On 4th of August, The New Indian Express published a report claiming that hundreds of people from North India have been appointed to Indian Railways in Tamil Nadu, while very few locals were selected for the vacant posts. The report claimed that hundreds of natives from North Indian states arrived in Trichy in Tamil Nadu by flights for document verification process of the recruitment, and they didn’t take COVID-19 tests and didn’t self-isolated themselves.
The report claims that out of the 581 vacancies available for the Technicians (Grade-3) posts in Ponmalai Railway Workshop, only 12 people from Tamil Nadu were selected. It adds that 163 candidates from Bihar and 115 from Rajasthan were selected for the position.
The New Indian Express reports that ex-apprentices of Railways have alleged corruption in appointment in Railways to favour North Indians, and they staged protests against this. The ex-apprentices questioned how North Indians were called for verification, and how they travelled all the way to Tamil Nadu during the Coronavirus pandemic. The report also quoted one former apprentice saying that “Tamilians those who finished apprenticeship are waiting for jobs since 2008. But the railways are selecting North Indians primarily.” He also asked did the North Indians participated in the verification without quarantine.
Almost two weeks after the publication of the report, now the Indian Railways has issued a statement denying all the allegations made in the report. The statement issued by Southern Railway states that there are 21 Railway recruitment Boards in India, and all RRBs call for applications for various posts through a common notification taking into account all the vacancies that are existing in Various zonal Railways and Production units. Applications are invited through “Employment News” and the websites of the RRBs.
Therefore, candidates from all over the country can apply for vacant jobs anywhere in India under any RRB. At the time of applying they have to select any one RRB, and they are allotted a Railway zone based on their selection of RRB. Once a board is selected, a candidate can’t change the same. This means, the North Indian candidates who had arrived in Tamil Nadu had selected the Chennai RRB at the time of submitting the application forms itself.
Coming to the allegation that only 12 candidates from Tamil Nadu were selected, the statement says in the total number of selected candidates, 17% are from Tamil Nadu. The recruitments are being done for two posts, Assistant Loco Pilot and Technician. For the post of Assistant Loco Pilot, 53% of the selected candidates are from Tamil Nadu.
The statement informs that the number of Technicians selected from Tamil Nadu is less because most of the candidates from the state were over-qualified. The qualification criteria for Technician is ITI degree in the relevant field, and Engineering Degree or Diploma holders are not selected for the post of Technician. For the ALP post, these qualifications are accepted. Due to this reason, while more than half the candidates selected for the post of ALP are from Tamil Nadu, the share of candidates from the state for Technician is much less.
The Railways have also denied the allegations of violating Coronavirus protocol by the candidates who had reached Trichy for verification. The statement informs that the candidates were called for Certification verification from 4th August, and they were informed about the same much earlier. The Candidates arrived by flight well ahead of the scheduled date, and underwent 14 days of mandatory quarantine, Southern Railway confirms. The railway has also confirmed that swab tests were done for all the candidates as per the state govt’s protocols, and the results of the tests were verified by the Railway authorities through the online Covid-19 portal of the district administration.
Referring to the former-apprentices waiting for recruitment in Railways, the statement adds that Railways engage apprentices in workshops and Production units and impart them technical training with the objective of developing skilled manpower, and employment in Railways is not guaranteed on completion of Apprenticeship. Still, Railways have earmarked 20% posts in Railway Recruitment Cell for which aspirants who have completed Railway apprentice training are free to apply.
The statement by Southern Railway deny any foul-play in candidates as alleged in the news report. It says that RRB conducts exam in a fair and transparent manner, which is a computer-based test and notifications are issued on pan India basis. It also states that candidates from across the country have the right to choose any specific RRB, and candidates are selected purely based on their merits and their eligibility criteria irrespective of their state of origin.
The Southern Railway has asked the New Indian Express to publish the correct facts, so that misconception in the minds of public is cleared.
On Sunday, Nawab Malik, the national spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Minority Affairs Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, informed that youth belonging to the ‘minority communities’ would be given pre-recruitment training to ensure their ‘maximum appointment’ in the police Department.
Malik had shared a post of Twitter that read, “Minority youths in the state will be given pre-recruitment training in view of their maximum appointment in the police department.” The post by Nawab Malik further read, “At present, the process of selecting candidates for the training has been started in 14 districts of the state and soon it will be started in the remaining districts as well. Accordingly, direct training will be started later.”
اقلیتی نوجوانوں کو پولیس بھرتی سے قبل تربیت دی جائے گی
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) August 16, 2020
The decision by the Maharashtra government, however, did not go well with netizens. Several people took to social media to express their concern about the State government indulging in blatant ‘minority appeasement.’
Malik had also promised 5% Muslim quota
Since the Maha Vikas Aghadi government assumed power in the state, many political leaders, including Nawab Malik, have spoken in favour of implementing 5% Muslim quota in the state for government jobs. Malik had earlier also asserted that the MVA government will bring an ordinance for the same.
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan who is in Turkey for the shooting of Laal Singh Chaddha on Sunday met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife Emine Ergogan.
I had the great pleasure of meeting @aamir_khan, the world-renowned Indian actor, filmmaker, and director, in Istanbul. I was happy to learn that Aamir decided to wrap up the shooting of his latest movie ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ in different parts of Turkey. I look forward to it! pic.twitter.com/3rSCMmAOMW
This meeting comes in the backdrop of Turkey’s increasing anti-India and pro-Pakistan stand. Recently, reports had emerged how Turkey has been funding anti-India activities where Erdogan has been vying to become the leader of the Islamic nations.
As per the report, the expansionist Turkish government, is seeking to establish its dominance in the Islamic world through its conservatism and ‘Ottoman traditions’. It plans to achieve this by exerting its influence on South Asian Muslims. According to officials familiar with the security assessment, an extensive review was carried out to unearth the escalated anti-India activities that are perpetrated by Turkey in coordination with the deep state in Pakistan.
Erdogan sponsoring religious seminars in India
Reportedly, Erdogan is now funding religious seminars in India to radicalise Muslims. This includes taking them on a full-expense covered trip to Turkey for further indoctrination. “We are also aware of some people from this group travelling to Qatar to meet some people from Turkey to seek funding for their activities. That amounts as high as Rs 40 lakh is being offered to preach radical Islam in Kerala,” a government official was recently quoted as saying.
According to the report, Pakistani and Turkish officials had also funded hate preacher Zakir Naik, who has been accused of inciting and radicalising Indian Muslims, with the help of Qatar. Besides criticising India over the humanitarian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the subsequent riots, the Turkish government had reportedly pumped in funds to prolong the protests. Reportedly, the government in Turkey have been funding separatist leader in Kashmir, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, for several years. The Turkish government has also disbursed funds to a radical Islamist organisation in Kerala from time to time, the report further stated.
Turkey is the new ‘Dubai’ for ISI
According to officials quoted in the HT report, Turkey has now become ‘Pakistan’s Dubai’, a safe haven for the intelligence agency ISI between 2000 and 2010. Reportedly, ISI had been successful in radicalising Indian Muslims in UAE, including the founders of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen. However, due to improved bilateral relations between India and UAE since 2014, the Gulf country is no longer the hub for anti-India activities.
Congress opened office in Turkey?
In November 2019, the Turkish media had reported that Congress’ Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) has issued a press statement about opening an office in Istanbul. One Muhammad Yusuf Khan was reported to be heading this office in Turkey. The reports of Congress opening an office there had come just days after Erdogan mirrored Pakistan’s stand over Kashmir in open defiance to India’s interests in the UN.
Turkey criticised India over Kashmir
In 2019, during an address at the United Nations post the abrogation of Article 370, Erdogan was seen supporting Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. During a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, he compared the so-called “struggle” of the Kashmiris to that of the fight of the Turks against foreign occupation during the First World War. However, India’s Ministry of External Affairs warned Erdogan to not interfere in India’s internal affairs. The then spokesperson of the MEA, Raveesh Kumar, had stated, “India rejects all references to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India”.
Pakistan-Turkey, a new love affair
Recently, Turkish period drama Ertugrul, which talks about the Turkish Caliphate, has won Pakistani hearts. Pakistanis have been hyperventilating over the dreams of an Islamic mega-kingdom led by Turkey where they hope Pakistan will gain some much-desired prominence. Recently, after converting the Hagia Sophia to a mosque, Erdogan had vowed to ‘liberate’ the Al-Asqa mosque from Israel.
Netizens fume over Aamir Khan meeting Emine Erdogan
In 2018 when Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuhu had visited India, the Aamir Khan, along with Shah Rukh and Salman stayed away from meeting him.
So Aamir Khan refuses to meet Netanyahu but happy chilling out with a man who supports ISIS & Al Qaeda; whose party members parade severed heads of Syrian soldiers & whose Son In Law smuggles & money launders for ISIS. Scratch but a little & the Jihadi within emerges pic.twitter.com/95wOTMSJZb
Aamir Khan with the wife of Turkey's President Erdogan. Turkey is doing full Propaganda against India. This is self goal by Aamir Khan. pic.twitter.com/ghd6xB4Hbx
There has been a lot of interest & discussion generated in the media & elsewhere over the movie “Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl”, which was released recently on the internet streaming platform Netflix. The movie is loosely based upon the account of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, who is a retired Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and former helicopter pilot. She had joined the IAF in 1996, is a 1999 Kargil War veteran, and the first Indian woman to fly in a combat zone.
While the movie has largely been appreciated for chronicling the achievements of India’s first woman officer in the IAF, it has also been roundly criticized for peddling a toxic mix of lies & downright insinuation on the professionals who proudly serve the IAF.
IAF: A Glorious Past
The Indian Air Force was established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire which honored India’s aviation service during World War II with the prefix Royal. It is currently the fourth largest Air Force in the world and has distinguished itself in various battles, relief operations, search and rescue missions and rapid response evacuation. IAF routinely conducts flights to the world’s highest battle field in Siachen to helipads situated up to about 20,000 feet.
During the Kargil War, the period on which the movie is based, the IAF conducted Operation Safed Sagar with much valour and success. The Indian Air Force used various assets like MiG 21, MiG 27, MiG 29, Mirage 2000, Mi-17 and various other kinds of helicopters. The IAF strikes played an important role in the capture of Muntho Dhalo and Tiger Hill by the Indian Army. Such was the coercive threat of IAF that the Pakistani F-16s largely stayed away from the conflict zone.
Women Officers in the IAF
In terms of granting opportunities to women officers, IAF has soared past other services. According to a report tabled recently in the Parliament, Indian Air Force has the highest share of women officers in India at 13.09% among all the three defense forces in the country. Women representation in Indian Navy is 6% while the women representation in Indian Army is around 4%. Indian Air Force has opened all its arms for women officers which range from Air Traffic Controllers to combat and transport pilots. Clearly, the IAF believes in gender equality & empowerment in true sense of the word.
Women officers have excelled themselves in Kargil, Siachen and other dangerous operations. Squadron Leader Khusboo Gupta is the first IAF woman pilot to fly in Siachen. Wing Commander Shaliza Dhami has become the country’s first woman Flight Commander. She is also the first woman officer to be given permanent commission with the IAF. Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth is the first woman fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft, having flown missions on the MiG 21. She has been joined by Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi and Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh Jitarwal in combat role. These women officers act as role models for all the women who want to join the Indian Air Force and touch the skies.
Gunjan Saxena – The Movie: A Potpourri of Lies, Insinuation & Negativity
This week, the movie,’ Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’ started streaming on the internet streaming platform, Netflix. It stars Janhvi Kapoor and Pankaj Tripathi and has been produced by Dharma Productions. The movie has won praise for the acting skills of its actors, but has been severely criticized for its depiction of the IAF.
Sample some of these dialogues.
“Aaj ke baad yahan ashleel baatein bilul band. Overall ki zip khuli rakhna band. Yeh deewaaron pe deviyon ke poster lagana band.
Sir, isme Pamela ji ko kyun sazaa de rahe hain”
“Kaafi dhamaakedaar entry ki hain aapne. Aate hi gent’s toilet main toofan macha diya. Bataiye is veerta ke liye kaun sa medal diya jaye aapko”
“Kyunki yeh jagah ladies k eliye bani hi nahin hain”
“Sir aap yeh sortie rukwa dijiye.
Kyun, kya hua.
Meri phat rahi hain, matlab koi emergency ho gayee aue yeh madam rone lag gayee toh main inko sambhaloonga ya chopper ko”
“Yeh Air Force hain tumhare baap ka ghar nahin.”
“Sir woh overalls change karne ki jagah nahin thi.
Toh tarmac pe change kar leti”
“Pata hain na aaj overnight sortie hain. Male pilots ke saath room share karna hain. Haan. Ya tumhare liye special room banwa de”
“Sir mujhe izzat dene se aap logo ki izzat kam nahin hogi. I promise. Chodiye Sir, aapki soch, aapka darr ,aapki yeh party, aur aap ki nakli mardaangi aap logo ko mubarak ho.”
Still from the movie’s trailer
The movie also shows how the sorties of Gunjan Saxena are repeatedly cancelled by her Commanding Officer who also makes her do arm wrestling with a male officer to apparently teach her a lesson.
Moreover, the Indian Air Force has been shown as a misogynistic force where male officers heavily drink, pass lewd remarks, drool over nude posters, dance to racy numbers, are uncomfortable with women officers and more.
All this is extremely unfair to the IAF which takes great pride in its women officers and ensures the best environment to all of its officers.
The Blowback
Stunned by this shocking depiction of its Force in this manner, the IAF sent a complaint letter to the Central Board of Film Certification. The letter stated “Dharma Productions had agreed to represent Indian Air Force (IAF) with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next generation of IAF officers.
However, when the trailer of the movie was released recently, it was observed that “certain scenes and dialogues in the movie and its trailer, which was forwarded to this office for viewing, have been found to portray the IAF in an undue negative light.
In the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Ex-Fit Lt Gunjan Saxena’, M/s Dharma Productions presented some situations that are misleading and portray an inappropriate work culture especially against women in the IAF.
That the organisation is gender neutral and has always provided an equal opportunity to both male and women personnel. In view of the above, the issue of grant of NOC for the release of the movie will be considered after deleting or suitably modifying the scenes in order to cater to the observations mentioned”
The next day, Rekha Sharma, the chairperson of National Commission of Women (NCW) asked the makers of the biopic to discontinue its screening. She tweeted “If that is so, the film maker must apologize and discontinue the screening. Why showing something which is portraying our own forces in bad light specially when it’s not true.”
General Ved Prakash Malik PVSM, AVSM, who was the Chief of the Indian Army during the Kargil War, said, “Agree with IAF. I have respect for real Gunjan Saxena. But this film makers appear totally ignorant of military psychology & generally encouraging conduct in units. With few exceptions, lead character shows lack of confidence which is seen in lady officers of armed forces.”
Major Navdeep Singh, Advocate, Punjab & Haryana High Court, adds “The Indian Air Force is one of the most gender-neutral organizations and has been at the forefront of promoting equality with the most progressive gender policies, and hence portraying it in such a manner is disservice to this great force. Though in a vibrant democracy I do not quite agree with organisations writing to the censor board, but in my opinion there should be a strong official public statement or rebuttal issued by the IAF on the untrue depiction. A public opinion on the issue must be built”.
Clearly, the film makers have stuck a discordant note with the masses.
Woman Officers and Indian Air Force
To find out more about the situation that prevailed in the IAF in those early years of women officers, I spoke with Flight Lieutenant Promila Dhaka, who had served in IAF from 2001-2006. During the course of her career, she had served at various stations including commands. As one of the earliest woman officer in the IAF, she saw the gradual transformation in IAF firsthand as more women officers started joining the force. I sought her views on the movie and how women officers are actually treated by the IAF. Here is what she had to share:
“Commanding Officer is like the father of the unit and he treats everyone equally, motivates everyone and protects all officers. The movie shows the CO in a very poor light.”
“In the initial days there used to be common infrastructure. However, gradually separate infrastructure was also built. There used to be very few women officers but the male officers were always protective and went out of their way to help out.”
“The IAF helped me to settle down even post retirement. It helped me to pursue a course at IIM-A to prepare myself for future opportunities. The organization deeply cares for its own.”
To make the movie more dramatic, the movie makers have ended up casting aspersions on one of the finest organisations in the country and have strayed far from the truth.
Truth is Beautiful. Insinuation Isn’t
Just as every organization undergoes change and adapts with the time, so too does the Indian Air Force. As has been pointed out, it has the largest percentage of women officers. The recent Supreme Court judgment on permanent commission to women officers will impact it most. Its women officers have already shown their grit and mettle. The sky is the limit for women officers in the IAF.
Women officers in IAF have earned several laurels for their professionalism. During Balakot Operation last year, Squadron Leader Minty Aggarwal who was serving as the Flight Controller of IAF played a significant role in battling the enemy. She spotted a large package of Pakistan Air Force planes heading towards Nowshera and timely alerted the IAF teams. This earned her a Yudh Sena Medal subsequently making her the first woman in Indian military history to win such an honour. This is a watershed moment & IAF has again been at the forefront of it.
At a time when the country is facing twin challenges to its borders, women officers not only in IAF but also in Army & Navy are working shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in preserving the territorial integrity of the nation. Their sacrifices, valour and patriotism should not be belittled by a twisted piece of cinema. Controversy sells but to use it to besmirch the ethics & professionalism of IAF is a dirty trick to pull.
Peddling lies in the garb of cinematic freedom is just not acceptable. It is hoped that the movie makers will realize their folly and mischief that their wild flights of fancy have produced on celluloid and make amends by heeding to the changes suggested by the IAF. That will be their real contribution towards India.
Controversial Bollywood film-maker Mahesh Bhatt’s new movie ‘Sadak 2’ has continued to receive severe heat from the public as the trailer of the movie is now the third most disliked in the world on YouTube.
The Alia Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt starrer Sadak-2 movie’s trailer, the new target of the anger against nepotism in Bollywood, has now received more than 1.1 crore dislikes and is now behind Justin Bieber’s song ‘Baby’ which had got 1.16 crore dislikes and the highest 1.8 crore dislikes for a video posted by YouTube itself, a rewind of the year 2018.
It is also currently the most disliked video in the country, surpassing Faisal Sheikh alias Faizu’s video on Youtube.
The trailer of the movie, which is directed and produced Mahesh Bhatt, was released on August 12. The movie’s trailer had received around 90 lakh dislikes within 48 hours of its release.
Although it is the third most disliked video on YouTube, it has already become number in dislike share. Out of total likes and dislikes, the trailer’s dislike share is 95%, while the rest 5% has liked it. In comparison, the YouTube rewind 2018 video’s dislike share is 86%, and the same for Justin Bieber’s video is 45%, which means it has more likes than dislikes.
Sadak 2 is a sequel of Mahesh Bhatt’s 1991 movie Sadak. The movie marked his return to direction after many years. The film will be released on August 28 on OTT platform HotStar.
Complaints registered against movie
Earlier, the VHP had sought legal action against the Mahesh Bhatt film for hurting Hindu sentiments. The movie starring Sanjay Dutt, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur, revolves around the protagonist’s encounter with a “fake Sadhu”.
It was reported that Alia’s character in the movie is out to expose a fake guru and his ashram. Sanjay Dutt’s character will help Alia in ‘exposing’ the Baba.
Addition to that, last month, at the time of its release, the poster of Sadak 2 had run into controversy. A complaint was filed before a court in Muzaffarpur in Bihar against the filmmakers for hurting Hindu sentiments.
The movie of Mahesh Bhatt and Alia Bhatt is releasing at a time when there has been a massive outcry over the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. The actor’s death has triggered a nationwide debate on nepotism and the culture of favouritism in the movie industry.
On Sunday, the Rajput Karni Sena held a demonstration near the iconic India Gate in Delhi, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. The 34-year-old actor was found dead, at his residence in Bandra on 14th June. Mumbai police claim that he had committed suicide, a fact disputed by his close friends and family members. The actor played lead roles in movies such as ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’, ‘PK’, ‘Chhichhore’ and ‘Kai Po Che.’
Karni Sena rules out suicide in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput
Earlier, the Karni Sena had reportedly warned of a violent protest if the government did not intervene and initiate a CBI investigation in the case. Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, Karna Sena Chief, has ruled out the suicide angle in the mysterious death of the deceased actor. He alleged that it was a ‘premeditated murder’ that was orchestrated by Bollywood mafia. He further claimed that the Bollywood gangs work on the behest of the underworld. The Karni Sena had threatened to block national highways if appropriate action is not taken in the case.
Centre gives nod to CBI investigation
Earlier, the Union government told the Supreme Court that it has accepted Bihar police’s request to hand over the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case to CBI. This had come as a big blow to the Maharashtra govt, which had vehemently opposed handing over the case to the central agency. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the apex court hat the notification for the CBI investigation would be issued soon.
The second season of web series ‘Abhay’, released on OTT platform Zee5 recently, has stoked a massive controversy after it portrayed freedom fighter Khudiram Bose as a ‘criminal’ in one of its episode.
On Sunday, netizens took to social media platforms to accuse the makers of the web series of disrespecting the revolutionary leader Khudiram Bose by portraying him as a criminal. In the second episode of the newly released season on OTT platform Zee5, the social media users alleged that the image of the freedom fighter was placed along with photographs of other criminals in a police station.
Social media users pointed out how disrespectful it was to portray a legendary freedom fighter as a petty criminal.
Few social media users also demanded the removal of portions from the series and asked the creators of the series to immediately apologise for their blatant act of disrespecting country’s icons.
Netizens also schooled the creators for lack of their knowledge and asked them to know about country’s heroes.
Who is Khudiram Bose?Get to know from your mother-in-law. Know the history of the country first.Khudiram Bose was a martyred revolutionary.Should be ashamed as an Indian. @kunalkemmu@ZEE5Indiapic.twitter.com/qd6wDsbkry
Here is a closer look of the scene of the series ‘Abhay’, in which a sketch identical to Khudiram Bose is depicted as a criminal.
If we carefully look at the sketch of the person, circled in red, who has been shown as a ‘criminal’ in the web series, one can easily identify him as one of the country’s greatest freedom fighters – Khudiram Bose. The close-up of the scene in the show and a publicly available sketch of Khudiram Bose are given below. It can be clearly concluded that the makers of the show used the same sketch in Abhay 2.
Khudiram Bose was the youngest revolutionary freedom fighter, who was executed on August 11, 1908 for his role in the Muzaffarpur conspiracy case. Khudiram Bose, along with another freedom fighter Prafulla Chaki, had attempted to assassinate a British judge, Douglas Kingsford. Unfortunately, the bombs did not hit the judge’s carriage but hit a different one, leading to the death of two others.
Shockingly, the creators of the movie, lacking knowledge about country’s own heroes, attempted to disrespect our icons for its pretty commercial gains.
A few days back, Sudeeksha Bhati, a topper from Bulandshahr who was studying in the US, died in a road accident. At first, some reports suggested that it was a case of eve-teasing and the opposition leaders tried to earn political brownie points. Still, they failed as the Police issued a statement that though there are no indications of eve-teasing, they will investigate the case from every angle. On 16th August, Bulandshahr Police made a statement that they have arrested two accused Deepak Solanki and Raju who were riding the Royal Enfield Bullet that caused the accident.
Raj Shekhar from Times of India posted how the investigation led to the two arrests. As per the Police report, on 10th August 2020, Sudeeksha left the house with her cousin at 8 AM to meet her maternal uncle. At around 9:30 AM, a black Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle pressed brakes in front of them after a tempo stopped suddenly in front of the motorcycle.
According to a video statement by Bulandshahr Police, they acquired records of 10,719 bikes from RTO. After investigating the bike owners living in Aurangabad, Khanpur, Jahangirbad, Narsauna, and other nearby locations, Police realized that none of them was at the accident scene during 11th August morning. Then police collected CCTV footage from 12 cameras installed between the accident location and Sikandrabad Toll Plaza. Out of 12 cameras, Police noted locations of the bikes in eight cameras. The footage showed that the Bullet remained ahead of Sudeeksha’s two-wheeler the whole time.
In the report, police have mentioned complete location information of both bikes between 8:17 AM to 8:45 AM. The investigation suggested that the bikes were driven at around 80 KMPH as they covered approximately 10.5 KM distance in just nine minutes. At 8:17 AM, the time difference between the two bikes to pass the same CCTV camera was around eight minutes. At the time of the accident, it was reduced to 20 seconds. At around 8:40 AM the Bullet and Sudeeksha’s bike were close to each other.
After talking to the eyewitness Hemant Sharma, who called the Police to inform about the accident, they found out that the Bullet had to stop because of a tempo in front of it stopped suddenly. The tempo stopped because of a pushcart that was in front of it. The police searched for the pushcart owner to learn more about the incident and found out that Kamal Singh, the owner of the pushcart, was going to sell grains in the market with his wife. When he heard the noise behind him, he turned and noticed the accident but did not stop for there. He also saw a green tempo.
Investigation details. Credit Raj Shekhar TOI
Based on all the information, Police formed ten teams and talked to around 1000 people to identify the accused. When they arrested the accused Chaudhary Deepak Solanki and Raju, they noticed that he had changed the colour of the bullet and replaced its parts too so that it gets hard to recognize it. When Police arrested them, they were wearing the same clothes that they wore on the day of the accident.
Last evening, on Independence Day, I saw a couple of self-declared liberal journalists tweeting about how they were deleting their Facebook profiles. I ignored thinking it be some usual nonsense where they must do something revolutionary once in a while to stay relevant to themselves.
Then today I again saw some tweets, this time by trolls of the Congress party, attacking Facebook. They were especially abusing a senior employee named Ankhi Das, who is the top public policy executive of the company in India. The Congress trolls accused her of being a “BJP agent” while others used filthy language for her, the most printable being “broker”.
Ankhi Das. That name ringed a bell. Not because I keep track of all top executives of big corporate houses – which otherwise being an ‘MBA types’ perhaps I should have been doing – but because I had sent several emails to her complaining about Facebook’s biased policies impacting reach and earning potential of OpIndia.
Well, what!? So Ankhi was a BJP agent and she frustrated us with implementation of policies. That means OpIndia is a pro-Congress outlet?
Does that make sense to you? It didn’t make sense to me either.
I had sent a string of emails to Shivnath Thukral, another Facebook guy in the policy team, and Ankhi Das in the later part of 2019 listing whole lot of problems that we as a publisher faced due to Facebook’s unfair treatment. I proposed solutions too, like bringing more transparency about policy issues, creating a team for better coordination between publishers and the platform, and other such stuff, all of which were summarily ignored. It was insulting to be honest.
“Personally, this behaviour is not at all surprising to me as I didn’t expect anything better. What I hate is the absence of honesty. Just say that there is no willingness to address some issues as you don’t find them important enough or valid from you point of view, which will be fair enough for me. This politician like approach of killing an issue by just delaying and delaying is not something that suits professionals.” – This was my last somewhat angry response sent in November 2019. After that I didn’t send any more emails as I am not a great fan of talking to someone’s hand, not even to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s.
Before I sent these emails, I had briefly met Ankhi Das and Shivnath Thukral in a meeting with a few other publishers to understand their policies. Within 15 minutes, I felt like leaving the place. The usual liberal bullshit was spouted about “hate speech” and all.
Ankhi specially contended arguments of one guy who had said that hate-speech was subjective. She objected and averred that it was not the case and there were proper guidelines to identify hate-speech. For a second, I just wanted to argue that if “Hinduism is intrinsically exploitative due to caste-system” is not hate-speech, then why should “Islam is inherently violent due to concept of Jihad” be identified as hate-speech? What objective principle is at play that identifies all criticism of Islam as hate speech and accepts even abuses to Hinduism as scholarly comments?
As I write this, author and JNU professor Anand Ranganathan remains blocked from tweeting because him quoting a verse of Quran was termed “hateful conduct” by Twitter. One can point out so many such issues, and I could point out such examples back then too, but I had given up on arguing with liberals way back in 2016 itself. I just wanted to be back home.
So I found it pretty laughable when I found out that a Wall Street Journal article had painted Ankhi Das, a JNU alumnus, as someone who was supposed to be a fan of Narendra Modi and “Islamophobe”. It quoted unnamed Facebook employees, who may or may not exist, and cherrypicked some incidents to show Facebook as biased. As if troubles of publications like OpIndia with Facebook don’t exist.
In fact, let me admit, when I had found out back then that Ankhi Das was from JNU, and possibly earning over a crore rupees a year as salary due to a top Facebook job, I was riled up. Only the MBA types and IIM guys should have that right! But on a serious note, the only conclusion that I could derive from the WSJ article was that liberals had decided to throw one of their own under the bus to attain the wider objective – control on narrative.
Maybe Ankhi Das was not ‘liberal enough’ for them. These days even Noam Chomsky and JK Rowling are being “cancelled” by wokes. She surely was not as important as them. A very dispensable asset in comparison.
But this is not about an individual. It is about what has been happening for around 3 years now. The old liberal establishment is desperate. They are in a hurry to regain control lest the world order inverts for good.
The only way they could come around being the real establishment was through censorship and gate-keeping of information and opinions. They could control what masses could think and speak by having a mafia like control on media and academics. And this is true for all over the world, not just India.
While their control on academics has not weakened a bit, their control on the traditional media started slipping with advent of internet technologies. Initially they didn’t care. At least in the US, internet adoption was quite early and their dot-com boom had taken place in last decade of the last century itself. The traditional media was comfortable with it.
Internet was just a technology back then. A technology that made it easier to access information, and also a technology that made publishing easier through websites and other content management systems. Digital publishing was far more economical and easier than publishing on other platforms like print or broadcast. However, the traditional media continued to call the shots as distribution of published content remained a challenge for new or individual publishers. The “bloggers” were not that great a threat.
Then came Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and WhatsApp. And also came cheaper smartphones and faster mobile data. While internet was disruptive as technology, these were disruptive as products. It changed the way people consumed content. It changed behaviours. In India, internet adoption especially grew pretty fast between 2009 and 2013, and it continues to grow fast with Jio changing the market.
This was the era, at least in India, when narrative was truly democratized. The censorship and gate-keeping of the mainstream media was gone. Alternate voices and opinions got an audience. And not only they got audience, they got an extremely fantastic mean to distribute their content.
The traditional media first tried to ignore these developments, then they laughed at the “trolls”, and now they are fighting it. The typical left-liberal (an oxymoron) crowd that dominated the traditional media has pulled things back of late. They have learnt to use internet, and they have used it really effective in the last couple of years. But their nature is that they just can’t live without censorship and gate-keeping. They genuinely believe in these processes and they will do anything to get those back.
And that’s what have been happening in the last 3 years or so. In the name of fighting “hate speech” and creating “safe spaces”, the traditional media, rather the ideology that ruled on the traditional media, is trying to put pressure and arm-twist the big tech companies to give them that power of censorship and gate-keeping over their platforms. Every person subscribing to this ideology – whether a journalist, or a Facebook employee, or political worker, or even the guy next door – is united in this common objective – to wrest back the control on narrative.
And for that, if they may need to throw someone under the bus, it is worth it. In fact, it serves a warning to others. If you don’t surrender and join us, we’d destroy your reputation and career.
That is your one line summary of the WSJ “expose”.
In a shocking incident, a social media team member of the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) equated the ‘Nazi salute’ to India’s national song Vande Mataram. While wishing Arvind Kejriwal on his birthday, Aarti, an AAP worker, uploaded a vintage photograph of a Nazi crowd saluting Adolf Hitler. The said picture had a man who chose not to give the Nazi salute.
Aarti, who is a member of AAP National Social Media Team as per her Twitter profile, uploaded another picture from India’s Independence day celebrations yesterday where everyone was seen putting their hands high while responding to chants of ‘Vande Mataram’ by PM Modi at the end of his speech. In the said picture, Arvind Kejriwal was seen sitting motionless. Drawing parallels between the ‘defying’ actions of the German man and Kejriwal, the AAP social media team member wrote, “The one who dares to stand out.”
Asha drew parallels between Nazi Salute and Vande Mataram
In a bid to portray the AAP supremo as a man who chooses to stand out from the crowd, Asha equated the Nazi salute, associated with anti-Semitism, to Bankim Chandra’s Vande Mataram, an iconic song that defines the territory of India as the motherland of its citizens.
Archived version of the tweet by AAP
The famous photograph showing one man refusing to give the Nazi salute was shot on 13 June 1936, at the occasion of the launching of a navy ship at a shipyard in Hamburg. The man was August Landmesser, who was a Nazi party member, but he was expelled from the party in 1935 for marrying a Jews woman. Landmesser was convicted of “dishonoring the race” under Nazi laws, and was jailed. He was later released and drafted into the army, and he had died during the war. His Jews wife was sent to a concentration camp, and was killed by the Nazis in 1942.
The photo of August Landmesser refusing to give the Nazi salute signifies the defiance of the one of the most brutal regime in the world, where millions of Jews were killed by Hitler’s forces during the Holocaust. What he did was a very brave act. That can’t be compared with what Arvind Kejriwal. He was attending the Independence Day celebration of the nation, and the chant was Vande Mataram, the national song. He was not attending some BJP event, as his supports will like to believe.
There is no bravery in not respecting the national song. It is also shocking that the AAP workers equate Vande Mataram with the Nazi salute. It may be noted that the Nazi salute is banned in several countries now including Germany.
The ‘Vande Matram’ controversy
Earlier on Saturday, when the Red Fort reverberated with chants of Vande Mataram, Arvind Kejriwal chose to be indifferent. While everyone responded jubilantly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chants of Vande Mataram, the AAP supremo was least bothered about the Indian Independence day event.
