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After journalist Pradeep Bhandari, Mumbai police now summons Republic TV CFO in ‘TRP scam’, nobody from India Today summoned yet

OpIndia Staff
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After journalist Pradeep Bhandari, Mumbai police now summons Republic TV CFO in ‘TRP scam’, nobody from India Today summoned yet

On Friday, the Mumbai police issued summons to Republic TV’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Shiva Subramaniam Sundaram in connection to the controversial ‘TRP scam’ where originally, in the FIR related to the case, only India Today was mentioned and not Republic TV. He has been asked to appear before the cops on Saturday morning at around 11:00 am.

The notice, sent by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Spl.) Shashank Sandbhor to Sundaram, stated, “Whereas, there are reasonable grounds to believe that you are acquainted with certain facts and circumstance of the matter and the same are to be ascertained from you…Whereas, it is necessary to record your statement in this regard.” The summon notice also reiterated that the CFO of the Republic TV has to be present before the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Spl.) at 11 am on October 10.

A case has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) and 420 (cheating). Besides Sundaram, the Mumbai police had also issued summons to the accountants of two other TV networks, namely, Box Cinemas and Fakt Marathi. Meanwhile, the cops had arrested two Hansa employees, Vishal Bhandari and Bompally Rao alias Sanju Rao, and owners of Box Cinemas and Fakt Marathi, in connection to the case.

Mumbai police issued summons to Republic TV CFO (Image Courtesy: The Times of India)

Interestingly, while the original FIR named only India Today and not Republic TV, the Mumbai Police is yet to summon anyone from India Today to join the investigation in the case.

Mumbai police summons Republic TV Consulting Editor

In yet another brazen attempt to browbeat the Republic Tv network, the Mumbai police had earlier summoned its consulting editor and journalist Pradeep Bhandari for questioning on Friday. A complaint against Bhandari was registered at the Khar police station under Articles 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC and 37(1), 135 of the Bombay Police Act, and he was asked to appear for the investigation of the said crime.

The journalist took to Twitter to share the news, saying that Republic TV would keep putting up a fight against the police vendetta.

The ‘fake TRP scam’ exposed

The ‘fake TRP scam’ had taken a remarkable turn in less than 48 hours. Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh, in an explosive statement accused Republic TV of ‘TRP manipulation’. In a no-holds-barred attack against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami, the Mumbai CP had claimed, that the channel had illegally paid some households to keep some channels on even if they were not at home to boost their TRP.

However, by the end of the day, it was revealed that in the original FIR, Republic TV did not find a mention anywhere. In fact, it was India Today that had been named in the original FIR. The Joint Commissioner had also admitted that it was indeed India Today that was named in the FIR.

While the FIR in connection with the case was filed on the 6th of October, naming India Today specifically, by the 7th of October, the Mumbai Police had already sent a notice to BARC to obtain the viewership records of Republic TV and not India Today. Then, on the 8th, conspicuously, the Mumbai Police Commissioner who has a questionable past, held a press conference to implicate Republic TV and Arnab Goswami without even mentioning India Today. It is to be remembered that up until Parambir Singh held that press conference, there was absolutely no mention of Republic TV in the FIR.

Later, talking to Republic TV journalist, a witness in the case had confirmed that her son was indeed asked by the accused persons in the case to watch India Today to illegally increase their TRP. However, the Mumbai Police has still decided to investigate Republic TV and not India Today.

Later, in an OpIndia exclusive news break, it emerged that India Today had been held guilty of ‘viewership malpractice’ back on July 31st and was asked to pay a penalty of Rs 5,00,000 to BARC by the BARC Vigilance Council. India Today, after several hours of the news break, published a statement where they admitted that they were indeed fined for viewership manipulation but said that they will take legal action against BARC since their involvement in the scam was meant to be ‘confidential’.

On his part, Arnab Goswami has said that this is nothing but the political vendetta against his channel since he has been asking tough questions of the Mumbai Police and the Uddhav Thackeray government over the Sushant Singh Rajput death and the Palghar lynching of two sadhus. It is to be remembered that over 200 FIRs were filed against Arnab Goswami by Congress after his coverage of the Palghar lynching case and the Mumbai Police had interrogated him and the CFO of Republic TV for hours.

‘Anti-rape’ activist spreads fake news about Switzerland athlete not travelling to India because of rape cases, targets PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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‘Anti-rape’ activist spreads fake news about Switzerland athlete not travelling to India because of rape cases, targets PM Modi

An alleged ‘anti-rape activist’ Yogita Bhayana on Friday resorted to putting out fake news and attempted to politicise sensitive issues such as women safety in the country. Taking to Twitter, Yogita Bhayana shared a Hindi news report that claimed that a squash player from Switzerland Ambre Allinckx had refused to visit India over concerns about rapes and women safety in the country.

Posting a news report published by NBT in 2018, Yogita Bhayana took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly failing to provide security for women in the country.

“Thanks for making us Global power Narendra Modi,” she said by tweeting an article concerning a Swiss player deciding not to visit India allegedly over issues of women safety.

Tweet by Yogita Bhayana

Tweeting on the 9th of October, Yogita attempted to show that the country had become so unsafe for women under the Narendra Modi reign that internationally, women did not want to consider travelling to India because of it. The only problem is, that Yogita seemed to further her narrative with fake news.

Parents of the Swiss Squash players reject ‘safety concerns’ theory

As it turns out, the 2018 report that shared by Yogita Bhayana claimed that the Swiss squash player Ambre Allinckx “pulled out” from the 2018 WSF-World Junior Squash Championship in Chennai out of safety concerns. However, at the time, the parents of Switzerland squash player Ambre Allinckx had clarified they had no problems whatsoever regarding safety in India contrary to reports published in the Indian media.

Slamming the fallacious reports by the media, Ambre’s parents had gone on to the extent of terming the news report as a “lie or a journalistic invention”.

“We, as parent, never were concerned about safety in India. This is a lie or a journalist invention. We wanted to have summer holidays as a family and due to the father (Igor) work this has to take place in July. So nothing in our decision was about safety,” Igor and Valerie, the parents of Swiss player had clarified in a message to squashsite.co.uk, a leading squash website.

“Ambre Allinckx couldn’t make it because her parents did not want her to make the trip,” Swiss coach Pascal Bhurin had been clarified in 2018 itself.

There were several reports in 2018 itself that punctured the fictitious claims made by the newspaper clipping that is now being shared by the likes of Yogita Bhayana.

Image Source: Times Now

Despite the fact that one cursory attempt at finding the truth would lead Bhayana to the several reports that had clarified that the Swiss player had personal reasons to skip the tournament in 2018, Yogita Bhayana instead put out fake news to further her usual false narrative to depict that the women were unsafe under Modi regime.

No retraction, no apology

Interestingly, the fact that the aim of sharing that fallacious piece of news was simply to further a pre-set agenda becomes evident when one realises that despite being corrected by several social media users, Yogita Bhayana has still not retracted her tweet, issued a clarification or an apology.

Several people took to Twitter to inform her that she was sharing fake news, however, Yogita does not seem moved by it.

This was merely a continuation of the narrative since the Hathras incident. Though the incident is mired in controversy and contradictions, several individuals have used the case to build a narrative that India is no longer safe for women and the problem has been made worse after PM Narendra Modi started leading the nation.

India Today confirms OpIndia newsbreak, admits being fined by BARC for viewership malpractice: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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India Today confirms OpIndia newsbreak, admits being fined by BARC for viewership malpractice: Read details

In a statement issued by India Today regarding the claims made in the fake TRP scam, the news channel has essentially confirmed the OpIndia report on the matter and admitted that they were fined by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). However, the media giant alleged that the action was taken by BARC without any concrete evidence or convening a proper judicial committee.

It further said that the India Today Group will consider appropriate legal recourse against BARC for allegedly ‘leaking’ confidential hearings. However, the news network remained silent on the reasons behind the imposition of the fine. The relevant part of the statement reads as:

“In a separate matter, BARC has fined India Today without presenting any concrete evidence or convening a proper judicial committee. The issue had been under contention with them, but since they have leaked the confidential hearings, the India Today Group will consider appropriate legal recourse to get justice”.

How OpIndia exposed India Today

OpIndia had first exposed the matter earlier in the day regarding the BARC imposing penalty of Rs 5,00,000 on India Today after they could not give a satisfactory answer to BARC Disciplinary Council (BDC) as to how their viewership was increasing. According to our sources, a show-cause notice was sent to TV Today Network and BARC regarding viewership malpractice on April 27, 2020. After the TV Today Network Limited failed to satisfy the BDC, it ruled that the channel could not satisfactorily explain the rise in their TRPs in certain geographies (Mumbai and Bangalore).

In its ruling, the BDC had termed the rise in the viewership of the channel as “abnormal” and “inexplicable”. The Council had ruled that India Today had breached section 7 of the EULA and had thereby committed viewership malpractice. As a result, a penalty of five lakhs was imposed by BARC on the channel.

BJP General Secretary slams Mamata government after cases were registered against party leaders for alleged violation of unlawful assembly laws

OpIndia Staff
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BJP General Secretary slams Mamata government after cases were registered against party leaders for alleged violation of unlawful assembly laws

BJP national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya today came down heavily upon the West Bengal government after a case was registered against him along with BJP national vice President Mukul Roy and Members of Parliament Locket Chatterjee, Arjun Singh, Rakesh Singh and BJP leaders Bharati Ghosh and Jaiprakash Majumdar for allegedly violating unlawful assembly law.

Attacking the Mamata government, Kailash Vijayvargiya accused the state government of having double standards. Vijayvargiya said that protests were held in the state after the Hathras case in Uttar Pradesh without observing social distancing and that the Chief Minister herself hits the street without following guidelines.

He called out the state government for allowing the TMC workers to protest against the Farm laws but not applying the same standards to the BJP workers who organised protest against the murders of their party workers in the state.

Kailash Vijayvargiya said that he would approach the court against the action of the West Bengal government and would also go to the Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Commission.

Attack on the Nabanno Chalo Rally

On Thursday, the West Bengal police had brutally beaten up BJP Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and BJP workers on the streets of Kolkata during the ‘Nabanno Chalo’ rally which was organised to protest against the political murders in the state. TMC had also reportedly joined the police in unleashing violence on the BJYM and the BJP workers. Not just that even bombs were hurled at the rally along with chemical liquid attacks.

The newly elected Chief of the BJYM, Tejasvi Surya, today said that he will move a privilege motion against the West Bengal officials who had manhandled BJP leaders who had gone to the Jorasanko police station to file an FIR in relation to the violence that was unleashed yesterday on the rally.

Bhima-Koregaon case: Chargesheet filed against 8 accused mentions links with banned communist outfit and Pakistan’s ISI

OpIndia Staff
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Bhima-Koregaon case: Chargesheet filed against 8 accused mentions links with banned communist outfit and Pakistan’s ISI

A mammoth 10,000-page supplementary charge sheet was filed by the National Investigation Agency on Friday against eight accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, including Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu and Stan Swamy. The NIA charge sheet mentioned that the accused had “active links” with banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoists).

Besides the above-mentioned individuals, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap of Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) were also named in the charge sheet filed before Special NIA court in Mumbai. Another accused, Milind Teltumbde, who is currently absconding, was the eighth person to be named in the charge sheet.

Accused furthered the ideology of terror organisation and had links to ISI: NIA

The accused are accused of having committed offences under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and offences related to sedition, waging war against India, criminal conspiracy etc., under the Indian Penal Code. They are also arraigned for conspiring to “further the ideology of terrorist organization CPI (Maoist)”, “bring hatred and disaffection towards the Government established by law” and “fostering enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, caste and community”.

In its charge sheet, the National Investigation Agency has charged Gautam Navlakha of conspiring to unite intellectuals against the government and enlist cadres for guerilla activities of banned organisation CPI(M). He has also been mentioned in the charge sheet having links with Pakistan’s notorious intelligence agency ISI.

Regarding Anand Teltumbde, the Goa Institute of Management professor, NIA spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General of Police in the agency Sonia Narang said that he was one of the organisers of the “Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan” and was in attendance at the Elgaar Parishad meeting at Shaniwar Wada, Pune on December 31, 2017, a day before violence engulfed Bhima Koregaon. The NIA official also added that documents revealed damning evidence against Teltumbde, who was in touch with other Maoist cadres and received funds for carrying out their activities.

Hany Babu has been charged with facilitating and organising visits of foreign journalists to Maoist areas and pooling funds for the release of Professor G N Saibaba, who is accused of allegedly having contacts with banned terror outfits.

The NIA in its charge sheet has accused the 83-year-old Stan Swamy of being a Maoist cadre. The central agency claimed that he was a convener of Persecuted Prisoners’ Solidarity Committee(PPSC), an organisation which was alleged to be a front organisation of CPI(M).

Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case

The Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case pertains to an event organised at Shaniwar Wada called Elgar Parishad on December 31, 2017. The following day, i.e January 1, 2018, large scale violence broke out at Bhima Koregaon, where lakhs of Dalits had gathered to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, won by the British Army—comprising mostly soldiers from Dalit community—against the Peshwas in 1818.

An FIR was filed in connection with the violence on January 8 after which Pune Police kickstarted a probe into it. According to the police, arrested ‘activists’ claiming that the event was organised as a part of alleged Maoist activity and the accused were members its members.

The Pune police continued the probe in the matter for 2 years after which the investigation was transferred to the National Investigation Agency in January this year. The agency claimed that incriminating documents and letters were found on the devices of some of the accused, tying their links to the banned CPI(M) group.

Soon after, the case was transferred to the NIA. The Pune police had arrested a another nine supposed “intellectuals” such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Varavara Rao for inciteful speeches.

Drugs smuggled from Myanmar to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and states within India through Mizoram benefits ‘insurgents’, claims report

OpIndia Staff
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Drugs smuggled from Myanmar to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and states within India through Mizoram benefits ‘insurgents’, claims report

The north-eastern state of Mizoram that shares border with Myanmar is emerging as a major route for drug trafficking from Myanmar according to a report on the Economic Times. The state reportedly provides a route for the smuggling of Yaba tablets (methamphetamine or meth) and other synthetic drugs to not just the northeastern region but also to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and other states within India.

According to the report, the drug smuggling is benefitting some terrorist groups in Myanmar. During a visit earlier this week of the Foreign Secretary and the Army Chief to Myanmar, security partnership was a main item. Citing the claim of a Myanmar media outfit, the Irrawaddy, the report claims that NGOs in Mizoram are demanding the 500km long border that the state shares with Myanmar to be fenced as drugs worth US Dollars 136,526 were seized in February-March this year.

As per the same report of the Irrawaddy cited by the Economic Times, experts claimed that during the end of the last century, drug cartels in the Golden Triangle, which is the meeting point of the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, switched to the production of the drug meth which resulted in the drug becoming more preferred than heroin. Meth has also become popular in Thailand where it is called ‘yaba’ or ‘crazy drug’ and also in Bangladesh where it is known as ‘baba’.

Shan state of Myanmar, which is said to be the biggest producer of yaba tablets, reportedly houses makeshift factories that produce over a billion tablets every year in the region. These tablets are then smuggles to other countries of Asia, Europe and America. According to a report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime cited in the ET report, India reported a rise in the seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) from up to 431 kg in 2018 to over 2.2 tons in 2019.

‘I don’t think everyone should be allowed to vote, somewhere dictatorship is the right away’: Popular Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda

OpIndia Staff
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‘I don’t think everyone should be allowed to vote, somewhere dictatorship is the right away’: Popular Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda

Popular Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda made some controversial comments on politics and elections during an interview with an entertainment portal on Thursday. Making his dissatisfaction with the current system as it stands clear, he said that a benevolent dictatorship would be preferable to the system that we have now.

Asked whether he will make a foray into politics at some point in the future, Vijay Deverakonda replied, “I don’t have the patience for it. The political system itself is someway not making sense, as in how we go about elections is not making sense. I don’t think everyone should be allowed to vote.” He continued, “So there is this concept that when you get on a plane and you’re flying to Bombay, would we all decide who will fly the plane? No, we let an efficient agency like the Airlines decide who is most competent, who understands this best to put the best person possible to fly the plane.”

Elaborating further on his disgruntlement with the electoral system, Vijay Deverakonda said, “Why we are having money swing a vote? Why we are having cheap liquor swing a vote? It is ridiculous. I am not even saying rich people should vote. I don’t even think the rich people should vote. I think the middle-class who have the most at stake, people who are educated, people who will not get swung by a little money, I think they…”

He confirmed that he does not believe everyone should have the right to vote. Expressing his displeasure, he said that he will not stand in elections where people vote for money or alcohol. He continued, “I would like to be a dictator if at all. I think that’s the way to go. I think that’s the way you can make change. Like, just shut up, I have good intentions, you don’t know what’s good for you maybe but stick to this and 5-10 years down the line, it is going to pay off.”

“I think somewhere dictatorship is the right away but you need to have a good guy,” Vijay Deverakonda said. He also admitted to having certain “radical” thoughts in his head that he won’t share because he knows they are “unacceptable”. The Telugu actor starred in the popular movie ‘Arjun Reddy’, which was remade into Hindi as Kabir Singh featuring Shahid Kapoor.

After outrage, Mumbai police focuses on detailing allegations against India Today in remand notice, says no clean chit to any channel yet on TRP scam

OpIndia Staff
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After outrage, Mumbai police focuses on detailing allegations against India Today in remand notice, says no clean chit to any channel yet on TRP scam

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh yesterday convened a press conference to alert about a new racket involving false television rating points (TRP). He said that three channels, including Republic TV and two other Marathi channels- Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema were reportedly involved in distorting the apparatus used by BARC to rate television channels. But later it was revealed that in the FIR filed in the case, India Today was named as paying BARC homes to watch the channel, and Republic TV was not named. Today, murkier details of the racket have come forth with the release of the remand note by the Mumbai Police in the case.

In the remand notice dated October 9, 2020, the police have sought the remand of the 4 arrested in the TRP scam case till October 13.

The remand note, which mentions both India Today and Republic TV, revealed that one of the accused Vishal Bhandari was engaged in financial transactions to manipulate viewership of the news channels.

Curiously, India Today was not mentioned in the Mumbai Police’s press conference yesterday. Hours later, a controversy erupted after it was found that the FIR filed in the case had a reference to India Today but not Republic TV.

Four accused arrested in the TRP rigging scam

The remand note mentions the four accused in the case—Vishal Bhandari, Bompelli Mistry, Shirish Patanshetty and Narayan Sharma. Two of the accused were the ex-employees of the Hansa Research Group, an organisation that was tasked with monitoring the Bar-O-Meters to measure viewership while the other two are the owners of the Marathi channels accused of rigging the TRPs.

Bhandari, who worked as ‘Relationship Manager’ at the Hansa Research Group, has been accused of manipulating the bar-o-meters to favour certain channels. Hansa CEO had earlier today claimed that Hansa group and BARC conducted an investigation regarding the TRP scan and filed an FIR against an ex-employee.

To measure TRPs, BARC has installed 2000 bar-o-meters in Mumbai to monitor viewership which is strictly confidential. Hansa Research group was entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring these barometers. Bhandari had access to these bar-o-meters as he was an employee working with the Hansa Research Group.

In November 2019, a man named Vinay Tripathi contacted Bhandari and asked him to bribe residents of at least 5 panel households to watch India Today daily for 2 hours. According to the remand note, at least in 5 households where the bar-o-meters were installed, Bhandari asked the residents to watch India Today channel for at least 2 hours every day on the assurance of providing a certain amount of commission to them.

Ex-Hansa Research employee bribed households with Rs 200 per month for watching India Today daily for at least 2 hours

Bhandari reportedly got a commission of Rs 5000 and 5 families were paid every month Rs 200 for tuning in to India Today for 2 hours on a daily basis. The remand note says that this continued for six months from November 2019 to May 2020.

In his interrogation, Bhandari reportedly confessed of working for Bompelli Mistry. He claimed that Mistry gave him Rs 20,000 every month to bribe 8 to 10 households, where the bar-o-meters were installed for registering TRPs, to watch Box Cinema and Fakt Marathi. Bhandari added that Mistry asked him to give a commission of Rs 400 to Rs 500 to each family and keep the remaining amount for himself.

In addition to this, the remand notice also has a passing reference to Republic TV with no concrete transaction details as in the case with India Today. It stated that Bhandari was approached by a man named Rocky who asked him to get households with the bar-o-meters to watch Republic TV for a longer duration.

Mumbai Police says no clean chit to any channel yet after outrage sweeps over its bungled handling of TRP scam

After tying themselves into a knot over their bungled handling of the TRP scam, accusing Republic TV of rigging TRP scam while hiding that India Today was mentioned in the FIR, the Mumbai Police today took a defensive stance saying that all the channels are under the scanner and they have so far not given clean chit to any of the channels involved in driving their TRPs through unlawful means.

Speaking to India Today’s Rahul Kanwal, the Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Milind Bharambe, said, “The FIR did mention India Today’s name for being one of the channels who paid money to households to fix the TRPs but as per the consequent investigation, the evidence collected pointed towards Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema. However, our investigation is completely open and we have not given clean chit to any other channels. As per evidence collected, we will take action accordingly.”

‘The fact that I am famous doesn’t matter to them. It is in their veins’, actor Nawzuddin Siddiqui speaks on caste bias in Uttar Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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‘The fact that I am famous doesn’t matter to them. It is in their veins’, actor Nawzuddin Siddiqui speaks on caste bias in Uttar Pradesh

Speaking on the recent Hathras incident, around which the Congress party tried to build a caste narrative to stoke caste-based riots in Uttar Pradesh, Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui said that caste bias is not only a reality but also a persisting problem in the villages in Uttar Pradesh. The actor, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, in an interview with NDTV said that so deep-rooted is this problem that despite his fame and popularity, he too has not been spared from discrimination in his village.

“The fact that I am famous doesn’t matter to them. It is deeply entrenched within them…it is in their veins. They consider it their pride. The Sheikh Siddiquis are the upper caste, and they will not have anything to do with those they consider beneath them. Even today it is there. It is very difficult,” said the Sacred Games actor.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui reveals how he still faces the bias in his village

He revealed that in his own family, his grandmother was from a lower caste and thus, even today they have not been accepted. “In my own family, my grandmother was from a lower caste. Even today, they have not accepted us because of my grandmother.”

Condemning the unfortunate Hathras incident, the actor said that “what is wrong is wrong”. 

“Our artiste community is also speaking out against what happened in Hathras. It is very important to speak out. It is a very unfortunate incident,” said Nawazuddin.

On Twitter, he said, people may say there is no caste discrimination. But if the same people travelled around, they would find a very different reality. He referred to his own village.

Congress and its friendly media gave Hathras incident a caste/communal colour

It is a fact that discrimination based on caste and religion, especially in the smaller towns of India, is a reality. This is possibly why the Congress party thought it to be a good idea to attach this angle to the Hathras incident and stoke massive caste-based riots in the village. 

Recently, in a sting operation, Rahul Gandhi’s close aide had revealed on camera Congress’ sinister plot to instigate caste-based riots in Hathras. Dalit Congress leader Shyoraj Jivan, who happens to be close to the Gandhi scion had in an on-camera admission said that the Congress had turned the Hathras incident into a caste-based crusade because they had plans to stoke full-fledged riots in the village and feed off the violence to reinstitute Congress party’s drowning political fate.

The Yogi Adityanath government had also in an affidavit submitted to the SC had asserted that the vested interests were trying to exploit the incident by giving it a caste/communal colour. The government said that a vicious campaign has been unleashed to defame the State govt and a certain section of print and electronic media, social media and political parties have been attempting to incite caste/communal riots.

The government had also filed an FIR alleging international conspiracy to trigger a caste-based flare-up in Uttar Pradesh over the Hathras incident.

Kerala: BJP Vice President AP Abdullakutty’s car hit by truck after attempt to manhandle him, 2 cases registered

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: BJP Vice President AP Abdullakutty’s car hit by truck after attempt to manhandle him, 2 cases registered

The national vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) AP Abdullakutty was attacked on his way to Kannur from Thiruvanathapuram last night. His car was reportedly hit on the rear by a truck in Randathani.

According to reports, Abdullakutty was manhandled by some unidentified men when he stopped to have some food at Malappuram, Kerala. The culprits hurled abuses at him. Abdullakutty alleged that his car was chased after he left the hotel and that a truck hit it twice. “My car was hit twice. Later the driver said he fell asleep. It is not true. We felt that some people were chasing us after we left the hotel in hurry”, told Abdullakutty. He did not sustain any injuries.

Malappuram SP Abdul Kareem told that two different cases have been registered and the truck driver has been called for questioning. “We have registered two cases. The truck driver was summoned for questioning. We will find out whether it was intentional or an accident”, he said.

Kerala BJP President K Surendran condemned the incident and called it an act of intolerance. He demanded the police to take strong measures in investigating the incident. A protest will be held by the state unit of the BJP to condemn the incident.

Abdullakutty was earlier a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was elected to Parliament in 1999 and 2009. He was expelled from the party in 2009 after he praised the development model of then CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi. He later joined Congress but was expelled from the party after he openly praised Prime Minister Modi’s Swachchh Bharat Mission.

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