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The media, its doorstep journalism and why it hates Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mahant Yogi Adityanath

Shantanu Gupta
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The media, its doorstep journalism and why it hates Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mahant Yogi Adityanath

Many journalists flourish and make their careers, writing on the politicians they love to hate. We have seen how in the last two decades, Anti-Modism has emerged as a full-time career option for many. Now media has added Mahant Yogi Adityanath also in their hate list. All these journalists will conveniently discount the fact that Yogi is a five-time parliamentarian, with an amazing track record of attendance, a number of questions asked and debates participated in the parliament.

Yogi won his elections with exponential margins even when BJP was not doing great in 2004 and 2009.  Yogi is the only Chief Minister, after Modi who will find mention in the New York times and Washington posts of the world. A simple fact-checking will reveal that most of these articles are written sitting in foreign lands and based on biases rather than facts.

In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath took the oath as the Chief Minister, he inherited a defunct Uttar Pradesh, being run by Akhilesh, his father and Mayawati in the last 15 years. Law and order in Uttar Pradesh was marred by these three characteristics – (1) An insufficient Police Force – only 1.5 lakhs positions out of the sanctioned 3 lakhs police positions in the state were filled by SP and BSP governments of the past (2) Bahubabli-karan of Politics – the likes of Raja Bhaya, Atique Ahmed, Vikas Dubey, Gayatri Prajapati were in corridors of power instead of jails (3) Patriarchal & Misogynist Mind-Set of the governments, dictated by Mulayam Singh’s Philosophy – “Ladke Hain, Galti Ho Jati Hai” (Boys will be Boys).

As we speak, 1.3 lac extra Police force is already recruited in Uttar Pradesh by the Yogi government. Yogi, who works 18 hours a day, started cracking this nexus from day one. He asked the home department to get a list of all the dreaded gangsters of Uttar Pradesh – who have fled jails, fled courtrooms, never even FIRed in the past, because of political protection OR never got arrested even after multiple court orders.

He started hunting all of these dreaded criminals who got political shelter in the last 15 years. He made special teams in order to catch them. In many cases, these criminals fired on the police teams, when they faced an arrest and got killed or injured in police’s counter firing. The Uttar Pradesh police have carried out over 3000 such expeditions in the first 16 months of the Yogi Adityanath government.

A total of 78 criminals have been gunned down and over 838 criminals have sustained injuries and 7043 criminals have been arrested. Instead of appreciating Yogi on this massive crackdown, Media diluted and questioned Yogi’s effort under the pretence of violation of Human right cases. It’s noteworthy that all these encounters passed the test of magistral enquiries and were found valid. Media never bothered to highlight this fact. 

But Industry was closely watching the rapidly improving law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. A safe Uttar Pradesh started attracting investment of the tunes 5 Lac crores. More than 250 of these projects also completed their groundbreaking ceremony by 2019. In fact, in 2020, Uttar Pradesh jumped to the 2nd position in ease of doing business rankings, after Andhra Pradesh. But media never gave Yogi a space for the positive news coming out of Uttar Pradesh on the front-pages or in the prime-time debates.

Assault against women is the biggest stain in modern civilized society globally. Western media portrays India as the rape capital of the world, when rape rate (rapes in a country per lac of population) in Sweden is 63.5, in Australia is 28.6, in the United States is 27.3 and India is only 1.8. The way India is a victim of the skewed narrative of the western media on the cases of women assault, Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh faces the same bias from the large part of Indian media.

As per the NCRB data, Rape rate in UP is 3.7, in compared to 14.7 Rape rate of Chhattisgarh, 11.7 of Rajasthan & 10.7 of Kerala. Because most of the media houses are housed in Delhi or Noida, Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh becomes the victim of doorstep reporting. In September 2020 itself, a 19-year-old COVID Patient, from Pathanamthitta is raped inside an ambulance in Kerala, two tribal girls aged 16 and 14 were raped in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, they consumed poison and one of them is dead, In Rajasthan, two minor girls from Baran were gang-raped for 3 days. But for some reason, these don’t become the prime time debates on our TV channels, but Hathras does.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi attempt tragedy tourism in Hathras, but don’t even tweet about Kerala. TMC MP, from West Bengal, Derek O’Brian also tries to go to Hathras but does not even care to comment about heinous crimes against two minor tribal girls in his own state of West Bengal. And because Yogi’s UP gives them TRPs, Media anchors also shed tears on Hathras, but don’t care about other daughters of India.

In the last three years, Yogi has capacitated the UP police force by filling 1.3 lacs vacant positions, dreaded criminals who were out in open in previous regimes are now in Jail. Illegally grabbed properties by the likes of Mukhtar Ansari, Atique Ahmed and Vikas Dubey are either seized or demolished. Romeo squads are trying their best to provide a safe atmosphere in UP. Special Investigation Teams (SITs) were formed in all serious cases and reports sought with tight timelines. Police staff is being suspended where ever laxity is found.

The industry is coming back to UP, as they find their money and employees safe in UP now. Despite all of this, Yogi continues to be the politician, which media love to hate and scrutinize dis-proportionately. First, it was Lal Krishna Advani, then it became Narendra Modi and now media has moved on to Yogi Adityanath as their favourite hate target.

Media and Congress succeed in their agenda: Agra sees stone-pelting by Valmiki community against police personnel

OpIndia Staff
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Media and Congress succeed in their agenda: Agra sees stone-pelting by Valmiki community against police personnel

With the brazen politicisation of the Hathras incident, the mainstream media and the opposition parties, most notably the Congress party, have finally succeeded in their nefarious pursuit of throwing Uttar Pradesh into a state of chaos and disorder. Incidents of stone-pelting have been reported from the city of Agra where members of Valmiki community hurled stones against the police personnel.

Skirmishes broke out in Agra between Valmiki community members and police officials over the brutality meted out to the 20-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras district. While police personnel equipped with riot gear tried to restore law and order, a wave of angry protesters took to streets to fling stones at them.

“Police’s monitoring situation. Our cyber teams also checking social media for objectionable posts. I appeal to all people to maintain peace,” said BR Pramod, SP, City Agra.

The protesting members of the Valmiki community also called for a boycott of cleaning works across the city. Heaps of waste and garbage were seen strewn on the sides of busy roads in the city.

The protests that swept across Agra came in the aftermath of the death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl on Tuesday at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital. The victim had suffered fractures, paralysis and a spinal injury after a brutal assault by the assailants.

Opposition politicians politicise the Hathras incident to settle scores with Yogi government

The incident sent a shockwave across the nation, providing an opportunity to galvanise the opposition political parties, including Congress. The parties showed a remarkable alacrity in exploiting the incident to mount an attack and settle their scores against the Yogi Adityanath government in the state. Scores of politicians tried to politicise the unfortunate death of the girl by marching to the village despite Section 144 in place.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi tried to revive his dwindling political fortunes by stoking the protest against the UP government. In his march to Hathras, Gandhi even pulled off a dramatic fall to reap political mileage and garner sympathy from the public. However, his meticulously planned fall on lush green grasses, aided by his supporters flanking him, had the Internet world in splits, with many pitting him against the Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr, who is known for feigning fake falls during his soccer matches.

After failed attempt to reach Hathras in the first go, Rahul Gandhi, along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi, were today on their way to visit the village. In a video of the siblings visiting Hathras, Rahul Gandhi was seen sitting in front of the car with his sister driving. Great laughter can also be heard in the video that was shared. This has enraged social media users who have criticised the Gandhi siblings for being callous on their way to meet the bereaved family in Hathras.

India Today activates panic mode after OpIndia reported leaked conversation between its journalist and Hathras victim’s brother

Likewise, the media’s role in the coverage of the incident has also been under scanner after conflicting reports emerged bringing forth multiple discrepancies in the case. OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.

OpIndia’s report prompted India Today to activate the panic mode and release an “Important and Urgent” statement where they admitted the authenticity of the tapes. In their statement, India Today was hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.

It is worthy to note here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.

India Today blocks Twitter users questioning them over Hathras Tape where their journalist was caught tutoring victim’s family

OpIndia Staff
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India Today blocks Twitter users questioning them over Hathras Tape where their journalist was caught tutoring victim’s family

After being left red-faced over the Hathras Tapes reported by Opindia yesterday, India Today now seems to be taking offence at netizens questioning the shenanigans of the media house. After the release of the Hathras tapes where their journalist was heard tutoring the victim’s family, the channel released a statement where they admitted that the tape was authentic. Thereafter, as netizens started questioning their journalistic ethics, India Today started indiscriminately blocking the ones questioning them.

One Twitter user (@BefittingFacts) shared screenshots of being blocked by India Today after it schooled the media house for creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. He said that a true journalist will never fear call tapping. He said that if the journalist is scared of “leaks” it means that he/she is hiding something or does not want the truth to be revealed.

According to the Twitter user, he was blocked right after he pointed out the hypocrisy of India Today in questioning under what law was the tapes being leaked after their phones had been tapped, while earlier, the same channel had gleefully reported the audiotapes of the conversation between Sushant Singh Rajput and his wealth managers.

Another Twitter user Alok Bhatt also took to the microblogging site to confirm that he too had been blocked by the media house.

India Today seems to be behaving like that arrogant child who starts throwing tantrums whenever he/she is caught lying. Many others also shared how India Today had blocked them after they questioned the channel over the Hathras tapes.

India Today admits authenticity of the Hathras Tape

India Today took to Twitter to release an “Important and Urgent” statement where they admitted the authenticity of the tapes. In their statement, India Today was hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.

It is worthy to note here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.

Hathras Tapes exposes India Today and their journalist Tanushree Pandey

OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.

Before publishing the report, OpIndia had reached out to Tanushree Pandey and asked her for her comments on the tape, however, she had not responded to the query.

While on Television, members of the opposition parties were seen trying to shield India Today by claiming that the audiotape was fabricated, in their panic to defend themselves, India Today admitted that the Hathras Tapes are indeed authentic.

The leaked audio that put India Today and the Congress party in the dock

The leaked conversations of the Hathras Case revealed the manner in which politicians and the media have been trying to politicise the issue in order to settle scores with the BJP government in the state. In one of the audios, Tanushree Pandey, an India Today journalist, was attempting to incite the brother of the deceased with lies and emotional blackmail.

In the audio clip, Tanushree Pandey could be heard trying hard to convince Sandeep to send her a video statement of his father alleging that he was under immense pressure from the administration.

Throughout the conversation, Tanushree Pandey appears insistent on coaxing out a very specific statement from Sandeep while the latter remains non-committal on his statement and appears hesitant to toe the line that the journalist wants him to toe. He confirms the journalist’s allegations of pressure and on other occasions, he says that his father was not very clear on whether he was pressurised or not.

Tanushree Pandey tells Sandeep that she has learnt from somewhere, she does not specify where that an attempt is being made to blame the death of the sister on her family. It does appear to be an incendiary piece of information that has not been reported anywhere in the media. This bit of false information appears entirely fake and seems to have been invented solely to take advantage of the family’s misery to peddle a particular political agenda.

In another conversation, an unidentified individual is heard telling Sandeep, the brother of the victim, to not leave his house because senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi would be visiting his home. In the conversation, the person could be heard telling Sandeep, “If anyone wishes to take you anywhere, you must not go, now Priyanka Gandhi will come to your house. Someone says you should go to Hathras, somewhere here, somewhere there, you must not go.”

The man continues, “Say that the police and the media are not allowing your relatives to come, that they have been kept for your protection or for Thakur’s. Tell them everything that has happened to you.” During the conversation, Sandeep tells the man that the SIT was on a visit and one ‘Sanjay bhaiya’, his father and two other people are sitting inside along with some Congress workers. The man further tells Sandeep, “Alright, don’t go anywhere. Now Priyanka Gandhi will come and tell her that pressure has been created on you and you want to create a video of that.”

In another conversation that appears to be between villagers and Sandeep, the brother is advised that he should not accept Rs. 25 lakhs and reach a conclusion. He is told that he should even accept Rs. 50 lakh to reach a conclusion. The lady in that conversation says that some politician is saying that ‘faisla’ should not be reached. During this conversation, the names of one ‘Rahul’ and Manish Sisodia and Barkha Dutt also comes up.

AajTak drama: Claims victory of reportage while running frantically towards Hathras village while media got permission due to completion of SIT probe

OpIndia Staff
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AajTak drama: Claims victory of reportage while running frantically towards Hathras village while media got permission due to completion of SIT probe

After media personnel barred from entering the Hathras village for the last couple of days, permission was granted to media houses to visit the village. Though the completion of the SIT probe was the reason behind the permission granted to the media professionals to enter the village, an overwrought Aaj Tak journalist hysterically claimed it as “victory of reportage”.

Frantically running towards the village while periodically gasping for air, the Aaj Tak reporter Chitra Tripathi claimed that the administration was under pressure because of the growing number of media professionals gathered outside the village.

“The administration was under intense pressure from the media organisations who had congregated around the border of the village. The DM thought that the media crowd will thin out in a couple of days. But, instead, it only grew thicker in the past two days. Caving under the immense pressure, the administration today allowed the media professionals covering the story to enter the village. What was the truth that was being hidden from the media?” Aaj Tak journalist said.

“This has happened (lifting of Section 144) because of Aaj Tak’s relentless coverage of the Hathras incident, our interviews with the victim’s family and our fight for securing justice for the victim girl,” the journalist said.

Section 144 lifted from Hathras after the completion of SIT probe

Earlier on Thursday, the police had put up barricades at about 2 km from the village on the main road, blocking off all access paths to the village. However, on Saturday, the authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras reopened the sealed borders and said that they will allow the media to enter the village.

“Since SIT probe in the village is complete, the restriction on media has been lifted. More than five media persons are now allowed to gather as Section 144 of CrPC is in place,” Prem Prakash Meena, Sadar senior divisional magistrate, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

India Today activates panic mode after OpIndia reported leaked conversation between its journalist and Hathras victim’s brother

The mainstream media’s questionable coverage of the Hathras incident came under the spotlight after OpIndia had yesterday reported a leaked conversation between India Today journalist and the Hathras victim’s brother where the journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was seen pleading with the victim’s brother to shoot and send a video of the father alleging that the UP administration was putting pressure on his.

After the OpIndia report, India Today, the sister channel of Aaj Tak, had gone into a panic mode, releasing an “Important and Urgent” statement on Twitter in which they seemed to be hyperventilating after creating an imaginary story about their journalist’s or the victim’s brother’s phone being tapped. They demanded to know why and under what law were their phones being tapped.

It is notable to mention here that India Today is not aware of the source of this audio and the audio itself could have been leaked from any quarter. However, India Today has jumped to the conclusion of phone tapping.

Foreign Imams not to be allowed to teach, home-schooling to be restricted to avoid ‘indoctrination’: France to bring laws to tackle ‘Islamic separatism’

OpIndia Staff
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Foreign Imams not to be allowed to teach, home-schooling to be restricted to avoid ‘indoctrination’: France to bring laws to tackle ‘Islamic separatism’

When the world is suffering from the increasing menace of radical Islam, France has decided to bring in a law to tackle the issue. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that a bill would be laid in the Parliament to fight homegrown Islamic separatism within Muslim communities in the country.

France strictly adheres to the principle of secularism (laicité), which promulgates complete separation of the Church and the State. The country has adopted the constitutional principle in 1905, following ‘anti-clerical struggle’ with the Catholic Church. France is home to 5 million Muslims who constitute 5-7% of the population.

French law to curb homeschooling to prevent indoctrination

The French President has expressed concerns about the rise of radicalism in France, often in a non-violent form, with the Muslims. Macron highlighted that the new bill will ‘severely’ restrict home-schooling to prevent children from being ‘indoctrinated’ with separatist ideology. Reportedly, the law will also check the proliferation of ‘unregistered’ educational institutions, which offer curriculum different from the national one.

Foreign Imams cannot train clerics in France, Macron informs

While the new law will encourage the teaching of the Arabic language in France and the creation of an ‘Institute of Islamology’, foreign Islamic clerics will not be permitted to train imams in France. “What we need to fight is Islamist separatism. The problem is an ideology which claims its own laws should be superior to those of the Republic,” the French President stated recently. He also emphasised the need for an ‘enlightened Islam’ in the country.

The new law will also empower Central government representatives aka prefects to overturn decisions by mayors that promote gender-based segregation in cafeterias and swimming pools. According to French officials, Muslims often force young children to wear full-face veils, refuse to shake hands with people belonging to the opposite gender, a drastic increase in the number of madrassas and segregated swimming pools.

Muslim group criticises French President’s ‘choice of words’

Criticising his statement, President Amar Lasfar of the Muslims of France Association said, “It is a speech that tries to point at danger, and I do not quite agree. In ‘Islamism’ there is the word ‘Islam’ and I think he could have talked about extremism or radicalisation. One cannot stigmatise all Muslims.” He added that a new law was not required and argued that existing laws could be used to achieve the same outcome.

Radical Islamist attacks in France

France has faced the wrath of several jihadist attacks in the past 5 years, resulting in 250 deaths. Last week, an 18-year-old Pakistani terrorist named Ali Hassan aka Zaheer Hassan Mehmood stabbed four people with a meat cleaver near the former offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo near the Richard Lenoir Metro Station in Paris. Two people were critically injured in the attack. Hassan, who hails from Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab province of Pakistan, was eventually nabbed by the Paris Police Department.

Charlie Hebdo had decided to republish the cartoons on prophet Mohammed that led to the terrorist attack against them in 2015. Their decision to republish the cartoons had triggered widespread protests across the Muslim world and renewed calls for violence.

India Today does u-turn after their journalist was exposed in Hathras tape? Now says one accused was not in the village during incident

OpIndia Staff
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India Today does u-turn after their journalist was exposed in Hathras tape? Now says one accused was not in the village during incident

India Today has been at the forefront of inciting emotions from Hathras after the unfortunate murder of a 19-year-old girl. Only a day ago, OpIndia had exposed leaked audio where their journalist, Tanushree Pandey, was heard trying to tutor the victim’s brother and pestering him to film a confessional tape of the father saying that the UP government was pressurising the family.

A day after the OpIndia expose, India Today, a channel that was convinced that it should be the judge, jury and the executioner in the Hathras case, seems to have done a u-turn.

Now, India Today has released a report which says that one of the accused in the Hathras case, Ramu, was not even present in the village during the incident.

In the AajTak report, which is the Hindi channel of India Today, the journalist is seen speaking to the employer of the accused who says that at least 20-25 people work in the factory and all of them can attest that Ramu was working at the factory when the unfortunate Hathras incident took place.

The Dairy Plot owner says that Ramu was working at the factory and was not even present in the village where the incident took place. On being asked, the factory owner says that Ramu is slightly hard of hearing and is overall an innocent person.

According to Zee News, that has also reported this, Madhusudan, who is a shift manager at the factory, also showed Ramu’s photo of that day in the factory’s internal WhatsApp group. Ramkumar (Ramu) is the uncle of the main accused Sandeep. 

Zee News has reported that according to the shift manager, Ramu’s presence is marked in the attendance calendar for both 14th and 15th of September, which proves that he could not have been present during the crime took place in Hathras.

Ramu’s father said that his son was not involved in any rape or gang-rape. Being of the same family, he has been implicated in the case. Describing the Hathras victim as his daughter, Rakesh told Zee News that if his son is guilty of gang-rape, he should be shot dead rather than running any trial. 

He further said he is nor trying to save Ramu. If the gang-rape charges are proved against his son, he should also be killed.

Further, Rakesh Kumar, Ramu’s father, also says that Ramu was earlier detained and released, however, only days later when the rape charges were added, he was re-arrested. Kumar has reportedly expressed full faith in the SIT and said that he is confident that the truth of the matter will come out.

The India Today u-turn in reporting comes at an interesting stage. Not even 24 hours earlier, their reporter had been exposed via leaked audio for tutoring the family of the victim. This development in India Today reportage of the case is interesting since, for the past few days, India Today has rather been convinced that the narrative they have put out of the incident and the one being encashed on by the Congress is completely true. Any facts to the contrary have been met with a sneer. However, this development in the case raises several questions about the reportage of India Today and the media in general.

It is to be kept in mind that the medical reports do not indicate rape, according to the police. Now, with one of the accused not being present in the village itself, according to India Today, the acceptable narrative of the case would require a re-examination to uncover what really happened in Hathras.

The leaked audio that put India Today and the Congress party in the dock

The leaked conversations of the Hathras Case revealed the manner in which politicians and the media have been trying to politicise the issue in order to settle scores with the BJP government in the state. In one of the audios, Tanushree Pandey, an India Today journalist, was attempting to incite the brother of the deceased with lies and emotional blackmail.

In the audio clip, Tanushree Pandey could be heard trying hard to convince Sandeep to send her a video statement of his father alleging that he was under immense pressure from the administration.

Throughout the conversation, Tanushree Pandey appears insistent on coaxing out a very specific statement from Sandeep while the latter remains non-committal on his statement and appears hesitant to toe the line that the journalist wants him to toe. He confirms the journalist’s allegations of pressure and on other occasions, he says that his father was not very clear on whether he was pressurised or not.

Tanushree Pandey tells Sandeep that she has learnt from somewhere, she does not specify where that an attempt is being made to blame the death of the sister on her family. It does appear to be an incendiary piece of information that has not been reported anywhere in the media. This bit of false information appears entirely fake and seems to have been invented solely to take advantage of the family’s misery to peddle a particular political agenda.

In another conversation, an unidentified individual is heard telling Sandeep, the brother of the victim, to not leave his house because senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi would be visiting his home. In the conversation, the person could be heard telling Sandeep, “If anyone wishes to take you anywhere, you must not go, now Priyanka Gandhi will come to your house. Someone says you should go to Hathras, somewhere here, somewhere there, you must not go.”

The man continues, “Say that the police and the media are not allowing your relatives to come, that they have been kept for your protection or for Thakur’s. Tell them everything that has happened to you.” During the conversation, Sandeep tells the man that the SIT was on a visit and one ‘Sanjay bhaiya’, his father and two other people are sitting inside along with some Congress workers. The man further tells Sandeep, “Alright, don’t go anywhere. Now Priyanka Gandhi will come and tell her that pressure has been created on you and you want to create a video of that.”

In another conversation that appears to be between villagers and Sandeep, the brother is advised that he should not accept Rs. 25 lakhs and reach a conclusion. He is told that he should even accept Rs. 50 lakh to reach a conclusion. The lady in that conversation says that some politician is saying that ‘faisla’ should not be reached. During this conversation, the names of one ‘Rahul’ and Manish Sisodia and Barkha Dutt also comes up.

“Public understands their visit to Hathras is for their politics and not justice”, Smriti Irani tears into Congress for politicising the case

OpIndia Staff
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“Public understands their visit to Hathras is for their politics and not justice”, Smriti Irani tears into Congress for politicising the case

While addressing the media on the Hathras case, Union minister Smriti Irani tore into the Congress party for politicising the unfortunate incident. She said: “The public is aware of Congress’ tactics, is why they ensured a historic win for BJP in 2019 polls. People understand that their visit to Hathras is for attaining their political agenda and not for justice to the victim.” 

Smriti Irani condemns Ashok Gehlot’s insensitive comments on Baran incident

Vociferously condemning Congress leader and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s “indecent” comment on the Baran rape case, and taking on the Gandhi scions for their selective outrage, the Union Minister said that she is “hopeful that someday, Rahul Gandhi or Mrs Vadra would at least make one call to the Rajasthan CM for his deplorable comment”.

For the uninitiated, speaking about the incident where two minor girls, aged 13 and 15, from Baran in Rajasthan, were taken to Kota, Jaipur and Ajmer and were raped for three days, Rajasthan CM and Congress senior leader Ashok Gehlot had claimed that the minor girls were not ‘forced’. Despite the girls admitting on camera, the Congress leader had insisted that they went with the boys on their own free will.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, Smriti Irani said that for any individual, be it a politician or anyone else, it extremely reprehensible to make such an insensitive and indecent comment for any rape victim.

Criticising the politics which is being done over the Hatras case, Smriti Irani said that she is confident that the Uttar Pradesh CM would make sure that a thorough investigation is conducted in the case and who so ever has tried to obstruct the investigation or suppress or erase evidence will be penalized.

The Union minister assures justice to the victim’s kin, says she is sure that once the SIT constituted to investigate the Hathras case comes up with its findings, Yogi would take appropriate action against all those who are guilty.

Congress and its shenanigans

It is highly unfortunate that the Congress party has been trying to milk the Hathras incident to reinvent its deteriorating political fortune. Apart from the initial brother-sister- ‘finding a clean spot to ‘fall’’ to “Bhaiya camera layiye,” to ‘attending prayer meet for victim’ stunts on Thursday, leaked conversations of the Hathras Case revealed how Congress’ planted tout emotionally blackmailed the victim’s family and tried to coerce them to speak against the state administration to settle scores with the BJP government in the state. 

Leaked audio tapes reveal an underlying political conspiracy

Yesterday, the telephonic conversations between one India Today journalist and the brother of the deceased, Sandeep, was accessed by OpIndia. In the audio clip, Tanushree Pandey could be heard convincing Sandeep to send her a video statement of his father alleging that he was under immense pressure from the administration. Throughout the conversation, Tanushree Pandey appears insistent on coaxing out a very specific statement from Sandeep while the latter remains non-committal on his statement and appears hesitant to toe the line that the journalist wants him to toe.

In another conversation, an unidentified individual is heard telling Sandeep, the brother of the victim, to not leave his house because senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi would be visiting his home. In the conversation, the person could be heard telling Sandeep, “If anyone wishes to take you anywhere, you must not go, now Priyanka Gandhi will come to your house. Someone says you should go to Hathras, somewhere here, somewhere there, you must not go.”

Congress shares video of Rahul Gandhi laughing his way to cash in on ‘god given opportunity’ in Hathras, allegedly, to express solidarity with family

OpIndia Staff
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Congress shares video of Rahul Gandhi laughing his way to cash in on ‘god given opportunity’ in Hathras, allegedly, to express solidarity with family

Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are on their way to meet the family of the Hathras gang rape victim, reported ANI. The news agency has released a video on social media where the siblings can be seen sitting in front of the car with the sister driving. Great laughter can also be heard in the video that was shared.

The siblings are coming under intense criticism for their callousness. People pointed out how they are laughing and having fun while visiting the family of the bereaved.

One would have expected the prevailing mood to be sombre considering the circumstances of their visit, however, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi appear to be laughing and making merry on their way to meet the victim of a family which has only recently lost their daughter. ANI has credited Congress as the source of the video, thus, it appears the party itself does not see anything wrong with making merry on the face of such a tragedy.

The laughter of the siblings appear consistent with the recent declaration of a journalist that the Hathras case was a ‘god given opportunity‘ for them to resurrect their careers. In a leaked conversation that was accessed by Opindia, a man could be heard advising the brother of the deceased to stay home as Priyanka Gandhi would pay a visit. The brother was also instructed on what to tell the Congress leader and the details of what to say was also communicated.

The Congress party has been politicising the matter from the beginning in order to reap political mileage out of it. Rahul Gandhi had even enacted a dive on to the ground to claim that he was assaulted by the Police. The media has also been aiding their effort as is evident from other leaked conversations accessed by OpIndia.

The country witnessed a time when national security was compromised: PM Modi at the inauguration of Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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The country witnessed a time when national security was compromised: PM Modi at the inauguration of Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the all-weather Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh connecting Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley. The tunnel, also known as Rohtang Tunnel, has a strategic importance as it is supposed to strengthen the border infrastructure. It will reduce the time taken in travelling from Manali to Leh by up to five hours. This 9.02 km long tunnel is world’s longest tunnel at this altitude which is 3000 km above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The Ladakh valley earlier used to be cut off for six months during snow fall. This tunnel will enable connectivity throughout the year.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Defense Minister Ranath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff (CS) General Vipin Rawat, Army Chief General MM Narvane and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur. Speaking at the inauguration of the Atal Tunnel, PM Modi said that the occasion marks the realisation of the dream of the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and also the long wait of the people of Himachal Pradesh.

Attacking the previous Congress governments, PM Modi said that the project was almost forgotten by the subsequent governments after its foundation stone was laid down by former PM Vajpayee in 2002.

Citing the opinion of experts, the Prime Minister said if the work of the tunnel had continued at the pace with which it was going on till 2014, the project would be complete by 2040.

He said that his government completed the work of tunnel in just six years which would have otherwise taken 26 years. Launching a veiled attack on the previous Congress governments PM Modi said that several other projects were treated in a similar manner before this government came. He cited Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip which was kept nonfunctional for a long time.

Without taking any names, PM Modi said that the interests of the country were compromised of very long time. He said that this government fulfills its promises.

Counting the achievements of his government, the Prime Minister said that modern arms and ammunition are being manufactured under Make in India and that the position of the Chief of Defence Staff was also created.

The Prime Minister said that the construction of the tunnel will give rise to various employment opportunities linked with tourism.

PM Modi also asked those associated with the construction of the tunnel, including BRO, to write down their experience, which can be compiled as a book, so that others, including engineering students, can learn from the stories of construction of the tunnel project.

War memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of 20 soldiers who evicted Chinese PLA troops from Galwan Valley

OpIndia Staff
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War memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of 20 soldiers who evicted Chinese PLA troops from Galwan Valley

Honourable countries are those who recognise and acknowledge the supreme sacrifices made by their soldiers protecting their territorial integrity and sovereignty. India is among few of those nations who honour their fallen ones. It is in this regard that India has built a war memorial commemorating the 20 soldiers who lost their lives in the Galwan Valley while evicting the Chinese squatters. 

The memorial to the 20 soldiers has been built at the unit level near the KM-120 post along the highly strategic Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie road, Ladakh. 

The memorial built has names of the 20 soldiers and the details of the June 15 operation. 

The details engraved on the war memorial reads: “On June 15, 2020 at Galwan Valley, Col B Santosh Babu Commanding Officer, 16 Bihar led the Quick Reaction Force of 16 Bihar and attached troops tasked to evict the PLA OP from Gen AY Nala and move further to Patrolling Point 14.”

It further added, “The column successfully evicted the PLA OP from Y Nala and reached PP 14 where a fierce skirmish broke out between the IA and PLA troops. Col B Santosh Babu led from the front and his troops fought gallantly in a hand to hand combat, causing heavy casualties to the PLA. In the ensuing fight twenty “Gallants of Galwan” achieved martyrdom.”

Skirmishes broke out between India-China troops at Galwan Valley in June

Since April-May this year, India and China are engaged in a fierce standoff at several flash-points, including Galwan Valley, along the Line of Control in Eastern Ladakh. 

In June this year, India lost 20 of her brave-hearts guarding the volatile LAC amidst heightening tensions due to Chinese intrusions. 

Under Operation Snow Leopard, Indian forces repelled the squatting Chinese PLA Army near the Y-junction at the Galwan Valley. However, in the operation, India lost 20 of her soldiers with a sizeable number of casualty on the Chinese side as well. However, unlike India, China did not honour its soldiers and refrained from recognising their sacrifice.

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