media users who were unsolicitedly added to an abusive Group Chat
It is profoundly disturbing that the fuss over the ongoing farmers’ protests has created a deep fissure within the society and pitted teens against each other. It also highlights how the opposition political parties, in their bid to mount an attack against the Modi government, have turned a blind eye against the social upheaval that their lies and propaganda against the Farm Bills has unleashed.
The objective of this article is not to shame the teenagers for online abusing and bullying but it is meant to reflect on how the unnecessary hullabaloo over the farmers’ protests by the opposition parties and their allies have pulled the country’s next generation in a political maelstrom, leading them to jettison tolerance, courtesy and basic decency against their fellow citizens.
The case evokes the perils associated with online abusing and bullying
This case also brings to mind the ramifications of online abusing and bullying. Earlier in May 2020, a 17-year-old boy named Manav decided to take the extreme step of committing suicide. At that time, the Bois Locker Room controversy was just about gaining steam. An Instagram group had been outed by a girl, where a bunch of teenage boys were seemingly discussing women, sharing their explicit photographs and discussing how to gang-rape them.
Amidst the controversy, a teenage girl took to Instagram and narrated a story about how she was allegedly raped over 2 years ago by a boy named Manav. In her post, she explicitly shielded herself by adding a disclaimer – ‘I don’t have any proof’. This had triggered a barrage of criticism against Manav, who saw his life upended and decided to end his life, to shield himself and his parents from the troubled path that lay ahead.
It is, therefore, all the more important that the teenagers, who are suckered into fighting over the Farm Bills, be nurtured and preserved and there potential be harnessed for the betterment of the society, instead of being used as pawns and foot soldiers by the political parties in their political and ideological battles against their opponents.
