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In an ironical turn of events, BMC calls Kangana Ranaut’s plea an ‘abuse of law’ after hounding her for dissenting views

OpIndia Staff
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In an ironical turn of events, BMC calls Kangana Ranaut’s plea an ‘abuse of law’ after hounding her for dissenting views

Responding to actor Kangana Ranaut’s plea before the Bombay High Court where she had demanded Rs 2 crores as damages, the BMC has said that her plea is an ‘abuse of law’ and that the High Court should dismiss it. In an affidavit, BMC has also demanded that costs be imposed on Kangana Ranaut for making this plea before the High Court.

“The writ petition and the reliefs sought for therein constitute an abuse of process. The Petition should not be entertained and should be dismissed with costs,” the petition by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

In its reply, Wled through advocate Joel Carlos, the BMC alleged that Ranaut falsely stated that the alterations were as per permission previously granted by it.

It was on the 9th of September that the BMC had demolished a part of Kangana Ranaut’s Pali Hill bungalow claiming that she had made several structural changes to the house without taking due permission. The move was widely seen as a political vendetta against Kangana Ranaut since she has been speaking up against Bollywood and especially, against the Shiv Sena and the Mumbai Police for their shoddy handling of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

It is thus an ironical twist of events that after taking steps that were in violation of the High Court order, BMC is now claiming that Kangana Ranaut’s plea is an “abuse of law”.

Thereafter, Kangana Ranaut had approached the Bombay High Court asking for a stay of demolition and had been granted the same by the Court. On the 15th of September, Ranaut amended her plea, seeking a compensation of Rs 2 crore from the BMC.

Kangana Ranaut plea demanding Rs 2 crore as damages from BMC and the politics of vendetta by Maharashtra govt

In her amended plea, Ranaut alleged that the BMC’s decision to demolish her property was a direct consequence of her comments against the Maharashtra government.

The actor had approached the court after BMC at the behest of the Uddhav Tackeray-led government in Maharashtra, on September 9, demolished her property in Bandra worth crores, within just 24 hours of a ‘stop work’ notice and at a time when such demolition activities have been prohibited by a High Court order.- Advertisement –

A division bench led by Justice S J Kathawalla had stayed the demolition, saying that the civic body’s actions seemed “malafide” (having dubious intentions).

However, until then, the BMC had already demolished at least 40 per cent of the property on the ground that some illegal alterations were carried out at the property without permission.

BMC’s action violated Bombay HC’s order

The demolition drive which was carried out by the BMC was in violation of the order of the Bombay High Court that directed the government, Municipal corporations and other authorities against carrying out any demolition, eviction and holding auctions of attached properties across the State of Maharashtra till September 30.

The BMC did not take prior permission from the court as required by the March 19 order. It is to be seen whether contempt charges will be slapped against the BMC for not complying with the order of the High Court.

The court is slated to hear the matter on September 22.

West Bengal and Kerala come under scanner as NIA arrests 9 Al-Qaeda terrorists, were planning multiple attacks

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal and Kerala come under scanner as NIA arrests 9 Al-Qaeda terrorists, were planning multiple attacks

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has busted a major terror module in the country after it nabbed 9 Islamic terrorists linked to Pakistan-sponsored Al Qaeda from West Bengal and Kerala on Friday.

According to the reports, the National Investigation Agency arrested nine terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda from Murshidabad in West Bengal and from Ernakulam in Kerala. The officials also seized some digital devices and documents.

The arrested terrorists have been identified as Murshid Hasan, Iyakub Biswas, Mosaraf Hossein, Najmus Sakib, Abu Sufiyan, Mainul Mondal, Leu Yean Ahmed, Al Mamun Kamal, Atitur Rehman.

Al Qaeda was founded in the 1980s by Osama Bin Laden and is an Islamic terrorist organisation that has been responsible for carrying out several terrorist attacks all around the world.

While CNNNews18 has said that 11 terrorists have been nabbed, ANI has reported that 9 terrorists have been nabbed as the Al Qaeda module was busted.

During the preliminary investigation, it was found that the individuals were radicalised by Pakistan-based Al Qaeda terrorists on social media to carry out attacks at multiple places in India, including the National Capital Region.

The inter-state module, which was operational for some time, was planning to carry out terror attacks at vital installations in India.

Reportedly, the NIA officials have recovered incriminating materials including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, a locally fabricated body armour, and literature on homemade explosives.

The terror module was also raising funds to carry out attacks and a few of them planned to travel to New Delhi to try and procure arms and ammunitions.

“A large quantity of incriminating materials, including digital devices, documents, jihadi literature, sharp weapons, country-made firearms, a locally fabricated body armour, articles and literature used for making home-made explosive devices have been seized from their possession,” the NIA statement has said.

Delhi Police arrests journalist Rajeev Sharma for possessing classified defence documents, had written for Chinese mouthpiece GlobalTimes

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Police arrests journalist Rajeev Sharma for possessing classified defence documents, had written for Chinese mouthpiece GlobalTimes

The Delhi Police have arrested a freelance journalist identified as Rajeev Sharma under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), who was found in possession of classified defence-related documents.

According to the reports, the special cell of the Delhi Police arrested Rajeev Sharma in connection with a case under the Official Secrets Act.

Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), confirming the arrest said that Rajeev was found to be in possession of some defence-related classified documents. He added that an investigation is in progress and further details will be revealed soon.

According to the police, Rajeev was arrested on 14 September and interrogated during the police custody for six days. Later he was produced before a magistrate the next day. His bail application has been listed in Patiala House Court for 22 September.

Rajeev Sharma wrote for Chinese publications, The Quint, Dailyo

Sharma, who is a resident of Pitampura in Delhi, had earlier worked with United News of India, The Tribune, Free Press Journal, Saakaal and others as a journalist. As a journalist, Rajeev Sharma was covering defence and foreign affairs for around two decades.

According to journalist Aditya Raj Kaul, Rajeev Sharma had written several columns for Chinese newspaper Global Times, the mouthpiece of Communist Party of China for the last several years.

Recently, Sharma had written a piece for Chinese newspaper Global Times, titled ‘A rapprochement road map for Beijing and New Delhi benefits both countries’, in which he had opined that, “The steady deterioration of bilateral relations since the night of May 5, when the latest standoff began, has practically evaporated all the diplomatic gains of the past years in one stroke. He had been writing for the Chinese mouthpiece newspaper for a long time.

The current crisis is the biggest threat to normal ties between the two sides since 1962. It’s a lose-lose situation for both. Their common objective must be to build a better and peaceful future for their peoples and not a military buildup against one another.”

In addition to Chinese publications, Sharma had also written columns with left-wing publications such as The Quint, DailyO etc. Sharma also runs a YouTube channel called ‘Rajeev Kishkindha’, which has around 11,900 subscribers. 

Reportedly, Sharma was one of the few people who were allegedly alerted by Canada-based agency that their phones were compromised through their WhatsApp using Israeli cyber intelligence tool ‘Pegasus’. Sharma was reportedly alerted that his phone was under surveillance for about two weeks in May last year.

Following the arrest, Sharma’s Twitter account, which has over 5,300 followers, has been restricted.

Bloomberg Quint calls an economist an ‘infectious disease expert’ to peddle the theory that a high recovery rate is a ‘useless statistic’

OpIndia Staff
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Bloomberg Quint calls an economist an ‘infectious disease expert’ to peddle the theory that a high recovery rate is a ‘useless statistic’

At the time when the entire country stands united in its fight against the Chinese epidemic COVID-19, the ultra-left wing website – The Quint, notoriously known for spreading false information time and again, attempted to create panic in the society by again indulging in peddling fake news. The portal published views of a so-called epidemic expert, whose earlier prediction on Coronavirus spread was proved to be very wrong.

In an article dated September 17, the leftist propaganda portal firstly, fear-mongers by trying to portray how the coronavirus scourge in India is spreading like in no other country around the world and how India will “soon eclipse the outbreak in the U.S.” Secondly, it attempts to belittle the central government led by Narendra Modi by peddling the theory that a low mortality rate or a high recovery rate is a ‘useless statistic’. And to prove this it quotes some ‘infectious disease experts’. Incidentally, one of the “experts” is Ramanan Laxminarayanan.

Congress used similar narrative to belittle the central government

First and foremost, the claims The Quint uses to spread fear amongst the citizens simply does not hold water, because rather than the total numbers, what matters is the proportion of the population which is infected. India has the second-largest population in the world, and hence, the number of Coronavirus cases per million population is actually what counts and if that is taken into account, India’s position still remains better than many other countries across the globe.

Amusingly, Congress had used a similar narrative a few months ago to belittle the Modi government but was left red-faced.

“Expert” Ramanan Laxminarayanan is not even a doctor, just a PhD in economics

Secondly, the ‘infectious disease expert’ The Quint has quoted to discredit the initiatives of the government and are trying to create panic in the society is no “expert”. Rather, he is not even a doctor but has a PhD in economics. Ramanan Laxminarayanan actually claims to be an economist and has worked for a little-known not-for-profit organisation named Public Health Foundation of India for the last four years.

In fact, the UPA-era public health entrepreneur is the same “expert” who had come up with outlandish claims that India would be facing close to 300 million COVID-19 infections and 2.5 million deaths due to coronavirus outbreak by July. He had made these predictions in interviews given to India Today and Barkha Dutt’s YouTube channel. But the actual numbers in Jule were much less than what he had predicted.

The Quint transforms an engineer to a doctor to peddles fake news regarding India’s efforts in tackling coronavirus

The Quint stooping to this level to berate the Modi government is not at all surprising. The leftist website had earlier, notoriously, transformed an engineer named Girdhar Gyani into a doctor to peddle fake news saying India is already in the middle of stage-3 community transmission of Coronavirus.

The leftist media portal did not stop at this. It even went on to shockingly lie that Gyani was part of the meeting of prominent doctors and healthcare providers chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 24 March. According to the Quint, Gyani was in the capacity of convenor of the task force on COVID-19 private hospitals created in response to an initiative by NITI Aayog.

However, the claim made by the Quint was proved to be out-an-out fake news. According to the official document released by the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which had formed the high-level committee of doctors and health experts, in association with NITI Aayog, there was no reference to ‘Doctor’ Gyani being part of the expert group.

Minister Anurag Thakur apologises after ruckus breaks out in Parliament over his comments on the Nehru-Gandhi family

OpIndia Staff
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Minister Anurag Thakur apologises after ruckus breaks out in Parliament over his comments on the Nehru-Gandhi family

On Friday, MoS Finance Anurag Thakur tendered an apology after the Opposition created a ruckus in the Lower House of the Parliament during a heated debate on PM Cares Fund. The Lok Sabha had to be adjourned four times by Speaker Om Birla between 4 pm and 6 pm.

When the House reconvened again, the Speaker urged the Parliamentarians to refrain from making allegations without evidence and desist from playing ‘blame games.’ The firebrand BJP leader then tendered his apology saying, “I had no intent to hurt the sentiments of anybody. Agar kisi ko thes pahunchi hai, to mujhe bhi is baat ki peeda hai (I am remorseful knowing that others are hurt by my comments).”

Anurag Thakur slammed the Congress for financial misappropriation

His apology came at the backdrop of accusations of financial impropriety that he levelled against the Nehru-Gandhi family. While addressing the House over the issue of ‘transparency’ regarding the PM Cares Fund, Anurag Thakur had stated, “PM Cares is a registered public charitable trust. I want to challenge the Opposition to prove otherwise. This trust is meant for 138 crore people of this country.”

Lambasting the Congress party, he emphasised, “You created a trust only for the Gandhi family. The PM Relief Fund had members such as Nehru and Sonia Gandhi. There needs to be a detailed discussion (on the financial impropriety). The country should be exposed to your real face. “

A rattled Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury then claimed that Chinese companies had donated ₹500 crores to the PM Cares Fund. He also demanded an investigation into the matter. Dismissing the allegations, Anurag Thakur reiterated, “I do not agree to the allegations. The Nehru-Gandhi family should be named in this. You have misled the country by transferring funds to several charitable organisations and benefitted yourselves. We will expose this. The Gandhi family has betrayed this nation.”

“You are supposed to be unprejudiced,” investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala schools BJP-hater NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain

OpIndia Staff
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“You are supposed to be unprejudiced,” investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala schools BJP-hater NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain

In a recent interview with investor and businessman Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on NDTV, ‘journalist’ Sreenivasan Jain got a lesson in ethical media reporting.

During the course of the interview, Jhunjhunwala accused Jain and his media house of being blinded in hatred against the BJP. He said, “You just criticise the government.” In a bid to negate the obvious, the journalist then resorted to accusing the famed investor of being a ‘fan of Mr. Modi and the BJP.’ Sreenivasan Jain then blamed his guest for failing to see the ‘good from the bad.’

The press is not a political animal, remarked Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

“I am a fan of Mr. Modi – This is a well-known fact. As an Indian, I have a right to my political choices… But, I find you prejudiced. I find NDTV prejudiced against the government,” Rakesh Jhunjhunwala emphasised. The NDTV journalist then made one last desperate attempt to dismiss the allegations against him and his media channel.

Sreenivasan Jain said, “You feel that your opinion is not prejudiced.” Lambasting the motivated journalism of NDTV and Jain, the businessman reiterated, “Well, I am a political animal. The press is not a political animal. You are supposed to be unprejudiced.” Without nothing left to say, the journalist laughed aloud and claimed, “I would love to think that I am unprejudiced.”

You can count my wealth by you can’t have it

The NDTV journalist faced another embarrassment when he brought the matter of value of the ace investor’s portfolio during the discussion. Jain said that the value of Jhunjhunwala’s investment had decreased during the lockdown, but subsequently bounced back. To this, Jhunjhunwala said that he does not like to discuss his personal wealth in public, and added that although Jain can count it, he will not able to have it. He then went on to slam the media for portraying the economy only negatively.

Saying that his opinion is not depended on his wealth and it is based on reality, he said that all the TV anchors are spreading doom and gloom in the economy.

Sreenivasan Jain and his prejudiced reporting

Sreenivasan Jain and his comrades from the left-liberal cabal are known for their blind hatred for PM Modi and the current political dispensation at the Centre. Earlier, the NDTV journalist published a misleading video to target and falsely implicate BJP leader Kapil Mishra for the Delhi anti-Hindu riots.

In the video, NDTV had spoken to one man named Sanjay Gupta, to whom the NDTV claimed as Mishra’s landlord. Gupta had blamed Kapil Mishra for the anti-Hindu riots by stating that violence in Delhi only started after Kapil Mishra made the speech on the eve of the riots.

However, Sanjay Gupta, who was referred to by Sreenivasan Jain as Mishra’s landlord turned out to be an imposter. In a hurry to implicate Kapil Mishra, NDTV had created a bogus ‘landlord’. According to NDTV’s own confession, Sanjay Gupta who acted as Mishra’s landlord was identified as a ‘broker’ and a witness in Mishra’s land dealings. As such, Gupta was not the landlord of Kapil Mishra as claimed by NDTV.

‘Women rioters attacked police with swords and knives hidden under their burqa’: Author Monica Arora shares anecdotes from her upcoming book on Delhi Riots

OpIndia Staff
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‘Women rioters attacked police with swords and knives hidden under their burqa’: Author Monica Arora shares anecdotes from her upcoming book on Delhi Riots

Recently, a book on the gruesome riots that convulsed the national capital earlier this year stoked a controversy after the publisher of the book, Bloomsbury India, unprofessionally called off the publication of the book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ by authors of Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra. Now, one of the authors of the book, Monica Arora, took to Twitter to share a few anecdotes from her book, revealing that the Delhi riots were not a spontaneous outburst but a meticulously planned pogrom.

Arora narrates the incident of Chand Bagh of Northeast Delhi when DCP Amit Sharma and his colleagues were attacked by the rioters after the women blocking the road in the neighbourhood asked him to come over for a discussion. The author asserts that as soon as DCP Sharma went to talk with the women, they pulled out swords and knives from beneath their burqa and attacked him.

The account of the incident as mentioned in the book is in harmony with the assertions made by the injured DCP’s wife in an interview in March this year. She had then said Muslim women had asked her husband for having a discussion and when he obliged them and went to have a discussion with them, they suddenly gheraoed him and one of the women rioters yanked his helmet and attacked him with hockey sticks and iron rods. His wife added that the rioters were armed with knives and pistols.

Arora further adds that the jihadists who attacked DCP Sharma and constable Ratan Lal continued chasing them even as the police personnel rescued the DCP and took him to a nearby nursing home for medical assistance. later went and burnt the nursing home where he was taken for medical aid.

“The murderous mob, including women, followed them with stones, sticks and rods in their hands. They kept stone-pelting and attacking the police with rods. Some people from the Hindu community came to rescue police from the Muslim rioters. Heart-wrenching videos of assault on the police have surfaced on social media afterwards,” Arora’s book said.

It further read, “The rioters had followed the police officers to the hospital, pelting stones and vandalising and torching Mohan Nursing Home and the official car of the DCP.”

Sharing extracts from her upcoming book, Ms Arora in another tweet highlighted the violent tendencies exhibited by the protesters who were demonstrating in the name of peaceful protests. She asserted that the Shaheen Bagh protests, which started on the pledges made by the protesters to uphold the honour of the tri-colour and the constitution culminated into violent strife in which tricolour flags were used by the rampaging rioters to make petrol bombs, which were used to inflame chaos and anarchy.

“The protests which began with the photos of Mahatma Gandhi and B.R Ambedkar and the unfurling of the Tricolour sadly ended with the Tricolour being used in making petrol bombs and torching shops and houses. The ‘iconic’ Shaheen Bagh model, eventually culminated in and set the stage for communal violence, a first of its kind in Delhi in contemporary times,” the extract from the book read.

Bloomsbury India chickened out from publishing Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ book

The book ‘Delhi Riots 2020:The Untold Story’ by authors of Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra kicked up a storm after the Bloomsbury India caved into leftist demand and chickened out from publishing the book. The leftist intelligentsia had flown into a rage over Bloomsbury India’s decision of providing its platform to the book that purportedly offered to provide a factual account of the Delhi riots in February this year.

The decision to withdraw the book came after a left-wing outrage mob led by prominent ‘intellectuals’ on social media pressurised the publication house to take the decision. The organisers of the outrage mob included personalities such as controversial actress Swara Bhasker and other eminent ‘journalists’ and ‘intellectuals’.

The content of the book, implicating the Muslim anti-CAA protesters of fomenting trouble in the national capital ran counter to the leftist propaganda that had assiduously projected the riots to be the handiwork of the Modi government. The book eventually found a new publisher and will be available for order from September 20.

Uttar Pradesh police nab three persons in the Aligarh jewellery robbery case seen in viral video

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh police nab three persons in the Aligarh jewellery robbery case seen in viral video

The three robbers who had looted a jewellery shop in Aligarh were nabbed by the Uttar Pradesh near Noida following an encounter on Wednesday. The robbery was capture on CCTV, video of which went viral on social media.

According to the Uttar Pradesh police, a gunfight between the police officials and the accused took place when they were intercepted by the police near the road leading to the national capital. The cops had intercepted the accused near a check-post set up by the Sector 39 police station. The injured have been taken to a hospital for treatment, police said.

A few days back, a video had gone viral on the internet, in which it was seen that the three accused identified as Saurabh, Mohit and Rohit were robbing a jewellery shop in Aligarh at a gunpoint.

The robbery had taken place in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh last week. The shop owners had assumed the men as customers and had even offered sanitisers. The robbers sanitised their hands and then pointed country-made guns at the store workers and escaped with the jewellery.

All the three accused hail from Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district. “Initial investigation revealed that the trio was behind the daylight robbery in the jewellery shop in Aligarh on September 11,” said a senior police official.

Following the encounter, the police officials have recovered stolen items worth Rs.35 lakhs and their two-wheelers. The police are looking into the criminal history of all the three accused.

Maha Vikas Aghadi govt ‘struggles’ to pay salaries but ready to spend Rs 5.5 crores to appoint Pvt ad firms for Chief Minister’s publicity

OpIndia Staff
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Maha Vikas Aghadi govt ‘struggles’ to pay salaries but ready to spend Rs 5.5 crores to appoint Pvt ad firms for Chief Minister’s publicity

Despite the state’s cash position remaining stressed due to the coronavirus lockdown, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is all set to shell out a sum of over Rs 5 crores to promote his Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s administration department has floated an e-tender, inviting private advertising agencies to apply for managing the PR of the Chief Minister and the Government of Maharashtra.

Image via Devang Dave on Twitter
Image via Devang Dave on Twitter

According to a government resolution issued by CMO and the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations, the agencies will use audio-visual content, develop creatives and come up with campaigns to promote the government’s image and policies. A major thrust will be on social media.

This entire PR exercise would cost the exchequer a hefty sum of Rs 5,43,60, 240, that is a little short of Rs 5 crore 50 lakhs.

The Thackeray govt justified the move saying that outsourcing the social media work to private agencies was the sole option available after the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) argued that it lacks the technical expertise and trained manpower necessary to do the job effectively.

Financially stressed Maha Vikas Aghadi government struggles to pay employees

The decision comes at the time when the Maharashtra government is facing such a ‘massive financial crisis’ that it has been struggling to pay its own employees, let alone health care resources requested from other states. Recently, it was reported how a Maharashtra government employee of the State Transport Corporation has committed suicide after being in depression for not receiving his salary for the period of the last two months.

Earlier it was reported that not just the Maharashtra government employees but even the salaries of the doctors and nurses requested from Kerala were inordinately delayed by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. As a result, several of the doctors and nurses flew back to Kerala, alleging that the BMC had been interminably delaying their payments.

The ‘cash stripped’ Maha Vikas Aghadi government clears purchase of six luxury cars worth Rs 1.37 crore

But while the state is floundering to make payments to the employees involved in the fight against the coronavirus, the government had given its authorisation for the purchase of 6 new luxury vehicles for its ministers, worth Rs 1.37 crore.

The court must not call out Sudarshan News for speaking for the rights of Dalits and calling out a Dalit leader who just would not

Editorial Desk
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The court must not call out Sudarshan News for speaking for the rights of Dalits and calling out a Dalit leader who just would not

Justice Joseph of the Supreme Court castigated Sudarshan News on Friday over the manner in which Congress leader Udit Raj was supposedly treated by its editor Suresh Chavhanke in episode 4 of its ‘UPSC Jihad’ series. Sudarshan News was heavily criticised by the other justices of the Court for its reportage on alleged favouritism towards Muslims in recruitment into civil services.

In the episode in question, Udit Raj was invited to speak on the agenda of the Zakat Foundation and the demands that the Islamic organisation has made related to the delimitation of constituencies reserved for Schedules Castes or Dalits. When he was given an opportunity to speak, Udit Raj went into a tirade against the RSS instead.

From 14 minutes onwards

Suresh Chavhanke implored Udit Raj to speak on the matter of concern and emphasised that the latter had not been invited as a Congress leader but as a politician who claims to speak for Dalits. The Congress leader, however, appeared unwilling to criticise the Zakat Foundation and claimed that there was nothing wrong with the demands of the Zakat Foundation and appreciated them even though conceding to their demands would mean that Dalits would lose access to seats reserved for them

When Suresh Chavhanke repeatedly insisted that Udit Raj speak on the topic of the discussion, the latter chose to leave the channel instead. The Sudarshan News editor never once used any offensive remark against the politician. No abuses were hurled at him neither was he subjected to any personal attacks. And yet, when it was insisted that he speak up for Dalits, the people Udit Raj claims to represent, he chose to leave the discussion instead.

For this reason, Justice Joseph believes that Udit Raj was mistreated. The Court seems to be taking objection to the media posing hard questions to politicians, individuals who want to represent us by seeking our votes and is opposing the media grilling politicians on the promises and speeches they claim to make. Are politicians now a protected class who cannot be questioned?

Questioning politicians is a fundamental right of the media, indeed, it is one of their sacred duties. If the media cannot grill politicians as they deem fit, then what is even the purpose of their existence? Denying journalists the right to question politicians is indeed the death of democracy.

In this particular instance, Suresh Chavhanke was questioning Udit Raj for seeking votes in the name of Dalit activism but remaining silent when the Zakat Foundation is demanding that seats reserved for Dalits be made unreserved. It is a very legitimate question to ask him the reason for his silence on the matter.

Udit Raj, on his part, has made several incendiary remarks in his pursuit of Dalit activism. A complaint was filed against him in April this year for making an anti-Brahmin statement while targeting Arnab Goswami. All India Parisangh, the Congress leader’s organisation, tweeted through its official handle in Hindi: “Itna neeche koi Brahmin hi gir sakta hain, jitna Arnab Goswami gira hain”, roughly translated as (Only a Brahmin can fall as low as Arnav Goswami has fallen).

On another occasion, the same organisation made derogatory comments against Brahmins and compared the community to pigs. After the death of Rishi Kapoor and Irfan Khan, Udit Raj asked why were not celebrities using ‘Gaumutra’ to cure cancer. This, of course, has become a regular pattern with the Congress politician.

Yet, the Court in its wisdom believes it is unfair for journalists to question Udit Raj regarding his supposed commitment towards Dalit Rights when a genuine opportunity arises to put his words to the test. If Sudarshan News is criticised for calling out a Dalit leader for not protecting the rights of Dalits, it portends very dark days for our democracy if courts start dictating the manner in which our politicians should be questioned by the media.

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