US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he will demand a “drug test” for himself and Democratic party presidential nominee Joe Biden before the first presidential debate.
Speaking in an interview, US President Donald Trump said he believes that Joe Biden was “on some kind of enhancements” and called for himself and the Democratic challenger Joe Biden to submit to drug tests before their first Presidential debate next month.
“We’re going to call for a drug test, by the way, because his best performance was against Bernie. It wasn’t that he was Winston Churchill because he wasn’t, but it was a normal, boring debate,” the US President said, based on the observations he had made after watching one of the previous debates of Joe Biden.
“It’s like athletes?” the anchor asked President Trump for more clarity on the issue. “No. No. I want to take one,” Trump said adding, “I’ll take one, he’ll take one. We should both take a drug test.”
INGRAHAM: What kind of drug do you think Biden is on?
TRUMP: He’s on some time of enhancement, in my opinion. We should both take a drug test pic.twitter.com/dOfYbBQElO
Continuing his demand for a drug test, President Trump added, “You know, nothing amazing happened. And we are going to call for a drug test because there’s no way – you can’t do that.”
Earlier in 2016, Donald Trump had made similar remarks during the presidential race, accusing the then-opponent Hillary Clinton of taking drugs. “I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate,” he said during a rally in New Hampshire ahead of 2016 US Presidential elections.
The first Presidential debate between the two candidates is scheduled for September 29 in Cleveland, followed by another round of debate on October 15 debate in Miami and last one on October 22 debate in Nashville, Tennessee.
Days after there were reports that Bloomsbury India had allegedly leaked the manuscript of the yet-to-be-released book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ to some of the media outlets, the authors of the book have decided to register a complaint against the publishing house for leaking the manuscript.
On Thursday, senior advocate Monika Arora, who is one of the authors of the said book, will be registering a complaint against Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd and few other media portals for criminal breach of trust and also for receiving, propagating the manuscript of the book, which is yet to be published.
In the press release, Monika Arora, who is also the convenor of the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA), along with other authors of the book will be submitting a written complaint to the Delhi Police Commissioner on Thursday to take action not only against the publisher but also against few media organisation for deliberately publishing the contents of the book without any prior permission.
“We are going to submit a complaint against Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd., few other media portals and activists for criminal intimidation, criminal breach of trust and for receiving, retaining and propagating stolen copy of the manuscript of the to be published book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’,” read the press released by Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA).
Bloomsbury leaks manuscript of ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’
Days after Bloomsbury India had decided to withdraw the publication of the book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ after being bullied by the left-liberals and Islamists, the publishing house had allegedly leaked the manuscript of the book on WhatsApp and had also shared it with a few media organisations.
Interestingly, before the manuscript was circulated on WhatsApp, the Left portal – ‘The Quint’ had got access to the manuscript. The Quint had even published a report, where it had tried to ‘fact-check’ the book. In its report, the Quint had also mentioned that the manuscript of the book has been accessed by them.
Image Source: The Qunit
Following the leak of the book, questions were raised against the Quint on how did it manage to access a confidential book manuscript in the first place when access to the manuscript was limited to the authors and the publication house. Even more curiously, the draft of this book was accessed by The Quint after the book had gone into publication with Garuda Prakashan.
The needle of suspicion, according to many, obviously points towards Bloomsbury, the publication house that bowed down to liberal pressure and dropped the book in breach of the contract it had signed with the authors.
There are various archaeological findings that prove the existence of a pre-historic culture in Vietnam, which includes the discovery of the remains of Hoabinhian culture in the Ha son Binh province, bronze artefacts in Hang-Goam dating back to 3rd millennium BCE, and early rock shelters. Apart from these, various excavations have yielded bronze items in the form of drums, bracelets, daggers with human figures as hilts, bowls, and miniature bells dating around 600 BCE.
There were cultural interactions between Vietnam and China during the third century BCE, as evident from pottery remains that are similar to the geometric patterns seen on South China potteries. Vietnam came under direct Chinese control mainly during the rule of the Han dynasty, when the Chinese Han emperor Liu Che (also known as Wu Ti) conquered North Vietnam in 111 BCE.
Owing to this occupation, northern Vietnam was deeply influenced by the Chinese culture; however, southern Vietnam remained free from any such Chinese control or influences. Despite the cultural influences, the Vietnamese people never really accepted Chinese rule, leading to constant rebellions and skirmishes, which finally ended the Chinese control in 939 CE, after which the country took the name Dai Viet.
The Kingdom of Champa and the Chams
Meanwhile, in the far east coast of Vietnam, a Hindu kingdom that was established in the 2nd c. CE was flourishing and was known as the Kingdom of Champa, with its capital city at Champapura or Champenagari. This ancient kingdom of Champa was most likely the Angadvipa, which is found mentioned in the Vayu Purana.
The kingdom extended along the eastern coast of Vietnam from the centre to the south and was divided into several parts, of which Quang-Nam was considered as the holy land of the Chams. Other parts included Amaravati in the north; and Panduranga, Kauthara, Vijaya, and Indrapura in the south. The people of this kingdom were known as the Chams, and owing to the strong trade connections that they had developed with ancient India, they became deeply influenced by the Hindu religion, as evident from their religious practices and artworks.
The Chams were mostly farmers, fishermen, and master temple builders and sculptors. Evidence of their skilled workmanship is still visible in the remaining temples that are seen in Vietnam and Cambodia even today. During its heyday, the kingdom of Champa was a famous centre for global trade, with connections to all important seaports of that era.
The Chams developed a widespread trading network, that extended to Japan, Taiwan, India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia. Many old shipwrecks stand as evidence of the thriving trade that once existed between Philippines and Champa. On such shipwreck found off the coast of Palawan (Philippines), was found carrying green-glazed ceramics from Vijaya of the Cham kingdom, which was dated between 1450-1470 CE.
Historically it is believed that the Chams were descendants of Sa Huynh, an ancient community that migrated from the Malay Archipelago to the eastern coast of Vietnam by taking the sea route, roughly around 1000 BCE, mainly to establish commercial and trade relations between China, Malay Archipelago, and the Annamite (Vietnam) Highlands. The Chams remained in the same eastern coastal area from the time they arrived in Vietnam, to the second century CE, when they finally established their political entity as the Cham Kingdom, that continued unbroken for almost thirteen hundred years (150-1450 CE).
While locally it is believed that the founder of the Cham kingdom was Kiu Lien who established his capital near Hue, however, there is no consensus as regards his true identity and name. The first historically recorded king of Champa is considered to be Sri Mara (2nd c. CE), and it was he who got rid of the Chinese from his area.
After the Han Dynasty ended in China (around 220 CE), the kingdom of Champa started expanding further, and a naval attack by the Champa king in 248 CE resulted in the defeat of China. The struggle for territorial power continued between the Chams and the Chinese for another decade, after which the Chinese power went into complete decay.
The main Champa polities during 1000–1100 CE (shown in green), lay along the coast of present-day southern Vietnam. To the north (in yellow) lay Đại Việt; to the west (in blue), Angkor (present day Cambodia). Photo from Wikipedia.
The most famous king of the Cham dynasty was Bhadravarmana, and it was during his reign that the Chams were introduced to Indian culture, and adopted Hinduism as their religion. It was Bhadravarman who constructed a beautiful and impressive temple dedicated to Shiva at Mi-son around 600 CE. The temple was declared as the national religious monument of the Chams, and the deity was named Bhadresvarasvamin after their king.
Like Indian kings, the Cham kings also added the title Varman after their names. Bhadravarman’ s son Gangaraja in his later life gave up his kingship and travelled to India to spend his last days near the river Ganga. After Gangaraja left, the Champa kingdom broke down into fragments, with many smaller Hindu kingdoms (such as the Panduranga and Vhrigu dynasties) ruling the territories, instead of one central monarchy. Owing to this, the glory of the capital city of Mi-son also faded from 8th c. CE onward.
The Panduranga dynasty 757 – 860 CE) rebuilt many of the temples, and reinstalled murtis destroyed by the Javanese seamen. They followed an aggressive policy towards China and Kambuja, leading successful expeditions against them. Under the Vhrigu dynasty (860 – 985 CE) Champa again became a powerful kingdom, especially during the rule of Bhadravarman III (905- 910 CE). Various inscriptions have been found that detail his war wins and talks of many foreign ambassadors present in his court.
His son Indravarman III who was a noted scholar of his times and well versed in Sanskrit works and Buddhist philosophies, faced attacks from the Kambuja empire that caused extensive damages to his kingdom. His son Paramesvaravarman faced attacks by the Annamese (north Vietnam- Dai Viêt) and was killed in the war, and the kingdom ravaged.
The Annamese continued ruling large parts of the Champa kingdom until 989 CE when a local Cham leader Vijaya Sri Harivarman II defeated them and took control. The Annamese regained their control of the Champa kingdom in the 13th century, only to lose it to the Mongols who conquered Champa in the 16th century.
The Kingdom of Champa got merged with Dai Viet/ Vietnam in the 17th century, even though unofficially the Cham territory remained as a separate entity in Vietnam until 1883. Vietnam still has a small percentage of the Cham community living there, though most had fled to the Malay peninsula, Java, isle of Hainan, Cambodia, and Sumatra after facing persecution from the Vietnamese in the 17th century.
In the 20th century, the Chams again faced persecution when they became victims of the widespread massacre in Cambodia under the Communist rule of theKhmer Rouge group (1975 to 1979), who wanted to remove all non-Khmer people from Cambodia. While currently the Chams are relatively doing better in Vietnam, they still face constant pressure to assimilate completely with the Vietnamese culture.
Art and architecture of the Chams: Striking similarity to Eastern Indian and Dravidian temple styles
The Cham built temples have a distinct architectural style with brick bodies and shikaras, which is completely in contrast to the Khmer people (another Hindu kingdom) of Cambodia where stones were mainly used for constructing temples. The remains of the Cham temples can still be seen scattered around Vietnam and Cambodia.
Among them, the 6th-century Mi-Son temple is considered as the oldest surviving monument in Southeast Asia, and clearly showing the influence of Hinduism in particular and Indian culture in general. It is however sad to note that many of the Cham temples and their sculptures, along with other artworks have been destroyed or damaged during the various wars that took place during the 20th century.
This stone linga is dated to the 10th century. It stands next to the temple known as “B4.” Photo from Wikipedia and in public domain
A closer look at the temple architecture and sculptures of the Champa kingdom shows an influence of the Pala Bengal style, Odisha Kalingan forms, and the Dravidian architectural style. Historians have observed that the 10th-12th century era temples in the remote villages of Deulghata (Purulia district), and Sonatpal village (Bankura district) of West Bengal are similar in architectural design with the Champa temples of the Bin-Dinh area. Another major connection is likely to be the practice of Sakta and tantra worship that were prevalent both in the Bengal as well as in the Champa kingdom at the same time.
Besides the Sakta worship, Shaivism and Vaishnavism were also in practice in the Champa kingdom, and an image of a ten-armed Shiva (11th c. CE) in the Thap Banhit temple bears the distinct style of the Pala school of Art. Older temples of the Champa kingdom (around 7th-8th c. CE) show the Dravidian style of temple architecture, and in this context, RC Mazumdar had opined that the origin of the Champa temples was likely to have been influenced by the Pallavan temple architecture seen in Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu. The 7th-century rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram and Champa temples are architecturally similar to each other.
Temple B5 at Mi Son Quang Nam province, photo from Wikipedia and is in public domain
10th century tympanum featuring the dancing Shiva, Champa. photo from Wikipedia and is in public domain.
With some recent disturbing news on Twitter that speaks of the old Cham temples facing destruction in Vietnam, it is now imperative that these remaining temples are immediately declared as protected heritage sites. Perhaps the Government of India can play a more active role in the conservation of these temples that have a connection with Bengal, Odisha, and Tamilnadu from the early medieval times when there were strong trade and commercial links of these areas with the Champa kingdom.
References
R.C. Majumder (ed.), The Age of Imperial Unity. Bombay, 1968.
R.C. Majumdar. Hindu colonies in the Far East. Calcutta, 1944.
H.B. Sarkar. Cultural Relations Between India and Southeast Asian countries. New Delhi, 1985.
P. Brown. Indian Architectures, (Buddhist and Hindu Period). Bombay, 1971.
Nearly a month after Bengaluru riots, the Bengaluru Police on Tuesday carried out raids on the radical Islamic organisation Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), whose members are accused of instigating Muslim mobs during the riots that occured on the streets of Bengaluru on August 11.
According to the reports, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Tuesday carried out raids at the three offices of SDPI that are located in DJ Halli, KG Halli and Halsurgate areas of Bengaluru.
“The searches were conducted at the DJ Halli, KG Halli and Cubbonpet offices of the party after duly obtaining court warrants,” said Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police.
A senior officer of the CCB said that they recovered a few lethal weapons, including a machete and a knife from the party’s Govindapura office in KG Halli. The CCB also recovered a computer, a laptop, an external hard disk, a pen drive from the SDPI’s headquarters.
The CCB police officer said that they also found a book on the anti-terror law UAPA, banners and pamphlets against the CAA and the NRC at the spot.
Reportedly, the SDPI members had kept such lethal weapons as they were involved in settling land and other disputes.
“Cyber experts will check the computer, the laptop, the hard disk and other seized items. A few files, videos and pictures were deleted from the computers,” the officer said.
The members of the notorious Islamic organisation SDPI are alleged to be the instigators of Bengaluru riots on the streets of the garden city, which led to the death of four people and injured more than 60 police personnel. The Bengaluru police have arrested about 30 SDPI members for their alleged role in provoking the Muslim mob to go on a rampage, leading to arson and violence in the area.
The Karnataka police have also invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against at least 61 accused in the Bengaluru riots case.
Former Chief Minister blames Bengaluru police for riots
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday indirectly blamed the Bengaluru police and the Congress MLA’s relative Naveen for the riots. The former CM stated that the riots could have been avoided if the accused Naveen, who had made the alleged FB post, was immediately arrested by the police.
Taking to Twitter, Siddaramaiah, in an effort to appease Muslims, accused the Bengaluru police of acting late during the arrest of Naveen. “This could have been averted if police had taken swift action against Naveen,” said former Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Many are arrested for orchestrating violence in the DJ Halli. Police should gather evidence and pursue the case. Release those people against whom there is no evidence. Innocents should not be framed and at the same time real culprits should not be let off.
Further, the senior Congress leader also demanded the release of rioters against whom Bengaluru Police have registered a case. The Congress leader claimed that the police should first gather evidence and pursue the case. Till then, the rioters should be released against whom there is no evidence, he added.
Amidst chants of ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ and ‘Nara e Taqbeer’, Muslim mob unleashed violence in Bengaluru
On August 11, a Muslim mob went on a rampage and unleashed brutal violence and arson in Bengaluru over a Facebook post that was allegedly derogatory to Prophet Mohammad. The Muslim mob hit the streets near DJ Halli and KG Halli police station areas on Tuesday evening and attacked a Congress MLA’s house after one of his relatives had allegedly made a derogatory Facebook post.
More than 60 police personnel were injured in the stone-pelting and the subsequent riots unleashed by the irate Muslim mobs. At least 10 vehicles, including Innovas of two DCPs, were damaged in front of the stations. The mob also set fire to the vehicles in front of the DJ Halli police station.
During the pre-planned attack, the Muslim mob, carrying petrol bombs and other weapons, also barged into the nearby police quarters and attacked the premises. The Muslim mob was seen raising Islamic slogans like ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ and ‘Nara-e-Taqbeer’ outside the police station.
Often called a ‘saint’ and ‘messiah of the poor’ by adherents of the Vatican in India, the so-called ‘Mother’ Teresa is engulfed in numerous controversies and allegations, from converting the dying to making patients defecate in front of each other.
Born in Skopje (then a part of the Ottoman Empire), the Albanian nun followed the Roman Catholic sect of Christianity. After a few years of living in the Ottoman Empire, she moved to Ireland and subsequently to India (where she breathed her last in Calcutta).
In India, she started a Non-Government Organisation called ‘Missionaries of Charity’ that has long been accused of forcefully converting people on the pretext of “social service”. Despite having a cult following in India and being directly backed by the Vatican, many American news outlets like Huffington Post, New York Times and Washington Post couldn’t suppress their disgust at the sight of pitiful conditions in the “hospitals” and “orphanages” run by the missionaries.
After years of living in fear for criticizing the ‘Mother’, Dr Aroup Chatterjee finally opened up to The New York Times about the disgusting reality of “hospitals” run by the missionaries. According to Dr Chatterjee, he found a ‘cult of suffering’ in the hospitals run by the missionaries. He saw children screaming in agony as they were tied to their beds by the missionaries, and dying patients crying out of misery as they were given no relief other than Aspirin to reduce the pain.
Highly primitive medical practices were adopted in the hospitals run by the Christian missionaries, who despite claiming to care for HIV/AIDS patients, used re-used hypodermic needles on patients in the name of “simplicity”. Another instance he’s described in an article of The NY Times says that patients were made to defecate in front of each other due to the primitive facilities provided in the hospitals. Medicines which expired 10-20 years ago were administered on patients, and faeces stained blankets were washed in the same sink as dishes and utensils. Such was the condition of “hospitals” run by the Christian missionaries.
A 2013 study by the University of Ottawa was cited by HuffPost in an article about ‘Mother’ Teresa. The study revealed that all claims of her ‘generosity’ were nothing more than an aggressive media campaign by the Catholic Church. The study says–
“Although she had 517 missions in 100 countries at the time of her death, the study found that hardly anyone who came seeking medical care found it there. Doctors observed unhygienic, even unfit conditions, inadequate food, and no painkillers — not for lack of funding, in which Mother Theresa’s world-famous order was swimming, but what the study authors call her ‘particular conception of suffering and death’.”
The Mother of Indian Catholics once told an unamused Christopher Hitchens- “There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering,”. This showed the sadistic pleasures she derived from seeing the poor suffer.
The sadistic history of Teresa doesn’t end here, with the Washington Post reporting that dying patients in hospitals run by the missionaries were forced to convert to Christianity before they died. To back this claim, the Washington Post cited the book ‘Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Personal Portrait’ by Leo Maasburg.
In 1994, Christopher Hitchens and Journalist Tariq Ali released a documentary film called ‘Hell’s Angels’ which brought the disgusting reality of Teresa’s organisations in front of the public.
In 2015, RSS Sarsanghchalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat during the inauguration of an orphanage in Rajasthan said, “It’s good to work for a cause with selfless intentions. But Mother Teresa’s work had ulterior motives, which was to convert the person who was being served to Christianity”.
Teresa had made a business out of charity, and even after her death the Missionaries of Charity has been under public scrutiny numerous times, with the most recent being a human trafficking scandal that was exposed in 2018 by law enforcement agencies.
In 2018, an orphanage running in Jharkhand’s Ranchi by the Missionaries of Charity was caught selling a 14-day old baby. This prompted the arrest of 2 women employees of the centre by the Jharkhand Police after intervention by the Child Welfare Committee. A sum of ₹1,40,000 was recovered from the centre.
There have been countless attempts to portray Teresa as a messiah of the poor, despite several accounts showing the dark reality behind most of her initiatives. Claiming to be a social service-oriented organisation, the Missionaries of Charity was nothing short of a ‘wolf in a sheep’s clothing’ that devoured the poor of their religion and stripped them of their dignity with primitive medical practices.
Prime Minister Modi donated Rs 2.25 lakh from his personal savings as initial corpus to the PM-CARES fund.
Receipts and Payment account of PM-CARES Fund
As per the receipts and payment account of the fund as of March 31, 2020, the initial corpus was Rs 2,25,000. The fund received Rs 30,75,85,32,035 as voluntary contribution. Foreign contribution amounted to Rs 39,67,748. Interest income on regular account as well as foreign contribution amounted to Rs 35,32,728 and Rs 575 respectively. Rs 2,049 was paid as service tax on foreign conversion from the total fund.
The closing balance of the fund as of March 31, 2020 was Rs 30,76,62,56,047.
PM-CARES Fund
PM-CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund was launched by Prime Minister Modi on 28th March 2020 in wake of the Chinese coronavirus.
The public charitable trust with the name ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund’ (PM CARES Fund)’ will be a dedicated national fund with the objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the current Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister is the Chairman of this trust, and its members include Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister.
Citizens who want to make donations can go to the pmindia.gov.in and donate to the PM CARES fund. The details for making the donation are:
Name of the Account ——— PM CARES Account Number ————– 2121PM20202 IFSC Code ———————— SBIN0000691 SWIFT Code ——————— SBININBB104 Name of Bank & Branch —– State Bank of India, New Delhi Main Branch
Aiman Rizwi, one of the most prominent faces of anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh, has uploaded another video on her YouTube channel. In the video, she rants about the “atrocities” Markaz Nizammudin members had to face in the initial days of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. She starts her rant by mentioning the orders passed by the Bombay High Court quashing the FIRs against foreign Tablighi Jamaatis.
She claims that the government of India tried to blame the spread of coronavirus in India on the markaz members to divert the attention of the Indians from alleged mismanagement. She claimed that the Indian government did not take any action to prepare for the pandemic as long as it was Chinese. She alleged that because PM Modi and industrialists like Ambani and Adani have good relations with China, the Indian government remained mute and allowed the Chinese virus to spread.
Rizwi alleged that the government used Covid-19 to instigate hatred between Hindu and Muslim communities in India. The government took coronavirus in the Markaz and made it a problem started by Muslims. She said, “zabardasti yeh usko markaz leke jaate hain, use Islam kubool karwa dete hain aur wahin se shuru hoti hai desh mein nafrat ki rajniti.” (They [government of India] took the coronavirus to markaz and converted it to Muslim, and from there the politics of hate started.)
She claimed that after markaz was blamed for spreading coronavirus, Muslims in India were beaten and lynched by mobs. She claimed that as there is a police station just 30 meters away from the markaz premises, it is not possible that anyone can plan or get involved in anti-India activities. Rizwi further added that Maulana Saad said that they had sent 1800+ Jamaatis already and trying to send the rest, but the lockdown happened before they could do so.
Rizwi blamed Kejriwal as well in her rant as he took away the passports of the international Jamaatis. She said that Markaz Nizammudin is still locked because of the drama that happened in March. She asked her followers to start a campaign against the media houses that blamed Jamaatis for spreading coronavirus.
Allegations on Sambit Patra fir ‘killing’ Rajiv Tyagi
She made atrocious claims that BJP leader Sambit Patra is behind the late Congress leader Rajiv Tyagi’s death. She alleged that Tyagi died because of the stress caused by allegations made by Sambit Patra in the news channel debate they both attended few hours before his death. She further claimed that the last words of Rajiv Tyagi were “in media walon ne meri jaan le li. Sambit Patra ne meri jaan le li.” (Media houses are behind my death, Sambit Patra is behind my death.)
Allegations on media
Rizwi claimed that the media is biased against everyone who speaks in favour of Muslims. They mute the mic of the speakers in debates no matter which party or ideology they belong to. They only allow speakers from BJP to talk during the news channel debates.
Who is Aiman Rizwi?
Aiman Rizwi was one of the regular faces of anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh. In one of her now-deleted YouTube videos, she urged her followers to pray for Home Minister Amit Shah’s death when he was admitted to hospital due to Covid-19 infection.
Imagine for a moment that on May 23, 2019, instead of winning 303 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP had won 271 seats, one less than the majority mark. To save both democracy and secularism, all other parties would have come together to form a government. Rahul Gandhi or a member of his family would have become Prime Minister. Or maybe the Congress would have won so few seats that the PM post would go to a third party with a 2-3% share of the national vote. Like I said, it is all about saving democracy. Narendra Modi would have become Leader of the Opposition.
(Who would be health minister? It is impossible to say exactly, but my guess would be Lalu Yadav’s daughter “Dr.” Misa Bharti. Did you know that she topped the MBBS exam at Patna Medical College hospital when her parents were ruling Bihar? For some reason, this distinguished medical scholar does not appear to be practicing medicine.)
Anyway. In that scenario, how do you think the media would be covering the pandemic right now? Let’s see: right now, you can go to mainstream or social media and find any number of taunts, jokes, jibes at PM Modi for the rising number of coronavirus cases in India.
Would it have been the same if someone else had won the 2019 election? Perhaps. But consider this: along with what you see, take into account what you don’t see. Maharashtra is India’s number one state in terms of coronavirus case load. It has been so practically since the beginning. Other states have seen ups and downs, but in case of Maharashtra, there has no been no lull at any point. Just a constant surge. No let up in test positive rate either. It was over 22% yesterday.
I challenge you to go to mainstream media right now and find one line of criticism against the way the Govt of Maharashtra has conducted itself in this pandemic. In fact, Shiv Sena MPs right now on Twitter are taking potshots at PM Modi over India reporting the highest number of virus cases in the world. No sense of irony about which state is reporting the highest number of virus cases in India. That is how comprehensive the clean chit given by the media to the MVA government. Imagine if such a formation was ruling India.
Ok, but this is a pandemic. How can you blame individual state governments? But isn’t healthcare a state subject? It certainly is. And the media certainly brought this up, just in a different tone.
In March, media had already congratulated Maharashtra
Congratulations to the Maharashtra Chief Minister for making the war with Covid-19 look easy. You might notice that all seven Chief Ministers mentioned in the article just happen to be non-BJP Chief Ministers.
Some people were so excited about the suddenly high profile role of state governments that they thought 2020 would be the year of the chief minister!
Sagarika Ghose congratulating all non-BJP chief ministers, including Uddhav Thackeray.
Star Chief Ministers… Again, all of them non-BJP. Was there any state government which was vilified? Of course.
Gujarat was criticised even though it was and has been in far better place than Maharashtra
At the time Rajdeep Sardesai wrote this article, Gujarat was number two in coronavirus cases in the country. Who was number 1? Never mind.
So it’s not like they didn’t see the role of state governments. They just cheered non-BJP state governments early on. And savagely criticized the BJP ruled states. But as the pandemic progressed and it became clear the virus wasn’t going away any time soon, the media just fell silent. And pointed all its fingers at the Center. What began as the year for giving credit to Chief Ministers became a year where all the blame was put on the Prime Minister.
For Uddhavsaheb, who went on to earn the tag of “best CM,” this turnaround in media perception must be particularly pleasing. Not long ago, the only party that was vilified in media more than BJP was perhaps the Shiv Sena. But he only had to sign the magical dotted line that made him an ally of 10 Janpath. And with that, all accusations against his politics went away. All questions about his governance style and performance disappeared into the void of Indian secularism. Our media is very forgiving.
Then, the lockdown began and the migrant worker crisis gradually entered public consciousness. It started with thousands of workers in Delhi gathering on the UP border, unable to make a living in the capital any more. Interestingly, the media explained to us that the onus was not on the state they were fleeing from, i.e., Delhi. The onus was on the state they were fleeing to, i.e., Uttar Pradesh.
This narrative was soon repeated nationwide. Migrant workers hungry in Maharashtra: why won’t Uttar Pradesh or Bihar take care of them? Then, the Central government began running special trains to take migrant workers back home. That’s when they blamed the Central government for running “Corona express” as part of a conspiracy to spread the virus in West Bengal. Oh, I’m sorry. Mamata didi never said “Corona express,” she said that the “people” called it that. Shame on “people.”
Things have changed a lot since the early days of April and May. From number 2 at one point, Gujarat has steadily worked its way out of the swamp. As of now, it is not even in the top 10. The test positive rate has also dipped well below 2%. Since the beginning, Gujarat has seen 99,000 cases total, of which some 16000 remain active. For comparison, Kerala has seen 78,000 cases, of which some 22,000 remain active. Did you know that Gujarat has twice the population of Kerala?
But Kerala is reducing testing aggressively. The other day, it only tested 11,000 people, finding about 1100 positive cases. A rate of 10% compared to under 2% for Gujarat. At this rate, if Kerala reduces testing to zero, it will certainly stay far behind Gujarat in number of total cases.
Did I say Kerala? Did I say zero? It reminded me of this.
Kerala hailed for containing coronavirus now has over 22,000 active cases
That Hindu article dated May 5, 2020 is actually a little late in giving credit to Kerala for winning the war on Covid. This article in Quartz congratulated the Kerala government for winning the war on Feb 14 itself.
Since then, Kerala’s legendary Health Minister Shailaja “Teacher” has been giving regular coaching classes to the world on how to stop the pandemic. In the process, she has collected so many awards and accolades that it would take too long to list them all. It is like being asked to make a list of all the great innings of Sachin Tendulkar.
But as cases in Kerala kept surging, the media adulation slowly turned into silence. There was no follow up, no questioning about what Kerala did wrong. It seems Ravish Kumar gave up on his dream of a debate between Gujarat model and Kerala model. Earlier, he had asked if Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan should be made “captain” of India’s covid response.
But for the most part, silence from the media on Kerala. Silence on Maharashtra and “best CM.” When things go wrong, the really fearless media chooses silence over dissent against ‘secular’ governments.
In fact, silence has played a key role in India’s media history. Just before the 2014 election, the Congress ruled India for 10 straight years. This was the latest chunk in its near uninterrupted ~60 year rule out of 67 years of independence at that point. Can you imagine one of our fearless journalists sitting across from Sonia Gandhi and asking her these two questions:
(1) Why is it that India’s per capita GDP crossed Pakistan’s per capita GDP only in 2007? Why did it take 60 years for the average Indian to catch up to the average Pakistani?
(2) Why is it that less than 40% of Indian households in 2014 had access to toilets? Why were 3 crore households without electricity connections? Why did 15 crore households have no tap water?
If Sonia Gandhi wouldn’t grant them an audience, they could have just put their questions out there. In their editorial columns, on their Facebook pages or Twitter timelines. They didn’t. They chose silence.
Silence was the media’s favorite weapon for 67 years. They were silent during Lalu Yadav’s jungle raj in Bihar. They were silent when Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government allowed cheating in board exams in Uttar Pradesh. They were silent when Jyoti Basu’s government drove out all industry from Bengal and carried out massacres of political dissidents.
They have questions only for Modi.
So deafening is this silence that Rahul Gandhi can face the camera and boldly deny all responsibility for the actions of the Govt of Maharashtra, even though he has 10 Cabinet ministers in it.
If Congress had won the 2019 election, suffice to say that we would have complete media silence on the pandemic right now. For 67 years, they could not ask why Indians don’t have toilets, gas, electricity or running water. They have broken their silence now. They are asking why India is unable to stop the pandemic. After all, France did it. The South Koreans did it a long time ago. The USA is slowly getting closer to doing it. How can India be behind countries like France, South Korea and the USA?
The Donald Trump administration on Wednesday imposed fresh restrictions on the Chinese diplomats and asked them to get prior approvals from the State Department before visiting any US university campuses or holding cultural events with more than 50 people outside mission grounds.
The move from Washington comes as a response to the recent restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on American diplomats in China. The Trump administration intends to limit the alleged Chinese influence operations and espionage in the United States.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said that the US diplomats faced constant barriers to their work in China and hence the Trump administration was responding by imposing new guidelines on senior PRC diplomats in the US
American diplomats in China face constant barriers to their work. Today, the @StateDept imposed new requirements on senior PRC diplomats conducting meetings and events in the U.S. We will always advocate for fair treatment of our diplomats abroad.
Speaking to the media, Secretary Pompeo said that the US administration simply demanded reciprocity. He added, “Access for our diplomats in China should be reflective of the access that Chinese diplomats in the United States have, and today’s steps will move us substantially in that direction.”
The State Department said it would also take action to help ensure all Chinese embassy and consular social media accounts were “properly identified”.
US universities have cautioned about threats by CCP: Secretary Pompeo
Pompeo added that the State Department had recently written to the governing boards of US universities cautioning them about the threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party. He had added that universities have been advised to have clean investments and endowment funds by disclosing Chinese firms in such funds and dropping those connected to human rights abuses.
“These threats can come in the form of illicit funding for research, intellectual property theft, intimidation of foreign students and opaque talent recruitment efforts,” Pompeo said.
On Tuesday, Pompeo said he was hopeful that dozens of Chinese-government funded Confucius Institute cultural centres on US campuses will be shut down by year-end. The institutes are accused of working to recruit “spies and collaborators”.
US calls for ban on Chinese apps
A day after the Indian government banned 118 Chinese mobile apps including PUBG, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach has called on other nations to join the “clean network”.
“India has already banned 100 plus Chinese apps. We call on all freedom-loving nations & companies to join The Clean Network,” said Keith Krach, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
“The CCP is trying to leverage 5G-enabled technology to create and export George Orwell’s version of “1984” into the 21st century. India has already banned 100+ Chinese apps. We call on all freedom-loving nations and companies to join The Clean Network.,” he added.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had asserted that even US government is expanding its Clean Network program to include Chinese-made mobile apps and cloud computing services citing national security concerns. He had added that it intends to ban “untrusted” Chinese apps from the app stores of US mobile carriers and phone makers.
The “Clean Network” program is a comprehensive approach of the Trump administration to guarding US citizens’ privacy and protecting most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party.
In yet another embarrassment for Pakistan, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday rejected its application to get two Indians listed as international terrorists under the UNSC 1267 resolution. UN Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India to the UN took to Twitter to share the information.
Pakistan’s blatant attempt to politicize 1267 special procedure on terrorism by giving it a religious colour, has been thwarted by UN Security Council. We thank all those Council members who have blocked Pakistan’s designs. @MEAIndia@DrSJaishankar@PMOIndia@harshvshringla
The China-backed move of Pakistan was blocked by five UNSC members, USA, UK, France, Germany and Belgium. Pakistan had proposed the designation of four Indian nationals in 2019 under the UN 1267 Sanctions List. Of these, two were rejected by UNSC earlier and the proposal of two other names, Angara Appaji and Gobinda Pattnaik Duggivalasa, was blocked on Wednesday. As per reports, no evidence was found to back Pakistan’s claim.
Earlier, France, along with other UNSC members gave Pakistan time to come up with evidence to back its claims. However, in absence of the same, the move was thwarted. Many see Pakistan’s move to get Indian names in the list as a revenge of sort after India got terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar designated as global terrorist on May 1 last year.
The embarrassment for Pakistan comes a week after Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to UN Munir Akram faked a speech at UNSC meeting where he was not even present.
